Lesson Plan: The Curse of Winter

Essential Questions

• Why do people come up with stories to explain things we don’t understand? 
• How do we decide what’s fair?

Literature Connection

• Graphic Novel: Hades: Lord of the Dead by George O’Connor

Preview Text Features (15 minutes)

Guide students to locate the play. Then help them preview the text features by asking the following questions:

• Read the play’s title and subtitle. What do you think “The Curse of Winter” means? What happens in the winter that might be seen as a curse? In the winter, the sun goes down earlier, and it’s dark and cold out. As the subtitle states, flowers die and trees go bare. All of these are “bad” compared with the bright, warm days of spring and summer. “The curse of winter” might refer to these changes.
• Look at the illustration at the beginning of the play. What do you think is happening in the image? What do the characters’ faces tell you about what’s going on? The image shows a man with a girl on his shoulders, riding a chariot across a field with purple flowers. The girl looks scared, and the man looks mean and scary. It seems like the girl is being kidnapped.
• The subtitle tells you that the play is based on a Greek myth. What is a myth? What do you know about Greek mythology? Answers will vary based on prior knowledge. If necessary, explain that a myth is a tale that explains how the world works. Characters are often gods and superhumans. Greek mythology is a set of stories told by the ancient Greeks. Students may name popular figures from Greek mythology such as Zeus, Poseidon, Apollo, Aphrodite, and Athena.

Preview Vocabulary (10 minutes)

• Point out the vocabulary box. Read the words (Mount Olympus, descends, chariot, dreary, devious) aloud and discuss the definitions.
• Play the Vocabulary Slideshow.

Make a Plan for Reading

Before students start to read, walk them through a reading plan:

• Set a purpose for reading by telling students they’ll make inferences while reading “The Curse of Winter.” Explain that making an inference means using clues from the text to figure out something that isn’t stated.
• Point out the activity at the end of the play. Tell students they will complete it after reading.

• Assign roles to students, and read the play aloud as a class. Stop after each scene and ask students to summarize what happened.  
• After reading, discuss the following close-reading and critical-thinking questions.

Close-Reading Questions (20 minutes)

• Read the Prologue and Scene 1. What does the Greek Chorus mean when they say that “mankind depends on their sister Demeter”? (inference) Because Demeter is the goddess of the harvest, she is in charge of the food humans grow. She looks after the trees and fields. She makes sure everything grows. Without her help, humans would starve. 
• Why does Hades grab Persephone and take her to the Underworld? (character’s motivation) Hades sees Persephone dancing and holding flowers. He wants her laughter and joy to light up the Underworld. He takes her to the Underworld because he believes she will make it a happier place.  
• In Scenes 4 and 5, what is Demeter’s response to her daughter’s disappearance? What happens to the earth when Persephone returns to Demeter in Scene 7? (plot) Demeter searches for her daughter day and night. She stops helping the farmers grow food. Without Demeter’s help, nothing grows, and humans and animals are in danger of starving. Demeter stops caring for nature until Persephone comes back to her. When Persephone returns, things start growing again. 
• Read the Epilogue. What is the main purpose of this scene? (author’s purpose) The main purpose is to sum up what is explained in the myth. The Greek Chorus explains that we have winter for three months while Persephone is in the Underworld. During that time, Demeter refuses to make anything grow. When Persephone returns, Demeter is once again happy, and spring—the growing season—begins again.

Critical-Thinking Questions (10 minutes)

• How are Hades and Demeter different from each other? How are they similar? (compare and contrast) Both are powerful gods who want Persephone by their side. But Demeter spends her time on Earth caring for living things, such as plants, flowers, and humans. She is gentle and loving with Persephone. Hades lives underground among the dead in a kingdom that is dark and dreary. He tricks Persephone when he kidnaps her and again when he gets her to eat the pomegranate seeds. 
• The play tells us there is a winter season because Demeter is sad while her daughter is in the Underworld. Why do you think the ancient Greeks used sadness to explain why we have winter? (critical thinking) Ancient Greeks likely explained winter this way because it can feel like a dark, dreary time. There is less color and activity in nature. Many plants die, some animals hibernate, and there is less sunlight. The cold and the lack of crops can make it harder for humans to survive.

• Have students work in pairs to complete the Spotlight Skill Workout: Inference activity at the end of the play.
• Assign students to work independently on our Genre Skill Builder. (Click here to see all your Skill Builders.)
• Writing prompt: Pick a character from the myth and briefly retell the story in that character’s voice. You can choose a central character like Hades or Persephone, or a more minor character like one of the farmers or Helios. Use “I” statements (such as “I spoke with Demeter”) to explain what happened from your chosen character’s point of view.