‘The Tempest’: Traditional Homework tasks

Here are some options for homework tasks for each of the lessons in this unit
of work.
You do not need to use all of these tasks and you do not need to set
homework every lesson.
Please refer to your school and department homework policy when setting
and marking homework tasks.

Research: Find out more about how the theatres grew and developed
in the Elizabethan era. Find out about the Puritans, and why The Globe
theatre was built where it was.
1 First Folio: You can find a copy of the First Folio online here:
http://firstfolio.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/ What do you notice about the
writing? How is it different to books printed today?
Research: Find out more about Sir Walter Raleigh and Sir Francis Drake
and the different discoveries they made when exploring the world, and
2 what they brought back to England.
Creative writing: Imagine you were an explorer in Elizabethan England.
Write about the difficulties you would have faced when out at sea.
Research: Shakespeare set many of his plays in Italian city-states. Find
out the settings of five of Shakespeare’s plays, and find out some
interesting facts about each location. Use this to explain why
Shakespeare might have wanted to set a play there.
3 Writing: What makes large cities an interesting place to set stories?
Explain all the reasons why Shakespeare might have decided to set
some of his plays in city-states, using dukes, princes and kings as
characters.
Research: Britain has a colonialist history. Find out more about the
countries England colonised.
Research: Over the past 100 years, many countries that were once
British colonies have regained independence. Find out more about
4 countries like Canada, Australia, Hong Kong and Malta.
Creative writing: Imagine you were a Native American watching
Christopher Columbus approaching. Write a diary explaining what
happened to you and your people over the following years.
Writing: Choose one character from ‘The Tempest’ and explain what
happens to them throughout the play.
5 ‘The Tempest’: Nobody is certain exactly which island ‘The Tempest’
was set on. Research where it could have been set and explain why it
could, or could not have been set there.
 Writing: ‘The Tempest’ and ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’ both start with
the threat of death. Why is this a good way to start a play? How does it
grab an audience’s attention?
6 Characters: Choose one of the characters from the opening scene.
Look at what they say in the scene and how other people react to
them. What kind of character do you think they are?
Research: Prospero is a magician. Even today, audiences are
interested in magic and mystery. Find out about magic and alchemy in
Shakespearean London. How do you think a Shakespearean audience
would have reacted to Prospero? Why?
7 Research: Prospero is said to be partially based on John Dee. Find out
more about who this person was and why people in Shakespearean
London would have been interested in him.
(http://www.show.me.uk/collection/1467-elizabeth-i-and-john-dee)
Writing: Write a paragraph about this metaphor. Prospero is describing
how Antonio took power from him in Milan: ‘now he was / The ivy which
had hid my princely trunk’
8 Creative writing: We have only heard Prospero’s version of events from
Milan. Write your own account of what happened from Antonio’s
perspective. Try to use metaphors to describe Prospero in the same way
as Prospero used them to describe Antonio.
Research: Shakespeare used a number of magical characters in his
plays. Which other plays feature magical characters, apart from ‘The
Tempest’ and ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’?
9 Creative Writing: We hear Ariel’s perspective of what happened on the
ship, and all the ways he used his magic to terrify the people on board.
Write an account of what happened from the perspective of one of
the people on board the ship.
Research: Look at the ways Caliban has been portrayed in a variety of
different productions of ‘The Tempest’. What similarities do you notice
between how he is presented?
10 Creative Writing: Look at how Prospero describes Caliban’s mother,
Sycorax in the play (Act 1, Scene 2, lines 250-284). Write your own
description of her, including what she looks like and how she treats
other people.
Writing: Whose side do you take – Caliban’s or Prospero’s? Why?
11 Writing: Write an analytical paragraph on why Prospero hates Caliban.
Writing: Write 2 analytical paragraphs on Ariel’s song. Explain how Ariel
uses language to calm Ferdinand.

12 Creative writing: Ferdinand thinks that his father, King Alonso has
drowned. Write an obituary for Alonso. As a king, you would need to be
respectful and reverent of the dead king, but you might also want to
mention how he was involved in throwing Prospero from Milan.
 Writing: Compare the difficulties Ferdinand and Miranda face to the
difficulties faced by Hermia and Lysander in ‘A Midsummer Night’s
13 Dream’.
Writing: Prospero wants to slow down the courtship between Miranda
and Ferdinand. Do you think Prospero is right to do this? Why? Why not?
Writing: How does Antonio persuade Sebastian to kill King Alonso?
Research: Antonio is trying to convince Sebastian to usurp his father.
14 One of the most famous pieces of writing about taking power from
others is Machiavelli’s book The Prince. Find out more about this book
and how it may have influenced Shakespeare when he was writing.
Writing: Why does an audience enjoy watching Antonio and Sebastian
plan to kill Alonso and Gonzalo even though they are doing a terrible
thing?
15 Research: At this point in his career, Shakespeare was writing plays for
the king, James I. Why would James I have found the plot to kill Alonso
so fascinating?
Writing: How is Sebastian presented in Act 2 Scene 1?
Writing: Antonio and Sebastian try to kill Alonso and Gonzalo near the
16 start of the play. How does this keep an audience wanting to find out
more about these characters throughout the play?
Creative writing: We have heard Caliban’s perspective of the terrible
ways Prospero treats him. Write an account of what happens from
17 Prospero’s perspective. You may want to include reasons why you
need to be so harsh on Caliban.
Research: ‘The Tempest’ contains the most stage directions of any of
Shakespeare’s plays. But there are some famous stage directions in
some of his other plays. Find out more about some of Shakespeare’s
18 most important stage directions.
Creative writing: Caliban declares that he will be Stephano’s slave from
this point onwards. Write a diary that explains how Caliban feels about
finding a new master.
Writing: Caliban is a character with lots of flaws. Write a list of reasons
why an audience would dislike Caliban. Explain your feelings towards
him.
19 Writing: Which character is worse – Caliban or Antonio? Who has the
better excuse for wanting to kill? Which character does an audience
have more sympathy with? Why?
Writing: Caliban’s dream is often compared to Ariel’s song to Ferdinand
from earlier in the play. How are these two extracts similar?
20 Writing: Caliban’s dream is often compared to Ariel’s song to Ferdinand
from earlier in the play. How do both of these extracts calm the people
they are addressing?
 Writing: Is Prospero a good father to Miranda? Why? Why not?
Creative writing: We don’t really hear Miranda’s thoughts about being
21 able to marry Ferdinand. Write 12-15 lines where you explain how you
feel about being allowed to marry Ferdinand. Try to use the same kind
of language Shakespeare would have used.
Writing: Write down your own opinions on one of these questions:
1. Is it possible to change someone’s inherent personality?
2. Are people born as good or bad?
3. What has more influence on you: your inherent personality, or the
22 way you are brought up?
Research: Find out more about the nature/nurture debate. How does it
impact research in science today? For example, what is more
important in causing cancer – your genetic makeup, or environmental
factors like diet and exercise?
Writing: What kind of character is Prospero?
Writing: How does Prospero change throughout ‘The Tempest’?
23 Reading: At the end of the play, Prospero decides to give up magic for
good (Act 5, Scene 1, Lines 33-57). Read the passage and explain how
this affects how you feel towards Prospero.
24 Assessment preparation
25 Assessment preparation
26 Assessment preparation