Lesson video

Welcome everybody, it's Mr. Dyke here, bringing you another English lesson based on "The Tempest." Before we begin, make sure you've got a pen ready, a pen of another colour that you can mark your responses with, clear away any other distractions that you might have.

You will also need some of your previous notes, if you find them really helpful in terms of the lessons you've already done on "The Tempest." Make sure that's sorted now.

When you're ready, write down today's title, which is on the screen, "The Theme of Hope: Coming Ashore." Okay, let's begin by recapping the previous scenes that we've looked at, the previous lessons that we've also explored.

So as always, here are three images, which are based on Prospero and Caliban, which is that passage that we read last lesson from Act I, Scene II.

Each symbol represents one of the key ideas in that scene or one of the key events.

So basically, all you need to do is write down everything you can remember about Prospero and Caliban and their relationship, thinking about their characters and why their relationship is the way it is.

Use the images to help you.

So pause the video now and just spend two minutes doing that.

Okay, let's go through some really important ideas that I wanted you to focus on the most.

So here are three bullet points.

Now you may have written down more, or you might have worded it slightly differently.

That is absolutely fine.

These three ideas are the really key ones I wanted you to take on.

So first of all, we've got to remember that Caliban is the island's native resident.

That means he's that the one person who the island is the home to him.

Okay, he's native to the island.

Nobody else has the island as their true home.

So it's really important in his attitude, isn't it? Caliban once welcomed to Prospero to the island, showing him its features.

Prospero treated Caliban well once.

So it's all about that.

They were once really positive towards one another.

They were both very caring and loving to one another.

And suddenly now Caliban is now not trusted by Prospero and he's locked away and he's treated and described as a slave.

And we learn that it's because Caliban has once attacked Miranda and therefore, Prospero can't really trust him without controlling him now.

And there's very, very much a bitter relationship between the two, which is all very sad.

So the main thing we noticed last lesson was that Caliban's relationship with Prospero is much, much, very different to Prospero and Ariel's relationship, which was a lot more positive and full of respect.

So really, what you should be thinking about, why is that, what's different about Caliban? Is it his behaviour? Is it the nature of who he is? Is it because he's more defensive of his island? So that's something we will be exploring gradually, and as we move through the play.

Today, however we're focusing a new scene, and this is the beginning of Act II okay, and this is Scene I, and we're going to see lots of the other characters who were on the shipwreck, and they're going to be appearing, and we're going to be looking at how they have survived and what their attitudes are.

We'll see people like King Alonso.

So let's see what happened in this particular scene.

So we've got lots of characters here, Ferdinand, Alonso's son, has been shipwrecked somewhere else and we'll learn about him shortly.

We've not read about him yet.

The others think he's dead.

So that's something to keep in mind.

When we did our plot summary, you should all know exactly what happens to Ferdinand, however, at this point in the play, Alonso and the other men do not know what's happened to Ferdinand, and that's really important.

We'll learn about what has happened to him in coming lessons.

Alonso, therefore, feels hopeless and despondent.

That means he feels like he hasn't really got a way of moving forward, he's really sad about Ferdinand, and he assumes he's dead.

Gonzalo suggests that the island is a good place and demonstrates optimism.

Optimism is where you are positive about something more so than negative, okay? So it's where you demonstrate a level of positivity for the future.

And Francisco explains that he saw Ferdinand valiantly swimming, suggesting he may still be alive.

So this is a character who isn't really important in the play, but he will, his statements here are important for Alonso, okay? Because it will give Alonso some hope.

So this scene is all about a mixture of hope and whether the men have hope, having shipwrecked on this island and whether they are optimistic or pessimistic, so positive or not very positive.

As always, as we read, okay, I want you to summarise each section.

So each slide that I show you, just summarise the events or the important ideas.

And obviously, if I mentioned any vocabulary, then writing down the definitions to those words or any of the key ideas that we come across.

Okay, let's get going then.

So Gonzalo's going to begin this scene, okay, and he's speaking to Alonso.

"Beseech you, sir, be merry.

"You have cause, so have we all, of joy, "for our escape is much beyond our loss.

"Our hint of woe is common.

"Every day, some sailor's wife, "the masters of some merchant, "and the merchant have just our theme of woe.

"But for the miracle, "I mean our preservation, "few in millions can speak like us.

"Then wisely, good sir, weigh our sorrow with our comfort." So Gonzalo's being really positive here.

He's talking about the idea that woe, this idea of sadness is something that everybody experiences at different points throughout their lives.

However, Gonzalo is telling Alonso that they should be happy or they should be grateful because they've experienced a miracle.

And he's saying that their preservation, and preservation means to keep something alive, the fact that they are still alive is a miracle and not many people can say that about themselves.

So Gonzalo is basically saying to him, "Weigh up your sorrow with your comfort," weigh up your negativity with the positive.

Look on the bright side of things here.

Alonso responds just with "Prithee, peace," which just means be quiet, he doesn't want to hear it.

