Use these questions or activities to help gauge students’ familiarity with and spark their interest in the context of the work, giving them an entry point into the text itself.

Short Answer

1. With more than 150 works in his lifetime, William Shakespeare is one of the world’s most well-known writers. What are some of Shakespeare’s greatest contributions to poetry and plays? List 5-6 titles by Shakespeare (or more, if you can!). What do you know about Shakespeare’s life and the time period in which he lived? How does the world know so much about Shakespeare today?

Teaching Suggestion: This question guides students into researching Shakespeare’s life and contributions, as well as his impact on literature.

• This biography from Britannica offers outlined information on Shakespeare’s works and background; images and video are available as well.

2. Shakespeare’s plays are generally divided into three main categories: tragedies, histories, and comedies. Plays within a category show great variety, but similarities can be found as well. What do you think are the main differences between these categories of plays? What qualities or characteristics do you suppose are shared among the titles categorized as comedies? As tragedies?

Teaching Suggestion: This question allows students to think about Shakespeare’s titles in a comparative sense and helps them to see where and how The Taming of the Shrew fits in among the body of plays.