William Shakespeare WebQuest

The World of William Shakespeare and details of his biography have

fascinated people for centuries. The questions and mysteries, which
surround William Shakespeare, the Great Stratford playwright and his
biography, life, times and works (including his plays, sonnets and
poems), are legion:

Use the following website to answer the questions on page 1 of this

WebQuest http://www.william-shakespeare.info/site-map.htm

Go to the Play Chronology Section to answer the next 5

questions.
▪ How many plays did William Shakespeare write? 38
▪ Is the chronology of Shakespeare’s plays exact? No.
▪ Why or why not? Because they just put it together according to
“best guess”

 What 5 processes did they use to try and piece together the
chronology of Shakespeare’s plays? Actual historical events
 Allusions to historical events in his plays
 First Performance dates taken from personal diaries and
records (Henslow and Manningham)
 Royal Court Records
 Legal documents

Go to the Sonnets Section to answer the next 4 questions.

▪ In what year was “Romeo and Juliet” first performed? 1594-1595
▪ What is a sonnet? See the Sonnets section. Sonnets are
fourteen-line lyric poems, traditionally written in iambic
pentameter
▪ What is iambic pentameter? Provide a literary example of iambic
pentameter. In lines ten syllables long, with accents falling
on every second syllable
▪ How many sonnets did William Shakespeare write? 154
▪ What are Shakespeare’s 5 most popular sonnets?
126 William Shakespeare Sonnet - O thou my lovely boy
130 William Shakespeare Sonnet - My Mistress' eyes
029 William Shakespeare Sonnet - When in disgrace with
fortune
116 William Shakespeare Sonnet - Let me not to the
marriage of true minds
18 William Shakespeare Sonnet - Shall I compare thee to
Dr. J. Smith, Facilitator ITU: TOLERANCE
Ms. J. Markley, Facilitator Shakespeare’s “Romeo and Juliet”

Mr. M. Pryor, Facilitator Willingness to recognize &

respect the beliefs or practices of
Ms. R. Muffler, Monday Facilitator William Shakespeare WebQuest
 a Summer's day?

Go to William Shakespeare Biography section to answer the

next 4 questions.

 What are 3 known facts about William Shakespeare the great

Stratford Bard?
 Shakespeare made Simple!
• Easy access to his Biography via the Timeline Index

• Features Shakespeare's Life, World and Works

 List 3 facts that are known about the Elizabethan Stratford

Playwright and his family? 1279 John Shakespeare living at
'Freyndon,' perhaps Frittendon, Kent
1284 William Sakspere of Clopton, Gloucestershire, was
hanged for theft.
1385 William Shakespeare served on a coroner's jury in
Balsall.
1457 Isabella Shakespeare is mentioned in the Register of
the Guild of St Anne at Knowle as the prioress of the
Benedictine convent of Wroxall
 What exactly was the 'First Folio'? Is Shakespeare's picture an
accurate portrait? The first folio is the copies that the 2 guys
published and yes they are accurate.
 List 2 reasons why there is so much controversy about the
biography of the playwright (William Shakespeare)?

Go to the Black Death and Bubonic Plague section

 Were those who contracted the Bubonic Plague or Black Death

allowed outside of their house? Why or why not? No because this
was a deadly plague so they couldn’t go out.
 Who were the Watchmen and what was their job? Watchmen were
allocated to watch the ' plague houses ' and the only means
of sustenance was for the victims to lower baskets from an
upper window for the watchman to put food into it.
 How did those who had the Bubonic Plague or Black Death eat?
They ate food that the watchmen would put for them in a
basket.
 How did people get the Bubonic Plague or Black Death? They got it
by the air and it was in like flies.

Dr. J. Smith, Facilitator ITU: TOLERANCE

Ms. J. Markley, Facilitator Shakespeare’s “Romeo and Juliet”

Mr. M. Pryor, Facilitator Willingness to recognize &

respect the beliefs or practices of
Ms. R. Muffler, Monday Facilitator William Shakespeare WebQuest
 In 1563, in London, how many people died of the Bubonic Plague?
Over 20,000 people

SHAKESPEARE WEBQUEST CHALLENGE

For the Next 13 questions you are not given a specific website to refer
to. Use your resources to locate the answers to these questions.
PLEASE COPY AND PASTE THE EXACT WEB ADDRESS THAT YOU
USE TO ANSWER EACH QUESTION AFTER YOU HAVE
COMPLETED YOUR ANSWER.
http://www.usefultrivia.com/literary_trivia/shakespeare_trivia_index.ht
ml for all of the questions.

1) Did William Shakespeare attend a University? If so, which one? No

he didn’t attend a University.

2) What is Shakespeare's shortest play? How many lines does it have?

