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?
▪ William Shakespeare wrote thirty-seven plays.
▪ Is the chronology of Shakespeare’s plays exact?
▪ No, it is not exact but the best guess from known
information.
▪ Why or why not?
▪ Because they only have facts on some of them, but not
totally sure on others
▪ 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, and Legal
documents.

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

▪ In what year was “Romeo and Juliet” first performed?
▪ In the year of 1594-95
▪ What is a sonnet? See the Sonnets section
▪ Fourteen line lyric poems.
▪ What is iambic pentameter? Provide a literary example of iambic
pentameter.
▪ A line ten syllables long, with accents falling on every
second syllable. "Shall I compare thee to a summer's
day?”
▪ How many sonnets did William Shakespeare write? See the
Sonnets section
▪ Shakespeare wrote 154 sonnets.
▪ What are Shakespeare’s 5 most popular sonnets? See sonnets
section
▪ William Shakespeare most popular five sonnets are 130,
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
 126, 029, 116, and 118

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, He wrote 38 plays in 23 years, and he
is the second most read author.

 List 3 facts that are known about the Elizabethan Stratford

Playwright and his family?
 Traveling was not common during this time; most of the
laws broken were by the poor, Shakespeare’s father, John
Shakespeare, owned a shop.

 What exactly was the 'First Folio'? Is Shakespeare's picture an
accurate portrait?
 It is the first collected edition of Shakespeare’s plays,
without it, Shakespeare would not exist today.
 List 2 reasons why there is so much controversy about the
biography of the playwright (William Shakespeare)?
 Because not much is known, and Shakespeare never
published his own plays.

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 needed permission to travel any distance so that
they would not spread it.
 Who were the Watchmen and what was their job?
 They were to watch the plagued house
 How did those who had the Bubonic Plague or Black Death eat?
 The watchmen would put food in a basket that was lowered
down by the plagued.
 How did people get the Bubonic Plague or Black Death?
 It spread through fleas on animals and rodents.
 In 1563, in London, how many people died of the Bubonic Plague?
 20,000 people died of the Black Death.

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
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?

Shakespeare did not attend a university

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

Comedy of errors
http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_is_the_name_of_Shakespeare's_shorte
st_play
3) What was the name of Shakespeare's wife? How old was
Shakespeare when they got married?
Anne Hathaway, Shakespeare was 18.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anne_Hathaway_(Shakespeare)
4) Was Anne the same age as Shakespeare when they married? If not,
was Anne older or younger?
She was older, 26 years old
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anne_Hathaway_(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?
Richard Burbage, he died in the year of 1619.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Burbage
6) Did Shakespeare ever act in any of his plays? If so, list 2.
No
7) Which role is Shakespeare said to have played in the original
production of Hamlet?
The ghost.
http://www.usefultrivia.com/literary_trivia/shakespeare_trivia_
005a.html
8) How many of Shakespeare's original manuscripts have survived?
Why?
No, most were destroyed possibly in the fire at Globes theatre.

http://www.shakespeare.org.uk/content/view/712/623/
9) What was the name of Shakespeare's only son?
William Shakespeare’s son’s name was Hamnet.
http://www.william-shakespeare.info/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
children-and-grandchildren.htm
10) How old was Hamnet when he died?
He was eleven when he died
http://www.william-shakespeare.info/william-shakespeare-
children-and-grandchildren.htm
11) How many of Shakespeare's plays were published during his
lifetime? Why?
Eighteen of Shakespeare’s plays were published during his
lifetime.
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 Heminge and Henry Condell. They published ten of his
plays.
http://shakespeare.palomar.edu/Editors/H-C.htm

13) In what year was this collection of plays published? What is this
collection of plays known as?
1623, known as the first folio.
http://shakespeare.palomar.edu/Editors/H-C.htm
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.
Shakespeare had twins, Shakespeare’s daughters lived till the
sixties-seventies, it is believed that Shakespeare was forced to
marry Anne because their first baby was born six months after
the wedding, Shakespeare received little income from his
plays, and got most of his wealth through a partnership in
owning the Globes theater.

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