1. In what year was
Shakespeare born?
- 1564
- 1616
- 1558
- 1592
Yes! You are right. Christopher Marlowe, another important
Elizabethan dramatist was also born in 1564. Marlowe lived until 1593.
Shakespeare died in 1616.
2. Shakespeare was born in what town or city?
- London
- Stratford-upon-Avon
- Snitterfield
- Oxford
Yes. Stratford was not large, but was an important market
center in Warwickshire, about 100 miles northwest of London.
3. The names of Shakespeare's father and mother were:
- Abraham and Sara
- William and Anne
- John
and Mary
Yes. John Shakespeare married Mary Arden around the year
1557. John died in 1601 and Mary died in 1608. John was an important citizen in
Stratford during Shakespeare's youth, holding many civic offices.
4. Shakespeare attended the Stratford Grammar School, also
known as the King's New School:
- From 1569 to 1579
- He did not attend school.
- There are no records of his school
attendance, but it is highly likely he attended that school.
Yes. A typical grammar school day in Shakespeare's time
started at 7am in winter, 6am in summer; the students worked until 11, took a
2-hour lunch, resumed at 1pm and worked until 5. Forty days vacation per year
were allowed. Latin grammar and translation were the main subjects of study.
5. Who did Shakespeare marry?
- Judith Sadler
- Susanna Hall
- Anne
Hathaway
- Mary Queen of Scots
Yes. A marriage licence bond was issued for William
Shakespeare and Anne Hathaway on November 28, 1582.
In Shakespeare's day a marriage certificate did not exist, and all that was
necessary to conclude a marriage was the asking of the banns on three
successive Sundays in church and then a ceremony before family and friends. The
banns were asked only once for Shakespeare and Anne Hathaway because she was
pregnant at the time the bond was issued.
6. Shakespeare was the father of how many children?
- 3
- 2
- 10
- 1
Yes. Susanna, born in 1583, and the twins Judith and Hamnet,
born in 1585. Shakespeare's only son Hamnet (named after one of Shakespeare's
neighbors, Hamnet Sadler) died at age 11
in 1596.
7. Shakespeare left his home town of Stratford because:
- He was caught poaching on the lands of
Sir Thomas Lucy and fled to avoid prosecution.
- He was apprenticed to his father who
was a butcher. He hated the work and ran away to London.
- He took a job as a school teacher in
the country, and left to pursue this career.
- It is
not known for sure how or why he left.
Yes. There are many stories and guesses, but there is
nothing amounting to proof that supports any of the theories.
8. What Elizabethan writer called Shakespeare an
"upstart crow"?
- John Lyly
- Christopher Marlowe
- Ben Jonson
- Robert
Greene
Yes. Greene (1558-1592) was a minor Elizabethan dramatist (Friar
Bacon and Friar Bungay) and novelist (Pandosto). His famous
criticism of shakespeare as an "upstart crow" proves that Shakespeare
had become well established in the London theater world by the year 1592.
9. The London theaters were closed on account of a virulent
outbreak of the plague in 1593 and part of 1594. Specifically, what disease was this?
- Tuberculosis
- The Plague of Frogs
- Bubonic
Plague
- The pox
Yes. In Elizabethan times any infectious disease which was
widespread and caused many deaths was called a plague, but the plague
responsible for closing the theaters and causing thousands of deaths over these
years was bubonic plague, caused by a bacillus spread by the rat flea. During
the 14th century it was called the Black Death, and was responsible for the
death of one quarter to one third of the population of Europe.
10. To whom did Shakespeare dedicate his long narrative poems Venus
and Adonis and The Rape of Lucrece?
- Queen Elizabeth
- Sir Walter Raleigh
- William Herbert, Earl of
Pembroke
- Henry
Wriothesley, Earl of Southampton
Yes. Many people identify him as the youth addressed so
affectionately in Shakespeare's Sonnets. The dedication of Venus and Adonis
is rather formal, but the one to The Rape of Lucrece is much warmer,
attesting a growing friendship betwen patron and poet. Rowe (Shakespeare's
first formal biographer, 1709) reported that Southampton gave Shakespeare a
reward of 1000 pounds for his poetic efforts. This sum seems too enormous by
16th century standards, but some of Shakespeare's important biographers have
thought that he received such a gift.
11. In 1598 Francis Meres
published a commonplace book (diary) called Palladis Tamia. In it he
listed several of Shakespeare's plays:
Two Gentlemen of Verona
The Comedy of Errors
Love's Labour's Lost
Love's Labour's Won
A Midsummer Night's Dream
The Merchant of Venice
Richard II
Richard III
Henry IV
King John
Titus Andronicus
Romeo and Juliet
So we know that these were written
by 1598. Which play known to exist by that time is NOT in Meres' list?
