Skeletal Notes
Chapter 2: Will’s World
1. By the end of this chapter you should be able to list at least five differences between
contemporary themes and Elizabethan (or Shakespearean themes. List them here:
a. ________________________________________
b. ________________________________________
c. ________________________________________
d. ________________________________________
e. ________________________________________
2. List 5 ideas you learned about the concept of God and the role of religion during Will’s
time and compare it to our own world.
a. ________________________________________
b. ________________________________________
c. ________________________________________
d. ________________________________________
e. ________________________________________
3. What did you learn about the “Natural Order” of things during Shakespeare’s time.
How does it play out in his dramas, comedies, and tragedies?
4. What is the point of the subchapter labeled “Don’t mess with the boss?” How may
“boss” be defined in Shakespeare’s plays? Who would the boss be?
5. The subchapter, “Behave yourself” still relates to the natural order. List three
examples from the sub chapter.
a. ________________________________________
b. ________________________________________
c. ________________________________________
6. How does the subchapter “Moving on Up” continue the idea of natural order?
7. Why is there an emphasis on birthright in Shakespeare’s poems? Name three reasons
given in the chapter “Birthright to the Crown.”
a. ________________________________________
b. ________________________________________
c. ________________________________________
8. Design a flowchart that shows the hierarchy of “The ruling class.” Use the subchapter
with the same name to implement your design:
9. What did the editor mean by the title “Nature versus nurture?” How does the idea of
natural order come into play in this subchapter again? Give 3 examples:
a. ________________________________________
b. ________________________________________
c. ________________________________________
10. Why did Shakespeare’s characters of illegitimate birth act badly according to the
chapter “Bastards?” Give 3 examples:
a. ________________________________________
b. ________________________________________
c. ________________________________________
11. “Body and Mind:” What were the four fluids called humors and what were they each
supposed to be responsible for?
a. ________________________________________
b. ________________________________________
c. ________________________________________
d. ________________________________________
12.
Give three examples of how humors were blamed or credited with the actions of 3
characters from Shakespeare’s plays.
a. ________________________________________
b. ________________________________________
c. ________________________________________
13.
How did Shakespeare avoid “Racial Stereotypes” and why? Give 3 examples from
the chapter “Racial Stereotypes.”
Chapter 4: Why Does Everyone Talk So Funny?
14. In the introduction to this chapter, the editor explains a second reason why modern readers
have difficulty with Shakespeare’s writing that has nothing to do with the age of the writing.
What is it?
15. Is Shakespeare’s writing always going to be inaccessible? Give an example of fairly easy text
that the editor shared with you.
16. List two suggestions the editor makes to the new reader of Shakespeare about how to go
about decoding his writing?
17. In contemporary English, there is only one form of the pronoun “you” singular and there is only
one form of the pronoun “you” plural. This was not true during the Elizabethan era. There were
several forms. List 3 and show the difference in meanings.
a. ________________________________________
b. ________________________________________
c. ________________________________________
18. What old pronoun is the equivalent of “your” now?
19. What is the grammar rule that explains when and why they used the following archaic second
person pronouns:
a. Thyb. Thou -
c. Thine –
20. What was the rule for “thou” between parents and children?
21. When would servants and their masters use “you” and “thou?”
22. Is “thee” second person too?
23. Make your own Shakespearean glossary, what do the following words mean according to the
chapter--- make sure you write the exceptions to the meanings into your glossary--- you will
see many of the following in As You Like It.
a. A
b. An/and
c. Anon
d. Brave
e. Conceit
f. Cuckold
g. Cur
h. Fain
i.
Gaol
j. Hap/haply
k. Hence
l.
Hither
m. Mistress
n. Sirrah
o. Tarry
p. Thence
q. Troth
r. Wench
s. Wherefore
t. Whither
Chapter 6: How to Read Shakespeare’s English
1. Were Shakespeare’s plays written with the intention that they be read and studied like
novels?
2. What suggestion does the editor make in order to read Shakespeare more easily?
3. What is the difference between prose and verse writing?
4. Did Shakespeare write one more than the other?
5. What does the editor claim may be easier to read in Shakespeare’s plays: prose or verse?
6. What does the editor say is the reason for your answer to question four? What elements of
the “easier” reading help your comprehension?
