William Shakespeare
Where was William Shakespeare born?
The reigning monarch of England during most of Shakespeare's life.
Who is Elizabeth I?
A comedy must end in this.
What is marriage?
This character is an example of a perfect Elizabethan woman.
Who is Hero?
Beatrice tells Benedick:
You always end with a jade’s trick. I know
you of old.
This implies this about them.
What is that they possibly had a romantic relationship in the past?
This event greatly impacted Shakespeare and his writing.
What is the death of his son?
This quality was unique about Elizabeth I and unheard of during her time.
What is ruling as an unmarried woman?
The play takes place here.
Where is Messina, Italy?
This character wants to marry Hero.
Who is Claudio?
This passage shows this trait of Beatrice's.
BEATRICE: Lord, I could not endure a
husband with a beard on his face. I had rather lie in
the woolen!
LEONATO: You may light on a husband that hath no
beard.
BEATRICE: What should I do with him? Dress him in my
apparel and make him my waiting gentlewoman?
He that hath a beard is more than a youth, and he
that hath no beard is less than a man; and he that is
more than a youth is not for me, and he that is less
than a man, I am not for him.
What is her pickiness/unwillingness to find a man to marry?
Anne Hathaway
Who is Shakespeare's wife?
These two things thrived during Elizabeth I's reign.
What are arts and theater?
The pronunciation of the last word of the play's title (nothing as noting) alludes to this motif.
What is deception and espionage?
The villain of the play.
Who is Don John?
BENEDICK: But it is certain
I am loved of all ladies, only you excepted; and
I would I could find in my heart that I had not a
hard heart, for truly I love none.
BEATRICE: A dear happiness to women.
According to Beatrice, this is a "dear happiness to women."
What is that Benedick refuses to love a woman or get married?
What is the age that Shakespeare died?
People typically married for this.
What are financial stability and increase in social standing?
Leonato's joke about Hero possibly not being his true daughter implies this theme.
What is man's distrust of woman/fear of betrayal?
These two characters are constantly in a battle of wits.
This is a modern way to say the following:
BEATRICE: In our last
conflict, four of his five wits went halting off, and
now is the whole man governed with one...
What is "during our last argument four of his five brain cells ran away and now he only has one"?
The following is engraved on Shakespeare's grave:
Good friend, for Jesus' sake forbear,
To dig the dust enclosed here.
Blessed be the man that spares these stones,
And cursed be he that moves my bones
It is a curse against this.
What are grave robbers?
Women had little say in this.
What is who they married?
The play was written in this year.
What is 1598?
Beatrice would not have been held as an example of a good Elizabethan woman due to this.
What is her dislike of marriage/determination not to get married?
This character says this about himself:
I had rather be a canker in a hedge than a
rose in his grace, and it better fits my blood to be
disdained of all than to fashion a carriage to rob
love from any. In this, though I cannot be said to be
a flattering honest man, it must not be denied but I
30 am a plain-dealing villain.
Who is Don John?