Shakespeare, the Queen and the Elizabethan Renaissance

Learning History Through

Shakespeare in Love

Part I. Film Facts:

1. What character did Viola audition for in Will’s play?
2. How much money did Will wager and win with the best he had with Lord Wessex?
3. What was Viola’s alias when she was an actor?
4. Why did the boy who was supposed to play Juliet have to drop out of the show moments before
starting?
5. How did Christopher Marlow die?
6.
Part II. Quotes. Name the Speaker:
1. “Have her then, but you’re a lordly food. She’s been plucked since I saw her last, and not by
you…it takes a woman to know it.”
2. “You see, the comsumptives plot against me. Will Shakespeare has a play, let’s go and cough
through it!”
3. “Mr. Tilney! Have a care with my name…you’ll wear it out!”
4. “I would not have thought it: There is something better than a play! Even your play! And that was
only my first try!”
5. “Sir, she never needed me more; I swear by her britches!”

Part III. The Queen and the Film

1. What is the Queen’s opinion of Lord Wessex?
2. What is the Queen’s opinion of Viola?
3. What is the Queen’s opinion of Shakespeare?
4. Why do you think Shakespeare is intrigued by Queen Elizabeth?
5. Why does the Queen reveal herself and get involved in the drama?
6. Why does the Queen deny that Master Kent is a woman?
7. If they Queen knows well that a woman can perform in a man’s profession, why does she not seek
to overturn the law concerning the theater?
8. In what way can the Queen’s pronouncement about Master Kent be seen as statesmanship?
9. What important decisions does Queen Elizabeth have to make in the film?
10. How do the decisions Queen Elizabeth makes illustrate the limits of the monarch?