Lesson One
Shakespeare Web Quest
On your assignment sheet, choose TEN questions to answer
in full sentences. TYPE your responses in standard format.
1. When and where was Shakespeare born?
2. Why was his time period called the Elizabethan Period?
3. Describe the system of government during Shakespeare’s
time.
4. Describe the social structure of the time: rich, poor,
nobility, commoner, etc.
5. How were women dressed (everyday clothes and formal
attire)?
6. Describe or provide an illustration of typical hairstyles.
7. Describe crime and punishment during Elizabethan
England.
8. Describe health care (treatment, humours).
9. What was the terrible disease during the 1500s? How many
people died?
10. Describe the Elizabethan education system.
11. How did Elizabethans entertain themselves?
12. Describe sanitation during Shakespeare’s time.
13. Describe the origins of the Globe Theatre:
How did people know there would be a play?
How did actors learn their lines?
How did they travel from town to town?
What time of day were plays held? Why?
Provide a detailed drawing of the Globe Theatre.
Shakespeare’s Globe: http://www.shakespeares-globe.org/
BBC 60 second Shakespeare: What the Puck?
http://www.bbc.co.uk/drama/shakespeare/60secondshakespeare/themes_midsummer.shtml
No Fear Shakespeare: Text of A Midsummer Night’s Dream http://nfs.sparknotes.com/msnd/page_2.html
Timelines.TV: Shakespeare’s World http://timelines.tv/shakespeares_world.html
Enjoying Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream: http://www.pathguy.com/mnd.htm
Words and Phrases coined by Shakespeare: http://www.pathguy.com/shakeswo.htm
Shakespearean Insult Kit: http://monster-island.org/tinashumor/humor/shakeins.html
ISE -- Internet Shakespeare Editions: http://internetshakespeare.uvic.ca/Annex/links/index.html
World Book on-line: Shakespearehttp://worldbookonline.com/advanced/article?id=ar504520&st=shakespeare
Shakespeare Resource Centre:http://www.bardweb.net/england.html
Shakespeare Glossary: http://www.pbs.org/shakespeare/glossary/index.html
Lesson Two
 In Old English, thou was used for addressing one person;
ye for more than one. Within these categories, thou and ye
were used as subject, thee and you as object.
 Thou dost love me: I do love thee, fair lady.
 Ye do love me: I do love you, fair maidens.
 During Middle English, ye / you came to be used as a
polite singular form alongside thou / thee, a situation
which was probably influenced by French vous vs tu.
 Madame, ye do honour me; I bow to you here.
 Fair husband, thou art my true love; I kiss thee here.
Example: I lost my book.
1. My book I lost.
2. Book of mine I lost.
3. I did lose my own book.
4. My own book did I lose.
Yoda: ‘Powerful you have become…’
 Everything Old is New Again: converting
Shakespearean English to Modern English.
 Be honest with yourself: and surely you won’t lie to
anyone else.
 Above all, I wish you only the best.
 Safe journey and come home safely.
 Let me kiss you; it is late; good night!
 Don’t show everything you have; don’t say
everything you know; don’t lend more than you
owe.
 Your mirror will show how your beauty fades; your
watch will show the time you waste.
 Above all else: be true to yourself.
All that glitters is not gold (The Merchant of Venice)
All's well that ends well (title)
As good luck would have it (The Merry Wives of Windsor)
Bated breath (The Merchant of Venice)
Brave new world (The Tempest)
Break the ice (The Taming of the Shrew)
Breathed his last (3 Henry VI)
Refuse to budge an inch (Taming of the Shrew)
Cold comfort (The Taming of the Shrew / King John)
For goodness' sake (Henry VIII)
…..thou artless, common-kissing giglet!
 Handout: ‘Shakespeare Insult Kit’.
 Take a look at the Shakespeare glossary as well
here.
 Homework: Come to tomorrow’s class with some
classy insults to fling our way!!
Sonnet 18
 Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?
