Lesson Plan One
Starter Activity
Remind yourselves of the following exchanges between Raleigh and Stanhope at the end of Act Three Scene Two. Work in threes, reading each part and the stage directions. Comment and constructively criticise each other’s reading and interpretation. Before you go on you must be in agreement on exactly what each character means and exactly how they express themselves.
Main Activity
We are concerned here with the complexities of the dramatic diction in the confrontation, what it reveals about each of them and the toll on their characters that the war has taken. Where, in their recent and less recent past lives, does this extraordinary mixture of diction come from as both break down completely before us?
Raleigh: I’m sorry then — if I was wrong.
Stanhope: Sit down.
Raleigh: It’s all right, thanks.
Stanhope {suddenly shouting): Sit down!
[Raleigh sits on the box to the right of the table. Stanhope speaks quietly again.
I understand you prefer being up there with the men than down here with us?
Raleigh: I don’t see what you mean.
Stanhope: What did you tell Hibbert
Raleigh: Hibbert? I — I didn’t say
Stanhope: Don’t lie.
Raleigh (rising): I’m not lying! Why should I —lie
Stanhope: Then why didn’t you come down to supper when I told you to
Raleigh: I — I wasn’t hungry. I had rather a headache. It’s cooler up there.
Stanhope: You insulted Trotter and Hibbert…
