Big Idea Web Quest Lesson Plan

Introduction
Students have explored the Big Idea of Disillusionment and Darker Visions. In this lesson, they will read about the Victorian novel, and then will read a chapter from Wuthering Heights. After reading through these selections, students will write about whether the characteristics of Wuthering Heights make it a typical Victorian novel.

Lesson Description
Students will read selected passages from English Literature http://www.answers.com/topic/english-literature, The Nineteenth-Century Novel , http://www.nvcc.edu/home/ataormina/novels/history/19thcent.htm and a chapter from Wuthering Heights  http://www.literature.org/authors/bronte-emily/wuthering-heights/. Then they will write about Wuthering Heights, and whether its characteristics make it a typical Victorian novel.

Instructional Objectives

1. Students will use the Internet as an information resource.
2. Students will read information about the characteristics of a Victorian novel and will then read a chapter from Wuthering Heights.
3. Students will write about Wuthering Heights, and whether its characteristics make it a Victorian novel.

Student Web Activity Sample Answer
Chapter 2 of Wuthering Heights has several of the characteristics of a Victorian novel: There are six characters, whose relationships are complicated. Their interactions are entertaining, realistic, and full of emotion. The plot hints at the evils of class division according to birth, since the narrator is confused about how the characters may be related. The realism, the entertainment, and the emotion along with the character development are all characteristics of the Victorian novel. However, the characters and setting do not reflect typical middle-class values. The character Heathcliff does not appear to be a “rational man of virtue,” and human nature is not portrayed as fundamentally good. Therefore, I would not agree that Wuthering Heights is a typical Victorian novel.