What Teachers Need to Know

Transcription

1 What Teachers Need to Know A. England in the Golden Age Background The two centuries from 1500 to 1700 were a particularly eventful time in the history of England. The nation struggled over religion, vacillated between Catholicism and Protestantism, defeated an invasion by Spain, became a sea power, embarked on worldwide colonization, fought a civil war, executed a king, transformed itself into a republic, restored the monarchy, drove a king from the throne on account of his Catholicism, and finally emerged as a parliamentary government with strong checks on the power of the monarch. An understanding of this period of English history is particularly important for Americans, because American politics of the Revolutionary era were based on issues and disagreements in the mother country. The House of Tudor Members of the House of Tudor were a family of Welsh descent that ruled England from 1485 until The first Tudor was Henry VII, who ruled from 1485 to He was the father of Henry VIII and the grandfather of Queen Elizabeth. Henry VII took control of the monarchy after defeating Richard III in the War of the Roses (so-named because a red rose and a white rose were the symbols of the houses of Lancaster and York, respectively). The reign of the Tudors ended when Elizabeth, who did not have any children, died in Henry VIII and the Church of England By the time of the Renaissance, the Roman Catholic Church was the dominant religion in Europe. The head of the Church was the pope in Rome, who for a time wielded great power in Europe, and could even control heads of state. As monarchs in the 15th and 16th centuries shaped nation-states from their assorted feudal domains, they saw papal power as a threat to their new sovereignty.

2 Henry VIII of England had not begun his monarchy expecting to overthrow the Roman Catholic Church in England. In 1521, Henry had published a work attacking the errors of Martin Luther s teachings. For this, Henry had been given the title Defender of the Faith by a grateful pope. However, Henry s personal concerns eventually led him to abandon his staunch support of the Church. In 1509, he had married Catherine of Aragon, the daughter of Ferdinand and Isabella of Spain and the widow of his older brother Arthur. All their sons died in infancy. Only a daughter, Mary, born in 1516, survived. This worried Henry VIII. He was eager to have a male heir. Although a daughter could accede to the throne, Henry s concern was that a daughter would probably get married, at which point her property would transfer to her husband s control. If that happened, England might become part of the husband s kingdom. By the late 1520s, Henry had convinced himself that that they had failed to have a son because Catherine had first been married to Henry s older brother. Henry asked the pope for an annulment because of Catherine s first marriage. By this time, Henry wanted to marry Anne Boleyn, a courtier. The pope refused to annul the marriage for political as much as ecclesiastical reasons. The pope did not want to antagonize Catherine s nephew, the Holy Roman Emperor. Not to be denied, in 1529 Henry began taking steps to have Parliament declare the church in England separate from the church directed from Rome by the pope. Henry proceeded to marry Anne Boleyn and had his marriage to Catherine annulled in Their daughter Elizabeth was born the same year. The following year, Henry had Parliament pass the Act of Supremacy, which made the monarch the head of the Church of England (later known as the Anglican Church). To build support among powerful Catholics, Henry had Parliament confiscate church lands (e.g., monasteries, nunneries, etc.) and sold the lands, most of which were bought by members of the gentry class who wanted to own property. In Europe at this time, people within a country were expected to practice the religion that their government approved. To do otherwise was to risk fines, imprisonment, and even death. All English subjects were expected to remain loyal to the Church of England, with Henry at its head, because the Church was the official or established church of the country. Henry VIII demanded that all Englishmen take an oath of allegiance to him as the head of the new church. Some people, including Sir Thomas More, the Lord Chancellor of England, remained loyal to the pope and refused to swear the oath. More was one of several executed for refusing the oath. By 1539, Henry had launched a series of persecutions of English Catholics on the one hand and of extreme Protestants on the other hand. The former objected to the Church because of the break with Rome. The latter objected because they felt that Henry had not gone far enough in his break with Rome. Although Henry VIII had rejected papal authority, the Church at this point was still very similar to the Catholic Church in its doctrines, ceremonies, and hierarchy. Protestants, influenced by the ideas of John Calvin (see section on the Reformation, pp ) thought Henry s reformation had not gone nearly far enough. In addition to initiating the English Reformation, Henry VIII is famous for his series of six wives. After Catherine of Aragon ( ) and Anne Boleyn ( ), came Jane Seymour ( ), Anne of Cleves (1540),

