Lesson video

Welcome everybody, to another English lesson.

It's Mr. Dyke here, looking at The Tempest.

Just before we begin, then, make sure you've got a pen and your ready, the pen of a different colour to mark your responses with.

Clear away any of the distractions that you might have, and make sure you've got any notes from previous lessons which might come in useful today.

When you're ready, then, just write down today's title, The Theme of Reconciliation, that is on the slide.

Okay, we're going to dive straight in today, rather than doing a recap.

We're going to continue to read because we're going to get for a few scenes in today's lesson.

So first of all, I've got to read you the summary that fall scene one.

Then we're going to look into act five.

We can look at how Prospero begins to salt, salt out the storylines, and have Shakespeare weaves everything together at the end.

So before we get going, making sure you've got your pen at you ready to make a note, of important events, important things as we read, and also feeling free to pause at any moment so that you can write down key information.

Let's begin then.

So reading out summary for act four, scene one.

After having given Miranda and Ferdinand his blessing, Prospero recalls that Caliban's attempt on his life is nearing.

Prospero now asks Ariel to tell him again, what the three conspirators are up to.

And Ariel tells him of the men's drunken scheme to steal Prospero's book and kill him.

So the word conspirators means that they've come up with a plan to conspire against someone, is to come up with a plan to go against them.

Ariel reports that he used his music to lead these men through rough and prickly briars and then into a filthy pond.

Prospero thanks is trusty spirit, and the two set a trap for the three would-be assassins.

On a clothesline in Prospero's cell, Prospero and Ariel hang an array of fine apparel for the men to attempt to steal, after which they render themselves invisible.

Caliban, Trinculo, and Stephano enter, wet from the filthy pond.

The fine clothing immediately distracts Stephano and Trinculo.

They want to steal it, despite the protests of Caliban, who wants to stick to the plan and kill Prospero, Stephano and Trinculo ignore him.

Soon after they touch the clothing, there is a noise of hunters.

A pack of spirits in the shape of hounds, conjured by Ariel and Prospero, drives the thieves out.

Okay, pausing there for a moment.

Just have a go at these three questions to check your understanding of what we've just read.

I'm going to pause and allow you to pause, and then you can read the questions yourself, making sure you're writing in full sentences, off you go.

Okay, so change into your other coloured pen, and we can just add anything we might have missed and give ourselves ticks for the things that we've got.

The first question was the fact that Prospero had blessed the wedding of Miranda and Ferdinand.

Reflect which aspect of Elizabethan society? So this is asking you to think back to the context to the Tempest.

This scene supports the conventions of patriarchy, whereby fathers and husbands would be in control of most aspects of a woman's life in this era.

Prospero can decide whether Miranda is to marry and when? It's all about the idea of the father being in control.

Number two asked why the Shakespeare place these two events side by side in this scene? Shakespeare places focus on the love between Ferdinand and Miranda, highlighting that this aspect of the place to be taken seriously and is central to the plot and genre as a whole.

But following this up with Caliban's failed plot, Shakespeare is using comic relief to deal with the darker elements of the ploy, reinforcing that this is, all along, a comedy.

How do you think the audience is meant to feel about Caliban now, at this stage? By this point, it's is likely that any sympathy for Caliban has vanished, as he has displayed his true self as a power-hungry being, willing to act immorally for his own gain.

And that was very much something we may have decided in a previous lesson where we saw a Caliban plotting quite violently to kill Prospero.

Now we're going to focus on act five, scene one.

So you might want to just add a new subtitle to your page act five scene one.

We'll read a bit of summary first before focusing on a little extract from Prospero, okay.

Now, before we actually start to read, we're going to look at two or one key word in two forms of that word.

So the word we're thinking about is reconciliation, and that is a noun.

And that means the restoration of friendly relations.

So essentially means to make friends again.

So to restore something is to bring something back.

