“To be, or not to be: that is the question”
Shakespeare might be the most important British writer ever. He wrote plays and poems 400 years ago and people still read them, study them, watch them and learn about them today.
He can be tough to understand though. He wrote in a more old-fashioned style than we’re used to today, so it can sometimes be difficult to understand what he meant.
This workbook is designed to introduce you to Shakespeare, and begin to learn how to read his works. If you’re British, you’ll probably have to study Shakespeare at some point, so let’s start now!
As shakespeare can be a complicated topic, we recommend this workbook for ages 8+
This workbook has 6 different activities.
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Before you start…
You’ll need some printed worksheets to complete this workbook. Start by clicking the button below and printing out the sheets.
Get a grown up to help you if you need it.
MAKE SURE TO CHECK ‘FIT TO PAGE’ WHEN YOU PRINT
When you’ve printed out the worksheets and got a pen or pencil, then scroll down to the begin the activities.
Not sure how the workbook works? Click the button below…
Here’s a map of Shakespeare’s London and London now…
What differences can you spot?
Activity 1: First Questions
There are lots of interesting things to learn about Shakespeare! Can you answer the questions in this quiz?
Remember, try not to guess but actually do some research to find out the answers - ask your parents, or look on the Internet to find the answers!
One of the answers has a star - that’s the answer that should go in the Answer Grid⭐
If you’re having trouble fitting the word in, remove any extra words like ‘a’ or ‘the’
Activity 2: Shakespeare’s London
When Shakespeare lived in London it looked a little different to how it looks now. For starters, there was only one bridge across the Thames river. If you wanted to travel from one side to the other and the bridge was busy, or too far away, you could take a row boat across the river.
Certain things were seen as not respectable, like pubs and theatres. So most of them were on the south side of the river, which technically wasn’t part of London. London was pretty dirty as well. There were no proper toilets, so people would usually go to the toilet in a bucket, then throw it out the window - it got very, very smelly.
Working in the theatre was a steady job, but it didn’t pay very well. Shakespeare also worked as an actor because being a writer didn’t pay very well, especially at the beginning. No one is quite sure where Shakespeare lived all the time because he moved around a lot, but we do have some records of places he stayed.
We don’t know what Shakespeare did every day, but we can make some guesses. He probably had to buy food, and then spent a lot of time at the theatre, working with other actors. He might have been interested in different activities like bear baiting
Take a look at the map of Shakespeare’s London above. There are several different routes which he might have taken, in different colours. Can you work out which route he probably took, based on the instructions on page 3 of the worksheets?
There’s a question at the end of the page - that’s the answer that goes in the Answer Grid ⭐
Comedy, History or Tragedy
Shakespeare wrote a lot of plays - 66 in total! Most of them can be split into three different categories - histories, comedies or tragedies.
Histories are about a historical person, usually an English King, like Richard III or Henry VIII. You can usually recognize them because they’re named after a king.
Comedies are mostly happy, although there are some sad parts. There are lots of confusions and complications, and they almost always end with a wedding.
Tragedies are sad, and usually lots of people die. There is always a main character who has a flaw - like Macbeth who wants power, or Hamlet who can’t made decisions. Tragedies usually end with someone (or many people) dying.
Activity 3: Which play?
Can you read the descriptions below and work out the name of the Shakespeare play they describe? You’ll have to do some research. To make it easier, each description has some highlighted words to help you do research.
If you type the highlighted words + Shakespeare into Google, you should be able to find the answer. If this is too difficult, we have an easier version of the activity below.
The names of the plays are:
The Tempest • Macbeth • Antony & Cleopatra • The Merchant of Venice •King Lear • Twelfth Night • A Midsummer Night’s Dream • Julius Caesar • Romeo & Juliet • Henry V • Hamlet
On page 6 of your worksheets there’s space to write down the answers in the right order. That’s where you’ll find the star⭐
Of all the plays that are described, how many are comedies, how many are tragedies and how many are histories? You can mark them on your answer page with a C, T or H next to it.
Activity 4: Shakespeare’s animals
Although all the Shakespeare plays are about humans, he mentions animals quite a lot.
Sometimes the animals actually appear in plays, but sometimes they’re only part of the language Shakespeare used.
