Shakespeare Month Introduction

• Engels
• Middelbare school
• vmbo t, mavo, havo, vwo
• Leerjaar 1-3

Shakespeare Month

Week 1
Intro to Shakespeare 

Shakespeare,
What do you know?

Guess: Shakespeare was born in which century?

1. 14th Century
2. 15th Century
3. 16th Century
4. 17th Century

"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."
-As You Like It, Act II, Scene VII

Two households, both alike in dignity,
In fair Verona, where we lay our scene,
From ancient grudge break to new mutiny,
Where civil blood makes civil hands unclean.
From forth the fatal loins of these two foes
A pair of star-cross’d lovers take their life;
Whose misadventured piteous overthrows
Do with their death bury their parents’ strife.
.

What's in a name? That which we call a rose
By any other word would smell as sweet..."
-Romeo and Juliet, Act II, Scene II

"To be or not to be—that is the question."

- Hamlet, Act III, Scene I.

“God hath given you one face, and you make yourself another.”

(Hamlet, act 3 scene 1)

Shakespeare's life (1564 - 1616)

• April 1564: born in Stratford-upon-Avon
  
• November 1582: marries Anne Hathaway
  
• May 1583: daughter Susanna born
  
• early 1585: twins Judith and Hamnet born
  
• c. 1585: begins acting career in London
  
• c. 1592: well-known dramatist in London
  
• August 1596: son Hamnet dies
  
• c. 1610: retires to Stratford, buys a large house there
  
• 23 April 1616: dies in Stratford
  

Guess: How many plays (toneelstukken) did Shakespeare write?

1. 31
2. 37
3. 49
4. 54

Shakespearean Comedies

1. A struggle of young lovers overcoming difficulty

2. A separation and reunification

3. Mistaken identities

4. Frequent use of puns and wordplay

5. A clever servant or friend

6. Story ends with marriage(s)

Shakespearean Tragedies

1. Tragic flaw

2. Supernatural elements

3. Revenge

4. An internal struggle

5. External pressure

6. Story ends with (mass) death

How many sonnets (gedichten) did Shakespeare write?

1. 154
2. 265
3. 765
4. 5

Sonnets

- Shakespeare's main form of poetry

- 14-line poem 

- 1609: Shakespeare's Sonnets = 154 poems

- Focused on love, devotion, delight, pride

- Or darker themes: shame, disgust, fear

Sonnet 18

This is one of Shakespeare's sonnets turned into a rap. 

Watch and learn.

There are a number of reasons to study Shakespeare:

1. The Tragedy plot is one of the seven basic plots.

2. He has some extraordinary storylines

3. Shakespeare's characters are very powerful

4. His plays are full of meaning and messages that are still relevant today. 

Shakespeare

• Shakespeare = influential writer in all of English literature
• 37 plays, 154 sonnets
• Famous stories and movies are based on his works, such as Lion King (Hamlet), West Side Story (Romeo & Juliet)  & She's the Man (Twelth Night)
• 500+ film adaptions of his plays

What is Shakespeare Month?

Year 1: A midsummer night's dream

Year 2: Romeo and Juliet 

Year 3: Othello 

Shakespeare-Quiz

Life and times

When was Shakespeare born?

1. 1492
2. 1066
3. 1564
4. 1619

Shakespeare died about

1. 100 years ago
2. 200 years ago
3. 400 years ago
4. 600 years ago

Shakespeare was born in

1. London
2. Stratford-upon-Avon
3. Oxford
4. Cambridge

Shakespeare wrote on parchment, this was made of...

1. paper
2. old clothes
3. animal skin
4. animal fur

Who did he marry when he was 18 years old?

1. Anne Boleyn
2. Anne of the green Gables
3. Queen Anne
4. Anne Hathaway

How many short poems did Shakespeare write?

1. 154
2. 0
3. 12
4. more than a 1000

In which theatre were most of Shakespeare's plays performed?

1. Circus theater
2. The Royal Albert Hall
3. O2 Arena
4. The Globe

Why did the Globe have to close?
Because of...

1. The Black Plague
2. The Spanish Flu
3. The Spanish Inquisition
4. Covid-19

Shakespeare wrote...

1. 10 tragedies
2. 10 historic plays
3. 18 comedies
4. 154 sonnets

Romeo and Juliet is

1. a tragedy
2. a historic play
3. a comedy
4. a sonnet

When did Shakespeare die?

1. On his 42nd birthday
2. On his 52nd birthday
3. On his 62nd birthday
4. On his 72nd birthday

Which English words were first used by Shakespeare?

1. Fair play
2. A heart of gold
3. Love is blind
4. Gossip

What do you remember
from Shakespeare?

A sonnet:

• is a poem of 14 lines
• it has a specific rhyme scheme
• the first line rhymes with the third line
• the second line with the fourth line and so on
• a sonnet has 3 sets of four lines, called a quatrain
• the last 2 lines are called a couplet
• Shakespeare wrote 154 sonnets
• sonneto (italian) means song

 Look at modern day sonnets & discuss these with eachother.

 What sort of rhyming scheme is used in a Shakespearean sonnet?

 Each groups has to write their own sonnet, using the hand-out: skeleton of a sonnet. You have to stick to the rhyming scheme discussed at step 4.  Name, class and surname on your paper.

Take the following steps:  

1. choose a subject  

2. create an outline of the story you want to tell  

3. decide who does what (writer, person looking up rhyming words, etc)  

4. keep an eye on the time! Useful site: https://www.rhymezone.com/