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? Shakespeare
wrote 38 plays.
▪ Is the chronology of Shakespeare’s plays exact? The
chronology is not exact.
▪ Why or why not? There are few records and therefore dates
available in relation to first production and printing dates
for the plays by William Shakespeare.
▪ What 5 processes did they use to try and piece together the
chronology of Shakespeare’s plays? Pieced together the
chronology with actual historic 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? Believed
to have been first performed between 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. Iambic pentameters are lines in ten syllables
long, with accents falling on every second syllable.
▪ How many sonnets did William Shakespeare write? See the
Sonnets section William Shakespeare wrote 154 sonnets.
▪ What are Shakespeare’s 5 most popular sonnets? See sonnets
section William Shakespeare’s 5 most popular sonnets
are: O thou my lovely boy; My Mistress’ eyes; When in
disgrace with fortune; Let me not to the marriage of true
minds; Shall I compare thee to a Summer’s day.

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
Go to William Shakespeare Biography section to answer the
next 4 questions.

 What are 3 known facts about William Shakespeare the great

Stratford Bard? There are over 100 references to William
Shakespeare and is family.

 List 3 facts that are known about the Elizabethan Stratford

Playwright and his family? They are all illiterate.
Shakespeare’s father was a glove-maker. Shakespeare had
8 siblings.
 What exactly was the 'First Folio'? Is Shakespeare's picture an
accurate portrait? The First Folio is the first collected edition
of Shakespeare’s plays without there would be no Stratford
Bard. Shakespeare’s portrait is not accurate because there
were only engravings in his era, not paintings.
 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? They were not
allowed outside to prevent spreading the disease.
 Who were the Watchmen and what was their job? The watchmen
were people allocated to watch the “plague houses”.
 How did those who had the Bubonic Plague or Black Death eat?
They would have a plague window where they received
food.
 How did people get the Bubonic Plague or Black Death? People are
usually infected by rats and fleas, which are the primary
transmitters.
 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.
PLEASE COPY AND PASTE THE EXACT WEB ADDRESS THAT YOU
USE TO ANSWER EACH QUESTION AFTER YOU HAVE
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
COMPLETED YOUR ANSWER.

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

No because at the time he was too poor.
http://wiki.answers.com/Q/Did_William_Shakespeare_go_t
o_university

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

The shortest play is Comedy of errors, with 1,787 lines.
http://www.usefultrivia.com/literary_trivia/shakespeare_trivia_
002b.html

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

Shakespeare when they got married? Anne Hathaway was
Shakespeare’s wife. William was 18 when he married her.
http://wiki.answers.com/Q/How_old_was_William_Shakespeare_
when_he_married
http://www.william-shakespeare.info/william-shakespeare-
biography-marriage-wife-anne-hathaway.htm

4) Was Anne the same age as Shakespeare when they married? If not,
was Anne older or younger? Anne was not the same age, but 8
years older.
http://wiki.answers.com/Q/How_many_years_older_was_ann_hat
haway_than_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 was the
actor, and he passed away in 1619.
http://www.usefultrivia.com/literary_trivia/shakespeare_trivia_
004b.html

6) Did Shakespeare ever act in any of his plays? If so, list 2. Yes. He
played Adam in As you like it and the Chorus in Henry V,
although scholars doubt the sources of the information.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/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
7) Which role is Shakespeare said to have played in the original
production of Hamlet? The Ghost.
http://wiki.answers.com/Q/Did_Shakespeare_act_in_any_of_his_
own_plays

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

Why? None have survived because at the time found it
unnecessary to keep the original copies and the fire that
destroyed the Globe theatre may have also caused the loss of
the originals.
http://www.shakespeare.org.uk/content/view/712/623/

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

http://www.usefultrivia.com/literary_trivia/shakespeare_trivia_
008a.html

10) How old was Hamnet when he died? Eleven years old.
http://www.usefultrivia.com/literary_trivia/shakespeare_trivia_
008a.html

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

lifetime? Why? 18 plays were published in his lifetime because
William never published the 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? The two men were Henry Condell and John Heminges.
They published 20 plays.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_Folio

13) In what year was this collection of plays published? What is this
collection of plays known as? The year was 1623. The collection
is known as First Folio.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_Folio
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. William Shakespeare had a great fear
for the Bubonic Plague. Shakespeare’s life lasted 52 years.
Shakespeare and his company built two Globe Theatres. No
one knows the actual birthday of William Shakespeare.

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

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