3 Catherine Howard ( ), and Catherine Parr ( ). A well-known rhyme describes the fate of each wife: Divorced, beheaded, died Divorced, beheaded, survived. Protestant or Catholic? When Henry VIII died, it was unclear whether England would ultimately become a solidly Protestant country or revert to Catholicism. Henry s son with Jane Seymour, Edward VI, became king in 1547 when he was only nine years old. Although Henry had older children, Edward was next in line for the succession because he was a male. Edward s chief advisers were Protestant, and during Edward s reign, England became more solidly Protestant, introducing changes in doctrine, liturgy, and ceremonies. During Edward s brief rule, the Book of Common Prayer, a book of prayers, and Forty-Two Articles of Religion, the official statement of the articles of belief of the Church of England, were published. However, Edward VI lived for only a few years. He died of tuberculosis in In 1553 Mary I ascended to the throne. She was the daughter of Henry VIII and his first wife, Catherine of Aragon. Mary had been raised a Catholic and she attempted to return England to Catholicism. She dissolved the Church of England, married a Spanish (Catholic) prince, and had many Protestants executed or severely punished, earning herself the name Bloody Mary. Several hundred Protestants were burned at the stake during the last years of her reign, which ended in Elizabeth I When Mary died in 1558, she was replaced by Elizabeth I. The only child of Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn, Elizabeth was 25 when she ascended the throne. To stabilize the nation, one of her first acts was to settle the conflict between Catholics and Anglicans. A moderate Protestant, she reinstated the Church of England, but kept the hierarchy of bishops and archbishops as it was in the Catholic Church and also much of the Catholic Church s ritual. However, the Thirty-Nine Articles of Faith (outlining a Protestant creed) replaced previous creeds and became the official statement of religious beliefs and practice. She also reinstated the Book of Common Prayer, which Mary had withdrawn, and English replaced Latin as the language of the Church. Under the Elizabethan Settlement, as it was called, Elizabeth attempted to reach a compromise with Catholics in order to maintain peace, but a stipulation was that they had to accept the monarch as head of the Church in England. Catholicism went underground. At the same time, some Puritans, influenced by the ideas of John Calvin, grumbled that the Church was insufficiently reformed, but peace was preserved. During Elizabeth I s 45 year reign, England enjoyed prosperity and peace for much of the time. The exception was conflict with Spain, a Catholic power that refused to accept Elizabeth as queen, since the pope did not recognize the annulment that had allowed Elizabeth s mother to marry Henry VIII. But at home, agricultural production increased, trade grew, villages became towns, and towns became cities. The arts, especially, reaped the benefit of good times and the financial support of the queen, who loved music, dancing, and theater performances.

4 Although most people expected Elizabeth to marry, she never did. She was known as the Virgin Queen and liked to say that she was married to England. The period during which Elizabeth I reigned is sometimes called the Elizabethan Age in recognition of the impact that Elizabeth had on her nation. The term Elizabethan is used as a noun to designate a person who lived during that time, e.g., Elizabethans became used to warnings that the Spanish were about to invade. It is also used as an adjective: Elizabethan poets were highly inventive in their use of imagery. The Elizabethan Age is especially noted for its output of excellent literature. Elizabeth was a great patron of the arts. Elizabethan playwrights and poets included William Shakespeare, Ben Jonson, Christopher Marlowe, Sir Phillip Sidney, and Edmund Spenser. England s Naval Dominance It was actually Henry VIII who started England on the road to naval supremacy. Although he strengthened the navy, it was Elizabeth who used it to expand England s territory, power, and wealth. Defeat of the Spanish Armada Before her death in 1558, Queen Mary I had been married to Philip II, the king of Spain, a staunchly Catholic country. Philip continued to rule in Spain after Mary was succeeded by Elizabeth. Philip and the Spanish refused to accept the annulment of Henry s first marriage. They believed Henry had done a great wrong by setting aside Catherine of Aragon, and also by breaking with Rome. In 1588, Philip sent an armada, a huge fleet of ships, to battle against and possibly invade England. He had the pope s blessing to conquer the island and bring it back to the old religion. The flotilla of 130 ships carried some 29,000 men and 2,400 pieces of artillery. Philip wanted to end attacks from the pirates Elizabeth was supporting (like Sir Francis Drake, see below) and remove her from the throne, not only because of her Protestantism but because she was supporting Spain s enemies in Europe. Spain had been trying to stamp out Protestantism in the area known as the Low Countries (Belgium and the Netherlands), which it controlled. England had been supporting the reformers. Sir Francis Drake made a surprise raid on part of the fleet before it left its Spanish port and destroyed 30 ships. The Spanish had large, clumsy ships, whereas the English had developed smaller, faster vessels. Rather than fight broadside, the traditional method of naval warfare, the small English ships moved in, fired quickly, and sailed off before the slower Spanish galleons could turn and pursue them. At night, the Spanish ships had to be on the lookout for fire ships. The English would set empty ships afire and set their sails to collide with anchored Spanish ships. Drake destroyed many tons of supplies that were intended for the invasion of England. He joked that he had singed the beard of the Spanish king. The biggest help the English received against the Spanish Armada was from nature. A huge storm blew the Spanish fleet off course. Many ships were forced onto the rocky coast of Ireland, where English soldiers shot the half-drowned sailors and soldiers as they dragged themselves ashore. What was left of the fleet turned home to Spain, and Philip gave up all idea of invading England. To the English, their victory seemed to be an indication that God smiled on their

