1. Revision
Mini sagas: Create a mini saga for a character of your choice from Tis Pity. It must be exactly 50 words long and cover their development through the play.
Hector is a charismatic figure who refuses to conform to modern teaching styles. He inappropriately touches the boys who ride pillion on his motorbike and won’t face up to the truth of his actions. An accident leads to his death. At his memorial, the boys he taught remember him fondly. 50 words

2. Giovanni sleeps with Annabella
Cause, event, effect
cause
effect
cause
effect
Giovanni sleeps with Annabella
cause
effect
cause
effect
cause
effect

3. Thinking Squares What is his role in the play?
What is his relationship with other characters?
What does he do and why?
Who is Richardetto?

4. Thinking Squares What is the poem about
Points of comparison with Ford
Context
Language/structure/form (binary?)
What is the poem about

5. Learning Grid 1. Hippolita
Find five micro quotes to describe hiercharacter. 2.
Learn a quote 3.
Select a critical extract that relates to incest/gender/society
 4.
Write a paragraph about Ford’s use of iambic pentameter 5.
Draw a quick venn diagram to show the differences and similarities between Giovanni and Soranzo 6.
Find an example of dramatic irony. What is its purpose?
 7.
Find an example of idealised imagery, who is it applied to, what is it’s effect 8.
Staging: give one reason why Bennett uses a minimal set. 9.
Comedy vs tragedy
Draw a quick table to show how the play meets the different generic conventions
10.
What do you understand by the term intertextuality? How does it relate to the play?
11.
Write a list of 5 biographical details that you know about Ford/Blake
12.
Make a list of 5 events that occur around the time in which the play is set. For an extra challenge, discuss their relevance (if any) to the play

6. Learning Grid 1.
 Complete a thinking square sheet for two companion poems 2.
Learn a quote 3.
Select a critical extract that relates to religion/society/poverty/children
 4.
Make a list of Blake’s binaries 5.
Create an overview table of the structure of each poem we have studied 6.
Find an example of symbolism and discuss how it is used
 7.
Revise Romantic Poetry (The Romantics ) 8.
Context: make a list of literary influences 9.
Innocence vs experience ; summarise the main messages
10.
Examine repeated words.
11.
Write a list of 5 biographical details that you know about Blake
12.
Make a list of 5 events that occur around the time in which the play is set. For an extra challenge, discuss their relevance (if any) to the play

7. Applying critical theory (AO5)
Discuss whether each of the critical theories can be applied to Blake/Ford.
Consider evidence from the text to support such a reading.

8. Applying critical theory
Summary
Feminism
A feminist critic will look at a piece of literature and reveal the extent to which the writing presents the subordination and oppression of women. Feminism reveals and challenges the cultural shaping of gender roles and practices. It exposes how, in plays in novels and other writing, patriarchal ideology distorts, ignores or represses that experience, misrepresenting how women feel, think or act. Feminism explorations of literature also celebrate where women contest male power.
Critics associated with this theory include Elaine Showalter and Judith Butler.
Psychoanalysis
Sigmund Freud was the founding father of psychoanalysis. He argues that actions and motives do not simply spring from conscious, rational sources, but that unconscious desires and repressed memories also play an important role. A psychoanalytic study of a text includes focuses on a character study, exploring a character's feelings and personal relationships.

9. Structuralism
Structualism examines the underlying structures in a text and how the author conveys meaning through these structures.
Deconstruction
A strategy of close reading that demonstrates the ways terms and concepts may be paradoxical (contradictory) or self-undermining, making their meaning un-decidable. Deconstruction suggests that a text's meaning is a false concept and can never be found.
Critics associated with this theory include Jacques Derrida and Paul de Man.
Political Perspective: New Historicism
Considers a text as a product of its historical context, arguing that true meaning is found in a text's historical context.
Critics associated with this theory include Stephen Greenblatt and Jonathan Goldberg.

10. Political Perspective: Cultural Materialism
Cultural Materialists not only look at a text's historical context to understand meaning but also considers a text in light of the reader's position and their context.
Reception Theory
Emphasises the reader's ideas of a text rather than an author's intended/ implied meaning.
Aestheticism
Often associated with Romanticism. Aestheticism is a philosophy defining aesthetic (the beauty) value as the primary goal of understanding literature.
Critics associated with this theory include Oscar Wilde, Walter Pater and Harold Bloom.
Marxism
Emphasises the themes of class conflict in texts, including how rich people oppress the poor people in order to get richer.
Critics associated with this theory include Raymond Williams and Terry Eagleton.

11. New Criticism
Looks at literary works on the basis of what is written and not at the goals of the author/ biographical/ historical/ contextual issues.
Critics associated with this theory include F R Leavis.
Post colonialism
Focuses on the influence of colonialism in literature, especially regarding the historical conflict resulting from the exploitation of less developed countries and their people.
Critics associated with this theory include Edward Said.
Eco-Criticism
Explores cultural connections and human relationships to the natural world.
Queer Theory
Looks at the role of gender identity and sexuality in literature.