1. An Introduction to Shakespeare’s The Tempest
Prepared by
Gerry Levandoski
E. A. Hall Title VII College Bound Facilitator
April 2003

2. The Tempest
Contents 2
Title Page…………………………………………… 1
Contents …………………………………………… 2
Summary of the Play ………………………………
Characters ……………………………………………
Character Map ………………………………………
Objectives …………………………………………
Suggestions for Using This Presentation …………
Types of Drama ……………………………………. 34
Five Stages of Storytelling ……………………….. 35
Exposition ……………………………….. 36
Complication …………………………….. 37
Climax ……………………………………. 38
Falling Action ……………………………
Denouement ………………………………
Shakespeare’s Language……………………………
Resources ………………………………………….. 44

3. 3

4. Act I: Exposition 4

5. 5

6. 6

7. 7

8. 8

9. 9
Act II: Complication

10. 10

11. 11

12. 12

13. 13

14. 14
Act III: Climax

15. 15

16. 16

17. Act IV: Falling Action 17

18. 18
Act V: Denouement

19. 19

20. 20

21. 21

22. 22

23. 23

24. 24

25. The Tempest Objectives of Lesson Plan 25
The objectives of this plan do not include a close reading of the play. Rather, the main objective is to prepare students to see the play by having them know the plot and the characters.
In addition, the unit presents a couple literary concepts including the basic differences among comedy, romance and tragedy and the five stages of storytelling. Finally, students will receive some practice reading iambic pentameter and interpreting Shakespeare’s English.
Next year as freshmen, most students will read Romeo and Juliet. This overview of The Tempest and seeing a live performance will enable the students to appreciate their next Shakespearian experience all the more.

26. The Tempest
Using These Materials 26

27. The Tempest
Using These Materials 27
Sequence of Activities 1. Provide some background about Shakespeare and why Watsonville High things he is important enough that students traditionally read three of his plays during their four years there (Romeo and Juliet, Julius Cesar, Hamlet or Macbeth). Explain that the play is written in poetic verse (iambic pentameter), and the language isn’t American English. Forewarn students that they will have some trouble understanding, but by knowing the plot and characters and by watching for physical cues provided by the actors, their experience should be an enjoyable one.

28. The Tempest
Using These Materials 28
2. Before the students read the summary, spend time reviewing the drama types and Five Stages of Storytelling. Students can be set the task of finding the five stages while reading the summary.
In discussions that follow the performance, students can be asked such questions as:
What was the first complication that came up in Prospero’s plan?
What other complications arose?
What were the main conflicts?
What was the climactic event?
How were the complications/conflicts resolved?
Why is this play a romance?

29. The Tempest
Using These Materials 29
3. The summary introduces the characters, so do the PowerPoint presentation next. On the first reading I recommend skipping the embedded quotes from the play and focusing on the plot and the Five Stages of Storytelling.
Students should be able to retell the basic plot and to discuss the complications/conflicts. You may choose to focus on Miranda and Ferdinand:
Can love at first sight be true love? If not, what is it?
They are both in either’s powers. But this swift business
I must uneasy make, lest too light winning
Make the prize light.
If you were Prospero, how would you have handled
Ferdinand and Miranda?

30. The Tempest
Using These Materials 30
Ask some questions about the magical spirit Ariel and the unhuman Caliban:
Do you believe in magic?
What is magic? What causes magic?
From where did Prospero get his powers?
How can people develop magical powers?

31. The Tempest
Using These Materials 31
4. The character descriptions and the character map are optional. They will help students understand the play better, but if time were short, I would cut down on time spent on these components.
Printing out the character map, eliminating some of the verbiage, and having students fill in map would be a worthwhile follow up exercise.

32. The Tempest
Using These Materials 32
5. Practice with Shakespeare’s English. A review of iambic pentameter can be handled in several ways, but students should have the chance to rehearse and to practice reading some of this poetry aloud. The question is, what examples to use.
Introducing a favorite Shakespearean sonnet is one approach.
Personally, I would like to do a close reading of Act I Scene ii, lines 375 to 501, in which Miranda and Ferdinand meet for the first time. I would follow this with having students rehearse and read aloud this section of the play.

33. The Tempest
Using These Materials 33
Given the materials on this disk, the class could go back to the summary and practice with the embedded excerpts.
Model reading a few aloud in proper cadences and paraphrasing them in modern American English.
Assign students the task of selecting passages, rehearsing, reading aloud and paraphrasing. The quotes found with the character descriptions can also be used.
6. After the performance. Many of the activities listed above could be used or revisited as follow up activities.

