Crazy Beliefs
This is the notion that if stringed instruments make sound, then all of the planets and stars must ALSO make sound.
What is the Music of the Spheres?
They are Melancholy, Sanguine, Choleric, and Phlegmatic
What are the Four Humours?
The name of Shakespeare's Theatre. There's now an exact replica in London that you can visit.
What is the Globe Theatre?
This means "why," although people often think it means "where."
What is "wherefore"?
The way Londoners tried to slow down the spread of Plague, but it backfired because some house pets kill the rats that carry fleas.
What is killing all the cats and dogs?
The cure-all for whatever ailed you in Shakespeare's day. (They thought this would restore the balance of humours)
What is "bleeding" a person?
Skakespeare's father's occupation.
What is a glove maker?
This is considered Shakespeare's greatest play.
What is Hamlet?
Something you might say to someone you thought was beneath you--like a servant, in Shakespeare's day.
What is "sirrah"?
This isn't just a game show, it's the Elizabethan-era belief that counted on the Goddess Fortuna "spinning royalty to the top and peasants to the bottom" to control people's fate.
What is the Wheel of Fortune?
The major science of the day: it was the same as "astronomy" to the Elizabethans.
What is astrology?
Shakespeare's original company's name.
What is The Lord Chamberlain's Men?
What the poor people who had to stand during the long Shakespeare plays were called.
What are groundlings?
'Zounds and 'Sblood'?
What are offensive swear words used a lot in Shakespeare's plays?
This is where the Elizabethans thought the earth sat in relation to other celestial bodies.
What is "the center of the universe?"
The belief system that had lions at the top and snakes at the bottom of the animal kingdom--just under the lowest humans.
What is "the Great Chain of Being"?
It's how you knew you and your family had really made it in Elizabethan London. They were highly coveted.
What is the significance of being granted a "Coat of Arms"?
The half of the Elizabethan population that was forbidden from appearing on stage.
What were actresses (in Shakespeare's day)?
The astrological reason that Romeo & Juliet are doomed from the beginning of the play. They are called this in the prologue.
What are "star-crossed lovers"?
This is the idea that EVERYTHING in the universe is ordered with God at the very top and dirt at the very bottom.
What is the Great Chain of Being?
The big idea that came with the Enlightenment. It is the opposite of "fate."
What is Free Will?
What is Stratford-upon-Avon?
The rich people and members of royalty that kept acting companies going since the admission wasn't enough to cover expenses. They liked to put their names on the companies.
What were "patrons"? (in Shakespeare's Day AND today!)
The poems that Shakespeare wrote in fourteen lines, ending in a rhyming couplet.
What are sonnets?