Shakespeare’s The Tempest
A Y8 Starter Strand
1.
We split, we split! – Farewell my wife and
children! – Farewell brother! – We split,
we split, we split!
2.
The hour’s now come; the very minute
bids thee ope thine ear, Obey, and be
attentive.
3.
By accident most strange, bountiful Fortune,
Now my dear lady, hath mine enemies
Brought to this shore.
4.
Thou best know’st
What torment I did find thee in. Thy groans
Did make wolves howl, and penetrate the breasts
Of ever-angry bears.
5.
All the charms
Of Sycorax – toads, beetles, bats – light on you!
For I am all the subjects that you have,
Which first was mine own king: and here you sty
me
In this hard rock, while you do keep from me
The rest of th’island.
6.
I might call him
A thing divine, for nothing natural
I ever saw so noble.
7.
My brother’s servants
Were then my fellows, now they are my
men.
8.
I’ll show thee every fertile inch o’the
island. And I will kiss thy foot – I
prithee be my god.
9.
I would not wish
Any companion in the world but you.
10.
Thee of thy son, Alonso,
They have bereft; and do pronounce by me
Ling’ring perdition – worse than any death
11.
A devil, a born devil, on whose nature
Nurture can never stick; on whom my pains
Humanely taken, all, all lost, quite lost;
And, as with age his body uglier grows,
So his mind cankers.
12.
O wonder!
How many goodly creatures are there here!
How bounteous mankind is! O brave new world
That has such people in’t!
13.
As you from crimes would pardoned be,
Let your indulgence set me free.
2. Introducing Iambic Pentameter
• Listen to each other’s heartbeat. This is
the rhythm of the iamb.
• Does ‘pentameter’ give you a clue about
the number of beats in each line of
Shakespeare’s verse?
• Clap the rhythm: de dum, de dum, de
dum, de dum, de dum
3. More Iambic Pentameter
• Clap the rhythm, one group at a time
• Individually, create one line of verse about the
date of your birthday (eg. My birthday’s on the
thirteenth day in March)
• In pairs, create as many lines of verse about
England’s World Cup hopes as you can in 10
minutes: (eg. I fear that Rooney’s foot will cost
us dear)
4. Caliban’s Complaint, 1.2 330-435
• Read Caliban’s speech around the class,
•
•
stopping when you reach a punctuation mark for
the next person to take over. (Pass if you would
rather not – but you may only have one word!)
Now read it in pairs as follow:
Sit back to back. A has the script, B does not. A
reads the first sentence or phrase with a blank
voice – no expression. B repeats it, adding
expression. Continue to the end.
Swap roles so that A repeats B. This time, A
should sound as angry as possible.
6. Ferdinand’s love for Miranda
The very instant that I saw you, did
My heart fly to your service, there resides
To make me slave to it, and for your sake
Am I this patient log-man
(3.1. 66-70)
7. Verse and Status
• Look at the list of characters at the start of the
play. Note down the names of at least three that
you would expect to speak prose.
• In pairs, skim through the text to check that
your theory is correct. Prepare to tell the class
about two low status characters and choose a
short extract of dialogue to read.
8. The Status Game!
• 10 = very high status
• 1 = very low status
Your task is to either improvise mingling
at a party in role as a number between 1
and 10, or to identify who is acting as
which number.
9. Memory Test! 10 characters….
•
•
•
•
•
Prospero
Miranda
Caliban
Alonso
Antonio
•
•
•
•
•
Sebastian
Gonzalo
Trinculo
Stephano
Boatswain
10. Trading Insults
A
B
C
simpering
wretched
insolent
bawling
blasphemous
poisonous
abominable
slovenly
mad-headed
lily-livered
iron-witted
languageless
dog
whore-son
noisem-aker
slave
filth
foot-licker
hag-seed
boil
stretch-mouthed
glass-gazing
frosty-spirited
foul-spoken
11. Prospero’s character: Agree or
disagree?
a)
b)
c)
d)
e)
f)
g)
h)
i)
j)
k)
Prospero is Latin for: ‘I cause to succeed, make happy and
fortunate’. His name is therefore appropriate.
He is a loving, kind and devoted father.
He is a bad-tempered, dictatorial and impatient father.
He is a colonialist exploiter who treats Caliban harshly.
He is a responsible, benevolent ruler.
Prospero is like a theatre director using people as his actors.
He selfishly pursued his study and neglected his duties as Duke of
Milan.
He loves Ariel and treats him well.
He treats Ariel harshly, expecting him to instantly obey every
command without complaint.
He is vengeful, only deciding to pardon his enemies at the end of
the play.
He is merciful and forgiving, in view of what happened to him.
20. Emotional Journeys
In groups of 5, discuss and agree which
characters change the most during the
course of the play.
Now prepare to stand in front of the class
in rank order – the most to the least
changed of your chosen five.