Tom Hanks and Caliban: Survivor Superstars |
April 2007
Beth Dewhurst teaches Social Studies at Stuart-Hobson Middle School in Washington, DC.
Plays/Scenes Covered:
The Tempest, end of Act 2
What’s On for Today and Why
Within the context of their study of the Jamestown settlement, students will begin to explore the Sea Venture’s wreck on Bermuda in 1609 as inspiration for Shakespeare’s The Tempest. This lesson could be team-taught with an English teacher covering the play simultaneously.
This lesson will take one to two class periods.
What To Do
1. Explain that we are going to investigate how a part of the Jamestown story took an unexpected turn and begin to explore this event’s possible influence on Shakespeare in writing The Tempest. As a class, view the brief scene in Cast Away in which Tom Hanks describes to his “friend,” Wilson, how he will make shelter and find food after being newly stranded on an island, followed by his flailing attempts to catch fish.
2. Ask students to brainstorm (braintempest?) survival strategies they would use if our class was shipwrecked in a similar environment and record their responses on the board. Ask students to categorize the strategies in terms of previously identified social studies themes (e.g., human/environment interaction; conflict/cooperation; resources/economics). What resources would be needed for each strategy? What would need to be done first? Why? Students should deduce that their survival would be dependent upon their ability to utilize the island’s resources.
3. Introduce the audio clip and focal point: the Sea Venture’s purpose and wreck on Bermuda in 1609, enroute to Jamestown. Write Bermuda’s coordinates on the board (33° N / 65° W) and ask students to locate it using individual maps or a large classroom map. What other islands are nearby? Using the map’s scale, ask students to approximate how far Bermuda is from the Jamestown settlement.
4. Pass out the “KWL” (Know, What, Learn) chart to students (and/or use an overhead if you prefer to generate a class KWL). Have students complete the KW portions of the chart. Then listen to the audio excerpt. Revisit the brainstorm strategies and categories on the board and place a check mark next to ones students heard in the recording.
5. Have students complete the “L” portion of the chart. Ask them to report their findings to the class.
As a conclusion, ask students if they can begin to identify any similarities between the Sea Venture story and basic plot elements of The Tempest (e.g., venturing to a new environment; storm and shipwreck; utilizing natural resources for survival). What evidence so far suggests that the Sea Venture may have been the inspiration for the play? (e.g., plot similarities, historical context of the play, the Sea Venture and other settlement accounts were widely known in Shakespeare’s time and place; Caliban’s fish trap line; language similarities between Strachey and Jourdain and the play).
Extension Activity: Help students begin creating a Venn diagram which compares and contrasts the Sea Venture story and basic plot elements of The Tempest. Add to it as your exploration continues.
What You Need
Link:
Online audio clip from Shakespeare in American Life
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Cast Away (video), (2000, dir. Robert Zemeckis)
KWL Chart Handout (see link in item 4 above)
How Did It Go?
Were students able to identify similarities and differences between the two castaway stories? Were they able to categorize the survival strategies according to the social studies themes? Were they able to make an initial evaluation of the Sea Venture event as possible inspiration for The Tempest?
