Учебное пособие к элективному курсу «Зарубежная литература. Художественная литература Великобритании XIX-XX веков». Сборник упражнений для работы с книгой Э.Бронте «Грозовой перевал»
методическая разработка по английскому языку по теме

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Учебное пособие к элективному курсу

«Зарубежная литература. Художественная литература Великобритании XIX-XX веков»

Сборник упражнений для работы с книгой Э.Бронте «Грозовой перевал»

Автор: учитель английского языка НОУ «Ногинская гимназия»

Новицкая Ирина Владимировна

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МЕТОДИЧЕСКАЯ ЗАПИСКА

Предлагаемое учебное пособие предназначено для практических занятий по курсу «Художественная литература Великобритании XIX-XX веков» в 9 - 11 классах.

Данное учебное пособие  представляет собой сборник коммуникативно-ориентированных заданий, направленных на развитие устной и письменной речи, логического и аргументированного высказывания, расширение словарного запаса учеников на основе чтения адаптированного романа  Э. Бронте  “Грозовой перевал” (Oxford Bookworms Library: Wuthering Heights. Stage 5. Emily Bronte. Retold by Clare West. Oxford University Press, 2002).

Пособие также ставит своей целью овладение учениками навыками самостоятельной работы такими как: нахождение в тексте необходимой информации, использование различных форм изложения мысли по прочитанному материалу (анализ, обобщение и др.).

Пособие рассчитано на девять языковых занятий. Восемь занятий отводятся проработке отдельных частей книги, а девятое (заключительное) занятие предполагает обсуждение произведения в целом: проблематики, главных персонажей, языка и стиля писателя, впечатления от прочитанного и т.д.

Каждый из восьми разделов пособия имеет следующую структуру:

1. Активный словарь к соответствующей части произведения (Active vocabulary).  Предполагается,  что уже в процессе прочтения очередного отрывка произведения ученик обращает внимание на выделенный лексический материал, а затем активно использует его при обсуждении содержания данного отрывка.

2. Задания (темы и вопросы) для передачи содержания (Who or what in the chapters?  Interpret the meaning of the following lines from the text. Say who made the utterances and under what circumstance). Данные задания обеспечивают концентрацию внимания учеников на наиболее важных и значимых моментах произведения. Эти задания призваны помочь ученикам при домашней подготовке к уроку по конкретному отрывку произведения.

3. Задания для анализа (Questions and topics for analysis). Эти задания ставят своей задачей развитие навыка неподготовленной речи, давая возможность ученику высказать свое мнение, принять участие в дискуссии.

4. Креативное письмо (Writing).

Девятый раздел представляет список вопросов для заключительного обсуждения произведения.

        Автор

ASSIGNMENT 1

(Chapter 1-2)

Active vocabulary:

a sour expression on one’s face        to help sb to his feet

to mutter (to oneself)        to be bruised and exhausted

to growl ( about human beings)        childish handwriting

        a pile of (books, clothes)

Who or what in the chapter:

1. is miles away from any town or village?
2. looked crossly up at Mr Lockwood as he took his horse?
3. hardly ever received guests?
4. rushed into the room to calm the dogs?
5. was drinking his tea out of a bowl and eating his bread with unwashed hands?
6. wrote her diary in the Bible?
7. inherited the house and the money, and hated Heathcliff?
8. thought Mr Lockwood must have died in the previous night’s snowstorm?
9. thought he would never want to speak to any human being again?
10. had a daughter, Cathy, who married Mr Heathcliff’s son.

Interpret the meaning of the following lines from the text:

1. From every shadowy corner in the great room appeared a growling animal, ready to kill me, it seemed.
2. I was shocked by his unpleasantness.
3. Heathcliff and Hareton stood at the door laughing, as I shouted at the dogs and tried to get up.
4. I noticed there were names written on the wall in childish handwriting.
5. But instead, my fingers closed around a small ice-cold hand!
6. Heathcliff dropped his candle and stood without moving, his face as white as the wall behind him. He did not seem to recognize me.