And Sebastian, just aside, to Antonio, "He receives comfort like cold porridge." So Alonso is not really responding to that positivity at all because he's just too despondent.

Okay, pausing here.

Just answer these two questions for me.

So how is Gonzalo trying to reassure Alonso and how is Alonso responding? Okay, let's continue.

So we're going to continue with Gonzalo here.

"Here is everything advantageous to life." So again, he's being really positive.

He's talked about actually, everything here on this island will help us survive, advantageous.

Antonio, "True.

Save means to live." Sebastian, "Of that there's none, or little." So Antonio and Sebastian are being a bit sarcastic, so they're saying, oh yeah, everything is here that is advantageous to life apart, from actually living.

So they're actually kind of mocking Gonzalo a little bit.

There's none, there's actually nothing advantageous to life here.

"How lush and lusty the grass looks! How green." Antonio, "The ground indeed is tawny." Sebastian, "With an eye of green in 't." So actually tawny kind of means that it's actually dry and brown, and not very healthy at all, but only with green patches.

So Gonzalo is being super positive, and Antonio and Sebastian are just being mocking and sarcastic and really not getting on board with Gonzalo, instead, being unpleasant.

"But the rarity of it is, which is indeed "almost beyond credit." "As many vouched rarities are." "That our garments being, as they were, "drenched in the sea, hold notwithstanding their freshness "and glosses, being rather new-dyed "than stained with saltwater." So Gonzalo's talking about, our clothes there, our garments, and he's actually saying that they were, despite them being drenched in the sea, that they seem to be fresh.

So Gonzalo's almost like commenting on the fact that it's actually quite strange.

He might be picking up on the fact that there's maybe some magic involved here in the fact that they've landed on this island.

Okay, pausing again.

How does Gonzalo look on the situation positively? And what unusual thing has he noticed? Let's continue then.

So Alonso's going to speak, and assuming this will be about Ferdinand, his son, and it will very much reveal his kind of despondent, sad attitude.

"You cram these words into mine ears "against the stomach of my sense.

"Would I had never married my daughter there! "For coming thence, my son is lost, "and, in my rate, she too, "who is so far from Italy removed, "I ne'er again shall see her.

"O thou mine heir of Naples and of Milan, "what strange fish hath made his meal on thee?" So Alonso is in mourning, isn't he? He's questioning there.

What strange fish has eaten Ferdinand? He's wonders what's happened to Ferdinand, has he definitely died, and how? And he's mourning his loss.

He's kind of mourning the fact that they went to Africa, to experience the wedding of his daughter because if they hadn't done that, then this would've never happened, so he's quite despondent.

Francisco comes along and says, "Sir, he may live.

"I saw him beat the surges under him "and ride upon their backs.

"He trod the water, whose enmity he flung aside "and breasted the surge most swoll'n that met him.

"His bold head 'bove the contentious waves he kept, "and oared himself with his good arms in lusty stroke "to th'shore, that o'er his wave-worn basis bowed, "as stooping to relieve him, "I not doubt he came alive to land." So Francisco is convinced that he saw Ferdinand swimming with confidence.

Look all the different words which kind of demonstrate that.

You've got lusty strokes, you've got and oared himself, so you've got a lot of references that Ferdinand can handle himself and handle the waters and he came alive to land.

We know that Francisco is correct.

And obviously, whether Alonso believes him or not is another matter.

Okay, pausing there.

It's your final questions here.

What does Alonso question and how does Francisco offer hope? So answering in full sentences, just spend two minutes answering those two questions.

Okay, and we should be ready with our other coloured pen now 'cause we're going to mark our responses from those questions throughout.

The first one, which how is Gonzalo trying to reassure Alonso? So Gonzalo stresses that they should be optimistic because they've landed on the island with their lives intact.

So it's all about the fact that they should be grateful to be alive.

How is Alonso responding? Alonso is irritated by Gonzalo and appears hopeless.

He doesn't see beyond the death of Ferdinand.

So Alonso is despondent and he can't really be convinced otherwise.

He's not seeing any other point of view whatsoever.

How does Gonzalo look on the situation positively? So Gonzalo focuses on the beauty of the island, pointing out that the plants are beautiful and luscious green.

He's very positive about kind of the way things are, and the unusual thing he has noticed, that, as if by magic, their clothes and possessions are clean and intact despite being shipwrecked, which suggests there's some magic at play.

And finally, final two.

What does Alonso question? He questions how Ferdinand may have died and which sea creature may have eaten him.

And how does Francisco offer hope? He claims that Ferdinand was seen swimming bravely away and that is undoubtable that he will have survived.

Okay, so just making sure now that you've ticked all the answers which are correct and along the right lines and that you've added in any extra detail or any things that you got wrong and just editing them for me now.

Okay, we're going to look at a key technique and it might be a technique you've heard of and it might not, and that's absolutely fine.

But Shakespeare, throughout many of his plays, uses a technique of juxtaposition.