Thou art more lovely and more temperate:
Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May,
And summer's lease hath all too short a date:
Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines,
And often is his gold complexion dimm'd;
And every fair from fair sometime declines,
By chance or nature's changing course untrimm'd;
But thy eternal summer shall not fade
Nor lose possession of that fair thou owest;
Nor shall Death brag thou wander'st in his shade,
When in eternal lines to time thou growest:
So long as men can breathe or eyes can see,
So long lives this and this gives life to thee.
OOOOH Baby I think I shall compare you to a summer day
But, you know, you're prettier and even better, even calm
Because sometimes it gets windy and the buds on the trees
get blown off
And sometimes summer doesn't last very long
Sometimes it's too hot
And everything gorgeous loses its looks
By accident or just because everything gets old and ugly
BUT you're going to keep your looks for ever
Your beauty will last for ever
I'm going to make sure that you never lose your good looks
And that nasty old Death can never brag about owning you
Because I shall write this poem about you
As long as men can breathe and see
Then this poem will live, and make your beauty live on.
Lessons Three and Four
 Winner of 7 Academy Awards
 Fictional story of William Shakespeare facing writer’s
block and being inspired to write when he falls in love.
 Traditional Shakespearean elements:
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People in disguise
Cross-dressing
Mistaken identities
The ghost
A play within a play
Sword fights
 Many references to Shakespeare’s plays, especially Romeo
and Juliet.
Share the things you noticed from the
theatre to the costumes, roles, and
language to the play itself and the
characters.
Can you appreciate the role that
theatre played in society during an age
without film or TV?
Lesson Five
 A Shakespearean sonnet:
 14-line stanza
 written in iambic pentametre
 Rhyme scheme: abab, cdcd, efef, gg
 3 quatrains followed by a couplet.
 Iambic pentameter:
 lines of poetry can be divided into 5 metric feet
with alternately unstressed and stressed syllables.
Shall I / com pare / thee to / a sum / mer’s day
Thou art / more love / ly and /more temp / er ate
When, in disgrace with fortune and men's eyes,
I all alone beweep my outcast state
And trouble deaf heaven with my bootless cries
And look upon myself and curse my fate,
Wishing me like to one more rich in hope,
Featured like him, like him with friends possess'd,
Desiring this man's art and that man's scope,
With what I most enjoy contented least;
Yet in these thoughts myself almost despising,
Haply I think on thee, and then my state,
Like to the lark at break of day arising
From sullen earth, sings hymns at heaven's gate;
For thy sweet love remember'd such wealth brings
That then I scorn to change my state with kings.
A When, in disgrace with fortune and men's eyes,
B I all alone beweep my outcast state
A And trouble deaf heaven with my bootless cries
B And look upon myself and curse my fate,
C Wishing me like to one more rich in hope,
D Featured like him, like him with friends possess'd,
C Desiring this man's art and that man's scope,
D With what I most enjoy contented least;
E Yet in these thoughts myself almost despising,
F Haply I think on thee, and then my state,
E Like to the lark at break of day arising
F From sullen earth, sings hymns at heaven's gate;
G For thy sweet love remember'd such wealth brings
G That then I scorn to change my state with kings.
When I feel out of luck and as if no one likes me
I feel all alone and cry
And it's as if my prayers have no power at all because no one is listening
And I feel sorry for myself and think that I'm the unluckiest person alive
I wish that I had that person’s good luck
Or that person’s good looks and was as popular as that person
Wishing that I had that man's talent, and that man's intellect
Not at all happy with what I usually enjoy.
Even then, almost hating myself for thinking this way
But if I think about you, and then my soul,
Just like the lark whose song at the light of day
Breaks over the cold earth, sings a song filled with heavenly joy
Because I remember the sweet love we share, and the richness that it brings
And, at that point, I wouldn't change what I have, even with a king.
My mistress' eyes are nothing like the sun;
Coral is far more red than her lips' red;
If snow be white, why then her breasts are dun;
If hairs be wires, black wires grow on her head.
I have seen roses damask'd, red and white,
But no such roses see I in her cheeks;
And in some perfumes is there more delight
Than in the breath that from my mistress reeks.
I love to hear her speak, yet well I know
That music hath a far more pleasing sound;
I grant I never saw a goddess go;
My mistress, when she walks, treads on the ground:
And yet, by heaven, I think my love as rare
As any she belied with false compare.