Say who made these utterances and under what circumstances. Discuss the motives of the speaker and the moral implication of each utterance:

1. God help us! A visitor!
2. I’m afraid neither I nor my dogs are used to receiving guests.
3. No, but you are the proper person to invite me.
4. My wife! My wife’s ghost, you mean?
5. Wrong again, Mr Lockwood.
6. Take the road you came on. That’s the best advice I can give.
7. My master will be angry if he discovers which bedroom you are sleeping in.
8. How I hate my brother Hindley!
9. Let me in! Let me in! I’ve been out here in the dark for nearly twenty years.
10. No one can sleep in a room full of ghosts.
11. Catherine, do come! My darling, hear me this time!

Questions and topics for analysis:

1. Where is the scene laid? Point out words conveying the local coloring. Speak about the peculiar style of narration through which the story is told.
2. Mr Lockwood visits Wuthering Heights. Give a character sketch of Mr Heathcliff as seen by Mr Lockwood.
3. The appearance of Catherine Earnshaw’s ghost and the effect produced.

Writing:

The strange, deliberately confusing opening chapters of Wuthering Heights serve as Bronte’s introduction to the world of the novel and to the complex relationships among the characters, as well as to the peculiar style of narration. What in your opinion contributes to a certain sense of mystery in the first chapters of the novel?

ASSIGNMENT 2

(Chapters 3-4)

Active vocabulary:

to unwrap        in a while        to have one’s revenge

to find peace        haltless

as long as        to say with scorn

Who or what in the chapter:

1. had lived at Wuthering Heights for centuries?
2. were disappointed to see only a dirty, black-haired gipsy child?
3. was jealous of his father’s feelings for Heathcliff, and saw them both as enemies?
4. was sent away to study?
5. was proud and liked giving orders?
6. was a thin, pale woman with a frequent cough?
7. was made to work on the farm with the men?
8. often ran away on to the moors in the morning and stayed out all day?
9. were screaming and fighting over a little dog?
10. stayed with the Linton family at Thrushcross Grange for five weeks?
11. picked a bowl of soup and threw it at Edgar?

Interpret the meaning of the following lines from the text:

1. But then it was that old servant Joseph who caused trouble.
2. The worst punishment we could invent was to keep her separate from him.
3. They were imagining the dead man in a beautiful distant place, far from the troubles of this world.
4. Hindley did not care what they did, as long as they kept out of his way.
5. This was too much for Heathcliff.

Say who made these utterances and under what circumstances. Discuss the motives of the speaker and the moral implication of each utterance:

1. Look what I’ve brought you!
2. Oh, he’s dead, Heathcliff! He is dead!
3. Let me in, Ellen, and I’ll explain what happened.
4. The boy must be a gipsy; he’s as dark as the devil!
5. She is a breath of fresh air for those stupid Lintons!
6. Who knows who your parents were? Perhaps a king or a queen, far more important than the Lintons!
7. I spoke about him, not to him!
8. He’ll be sorry he’s treated me like this, Ellen!

Questions and topics for analysis:

1. Catherine and Heathcliff as children. Heathcliff’s rights and duties after Mr Earnshaw’s death. The relationship between Heathcliff and Hindley.
2. Give a character sketch of the Linton family.

Writing (choose one topic you like!):

Agree or disagree with the following statement and give your reasons:

Heathcliff’s confusion and emotional turmoil in these chapters are caused by his ambiguous class status.

ASSIGNMENT 3

(Chapters 5-6)

Active vocabulary:

wicked        by accident or on purpose

quick-tempered         to whistle and howl ( about wind)

quarrel

Who or what in the chapter:

1. had been ill for a long time and died soon after Hareton was born?
2. enjoyed being able to scold his wicked employer, with warnings from the Bible?
3. led what was almost double life?
4. had fallen in love with Catherine?
5. seemed to want people to dislike him?
6. stayed outside, although her hair and clothes were completely wet?
7. caught the ever and died within a few days of each other?
8. married Catherine three years after his parents’ death?

Interpret the meaning of the following lines from the text:

1. He neither cried nor prayed. Instead he swore at God and man, and drank himself to sleep every night.
2. She showed a different, calmer side of her character, and was polite, intelligent and amusing.
3. At once she turned and hit him over the ear as hard as she could.
4. I realized that their quarrel had only brought them closer together.
5. Just then the child jumped out of Hindley’s arms and fell.

