The Life and Times of William Shakespeare

Introduction

William Shakespeare is one of the most famous playwrites in British Literature.  His tragedies and comedies have transcended time and are read by
people all over the world.  This includes high school students who analyze and disect the plays in classrooms across America.

However, Shakespeare lived in a time
that is quite different from ours.  It is important to understand the
Renaissance and the role it played in the development of Shakespeare's plays.

Task

Today you will be researching online the life and times  of one of the most well-known  authors of all time - William  Shakespeare.

Working in pairs, you will follow the instructions on the process page answering the questions on the handout by following the links provided to the appropriate websites and pages. You will have the entire lesson for this task which is to be completed for home work if necessary.

As you research this topic I want you to keep in mind the differences between the audience of Shakespeare's time and you, the audience of today, considering how these differences affect your reaction to the play. We will discuss these ideas in our next lesson.
Process

Let's get started!

Shakespeare's Life Click here to answer these questions.

1. How much do we know about Shakespeare's life? Why?

2. Where was Shakespeare born?

3. What date was he born on?

4. Did Shakespeare ever get married? If so, to whom?

5. Shakespeare established himself as an ____________ and _________________

6. What day did he die? What is unusual about this date?

7. What did he leave his wife in his will?

 

Religion Click here 

http://www.elizabethan-era.org.uk/religion-elizabethan-england.htm to answer these questions
8. What were the two major religions in Elizabethan England?
9. Who dictated the favoured religion?
10. Which Monarchs reigned during this time? When?
11. Which religion did each Monarch believe in?
12. How did each Monarch treat those who did not follow their favoured religion?

13. Why did Queen Elizabeth I ban all performances of religious plays and stories? http://www.musesrealm.net/writings/shakespeareengland.ht

Elizabethan Period Click here

http://www.elizabethan-era.org.uk/elizabethan-period.htm to answer these questions

14. What was the Elizabethan Period?
15. When was this period?
16. What was the most significant invention of this time and why?
17. What did this lead to a renewed interest in?
18. During this period, what were unexplained events blamed on?
19. Why were people of this period superstitious?

 20. What were the four humours and what were they associated with? http://classweb.gmu.edu/rnanian/humours.html

Click here http://www.elizabethan-era.org.uk/elizabethan-clothing.htm to answer this question
21. How was Elizabethan class structure maintained?
22. What was the Chain of Being and what did it uphold? Click here  http://schoolworkhelper.net/the-chain-of-being-shakespeare/                   

23. What is the Rotae Fortuna?    Click http://en.academic.ru/dic.nsf/enwiki/1535026                                                   

Education Click here: http://internetshakespeare.uvic.ca/Library/SLT/ideas/education/index.html

24. What did education depend on?

25. What was the main purpose of schooling?

26. Why were students taught Latin?                            

27. What were girls from wealthy families educated in? Click here http://internetshakespeare.uvic.ca/Library/SLT/ideas/girls.html 


29. Why were courses in university conducted in Latin? Click here http://elizabethan.org/compendium/54.html

Elizabethan Theatre Click here to answer these questions.

30. What was the general feeling towards plays during this period in time?

31. What was the name of the first theatre?

32. What was the name of them most famous theatre?

33. What happened to this theatre?

34. Where did people sit or not sit?

35. When did they have performances? Why?

36. How many women performed in these plays?

37. what did the audience do if they didn't like the performance?

 Shakespeare's Influence Click here http://www.musesrealm.net/writings/shakespeareengland.html to answer these questions

38. What does Shakespeare's work provide reference for?

39. What were Shakespeare's histories a tribute to?

40. What was Shakespeare attempting to do with these tributes?

Click here to answer these questions.

41. How many words did Shakespeare invent?

42. Give an example of a word or phrase we have gotten from Shakespeare.

43. Name one poet who was influenced by Shakespeare.

Click here for more words or phrases from Shakespeare. Write down two that you know and explain what they mean.

We all know that Shakespeare's language is a little different from ours--hey, it was written a few hundred years ago. Click on this link to be insulted "professionally." (which we will see plenty of in the play)!
Evaluation
 
                  
For this task you will be assessed on the completion of the webquest. This includes answering the questions in full sentences in your own words. DO NOT REPEAT ANSWERS WORD FOR WORD FROM THE WEBSITES!
Conclusion

Now that you are familiar with the context of Shakespeare's works - the environment in which they were written - you will have a better understanding of the meaning behind his words as we work through his play Romeo and Juliet and Macbeth

Hope you enjoyed the webquest!