Homework, 21st April

This term we are going to be studying the Shakespeare play Romeo and Juliet, in conjunction with the Performing Arts department, because, as you may already know, they will be performing the play after half term.

We have already spent a few lessons learning about the the life and times of William Shakespeare, and this week's homework is based on that. The task is to read the biography and correct the mistakes. Some of the mistakes are grammatical, and the purpose of this is to get you in the habit of proof reading and spotting mistakes in your own work. The other mistakes are factual. All of the mistakes are numbered and there are fifteen in total.

William Shakespeare

The following biography of Shakespeare has some mistakes in it, which you need to correct. All the mistakes have been numbered; you need to work out what it should say, and write this down in the table. Some of the mistakes are to do with facts about Shakespeare’s life and some are to do with spelling and grammar. The first two mistakes have been corrected in the table for you as examples.

Shakespeare’s birth

William Shakespeare was born in 1574 1) on Stratford. His birthday is celebrated on 23^rd April every year. At the time, 2) Queen Mary was on the throne and England was in the process of becoming a major world power. Because of this, there were also a new found pride in the English language.

There is no record of his birth, but this date is thought to be his birthday as we know he was baptised three 3) day later on 26 April 1564. It is also St George's Day.

His childhood

Shakespeare was one of seven children born to John Shakespeare and Mary Arden. 4) John was a carpenter and Mary was a farmer’s daughter.  

Three of his siblings died in childhood, two of them from a plague that 5) hitted Stratford the year Shakespeare was born.

His education

Shakespeare's father may well have been illiterate, although he managed to achieve 6) an high rank in business and politics.

It is likely the young William attended King's New School in 7) Newcastle for free because of his temporary status. At school he would have studied Latin, and would have studied many works of literature that may have 8) inspiration some of the plays he would eventually go on to write.

Marriage and children

In November 1582, aged 9) 31, Shakespeare married Anne Hathaway. Anne was eight years older than him and was three months pregnant with their first child when they wed. In Elizabethan times, being pregnant without being married was considered to be 10) skandaloos.

Just six months later, on 26 May 1583 their first child, Susanna, was born. Three years later on the 2 February 1585 twins Hamnet and Judith were born.

Working life

What Shakespeare got up to during his twenties is something of a mystery as there are no written records of this period in his life. Some people think he might have been a soldier because of all the war in his plays, some people think he might have been a sailor because of all the references to the sea, and some people think he might have travelled because some of his plays are set in other countries.

We do know that he eventually ended up in London, where he became a 11) chef.

At that time London was a very busy and disease-ridden city. People there were dying faster than they were born.

The city was also a vibrant place with a thirst for entertainment. There were many temporary stages and theatres and the first permanent stage venue, called The Theatre, was opened in 1576 on the banks of the Thames. It was replaced by The Globe Theatre in 12) 1596.

Shakespeare the writer

During his life he 13) rote many plays and poems which were very popular. Their popularity has continued to grow long after his death. He was one of the most, if not the most famous playwrights of the time because he touched on themes that everyone could relate to, such as love, death, power and greed.

There was also a huge demand for plays at that time, as the theatre was very popular, and Shakespeare was able to write a lot of material, which meant that theatre directors would always go to him because they knew he would deliver.

In 1593 a plague hit London and all public events - including theatre productions - were forbidden until the following year. Shakespeare turned to poetry during this time, 14) projucing dark and gruesome tales. He also wrote poems about an unnamed woman he did not like very much, possibly because he did not like women generally, or possibly just because he was unhappy in his marriage.

More dark writings were to come in 1596 when Shakespeare's only son, Hamnet, died. Despite being at the height of his fame in London, Shakespeare started to write unsettling plays such as Macbeth, King Lear, Othello and Anthony and Cleopatra.

His later years

In around 1609, after writing around 24 plays, Shakespeare was spending more and more time back in 15) Newcastle, in what we might now call semi-retirement. In 1614 he wrote his final play - The Two Noble Kinsmen. By then he had moved back to Stratford permanently.

His death

Shakespeare died on 23 April 1616 - his 52nd birthday. This date is now also recognised as National Poets’ Day. It has been suggested that he died after a drinking session which also involved him eating too many pickled herrings, although this is unlikely to be true.

He was buried at Holy Trinity Church in Stratford.

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