You are on page 1of 4

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 it’s the best
guess
▪ Why or why not? Because some views differ on the dates of all
his plays
▪ What 5 processes did they use to try and piece together the
chronology of Shakespeare’s plays? 1. Actual historical events,
2.Allusions to historical events in his plays, 3. First Performance
dates taken from person diaries and records, 4. Royal Court
records, 5. Legal documents.

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


▪ In what year was “Romeo and Juliet” first performed? Between
the years 1594 and 1595
▪ What is a sonnet? See the Sonnets section. Sonnets are 14 line
lyric poems, traditionally written in iambic pentameter.
▪ What is iambic pentameter? Provide a literary example of iambic
pentameter. An iambic pentameter is a line of a poem that is ten
syllables long with accents falling on every second syllable.
▪ How many sonnets did William Shakespeare write? See the
Sonnets section 154
▪ What are Shakespeare’s 5 most popular sonnets? See sonnets
section O thou my lovely boy, My Mistess’ eyes, When in
disgrace with fortune, Let me not to the marriage of true minds,
Shall I compare thee to 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? He lived for 52 years. And in just 23 years between
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
approximately 1590 and 1613 he attributed for writing 38 plays. In
English speaking countries he is only 2nd to the Bible in most widely
read literature.

 List 3 facts that are known about the Elizabethan Stratford


Playwright and his family?
 What exactly was the 'First Folio'? Is Shakespeare's picture an
accurate portrait? It was the 1623 first published folio that included
the collection of William Shakespeare’s plays. And no it was not an
accurate portrait.
 List 2 reasons why there is so much controversy about the
biography of the playwright (William Shakespeare)? Because some
of the information on William Shakespeare is lost for unknown
reasons and some people have ideas about what it is or their
hypothesis while other people have others.

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 they were not
to keep the Black Death from spreading even further.
 Who were the Watchmen and what was their job? They were
supposed to watch the plagued house, and feed the victims if the
black plague.
 How did those who had the Bubonic Plague or Black Death eat? The
watchmen lowered a basket of food down to them from an upper
window.
 How did people get the Bubonic Plague or Black Death? The old
plague pits were re-opened.
 In 1563, in London, how many people died of the Bubonic Plague?
Mainly because in that time the place was disgustingly filthy.

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.

1) Did William Shakespeare attend a University? If so, which one?


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
2) What is Shakespeare's shortest play? How many lines does it have?
The Comedy of Errors…11 lines http://www.william-
shakespeare.info/shakespeare-play-comedy-of-errors.htm

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


Shakespeare when they got married? Anne Hathaway and
Shakespeare was married when he was 18.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Shakespeare

4) Was Anne the same age as Shakespeare when they married? If not,
was Anne older or younger? Anne was older she was 26 when they
married. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Shakespeare

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? Edwin Booth and he passed
away in 1893. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edwin_Booth

6) Did Shakespeare ever act in any of his plays? If so, list 2. Hamlet,

7) Which role is Shakespeare said to have played in the original


production of Hamlet? He played the ghost in Hamlet.
http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_role_in_Hamlet_did_Shakespeare_prob
ably_play

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


Why?

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


http://www.william-shakespeare.info/william-shakespeare-children-and-
grandchildren.htm

10) How old was Hamnet when he died? Eleven. http://www.william-


shakespeare.info/william-shakespeare-children-and-grandchildren.htm

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


lifetime? Why? None.

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


Shakespeare’s plays to be published. How many plays did they
publish?

13) In what year was this collection of plays published? What is this
collection of plays known as?
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
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.

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

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

You might also like