Big Idea Overview and Resources

Part 1: Loyalty and Betrayal
Part 2: Portraits of Real Life

Part 1: Loyalty and Betrayal

Overview
The dramatic selections in Part 1 explore issues of loyalty and betrayal in a family, a community, or a country, and the dangerous outcomes that result from a person’s decision to remain faithful or become disloyal. The plays raise important questions about the meaning of loyalty and betrayal and challenge readers to think about these concepts in a political context

The plays in Part 1 are also examples of tragedies. The reading or viewing audience discovers how tragic flaws of characters bring about the characters’ own ruin. As the tragic events of the plot unfold, the issues surrounding loyalty and betrayal have life-and-death consequences for the characters.

Web Resources
Aristotle’s Poetics
http://www.literature-study-online.com/essays/aristotle_poetics.html
This Web site gives an overview of Aristotle’s definition of complex plot and the pleasures that the audience derives from watching tragedies.

The Roman Empire
http://www.pbs.org/empires/romans/empire/julius_caesar.html
This Web site contains historical information on Julius Caesar and his fall from power. as well as links to additional resources.

About Shakespeare
http://absoluteshakespeare.com
This Web site provides a good introduction to Shakespeare for students. It includes texts of the plays, quotations, study guides, and trivia.

Mr. William Shakespeare
http://shakespeare.palomar.edu
This is a more comprehensive and scholarly website about Shakespeare.

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Part 2: Portraits of Real Life

Overview
When we think of drama and plays, most of us probably imagine the theater as we know it today—a large room with a raised stage, footlights, and a set filled with props. If a play is in progress, actors in full costume and makeup move about, gesture, and talk to one other on a brightly lit stage. Their actions and gestures are slightly exaggerated so that the audience in the dimly lit theater can see them. The actors project their voices so the audience can hear the dialogue. As audience members, we look at characters who are unaware of us. It is as if a wall has been removed so we can watch and hear what they do.

The theater just described is called the “Boxed theater” or modern realistic theater. Generally speaking, the people are realistic—that is, the characters portrayed are like people we meet and know. The dramatized events are like moments that happen in everyday life. The characters in modern drama, featured in Part 2, are typically portraits of ordinary people who encounter struggles that are familiar to readers or audience members. For example, a gift of Anton Chekhov—short story writer and playwright—lies in his comic talent for revealing how ordinary events can affect people’s lives

Web Resources
Goodman Theater
http://www.goodman-theatre.org/
Chicago’s Goodman’s Theater Web site includes an “Education” feature with instructional material.

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