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? 37
▪ Is the chronology of Shakespeare’s plays exact? No
▪ Why or why not? There are no exact dates of when the
plays were written because not many people kept track of
specific dates in that time area
▪ What 5 processes did they use to try and piece together the
chronology of Shakespeare’s plays? They used Historical
events, allusions to historical events in his plays, first
performance dates taken from his 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? 1594-
1595
▪ What is a sonnet? See the Sonnets section. A sonnet is a 12
lined poem invented by Shakespeare.
▪ What is iambic pentameter? Provide a literary example of iambic
pentameter. Iambic pentameter is when you have
emphasis on the second syllable of a word or sentence.
The Iambic pentameter was very clever.
▪ How many sonnets did William Shakespeare write? See the
Sonnets section 154
▪ What are Shakespeare’s 5 most popular sonnets? See sonnets
section They are 18, 29, 116, 126, and 130.

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 wrote many plays, William Shakespeare
wrote sonnets, he wrote the second most read literature in
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
 the English speaking world.

 List 3 facts that are known about the Elizabethan Stratford

Playwright and his family? They were devastated by the
bubonic plague, Shakespeare was born in Stratford,
Shakespeare did not like the bubonic plague.
 What exactly was the 'First Folio'? Is Shakespeare's picture an
accurate portrait? It is a collection of all of Shakespeare’s
plays, and no his picture is not an accurate portrait.
 List 2 reasons why there is so much controversy about the
biography of the playwright (William Shakespeare)? It is difficult
to find the truth because there is not much accurate
information about this, and there have been many claims on
the biography.

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
allowed to if they could get permission because they did not
want the plague to spread.
 Who were the Watchmen and what was their job? They were
people who would keep control of the bubonic plague and
try to keep it within a boundary.
 How did those who had the Bubonic Plague or Black Death eat?
They had to have a basket dropped in from a window.
 How did people get the Bubonic Plague or Black Death? From fleas
and rodents.
 In 1563, in London, how many people died of the Bubonic Plague?
Over 20,000 people

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? No

http://www.usefultrivia.com/literary_trivia/shakespeare_trivia_
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
001a.html

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

The comedy of Errors and it had 1777 lines.
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? Shakespeares wife was Anne
Hathaway and he got married when he was 18.
I did not need a website to know this

4) Was Anne the same age as Shakespeare when they married? If

not, was Anne older or younger? No she was older
http://www.pbs.org/shakespeare/players/player23.html

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 and he
died 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 ,
Hamlet, and Romeo and Juliet
http://wiki.answers.com/Q/Did_Shakespeare_act_in_any_of_his_
own_plays

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 because they were lost
http://www.smithsonianmag.com/people-
places/shakespeare.html

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

http://www.william-shakespeare.info/william-shakespeare-
children-and-grandchildren.htm

10) How old was Hamnet when he died? He was 11

http://wiki.answers.com/Q/How_old_was_Hamnet_Shakespeare_
when_he_died
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
11) How many of Shakespeare's plays were published during his
lifetime? Why? None because he only wanted them to be
performed.
http://www.usefultrivia.com/literary_trivia/shakespeare_trivia_
010a.html

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

Shakespeare’s plays to be published. How many plays did they
publish? John Heminges, and Henry Condell, 36.
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? It was published in 1623 and it was
known as the folio.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_Folio

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 learned that not a whole lot is known
about William Shakespeare and that what is known isn’t
certain. William Shakespeare was born in Stratford, his father
was John, and he married a he had 3 children.

Lastly, find a Audio version of Romeo & Juliet on your computer and cut
paste the URL below: http://www.speak-the-speech.org/

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