Good Learning Co.
SavannahYear 8
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EnglishShakespeare and dramatic craft32 min★★★ difficulty

Character, conflict and the shape of a play

A play is an argument between people who each believe they are right. Tracking the conflict tells you what the play is really about.

Part of your national curriculum
  • Reading: Study setting, plot and characterisation, and the effects of these on the reader
  • Reading: Read and appreciate the depth and power of the English literary heritage through the study of Shakespeare, seminal world literature and poetry since 1789

Lesson overview

What you'll learn in this lesson

Study setting, plot and characterisation, and the effects of these on the reader

Key learning points

  • • Five-part structure
  • • Characterisation by contrast
  • • Setting as pressure
  • • Dramatic irony

This lesson at a glance

  • 32 minutes
  • 20 parts to scroll through
  • 4 quick checks
  • Marked quiz at the end
  • Gentle pace: short sittings with pauses

Words to know

settingcharacterisationeffectsreaderfive-part

Scroll down — the lesson carries on below

Part 1 of 20 · Discover5%
1

Watch & discover

Part 1 of 20

Watch first

Character, conflict and the shape of a play

An English teaching video on this topic from Peekaboo Kidz. Watch it, then scroll down for the lesson.

In a nutshell

Study setting, plot and characterisation, and the effects of these on the reader

2

What you already know

Part 2 of 20

Before we start

What you already know

You should already know how to track a character across a text and how to quote accurately.

Recap: Unlocking Shakespeare's language
3

Key words

Part 3 of 20

Key words

Words you'll need today

Exposition
The opening that sets up situation and characters.
Climax
The turning point of highest tension.
Foil
A character whose contrast reveals another.
Dramatic irony
The audience knows something a character does not.
Resolution
How the play settles at the end.
4

Learning cycle

Part 4 of 20

Learning cycle 1 of 2

The shape of a play

A short piece of teaching, then a check to make sure it has landed.

5

Explore the idea

Part 5 of 20

Learn

Five-part structure

Most Shakespearean plots move through exposition, rising action, a turning point roughly in the middle, falling action and resolution. Locating the turning point is the fastest way to explain a play: everything before it makes the turn possible, everything after it pays the price.

6

Explore the idea

Part 6 of 20

Learn

Characterisation by contrast

Characters are built against each other. A cautious adviser makes a rash ruler look rasher; a loyal friend makes betrayal sting. This pairing is called a foil. When you write about a character, name the foil, because the contrast is where the meaning sits.

7

Quick check

Part 7 of 20

Quick check

What is a foil?

8

Quick check

Part 8 of 20

Quick check

Which best describes a turning point?

9

Reset break

Part 9 of 20

Pause

That's sitting 1 of 2 done

Stretch, get a drink, look out of the window. There is no timer and nothing is counting down — your place is saved, so you can come back in five minutes or tomorrow.

Stop here for now
10

Learning cycle

Part 10 of 20

Learning cycle 2 of 2

Pressure and irony

A short piece of teaching, then a check to make sure it has landed.

11

Explore the idea

Part 11 of 20

Learn

Setting as pressure

A night scene, a storm, a court, a battlefield: setting raises or lowers what a character can safely say. Watch how the same person speaks in public and in private — the gap between the two is characterisation.

12

Explore the idea

Part 12 of 20

Learn

Dramatic irony

When the audience knows more than the character on stage, ordinary lines turn painful or funny. Noticing dramatic irony lets you write about the effect on the audience, not just the meaning of the words.

13

Quick check

Part 13 of 20

Quick check

A character speaks kindly in public and cruelly in private. This mainly shows:

14

Quick check

Part 14 of 20

Quick check

Dramatic irony affects an audience mainly by:

15

Explore the idea

Part 15 of 20

Worked example

Model paragraph

The storm scene isolates the ruler at exactly the point he loses authority: the setting externalises the collapse of order he has caused. Because the audience already knows the adviser's warning was accurate, every confident line lands as dramatic irony.

16

Common mix-ups

Part 16 of 20

Common mix-ups

Things people often get wrong

  • People often think the climax is the ending. It is the turning point, usually before the final act.
  • People often describe a character in isolation. Contrast with a foil usually shows far more.
17

Challenge round

Part 17 of 20

Game · Sort it

Which of these are true?

Drag each card into the right column. Tap a card first if dragging is fiddly.

True

Not true

18

Challenge round

Part 18 of 20

Game · Fill the gaps

Finish the sentences

Choose the word that belongs in each gap.

A night scene, a storm, a court, a battlefield: ____ raises or lowers what a character can safely say.

Watch how the same person speaks in public and in private — the gap between the two is ____.

19

Mastery quiz

Part 19 of 20

Marked quiz

End of lesson quiz: Character, conflict and the shape of a play

6 questions, marked with the reasoning shown. No timer.

  1. 1. Which comes first?

  2. 2. A foil is a character who...

  3. 3. Dramatic irony happens when...

  4. 4. The climax of a five-act play usually falls...

  5. 5. Setting can create pressure by...

  6. 6. Resolution is best described as...

20

Lesson round-up

Part 20 of 20

Lesson round-up

Ready when you are

Quiz score

Not sat

Games

Not played

Points this lesson

0

Best run

0 in a row

Luna: 0 out of 4 on the practice checks. Only if you feel up to it — one more?

Ask Luna

Do the work

Your written work for this lesson

This is the part you'd do in your book at school. Pick the pieces below, write here or on paper, and photograph anything you draw or work out.

Extract

The last bus

The bus shelter smelled of wet coats. Mira pressed her timetable flat against the glass, as though staring at the numbers might make the 9:42 appear. Rain tapped the roof in small, impatient fingers. Somewhere behind her, a shop shutter came down with a sound like a full stop.

She had been brave all day. She had been brave in the corridor, brave at lunch, brave when the register reached her name and nobody looked up. Being brave, she decided, was mostly a matter of keeping your face still.

Headlights swung around the corner and lit the puddles gold. Mira picked up her bag. Tomorrow she would say something. Tonight she would simply go home.

Original extract written for Good Learning Co.

Reading questions

  1. Find two words or phrases that show how Mira is feeling, and explain what each one suggests.
  2. How does the writer use the weather and the sounds to build the mood? Use a short quotation.
  3. Write the next paragraph in the same style, keeping the writer's short sentences at the moments that matter.

  • Reading response

    Reading

    Read the extract again, then write about how the writer makes you feel that way. Use a short quotation and explain your choice of words.

    2 paragraphs (PEE)

  • Extended writing

    Writing

    Write your piece in full, then redraft the opening so it hooks the reader.

    250–350 words

  • Reading log

    Reading

    Note the book, the pages you read and one thing you noticed about the writing.

    20 minutes' reading

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Part 1 of 20 · Watch & discover

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    Study setting, plot and characterisation, and the effects of these on the reader

  • Not looked at yet

    Read and appreciate the depth and power of the English literary heritage through the study of Shakespeare, seminal world literature and poetry since 1789

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