Interviewing a Shakespeare character

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High School English Teachers Chatboard

Interviewing a Shakespeare character

by Novel

Dec 1, 2011

What are the inherent values of this as a Speaking and Listening exercise? Thanks for any ideas.

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Sara Do you have to justify this as some standard process? Or is someone actually thinking this is not a valid exercise??

It certainly falls under the heading of 'Alternative Assessments' because to construct an interview germane to the character, one would need to know the character.

As to its value - it asks the student to think of t...See MoreDo you have to justify this as some standard process? Or is someone actually thinking this is not a valid exercise??

It certainly falls under the heading of 'Alternative Assessments' because to construct an interview germane to the character, one would need to know the character.

As to its value - it asks the student to think of the character as a flesh and blood person rather than words on a page. It reflects the understanding that literature is life and it also reflects our belief that literature is multi-layered and multi-dimensional. The traditional method of interacting with literature's characters is to read their portrayal in the literature and to read the literary critics' varied character analyses. Then you kick it around in class via discussion.

This 'Interview the Character' is something so much better than that. Rather than confining your answer in regard to character analysis to expository writing or the traditional essay, this demands that the student think both critically and creatively. It puts the student into the literature - similar to the idea that Pirandello had when the characters of his play left the stage or Woody Alan's The Purple Rose of Cairo. Literature takes life and leaves the page.

Hamlet alone is so cool - is he crazy? In the course of the interview, the student could have Hamlet seeming increasingly insane while the very next student could have Hamlet as cool and rational in the course of that interview. This exercise will, of course, not produce a definitive answer any more than the literary critics' analyses do but I think these interviews will rivet the class - how is that ever bad?

It encourages the student to think about characters and characterization in literature. It asks the student to write... (must the character answer in Shakespearean English? - that would be a challenge)

Anytime that a student is speaking, it's speaking and the others are listening and they will listen to this with greater interest and attention because they won't know what's coming out of that character's mouth now that Shakespeare is no longer around to pull the strings. >> >> I like the idea and might steal it from you! Will you put two >> students together to do this and let them choose their >> character with one to be the interviewer and the other to be >> interviewed? >> >> Sounds like good learning fun to me but how much Shakespeare do >> your students know? If they have read one play, then they will >> be choosing the same characters. In that case, I'd do a "Who's >> the Real Hamlet?" and let the students vote on which >> interviewed Hamlet they thought was nearest to the mysterious >> person that Hamlet is. >> >> > We've looked at several plays and the students are encouraged to > do their own research too. The characters ranged from Queen > Hermione to Beatrice, Hamlet to Macbeth. It was a lovely sries of > lessons(steal away, by the way), but now I need to justify it to > a staff training group. I have all the obvious learning > objectives which were fulfilled, but don't know what to say about > the inherent/intrinsic values. Can you help?

Dec 1, 2011

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Novel Really helpful. You steal the idea and I'll steal some of your words ;-) It is for a Staff Presentation - I am trying to be as comprehensive as possible. Some funding relies on this.

Dec 3, 2011

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Teach I honestly have to disagree with the value of this assignment. What you're doing is, in essence, adding extra and unnecessary baggage to an assignment whose primary purpose is character analysis. Adding the extra "scaffolding" for the purposes of fulfilling a Common Core requirement is approaching both Shakespeare and Common Core from the perspecti...See More

Dec 27, 2011

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it is a great idea br> > With all due respect to your "Vote for mysterious Hamlet" poster, > on what factual, textual, or evidentiary basis will their votes > be based?

What factual data do we have on Hamlet? Hamlet is a fictional character. Shakespeare created the Hamlet of his play.

And these students have read the play - their 'opinio...See More

Dec 28, 2011

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...of the presentations. I would never ask them just to vote by opinion, because that too often becomes a popularity contest. Why would you assume that is the way I would work

Jan 19, 2012

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