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English Online. Every child literate - a shared responsibility.

Learning task 1: Introduction

Setting the scene

For background material about people in the Elizabethan age, see the following sites.

  • English Online unit Shakespeare's England .
  • New Approaches to Renaissance Studies A collection of images related to the renaissance. This will help to develop students' understanding of the context of the play. There are images of Whitehall, where the play was first staged on December 26th 1604. (Under the Court and Culture section).
  • An Introduction to the Elizabethan Period .
  • Get students to summarise this definition of the Great Chain of Being in exactly 20 words, then get them to identify which parts of the play, characters or decisions alter or work to corrupt it.
  • Take a tour of the original Globe Theatre . Emphasise how rudimentary sets and theatres were and the fact that no complex effects were possible, meaning that Shakespeare could only rely on his language and stage action to keep people interested in the play.
  • For background on sources for the play and a plot summary see Enjoying King Lear .

Pre-reading exercise

Read a picture book version of Cinderella to the class. Get students to construct a table identifying the elements that show us it is a fairy tale. At the end of the unit, go back and compare King Lear to Cinderella. Examine the similarities and the differences.

Cinderella

A poor but honest protagonist
two wicked sisters
a fairy God-mother
distant time

King Lear

A disinherited but honest protagonist
two wicked sisters
no fairy God-mother
pre-historic England

This establishes the context for the play. It conforms to some of these elements, but departs from them at significant points. (Where is the fairy God-mother to rescue Cordelia? Why do the good people die?)

Read the text

Hand out the glossary (RTF 73KB) to help familiarise students with Elizabethan English.

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