NFS and RSC Research Review

Per the NFS text, the greatness of Shakespeare can be attributed to... (choose all that apply)

• his immense vocabulary

• the emotional impact of the stories he tells

• the number of plays and poems he wrote

• his use of language to convey character

For the most part, Shakespeare _ create his own stories.

Answer explanation

Shakespeare mainly rewrote stories he had read elsewhere--like history books about English kings, or Roman tragedies, as well as characters from older romances. Of his thirty-eight plays, it seems he only wrote The Tempest and Love's Labor's Lost.

The one thing all of Shakespeare's stories have in common is that they ​ (a)  

• deal with the extremes of human experience
• all take place in England
• they all feature disempowered women
• all are usually over three hundred pages
• mostly focus on romance
• always feature supernatural forces

Answer explanation

People in Shakespeare's stories commit the worst possible crimes: murder, torture, dismemberment. Even in the comedies, people lose siblings, parents, money, status, and identity.

The two most basic facts about the language of Shakespeare's plays is that... (choose all that apply)

• it is virtually all dialogue

• it is very descriptive, just like John Steinbeck

• most of it is poetry

• figurative language is frequently used, just as in House on Mango Street

Shakespeare writes in a combination of these:​ (a)   is a conversational way of speaking which doesn’t have a set rhythm or structure, while​ (b)   always has a set rhythm and structure.

• prose
• verse

How did Shakespeare become so smart? Match each reason with its corresponding details.

• a curriculum focused on religious texts, rhetoric, classical language, and speeches

• good timing

• numerous professional and regional variants of English spoken

• diverse speech patterns in London

• born after theaters were built and before they were all closed

• translated literature

• classics in Greek, Latin, Italian, French, etc. were more available than ever before

• education

• scandals, murder, and gossip were sold in book stalls

• tabloids

• a rhythm in Shakespeare with one soft beat and one strong beat repeated five times

• prose

• a conversational way of speaking which doesn’t have a set rhythm or structure

• antithesis

• two lines written in iambic pentameter that end in the same sound, or a rhyme

• verse

• when two opposites are put together

• iambic pentamter

• always has a set rhythm and structure

• rhyming couplets

Match the following

• "He that hath a beard is more than a youth: and he that hath no beard is less than a man."

• rhyming couplet

• "If it prove so, then loving goes by haps, / Some Cupid kills with arrows, some with traps."

• iambic pentameter

• Only 30% of the play is written in this

• antithesis

• "Give not this rotten orange to your friend"

• verse

Match the following production photos of Much Ado About Nothing with a description of the play's setting.

• The play takes place in Messina, which is an escape from the war.

• 
• The play is set in a religious world where being unfaithful or having sex before marriage is wrong.

• 
• There are strict social expectations in Messina. Women are expected to marry and obey their fathers

• 
• Don Pedro and his soldiers are guests in Leonato’s household, and have just returned from war.

• 
• Messina is governed by a man called Leonato. The action takes place within or just outside his house

• 

In Messina, the Watch are the ___, responsible for keeping the peace.

• star soccer team

• residential artists

• local law enforcement

• local poets