In our most recent blog post, we featured a unit plan from our Shakespeare in American Life website about patriarchy in King Lear (onstage right now at Folger Theatre) and William Faulkner’s As I Lay Dying. Today, we return to Shakespeare in American Life for a look at some fascinating comments about King Lear by Janet… Continue Reading »
Posts Tagged: Shakespeare in American Life
Performances of Shakespeare’s Globe: King Lear began last Friday at Folger Theatre, so we thought this would be an opportune time to share a unit plan based on Shakespeare’s famous play about a father and his three daughters. The unit plan, featured on our Shakespeare in American Life website, comes from English teacher Keith Muller. Over the course… Continue Reading »
[getty src=”167447077?et=_yXIZdIbRb507qdWa7nV9A&sig=O8Gp4Zd3wQ0kD41Bmk7N8RuHpYNfaBB7EJ5m-vZAtaw=” width=”507″ height=”387″] With the Fourth of July holiday weekend behind us, many teachers are turning again to the task of curriculum-building for the upcoming school year and thinking about ways to get this fresh batch of students interested in studying Shakespeare. Consider how it came to be that Americans over the centuries have so heartily… Continue Reading »
Orson Welles had a love affair with Macbeth. Many teachers know him from the 1948 feature film which he both directed and played the title role. Sure it’s in black & white, and yes he rearranges scenes, seems to make up bits of dialogue , and even leaves the witches out of act 4, scene 1… Continue Reading »
As the movie industry continues to reinvent itself, Shakespeare has been a mainstay amidst developing trends. King John was one of the first silent films, and Taming of the Shrew one of the first to receive a soundtrack. Shakespeare’s characters have even found themselves reinvented as high school students in teen movies! Similarly, as technology has… Continue Reading »
Teachers often ask me how to justify teaching a Shakespeare play in an American Literature class. My answer is simple: Teach The Tempest. Many scholars believe that The Tempest was inspired by the real-life shipwreck of the Sea Venture off the coast of Bermuda in 1609 on its way to Jamestown. The account of that incident written in a… Continue Reading »
