Unit 2 Lesson 19: Character Analysis

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Unit 2 Lesson 19

Objectives: Students will  be able to draw upon their cumulative understanding of Shakespeare’s language and structural choices in order to make a claim about character development across all five acts of the play.

This exploration will be guided by a pair of complementary tools that prompt students to develop evidence-based claims about both Romeo and Juliet. Working first as a class and then in small groups, students will take note of textual details, establish a connection between these details, and finally draw upon these connections to make a claim about the text. These tools will act as a framework for the final writing assignment in Lesson 20, in which students will choose either Romeo or Juliet as their focus character, and craft a formal written response. This response will serve as their End-of-Unit Assessment. For homework students will continue to review their text and gather evidence in preparation for their End-of-Unit Assessment.

Aim:  How do complex characters (e.g., those with multiple or conflicting motivations) develop over the course of a text, interact with other characters, and advance the plot or develop the theme?

CCS

RL.9-10.3 Analyze how complex characters (e.g., those with multiple or conflicting motivations) develop over the course of a text, interact with other characters, and advance the plot or develop the theme.
RL.9-10.4 Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in the text, including figurative and connotative meanings; analyze the cumulative impact of specific word choices on meaning and tone (e.g., how the language evokes a sense of time and place; how it sets a formal or informal tone).

 

Assessment

Romeo and Juliet evidence-based claims tools

Vocabulary

  • jointure (n.) – money that the groom’s family pays the bride if the groom dies and she survives her husband
  • enmity (n.) – the state of being hostile/angry
  • sacrifices (n.) – lives offered for a higher purpose

 

Learning Sequence

  1. The Lesson 19 tools provide you with the key excerpts that will help structure your final analysis of character development. Students will make observations of Shakespeare’s language and structural choices in these excerpts. From these observations, you will make an inference about character. Finally, you will be asked to make connections between these details and inferences. You will draw upon these connections in order to make a claim about Romeo or Juliet’s development across all five acts of the play.
  2. You will begin these tools as a class, and then finish them in groups of four. You will be expected to draw upon these worksheets as a framework for their final formal written response in Lesson 20.
  3. Review and Contextualize the EBC Process:
The EBC is a three-step process in making evidence-based claims (EBC): 

  1. Textual details: First take note of textual details that tell you about Romeo or Juliet
  2.  Text-to-text connections: Explain a connection you have made between these details
  3. Make a claim: Draw a conclusion about Romeo or Juliet’s character development that can be referenced back to the textual details and text-to-text connections.

 
  1. Read aloud 5.3.296–310, or play an audio recording.  Discuss the TBQs- What does Capulet ask from Montague? What is Capulet offering in return?
  1. Read lines 298–302. Discuss the TBQs- What does Montague offer to give Capulet? Hint: What is Montague really offering here?
  2. Read lines to lines 303–304 and discuss the TBQs- According to Capulet, who/what to lines 303–304 is to blame for Romeo and Juliet’s deaths? What have Romeo and Juliet been sacrificed for?
  3. Read lines  305–310 and respond: Who has made peace? Why might the Prince describe this peace as “glooming”?
  4. Pass out copies of both the Romeo Tool and the Juliet Tool. 1. turn back in your text to the text selection written on your tool . 2. Offer examples of textual details you see in these lines that may offer insight into Romeo as a character. C. begin to establish a connection between these details. Use questions such as: What do these details have in common? What pattern do you notice? D. draw upon these connections to make an observation about Romeo’s character in this passage.
  5. Work in small groups: working as a group to find textual details and make a second inference about Romeo’s character.
  6. After completing the first two boxes in the second row, we’ll compare this second inference with the one that you generated as a class. What has changed? What has stayed the same?
  7. Repeat this activity for the remainder of class. The goal is for groups to complete both tools. You hey may use their past assignments and notes for reference.
  8. Teacher models the process.

 

Homework:

Review your tools and decide which character you will focus on in your End-of-Unit Assessment.

  1. Formulate a claim about your chosen character’s development. Record this claim at the top of your tool, and come to the next class ready to write.
  2. Complete the evidence-based tool. Bring it to the class to assist you in the final assessment tomorrow.

Romeo Tool

Claim:

 

ROMEO
Text Selection(Act, Scene, Lines) Word Choice/Text Details: What are some specific images, words, and phrases that Shakespeare uses to tell you about Romeo? Observations: What can you infer about Romeo from these details? How does your observation compare to your understanding of Romeo in the previous acts?
1.1.206-236(Romeo talks to Benvolio about Rosaline)  

 

 

 

 

 

 
2.2.1-32(Balcony scene soliloquy)  

 

 

 

 

 

 

  
3.1.59-138(Mercutio and Tybalt death scenes)  

 

 

 

 

 

 

  
5.3.70-120*(Romeo commits suicide)  

 

 

 

 

 

 

  

*Romeo does not appear in Act 4 of Romeo and Juliet

 

Juliet’s Tool

Claim:

 

JULIET
Text Selection(Act, Scene, Lines) Word Choice/Text Details: What are some specific images, words, and phrases that Shakespeare uses to tell you about Juliet? Observations: What can you infer about Juliet from these details? How does your observation compare to your understanding of Juliet in the previous acts?
1.3.64-100
(Juliet talks to Lady Capulet about marriage)		  

 

 

 

 

 

 

  
2.2.107-138(Balcony scene exchange of vows)  

 

 

 

 

 

 
3.2.1-31
(Juliet’s speech while she waits for Romeo)		  

 

 

 

 

 

 
4.1.50-88(Juliet threatens to kill herself)  

 

 

 

 

 

 
5.3.139-170(Juliet commits suicide)  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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