5 religion and their nation. They said the defeat of the Armada was due to providence, or God s supervision, and they called the wind that drove the Spanish Armada to its defeat the Protestant Wind. Just before the defeat of the Armada, Queen Elizabeth made a speech to her English soldiers gathered at Tillbury. Here are the most famous lines: I know I have the body of a weak, feeble woman; but I have the heart and stomach of a king and of a king of England too, and think foul scorn that Parma or Spain, or any prince of Europe, should dare to invade the borders of my realm; to which, rather than any dishonour should grow by me, I myself will take up arms I myself will be your general, judge, and rewarder of every one of your virtues in the field. Sir Francis Drake England called its sea captains admirals. But to England s enemies, the sea captains were called sea dogs, or pirates. One of the most famous was Francis Drake. Drake was born into a strong Protestant family and apprenticed on a ship at age 13. In 1577, Drake sailed west on a voyage sponsored by Queen Elizabeth. The goal was to become the first English expedition to circumnavigate the globe. But Elizabeth mentioned another purpose when she told Drake, I would gladly be revenged on the King of Spain for divers injuries that I have received. (Recall that the Spanish viewed Elizabeth as an illegitimate child, the product of an invalid second marriage and the head of a heretical church.) Along the way, Drake left behind two ships, lost another two of his five ships, and had to put down a plot against him. He sailed through the Straits of Magellan and into the Pacific Ocean, where he did battle with terrible storms. He raided Spanish ships and settlements along the way and explored the Pacific coast of North America, including the San Francisco area. He sailed north all the way to Vancouver, hoping to find the Northwest Passage. Then he sailed across the Pacific to the Philippines, on to the Spice Islands, then around the tip of Africa and back to England. When he returned to England in 1580, his ship Golden Hind was filled with Spanish gold and silver. For his service in behalf of England, Elizabeth knighted him. As Sir Francis Drake, he was an admiral of the fleet that routed the Spanish Armada in English Exploration and Settlements in North America During the reign of Elizabeth I, the English attempted their first permanent settlement in North America. In 1587, Sir Walter Raleigh sponsored an expedition to America to establish a settlement of 100 English men, women, and children. He appointed John White governor. The colonists settled on Roanoke Island off the coast of North Carolina. White reluctantly returned to England for supplies. Several people colonists and some of the local native people had already been killed as a result of fighting between the two groups. When White arrived in England, he found a country braced for an invasion by the Spanish Armada at any moment. No large ships were allowed to leave England. It was not until 1590 that White could return to Roanoke. When he arrived, he found no trace of the settlement or the colonists. A fort stood where the houses had been and carved on a nearby tree were the letters c-r-o-a-t-o-a-n. White thought that this meant that the colonists had either moved to Croatoan Island or had gone inland to the Croatoan Indians. These people had

