Shakespeare Webquest

This Shakespearean webquest by Luke Vyner includes activities on Shakespeare’s life, Romeo and Juliet, ’boy players’ and famous quotes from Shakespeare plays that we still use today.

Activity 1: William Shakespeare: An introduction to his life

Read the biography of Shakespeare below and try to complete the missing information. Then, visit: http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/people/william_shakespeare to find the correct information and complete the short biography.

Shakespeare was born in ________ ________ ________ in Warwickshire. His father was a ________merchant and ________ maker. It is believed he schooled locally at ________ _________ ________ Grammar School.

At 18 he celebrated his marriage to ________ ________. They married in ________ and in total had ________ children together. Firstly ________ and then ________ Hamnet and Judith. Sadly Hamnet died at the age of ________.

As well as being a playwright Shakespeare was also an ________ and was one of the managing partners in Lord Chamberlain’s Theatre Company, later renamed the King’s Company. Shakespeare wrote his first poems ________ ________ ________ and The Rape of Lucrece between ________and ________.

As a playwright Shakespeare was ________ and from 1594 to 1611 he wrote about ________ plays per ________. Most of his early plays were ________ and ________. Due to his increased success, in ________ Shakespeare was able to move upmarket to Silver Street. It was here he wrote King Lear, Macbeth, Othello and his classic play ________.

The final years of his life were spent in ________ ________ in Stratford. He died aged ________ on 23rd April 1616. He famously left his ________ ________ bed to his wife Anne Hathaway. The reason for this is unknown.

Activity 2: The plot of Romeo and Juliet

Read the statements about Shakespeare’s classic tragedy Romeo and Juliet. Some are true and others are false. Predict whether you think they are true or false, then visit:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Romeo_and_Juliet to check your answers and correct the false statements.

Introduction

1. The plot of Romeo and Juliet is based on a French tale.
2. Shakespeare created the supporting characters Mercutio and Paris.
3. The play is believed to have been written between 1581 and 1585.

Synopsis

4. The play is set in Venice, Italy.
5. It begins with a street fight between the Montagues and Capulets.
6. Romeo first sees Juliet at a ball in the Montague house.
7. With the help of Benvolio, they are secretly married the next day.
8. Romeo kills Juliet’s cousin, Tybalt, in revenge for killing Romeo’s close friend and ally, Mercutio.
9. For the execution, Romeo is exiled from Verona.
10. Before he leaves, he secretly spends the night with Juliet.
11. Juliet’s mother offers her a drug that will put her into a coma for ’two and forty hours’ on the night before her planned wedding to Paris.
12. When she is found, she is believed to be dead.
13. Romeo buys a gun to kill himself when he hears the news.
14. At the crypt where Juliet’s body has been laid, Romeo is met by Paris.
15. He kills him before drinking the poison.
16. When Juliet awakens from her deep sleep, she realizes Romeo is dead and panicking she runs away.

Activity 3: Boy players

Visit: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boy_player and find out about boy players by reading the 'Boys in adult companies' section. Then, answer the questions below.

1. Between what years were female actors prohibited from performing in the theatre?
2. Was there an official law against female actors?
3. Why were adolescent boys used to play female roles?
4. Did boys also play the complex lead female roles?
5. What roles did actor John Honyman play?

Activity 4: Shakespearean language still used today

a. You are going to find out the meaning of the phrases created by Shakespeare.
Find the following phrases from A Midsummer Night’s Dream

http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/phrases-coined-by-shakespeare-in-midsummer-nights-dream.html

1. fancy free
2. many a true word spoken in jest
3. the course of true love never did run smooth

Find the following phrases from Hamlet

http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/phrases-coined-by-shakespeare-in-hamlet.html

4. In my mind’s eye
5. Make your hair stand on end
6. Woe is me

Find the following phrases from Macbeth

http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/phrases-coined-by-shakespeare-in-macbeth.html

7. A charmed life
8. A sorry sight
9. Be all and end all

b. Now choose your favourite sounding expression from the main list:

http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/phrases-sayings-shakespeare.html

Once you’ve chosen your favourite expression, perform and teach it to the whole class.