7. What are the two primary reasons that Shakespeare wrote in verse?
8. How old was the tradition of writing in verse?
9. Why was verse considered easier to memorize than prose?
10. What is the definition of a sonnet?
11. Ask a parent sibling or another adult to read aloud the sonnet on page 60 to you. Get them to
initial here________.
12. Section “I Got Rhythm” explains iambic pentameter. Before you find out the scholarly
definition of the term--- write what you learned about the rhythm of Shakespeare’s verse
in this section.
13. How do you “Find the stress” in Shakespeare’s verse?
14. What is the editor talking about when he discusses stress in the section “Finding the
stress?”
15. What is the trick the editor shared with you to finding out which are the important syllables
in Shakespeare’s verse?
16. More parental homework. Ask them to follow the directions in the second paragraph in the
section “Emphasizing the important syllables,” use the following initial line as proof you had
help. Adult initial here please:__________________.
17. Why does Shakespeare’s verse still “sound wrong” even when you follow the tips given?
18. What suggestion does the editor give you to help make it sound better in your head?
19. What is another reason Shakespeare’s spelling and pronunciation is so different than ours--what FAVORITE book didn’t exist?
20. When is it appropriate to not read in iambic pentameter?
21. What example was shared by the editor and why was an alternative rhythm appropriate?
22. How does Shakespeare use rhythm to show the character in the example to be a sarcastic
and conniving villain?
23. Why does Puck’s speech on p.64 have a sing-song effect?
24. What choices do the lines afford an actor playing the part? How would he or she deliver the
lines like a childish character and how would the actor deliver them to sound mature and
otherworldly?
25. How do the lines from MacBeth sound like a spell or a chant? (p.65)
26. How did Shakespeare fit large words into his meter?
27. How did Shakespeare alter words to make them fit his meter?
28. Did Shakespeare always use rhyme?
29. What type of characters would normally speak in some form of rhyme scheme?
30. Why does the editor caution the reader not to be too strict with the punctuation given in
Shakespeare’s plays?
31. What does the editor say about line breaks that do not end in punctuation?
32. How does the revised introduction to Romeo and Juliet help the reader understand
Shakespeare’s prose properly aloud?
33. Why should readers always use the glossary, endnotes, footnotes and longer notes when
reading Shakespeare’s works?
34. What is the mother of all dictionaries? Why would you need it when reading Shakespeare?
Chapter 7
Once Upon A Time…
1. We will be reading As You Like It. According to this chapter, what was the origin of this
play? Where did Shakespeare get his idea?
2. Why are all Shakespeare’s plays published as 5 acts?
3. How do the five acts work with the five basic parts of a story: exposition, rising action,
climax, falling action, and conclusion?
a. Act One
b. Act Two
c. Act Three
d. Act Four
e. Act Five
4. How is the problem of love handled in Shakespeare’s plays?
5. List the four types of love problems that Shakespeare dealt with in his plays.
a.
b.
c.
d.
6. What was Twelfth Night a prime example of?
7. What does Shakespeare always hint about in a typical love problem play?
8. Were the comedies the only genre that Shakespeare used to examine love problems? If
not explain what other genre he used to showcase love drama.
9. What examples of the revenge problem does the editor share with you?
10. What genre does Shakespeare use primarily to showcase the problem with revenge?
11. Did Shakespeare only have one idea about revenge? How do you know?
12. What are the basic genres for Shakespeare’s plays?
13. Is there such a thing as a blended genre for Shakespeare’s plays? Do some of his place
fit into more than one category like some books fit between the cracks of genres for the
25 Book Campaign? What examples does the editor share with you?
14. Define the three types of Shakespearean plays:
a. Tragedy b. Comedy c. History –
15. What is the difference, in the eyes of modern editors, between a comedy and a
romance?
16. According to Aristotle’s Poetics (yes, it’s a real book, I studied it in first year drama in
college) what makes a play a play?
17. How does your answer to #16 help you understand why we will act out the play, watch it
on film and read it while we study?