So maybe you'll just practise saying that to me, to the screen now, juxtaposition, and this means two things being seen or placed close together with contrasting effect, okay? So the idea of putting two almost opposites, things that you wouldn't normally associate with one another being put together to try and create contrast, this difference between them, okay? Let's just think about what we mean by that.

We're going to think about this question.

How does Shakespeare juxtapose hope and loss in this scene? So Shakespeare is using lots of juxtaposition between hope and positivity and loss and despair, maybe, okay? So what I'd like you to do is just make a note, first of all, of these two subheadings.

So you've got humour and lightheartedness, so that represents hope.

And then you've got sorrow, which is just deep sadness.

And next to these headings, or underneath these headings, I'd like you to write down as many examples as you can remember from the scene we've just read which support that subheading.

So where do you see some humour? Where do we see some sorrow? And what we can do that is we can actually balance out and see which one there is more of, and we can look at the two different ways in which Shakespeare executes this juxtaposition of ideas.

So just pause the video now.

Spend three minutes writing down any examples from the scene we've just watched, which support each heading.

Off you go.

Okay, we've got, first of all, Gonzalo's optimism demonstrates a bit of lightheartedness, some positivity there.

The men mocking Gonzalo, okay, is quite humorous at a time when they talk about how about the grass isn't luscious and green, and that it's tawny, and actually, their relationship is quite humorous at this point, which would tell the audience that this isn't actually a big, this isn't too serious, we're dealing with a comedy here.

So it's not a big, big thing.

And Francisco's story offers some hope, doesn't it, some lighthearted hope, and hopefully, things will turn out okay for Ferdinand.

Sorrow, there is still plenty of sorrow, but Alonso's hopeless mentality is the worst thing, isn't it? Alonso won't listen to anybody and just is very, very hopeless and Alonso questions which creature killed his son just to add to the darkness and the sorrow there.

I would argue that there's more humour and lightheartedness because this is a comedy.

So they're not taking this serious, and it's not a big tragedy that's being made a big deal of.

We genuinely think, no, but Ferdinand is alive or probably alive, okay? So it's more about the humour and lightheartedness, but Shakespeare does mix them up.

So in his comedies, whenever something dark and sort of negative happens, he'll often juxtapose it with humour and lightheartedness to let the audience know that everything will be fine.

That's generally what he does.

Okay, we're going to go, just writing about the scene we're read, using this particular structure.

Now you've used a structure similar a few times now.

So I'm not going to give you an example before we begin.

You're just going to try and use these sentence openers.

So you're going to start by writing and you can steal mine here.

Firstly, Shakespeare opens the scene with optimism and hope as, I'll want an example there of optimism and hope and then a quotation, okay? And I want you just to write, what does that suggest? What do we learn from that quotation about optimism and hope in the play? And then, once you finish that paragraph, you're going to write one beginning with, however, so we're going to use that contrasting conjunction there.

This hope is soon, what? What happens to that hope? So we want to focus a little bit on loss, okay, on sorrow, on negativity.

And then, I want an example and a quotation for that, and then an explanation, so implying that, so starting with a paragraph on optimism and hope, and then a second paragraph afterwards, based on the negativity and the loss, okay? So pausing now, I want you to spend a minimum 10 minutes writing your paragraphs.

And when you resume, we will explore a full answer.

Off you go.

Okay, hopefully you managed that really well.

Here's an example answer, so you can check yours against mine.

Now, obviously you might have chosen slightly different things to focus on, as examples or quotations.

And that is absolutely fine, okay? But my example should help you along with yours.

So firstly, Shakespeare opens the scene with optimism and hope.

We should've all probably used that opening, as Gonzalo is thankful for their lives, okay? So I've written a direct example of that hope and optimism.

What is it I'm referring to? So give yourself a tick, if you've done the same.

Then I've used a quotation.

"Our escape is much beyond our loss." So give yourself a tick, if you've also used a quotation, make sure you've used, obviously, a quotation mark really clearly around it.

Suggesting that Shakespeare wants us to focus on Gonzalo's positivity.

So I've just really explained, well, what does that tell us about Gonzalo and about this idea of optimism at the beginning of the scene? However comma, can we make sure we've used that comma after however, this hope is soon quashed.

That means it kind of disappears, by Alonso's response.

So again, what have you focused on for the negative side of things? Give yourself a tick for yours.

Mine is Alonso's response.

"Prithee peace," so again, tick for a quotation, implying that no optimism can overturn his sense of sorrow and loss.

So I've just explained that Alonso's response tell us that he's not going to change his mind, and that Gonzalo's positivity is not going to have much of an effect on him, okay, that he's just, sees it negatively.

So just checking your response now, and making sure you've written both sections.

A way of exploring a next step could be to zoom in on a word and explore it a bit like we've done in previous lessons or what you could also do is move back to optimism and hope and write another one about optimism and hope and really practise writing these types of paragraphs, just writing about the text is really, really key.

So pause now and make any improvements and changes and extend your answer as far as you can.

And well done.

Thank you for your focus in this lesson, as always, and I look forward to our next lesson.

Thank you very much.