By describing people or actions like animals, it makes them more real, especially to a play audience, where you listen to the words, rather than reading them.
Like how in King Lear, the line “How sharper than a serpent's tooth it is, To have a thankless child!” - Shakespeare could have written, “it’s painful to have a thankless child”, but mentioning a snake makes the sentence more interesting.
Can you match the animal to the quote and the play?
Here are 6 animals which appear in Shakespeare plays - a bat, a horse, a porcupine, a bear, a snake and a dog.
On pages 6 & 7 of your worksheets, there’s a grid with the name of an animal, a line that talks about that animal, the Shakespeare play that it’s in and what the sentence means.
Can you fill in the missing gaps?
The animals should be fairly easy but you might have to do some research to find out which are the right plays.
Activity 5: Can you read Shakespeare?
Shakespeare wrote his plays about 400 years ago, so they aren’t written quite the same way that we speak and write today. That sometimes why Shakespeare can be tricky to read.
He uses lots of words and sentences which are unusual for us. Shakespeare actually invented lots of new words - about 400 of them - so his friends probably got confused too!
Lots of people have ‘updated’ Shakespeare by translating his work into more modern language. Below is an example of a modern translation of Macbeth
We’re going to do kind of the same thing for one of Shakespeare’s most famous plays…
Romeo & Juliet
Romeo & Juliet is a story about two teenagers who fall in love. Except their families hate each other, so they have to keep their love a secret. They run away together but it all goes wrong. In the end, both Romeo and Juliet are dead, and their families decide to end their argument, as it has lead to so much sadness.
The words on the left are from the Prologue of Romeo & Juliet. The prologue is the first part of a play, which introduces the story to the audience.
You can read the prologue, or listen to a reading of it by clicking below.
If the words are too small, click on the picture to make it bigger
Remember, Shakespeare is meant to be performed to an audience, so it’s best to read it out loud if you can. Don’t worry if you don’t understand it - we’re going to fix that in the next bit!
Now take a look at pages 10 & 11 of your worksheets. On the left side are the lines that Shakespeare wrote. On the right side are the translations of those lines into modern English.
But they’ve got muddled up! Can you match the lines up correctly?
Take it slowly, and only look at one line at a time. Shakespeare is difficult if you look at it all at once, or try to understand it quickly, but if you go line by line you’ll be able to work it out.
There’s a word in the last line of the Prologue which means ‘work’ or ‘hard word’ - can you work out which one it is? That’s the answer that goes in the Answer Grid⭐
Is one of Shakespeare’s plays cursed?
Many people who work in the theatre believe that Shakespeare’s play Macbeth is cursed. It is forbidden to say the name of the play in a theatre on the night that the play is showing. Instead, people must call it ‘The Scottish Play’.
No one is quite sure how this belief started, although it might have something to do with the witches at the beginning of the play. In Shakespeare’s time people really believed in witches and were very scared of them.
There have been lots of accidents when Macbeth has been performed - for the actors, the backstage crew and the audience.
Activity 6: On a Midsummer’s Night
A Midsummer Night’s Dream is another famous play by Shakespeare. It’s quite complicated, but there are lots of funny bits so people like it.
It’s about a lot of people who are travelling through an enchanted forest on the same night. The King and Queen of the forest (who are fairies) are having an argument and playing tricks on each other. The humans who are travelling get caught up in the tricks, particularly falling under love spells. Everyone falls in love with the wrong person because of a love potion. The Queen even falls in love with a man with the head of a donkey!
Take a look at the summary above and see if you can answer the questions. They fit into a crossword on page 12 of the worksheets.
You’ll need to do some research - if you’re having trouble finding the answers, make sure you type the exact question into Google. You should find the answer easily.
One of the answers on the crossword has a star - that’s the one that goes in the Answer Grid ⭐
Congratulations!
You’ve reached the end. You should have 7 answers now. You can write them all in the Answer Grid to reveal the vertical word.
Have you heard of this before? If not, look it up on Google and find some pictures!
Do you want to check your answer?
Click the button below and type in your answer. If you’ve got it right, you’ll get a congratulations message. If nothing happens, check your answers and try again!