Say who made these utterances and under what circumstances. Discuss the motives of the speaker and the moral implication of each utterance:

1. That devil Hindley is isn’t away very often. I’m taking a holiday.
2. You never told me before that you didn’t like my company.
3. What a wicked thing to do, miss! You have no right to hurt me!
4. Wicked Aunt Catherine!
5. I’m going to cry until I’m ill.
6. Ah, you hide my son in a cupboard, do you!
7. Then, I’ll break your neck!
8. I cannot live apart from Heathcliff! He is more myself than I am! Our souls are the same!
9. My love for Heathcliff is like the rocks in the ground – not beautiful, but necessary and unchanging. He is always, always in my heart-...
10. If she gets ill again, it could be fatal.

Questions and topics for analysis:

1. Hindley’s mode of life after his wife’s death. Little Hareton in his life. Who is responsible for raising the baby?
2. Catherine’s double life. The quarrel and the effect produced.
3. Catherine decides to marry Edgar Linton. Heathcliff disappears.

Writing (choose one topic):

1. Prove that Catherine’s desire for a genteel and socially prominent lifestyle guides her decision-making in the climactic scene in which she discusses with Ellen her decision to marry Edgar.

2. Agree or disagree and give your reasons: The unbridgeable gap in Catherine’s and Heathcliff’s social positions renders their keen romance unrealizable on any practical level. Nevertheless, the passion between the two lovers remains rooted in their hearts, impervious to outer contingencies.

ASSIGNMENT 4

(Chapters 7-8)

Active vocabulary:

sympathetic        greedy

to deliver ( a message)        to declare

to say crossly        mean and jealous

Who or what in the chapter:

1. Showed great fondness for her husband and for his sister Isabella?
2. Could not take her eyes from Heathcliff?
3. Could not keep happiness to herself?
4. Wanted to stay at Wuthering Heights to be near to Catherine?
5. Didn’t like the idea of fortune passing to Heathcliff, as Isabella’s husband?
6. Was hiding his true wickedness under his gentlemanly appearance?
7. Kissed Isabella, supposing no one could see him?
8. Was sensible enough to escape just as Edgar and his men returned?
9. No longer thought of Isabella as a sister?

Interpret the meaning of the following lines from the text:

1. Unfortunately this happiness did not last.
2. The farm boy had become a gentleman.
3. I felt sure it would have been better for all of us if Heathcliff had never come back.
4. Heathcliff visits produced a result which none of us had expected.
5. She thought she knew what his answer would be.
6. I knew there was a wicked wolf just waiting fort he chance to attack them.
7. Mr Edgar tried to get hold of the key, but she threw it quickly into the hottest part of the fire.
8. Unfortunately she heard me.
9. In the morning we discovered that Isabella’s room was empty.

Say who made these utterances and under what circumstances. Discuss the motives of the speaker and the moral implication of each utterance:

1. Will the shock be too much for her?
2. Don’t stand in the cold, love. Bring the person in, if it is anyone special.
3. We’ll sit apart from them, as we are of a lower class! Will that please you, Edgar darling?
4. You know, I’ve had a bitter, hard life since I last heard your voice, and if I’ve survived, it’s all because of you!
5. Thank you for telling me Isabella’s secret. I swear I’ll make good use of it!
6. So, you are going to throw me out yourself, are you?
7. Edgar must let me do what I want!
8. I began to be afraid that her illness was real.
9. I won’t rest until you’re in the grave with me!
10. I want no further advice from you, Ellen Dean.

Questions and topics for analysis:

1. Heathcliff’s reunion with Catherine. Prove that in these chapters he appears as a demonically charismatic, powerful, and evil man, capable of extreme cruelties.
2. Speak of Catherine’s illness. What caused it? What does Catherine’s illness symbolize?
3. Discuss the character of Ellen Dean as a narrator. Do you agree with the statement that Ellen criticizes Catherine’s behaviour throughout the book because she is jealous of Catherine’s beauty, wealth and social position?

