1. An Introduction to William Shakespeare
Lesson One
Shakespeare Web Quest

2. Shakespeare’s England
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.

3. Shakespeare’s England continued
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.

4. Here are several useful links:
Shakespeare’s Globe: BBC 60 second Shakespeare: What the Puck? No Fear Shakespeare: Text of A Midsummer Night’s Dream Timelines.TV: Shakespeare’s World Enjoying Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream: Words and Phrases coined by Shakespeare: Shakespearean Insult Kit: ISE -- Internet Shakespeare Editions: World Book on-line: Shakespearehttp://worldbookonline.com/advanced/article?id=ar504520&st=shakespeare Shakespeare Resource Centre: Shakespeare Glossary:

5. Shakespeare’s Writing
Lesson Two

6. Shakespeare’s Grammar
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.

7. Ordering Shakespeare’s Words Around
Example: I lost my book.
My book I lost.
Book of mine I lost.
I did lose my own book.
My own book did I lose.
Yoda: ‘Powerful you have become…’

8. This above all: to thine own self be true. Hamlet, Act i, Sc.3
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.

9. 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.

10. Shakespeare said it first
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)

11. You, too, canst insult like William…
…..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!!

12. The Sonnet
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 shaken off And sometimes summer doesn't last very long Sometimes it's too hot And everything gorgeous loses its looks By getting hit by a truck Or just because everyone and everything gets old and ugly and shabby BUT (and here's the turn) 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 (are you breathing?) As long as men can see (are you looking at this poem?) Then this poem lives, and it gives life and memory to your beauty.

13. Paraphrased…
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.

14. Shakespeare in Love
Lessons Three and Four

15. ‘Shakespeare in Love’ 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:
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.

16. What did you think of the film?
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?

17. Let’s read some Shakespeare
Lesson Five

18. What is 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

19. Sonnet 29
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.
Students have copies to label the 14 lines, rhyme scheme, quatrains, couplet and iambic pentameter.

20. Sonnet 29
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.
Students have copies to label the 14 lines, rhyme scheme, quatrains, couplet and iambic pentameter.

21. 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.
the inductive reasoning gathers the evidence into an argument, but turns the argument around at the couplet
the couplet usually provides the basic thesis or theme of the sonnet.

22. Sonnet 130
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.
Paraphrase: A paraphrase takes difficult language and explains it in easier, more understandable, language. It is usually as long as and often longer than the original piece. It does not contain any of the original language.

23. Sonnet 116
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.

24. The soliloquy
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.

25. Hamlet’s soliloquy
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.

26. As You Like It opening monologue
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.

27. Macbeth Act V, scene v
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.

28. Taming of the Shrew 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.

29. Taming of the Shrew 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.

30. 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?

31. 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.

32. Taming of the Shrew 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.

33. Understanding Shakepeare
Lesson Six

34. Themes and elements Themes: Common elements: 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:
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

35. A play is for watching, not reading
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?

36. Lessons Seven and Eight
The Taming of the Shrew
Lessons Seven and Eight

37. Taming of the Shrew
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.

38. Ten Things I Hate About You
Lessons Nine and Ten

39. Compare the 2 films
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 ?

40. Questions we need to consider…
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.

41. Essay topic choices:
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.

42. Next week: In-class essay
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.

43. Possible sample thesis statements:
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.

44. In-class essay
Lessons 11-13

45. Concept Map 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.

46. Review of criteria: 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.

47. Essay topic choices:
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.

48. Use the writing outline to plan your essay
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.