Introduction

Use this Real-Life Lens Plan to help students dive deep into Shakespeare’s The Tempest and examine the play’s themes, action, and characters through the lens of power. What forms of power does Shakespeare portray? How do the characters exert power over each other? What are some positive and negative effects of power? How do power relationships change over the course of the play?

Materials

  • The Tempest by William Shakespeare
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Introduce the Lens

To activate students’ thinking, choose one or two of the following Real-Life Links to use in an engagement activity. Have students read, listen, or watch and discuss the content. Encourage students to jot down notes, or record class notes on the board for future reference.

Pose the following Big Idea Questions to the class:

What types of power are there? Who has these types of power, and who doesn’t? 

How do human beings exert power over each other?

Engagement Activity

Have students write quick initial responses to the questions. Then discuss the questions either as a class or in small groups. Prompt students to consider the relationship between power and the emotions of love and hate. Encourage students to think of situations in which people exert power over each other in both positive and negative ways. Following the discussion, give students time to revise their initial responses, and ask volunteers to share what they wrote with the class.

CCSS

Introduce the Driving Questions

Begin by having students write their own questions about the lesson topic. Encourage them to think about what they already know about power and what they’re interested in exploring further.

Hand out the Driving Questions Worksheet. Review the questions as a class. Students should enter initial answers to the questions as they read The Tempest. They will revisit the questions and revise their answers following the lesson activities, classroom discussion, and completion of the text. Remind students to support their responses with text evidence.

Integrate the Driving Questions into your classroom discussions. Use them to help guide students’ thinking about the Big Idea Questions. 

1. What powers create the storm in Act 1, Scene 1? 

2. How and why did Prospero lose his political power in Milan? 

3. How does Prospero exert his power over Ariel, Caliban, and Miranda? 

4. How do Prospero’s magical powers affect the plot of the play? 

5. What form of power creates a dramatic triangle among Prospero, Miranda, and Ferdinand? 

6. What characters resist Prospero’s power and why? 

7. What powerful emotions affect the relationships among Prospero, Alonso, Antonio, and Gonzalo? 

8. Why does Prospero give up his magical powers at the end of the play?

CCSS

Introduce the "Through the Lens" Activity

Activity: Lists of Superpowers

In this activity, students will identify and analyze various superpowers that are displayed by characters in electronic games, movies, and other media.

Take a quick poll by show of hand to discover how many students play virtual games, enjoy fantasy movies, and identify with fictional superheroes. Record poll results for each question on the board. Divide the class into small groups for discussion purposes. Ask each group to make a list of several examples of superheroes and the superpowers they possess. Students should also note specific instances of how the superpower worked to advance a plot or secure a game advantage. 

Invite a spokesperson from each group to share the group’s list with the class. Encourage students in non-presenting groups to volunteer examples of similar superpowers from other games or stories as well as examples of superpowers that counteract the ones mentioned. Have students return to the Big Idea Questions and consider how the fantasy of having superpowers might affect their own attitudes. What powers do we wish we could exert? How much power do humans really have over each other?

Before moving on, explain that students will explore Shakespeare’s treatment of power and its effect on human behavior through his use of characterization, plot, and language as they read The Tempest.

CCSS

Differentiated Instruction

This activity can be modified to help all students access learning.
Decrease difficulty

Create and display a chart of superheroes and their powers. Ask the entire class to volunteer examples of these powers in use. Then assign specific superpowers to small groups. Have each group discuss what the superpower allows the hero to do and how the superpower changes the story or game. Ask volunteers to share their ideas with the class.

Increase difficulty

Follow up by having students write short paragraphs describing a superpower, the heroes who possess it, and the importance of the superpower to the outcomes of stories and games. Have pairs of students exchange paragraphs for feedback and editing purposes.

Introduce the Final Project

Before moving on, introduce the final projects to the class (see below for details). Have students choose the project they will complete and encourage them to keep their project in mind as they read the text. Facilitate the formation of project groups if necessary.

Assign the Midpoint Activities

Activity 1: Superpower Scenes

Students will illustrate selected scenes from The Tempest in which Prospero and Ariel exert magical powers. Students will: 

  • Review Acts 1 and 2. As they review, students should pay special attention to the magic of Prospero and Ariel and visualize what the scene might look like in a staged or filmed performance. Ask: How does Ariel help Prospero terrify the sailors? What did Miranda see during the storm? How does Prospero explain the storm to Miranda? How does Ariel control the seafaring characters after they land on the island? 

  • Select visually dramatic sections of the text and draw or paint pictures of Prospero and Ariel using their magic. Students may also use digital drawing programs if you prefer.

  • Present their scenes to the class, explaining and justifying the details they’ve chosen to include.


Here are some suggestions for scenes to illustrate:
-The tempest arising at sea at Prospero's command (1.1)
-Ariel frightening the sailors during the storm (1.2.196)
-Ariel distributing the ships after the storm (1.2.218)
-Prospero releasing Ariel from imprisonment (1.2.238)
-Ariel enchanting Ferdinand with invisible music (1.2.384)
-Prospero casting a spell on Ferdinand (1.2.468)
-Ariel waking Gonzalo in time to save his life (2.1.264)
-Prospero using goblins to control Caliban (2.2.1)

CCSS

Differentiated Instruction

This activity can be modified to help all students access learning.
Decrease difficulty

Have students work in small groups. Assign a specific scene from the list above to each group. After students complete their pictures, have them display their art for the class and explain what is happening in the scenes.

Increase difficulty

Have students create comic strips of entire scenes instead of focusing on a single event.

