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with Queen VictoriaGreat Expectations: Tea
with Queen Victoria
Introduction
The 19th century, named for its long reigning queen Victoria, the Victorian Age saw the beginnings of our current economic, political, and social structure. In Great Expectations, Charles Dickens depicts a young man's search for identity. For this assignment you will be asked to take on the identity of an individual from the 19th century and explore the social levels of Victorian Society, investigate the influences which may have fueled Pip's desire to become a gentleman, scrutinize the working conditions and everyday life of the people during this time and research the dark history of Newgate prison.
Task
You will research some of the different aspects of the times and events that Charles Dickens wrote about in his novel Great Expectation. You will do your research by assuming the role of six individuals that lived during this time. The roles are: Queen Victoria (possibly Prince Albert), Charles Booth or Clara Collette, Prime Minister Gladstone or Disraeli, Charles Dickens, Governess Ada E Leslie, and Elizabeth Fry. You will be placed into groups which will be comprised of one of each of these six individuals.
Each group will enact having tea with Queen Victoria. During your audience with the "Queen", you will take on the role of one of the individuals and discuss with the "Queen", who also has her own agenda, about what your individual would be concerned with during this time period. You will be writing a script and thus performing a mini play with the dialogue of each individual telling about their life, issues, and problems.
Process
Select or draw one of the following individuals' name:
Queen Victoria | Prime Minister Gladstone or Disraeli | Charles Booth or Clara Collette | Charles Dickens | Governess Ada E. Leslie | Elizabeth Fry
In the role of Queen Victoria prepare to talk about:
How long you have reigned and when.Your family background, your marriage, etc.
What major internal and external political events occurred while you reigned
How do you believe your people view you or will remember you
What contributions did you make to society, literature, etc.
Visit the following web sites to assist you with your background information:
Victoria, Queen of Great Britain (1819-1901) and Prince Albert of Saxe Coburg Gotha (1819-1861)
In the Role of either Prime Minister Gladstone or Disraeli be prepare to talk about:
What are the different levels of society and how are they governed.
Who could be a gentlemen in the 19th century?
What kinds of movement were possible between the levels for a man or woman.
The roles of men and women in the 19th century. How are they different or alike.
What is the acceptable behavior in addressing each other in the various levels; adult to adult, children to adult.
The importance of one's birthright and how a person's past might affect his/her life.
The political events occurred during Queen Victoria's reign..
Visit the following web sites to assist you with your background information:
Victorian Political History--An Overview
Victorian Social History--An Overview
In the Role of Charles Booth or Clara Collette prepare to talk about:
What was happening to the working man during the Industrial Revolution.
What was it like to work in factories.
Define the Industrial Revolution.
How did the factories operate. What problems did they present for people.
How much money did the average worker make.
What view did society hold toward factories, trades, and the workers of each.
Visit the following web sites to assist you with your background information:
Victorian Social History--Conditions of Life and Labor
Victorian Social History--An Overview
Life of the Industrial Worker in 19th-Century Britain
In the role of Charles Dickens be prepared to talk about:
How your life paralleled your writing. Develop a biographical sketch.
Describe your life before, during, and after marriage.
How your writing tells of the conditions that existed in the 19th century.
Talk about your writings and novels.
Visit the following web sites to assist you with your background information:
Charles Dickens Biographical Information
Charles Dickens on Victorian Web
In the role of the Victorian Governess Ada E. Leslie prepare to talk about:
The structure of the Victorian family.
Children's destinies and their place in society in the 19th century.
How society looked at children and youth during Dickens' time.
What was the educational structure in Dickens' time.
The focus of the school curriculum.
Who went to school.
How many years of education did people receive.
Visit the following web sites to assist you with your background information:
1876 Victorian England Revisited
Victorian Social History--An Overview
Letters from a Victorian Governess
In the role of Elizabeth Fry (Newgate Prison) prepare to talk about:
What the penal system was like during the 19th century.
What was a debtors' prison. who was sent to debtors' prison and why.
What the prison conditions were like. What a prison looked life.
How convicts were treated after their release from prison.
Visit the following web sites to assist you with your background information:
Conclusion:
Once each individual in the group has completed his or her research, the group will work together to write the script for the tea with Queen Victoria. Each group will perform their mini play for 15-20 minutes for their classmates. This research and performance will give the class a background as to what life was like in 19th century England during the time period in which Dickens was writing and Queen Victoria reigned.
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