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? 39
▪ Is the chronology of Shakespeare’s plays exact? It was their
“best guess”
▪ Why or why not? Some of the views differ from the dates
▪ 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
▪ 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 and
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. Lines ten syllables long, with accents falling
on every second syllable. A literary example would be,”
Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?”
▪ How many sonnets did William Shakespeare write? See the
Sonnets section 154
▪ What are Shakespeare’s 5 most popular sonnets? See sonnets
section
▪ Sonnet 126- O thou my lovely boy
▪ Sonnet 130- my Mistress’ eyes
▪ Sonnet 029- When in disgrace with fortune
▪ Sonnet 116- Let me not to the marriage of true minds
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
▪ Sonnet 18- 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?

 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? The First Folio is of major importance to
William Shakespeare as it is the first collected edition of
Shakespeare’s plays without which there would be no
William Shakespeare. The picture of Shakespeare was used
in his first folio
 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 you weren’t
allowed out of your house because the plague and disease
were contagious
 Who were the Watchmen and what was their job? The watchmen
were men who watched the houses that were “plagued”.
They had the victims lower baskets down, and the
Watchmen would put food in the baskets.
 How did those who had the Bubonic Plague or Black Death eat? The
victims would lower baskets down to the Watchmen, and
the men would put food in the baskets.
 How did people get the Bubonic Plague or Black Death? From Fleas
and Rodents, especially rats
 In 1563, in London, how many people died of the Bubonic Plague?
Over 20,000

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.
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
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? No,

because he was poor and couldn’t afford it.
http://wiki.answers.com/Q/Did_William_Shakespeare_go_to_univ
ersity&alreadyAsked=1&rtitle=Did_william_shakespeare_atten
d_a_university

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

The Comedy of Errors. It has 1,777 lines.
http://www.online-literature.com/shakespeare/errors/
http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_is_the_name_of_Shakespeare's
_shortest_play

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

Shakespeare when they got married? Shakespeare’s wife, was
Anne Hathaway, he was 18 years old when they got married.
http://wiki.answers.com/Q/Who_was_William_shakespeare's_wif
e&alreadyAsked=1&rtitle=What_is_the_name_of_shakespeare
%27s_wife

4) Was Anne the same age as Shakespeare when they married? If not,
was Anne older or younger? No, Anne was older than
Shakespeare. She was 26

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, He passed
1619

http://www.usefultrivia.com/literary_trivia/shakespeare_trivia_i
ndex.html

6) Did Shakespeare ever act in any of his plays? If so, list 2. Hamlet,
and The Comedy of Errors
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?
qid=20090126020906AADeQY0

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

production of Hamlet? The Ghost
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?
qid=20090126020906AADeQY0
8) How many of Shakespeare's original manuscripts have survived?
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
Why? None have survived, because they were written and many
of them were strictly for stage performance.
http://www.usefultrivia.com/literary_trivia/shakespeare_trivia_
006b.html

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

http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_was_the_name_of_William_Sha
kespeare's_only_son

10) How old was Hamnet when he died? August 1595, and he was
11 years old
http://wiki.answers.com/Q/How_did_William_Shakespeare's_dau
ghter_Hamnet_die&alreadyAsked=1&rtitle=How_old_was_Hamn
et_when_he_died

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

lifetime? Why? 18 plays were published, because Shakespeare
never published any of his plays himself.
http://wiki.answers.com/Q/How_many_of_William_Shakespeare'
s_plays_were_published_during_his_life_time&alreadyAsked=1
&rtitle=How_many_plays_of_shakespeares_were_commady

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

Shakespeare’s plays to be published. How many plays did they
publish? John Hemminge and Henry Condell, they published 36
plays
http://www.usefultrivia.com/literary_trivia/shakespeare_trivia_
010b.html

13) In what year was this collection of plays published? What is this
collection of plays known as? The plays were published in 1623,
and they were known as The First Folio
http://www.usefultrivia.com/literary_trivia/shakespeare_trivia_
010b.html

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.
- I did not know Shakespeare had children
- For the play Othello, Shakespeare coined that play “the beast
with two backs”
- Shakespeared died at the age of 52
- In some of Shakespeare’s plays, suicide occurred 13 times

-
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
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

http://librivox.org/romeo-and-juliet-by-william-shakespeare/

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