Grades/Level: Middle School (6–8), High School (9–12)
Subjects: Visual Arts, History–Social Science
Time Required: Short Activity
20 minutes
Author: J. Paul Getty Museum Education Staff

Activity Overview

This is a follow-up lesson to the Getty Center Guided Lesson, Connecting History and Art. This activity will help culminate and extend the Museum visit back into the classroom. Students will consider the choice Telemachus made to continue searching for his father. They will relate the moral dilemma to their own personal experiences.

Learning Objectives

Students should be able to:
• write a short essay about a choice they had to make in which their desire conflicted with their sense of responsibility

Materials

Image of The Farewell of Telemachus and Eucharis by Jacques-Louis David

Activity Steps

Step 1: Re-examine David's painting The Farewell of Telemachus and Eucharis. Discuss the decision Telemachus made to leave the woman he loved to continue the search for his father. How did Telemachus make his decision? What does his decision tell you about his character and his priorities? Do people today have similar priorities? As a class, discuss some of the moral or ethical principles that the class believes are important to todays society. Make a list.

Step 2: Ask students to relate Telemachus' moral dilemma to their own experiences. Have they ever been in a moral dilemma? Ask them to think about a situation in which what they wanted to do differed from what they knew they should do. What was their decision, and how did they make the decision? Was the decision difficult to make? Why?

Step 3: Give students a short essay assignment to write about their own moral dilemma.