overall facts

Question 1

What are Shakespeare’s life
dates?

Answer 1

1564-1616

Question 2

Where was William Shakespeare
born?

Answer 2

Stratford-Upon-Avon

Question 3

Why is the English Renaissance
known as the ‘Elizabethan
Period’?

Answer 3

Because Queen Elizabeth I reigned during most of this period
(born 1533, Reigned 1558-1603)

Question 4

What are the three categories of Shakespeare’s plays (as determined in the First Folio published in 1623)?

Answer 4

• Comedies
• Histories
• Tragedies

Question 5

Name four of Shakespeare’s
Comedy plays.

Answer 5

• A Midsummer Night’s Dream
• Measure for Measure
• Twelfth Night
• Much Ado about Nothing
  (a bunch more…)

Question 6

Name four of Shakespeare’s
History plays.

Answer 6

Henry IV, part 1
Henry IV, part 2
Henry V
Henry VI, part 1
Henry VI, part 2
Henry VI, part 3
(a bunch more…)

Question 7

Name four of Shakespeare’s
Tragedy plays.

Answer 7

• Hamlet
• Othello
• King Lear
• Julius Caesar
• Anthony and Cleopatra
• Macbeth
• Romeo and Juliet
  (a bunch more…)

Question 8

What is lyrical poetry?

Answer 8

• A formal type of poetry
• expresses emotions
• is usually written in the first person

Question 9

Who introduced the printing
press into the U.K.?

Answer 9

William Caxton (ca.1422-1491)

Question 10

Why was the introduction of the printing press an important development in Renaissance England?

Answer 10

It increased access to literature and other texts and it improved literacy in the country.

Question 11

When were the Wars of the Roses
and who were the families
involved?

Answer 11

In the 15th century (1455-1487)
The two families were the Lancasters and the Yorks

Question 12

What color rose belonged to the
House of Lancaster?

Answer 12

Red rose

Question 13

What color rose belonged to the
House of York?

Answer 13

White rose

Question 14

How did the Wars of the Roses
end?

Answer 14

• Henry VII (House of Lancaster) defeated
  Richard III at the Battle of Bosworth Field
• Then married Elizabeth (House of York) which united the families.
• Their child Henry VIII united the houses with his birth.
• Henry the VIII was the first of Tudor family dynasty.
• The Tudor Rose is a combination of a red and white rose.

Question 15

Why was Henry VIII (1491-1547)
an important historical figure in
England?

Answer 15

• His birth united the houses of York
  and Lancaster permanently.
• He started the protestant Church of
  England (Anglican Church)
  => the pope refused to allow him to divorce
  Catherine of Aragon and marry Anne
  Boleyn (the mother of Elizabeth I).
  => he could also take control of the
  property of the Catholic Church in
  England.
• Memorable for having six wives and
  being temperamental.

Question 16

Why was Elizabeth I also known
as the ‘Virgin Queen’?

Answer 16

because she never married, she said she was married to England

Question 17

Describe the form and the
content of a Petrarchan sonnet.

Answer 17

• The Italian Petrarch (1304-1374)
  wrote sonnets which had an octave and a sestet: ABBAABBA CDECDE
• His sonnets were mostly about
  an idealized beloved (Laura)
• They were written in the first
  person and expressed emotions.

Question 18

Describe the form (or end rhyme)
of a Shakespearian Sonnet.

Answer 18

Three quatrains and a couplet rhymed:
ABAB CDCD EFEF GG
The volta often comes in the last couplet

Question 19

Describe the form (or end rhyme)
of a Spenserian Sonnet.

Answer 19

Three quatrains and a couplet rhymed:
ABAB BCBC CDCD EE
The volta often comes in the last
couplet

Question 20

What is a simile?
Give an original example.

Answer 20

A comparison with like or as
My hair is like a bird’s nest this
morning.

Question 21

What is a metaphor?
Give an original example.

Answer 21

A comparison (without like or as)
My hair is a bird’s nest this
morning.

Question 22

Describe an Elizabethan theatre.

Answer 22

• made of wood
• O shaped
• limited props
• open roof (naturally lit)
• wealthier spectators sat higher than the groundlings who stood on the ground
• actors were men
• there was an upper level to the
  stage
• a trap door

Question 23

What was a groundling?

Answer 23

A person who stood on the ground inside a theatre while watching a play.

Question 24

Describe the poetic meter most often used by Shakespeare in his sonnets (Sonnet 130 for example)?

Answer 24

Iambic pentameter:
this poetic meter has:
* five feet per line (penta-)
- each foot contains an iamb (iambic).
=> An iamb is an unstressed followed by a stressed syllable (sounds like ‘ba-BOOM’).

Question 25

Why did playhouses close regularly in
Elizabethan and Jacobean England?

Answer 25

• Plague
• Religious (strict
  protestant) protesters

Question 26

Why was Elizabeth I considered
an important ruler in the history
of England?

Answer 26

• She provided a stable leader for the country during a time of relative uncertainty (with plagues and the protestant reformation).
• A well-known quote of hers was this: “I would not open windows into men’s souls”.
  => She meant as long as people attended the protestant Church of England she did not try to find out if citizens’ truly believed or were secretly Catholic

Question 27

When was Much Ado About Nothing Written?

Answer 27

1598-1599

Question 28

When was Much Ado About Nothing Published

Answer 28

1623

Question 29

Where Written was Much Ado About Nothing?

Answer 29

England

Question 30

When was Much Ado About Nothing Published?

Answer 30

1623

Question 31

Literary Period of Much Ado About Nothing:

Answer 31

Elizabethan

Question 32

Genre of Much Ado About Nothing:

Answer 32

Comedy

Question 33

Setting of Much Ado About Nothing:

Answer 33

Messina, Italy in the 16th Century

Question 34

Climax of Much Ado About Nothing:

Answer 34

At the altar, Claudio publicly accuses Hero of unfaithfulness, sending her into a swoon.

Question 35

Antagonist of Much Ado About Nothing:

Answer 35

Don John

Question 36

Renaissance Theatre

Answer 36

derived from several medieval theatre traditions
→ mystery plays: religious festivals, retellings of legends based on biblical themes
→ morality plays: evolved out of the mysteries
→ University drama: attempted to recreate Greek tragedy