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Tasks: Shakespeare and the Renaissance

Discuss:

William Shakespeare was a true Renaissance humanist, and we see this in much of his work.

Work together and go through the quotes below, which are all taken from Shakespeare's plays.

  1. What do these passages mean? (If in doubt, use the internet)

  2. Many of Shakespeare's plays explore what it is to be human. What do these quotes tell you about Shakespeare's view on this question?

Famous Shakespeare quotes

King Lear, Act IV, Scene VI
Thy life's a miracle.

Hamlet, Act III, Scene I
To be, or not to be: that is the question:
Whether ’tis nobler in the mind to suffer
The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune,
Or to take arms against a sea of troubles,
And by opposing end them. To die: to sleep...

Hamlet, Act I, Scene III
This above all: to thine own self be true,
And it must follow, as the night the day,
Thou canst not then be false to any man.

Julius Caesar, Act I, Scene II
Men at some time are masters of their fates:
The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars,
But in ourselves, that we are underlings.

As You Like It, Act II, Scene VII
All the world's a stage,
And all the men and women merely players:
They have their exits and their entrances;
And one man in his time plays many parts.

Macbeth, Act V, Scene V
Life’s but a walking shadow, a poor player
That struts and frets his hour upon the stage,
And then is heard no more. It is a tale
Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury,
Signifying nothing.

As You Like It, Act IV, Scene III
The web of our life is of a mingled yarn, good and
ill together: our virtues would be proud, if our
faults whipped them not; and our crimes would
despair, if they were not cherished by our virtues.

As You Like It, Act II, Scene VII
Tis but an hour ago since it was nine,
And after one hour more ’twill be eleven
And so, from hour to hour, we ripe and ripe.
And then, from hour to hour, we rot and rot;
And thereby hangs a tale.

Hamlet, Act II, Scene II
What a piece of work is a man,
how noble in reason, how infinite in faculty,
in form and moving how express and admirable,
in action how like an angel,
in apprehension how like a god,
the beauty of the world, the paragon of animals!
And yet to me, what is this quintessence of dust?

Make a timeline:

Below is a list of important events and inventions that took place in Europe during the Renaissance. Make a timeline and place the events and inventions in chronological order.

Write by hand or use a digital tool like TimeGraphics or AdobeSpark Timeline.

Link to TimeGraphics

Link to Adobe Timeline

Explore the timeline

Choose three events or inventions from the timeline you have made and find out more about them.

Make a fact sheet that you can share with your classmates.


Find out:

Below, you will find a list of astronomers, artists, and philosophers that all lived and worked during the Renaissance.

Work in groups of minimum three people. Each person in the group selects a name to research. You must choose at least one name from each category. Share your findings in the group and in class.

Find information about:

  • Where and when did they live?

  • What did they do, and what were their greatest achievements?

  • How do we see the Renaissance ideals in their work?

  • Why are they still important today?

Task 1: Astronomy

  • Nicolaus Copernicus

  • Galileo Galilei

  • Johannes Kepler

Task 2: Art

  • Leonardo da Vinci

  • Michelangelo

  • Hans Holbein

Task 3: Philosophy

  • Francis Bacon

  • Martin Luther

  • René Descartes

Watch:

Below, you will find a link to a short film with the title Why Should You Read Hamlet. The film is from TED.

Watch the film, or do an internet search for sources that offer reasons to read this Shakespeare play, before you answer the questions below.

Link to the TED webpage: an animation that seeks to explain why it is a good idea to read Hamlet

  1. What is Hamlet about?

  2. What does Hamlet teach us about human nature?

  3. What is the moral lesson of Hamlet?

  4. How is the play still relevant today?

  5. Do you want to read or watch Hamlet? Explain why / why not.



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