Unveiling Helena: Shakespeare's Language and Audience Sympathy

Unveiling Helena: Shakespeare's Language and Audience Sympathy

Learning Objective

At the end of the lesson you will understand how Shakespeare uses language to engage the audience's sympathy for the character of Helena in A Midsummer Night's Dream.

What do you already know about Shakespeare's use of language to engage audiences?

Introduction to Helena

Helena is a character in A Midsummer Night's Dream who experiences unrequited love. Shakespeare uses language to reveal her inner turmoil and vulnerability.

Unrequited Love

Shakespeare employs poetic language to convey Helena's deep feelings for Demetrius, despite his rejection, evoking empathy from the audience.

Pleading and Desperation

Helena's desperation and pleading are highlighted through Shakespeare's use of emotionally charged language, eliciting sympathy from the audience.

Contrast with Hermia

Shakespeare contrasts Helena's self-deprecation with Hermia's confidence, emphasizing Helena's vulnerability and garnering audience sympathy.

Empathizing with Helena

Shakespeare's use of soliloquies and asides allows the audience to intimately connect with Helena's inner thoughts and emotions, fostering sympathy.

Language and Empathy

Shakespeare's manipulation of language enables the audience to empathize with Helena's plight, creating a deep emotional connection.

Interactive Analysis

Students will analyze a selected passage featuring Helena's dialogue, identifying linguistic devices that evoke sympathy for her character.

Conclusion and Reflection

Reflect on how Shakespeare's language effectively engenders sympathy for Helena, prompting a deeper understanding of character portrayal in literature.

Write down 3 things you learned in this lesson.

Have students enter three things they learned in this lesson. With this they can indicate their own learning efficiency of this lesson.

Write down 2 things you want to know more about.

Here, students enter two things they would like to know more about. This not only increases involvement, but also gives them more ownership.

Ask 1 question about something you haven't quite understood yet.

The students indicate here (in question form) with which part of the material they still have difficulty. For the teacher, this not only provides insight into the extent to which the students understand/master the material, but also a good starting point for the next lesson.