The Prince of Egypt – Brothers in Egypt
c Pearson Education Limited 2008 The Prince of Egypt – Brothers in Egypt - Teacher’s notes of 3
Teacher’s notes LEVEL 3 PENGUIN READERS
Teacher Support Programme
About the film and author
The idea behind The Prince of Egypt – Brothers in Egypt
arose from a conversation between three powerful
Hollywood producers, Stephen Spielberg, Jeffrey
Katzenberg and David Geffen. The three men were
starting their own film production company called
DreamWorks, and Katzenberg, a former Walt Disney
producer, described to his two partners the kind of
animated films that he wanted to make: “I explained
to them that what I would like to do is to make a
Spielberg or a David Lean movie in animation, and that’s
when Stephen said, ‘Well, why don’t you do The Ten
Commandments?’” (The Ten Commandments is a famous
epic-style film that was made in 1956 by Cecil B. De
Mille.)
From this early conversation grew the idea behind the
animated film The Prince of Egypt. Scriptwriters Kelly
Asbury and Lorna Cook were recruited for the project,
and under the guiding hands of Spielberg, Katzenberg and
Geffen, an extraordinarily realistic film was produced – a
film that was unlike any animated film previously seen on
the big screen. Unlike most animated films, it dealt with
a serious subject matter in a serious way. Aimed at both
adults and children, its goal was to retell – in a modern
and realistic way – the story of Moses and the freeing of
the Hebrews. The film was praised by critics and audiences
alike, and it ended up being nominated for five Annie
Awards.
David A. Adler, an experienced writer of children’s
stories, including the Cam Jansen mystery series, wrote a
novelisation of the film to introduce the story to a young
audience in book form.
Summary
The story of Moses, as told in the Bible’s Old Testament, is
one of the most famous stories of all time. This version of
his life is based on the film The Prince of Egypt, which was
released in 1999. The story takes place in Ancient Egypt,
where its rulers, the Pharaohs, use Hebrew slaves to build
their temples.
Chapters 1–3: The Prince of Egypt – Brothers in Egypt
begins with Egyptian soldiers, acting under orders from
the Pharaoh, killing every Hebrew baby boy that they
find. A Hebrew woman hides her baby boy in a basket and
gets her daughter to send the basket down the river. The
baby boy is soon found by the Pharaoh’s wife, the Queen,
who adopts the child as her own and names him Moses.
The Queen raises Moses as a beloved brother to her own
son, Rameses.
Moses and Rameses grow up together, becoming happy,
irresponsible teenagers. They enjoy racing chariots, and
one day, they have an accident and destroy a statue and a
stone wall. The Pharaoh, Seti, is unhappy about the boys’
irresponsible behaviour. Moses tries to defend his brother’s
actions, but Seti still focuses his anger solely on Rameses.
Chapters 4–6: Moses has a talk with Rameses and makes
him feel better about the situation. Then the boys realise
that they are late for dinner with their father, so they race
to the dining room at the palace. They are surprised to
discover that Seti has appointed Rameses Prince Regent,
a title that makes him the head of all the building work.
Moses gets two priests, Hotep and Huy, who always get
the boys into trouble with Seti, to give a gift to the new
Prince Regent. The priests give Rameses a young woman
named Tzipporah, who has been stolen from the land
of Midian. However, Rameses doesn’t like the woman’s
attitude, so he gives her to his brother.
Later that night, Moses sees Tzipporah escaping from the
palace. Moses follows her into the desert and comes across
his brother, Aaron, and his sister, Miriam, who tell Moses
that he is their brother. Moses tries to deny the truth, but
in the end, he realises the secret of his birth.
Chapters 7–9: Moses is upset about his past. He asks the
Pharaoh and the Queen if Miriam’s story is true, and they
tell him that it is. Moses sees the Hebrew slaves around the
palace differently, and when a guard starts to abuse one
of them, he pushes the guard off the wall and accidentally
Adapted from the novelisation by David A. Adler
The Prince of Egypt – Brothers in Egypt
c Pearson Education Limited 2008 The Prince of Egypt – Brothers in Egypt - Teacher’s notes of 3
Teacher’s notes LEVEL 3 PENGUIN READERS
Teacher Support Programme
kills him. He leaves the palace, goes into the desert, meets
Tzipporah again, marries her and lives a quiet life as a
shepherd.
Chapters 10–12: Then one day, years later, God speaks
to Moses through a burning bush, commanding him to
free the Hebrew people. Moses and Tzipporah return to
the palace, and Moses reveals his identity to Rameses, who
is now the Pharaoh of Egypt. He begs him to release the
Hebrews from their slavery, but Rameses angrily refuses to
grant Moses his wish. Moses warns Rameses that plagues
will come to Egypt if he doesn’t free the Hebrews, but
Rameses still doesn’t follow Moses’