Introduction to Shakespeare – Knowledge Organiser
Conventions of the genre:
 To begin to explore Shakespearean language.
 To understand the term ‘blank verse’.
 To understand the term ‘rhetoric’ and the persuasive devices used.
 To understand the difference between tragedy, comedy and historical plays.
 To develop an understanding of performance during Shakespeare’s time.
 To gain an awareness of iconic Shakespeare characters such as Othello, Lady Macbeth and Henry V.
 To understand how audiences, then and now, respond to the plays / key speeches.
Extracts
Key themes
Context
Othello
Shakespeare
Mandela
Nelson Mandela
Henry V
Shakespeare
Churchill
Winston Churchill
Margaret Thatcher
Margaret Thatcher
Lady Macbeth
Shakespeare
Princess Diana
Charles Spencer
Other writers and texts:
 Abraham Lincoln – The Gettysburg Address
 John Ball – The Peasants Revolt speech
 William Pitt the Elder – The never, never, never
speech
 Romeo and Juliet – Shakespeare Act 2 Scene 2
But, soft! What light through yonder window breaks?
 King Lear – Shakespeare Act 2 Scene 4
O, reason not the need! Our basest beggars
Are in the poorest thing superfluous.
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Conflict
Politics
Racism
Gender roles
Power
Persuasion
Media
Authority
Segregation
Contrasts
Women’s role in society. Gender politics. Tradition versus innovation.
Grammar school education. Uses of Latin and Greek. Teaching of Rhetoric. Influence of
the Classical World.
The Globe Theatre and Theatre of Shakespeare’s time.
Patronage and Royalty. Shakespeare’s and other writers’ use of patronage. The Tudors
and Stuarts. King James I.
Queen Elizabeth I. Powerful women in history. Women’s role in politics.
Latin and Ancient Greek language: how they have influenced the English Language and
shaped British thought.
Stratford – upon – Avon. The West Midlands of Shakespeare’s day. His life and times
there. Comparisons with London and life in the capital city.
Contemporary leaders. How the world see its leaders? Examples: JFK; Barack Obama;
Angela Merkel; Vladimir Putin. Fight for democracy.
Racism. Racism and related issues – Slavery, Imperialism, rise of Empires, Colonialism, and
Imperial Legacy. Racism in different national and cultural contexts.
World Wars. Understanding the contexts. Second World War and Churchill’s purpose in
his use of rhetoric.
Put any other useful contextual information here:
Stylistic features &
relevant terms
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Varied sentence
structures
Direct address
Exaggeration
Emotive
language
Facts
Statistics
Opinions
Repetition
Adjectives
Alliteration
Adverbs
Rhetoric
Rhetorical
questions
Structure
Simile and
metaphor
Standard English
Assonance
Useful vocabulary
Menace
Tyranny
Native
Comrades
Gestapo
Odious
Empire
Liberate
Canonise
Breach
Humility
Sinews
Portage
Galled
Confounded
Sheathed
Wassail
Oppressive
Potent
Reverend
Signiors
Pertains
Legislation
Democracy
A person or thing that is likely to cause harm or
danger.
Cruel and oppressive government or ruler.
A person born in a specified place or associated with
a place by birth.
A colleague or a fellow member of an organisation.
The German secret police under Nazi rule.
Extremely unpleasant or repulsive.
An extensive group of states or countries ruled over
by a single monarch or a sovereign state.
Set someone free from imprisonment, slavery, or
oppression
In the Roman Catholic Church, to officially declare a
dead person to be a saint.
To break through.
Being humble or modest.
Strong tissue that connects the muscle to the bone.
To carry something.
To annoy or humiliate somebody.
To astonish or puzzle someone.
A cover for the blade or knife.
To make merry.
To weigh somebody down with worry or sadness.
Powerful.
To be thought of as holy.
Sirs.
To be relevant to something.
Laws.
Power to the people.
SPaG Focus
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Question mark, exclamation mark, listing comma, colon, speech marks, brackets for stage
directions
Adjectives & adjectival phrases and adverbs & adverbial phrases
Compound words, conjunction, modal verb, synonym
Active and passive voice, continuous verb, colloquial language, formal and informal tone/register,
Syllable and stress
Homophone and homonym
Responding to the (extract, question, etc)
 Relevant points are clearly identified, including summary and synthesis of information from
different sources and commentary incorporates apt textual reference and quotation to support
ideas.
 Precision in the selection and application of textual reference to the point being made.
 Different layers of meaning are identified with detailed exploration of them some beginning to
develop an interpretation
 An analytic and evaluative comment on how viewpoint is established and an appreciation of how
devices achieve the effects that they do.
 Evaluation of the extent to which structural choices support the writer’s theme or purpose.
 Perceptive analysis of how language is used and some appreciation of how language choices
contribute to the effect on the reader.
 Comments develop an interpretation and begin to prove the text.
 The ability to set texts in context more securely and see how texts are influential.
 Successfully comparing cross reference aspects of text.