Lesson One

Shakespeare Web Quest

An Introduction to William Shakespeare

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.

Shakespeare’s England

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 England continued

 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

Here are several useful links:

Lesson Two

Shakespeare’s Writing

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.

Shakespeare’s Grammar

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…’

Ordering Shakespeare’s Words Around

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.

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

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)

Shakespeare said it first

…..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!!

You, too, canst insult like William…

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 fadeNor 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.

The Sonnet

OOOOH Baby I think I shall compare you to a summer dayBut, you know, you're prettier and even better, even calmBecause sometimes it gets windy and the buds on the trees get blown offAnd sometimes summer doesn't last very longSometimes it's too hotAnd everything gorgeous loses its looksBy accident or just because everything gets old and ugly BUT you're going to keep your looks for ever Your beauty will last for everI'm going to make sure that you never lose your good looksAnd that nasty old Death can never brag about owning youBecause I shall write this poem about youAs long as men can breathe and see Then this poem will live, and make your beauty live on.

Paraphrased…

Lessons Three and Four

Shakespeare in Love

Winner of 7 Academy AwardsFictional story of William Shakespeare facing

writer’s block and being inspired to write when he falls in love.

Traditional Shakespearean elements:People in disguiseCross-dressingMistaken identitiesThe ghostA play within a playSword fights

Many references to Shakespeare’s plays, especially Romeo and Juliet.

‘Shakespeare in Love’

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?

What did you think of the film?

Lesson Five

Let’s read some Shakespeare

A Shakespearean sonnet:14-line stanza written in iambic pentametreRhyme scheme: abab, cdcd, efef, gg3 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 dayThou art / more love / ly and /more temp / er ate

What is a Shakespearean sonnet?

When, in disgrace with fortune and men's eyes,I all alone beweep my outcast state And trouble deaf heaven with my bootless criesAnd 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 bringsThat then I scorn to change my state with kings.

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 criesB 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.

Sonnet 29

When I feel out of luck and as if no one likes me I feel all alone and cryAnd it's as if my prayers have no power at all because no one is listeningAnd I feel sorry for myself and think that I'm the unluckiest person aliveI wish that I had that person’s good luckOr that person’s good looks and was as popular as that personWishing that I had that man's talent, and that man's intellectNot at all happy with what I usually enjoy.Even then, almost hating myself for thinking this wayBut if I think about you, and then my soul,Just like the lark whose song at the light of dayBreaks 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 delightThan in the breath that from my mistress reeks.I love to hear her speak, yet well I knowThat 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.

Sonnet 130

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.

Sonnet 116

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.

The soliloquy

To be or not to be– that is the question:Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to sufferThe 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.

Hamlet’s soliloquy

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.

As You Like It opening monologue

To-morrow, and to-morrow, and to-morrow,Creeps in this petty pace from day to dayTo the last syllable of recorded time,And all our yesterdays have lighted foolsThe way to dusty death. Out, out, brief candle!Life's but a walking shadow, a poor playerThat struts and frets his hour upon the stageAnd then is heard no more: it is a taleTold by an idiot, full of sound and fury,Signifying nothing.

Macbeth Act V, scene v

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 plainShe sings as sweetly as a nightingale:Say that she frown, I'll say she looks as clearAs 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 dayWhen I shall ask the banns and when be married.But here she comes; and now, Petruchio, speak.

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 dayWhen I shall be married.But here she comes; and now, Petruchio, speak.

Taming of the Shrew

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 plainShe sings as sweetly as a bird:Say that she frown, I'll say she looks as brightAs 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 dayWhen I shall propose and we be married.But here she comes; and now, Petruchio, speak.

Taming of the Shrew

Lesson Six

Understanding Shakepeare

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: Tragic hero: the hero with a tragic flaw that is his downfallConflictComic reliefHumour: puns, running gags, slapstickDisguises and cross dressingPlay within a playGhosts, fairies

Themes and elements

Shakespeare wrote plays to be performed His audience was largely illiterateThe 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?

A play is for watching, not reading

Lessons Seven and Eight

The 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.

Taming of the Shrew

Lessons Nine and Ten

Ten Things I Hate About You

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 ?

Compare the 2 films

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.

Questions we need to consider…

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.

Essay topic choices:

This will be your final assessment in English 9I 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.

Next week: In-class essay

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.

Possible sample thesis statements:

Lessons 11-13

In-class essay

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.

Concept Map

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.

Review of criteria:

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.

Essay topic choices:

All your work will be completed in classYou 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.

Use the writing outline to plan your essay