Download shakespeare web quest key - Campbell`s 1201 Academic English

Campbell’s English: SHAKESPEARE WEB QUEST
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Name: _________________________________________________ Class: _________________
Great resources for this web quest are available on:
 The Absolute Shakespeare:
http://absoluteshakespeare.com/
 Shakespeare’s Life & Times:
http://internetshakespeare.uvic.ca/Library/SLT/intro/introsubj.html
 Mr. William Shakespeare and the Internet:
http://shakespeare.palomar.edu/
 Internet Quiz on Shakespeare’s Biography:
http://shakespeare.palomar.edu/quiz/bioquiz.htm
1. Shakespeare’s birthplace: Stratford-upon-Avon, England
2. When Shakespeare was born: 1564 (baptised April 26th, so assumed bday is April
23)
3. When Shakespeare died: April 23, 1616
4. Queen when Shakespeare was born: Queen Elizabeth I
5. Her reign: 1558 to 1603
6. Her birth year: 1533 She died in: 1603
7. Her father was: King Henry VIII
8. His reign was from: 1509 to 1547
9. He lived from: 1491 to 1547
10. Her mother was: Anne Boleyn
11. Her mother died: 1536
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12. Circumstances of her mother’s death: The Roman Catholic church refused to
annul Henry VIII’s marriage to his first wife, Catherine of Aragon, who also
happened to be the widow of Henry’s brother. During their marriage, Catherine had
only one child for Henry: a daughter (later Queen Mary I, or “Bloody Mary”). To
gain an important male heir, Henry decided to get rid of Catherine. When the Pope
refused, Henry started his own church, the Church of England, and made himself
the head of that new church.
The marriage to Anne proceeded. However, Anne only produced one child:
another daughter (the future Queen Elizabeth I). After a series of miscarriages,
Anne clearly would not likely give Henry the son he so desired. He fell in love with
another woman (Jane Seymour, the mother of the future King Edward VI), and he
blamed Anne for treason, adultery and incest. She was executed in 1536.
13. Who did Shakespeare marry? Anne Hathaway
14. What did he leave to her in his will? His second-best bed!
15. How many children did Shakespeare have? 3
16. What were their names? Susanna, Judith and Hamnet (Judith and Hamnet were
twins. Hamnet died at age 11.)
17. How many words did Shakespeare add to the English language? More than
5000
18. When was Newfoundland claimed for England by Sir Humphrey Gilbert? 1583
19. How many plays did Shakespeare write? 37 – that we know of….
20. What is the name of his last play? The Tempest
21. How did Londoners know whether a play would be staged on any given day?
A flag would fly from the theatre
22. How would they know which play would be staged?
Playbills were nailed to posts, hence the word “posters”
23. What was the original name of Shakespeare’s theatre troupe? Explain.
Lord Chamberlain’s Men, after their first sponsor, Henry Carey, the Lord
Chamberlain (an important governmental position in the royal court)
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24. To what did they change their name? Explain.
The King’s Men, when King James I became their new sponsor after Queen
Elizabeth died in 1603
25. What monarch demanded a revision to the English Bible that was completed in
1611? King James I
26. What evidence do some believe proves that Shakespeare worked on the new
Bible?
There will be a fun class activity about this one!
27. What is written on Shakespeare’s grave? Explain why.
"Good friend, for Jesus' sake forbear,
To dig the dust enclosed here:
Blessed be the man that spares these stones,
And cursed be he that moves my bones."
Shakespeare is issuing a warning to potential grave robbers. He was really
scared about being dug up after he died.
28. What theatre was the rival to the one owned by Shakespeare? The Rose
29. How much was admission to get into the theatre? 1 penny
30. What were the people in the audience who stood around in front of the stage
called?
Groundlings (because they stayed on the ground) and/or stinkards (um, for
obvious reasons)
31. Where was the best, most expensive seat in the theatre? On the stage itself: the
actors would have to move around differently to accommodate them!
32. What illness shut down the theatres for long periods of time? Black Death which
most people believe was the Bubonic plague (although there were other kinds of
plague)
33. How did that illness spread? Via a parasite that lives on fleas, and there was a
huge rat infestation. Think about it: no garbage trucks, no indoor plumbing, People
living in squalor, and vermin were everywhere. That’s so gross; I’m moving on to the
next question.
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34. What did theatre troupes do when their theatres were shut down? They went on
tour to the countryside and/or did private shows for the wealthy.
35. Who played the roles of women in Shakespeare’s day? Boys whose voices had
not changed. Women were not allowed to act.
36. What special effects did they have? All kinds! Canons for thunder, gunpowder
fire on wires for lightning, mechanical devices to lower characters from the
heavens, and more. Pay close attention to the documentary I show you.
37. What other forms of “entertainment” did theatres have to compete against for
audiences?
Brothels, gambling houses, bear-baiting, and the gallows (where people were
executed in various grisly ways). Fun times.
38. Where did actors get their costumes? Donations, many of them from wealthy
people who no longer needed them. Remember, they didn’t really bathe, so when
their clothes were too soiled or stinky to wear, they passed them on.
Eeeeeeewwwwwwwww……….
39. When their landlord decided to raise the rent on their land, what did
Shakespeare and his troupe do instead? Shakespeare and his troupe owned the
theatre itself, but they rented the land where it stood. Instead of letting their
landlord greedily cash in on their successful theatre, they numbered every board in
the theatre, took it apart and rebuilt it in the exact same fashion somewhere else.
Now that’s smart!
40. How did Shakespeare’s theatre catch fire? When a canon was shot during a
performance, a spark flew up and caught the very flammable thatch roofing on
fire.
41. How many people were killed or hurt in the fire? Amazingly, nobody!
42. How did the guy whose pants were on fire put it out? The only person whose
pants caught on fire used his beer (ale) to put them out!
43. Who was the greatest actor in Shakespeare’s time? Sir Richard Burbage
44. What did Shakespeare’s father do for a living? A glovemaker, a sheep farmer, a
wool merchant, and a tanner. He had many jobs, and he was successful, but he
was not part of the royal/ upper class. He was part of the newly created middleclass.
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45. Where did actors dress for their plays? In the ‘tiring house (where they put on
their attire, or clothes).
46. What were the “heavens” in a theatre? The ceiling part of a house-like structure
built on the stage. It was painted with the sun, the moon, clouds and stars. It had a
balcony, for scenes such as the famous one in Romeo and Juliet. There would also
be a machine in there for lowering or raising characters to and from the stage.
Note: it only covered part of the stage. (You can see it in your textbook.) The
theatre itself was open to the elements. They had no electricity to stage plays at
night, so they needed an open-air theatre.
47. Explain the authorship controversy. Whom do conspiracy theorists support as
the “real” author of Shakespeare’s plays? (There will be more than one answer
here.) What are your thoughts on the issue? Do you think Shakespeare is the real
author of his plays?
Sir Francis Bacon, Elizabeth I, James I, and a slew of others are proposed as the
“real” authors. However, most of the scholars at M.U.N.’s English department
disagree with the conspiracy theorists: they believe Shakespeare wrote his work.
Some believe that the conspiracy has more to do with snobbery than anything: the
conspiracy theorists don’t believe it is possible that someone from a middle-class
family, with probably only a basic education, could be the greatest writer of all
time in any language! What do you think?