A2 English Literature Unit 3
Wuthering Heights
Wuthering Heights
Lesson
Focus
Starter
Introduction
Development
Plenary
1
Intro to
Gothic
Share feedback. Explain that all
the words are elements of Gothic
Literature. Explain the outline for
the unit.
Students can choose to draw and label
or describe an ideal gothic setting,
based on what they know already. Ask
students to think carefully about the
language that they choose.
Feedback to the rest of the
class and discuss the effect
of language choices as a
group.
2
Intro to
Gothic
Look at the definitions in more
detail, identifying the common
features and create a ‘Gothic
Menu’ as a class
Read poem… and discuss to what
extent this can be considered a gothic
text, based on the definitions they have
read.
Feedback
3
Intro to
Gothic
Explain to students that the
language of gothic is as
important as character, themes
and setting and that gothic
literature often include vivid
images and descriptions
Students create a Gothic collage, using,
text and images
Students justify their choices
and comment on the overall
impact of their collage and
how that has been created.
4
Intro to
Gothic
Provide students with
word bank (resource 1)
Ask them to select 5 of
the words and use to
create a brief synopsis
for a new story.
Give students
definitions of gothic
literature (resource 2)
and ask them to
consider which one is
most useful as a
definition and why.
In pairs, students label
themselves A or B.
Student A is given the
images (resource 3)
and should describe
them to student B.
Student B ha to decide
which image they feel is
the most gothic and
explain why.
Student presentations
Student presentations
Student presentations
5
Gothic in
Literature
Tell the story of the
Ancient Mariner as a
ghost story – use
wikipedia summary as a
starting point. Ask
students to identify
gothic elements
Share feedback on gothic
elements in the story. Read
extract (Part III) as a class and
ask students to highlight the
language that contributes to the
gothic impact
Annotate text as a class, focusing on
impact and effect of gothic language in
the text.
What else have we
discovered about gothic
literature today?
What do we learn about
gothic language from looking
at Coleridge’s poem?
Homework
Research gothic
texts and create a
presentation
exploring how the
opening of the text
fits into the gothic
genre.
A2 English Literature Unit 3
Wuthering Heights
Lesson
Focus
Starter
Introduction
6
Gothic in
Literature
Give students the title
‘The Grey Woman’ and
ask them to write a
gothic opening to a
narrative of this title.
Research Elizabeth
Gaskell’s ‘The Grey
Woman’ and
summarise with a
focus on how it fits
into the gothic
genre
7
Gothic in
Literature
Give students e-mail
from aspiring writer (see
resources) and ask then
to respond to the e-mail.
8
Gothic in
Literature
9
Gothic
Narratives
and
Narrators
Read chapter 1 and discuss first
impressions of Lockwood as a
narrator
Students find quotations that influence
our interpretation of Lockwood
Feedback and discuss
quotations in more detail.
How effective is the
opening chapter?
1000 words
10
Gothic
Narratives
and
Narrators
Brainstorm possible
settings, characters,
structures for a
contemporary gothic
novel.
What makes a good
narrator? What do
expect from our
narrators? Ask students
to write down their
answers on their own
before discussing as a
group
Why has Bronte chosen
Nelly to narrate the
majority of the story?
Students respond on
post its before
discussing as a group
Take feedback and explain
Take feedback from the class. Discuss
What should the opening of
homework.
overall impact of the text as an opening. a gothic text include?
Read the extract from ‘ The Fall
How effective is the opening of the text?
of the House of Usher. Ask half
What do we expect from the rest of the
of the class to look at creation of text based on this extract? How is it
similar and different to Ancient Mariner?
setting and half of the class to
look at narrative and narrative
voice.
Watch video clip of ‘The Masque
Students write a full accompanying
Watch clip again with sound
of the Red Death’ with the sound
narrative for the clip and share with the
on and discuss. Which
muted. Ask students to write
rest of the class
narrative do they prefer and
down key words that would be
why?
used in an accompanying
narrative. Watch a couple of
times and discuss.
Students plan and create their own short video clip for a new contemporary gothic novel.
Development
Plenary
Homework
Discuss with students some of
the other narrators you have
looked at during preparation
work. What makes these
narrators effective? How are they
suitable as gothic narrators?
Give students different chapters to look
at. Ask them to identify the narrator’s
opinions or viewpoints. How far do
these opinions influence the reader’s
perception of characters and events?
Share opinions from
narrators and ask students
to write on mini-whiteboards
whether they agree or
disagree with the opinion.