Writing (choose one topic):

1. Explain what makes Heathcliff dedicate himself to an elaborate plan for revenge.

ASSIGNMENT 5

(Chapters 9-11)

Active vocabulary:

brain fever        to smile sourly        to haunt

to get on with        to speak to sb in private        bruised

Who or what in the chapter:

1. Was expecting a baby?
2. Wanted to return to Thrushcross Grange, but couldn’t?
3. Greeted Isabella by swearing at her?
4. Tried to open Heathcliff’s bedroom door every night in order to kill him?
5. Blamed Edgar for Catherine’s illness?
6. Sobbed quietly hiding her face in Heathcliff’s shoulder?
7. Was in the depth of despair?
8. Howled like a wild animal and hit his forehead several times against a tree?
9. Made her new home near London?
10. Died six months after his sister?

Interpret the meaning of the following lines from the text:

1. Dr Kenneth warned us that even if she recovered, her brain would never return to normal.
2. Her eyes seemed to be fixed on something far away, something beyond normal sight.
3. He could see, as I could, that she would never recover, that she was certain to die.
4. We put her to bed immediately and at twelve o’clock that night her daughter, Cathy, was born, two months earlier.
5. Her life finished in a gentle dream.
6. It was Mr Edgar and the servants who attended the ceremony.
7. Under her ear was a deep wound that was bleeding.
8. She took off her gold wedding-ring and threw it in the fire.
9. Heathcliff jumped into the kitchen through the window, and started kicking and hitting Hindley, who was lying unconscious on the kitchen floor.
10. Hareton could only stay on at Wuthering heights as a servant, working for the man who had been his father’s enemy.

Say who made these utterances and under what circumstances. Discuss the motives of the speaker and the moral implication of each utterance:

1. How did you manage to get on with the people in this house?
2. I shall never visit her or write to her.
3. If she thinks once of Edgar Linton, she thinks a thousand times of me!
4. I’ll die or I’ll see him dead first!
5. The more she cries, the more I enjoy hurting her.
6. I don’t want you to suffer more than I do, Heathcliff. I only want us to be together, always.
7. I forgive you for making me suffer, but how can I forgive you for dying?
8. If he shot me in your arms, I’d die happy.
9. Come back as a ghost- drive me mad!
10. To escape from Heathcliff I must go a long way away. I wish he would die, and then I could forget him completely.
11. I suppose Isabella wants me to hate him.

Questions and topics for analysis:

1. Ellen visits Isabella at Wuthering Heights. Isabella’s new life with her husband.
2. Heathcliff’s last visit. Catherine’s death and Heathcliff’s despair.
3. Isabella’s escape and her new life in London. Hareton’s position in the house after Hindley’s death.

Writing (choose only one topic!):

1. Speak about Heathcliff. Is he a hero or a villain?
2. Prove that Ellen Dean’s feelings for the characters of the novel (Heathcliff, Edgar Linton) are deeper and more complicated than she reveals to Mr Lockwood.

ASSIGNMENT 6

(Chapters 12-14)

Active vocabulary:

to hesitate        to be wild with excitement

to request

Who or what in the chapter:

1. Knew nothing of Wuthering Heights or Heathcliff?
2. Was dying of fever, and her brother to visit her for the first and last time?
3. Was a big, strong young man of eighteen, who was staring at Cathy rather stupidly?
4. Promised to keep her visit a secret from her father?
5. Only ever thought about himself?
6. Caught a bad cold, which seemed to get worse ands worse?

Interpret the meaning of the following lines from the text:

1. She also wanted him to take care of her son Linton after her death.
2. She could be lost on the moors!
3. I was annoyed with her and Zillah.
4. I thought he would have no chance of life if Heathcliff took him to live at Wuthering Heights.
5. I began to dislike Linton rather than pity him.
6. At the time she seemed to accept her father’s wish.
7. We burnt Linton’s letters together.
8. Her bedroom was empty. I sat here in the dark, waiting for her to return.
9. She had to obey her father, although it made her very sad.