6 been friendly to the colonists when they first arrived. White was never able to search for the colonists, however, because storms intervened, and he returned to England without knowing what had happened. Between 1607, when Jamestown was founded, and 1732, when a group of proprietors were given a charter for Georgia, the English established thirteen colonies along the eastern seaboard of North America. All but Georgia were founded during the time of Elizabeth I s immediate successor, James I, and the Glorious Revolution. You can read more about these colonies on pp of this book. B. From the English Revolution to the Glorious Revolution Background While Elizabeth managed to quiet religious conflict during her long reign, it resurfaced after her death. Childless, she acknowledged James VI of Scotland, the son of her deceased cousin Mary, Queen of Scots, as the legitimate heir to the English throne. Upon Elizabeth s death in 1603, James also became James I of England. Although he was a Presbyterian, he supported the Church of England, and supervised a translation of the Bible that is still much cited and read today, the King James Bible (1611). James also attempted to ease some of the restrictions against Catholics. This only worsened the conflict. However, his greatest problem with his new subjects was not religion, but his belief in the divine right of kings. This philosophy had been embraced by the French and Austrian monarchies. According to this theory, the monarch received from God his or her right to govern and, therefore, answered only to God, not the governed. Any opposition to the monarch was opposition to God. Unfortunately for James, Parliament had evolved a number of rights of its own since the Magna Carta was signed in 1215, including control of the nation s finances. When James called Parliament into session to ask for new taxes, it refused. He then dismissed Parliament and ruled without it, which he was able to do so long as he had no need for new taxes. The English Revolution When James died in 1625, his son became King Charles I ( ). Like his father, Charles believed in the absolute authority of the monarchy. The stage was set for a series of confrontations between king and Parliament. Religion also entered into the disputes. King Charles I, Puritans, and Parliament By 1628, Charles I had already held and dismissed two sessions of Parliament that had refused to grant him all the money he had requested to pay for his foreign wars. Before Parliament would grant Charles his money in 1628, the members forced him to sign the Petition of Right, in which he agreed that only Parliament could levy new taxes.

7 Charles dismissed Parliament and did not call it back into session until By then, he had angered his subjects in Scotland and needed money to put down their revolt. Under the guidance of William Laud, Archbishop of Canterbury and head of the Anglican Church, Charles had tried to impose the Book of Common Prayer and the hierarchy of bishops and archbishops on Presbyterian Scotland. This led to war with Scotland. However, Laud had also attempted to clamp down on religious dissenters in England, notably Puritans. For example, he had the Puritan pamphleteer William Prynne thrown in jail and even had Prynne s ears chopped off. Many of the Puritans who came to America in the 1620s and 30s were fleeing from Laud and his regulations. When Charles called Parliament into session, his opponents in Parliament seized the opportunity to stage their own revolt against him. The king and the Long Parliament, as it came to be known (it met irregularly from 1640 to 1653), goaded each other in a series of escalating actions. Parliament had several of Charles s advisors, including Archbishop Laud, arrested, tried, and executed. Charles had little choice but to make peace with Scotland. Parliament forced Charles to agree that Parliament could not be dismissed without its consent, that only Parliament could approve new taxes, and that Parliament must be called into session every three years. By 1641, the Puritans had gained enough power to force passage of a bill requiring Parliament s approval of the king s advisors. In retaliation, Charles marched into the House of Commons at the head of a group of soldiers to arrest the leaders of the opposition. They escaped, but the political rivalry had turned into civil war. Civil War: Cavaliers and Roundheads The English Civil War lasted from 1642 to The followers of the king were known as Cavaliers, meaning gallant gentlemen. His opponents were known as Roundheads. The name came from the men s habit of cropping their hair close to their heads, rather than wearing their hair in the long, flowing style of the aristocrats who supported the king. For the first two years of the war, the king and his forces were successful. However, in 1645, the Roundheads chose Oliver Cromwell, a Puritan, as their general. Cromwell turned the forces supporting the dissidents in Parliament into the New Model Army, a highly disciplined and efficient military organization that believed that God supported it and that it fought with divine help. By 1646, Charles had surrendered, but the civil war was not over. Cromwell s supporters seized control of Parliament by ousting the majority of members who wanted a monarchy limited by constitutional guarantees for the rights of the people and Parliament. Cromwell installed the Rump Parliament, 100 members who agreed with his idea of eliminating the monarchy in favor of a republic. Another round of fighting broke out. Though Cromwell s supporters were in the minority, they controlled the army and within a few months had defeated the supporters of the king. Execution of Charles I Cromwell had Charles tried for treason. The verdict was guilty, and on January 30, 1649, a sentence of immediate execution was handed down to that tyrant, traitor, murderer, and public enemy. He was taken to his own Palace of

