Title:

The Passing of Power:

A Look at the Line of Succession

in the Plays of Shakespeare.

Created by: Mr. Conway

Grace Dodge HS

“Ultimately, the only power to which man should aspire is that which he exercises over himself.”

- Elie Wiesel

“To know the pains of power, we must go to those who have it; to know its pleasures, we must go to those who are seeking it.”

- Charles Caleb Colton

We have spent time with two of Shakespeare’s dramas this year, one a history and one a tragedy. Both plays centered on a central issue, the method of passing power (namely the position of being the King of England) from one generation to another.

Henry IV found himself fretting over the idea of leaving

the Kingdom he had fought so hard for to a wayward,

over-indulgent son, Hal.

King Lear had no clear heir, so he intended to split his

Kingdom between his three daughters, Goneril, Regan,

and the duty bound Cordelia.

While the succession of power at the center of Shakespeare’s

plays was based on a deeply rooted tradition, there may likely

have been better ways to pass the crown along without so many

people meeting their end.

Your group will go back in time and act as advisors in the courts of King Lear and King Henry IV.

You will be asked to evaluate the particular political situation depicted in either King Lear or

Henry IV and devise a public policy that will allow for the crown to be passed on that pleases the greatest number of characters.

As advisors to the king, you have been asked to devise a

policy that will allow for the crown to be passed on

smoothly and peacefully. You will use the worksheets

available on the TIPS website to help define the problem

with the succession of power in Shakespeare’s dramas

and develop a policy that will address and attempt to

solve the problem. You will use the Prince System

worksheets to determine the likelyhood of your policy

being implemented. When all of this is finished, you

will create an old fashioned public service announcement to inform the King’s subjects of the

policy change.

Your group needs to sellect one of the two plays, either King Lear or Henry IV Part One and Two, to use as the basis for this project. Reread the play as a group to get reacquainted with the material. Also, look over your class notes. Once you have done these three things, your group needs to:

Part One: Creating a Public Policy

Step One: Define the Problem created during the succession of power.

Step Two: Gather Evidence from the text.

Step Three: Identify the Problem.

Step Four: Evaluate the Existing Policies in play in Shakespeare’s plays.

Step Five: Develop Public Policy Solutions.

Step Six: Select the Best Public Policy Solution.

For help with any questions you might have about these worksheets, visit

visit the TIPS PPA Website.

Part Two: The Prince System

Step One: Read the TIPS introduction to The Prince System.

Step Two: Describe the Policy to be Implemented.

Step Three: Identify the Players involved in implementing the policy in the play.

Step Four: Estimating Issue Position, Power, and Priority for Each Player.

Step Five: Calculating the Probability of the Policy Being Accepted.

Part Three: Policy Summary

The Town Crier: Write a breif summary of the

public policy you proposed and an

explanation of whether or not it was accepted by the King’s Court. This summary and explanation will be read to the King’s subjects by a town crier moving from village to villge.

The Complete works of Shakespeare

TIPS Public Policy Analyst Website

Objectives	Could Have Been a Lot Better	Could Have Been Better	Getting Better	Good	Great	Earned Points
Group Organization	2 points Students work independently within their groups, with little to no collaboration on completing the assigned tasks.	4 points Students primarily work on their own, with occasional instances of collaboration between group members.	6 points Students divide up the assigned tasks and decide as a group who will be responsible for a particular task.	8 points Students work as a group, collaborating on a majority of the tasks assigned.	10 points Students work as a group, collaborating on all of the tasks assigned
Worksheets and Use of the Public Policy Analysis process	1 points Students submit one or two of the worksheets that exhibit a visible lack of effort. PPA practices are ignored.	2 points Students submit three to five of the worksheets with a visible lack of effort. PPA practices are generally ignored.	3 points Students complete all of the worksheets with a minimal amount of effort. PPA practices are generally followed.	4 points Students complete all of the worksheets with complete and well-constructed responses. PPA steps are completed and apparent in the completed tasks.	5 points Students complete all of the worksheets with complete and well constructed that synthesize their ideas with the research they have performed. PPA steps are followed and enhance the production of the completed tasks.
Grammar and Organization of Student Generated Materials	2 point More than ten grammatical errors; information is incoherent.	4 points Work contains numerous grammatical errors (nine or ten); information is not organized in a logical manner and is difficult to understand.	6 points Work contains several grammatical errors (six to eight); Information is coherent, but requires effort to understand.	8 points Work contains a few grammatical errors (three to five); information is organized in a logical manner.	10 points Work contains a minimal amount of grammatical errors (one or two); information is organized in a logical, coherent manner.
Style and Content of Student Generated Materials.	1 point Work exhibits no creativity and is absent of researched information.	2 points Work exhibits some creativity and is contains some researched information.	3 points Work is creative with a somewhat original use of researched material.	4 points Work is creative and original, blending both student ideas and researched information.	5 points Amazingly original, overflowing with creativity and information.
					Score:

NYS Standards:

English:

#1: Language for Information and Understanding

#2: Language for Literary Response and Expression

#3: Language for Critical Analysis and Evaluation

After all the time we have spent with Shakespeare this year, the completion of this project should demonstrate to you your mastery of the dramatic texts that you may have found so intimidating at the beginning of the year. Finishing this project should also make the importance of creating sound public policy using a methodical approach (the TIPS Public Policy Analyst approach) clear to you. You have dealt with an incredible amount of information this year and should be proud of the work you have done.