Let me not to the marriage of true minds
Admit impediments. Love is not love
Which alters when it alteration finds,
Or bends with the remover to remove:
O, no! it is an ever-fixed mark,
That looks on tempests and is never shaken;
It is the star to every wandering bark,
Whose worth’s unknown, although his height be taken.
Love ’s not Time’s fool, though rosy lips and cheeks
Within his bending sickle’s compass come;
Love alters not with his brief hours and weeks,
But bears it out even to the edge of doom.
If this be error, and upon me prov’d,
I never writ, nor no man ever lov’d.
 In a soliloquy, the character is thinking aloud and not
addressing any other character in the play.
 The writer is enabling the character to externalize his
or her thoughts and feelings.
 In a monologue, the character makes a lengthy speech
to another character , the audience or even himself.
To be or not to be– that is the question:
Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer
The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune,
Or to take arms against a sea of troubles
And, by opposing, end them. To die, to sleep
No more – and by a sleep to say we end
The heartache and the thousand natural shocks
That flesh is heir to – ‘tis a consummation
Devoutly to be wished. To die, to sleep
To sleep, perchance to dream. Ay, there's the rub,
For in that sleep of death what dreams may come,
When we have shuffled off this mortal coil,
Must give us pause. There's the respect
That makes calamity of so long life.
All the world's a stage,
And all the men and women merely players;
They have their exits and their entrances,
And one man in his time plays many parts,
His acts being seven ages. At first, the infant,
Mewling and puking in the nurse's arms.
Then the whining schoolboy, with his satchel
And shining morning face, creeping like snail
Unwillingly to school. And then the lover,
Sighing like furnace, with a woeful ballad
Made to his mistress' eyebrow.
To-morrow, and to-morrow, and to-morrow,
Creeps in this petty pace from day to day
To the last syllable of recorded time,
And all our yesterdays have lighted fools
The way to dusty death. Out, out, brief candle!
Life's but a walking shadow, a poor player
That struts and frets his hour upon the stage
And then is heard no more: it is a tale
Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury,
Signifying nothing.
Petruchio:
I will attend her here,
And woo her with some spirit when she comes.
Say that she rail; why then I'll tell her plain
She sings as sweetly as a nightingale:
Say that she frown, I'll say she looks as clear
As morning roses newly wash'd with dew:
Say she be mute and will not speak a word;
Then I'll commend her volubility,
And say she uttereth piercing eloquence:
If she do bid me pack, I'll give her thanks,
As though she bid me stay by her a week:
If she deny to wed, I'll crave the day
When I shall ask the banns and when be married.
But here she comes; and now, Petruchio, speak.
Petruchio:
I will attend her here,
And woo her when she comes.
Say that she rail; why then I'll tell her
She sings sweetly:
Say that she frown, I'll say she looks clear:
Say she will not speak;
Then I'll commend her volubility,
And say she uttereth eloquence:
If she do bid me pack, I'll give her thanks:
If she deny to wed, I'll crave the day
When I shall be married.
But here she comes; and now, Petruchio, speak.
 In pairs, read the soliloquy 2-3 and try to understand
exactly what Petruchio is saying.
 Next, work with your partner to eliminate all the
imagery including descriptive words and phrases. Pare
down to just the facts but still in Shakespeare’s
English.
 Share your shortened version.
 How has the meaning changed? How has the rhythm
changed? How does the new version sound to you?
 Now substitute synonyms for the excised words or
phrases and put them back into the speech:
i.e. ‘silent’ for ‘mute’
 Read your revised passage aloud again and be prepared
to share your impressions of the original and newer
versions.
Petruchio:
I will await her here,
And woo her actively when she comes.
Say that she complain; oh then I'll tell her plain
She sings as sweetly as a bird:
Say that she frown, I'll say she looks as bright
As fresh flowers:
Say she be silent and will not speak a word;
Then I'll praise her speech,
And say she speaks eloquently:
If she ask me to leave, I'll thank her,
As though she asked me to stay for a week:
If she refuses to wed, I'll long for the day
When I shall propose and we be married.