So if for whatever reason, you don't have friendly relations with someone, reconciliation is where you make things friendly again, and maybe make friends.

So lots of nouns, lots of things.

So if you were to change that into a verb, you would use the word reconcile.

So you could say I reconciled with someone, okay.

So that's to restore friendly relations.

So that's the action, the verb.

Now I want you to pause that and just think from, make sure you've written down the definitions, but you're going to write the question at the bottom down.

How is this theme presented throughout the final scenes? And as we read, I want you to be thinking about where do we see reconciliation? Where do we see these friendly relations being restored and people making up, okay? So just pause now and make sure you've written the definitions of the words and written down question.

Okay, let's read the summary first.

So what do you to keep that idea of reconciliation in mind before we then look at the text specifically? So throughout the play, another evil plot has been put into action.

Antonio and Sebastian have attempted to murder King Alonso, but have failed to do so, with the help of Ariel.

Will Prospero punish all or forgive all for their misdemeanours? So not only have you got this plot to kill Prospero and take his magic from Caliban and plan to kill Stephano, but you've got all the plot bearing in mind that Alonso is on the Island and you've got Sebastian and Antonio trying to murder him cause they think it'll be an opportunity to get rid of him.

So lots of evil plots.

Prospero asks how the King and his followers are fairing? Ariel tells him that they're currently imprisoned as Prospero ordered in a growth.

Alonso, Antonio and Sebastian are mad with fear.

And Gonzalo, Ariel says, "cries constantly." Prospero tells Ariel to go release the men.

And now alone on stage, delivers his famous soliloquy in which he gives up magic.

He says he will perform his last task and then break his staff and drown his magic book.

So that's really important moment there, and we'll look at the theme of magic and we'll look at that soliloquy in our next lesson.

But for now, we're just focusing on the events.

Ariel now enters with Alonso and his companions, who have been charmed and obediently stand in a circle.

Prosperous speaks to them in that charmed state, praising Gonzalo for his loyalty and chiding the others for their treachery, treachery just means where you kind of plan against someone and go against what you promised.

He then sends Ariel to his cell to fetch the clothes he once wore as the Duke of Milan.

Prospero promises to grant freedom to his loyal helper-spirit and sends him to fetch the Boatswain and mariners from the wreck ship.

Ariel goes.

Prospero releases Alonso and his companions from their spell and speaks with them.

He forgives Antonio but demands that he return his Dukedom.

Alonso now tells Prospero of the missing Ferdinand.

Prospero tells Alonso that he too has lost a child in this last tempest-his daughter.

Alonso continues to be wracked with grief.

Prospero then draws aside a curtain, revealing behind it Ferdinand and Miranda, who are playing a game of chess.

Alonso is ecstatic at the discovery.

Meanwhile, the sight of more humans impresses Miranda, Alonso embraces his son and daughter-in-law to be and begs Miranda's forgiveness for the treasuries of 12 years ago.

Prospero silences Alonso's apologies, insisting that the reconciliation is complete.

So they have it Prospero used his forgiveness to create that reconciliation throughout Antonio.

The one who is the most treacherous of all has been forgiven as long as he gives up pitting Duke back to Prospero.

And Alonso, obviously has apologised and Alonso's punishment has been essentially trying to get over the fact he thought Ferdinand was dead.

That was a big enough punishment, Prospero things for Alonzo.

The idea of losing a child.

Ariel is sent to fetch Caliban, Trinculo, and Stephano, which he speedily does.

The three drunken thieves are sent to Prospero's cell to return the clothing that they stole and to clean it in preparation for the evening's revelling party.

Prospero then invites Alonso and his company to stay the night.

He will tell them the tale of his last 12 years and in the morning they can all set out for Naples, wherever Miranda and Ferdinand will be married.

Also important to know what will happen to Caliban.

Everyone else will go return home on the Skift.

Caliban will be left on the Island happily because it's his Island.

He can now live and own his Island quite peacefully.

