Fortune’s Fool: A Lesson Plan for Romeo & Juliet

Romeo+Juliet+Fortune

“I am fortune’s fool!” Romeo cries after killing Tybalt (68). This lesson plan asks students to perform a close reading of that scene, and to identify/examine the other utterances of the word “fortune”–there are 13–and the word “fate”–which appears only three times in the play–and to synthesize their findings into a paper on how fortune operates in the play supported by (1) data and (2) close reading of that data. Students will meditate on: why might Shakespeare use the term fortune more often than fate? What do fortune and fate mean during the Elizabethan period in which he writes? How does fortune and/or fate work in the play–how does it “play out” for the various characters? To assist students with this question, the instructor of this lesson plan directs students’ gaze into the play through the concept of Fortuna–the medieval English goddess who spun the wheel and at various times in life landed people at the bottom (often depicted by a broken crown), at the top (a king), and in the middle–approaching kingship or defamation, struggle and general hopelessness (bankruptcy in the modern Wheel of Fortune game show). This is a concept that Shakespeare played with in other plays as well–see “Opportunistic Portia as Fortuna in Shakespeare’s Merchant of Venice” by Ellen M. Caldwell, Studies in English Literature, 1500-1900 in 2014. Romeo, with his ups and downs, and emotional highs and lows that fluctuate so abruptly, is an especially interesting character to watch spin around on Fortuna’s wheel and notice how his emotions (1) correspond with and (2) at times even cause his status to change. It is also interesting to ask: who is Fortuna in this play? There doesn’t seem to be a character with power enough over his/her fate to spin the wheel–making this play interesting to examine in terms of the randomness or not-so-randomness of these characters’ (especially Romeo and Juliet’s) fates–and how Romeo and Juliet’s fates intertwine with and affect the others’.

This lesson is ideal for the introductory Shakespeare level because it inspires the students to start thinking and working with the text in terms of data to mine for insight–first broadly, as introduced to the concept by the instructor, then more intimately. The lesson could easily be tailored for higher-level Shakespeare classes as well–perhaps with less prompting by the teacher and allowing the students to decide on their own columns and add columns and more complex data to analyze. It is a strong, student-centered lesson plan: Research shows, according to the Wayne State Office of Teaching and Learning, that students perform/retain best in lectures of less than ten minutes.

The critical methodology of this lesson–using digital humanities and textual studies disciplines in service of data-driven/informed close reading–unites these methodologies in a unique way to show students one path–that they can branch off of as they see fit–to arrive at meaning in this play. It helps them see the play not just for its famous plot, but for the innerworkings that occur within the play to formulate that plot. It uses the data–the trees–for students to craft, or rather reconstruct, Shakespeare’s forest/realm/universe which he created. It asks students to question not only what happens but how it happens, how action drives theme, and how characters’ beliefs govern their actions and thus their fortunes/fates. Starting with an introductory visual to get them thinking is a sound public-speaking practice to prime audience’s minds for what you will teach them, according to the TED Talk “The secret structure of great talks” that examines Steve Jobs’s and other great speakers’ methods of engagement.

Beginning with a visual of the actual scene then moving into the data–innerworkings–also capitalizes on David McCandless’s TED Talk, “The beauty of data visualization,” which shows how to turn “complex data sets (like worldwide military spending, media buzz, Facebook status updates) into beautiful, simple diagrams that tease out unseen patterns and connections,” according to the TED Talk website linked-to above. “Good design,” he suggests, “is the best way to navigate information glut–and it may just change the way we see the world.” The aims/expectations of using this plan are that students will use good design practices to “navigate information glut” that can occur with a large, unwieldy Shakespeare text, and to tame that text for “unseen patterns and connections” to emerge in their research and ways of thinking about meaning in (1) the text and (2) their lives.

Overall goal/objective/theme: for students to become comfortable with mining the plays for data to assist in their close readings of themes and characterization as they occur throughout the play; to see a connection between digital humanities and data analysis practices as a skill they can cultivate in the English classroom and translate/take it with them to (1) other classes and (2) the workplace as a way of analyzing data/dialogue for, say, project management and reporting findings to teachers/bosses, etc.

Methodology: digital humanities, close reading

What experience/knowledge do students already have? What is my strategy to accommodate all levels? (Audience): This activity is designed for introductory level, non-English majors.

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