Discuss as a class
Read chapters
XXV-XXX focusing
on what we learn
about Nelly Dean
A2 English Literature Unit 3
Wuthering Heights
Lesson
Focus
Starter
Introduction
Development
Plenary
Homework
11
Gothic
Narratives
and
Narrators
Students create a list of
strengths and
weaknesses of
Lockwood and Nelly as
narrators
Discuss how the
perspective/impact of the novel
as whole would change if
Heathcliff was narrator or if
Catherine was narrator
Students chose a section from the
selected chapters and rewrite from an
alternative perspective
12
Gothic
Narratives
and
Narrators
Students look at
resource 4 and decide
which narrator said the
statements; Nelly or
Lockwood
Students work on their individual
analysis.
Finish and improve
responses based
on self assessment
against AOs
13
Gothic
Themes
Give students theme
cards (resource 5) and
ask them to order them
in order of importance in
Wuthering Heights
Introduce students to the
assessment task and discuss
and suitable structure for a
response. Look at generic mark
scheme for section A and
explore with the class what this
might look like in a response
Read chapters VI and VII as a
class, discuss how the themes
appear in these chapters.
Swap writing with a partner.
Partners feedback on the
effect of the alternative
perspective? Is the gothic
impact the same? How
might this have changed?
Go through AOs individual
and ask students to highlight
their writing to identify where
AOs have been met.
Focusing on the theme of death,
students highlight and annotate relevant
quotations, looking at how death is
portrayed in these chapters.
Go back to theme cards
from starter. Do they still
agree with their order?
Explain decisions
14
Gothic
Themes
Students work on group task
Students complete the
sentence : “The theme of
(their given theme) is the
most important to Wuthering
Heights and the Gothic
genre as a whole
because…”
Find extracts from
the text that are
relevant to their
given theme.
15
Gothic
Themes
Gothic
Themes
Give pairs of students a theme
each. Explain that their task is to
find examples of this theme
throughout the novel. Explain
that they can use the chapter
summaries as a starting point but
they should find extracts from the
text itself and analyse the impact
of language.
Independent work
Explain to students that whilst
they are listening to the feedback
from independent work, they
should complete theme diagrams
with main points and chapter
references (resource 6)
Feedback/presentations from
independent work.
Look at class post it notes
from starter lesson. Discuss
whether all students feel that
these points have been
shared with the group.
Would they choose another
point that they think is most
important, following
presentations?
Complete theme
diagrams with
quotations from the
text
16
Students continue to
work on their task
On post it notes: The
most important thing
they have discovered
about the novel during
their independent work
Independent work
Completion of theme diagrams
A2 English Literature Unit 3
Wuthering Heights
Lesson
Focus
Starter
Introduction
Development
Plenary
17
Creating the
Gothic
Setting
Recap what features of
gothic settings were
evident from extracts
looked at in Week 2
Ask students for their own
personal response to the settings
in the novel. Which one do they
like best? Which is most
interesting? Why?
Feedback about impressions
of the Grange from the
activity. What makes this a
suitable Gothic setting?
18
Creating the
Gothic
Setting
Give students the
descriptions (resource
7) and ask them to put
them into two
categories
19
Creating the
Gothic
Setting
Read extract from
Jamaica Inn (resource8)
and select 5 key
sentences that create
atmosphere
Ask students to explain their
categories. Tell students that the
intended categories were
Thrushcross Grange and
Wuthering Heights. Discuss how
suitable these descriptions might
be.
As a class, discuss whether
Jamaica Inn is a gothic setting or
not. Ensure students justify their
opinions.
Using the e-text of the novel, students
should search for ‘Grange’ in the text
and write down any significant
quotations about the Grange. They
should think in particular about how the
Grange is a suitable gothic setting
Read sections from chapters XV-XX
focusing on the symbolism of Wuthering
Heights and Thrushcross Grange. Ask
students to identify the sections that
support the descriptions from starter
activity
Create a short description of
either Thrushcross Grange
or Wuthering Heights in the
style of Kirsty and Phil from
Location, Location, Location.
20
Creating the
Gothic
Setting
Students complete
resource 9 (characters
feelings about settings)
Give pairs of students different sections
from the novel to read and make notes
about how the setting is described, how
it creates atmosphere and how it used
as a metaphor for the characters’
feelings
Ask students to discuss this, using the
speculate, discuss prompt cards. Use
the teacher prompt sheet (resource 10)
to develop the discussion and also
students’ thinking.
21
Characters
and
Structure
On a large piece of paper, ask a student to draw around
another student. As a class they should label this shape with
gothic characteristics. Inside the shape should be about
attitudes and belief and outside should be actions and
relationships.
Discuss with the class whether any of
the characters in the novel fit this
stereotype. Then discuss the ones that
are closest to it moving to those that are
further away. What reasons are there
for this ranking of characters? Where is
the evidence for this?
Ask students to decide on
their own what the most
important quality is for a
gothic character. Share with
the class and explain.
