Romeo & Juliet Webquest

by "add your first name here"


  1. Copy this page and paste it into your wq.htm page. (Control A: select all, Control C: copy, Control V: paste).
  2. Your task is to answer all the questions using the links provided. Insert your answers after the questions; make your answers a different color than the question (dark green would be good.) Be sure you answer all parts of the question. You do not have to write complete sentences unless to answer well it is obvious you should.
    • When you hit enter to put your answer in, the list properties will make it part of the list. To make it look like this, click your increase indent button twice, then change to a bullet. This will make your answers easier to find. 
  3. Do not use a graphic or dark color background (you will lose points). Do not make significant changes to this design of this page, which will make it hard for your teacher to read it.
  4. Delete these directions (everything from the word 'Directions;" to just above the line) before you finish.

About Shakespeare
Click on this link and answer the following questions (1-7).

  1. Click on the link to Birth 1564 & Early Years. William Shakespeare was born in what year?
  2. What date do we recognize as his birthday?
  3. What was important about Stratford-upon-Avon in the 16th century?
  4. Click on the link for 1594 and find the acting companies Shakespeare was associated with in the early days. Name one.
  5. Click on 1599 The Great Globe. What is the probable year that Romeo and Juliet was written?
  6. Scroll down to the section "Construction of the Globe," and answer these questions:
    1. Where did the timbers to build the Globe come from?
    2. Who was the carpenter who built the Globe?
    3. What was Shakespeare's share as "householder?"
  7. What day and year did Shakespeare die? Why is this an interesting date? How old was Shakespeare when he died?

About Marriage
Click on this link and answer the next questions (8-10).

  1. Romeo & Juliet marry secretly, but because she is trying to escape the arranged marriage to Paris. Read this site about marriage in Elizabethan England and answer these questions.
    1. What does betrothal mean?
    2. Name three marriage and betrothal customs found on this page.
  2. Click on the link for "more wedding customs."
    1. What color should the bride's dress be?
    3. Describe the wedding procession.
    4. What is a dowry?
  3. Explain how important is a wedding ring to the Elizabethans?

About Food
Click on this link and continue (11-13).

  1. How many meals do people generally eat each day?
  2. Click here. Why would people in Shakespeare's day not know what a chocolate chip cookie is?

Dinner Party Menu


About Language
Click on this link and continue (14-16).

  2. What does "stay" mean?
  3. Click here to get the information you need to translate this conversation. Put your translation in column two. Keep the phrases just about the same, but use Elizabethan words where you can. So, in other words, you rewrite the entire phrase but replace as many words as you can using Elizabethan English.
Person A Hello. (A sneezes) Excuse me.  
Person B Gesundheit!  
A Thank you.  
B Say, do you know where the closest bathroom is?  
A Certainly. It's down the street in the Kings Tavern.  
B Thanks. Goodbye.  

About Theatre in Shakespeare's Time
"Actors, Acting, & Audience" is the link for the next questions (16-19).

  1. How many women actors did the company usually feature?
  2. Was Shakespeare an actor? What was the term used to refer to actors?
  4. What would the audience do if they did not like a performance?

Shakespearean Insults



Click on this link to be insulted "professionally."

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