#3275. Island Fantasy

Literature, level: Senior
Posted Thu Nov 4 12:36:36 PST 2004 by Debbie Rothman (RothteachBT@aol.com).
Brooklyn Technical High School, Brooklyn, New York, USA
Materials Required: None
Activity Time: 2-3 class periods
Concepts Taught: Intro to The Tempest

The situation: The malicious actions of an enemy have forced you to abandon your home and indeed your entire life. You and one other person are adrift at sea in a small boat; eveyrone you know (including your enemy/enemies) assumes that you are dead. However, you do not die; instead, you and your companion are washed ashore on a remote, undiscovered island.
The island is tropical and has abundant resources for food and shelter. However, it is not inhabited -- or at least not inhabited by what you recognize as human beings. There are beings here, though -- good and evil beings, possessed of powers that, for lack of other terms, you consider magical. You yourself learn how to work with, indeed to dominate, these beings and their powers so that you essentially come to control everything on and about the island.

The task: Working in a group of 4-6, develop this situation in three segments.

Segment I. The sencario. This can be written in list or note form, and should include the decisions your group has made about the basic situation, including but not limited to:
-- Who is your enemy?
-- Who is your companion, and what is the relationship?
-- What are the island and its inhabitants like when you arrive?
-- How do you connect with and gain control over the beings who inhabit the island?
-- How have you transformed the island and its inhabitants with your manipulative and magical powers?

Segment II. A day in the life
Either in dialogue (play) form or as a narrative, present a typical day on the island about ten or fifteen years after your arrival. This scene should reflect character development and interactions among characters. Your role as a controlling force should be clearly evident.

Segment III. Look what the wind blew in! Respond in dialogue or narrative form.

There is a tempest (storm) at sea, as a result of which some or all of your enemies are washed ashore on your island. Of course they do not expect to see you there -- nor, of course, did you ever expect to see them again. But somehow you do meet up with each other, and you, the lord of this island, have to decide what to do. Do take revenge? Do you invite them to remain with you on your island -- on your terms of course -- so you won't be so lonely? Do you try to get them to rescue you and take you back to the world of "civilization?"