18. Which unbreakable rule is Shakespeare known for willfully breaking in many of his plays
with the exception of The Comedy of Errors?
19. What is “unity of time?”
20. What examples does the editor share with you about how Shakespeare violated the unity
of time?
21. How long ago did Aristotle write The Poetics?
22. What is unity of action?
23. What is a tragic flaw and what characters are supposed to have one according to
Aristotle?
24. According to Aristotle, what should tragedy inspire? For whom should it inspire?
25. According to Aristotle, how should comedies always end?
26. What is the “unity of space” and how is this concept addressed in The Comedy of Errors
and Pericles?
27. Who was Shakespeare trying to please: his audiences or neoclassical writers and
scholars?
28. What are the basic rules of tragedy that were followed in Shakespeare’s plays: Hamlet,
King Lear, Othello, Julius Caesar, and MacBeth?
29. What is a tragic hero? According to the editor, how is Hamlet a tragic hero?
30. Who is supposed to be the hero, the protagonist or the antagonist?
31. Who are Shakespeare’s most interesting characters: the heroes or the villains? How is
that the same or different than stories, movies or television shows we watch today?
32. Why are people’s emotions magnified in a tragedy?
33. Who is usually a villain in Shakespeare’s plays and how does this connect with what we
learned in Chapter 2: Will’s World?
34. What was the principal rule for comedies that is different than the way we think of
comedies in contemporary culture?
35. What are the protagonists allowed to do in a comedy but don’t get a chance to do in a
tragedy?
36. In a tragedy, the conflict is said to be generated by the hero’s what? What starts the
action in a comedy?
37. How are Shakespeare’s histories similar to modern day historical fiction?
38. Explain how Shakespeare’s work was influenced by fairy tales.
39. How is love at first sight used as a theme in Shakespeare’s works?
40. What is divine justice and how does it play out in Shakespeare’s plays?
41. How do fate and destiny play a role in Shakespeare’s plays?
42. My creative writing professor in college told my class that smart people create but
brilliant people steal like crazy. In what ways does it seem that Shakespeare’s mentors
gave him the same message after reading “Uncovering Shakespeare’s Sources?”
Chapter 8: Shakespeare’s People: Characters, Actors and Audiences
1. According to the editor, what was the convention about great things happening to people-- who was supposed to benefit?
2. How were the relationships between commoners and royalty similar to those between
celebrities, movie stars, and regular people?
3. Why were the history plays especially crowded with dukes, duchesses, lords and ladies of
all sorts?
4. How does the subchapter “Cabbages and Kings” relate to what you already know about the
Natural Order of things in Elizabethan times?
5. How does Shakespeare handle “Common Folk” in his plays:
a. As You Like It:
______________________________________________________________
__________________________________________
b. Coriolanus:
______________________________________________________________
__________________________________________
c. The Winter’s Tale:
______________________________________________________________
__________________________________________
d. King Henry VI, Part 2
______________________________________________________________
__________________________________________
6. What was the special position held by fools or clowns in Shakespeare’s plays?
7. How does Shakespeare play with the idea of how fools should be versus noblemen?
Explain one example given.
8. Why are the weird sisters from Macbeth some of the most memorable? What do you
notice about the way Shakespeare used diction in the lines sampled?
9. The Tempest is a play I read several times in college (more than 3 times in more than 3
different classes). How does the role of magic factor in this play?
10. How is the magic in A Midsummer’s Night Dream different in it’s use of magic?
11. How is Shakespeare’s use of ghosts in Hamlet and Cymbelline different?
12. What are the most common character types. Can a character be both?
13. How does premise of the story The Winter’s Tale defy natural order?
14. How does The Winter’s Tale conform to natural order in the end?
15. How are Beatrice and Benedick unlikely lovebirds in Much Ado About Nothing?
16. Who played the girl’s parts in Shakespeare’s plays and why?
17. How did Shakespeare play with this fact in his plays?
18. What advice did Hamlet give actors and what is the controversy around these lines?
19. Who were groundlings and why did they have that name?
20. If the monarchs never came to the plays, how is it that Shakespeare’s productions were
performed for them?
21. Why did Shakespeare’s production company need patrons?