Overview

Time is tricky in The Tempest. Shakespeare’s script alternates between real time (the time of the action onstage), past time (the time of events that happened before the onstage action), and imaginary time (the time that passes in the characters’ imaginations). Students will use this worksheet to locate four passages that play with time. They will read the relevant text and answer the probing questions to discover how time contributes to the characterization, structure, and plot of the play. After completing the chart, students will write short essays that analyze how Shakespeare uses time in The Tempest. Pass out the worksheet after students have finished reading the complete text.

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