With 1,787 lines and 14,369 words, The Comedy of Errors is
Shakespeare's shortest play.

3) What was the name of Shakespeare's wife? How old was

Shakespeare when they got married? In 1582, at the age of
eighteen, William Shakespeare married Anne Hathaway who
was seven or eight years older than the young playwright.

4) Was Anne the same age as Shakespeare when they married? If not,
was Anne older or younger? No, Anne was older than him.

5) What actor first played the roles of Hamlet, Othello, King Lear, and
Richard III (All characters in plays written by Shakespeare)? In what
year did this famous actor pass away?
Richard Burbage, the son of theatrical entrepreneur James
Burbage, was one of the most famous actors of his day. He was
the first actor to play many of Shakespeare's most famous
parts, including Hamlet, Othello, King Lear, and Richard III. He
remained a member of the Chamberlain's Men (later the King's
Men) until his death in 1619.
6) Did Shakespeare ever act in any of his plays? If so, list 2.
Shakespeare is said to have played the Ghost in the original
production of Hamlet.

Dr. J. Smith, Facilitator ITU: TOLERANCE

Ms. J. Markley, Facilitator Shakespeare’s “Romeo and Juliet”

Mr. M. Pryor, Facilitator Willingness to recognize &

respect the beliefs or practices of
Ms. R. Muffler, Monday Facilitator William Shakespeare WebQuest
7) Which role is Shakespeare said to have played in the original
production of Hamlet? The ghost.

8) How many of Shakespeare's original manuscripts have survived?

Why? None of Shakespeare's original manuscripts have
survived, due partly perhaps to the fact that they were
written, many of them hastily, strictly for stage performance.

9) What was the name of Shakespeare's only son?

Shakespeare's only son, Hamnet, was born approximately two
years after his parents married. He died in childhood, at the
age of 11, in 1596, and was buried at Stratford. Hamnet had a
twin sister named Judith who lived into adulthood. The poet
and dramatist William D'Avenant (1606-68) was rumored to be
the illegitimate son of Shakespeare, but there is no proof to
substantiate this claim.

10) How old was Hamnet when he died? 11

11) How many of Shakespeare's plays were published during his

lifetime? Why? None of Shakespeare's plays were published
during his lifetime--he wrote them, apparently, only to be
performed. Fortunately, two of his fellow actors, John Heminge
and Henry Condell, gathered 36 of Shakespeare's plays and
published them in 1623 in a collection that has come to be
known as The First Folio. This collection is the source from
which all published Shakespearean plays are derived.

12) Name the two men who ended up gathering some of

Shakespeare’s plays to be published. How many plays did they
publish? , John Heminge and Henry Condell, gathered 36 of
Shakespeare's plays and published them in 1623 in a collection
that has come to be known as The First Folio. This collection is
the source from which all published Shakespearean plays are
derived.

13) In what year was this collection of plays published? What is this
collection of plays known as? In 1623, and its called the First
Folio.

14) List 4 interesting facts you learned about William Shakespeare

during this WebQuest, which you did not write about in the answers to
your WebQuest questions.
Dr. J. Smith, Facilitator ITU: TOLERANCE
Ms. J. Markley, Facilitator Shakespeare’s “Romeo and Juliet”

Mr. M. Pryor, Facilitator Willingness to recognize &

respect the beliefs or practices of
Ms. R. Muffler, Monday Facilitator William Shakespeare WebQuest
 • That he lived through the Black Death.
• 1597, 5th April - Property documents. Shakspere bought
New Place, paying a £60 fine which "may well seem
absurdly low; but in fines of this period the consideration
mentioned is customarily a legal fiction. It is not known
how much Shakespeare actually paid." The house was the
second largest in Stratford, "No fewer than ten fireplaces
warmed New Place in winter, and there were probably
more rooms than fireplaces, the latter being a taxable
luxury"
• 1599 6th October - Tax record. Shakspere is among those
listed in the Lord Treasurer's Remembrancer Residuum
London accounts as delinquents owing back-taxes "The
marginal note Surrey, and the reference to 'Residuum
Sussex', added later, signify that Shakespeare had
migrated across the river to the Surrey Bankside"
• That he didn’t publish anything during his live.

Lastly, find a Audio version of Romeo & Juliet on your computer and cut
paste the URL below:

http://www.learnoutloud.com/Free-Audio-Video/Literature/European-
Classics/Romeo-and-Juliet/23713

Dr. J. Smith, Facilitator ITU: TOLERANCE

Ms. J. Markley, Facilitator Shakespeare’s “Romeo and Juliet”

Mr. M. Pryor, Facilitator Willingness to recognize &

respect the beliefs or practices of
Ms. R. Muffler, Monday Facilitator William Shakespeare WebQuest