British Library
British Library: Wilde's the Importance of Being Earnest: A Close Reading
In this lesson, students will consider several aspects of Oscar Wilde's most popular of comedies, "The Importance of Being Earnest". The success of this play is in part due to its examination of moral principles - in this case, the...
British Library
British Library: Bronte's Jane Eyre: The Figure of Bertha Mason
This activity will encourage students to explore the character of Bertha Mason, Mr. Rochester's first wife, through the lens of medical history. They will compare Charlotte Bronte's presentation of the character with the perspectives...
British Library
British Library: Bronte's Wuthering Heights: Who Is Heathcliff?
This activity involves an exploration of the notoriously multifaceted character of Heathcliff, drawing on a range of sources that include the visual, literary, and historical. Students will reflect on Emily Bronte's depiction of...
British Library
British Library: Bronte's Wuthering Heights: Fantasy and Realism
Students will consider the two elements of fantasy and realism that combine to create the compelling narrative in Wuthering Heights (1847). In this activity, students will explore the significance of nature within the narrative, its...
British Library
British Library: Dickens's Great Expectations: The Gothic, the Uncanny
This activity will introduce the idea of the uncanny and explore its expression within the narrative form of Charles Dickens's novel "Great Expectations".
British Library
British Library: Dickens's Great Expectations: Social Mobility
This lesson will explore this theme of social mobility through a reading of extracts from Samuel Smiles's Self-Help (1859), the handbook that many young men in 19th-century Britain turned to in seeking advice as to how to better...
British Library
British Library: Dickens's a Christmas Carol: Poverty, Money and Miserliness
In this activity, students will consider the economic and political context that informs Charles Dickens's famous novella, A Christmas Carol.
British Library
British Library: Austen's Emma: Social Realism & the Novel
In the course of the novel's development, Jane Austen was a significant contributor to the emergence of the modern novel as we know it today. The review of Emma in the Quarterly Review (October 1815) makes clear to a modern audience how...
British Library
British Library: Discovering Literature: Chaucer's 'The Merchant's Tale': Marriage & Relationships
'The Merchant's Tale' can be viewed as one of the 'marriage' tales in Chaucer's "The Canterbury Tales". Students can use this series of activities to explore how Chaucer portrays marriage, men and women, and relationships through the...
Better Lesson
Better Lesson: Comparing Two Cinderella Stories
Students will compare two characters and list their comparisons on a graphic organizer using modern Cinderella stories. This lesson includes a detailed lesson plan for guided practice and partner work, and a video of students engaged in...
TES Global
Tes: Character Analysis
[Free Registration/Login Required] A downloadable graphic organizer for analyzing a character is provided on this page.
New Zealand Ministry of Education
Nz Ministry of Education: What a Character
Students will explore characters created by authors and identify personality traits, and then apply these ideas to their own characters using language skills identified to convey these traits. Students will write a character sketch,...
Better Lesson
Better Lesson: W.4.3b: Use Dialogue and Description to Develop Experiences/events
Links to 12 lessons and activities that build student skills in standard W.4.3b: Use dialogue and description to develop experiences and events to show the responses of characters to situations.