Say who made these utterances and under what circumstances. Discuss the motives of the speaker and the moral implication of each utterance:

1. Father didn’t forbid me to leave the Grange garden!
2. What the devil do you mean? I’m not your servant!
3. If he doesn’t arrive early in the morning, Heathcliff will come for him!
4. God! What a beautiful creature! That’s worse than I expected!
5. Listen to my plan. It’s really a very generous one.
6. It would kill me to walk four miles.
7. But you should have come before! My father swore at me, and said it was my fault you didn’t come!
8. Sometimes men hate their wives, like your father.
9. I wish you felt as ill as I do, you cruel thing! And I was better today, before you came!
10. But who knows how long you will be a stranger?

Questions and topics for analysis:

1. Young Catherine’s childhood at Grange. Edgar Linton’s attempts to prevent Heathcliff’s legal claim for Grange.
2. The second generation of main characters. Do you agree with the statement that its members emerge as combinations of their parents’ characteristics, blending together qualities that had been opposed in the older generation?
3. Cathy and Linton. Heathcliff generous plan.

Writing (choose one topic):

1. Speak about the symbolic importance of the two houses - Wuthering Heights and Thrushcross Grange. What do they represent and emphasize?

2. Ellen Dean says to Mr Lockwood that her story has nearly caught up with the present. Establish the chronology of the events.

ASSIGNMENT 7

(Chapters 15-16)

Active vocabulary:

to gasp        to bribe sb to do sth

to trap

Who or what in the chapter:

1. Was too young to marry?
2. Was still ill and continued to worry about Cathy’s future?
3. Could neither ride nor walk?
4. Sometimes cried out in pain?
5. Could not refuse the boy, who seemed almost mad with fear.
6. Thought Cathy and Ellen had lost on the moors, and died, four days before?
7. Realized that his enemy wanted to get hold of the Linton fortune, through his son?
8. Gave Ellen the news of Cathy?
9. Died in the night, with only Cathy by his side?
10. Must be very miserable and lonely in that dark, unpleasant house?

Interpret the meaning of the following lines from the text:

1. I’m sure they had all been carefully checked by Heathcliff before they were posted.
2. He had no idea that Linton was seriously ill. Neither did I.
3. So I didn’t tell him that Linton was also dying.
4. Tears rolled down Linton’s face. He seemed terrified.
5. He took away the picture of her mother.
6. I could not bear to be present at their meeting.
7. Cathy was only allowed to stay at the Grange until her father was buried.
8. Poor Hareton would like to be friendly with her, but she scorns him for being uneducated.

Say who made these utterances and under what circumstances. Discuss the motives of the speaker and the moral implication of each utterance:

1. I wouldn’t mind him being Heathcliff’s son, if only he loved her and could be a good husband for her.
2. If you see my father, could you tell him I’ve been cheerful?
3. I only hope Edgar dies before him. If Linton dies first, my plan will fail.
4. Cry as much as you like, Miss Cathy. In a few days I’ll be you father and I’ll punish you like that, as often as necessary!
5. In that case you’ll certainly stay here for twenty four hours.
6. My father was right to punish her. But I didn’t like seeing her mouth full of blood.
7. Elle, Ellen! Is father still alive?
8. I’m going to join her, and you, dear child will join us.
9. From now on she’ll have to work for her food.
10. I bribed the men to bury me next to her, and to take the side of my coffin away too, so that I shall have her in my arms, not Edgar!
11. Slowly, slowly, she is killing me, with the ghost of a hope that’s lasted eighteen years!

Questions and topics for analysis:

1. The dates on the moor. Speak about the way Heathcliff makes a pawn of everyone – even his own dying son.
2. Cathy becomes Mrs Heathcliff. Do you agree that Cathy represents a new force that rises up against the tyrant – Heathcliff? Explain how.
3. Explain what makes Heathcliff uncover Catherine’s grave and gaze upon her corpse’s face? What does his intense concern about the fate of Catherine’s body testify to?

