The characters of Tom and Edward are doppelgängers. Their many similarities throw their drastically different situations into stark relief. Have students use storyboards to compare and contrast the two boys. By identifying their similarities and differences, students will enter deeper into character analysis. Start with a three-column T-chart and have students choose categories to compare. These may include education, appearance, home, personality, family, or others. For each category, students should find a similarity to depict in the center column and individual differences to depict in the outside columns. The storyboard above provides an example.
| Tom Canty | Both Boys | Edward VI |
|---|---|---|
| Home | ||
| Tom lives in Offal Court, a dilapidated section of London filled with poverty and crime. | Both boys live in or near London, England. | Edward lives in luxury in Westminster Palace. |
| Education | ||
| Tom receives informal lessons from an old priest who lives in Offal Court. Tom has limited access to books, but learns to read English and a little Latin. | Both boys are intelligent and enjoy learning. They use their education to make wise and fair decisions. | Edward is taught many subjects, including Latin, Greek, and French. He has several tutors and takes his lessons in the comfortable rooms of the palace. |
| Appearance | ||
| Tom owns only a single, ragged outfit that he wears at all times. | Aside from their clothes, the boys look nearly identical. They are doppelgängers of the same age, height, and coloring. No one can tell them apart. | Edward wears regal robes of costly fabrics. He has many different suits of clothing for various occasions and is carefully dressed each morning in an elaborate ceremony. |
| Personality | ||
| Tom is meek and dreamy. He gets through his days as a pauper by dreaming about royalty and accepting beatings from his father and grandmother without complaint. In the castle, he shows eager obedience to the prince and is at first very timid in the castle. | Both boys are kind-hearted and merciful. They make similar decisions as king, trying to enact justice and end cruelty. | Due to his royal upbringing, Edward is confident and commanding. Even when confronted by dangerous men who are bigger and stronger than he is, he refuses to obey their commands. |
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Student Instructions
Create a storyboard comparing and contrasting the doppelgängers in The Prince and the Pauper.