For intermediate-level students:

-Students can read different versions of the story and then compose dialogues of conversations that might have taken place between Captain Roberval and Marguerite, Marguerite and the young man/husband, or Marguerite and her servant.

-Students can read the story up to the point that Marguerite is marooned and then write a continuation of the story.

-Students can listen to the song in English that is posted on the Various Media page of this website and compose their own song in French.

-Students can view the various visual images of Marguerite and also study the texts.  In groups, they can write character descriptions.

-Debate: After reading the different accounts, students can participate in a debate where they will argue about the justice/injustice of Marguerite de Roberval’s punishment.

For more advanced students:

-Students can read different versions of the story and then compose dialogues of conversations that might have taken place between Captain Roberval and Marguerite, Marguerite and the young man/husband, or Marguerite and her servant.  They can change the content of the dialogue according to how the characters are portrayed by the different authors in order to emphasize how each writer represents the characters differently.

-Students can compare and contrast the representation of Marguerite’s character in the three different versions.  This can either be done as an essay or class discussion.

-Students can look at the visual images and write essays/have discussions about how the visual representations correspond to the written narratives.

-Students can research the historical facts about Marguerite de Roberval and Captain Roberval’s 1542 exploratory voyage and contrast these with the literary accounts.

-Students can act out scenes from Anne Hébert’s play L’île de la Demoiselle.