But here she comes; and now, Petruchio, speak.
Lesson Six
Themes:
 Romantic comedy:
 A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Much Ado About Nothing, Taming
of the Shrew, As You Like It, etc.
 Histories:
 Richard II, Richard III, Henry IV, Henry V, etc.
 Tragedies:
 Othello, Hamlet, Macbeth, King Lear, Romeo and Juliet, etc.
Common elements:
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Tragic hero: the hero with a tragic flaw that is his downfall
Conflict
Comic relief
Humour: puns, running gags, slapstick
Disguises and cross dressing
Play within a play
Ghosts, fairies
 Shakespeare wrote plays to be performed
 His audience was largely illiterate
 The first actors were all male so men dressed as
women for the female roles
‘The Reduced Shakespeare Company’ presents
The Complete Works of William Shakespeare
(abridged)
Not having studied Shakespeare yet, see how many of
the plays or characters you can identify from this zany
performance. Also, how many of the traditional
elements can you recognize?
Lessons Seven and Eight
 We will read just one scene from Act II when
Petruchio first encounters Katharina -- and then
the very end of the play when she makes the
closing speech.
 We will stop at a few points to discuss what is
happening so follow along carefully in order to
answer questions.
Lessons Nine and Ten
 Work with a partner to draw up a list of all the
similarities and differences
 Do you think Shakespeare would be pleased with
the modern filmed versions of his play?
 How do you think he would feel about the film,
The 10 Things I Hate About You ?
 Is it important to study the works of Shakespeare?
 Are Shakespeare’s themes still relevant today?
 Do you think that Shakespeare was a genius –
perhaps the greatest writer in the English
language?
 Justify your answers – whether you agree or
disagree.
 From what you have learned about Shakespeare,
his times and his plays, explain why students
around the world still learn about him, his poetry
and his plays as the most famous and talented
writer in the English language.
 From what you have learned about Shakespeare’s
themes and dramatic elements, comment on
how effective the two modern film versions are as
depictions of his play, The Taming of the Shrew.
 This will be your final assessment in English 9
 I will be assessing:
 Your writing skills: attention to spelling, punctuation,
use of pronouns, and subject-predicate agreement.
 Your organizational skills: paragraphing -introduction, body, and conclusion.
 Your writing style: engaging thesis and topic
sentences, meaningful transitions, rich vocabulary.
 Your knowledge and critical thinking: understanding
of literary terms, interpretation of themes and analysis
of Shakespeare’s relevance today.
William Shakespeare is the most influential writer in the
English language – and was, quite likely, a genius.
The 1960s film version of The Taming of the Shrew and
the 1990s version, The Ten Things I Hate About You, both
provide evidence that Shakespeare’s plays are still
relevant to modern audiences.
Shakespeare shows in the The Taming of the Shrew that,
whether in the 17th century or 21st century, marriage is
based too often on security and status instead of love.
Lessons 11-13
 Formulate your thesis statement.
 Provide 3-5 reasons for your thesis – these
need to be full, well written statements that
will become the topic sentences for the body
of your essay.
 Decide the best order for your argument i.e.
your topic sentences.
 I will be assessing:
 Your writing skills: attention to spelling,
punctuation, use of pronouns, and subjectpredicate agreement.
 Your organizational skills: paragraphing -introduction, body, and conclusion.
 Your writing style: engaging thesis and topic
sentences, meaningful transitions, rich vocabulary.
 Your knowledge and critical thinking:
understanding of literary terms, interpretation of
themes and analysis of Shakespeare’s relevance
today.
 From what you have learned about Shakespeare,
his times and his plays, explain why students
around the world still learn about him, his poetry
and his plays as the most famous and talented
writer in the English language.
 From what you have learned about Shakespeare’s
themes and dramatic elements, comment on
how effective the two modern film versions are as
depictions of his play, The Taming of the Shrew.
 All your work will be completed in class
 You have 2-3 classes to do your plan, outline, draft and
final copy.
 If you are a strong writer and complete this quickly,
bring a novel to read quietly while the rest continue to
work.
 If you are not a strong writer and complete this
quickly, you may be required to start over and give this
more thought and effort.