The Life and Times of William Shakespeare!

Introduction

 
By researching his  life and the society in which he lived students will gain an appreciation of the environment in which Shakespeare's plays were written and therefore a better understanding of the plays themselves.

Task

oday you will be researching online the life and times of one of the most well-known  authors of all time - William Shakespeare. 

 Follow the instructions on the process page answering the questions on the handout by following the links provided to the appropriate websites and pages. You will have the entire lesson for this task which is to be completed for home work if necessary.

As you research this topic I want you to keep in mind the differences between the audience of Shakespeare's time and you, the audience of today, considering how these differences affect your reaction to the play. We will discuss these ideas in our next lesson. 

Process

Let's get started!

Shakespeare's Life Click here to answer these questions.

1. How much do we know about Shakespeare's life? Why?

2. Where was Shakespeare born?

3. What date was he born on?

4. Did Shakespeare ever get married? If so, to whom?

5. Shakespeare established himself as an ____________ and _________________

6. What day did he die? What is unusual about this date?

7. What did he leave his wife in his will?

 

Religion Click here 

http://www.elizabethan-era.org.uk/religion-elizabethan-england.htm to answer these questions

8. What were the two major religions in Elizabethan England?


9. Who dictated the favoured religion?


10. Which Monarchs reigned during this time? When?


11. Which religion did each Monarch believe in?


12. How did each Monarch treat those who did not follow their favoured religion?

13. Why did Queen Elizabeth I ban all performances of religious plays and stories?http://www.musesrealm.net/writings/shakespeareengland.ht

Elizabethan Period Click here

http://www.elizabethan-era.org.uk/elizabethan-period.htm to answer these questions


14. What was the Elizabethan Period?


15. When was this period?


16. What was the most significant invention of this time and why?


17. What did this lead to a renewed interest in?


18. During this period, what were unexplained events blamed on?


19. Why were people of this period superstitious?

 20. What were the four humours and what were they associated with?http://classweb.gmu.edu/rnanian/humours.html


Click here http://www.elizabethan-era.org.uk/elizabethan-clothing.htm to answer this question

21. How was Elizabethan class structure maintained? 


22. What was the Chain of Being and what did it uphold? Click here  http://schoolworkhelper.net/2010/08/the-chain-of-being-shakespeare/                    

23. What is the Rotae Fortuna?    Click http://en.academic.ru/dic.nsf/enwiki/1535026                                                   


Education Click here  http://internetshakespeare.uvic.ca/Library/SLT/ideas/boys.html 

24. What did education depend on?

25. What was the main purpose of schooling?

26. Why were students taught Latin?                            

27. What were girls from wealthy families educated in? Click herehttp://internetshakespeare.uvic.ca/Library/SLT/ideas/girls.html  

Evaluation

 
For this task you will be assessed on the completion of the webquest. This includes answering the questions in full sentences in your own words. DO NOT REPEAT ANSWERS WORD FOR WORD FROM THE WEBSITES! 

Conclusion

 
Now that you are familiar with the context of Shakespeare's works - the environment in which they were written - you will have a better understanding of the meaning behind his words as we work through his play "The Tempest".

Hope you enjoyed the webquest!  

Credits