The Eagle’s Nest

SHAKESPEARE PROJECT (given 2/19)

Read the assigned play by 2/26 (counts for QRA & there will be a test). No separate summary required.  The following is required by all:

1)    EACH GROUP must present a PowerPoint (min. of one slide produced by each member) with a slide on Shakespeare’s life, a slide on the times, and the rest should cover a summary of characters, plot (by act), and literary elements.  A minimum of ten slides for project.  A copy of the PowerPoint needs to be burned and after being used in class, given to the teacher (-25 points if missing).                                                                                                                                                           Due Date 3/2

2)    Take notes on each student presentation.  The mid-term will have questions on characters and plot.                                                                                               

3)    EACH INDIVIDUAL must answer all 20 questions on the sheet given.  Note website the information came from (list).   No credit if the website is not noted.  You need to look at all the websites on the list.                                                                                                            Due date is 3/2

4)    EACH GROUP must write an original one-act play that is a modern version of their play (at least in theme).  This will be performed for the class.  It must have at least two scenes.  Both the play and the performance will be judged.   Remember the workshop.                                 

                                                                               Script due 3/6

Plays PERFORMED:

Hamlet
 – Tragedy 3/23

The themes of the plot cover indecision, revenge and retribution, deception, ambition, loyalty and fate. Prince Hamlet mourns both his father’s death and his mother, Queen Gertrude’s remarriage to Claudius. The ghost of Hamlet’s father appears to him and tells him that Claudius has poisoned him. Hamlet swears revenge. He kills the eavesdropping Polonius, the court chamberlain. Polonius’s son Alerts returns to Denmark to avenge his father’s death. Polonius’s daughter Ophelia loves the Prince but his behavior drives her to madness. Ophelia dies by drowning. A duel takes place and ends with the death of Gertrude, Laertes, Claudius, and Hamlet.

Macbeth- Tragedy 3/24

Three witches decide to confront the great Scottish general Macbeth on his victorious return from a war between Scotland and Norway. The Scottish king, Duncan, decides that he will confer the title of the traitorous Cawdor on the heroic Macbeth. Macbeth, and another General called Banquo, happen upon the three witches. The witches predict that he will one day become king. He decides that he will murder Duncan. Macbeth’s wife agrees to his plan. He then murders Duncan assisted by his wife who smears the blood of Duncan on the daggers of the sleeping guards. A nobleman called Macduff discovers the body. Macbeth kills the guards insisting that their daggers smeared with Duncan’s blood are proof that they committed the murder. The crown passes to Macbeth. More murders ensue and the bloodied ghost of Banquo appears to Macbeth. Lady Macbeth’s conscience now begins to torture her and she imagines that she can see her hands covered with blood. She commits suicide. Macduff kills Macbeth and becomes king.

Romeo and Juliet – Tragedy 3/25

Shakespeare’s tragic drama of the “star-crossed” young lovers Romeo Montague and Juliet Capulet is best remembered for the famous balcony scene. Romeo Montague and Juliet Capulet are teenagers who fall deeply in love but their families are bitter enemies. They seize the moment and marry in secret, they make every effort to conceal their actions but these end in tragedy when Romeo, Juliet, Tybalt, Mercutio and Paris all die. The themes running through the play address the issues of the consequences of immature blind passion, hatred and prejudice.


A Midsummer Night’s Dream – Comedy 3/26

The main plot of Midsummer is a complex farce that involves two sets of couples (Hermia & Lysander and Helena & Demetrius) whose romantic intrigues are confused and complicated still further by entering the forest where Oberon, the King of the Fairies and his Queen, Titania, preside. Puck (or Robin Goodfellow) is a major character who is full of mischief and tricks. Other visitors to the enchanted forest include Bottom the weaver and his friends Snug, Snout, Quince and Flute who want to rehearse their dire but hilarious rendering of the play Pyramus and Thisbe.
The themes illustrated in the play are that Love triumphs in the end and the pleasure of Dreaming the Impossible Dream.

The Merchant of Venice – Comedy 3/27

The character of Shylock has raised a debate over whether the play should be condemned as anti-Semitic, and this controversy has overshadowed many other aspects of the play.
The plot involves a vengeful, greedy creditor, Shylock, a Jewish money-lender Shylock who seeks a literal pound of flesh from his Christian opposite, the generous, faithful Antonio. Shakespeare’s version of the chest-choosing device revolves around the play’s Christian heroine, Portia, who steers her lover Bassanio toward the correct humble casket and then successfully defends his bosom friend Antonio from Shylock’s horrid legal suit. Shylock, is a Jew whose beloved daughter is lost to him when she elopes with a man who belongs to a virulently anti-Semitic society. When grief, anger and vengeance overcome common sense he ends up literally forced to his knees to renounce his faith and his fortune. 


The Taming of the Screw – Comedy 3/30

The play starts with the Induction where a trick is played by a nobleman on the drunkard Christopher Sly who arranges for an acting troupe to perform a play called The Taming of the Shrew…

The beautiful and gentle Bianca has no shortage of admirers (Lucentio, Gremio and Hortensio) but her father insists that she will not marry until her shrewish sister, Katharina, is betrothed. Bianca’s suitors persuade fortune-seeker Petruchio to court her. The suitors pay for any costs involved and there is also the goal of Katharina’s dowry.

Sparks fly between Katharina and Petruchio and they enter into various slanging matches but not to be put off Petruchio marries Katharina. His behavior following the wedding is intolerable and he carries Katharina off to his country house with his servant Grumio. Petruchio intends to browbeat 
Katharina into submission and he craftily denies her food and sleep, whilst continuously singing her praises. He also finds fault with her new clothes and she is forced to wear old ones. This is the final straw and Katharina starts agreeing and pleasing her husband – she has been tamed.

On their return to Padua Lucentio has won Bianca and Hortensio has married a widow. At a banquet they wager on who has the most obedient wife. Each wife is issued with commands but only Katharina obeys and promptly lectures everyone on the importance of wifely submission!

The theme of the play is a farcical comedy but the question is did Shakespeare really believe that a woman was in no way equal to a man or was this play tongue in cheek and was he portraying how men would simply like things to be!

This unit represents a major part of your grade:

·      Quiz on play

·      Websites & Questions

·      PowerPoint

·      Play script

·      Performance

·      QRA pages

·      Included in the    mid-term