Reading Shakespeare's The Tempest through a Postcolonial Lens

Overview

Featured Resources

From Theory to Practice

 

OVERVIEW

Students begin this unit by closely analyzing an excerpt from Mary Rowlandson's The Captive: The True Story Of The Captivity Of Mrs. Mary Rowlandson Among The Indians. They then compare an excerpt of Shakespeare's The Tempest with Aimé Césaire's A Tempest in order to facilitate a postcolonial reading of Shakespeare. Students will arrive at an understanding of the other and will consider how canonical literature may position white characters in relation to those of different ethnicities. Students will question the perspective of writers like Shakespeare and will consider Césaire's A Tempest as a form of resistance to dominant narratives.

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FEATURED RESOURCES

• Word Choice Analysis Handout: Students use this tool to select and analyze words that are particularly important in conveying an author's point of view toward a subject.
• Tempest Teacher's Guide with Close Reading Questions: This handout provides teachers additional questions to focus students' close reading and interpretation of The Tempest.
• Summative Assessment: This prompt with performance standards guides student work at the end of the unit.

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FROM THEORY TO PRACTICE

Beth Wilson advocates for teaching theory to high school students because "teenagers have the potential to grow significantly by applying critical lenses to texts and the world" (69). When students are able to analyze texts through practice with literary theory in class, they are better able to make sense of and think critically about the media they consume on a daily basis. Kimberly Parker offers a compelling way to guide students to an understanding of postcolonial theory; through Chimamanda Ngozi Adiche's TED talk "The Danger of a Single Story," students are asked to think critically about singular and simplistic narratives about people and places that they may have taken for granted. In this unit, students similarly use Adiche to facilitate discussions are asked to locate the "incompleteness" of stories told by canonical authors like Shakespeare. Students are asked to examine the perspectives of Western authors and critically analyze representations of "the other."

Parker, K. N. (2014). Beyond single literacy stories. English Journal, 103(4), 16-17.

 

Wilson, B. (2014). Teach the how: Critical lenses and critical literacy. English Journal, 103(4), 68-75.

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