8 Whitehall, where a scaffold had been erected outside a second-floor window. Crowds braved the bitter January weather to watch the decapitation from nearby rooftops, marveling at the doomed king s courage as he knelt by the executioner s block. It is said that Charles called himself a martyr of the people, forgave his enemies, and gave the signal himself for the executioner to strike. It is also said that he wore two shirts on the day of his execution in order to be sure he didn t shiver and appear to be nervous. When his head was chopped off, many in the crowd groaned in disbelief. The execution of the king was a shock to the English and to others as well. No European monarch had ever been tried and executed by his or her own people. The precedent was now established that a ruler who attempted to exercise absolute power without the consent of the governed could be punished. Oliver Cromwell and the Puritan Regime With the Rump Parliament in power, the monarchy, the Church of England, and the House of Lords were abolished and a Commonwealth was established based on Cromwell s idea for a republic. Opposition to Cromwell continued, however. In 1653, he dismissed the Rump Parliament, called a new Parliament (the Barebones Parliament), and assumed the title of Lord Protector. By 1655, he had dissolved Parliament again and placed England under military rule with himself as dictator. Charles I s son, also named Charles, and his supporters invaded England from bases in Scotland and Ireland but with little effect. In retaliation, Cromwell led his own invasion of Ireland in 1649 and By the time the fighting was over, as many as a third of the Irish people had been killed and as much as twothirds of Irish lands were confiscated from their Roman Catholic owners and given to Cromwell s English Protestant, often Puritan, supporters. While Cromwell supported a policy of religious toleration for Jews and all Protestants except Anglicans, he persecuted Roman Catholics. The Commonwealth was based on Puritan ideals. Like Calvin in Geneva, Cromwell sought to establish a moral, godly community of believers. Sunday was a day of prayerful observance, to be used only for religious services. Because reading the Bible was important to one s duty of examining one s conscience continually, Cromwell supported public education for girls as well as boys. Theaters and taverns were closed as distractions and obstacles to godliness. Dancing, gambling, maypole dancing, and other traditional festive activities were also prohibited. The Restoration, 1660 Cromwell died in 1658 and it was soon apparent that without him, the harsh regulations of the Commonwealth could not hold the English public s loyalty. In 1660, a new Parliament, with the support of the army, asked Charles I s son to return and be crowned Charles II ( ). This marks the beginning of a period in English history known as the Restoration. During the Restoration, England expanded its power and wealth through colonization and the development of international trade. Under the religious settlement that ended the Puritan regime, the Church of England was reinstated and a series of laws passed between 1661 and 1665 limiting the activities of Puritans and Roman Catholics. They were allowed to practice

9 their religions, but could not hold membership in town corporations, which meant that they could not hold any local public office. A later law barred them from holding public office on the national level. The restrictions lasted until the early 1800s. As a result of these laws and the change in life in England, Puritans again emigrated as they had in the early 1600s. Many Puritans emigrated to Massachusetts during these years. With the Restoration, the Puritan restrictions against the theater, dancing, gambling, and similar activities were lifted. Charles II was less interested in the politics of kingship than in living its good life, and was known as The Merry Monarch. He was notorious for his leisure activities, including riding, sailing, drinking, and cavorting with mistresses. More diplomatic than his father, he had better relations with Parliament for most of his reign, though there was some suspicion that Charles was secretly a Roman Catholic. Charles had no child to succeed him, and in 1681 Parliament tried to a pass a law to keep his brother James, Duke of York, a Catholic, from succeeding him. Many Protestants feared that if James succeeded to the throne, he would try to bring Catholicism back. Charles dealt with this by dissolving Parliament and ruling without it until his death in James II and the Glorious Revolution When James II assumed the throne of England in 1685, he was a Roman Catholic monarch of a Protestant nation. When he married his second wife, he had converted from Protestantism to Catholicism, but his two daughters from his first marriage had been raised as Protestants. The eldest, Mary, was married to William III, Prince of Orange, in the Netherlands. The English expected that when James died, his daughter Mary would succeed to the throne. This would mean they would only have to endure a Catholic monarch for a short while. However, in 1688, James and his second wife had a son who automatically became first in line for the throne, thus assuring the continuation of a Roman Catholic monarchy. Whether the monarch was Roman Catholic or not would have mattered less if James had not set about trying to restore Roman Catholic influence in England. He issued two declarations allowing freedom of worship for non-anglican Protestants and Catholics. He also appointed Catholics to a number of high government and military posts. There was also concern that James would attempt to lessen the power of Parliament. In 1688, Parliament, fearing the worst, invited Mary and her husband, William of Orange, to rule England. In the face of English hostility and the army that accompanied William and Mary, James fled to France. This became known as the Glorious Revolution, or Bloodless Revolution, because it was accomplished very easily, with no bloodshed. Of course, not everyone thought it was so glorious. The supporters of James, known as Jacobites (from the Latin form of James, Jacobus), tried several times to invade England and put James (or, later, his heirs) back on the throne. But they were never successful. Bill of Rights: Parliament Limits the Power of the Monarchy Before Parliament allowed William and Mary to be crowned, the new monarchs had to accept certain limitations on the power of the monarchy. In 1689,

