Name_______________________________________________Date_______________
Shakespearean Webquest
Welcome to the Shakespeare Resource Center! This webquest will give you new insight into our
friend, Mr. William Shakespeare. Log onto the website http://bardweb.net; use the ‘Ye Olde
Contents’ to navigate through the quest. This will be the first graded assignment of the 2nd
semester.
Main Page
1. What is Will’s Quote ‘o the Day? (Upper right-hand corner)
Shakespeare’s Biography
3. What are the two primary sources of information on Shakespeare?
4. Where was Shakespeare born? When?
5. What did Shakespeare’s parents do? How many siblings did he have?
6. What evidence do historians have to support the theory that Shakespeare attended a highquality school?
7. Who was Shakespeare’s first biographer?
8. Whom did Shakespeare marry?
about this?
When?
9. How many children did Shakespeare have?
What was scandalous
Names?
10. What are the two speculations about Shakespeare’s seven-year disappearance? What years
were these?
11. What is The Lord Chamberlain’s Men? What became of it in 1603?
12. Why did Shakespeare and his company make plans for The Globe Theater?
13. When did Shakespeare die?
Why is this significant?
Shakespear’s Works
14. Based on the context of the second sentence in this section, define the word “canon”?
What is contained in Shakespeare’s canon?
15. What exactly separates Shakespeare from other writers of his age?
Elizabethan England
16. List 3 major events that occurred under Elizabeth’s rule.
1.
2.
3.
Shakespeare’s Language
17. How did Shakespeare’s knowledge of the English language compare with others of that
time?
18. How many words does he Oxford English Dictionary credit to Shakespeare?
19. How many generations separate Shakespeare’s English from our own?
20. What makes Shakespeare as relevant today as he was in his own time?
Now go to: http://www.folgerdigitaltexts.org/
Click on the “Read” button on the right:
Select the play: The Tempest
Read the synopsis on the left:
21. What is The Tempest about? Write a brief summary. (who/what/why/where)
Now go back.
Select the play: A Midsummer Night’s Dream
Read the synopsis on the left:
22. What is A Midsummer Night’s Dream about? Write a brief summary. (who/what/why/where)