- The Jew of Malta
- The Taming of the Shrew
- The Tempest
- The Two Noble Kinsmen
Yes. Love's Labour's Won may be another name for the Shrew,
or it may refer to Much Ado About Nothing, which may have been in
existence by 1598, or it may be a play that has been lost.
12. Is it possible to say in exactly what order Shakespeare's
plays were written?
- Yes
- No.
Correct. No one knows the exact order of composition.
Scholars can make educated guesses, but there is not enough clear evidence to
say exactly in what order they were composed.
13. In 1594 Shakespeare
became one of the founding members of what acting company?
- The
Lord Chamberlain's Men
- The King's Men
- The Royal Shakespeare
Company
Yes. Acting companies sought the protection and preferment
of aristocrats. The Lord Chamberlain in 1594 was Henry, Lord Hunsdon,
Chamberlain to Queen Elizabeth. Aristocratic patronage could protect players
from the city of London authorities, who were usually eager to curtail their
activities.
14. In what year was the
Globe Theater built?
- 1594
- 1599
- 1608
- 1613
Yes. In 1599 it was assembled south of the Thames. It was
built from the timbers of the theater where Shakespeare formerly played, called
The Theatre. It was owned by a syndicate made of up of Richard and Cuthbert
Burbage who shared in half the profits and expenses, and a group of actors,
Shakespeare among them, who divided the other half.
15. Some time after 1599-1600 Shakespeare turned from writing
predominantly romantic comedies and history plays to tragedies. Which five plays are known as his "great
tragedies"?
- Hamlet,
Othello, Macbeth, King Lear, Antony and Cleopatra
- The Merchant of Venice, Henry IV
Part 1, Henry IV Part 2, Henry V, Twelfth Night
- King John, Henry VI Part 1, Richard
II, Richard III, Henry VIII
- Measure for Measure, Troilus and
Cressida, Coriolanus, Timon of Athens, Cymbeline.
Yes. These are generally regarded by critics as
Shakespeare's greatest achievement in the genre of tragedy.
16. In 1603 Shakespeare's
acting company, The Lord Chamberlain's Men, became the King's Men. Which king was their patron?
- George III
- James
I
- Edward III
- Henry VIII
Yes. James Stuart, James VI of Scotland, became James I of England upon the death of Queen Elizabeth. He reigned from 1603-1625.
17. Beginning around 1608 Shakespeare wrote 4 plays, Pericles
Prince of Tyre, Cymbeline, The Winter's Tale, and The Tempest, often
categorized as:
- Masques
- Romances
- Melodramas
- Dark Tragedies
Yes. These plays share certain romantic elements not typical
of the rest of Shakespeare's works, and may have been influenced by the staging
possiblilities afforded by the Blackfriars indoor theater, in which
Shakespeare's company began to play in 1608.
18. In his later years,
Shakespeare collaborated with what author on the play The Two Noble Kinsmen?
- Thomas Middleton
- Francis Beaumont.
- Christopher Marlowe.
- John
Fletcher.
- Ben Jonson
Correct. Fletcher (1579-1625) and Shakespeare also seem to
have collaborated on Henry VIII and a play which has been lost called Cardenio.
19. In what year did
Shakespeare die?
- 1599
- 1616
- 1623
- 1642
Yes. April 23, 1616.
20. In what year was the
first collected edition of Shakespeare's plays, called the First Folio,
published?
- 1599
- 1616
- 1623
- 1685
Yes. It was printed in London by Isaac Jaggard and Ed.
Blount. Its title is Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, &
Tragedies. It was collected and edited by Shakespeare's fellow actors, John
Heminges and Henry Condell. It printed 36 plays, 18 of which had never before
been printed. We owe Heminges and Condell an enormous debt of gratitude.
Without their work we may never have known of many of Shakespeare's
masterpieces, such as Macbeth, Anthony and Cleopatra, or The Tempest.
21. You are truly a Shakespeare aficianado if you know this
one: which fellow actor(s) did Shakespeare remember in his will?
- Richard
Burbage, John Heminges and Henry Condell.
- Will Kempe
- Robert Armin
- Thomas Pope, Will Sly and William
Beeston
Yes. Burbage was said to be the greatest tragedian of his time.
Heminges and Condell collected and edited Shakespeare's plays for the First
Folio, published in 1623.
22. Is it reasonable to think that someone other than William
Shakespeare (1564-1616) of Stratford-upon-Avon wrote the works attributed to
him?
- Yes.
- No.
Right. Shakespeare wrote Shakespeare. People who think
otherwise either have not considered the evidence in a reasonable light, or
they are easily deceived by silly conspiracy theories, or they are motivated by
a snobbish prejudice against the real Shakespeare because he was not educated
at a university (as far as we know), and was a working class citizen, rather
than a member of the aristocracy.
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