10 CK_5_TH_HG_P104_230.QXD 2/14/06 2:23 PM Page 202 V. England from the Golden Age to the Glorious Revolution Teaching Idea Compare the English Bill of Rights to the Bill of Rights that accompanies the U.S. Constitution. Students in Core Knowledge schools should have studied this in-depth in the Grade 4 American History and Geography section Making a Constitutional Government. Parliament passed and William and Mary accepted what has become known as the English Bill of Rights. Among its provisions are the following: The suspension of laws by the monarchy without the consent of Parliament is illegal. That levying money for... the use of the Crown... without grant of Parliament... is illegal. That the people have the right to petition the government and prosecutions for such petitioning are illegal. That the raising or keeping a standing army within the kingdom in time of peace, unless it be with consent of Parliament is against [the] law. That excessive bail ought not to be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishment inflicted. That... for the amending, strengthening and preserving of the laws, [sessions of] Parliaments ought to be held frequently. The Glorious Revolution and the English Bill of Rights were important landmarks on the road to limited monarchy. Several important philosophical ideas that were used to justify the Revolution and write the Bill of Rights came from the contemporary philosopher John Locke, whose ideas on natural law and the limitations of governmental power profoundly influenced the leaders of the American Revolution ninety years later. Review Below are some ideas for ongoing assessment and review activities. These are not meant to constitute a comprehensive list. Teachers may also refer to the Pearson Learning/Core Knowledge History & Geography series for additional information and teaching ideas. William and Mary The Big Idea in Review The 1500s and 1600s were a time of English expansion abroad and consolidation of Parliamentary power at home. 202 Grade 5 Handbook Have students play Who/What Am I...? Students should work in pairs to create four questions and answers using a statement of what a person did or what an event was, followed by the question Who am I? or What am I? Combine pairs into groups of four to ask each other their questions. As a culmination to this unit of study, have students write an essay based on the big idea, Describe English expansion abroad, consolidation of Parliamentary power at home, and how these two factors changed England. Make sure students justify their answers with facts learned in this section. This section provides an opportunity for students to complete short research reports on any of the historical figures of England from the Golden Age to the Glorious Revolution. Using the Language Arts section, provide the class with topics for short reports to write in formal style. Each day of a week, provide a minilesson on different aspects of report writing, such as correct paragraph form or bibliographies. Share these reports when completed.

11 What Teachers Need to Know B. Drama Background: Why Study Shakespearean Drama? In Grade 5, students will be introduced to the dramatic works of William Shakespeare. One of the world s greatest playwrights, Shakespeare wrote comedies and tragedies during the Renaissance that are still performed today. A Midsummer Night s Dream is a fanciful comedy in which love and magic triumph over adversity. The title alludes to the summer solstice, Midsummer Eve (June 23), which in Shakespeare s time was marked by holiday parties and tales of fairies. When choosing an edition of the play, you ll find there are many options: full-length, well-annotated versions, adapted or shortened versions, and modern retellings in prose. You ll find some of these options listed in the More Resources list at the end of this section. Before reading, be sure to introduce and define the terms tragedy, comedy, act, and scene. Also, show students pictures of the Globe Theater so that they can visualize where Shakespeare s plays were performed. Explain that theater was very popular with people of the Elizabethan Age, and, although many theaters at that time allowed only the upper classes to attend, the Globe let in people of all classes. The people who paid the lowest entrance fee stood directly in front of the stage. They were often very boisterous and sometimes threw rotten vegetables at the actors. Studying Shakespearean drama helps students experience the pleasure of reading great works of literature and understand how the plays come to life when performed on stage. Students at this level should be able to read and generally understand condensed or adapted versions of Shakespeare. However, they may need assistance with understanding difficult vocabulary, following a complicated plot with several twists, comprehending stage directions, and keeping track of many different characters.