Writing:

3. Do you agree that Heathcliff accomplishes his revenge methodically, punishing his dead contemporaries by manipulating and bullying their children?
4. Prove that Heathcliff despises Linton more than any other character in the novel

ASSIGNMENT 8

(Chapters 17-18)

Active vocabulary:

to pretend                   to be aware of        burial

curious to do sth                   to whisper (say) urgently

to apologize for                   to comb

Who or what in the chapter:

1. Didn’t want to spend another winter at Grange?
2. Didn’t want to disturb their (Cathy and Hareton’s) happiness?
3. Died three months ago very strangely?
4. Was delighted to come back to the Heights?
5. Was not the most patient teacher?
6. Rushed into the room shaking with anger?
7. Was so little interested in daily events that even forgot to eat and drink?
8. Wanted no ceremony, and no words from the Bible?
9. Spent the night at Catherine’s room, muttering and sobbing all the time?
10. Was the only one who was sad at Heathcliff’s death?

Interpret the meaning of the following lines from the text:

1. She did not bother to greet me.
2. Hareton picked up the books and threw them on the fire, then walked quickly out of the house.
3. It was fortunate he could not see her face, or he would never have been able to concentrate on his studies.
4. But when he looked into her face, his anger suddenly disappeared.
5. He seemed to be looking at something quite close to him, something we could not see.
6. You wouldn’t tell a drawing man to rest when he can see the shore!
7. I realized he was dead.
8. The villagers are very frightened of his ghost.

Say who made these utterances and under what circumstances. Discuss the motives of the speaker and the moral implication of each utterance:

1. I’ll hate them because they’ll make me think of you!
2. Read it correctly this time, or I’ll pull your hair!
3. You should let me have a bit of garden, as you’ve taken all my land!
4. Now I can take my final revenge on the last Earnshaw and the last Linton, I no longer want to!
5.  But my soul’s happiness kills my body!
6. Ah, the devil’s taken his soul! I warned him that would happen!

Questions and topics for analysis:

1. Cathy and Hareton look forward to a shared life. Explain why Heathcliff can no longer bare their presence and tries to escape at day and night?
2. Heathcliff becomes increasingly obsessed with his dead love. Speak about the climactic night on the moors and the happy premonition of his own death. Does he fear death? Why? What does the end of life mean for Heathcliff?
3. Do you agree that Catherine and Hareton as a unit represent a resolution of past troubles? How can you prove that together, they seem to represent the best qualities of their parents and merge the various conflicting aspects of Wuthering Heights and Thrushcross Grange into a stronger whole?

Writing (choose one topic):

1. Agree or disagree and give your reasons:

While the first half of the novel ends on a note of doom and despair with Catherine’s death and Heathcliff’s gradual descent into evil, the novel as a whole ends on a note of hope, peace, and joy, with young Catherine’s proposed marriage to Hareton Earnshaw.

2. Do you agree that the novel’s happy ending is not possible until Heathcliff’s death? Explain why.

ASSIGNMENT 9

General discussion of the novel

1. Interpret the title of the novel. What is its message?

2. The main themes in the novel.

3. Interpret the main symbols in the novel (moors, ghosts)

4. Discuss the novel’s narrative structure. Are the novel’s narrators trustworthy? Why or why not? With particular reference to Nelly’s story, consider what might be gained from reading between the lines of the narration. What roles do the personalities of the narrators play in the way that the story is told?

5. What role does social class and class ambiguity play in Wuthering Heights? To what extent is Heathcliff’s social position responsible for the misery and conflict so persistent in the book?

6. Many of the names in Wuthering Heights are strikingly similar. For example, besides the two Catherines, there are a number of Lintons, Earnshaws, and Heathcliffs whose names vary only slightly. What role do specific names play in Wuthering Heights?

7. In many ways, Wuthering Heights structures itself around matched, contrasting pairs of themes and of characters. What are some of these pairs, and what role do they play in the book?

8. Analyze the character of Edgar Linton. Is he a sympathetic figure? How does he compare to Heathcliff? Is Catherine really in love with him?

9. Discuss revenge in Wuthering Heights. In what ways is it connected to love? What is the nature of love in the novel, that it can be so closely connected to vengeance?

10. Think about the influence of the physical landscape in the novel. What role do the moors play in the development of the story, and in the presentation of the characters? How does Catherine’s abiding love of the moors help us to understand her character? What do the moors come to symbolize in the novel?