The English Patient Lesson Plan

Almasy introduces the idea that it should not be surprising that lovers become estranged. He says, “Seas move away, why not lovers? The harbours of Ephesus, the rivers of Heraclitus disappear and are replaced by estuaries of silt. The wife of Candaules becomes the wife of Gyges. Libraries burn. What had our relationship been? A betrayal of those around us, or the desire of another life?”

Where do you think the events he’s referencing come from? What might his comments about his relationship with Katharine tell us about Kip and Hana’s relationship?

The references are from Herodotus’s The Histories, a inference students can make from the classical names of the places and...