Lesson 90: The Novel, Gothic Literature, and Charlotte Bronte
Name: _Amanda Ross___________________ Date: 3/11/2013__Age/Grade Level: _12__
# of Students: __21__ # of IEP Students: ___ # of GSSP Students: ____ # of LEP Students:____
Subject: _English Language Arts____ Major Content: _Literature______ Lesson Length: _52 min._
Unit Title: __Soap Operas of the 19th Century___ Lesson Number and Title: _90: Introduction_____
Context:
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This will be the only novel students read this year.
Students have read Shakespeare and have just finished a poetry unit.
Objectives:
1.
2.
3.
Students will be able to make connections between 19th serialized novels, sensation fiction, and modern television
soap operas. (What do 19th serialized novels and modern television soap operas have in common?) During the 19th
critics believed that reading serialized novels were not good for stimulating the mind. In other words, critics
believed that these novels were mind-numbing and that individuals who read these novels would be influenced in a
negative way that they would be unable to think for themselves. In the same way, television has be criticized for
being a mind-numbing influence.
Students will be able to explain why novels were serialized in the 19 th century. (Why were novels serialized in the
19th century?) Novels were serialized in order to reach a wider readership. Printing entire novels was still very
expensive. Also, readers were able to correspond with an author and influence what was to happen next. This was
particularly trued of Charles Dickens, who would respond to readers’ comments and suggestions by either bringing
back a popular character or doing away with a character that did not capture readers’ imaginations.
Students will be able to explain how novels were serialized in the 19th century. (How were novels serialized in the
19th century?) Novels were usually published in short installments either weekly or bi-weekly. Installments usually
ended with a type of cliff-hanger, an unanswered question, or a mystery that would keep readers interested and
looking forward to the next installment. These novels were a way to ensure success of the journal. This relates
directly to popular television shows that usually leave audiences with a type of cliff-hanger. Also, popular television
shows ensure the success of the network (much like a journal, complete with advertisements.)
Connections:
11-12.RL.1 Cite strong and thorough textual evidence to support analysis of what the text says explicitly
as well as inferences drawn from the text, including determining where the text leaves
matters uncertain.
11-12.RL.2 Determine two or more themes or central ideas of a text and analyze their development over
the course of the text, including how they interact and build on one another to produce a
complex account; provide an objective summary of the text.
11-12.RL.3 Analyze the impact of the author’s choices regarding how to develop and relate elements of a
story or drama (e.g., where a story is set, how the action is ordered, how the characters are
introduced and developed).
11-12.RL.4 Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in the text, including figurative
and connotative meanings; analyze the impact of specific word choices on meaning and tone,
including words with multiple meanings or language that is particularly fresh, engaging, or
beautiful. (Include Shakespeare as well as other authors.)
11-12.RL.5 Analyze how an author’s choices concerning how to structure specific parts of a text (e.g., the
choice of where to begin or end a story, the choice to provide a comedic or tragic resolution)
contribute to its overall structure and meaning as well as its aesthetic impact.
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11-12.RL.6 Analyze a case in which grasping point of view requires distinguishing what is directly stated in
a text from what is really meant (e.g., satire, sarcasm, irony, or understatement).
11-12.L.3 Apply knowledge of language to understand how language functions in different contexts, to
make effective choices for meaning or style, and to comprehend more fully when reading or
listening.
11-12.L.5
Demonstrate understanding of figurative language, word relationships, and nuances in word
meanings.
11-12.SL.1 Initiate and participate effectively in a range of collaborative discussions (one-on-one, in
groups, and teacher-led) with diverse partners on grades 11–12 topics, texts, and issues,
building on others’ ideas and expressing their own clearly and persuasively.
11-12.SL.2
Integrate multiple sources of information presented in diverse formats and media (e.g.,
visually, quantitatively, orally) in order to make informed decisions and solve problems,
evaluating the credibility and accuracy of each source and noting any discrepancies among the
data.
Assessment Plan:
Objective/Assessment Plan Organizer
Objective Number
Type of
Assessment
Description of
Assessment
Depth of
Knowledge Level
1
Summative
Written and verbal
response
2
3
Formative
Written and verbal
response
1
Adaptations
and/or
Accommodations
Allow verbal
response over written
or written over verbal
Allow verbal
response over written
or written over verbal
Resources, media, and technology:
1.
2.
3.
One copy for each student of the novel Jane Eyre.
Laptop computer and LCD projector
Power Point Presentation for Lesson 1
HQSI/Best Practices:
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Bell Ringer
Review/Notes
Observation
Ticket-out-the-door
Procedure
1
Time
5-10
minutes
Description
First start students with their daily Bell Ringer: “What popular television shows do you
watch on a regular basis and what elements make these shows a “must see?”
After students have finished writing, I will ask students to discuss the Bell Ringer.
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45-47
minutes
After students have finished discussing the Bell Ringer, I will ask students to help generate a
list of elements that make popular television shows work. I will put the list on the board and
ask students to keep a list in their notebooks. Typical responses may be: drama, sex,
mystery, murder, action, etc.
Next I will introduce the history of 19th century serialized novels. I will include how and
why novels were serialized. They were serialized in weekly or bi-weekly installments in
magazines or journals. These novels were used in much the same way as popular television
shows—to promote a certain magazine or journal, ensuring the success of the magazine, and
to disseminate literature in a much more cost-effective way.