Introduce discussion topic: The
setting of the novel is central to
our understanding of the themes
and characters in ‘Wuthering
Heights’. Ask students to write on
a post-it note, their initial
response to this statement and
then put to one side.
In pairs, students create
posters for one of the
settings, using the evidence
from the reading activity to
describe the setting
Homework
1000 words- which
do you consider to
be most important
to the gothic novelsetting character or
themes?
Return to the initial
responses from the start of
the lesson. Share with the
rest of class and explain
how this has changed or
developed from the
beginning of the lesson.
What is the
importance of
characters from the
ordinary world?
E.g. Lockwood and
Nelly
A2 English Literature Unit 3
Wuthering Heights
Lesson
Focus
Starter
Introduction
Development
Plenary
22
Characters
and
Structure
Ask students to plot on
a class chart, where
they think the point of
climax is in the novel. At
this point, they do not
need to explain their
decision.
Read the selection of endings
from gothic stories (resource 11).
Ask the students to put them in
order of least dramatic to most
dramatic and explain their
decisions.
Complete tension chart,
labelling the main points in
the novel
23
Characters
and
Structure
Add quotations to
tension chart from last
lesson.
24
Characters
and
Structure
Students identify who
they think should play
the main characters in a
film version of
Wuthering Heights and
during feedback,
explain why.
As a class brainstorm what
additional information you would
like to know about the main
characters. E.g. what were their
friends at school like? What is
their favourite film? etc
As a class, develop the main
points for a psychologists report
for Nelly using the text as a
reference point
Read the ending of Wuthering Heights
and discuss is effectiveness as an
ending. Where would it go in the order
with the other endings? Ask students to
look back at the chart from the
beginning and label their points with an
event-what is it about this point that
makes it the climax? Does it have
anything to do with the gothic
elements?
Give each student the name of a
character. Set up a speed dating activity
where the characters spend 10 minutes
with each other and try to find out as
much as they can about the characters.
Individually students create their own
psychologists reports for given
characters, using the text as a
reference point.
25
Atmosphere
and
emotions
On whiteboards,
students write down an
example of
psychological terror and
physical terror from a
film they have seen or
book they have read
recently (not Wuthering
Heights)
What were the most
important points in the novel
that they used as reference
points in their reports? Look
back at descriptions of
gothic characters from the
beginning of the week-would
they add anything extra
based on their work?
Swap quotations with a
partner. Partners then
analyse the language used
in each quotation and
comment on how fear is
created.
Give students different sections of the novel to focus on. They should reread these sections and identify how fear is created for the characters but
also for the reader. They must write down examples and quotations.
Homework
Discuss some of the
answers that were given and
ask students to justify their
answers, using reference to
the text.
Complete character
chart (resource 12)
behaviour, attitude,
out of the ordinary
features, creation
of fear, their own
fears relationships.
A2 English Literature Unit 3
Wuthering Heights
Lesson
Focus
Starter
Introduction
Development
Plenary
26
Atmosphere
and
emotions
Complete main
task
Atmosphere
and
emotions
28
Atmosphere
and
emotions
Take feedback from starter
activity. Looking at resource 13Emotions in the gothic novel,
discuss how these appear in
Wuthering Heights.
Ask students to consider some of
the minor characters in the novel,
for example Joseph. As a class,
brainstorm what their feelings
and emotions might be
throughout the novel. Can they
be considered as ‘gothic’?
Introduce the assessment title:
How far do you agree that
psychological terror is more
important than physical fear in
the novel? Discuss some of the
main points with the class to
begin to generate ideas.
In pairs, students have to find a piece if music, or create a piece of
music that will represent and track the emotions of a character from the
novel. They must include a supportive commentary to explain their
piece of music, using references to the text.
27
Give students resource
13 (emotions in a gothic
novel) Students put
them in order of
importance to the novel
Imagine you are a
gothic hero. Write a
brief paragraph,
exploring your feelings
and emotions. Share
with the rest of the
class.
Quick fire quiz.
Students write on their
whiteboards,
psychological and on
the other side physical.
You read out a list of
examples, eg, ghosts,
creaking door, howling
wind, and they decide
whether it creates
psychological or
physical terror.
Go through the mark scheme
again to refresh.
Individually, students write a short
narrative/monologue from a minor
character’s perspective. They should
focus on exploring emotions through
using the physical environment as well
as commenting on the more central
characters to the novel.
Students work independently on the
task, using the generic mark scheme as
a guide.
Swap writing with a partner.
Partners highlight the most
impressive lines and share
with the class, explaining
why they liked them.
Swap essay with a partner.
Partners use the mark
scheme to give the essay a
band with supporting
comments and targets.
Redraft essay for
final assessment.