34. The Tempest is defined as a romance, a type of drama that has elements of both comedy and tragedy.
In a comedy, the characters face embarrassing or uncomfortable situations, which tend to amuse the audience rather than arouse our sympathies. In the end, the action turns out well for the chief characters. Shakespearian comedy ends with a marriage.
In a tragedy, the main character is typically a noble personality or hero, who struggles mightily, but in the end succumbs to serious events. Usually a fatal flaw in the hero’s personality makes his downfall predictable. In Shakespeare, the tragic hero dies.
A romance has the potential for tragedy but the tragic elements are resolved. A romance is a bit more serious than a typical comedy, but by the end of the play all the main character’s problems are resolved is a positive way.

35. The Tempest demonstrates the Five Stages of Storytelling.
1. Exposition
2. Complication
3. Climax
4. Falling Action
5. Denouement/Catastrophe/Conclusion
The following five slides define these terms and give examples from The Tempest.

36. Act I contains the exposition
Act I contains the exposition. The playwright sets forth the problem, which causes the play’s action and introduces the main characters and the setting.
Most of the play’s characters are introduced. We learn of Prospero’s betrayal by his brother Antonio and how Prospero and Miranda came to live on the island. Miranda, who has never seen a man other than her father, immediately falls in love with Ferdinand. Ferdinand feels the same toward her, but complications arise. Propsero forbids contact between them and gives Ferdinand physical trials to perform. The two youths might not appreciate each other if love comes too easily.

37. Act II continues the complication or rising action. Conflicts develop
Act II continues the complication or rising action. Conflicts develop. A problem arises that leads to action.
The conspiracy to murder Alonso develops and Caliban is introduced. Later a conspiracy to murder Prospero begins.

38. Act III contains the climax, the highest point of the rising action
Act III contains the climax, the highest point of the rising action. The action takes a turning point and a crisis occurs.
In this act, Ferdinand proposes to Miranda. Ariel intervenes before Antonio and Sebastian can kill Alonso. The essential climactic action occurs when Prospero confronts his enemies at the ghostly banquet.

39. In Act IV the problems of the main characters begin to resolve themselves.
Miranda and Ferdinand love is acknowledged and celebrated with the masque, an elaborate play within the play. Also, Prospero prepares to deal with Caliban’s conspiracy.

40. Act V presents the denouement (the unknotting of the problem) or conclusion. The conflict of the play is resolved. If the drama were a tragedy, a catastrophe would occur, usually the hero’s death.
Prospero forgives his enemies and regains his rightful place as Duke of Milan. Ferdinand is reunited with his father, and the wedding is agreed upon. Ariel and Caliban are freed. The ship and its crew are found and everyone prepares to depart for Italy. Propsero’s grandchildren will rule Naples as well as Milan.

41. The Tempest Shakespeare’s Language 41
Shakespeare uses poetic language called iambic pentameter in his plays. To understand what this is, you need a couple more terms defined.
Syllable: a unit of speech sound. Every syllable contains a vowel sound. In a word or phrase, syllables are either EMPHASIZED (accented/stressed ) or unstressed.
Meter: the repetition in a line (verse) of poetry of a regular rhythmic unit. These rhythmic units are made up of combinations of syllables. Each type of combination has a name. The one were interested in here is iambic.
Iambic meter consists of one unstressed syllable followed by a STRESSED syllable. For instance:
re-CALL (iambic meter) vs RE-call (trochaic meter)

42. The Tempest Shakespeare’s Language 42
Foot (of meter): Meter is measured in feet. One foot is a single rhythmic unit. A line of meter (verse) is named according to the number of feet composing it.
Thus, when we say Shakespeare uses iambic pentameter, we mean a complete line of verse has five (penta) feet of iambic meter.
Try reading the following verses. Make it sound natural. Pause slightly at the end of each line :
leave NOT a RACK be-HIND. We ARE such STUFF
as DREAMS are MADE on. AND our LIT-tle LIFE
is ROUND-ed WITH a SLEEP.

43. The Tempest Shakespeare’s Language 43
The information above will help you in the practice exercises the teacher will assign. Here are a couple more listening and viewing tips.
Not all verses are a full five feet long, and not all characters speak in verse. Those of lower social rank, like Caliban and Stefano, speak mostly in prose.
Shakespeare’s verse affects word choice and word order. He moves parts of sentences away from where we would put them normally. Often, we can’t understand what a character is saying until he finishes. Be patient and attentive.
Modern directors and actors use lots of gestures and body language to help the audience understand. Watch for visual cues. They help us get jokes we would miss.

44. The Tempest
Resources 44
The disk does not contain the text of the play, which the teacher should obtain and read in advance. It does contain a Power Point Presentation of character descriptions and a summary taken from:
Shakespeare for Everyone, The Tempest.
Mulherin, Jennifer and Abigail Frost.
London: Cherrytree Books, 2001.
A second valuable resource is:
Cliff Notes: Shakespeare’s The Tempest.
Metzger, Sheri,Ph.D. New York: IDG Books, 2001.