So we're going to think about this question.

How does Prospero present reconciliation in that final scene? You've seen the story, now let's look specifically at a moment where prosperous actually talks about all the different misdemeanours and he presents his reconciliation to them.

So we're going to track three key words.

So we've got the word compassion, which means the ability to feel emotion and sympathise with us and feel bad about things and to understand how is a feeling.

And empathy is similar in that respect, empathy is about relating to and understanding other people's emotions.

And virtuosity or to be virtuous, just means to be good, okay.

So just pause that, write down those three words, super.

Compassion, the ability to sympathise and feel emotions for others.

Empathy, the ability to understand and place yourself in other people's shoes.

And then virtuosity, to be good.

Pause now, and just write down those three words for me.

Okay, let's read.

And as we read, I want you to be thinking about those three words and where does Prospero demonstrate those qualities.

And mine shall.

Hast thou, which art but air, a touch, a feeling of their afflictions, and shall not myself, One of their kind, that relish all as sharply passion as they, be kindlier moved than thou art? Though with their high wrongs I am struck to th' quick.

Yet with my nobler reason against my fury.

Do I take part? The rarer action is in virtue than in vengeance.

They being penitent, The sole drift of my purpose doth extend Not a frown further.

Go release them, Ariel.

My charms I'll break, their senses i'll restore, And they shall be themselves.

Okay, let's just reflect on Prospero's speech.

Here are four bullet points and false statements about how Prospero's demonstrate reconciliation.

So I'm going to argue that in that passage, Prospero's empathises with the other characters.

I believe that he demonstrates compassion.

I believe that he forgives them and he chooses a virtuous and noble attitude.

So that means his good attitude and goodness, you know, he chooses that over, over any kind of anger or any kind of violence and negativity.

I want you to pause and I want you to write down these false statements.

And then underneath each one, I would like you to write down where do you see that in Prospero's final speech? So you might need to rewind and write down examples.

Okay, that's what I would like you to do.

When you resume the video, I will give you a few extra quotations to help you along.

Okay, so pause now write the four headings down and write as much evidence each one underneath.

Okay, so as promised, here are some examples of those attitudes and those qualities in action.

So for example, I might say in that middle court action with my noble reason against my theory, do I take part.

That is very much Prospero's choosing to have a noble and good or virtuous perspective and attitude because he's saying he's using his noble reason.

So that means that he's using his good reasoning and his good decision making to make his decisions rather than his theory against my theory, okay.

So that one, I would have written underneath the statement, which says that he uses his noble and virtuous attitude.

And that's how I would explain it, okay.

So they use that word, noble connotes, goodness.

And that he is choosing what he feels is right.

Going against his strong emotional theory, for example.

So that quotation I'm choosing, I want you to pause again and I want you to add any of the remaining quotations underneath some of the different headings.

And I want you to try and explain how that quotation demonstrates that particular quality of feeling from Prospero.

Just like I've done it verbally.

So pause now, make sure you've organised the quotations bearing in mind.

Some of them might fit in more than one that's okay.

So just spend a bit of time now consolidate in these key crops, off you go.

Okay, before we end, I would like you to consider this question.

So I'm trying to link the play in Prospero's views to bigger questions that we can take from life.

And I'm not going to ask, I'm not going to show you an answer to this question.

It's something I want you to write a response to.

So it may be that you write a few sentences or a paragraph.

So I want you to link what Prospero has just done and answer this question.

Why is it important to put forgiveness before vengeance? And the idea of vengeance is kind of getting your own back, whether that's violently or in an immoral way, or, you know, using your anger or anything like that.

So why do you think it's important to put forgiveness before vengeance? That's what Shakespeare is exploring here.

He's questioning that.

So as a final job, I want you to spend five minutes answering that question with your thoughts and you're reflecting on bigger ideas, so pause there, off you go.

And that brings us to the end.

As always, Thank you very much for your focus in our lesson today.