Activity 2: Power Shifts, Past and Future

Pass out the Power Shifts, Past and Future Worksheet. For this worksheet, students will complete a three-column chart. The first column contains key scenes from the play and their locations. Have students reread the scenes and then answer questions in the second column that analyze the action. Then have students describe or predict the results of the action in each scene in the third column.

CCSS

Differentiated Instruction

This activity can be modified to help all students access learning.
Decrease difficulty

Have students work in small groups. Assign a specific scene from the list on the worksheet to each group. After groups complete their reading and row of the chart, have them share their thoughts with the class. Have the rest of the class take notes on their own charts.

Increase difficulty

Have students work in small groups. Distribute the scenes among the members of each group. Then have groups discuss the scenes in order, paying attention to how the events in each scene extend the action in the previous scenes. Have each group prepare a composite list of predictions for the scenes to present to the class.

Final Projects

Students will work on their final projects after they have finished reading the complete text of The Tempest. Project 1 can be completed by students working individually or in pairs, while Project 2 calls for small groups.

Final Project 1: Power Couples

Students will examine the power relationships between pairs of characters in The Tempest and analyze how the relationships change over the course of the play. Students will: 

  • Select up to three pairs of characters from the list below or from the text of the play. 

  • Locate and read passages from the beginning, middle, and end of the play that demonstrate how the pairs of characters interact with each other.

  • Write essays that describe and analyze how the power relationships between the pair(s) of characters change over the course of the play. Students should support their arguments with evidence from the text. 


Consider having students create outlines and rough drafts to workshop in small groups before they write their complete essays.

Suggested pairs of characters:
-Alonso and Gonzalo
-Antonio and Alonso
-Antonio and Sebastian
-Prospero and Miranda
-Prospero and Antonio
-Prospero and Alonso
-Prospero and Ariel
-Prospero and Caliban
-Prospero and Ferdinand
-Miranda and Ferdinand
-Trinculo and Stephano
-Caliban and Stephano

Differentiated Instruction

This activity can be modified to help all students access learning.
Decrease difficulty

Have students work in pairs. Assign one pair of characters to each pair of students. Monitor pairs to make sure students have located specific lines within the scenes. Encourage pairs to read interactions out loud in order to better understand the characters and the nuances of the relationship. Have pairs work on their essays together, editing each other’s work.

Increase difficulty

Assign a core character to each student, and have the students focus on overlapping power relationships for that character. For example, ask one student to examine Prospero’s power relationships and another to examine those of Caliban. Instruct students to use their essays to analyze how these overlapping relationships change their character and the plot. Have students work on their essays individually and then exchange papers and edit each other’s work before finalizing their essays.

Final Project 2: The Power of Music

Students will analyze and perform music from The Tempest. Put students in small groups. Groups will: 

  • Participate in a general discussion of how music fits into the play, with the class. 

  • Locate specific songs or musical interludes and read them in the larger context of the scene. 

  • Compose written or oral analyses of specific pieces of music, including their function in the play, their contribution to structure, and their expression of literary themes. 

  • Perform the songs or musical interludes for the class. Students can compose their own tunes or base their music on previous performances of the music, which can be researched online. 


Here is a partial list of music in The Tempest:
-Ariel’s song, “Come unto these yellow sands”
-Ariel’s song, “Full fathom five”
-Ariel’s song, “Awake, awake”
-Stephano’s song, “I shall no more to sea”
-Caliban’s song, “Freedom”
-Stephano’s song, “Flout ’em and scout ’em”
-Banquet music
-Duet by Juno and Ceres, “Honor, riches, marriage-blessing”
-Ariel’s song, “Where the bee sucks”

Here are some questions to help students analyze the music:

Who is performing the music, and who is the audience? 

Where in the play does the music occur? Is it part of the rising action, the climax, or the falling action? 

What are the stage functions of the music? What is happening onstage or offstage while the music plays? 

How does the music affect the mood and tone of the scene? 

How does the music change the behavior of the character and thus affect the plot? 

What themes of the play does the music express?

Differentiated Instruction

This activity can be modified to help all students access learning.
Decrease difficulty

Assign one or two songs per group. Encourage students to do dramatic readings of the scenes in which the songs occur to aid in their analysis of the songs’ functions. Help groups assign project roles so that all students are performing tasks within their abilities.

Increase difficulty

Assign one advanced group the task of analyzing and performing the masque in Act 4, Scene 1, lines 44–154. Include composers, singers, and dancers in the group. Have students do online research on masques and on Shakespearian music to inspire their own original compositions and interpretations.

Additional Worksheets

Use one or both of the additional worksheets to help students increase their understanding of the emotions, themes, and subplots of the play.

Additional Worksheet 1: The Power of Love 

Students will use The Power of Love Worksheet to isolate the love story of Miranda and Ferdinand from the rest of the plot and trace the story from their first meeting to their marriage.

Additional Worksheet 2: The Power of Hate and Evil

Students will use The Power of Hate and Evil Worksheet to read and interpret quotes and scenes in which hate and other negative emotions drive the characterization and plot of The Tempest.

CCSS

Differentiated Instruction

This activity can be modified to help all students access learning.
Decrease difficulty

For both worksheets, have students work in small groups and assign one quote per group. Check to make sure students have located the quote and read the quote in context. Have them read scenes out loud to increase their understanding. Students might also give oral reports instead of writing essays.

Increase difficulty

For both worksheets, have students work in small groups, with each member of the group working on a different quote and scene. Have students work alone to write their essays and then exchange papers for peer review. Have students revise their essays based on peer feedback.

Assess the Assignments

Use the Rubric for Student Assessment to evaluate student work on the lesson assignments. 

Distribute the Student Reflection Worksheet. Guide students through the self-assessment and reflection questions.

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