Next, I will highlight some of the elements that serialized novels have in common with
today’s popular television shows. For example, many of these novels had elements of
mystery, murder, action, multiple characters to follow who all interrelated in some way, and
sometimes sex. Then, I will discuss what the critics believed of these novels in the 19 th
century. Critics believed that these novels were passive and readers would become mindnumb and unable to think for themselves. Critics believed that these novels had no social or
cultural relevance to the public and should not be read.
Notes on Novels, Serialized Novels, and Sensation Fiction:
“A Plot, or Tragedy, should arise from the gradual closing in of a situation that comes of
ordinary human passions, prejudices, and ambitions, by reason of the characters taking no
trouble to ward off the disastrous events produced by the said passions, prejudices, and
ambitions.”—Thomas Hardy
A. The Novel
a. Invented in the 1700s
i. In the 19th century novels were written in the mode of realism
1. Realism: a manner of treating subject matter that
presents a careful description of everyday life, usually of
the lower and middle classes; a theory of writing in
which the ordinary, familiar, or mundane aspects of life
are represented in a straightforward or matter-of-fact
manner that is presumed to reflect life as it actually is.
a. Recognizable conflicts: such as marital
problems, work issues, social issues, etc.
ii. Novels were directed at the middle class and was written by the
middle class
iii. Middle class got books from circulating libraries
B. Serialization: weekly or monthly installments of stories appearing in papers or
magazines
a. Invented by Charles Dickens (known for Pickwick Papers, A Christmas
Carol, Oliver Twist, Great Expectations, Bleak House, and A Tale of Two
Cities among other novels)
b. Became the major way of publishing novels
c. Became the main form of entertainment
i. Very communal activity through reading circles—kind of like a
book club or groups that get together weekly to watch a certain
television show
C. Sensation Fiction and Gothic Literature
a. Invented in the 1860s
b. Factors leading to the popularity of the Sensation Novel
i. The abolition of the stamp duty on printing paper in 1855
ii. The concomitant increase in the circulation of newspapers
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c.
d.
e.
f.
g.
iii. An increase in the number of readers in mid-Victorian Britain
iv. The large increase in the number of circulating libraries
v. Many new weekly and monthly illustrated literary magazines
vi. High-interest, serialized fiction to maintain a stable readership
vii. Tabloid journalism
viii. Reforms in divorce procedures
ix. Introduction of public education
About the Middle Class
Set in contemporary society
Addressed cultural issues
Features associated with Sensation fiction:
i. Bigamous marriages
ii. Misdirected letters
iii. Romantic triangles
iv. Heroines placed in physical danger
v. Drugs, potions, and/or poisons
vi. Trained coincidences (meant to look like chance, but were well
planned)
vii. Aristocratic villains
viii. Heightened suspense detailism
Features associated with Gothic Literature:
i. Sensational
ii. Melodramatic
iii. Plays on the supernatural (ghosts are usually involved)
iv. Excessive, concealed ruins
v. Horrific rooms in houses/castles
vi. Intermingling landscape of vast dark forest with vegetation
D. What the Critics Said About Sensation Fiction
a. Too fictional and too entertaining
b. Became low literature, not worthy of being read
c. Evil twin of conduct books (books of manners)
d. Belief that books can transform people for good or bad
e. Reading as mind-numbing
f. Women as most susceptible to feelings and emotions portrayed in novels
g. Readers identify with evil characters and increase crime
h. Thrills, chills, and palpitating hearts (sexual stimuli)
i. Seen as a dangerous form of writing
j. Highlighted the stereotypes of the working class, but was written for the
middle class
k. “Thus, writing in 1863, H.L. Mansel castigated the new subgenre as
‘preaching to the nerves instead of the judgment.’ Since early in his antiSensation diatribe Mansel refers to ‘A pale young lady in a white dress,’
we can be certain that his chief target is Wilkie Collins, whose The Woman
in White (1860) initiated the Sensation mania. The typical practitioner of
the new form, contends Mansel, aims at creating excitement alone in order
‘to supply the cravings of a diseased appetitie’ prevalent in the recently
augmented reading public: ‘No divine influence can be imagined as
presiding over the birth of his work; no more immortality is dreamed of
for it than for the fashions of the current season. A commercial atmosphere
floats around works of this class, redolent of the manufactory and the
shop.’” (from http://www.victorianweb.org/genre/sensation.html )
E. Positives
a. Allowed readers to process what they read over a period of time.
b. Allow interactions between author and readers
i. A lot of readers would make suggestions to the author to include
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or bring back certain plots or characters
ii. Become a community of authors. Readers had a say in what
happened, which is why once the serialized novel was published
in book form it seemed so much longer.
Jane Eyre
Summary Schedule:
1-5 (pages 1-66)
6-10 (pages 67-126)
11-15 (pages 126-211)
16-20 (pages 211-307)
21-25 (pages 308-403)
26-30 (pages 403-507)
31-35 (pages 507-597)
36-38 (pages 597-643)
Reading Schedule:
Date:
3/13
3/14-17
3/18
3/19
3/20
3/21
4/1
4/2
4/3-4
4/8-9
4/10
4/11
4/15
4/16
4/17-18
4/19
4/22
4/23-25
Chapter(s):
1
2-5
6-7
8-9
10
11-15
16-17
18
19-20
21
22
23-25
26
27
28-30
31-34
35
36-38
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Pages:
1-7
8-66
67-89
89-111
111-126
126-211
211-252
252-273
273-307
308-337
338-347
347-403
403-418
418-454
454-507
507-582
582-597
597-643
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