12 Teaching Shakespearean Drama Teaching Shakespeare in Grade 5 is a challenge, but it can be done. Below, we outline a series of steps that may help you teach A Midsummer Night s Dream with success. This is, of course, only one way of approaching the task. You may wish to use some of these ideas but not others. Before turning to A Midsummer Night s Dream, make sure students understand that a drama, or play, is a work of literature that is intended to be performed for an audience. Introduce the distinction between comedy and tragedy. You might want to begin this unit with a very short and simple play perhaps a modern, one-act play, and preferably a comedy. While teaching the modern play, you can explain about plays, characters, scenes, dialogue, etc. Then, when you turn to Shakespeare, students will already be familiar with the basic conventions of drama and will not have to learn those while wrestling with Shakespeare s language. Before attempting to teach A Midsummer Night s Dream, read the play at least twice yourself. Get a good school edition, such as the Oxford School Shakespeare edition, and use the glosses and footnotes to help you understand difficult parts. If possible, watch a videotape or two of a performance. You want to be teaching with a solid knowledge base. Before introducing students to Shakespeare s text, preview A Midsummer Night s Dream by reading a short summary of what happens in the play a prose version like the one in the Text Resources or the one in Tales from Shakespeare, by Charles and Mary Lamb. Discuss whether the play is a comedy or a tragedy. How can students tell? Once students have a general sense of where the play is going, they can devote more attention to the language and the speeches. Before turning to the text itself, make sure students understand that Shakespeare wrote about 400 years ago. The English language has changed considerably since Shakespeare s time. Therefore, there will be some passages that are hard to understand. Students shouldn t worry about not understanding every single word. Encourage them to raise their hands when they get confused. Tell them that even adults sometimes get confused when watching or listening to Shakespeare. Instead of asking students to read the play themselves at first, have them listen to the play on audiotapes and follow along in a printed version. This is much easier than reading Elizabethan language from the page. Audiotapes are widely available in bookstores and online. As you listen, stop every so often to make sure students are following the plot and getting the gist of the speeches. Explain difficult passages as needed. If you don t have time to study the whole play, do just selected scenes. Don t try to do too much in a given day. Divide the play into chunks and listen to one or two scenes each day to avoid overwhelming students. Allow plenty of class time in which to discuss each section. Encourage students to ask questions about what they do not understand, and have them answer specific questions about plot, setting, and characters. Assist students with difficult vocabulary. Using an edition that has glosses and annotations (such as the Oxford School Shakespeare edition) will reduce problems with difficult vocabulary.

13 If students have problems with the word order of Elizabethan English, show them how to rephrase a sentence in subject-verb-object order. Here is an example: original wording: Thou hast by moonlight at her window sung with feigning voice verses of feigning love. reordered: Thou hast sung verses of feigning love, with feigning voice, at her window by moonlight. Explain to students that Shakespeare sometimes wrote in verse and sometimes in prose, and that he did this to show differences in class. Usually, characters speaking in verse have a high social status. While discussing the play, briefly introduce students to iambic pentameter, which was the rhythm typically used by Shakespeare. Each line generally has 10 syllables made up of five clusters of two syllables each. In each cluster, the stress is on the second syllable, like a heartbeat (da-dum, da-dum, da-dum). Read a line aloud as students beat out the rhythm on their desks. Once students have listened to the play read by actors and studied it a little, choose one or more scenes and assign students roles. Have students read aloud and/or act out these scenes using simple props. To help students visualize the Globe Theater where Shakespeare s plays were performed, use Instructional Master 10, The Globe Theater, and show them pictures. Explain that this Elizabethan playhouse was built in London in 1599 by Richard and Cuthbert Burbage. The permanent home of Shakespeare s company, the Globe became London s most popular theater. After studying the play, play a recording of Felix Mendelssohn s A Midsummer Night s Dream. Ask students whether they think the music suits the mood or tone of the play, and why. If possible, have students view a live performance of Shakespeare or show them a film adaptation of the play (Warner Home Video, 1935). Again, if you don t have time to watch the whole play, consider watching selected scenes. (The 1999 film version starring Kevin Kline is rated PG-13 and may not be suitable for most students.) (See More Resources.) Introducing the Play Reading the retelling of the play included in the Text Resources is one way of introducing the play. Another way is to combine this pre-telling strategy with student recitation of some memorable lines. First, choose a set of memorable lines from the play, including some from each act. Write the lines on slips of paper. For A Midsummer Night s Dream, the first few slips might say, 1. Full of vexation come I, with complaint against my child, my daughter Hermia ; 2. I beseech your grace that I may know the worst that may befall me in this case, If I refuse to wed Demetrius. 3. Either to die the death or to abjure for ever the society of men. 4. If thou lovest me then, steal forth thy father s house to-morrow night, and in the wood, a league without the town... there will I stay for thee. Make one slip for each member of the class. Next, ask each student to choose a slip from a hat and prepare a dramatic reading of the line on the slip, guessing how it ought to sound and using his or her voice to express whatever emotions the student thinks the lines were meant to express. Encourage students to ham it up. After they have recited their lines, tell them these are all lines from a play they will be studying, and that you will be

14 reading a short story version of the play. Then read a summary of the story, adapted from the one in the Text Resources. As you read the story, pause at appropriate points for the students to read their lines, this time in context. It should go something like this: First you read: Once upon a time, in the city of Athens, a young man named Lysander and a young woman named Hermia were deeply in love. They wanted to get married, but Hermia s father, Egeus, would not allow it. Egeus told Hermia it was her duty to marry the man he had chosen, whose name was Demetrius. Egeus dragged Hermia to a hearing in front of Theseus, the Duke of Athens. Egeus turned to the Duke and said... Then call on the student holding slip #1 to read it, or point to #1 on the board, and the student says his or her line from slip #1: Full of vexation come I, with complaint against my child, my daughter Hermia. Then continue: Egeus asked the Duke to enforce an old law that said a daughter who refused to marry the man her father had chosen could be thrown into a nunnery for the rest of her life, or even put to death. Hermia spoke to the Duke, saying... Then a student reads slip #2: I beseech your grace that I may know the worst that may befall me in this case, If I refuse to wed Demetrius. Continue: And the Duke replied... Then a student reads slip #3: Either to die the death or to abjure for ever the society of men. Next: Hermia was saddened by this announcement, but her lover Lysander had an idea. When they were out of the Duke s hearing he whispered to her... Then a student reads slip #4: If thou lovest me then, steal forth thy father s house to-morrow night, and in the wood, a league without the town... there will I stay for thee. Continue: That night Hermia and Lysander snuck out of town,... etc. This strategy will get the children interested and involved in the play. They will learn the basic plot and be able to participate. A Midsummer Night s Dream Author Information: William Shakespeare ( ) was an English playwright, poet, and actor who lived during the Renaissance, specifically during the Elizabethan Age. Many people consider Shakespeare to be the greatest playwright in history. He is often called The Bard of Avon, or simply The Bard. Although Shakespeare was a talented poet, he is most well known for his 38 plays, most of which were performed at the Globe Theater in London. Background: A Midsummer Night s Dream is a comedy of errors set in Athens and the surrounding woods. Hermia loves Lysander, against her father s wishes, but is engaged to marry Demetrius. Her best friend, Helena, loves Demetrius, although this love is unrequited. Oberon, the king of the fairies, decides to improve this unfortunate situation with a love potion derived from flowers. But he sends his fairy servant Puck to do the job, and Puck makes things worse by administering the magic potion incorrectly. In the end, Oberon resolves the situation and the couples marry happily.

15 Before Reading: Have you ever tried to fix a complicated problem, only to make it worse? Vocabulary: hearing: trial; vexation: irritation; hath: has; consent: permission; bewitched: tricked; impression: fantasy; filched: stolen; sealing: joining; betwixt: between; pursue: chase after; steal forth: escape from; hateth: hates; fly: run away from; thence: then; tradesmen: workers who practice a specific trade; melodramatic: overly emotional or theatrical; nay: no; peach fuzz: teenage boy s very thin facial hair; ex tempore: on the spot, as one goes along; supernatural: superhuman; liquor: liquid with special properties; meddling: annoying, nosy; tedious: repetitive and boring; raven: large black bird; mischievous: naughty; translated: changed; enamored: in love with; enthralled: spellbound; lair: den or refuge; delicacies: rare or exquisite foods; nymph: beautiful and mythical fairylike being; divine: heavenly; professing: proclaiming; superpraise: flatter; wooing: courting; baffled: confused; canker-blossom: diseased flower; mortals: humans; charms: spells; antidote: remedy, cure; executed: killed; idle gaud: useless knickknack; lamentable: regrettable; crannied: having a small nook; chink: chip or crack; loam: mud-based mixture used for walls; doth: does; sinister: representative of bad things to come; mark: take note; dole: sorrow; mantle: coat, robe, cloak; fled: gone away; newlyweds: people recently married; ministrations: rituals After Reading: Why did Hermia and Lysander have to run away? Why did Puck change Bottom s head into that of a donkey? Many people consider Puck to be the main character in this play. Why do you think that is? Versions: The Text Resources includes a summary of the story, which you can use to introduce students to the play and its plot. This is intended to make the plot and characters clear to students and to serve as preparation for Shakespeare s text, which will be hard for students, but not impossible. Many young students are capable of taking great delight in Shakespeare s plots and language and are able to understand the general meaning, even when not every word is crystal clear. After reading the summary, we encourage you to spend as much time with Shakespeare s text as you can; if you can t read the whole play, try to read and act out selected scenes. The suggestions above provide some guidance for teaching. The bibliography for this section lists several titles that will be helpful to you in introducing students to Shakespeare, including some student-friendly editions of this play. 24