ABCD READING #2 Take it Slow

Explore Shakespeare's fascination with Italy in this reading comprehension worksheet!

Read the text below and answer questions below by choosing the right option. Only one of four options is correct in each question. Some of the questions refer to words underlined in the text. Shakespeare's ItalyNothing defines English culture more than William Shakespeare. Yet, the Bard’s homeland was not his sole focus of attention. While many of his 38 plays were set in Britain, 10 of them were based or part-based in the sunnier climes of Italy.From romantic Verona in Romeo and Juliet and ancient Rome in Julius Caesar to wealthy and cosmopolitan Venice in Othello, Shakespeare’s fascination with Italy is constantly present in his work. His Italian settings are so crucial to his plots that they have become characters in their own right -- and his influence can be felt in Italy today. Francesco de Mosto, the host of the 2012 BBC documentary series Shakespeare in Italy, emphatically told viewers, “It was Shakespeare, rather than generation of gondoliers, who first established Italy as the land of love.”So why did the great Bard of England choose Italy as the setting and inspiration for so many of his plays? The mystery of Shakespeare’s affair with Italian culture has attracted readers and critics alike for the past four centuries and remains a hotly contested debate today.According to Francesco de Mosto, “Shakespeare has two Italys. One is related to the country of his own time and its cities such as Venice, Padua and Verona. The other is Ancient Rome, which allowed him - through plays like Antony and Cleopatra and Cariolama -- to tackle sensitive political topics without risking the displeasure of England’s rulers. By setting his plays in Italy, Shakespeare could handle issues -- including political assassinations, such as the one in Julius Caesar -- that would have got him in trouble if he’d set them in England.”What has long puzzled scholars is where Shakespeare’s information about Italy came from. Did he simply read translations of Boccaccio, Petrarch and Machiavelli, or did he have some first-hand experience of it? Some of his Italian plays display a lot of local knowledge, which it would be hard to come by without going there. Francesco de Mosto believes that there is a good chance that Shakespeare visited Italy during the seven “lost” years of his life between 1584 and 1592, when his movements are unknown.The idea that Shakespeare knew Italy well has been raised before, but has been generally dismissed by orthodox Shakespearean scholars, who suggest that the man from Stratford gathered what little information he could from travellers in London taverns or merchants arriving at the River Thames. He then creatively elaborated on what he was told.Dedicated Shakespeare scholars continue to investigate the legendary playwright’s European travels with hopes of finding an explanation. Richard Paul Roe, the author of The Shakespeare Guide to Italy: Retracting the Bard’s Unknown Travels, spent more than twenty years travelling the length and breadth of Italy on a literary mission of unparalleled significance. Using the text from Shakespeare’s ten ‘Italian Plays’ as his only compass, Roe determined the exact locations of nearly every scene in Romeo and Juliet, The Two Gentlemen of Verona, The Merchant of Venice, Othello, and the remaining dramas set in Italy.Equal parts literary detective story and vivid travelogue -- containing numerous annotations and more than 150 maps, photographs, and paintings -- The Shakespeare Guide to Italy takes a unique, gripping, and deeply thought-provoking journey through Shakespeare’s Italy. After extensive research, Roe concluded that no playwright could describe Italian setting and culture so vividly without setting foot on the country’s soil and that Shakespeare’s descriptions of the geography, topography, architecture, custom and regional dialects of the Mediterranean land are very exact in detail, far beyond and of the sources the playwright could have used. He shows that the water-based journeys from ‘landlocked’ Verona to ‘landlocked’ Milan in The Two Gentlemen of Verona were not only possible but the most effective way to travel in the 1500s. A true forensic scholar, Roe digs deep in libraries and archives, to locate what bits are left today of the extensive network of canals that connected these towns in the 16th century and discover what information he could find about those parts that are now gone.But there are many who reject the theory, including Professor Michael J. Redmond who has authored Shakespeare, Politics and Italy. He argues that Shakespeare never travelled to Italy, but instead read extensively about the country, just as other colleagues of his time would have had the opportunity to do. Redmond has discovered that Shakespeare’s portrayal of Italian political intrigue is closely modelled on popular passages from Italian writers like Niccolo Machiavelli and Francesco Guicciardini.Redmond compares the importance of books as an information resource during the Renaissance to the Internet in the 21st century. “It is significant that, apart from the Italian stories and historical-political texts that inspired plays of Shakespeare and his contemporaries, there are a number of dictionaries and grammar texts for English students of Italian,” he says.However, Richard Roe’s in-depth research throws new light on the whole issue and debate. For centuries, we had a problem that needed explaining -- Shakespeare never went to Italy -- and we had an explanation worked -- Shakespeare’s Italy is an inaccurate fantasy. Now we have a new problem that needs explaining: how did a man who never went to Italy go to Italy?Adapted from: 1. According to the text, William Shakespeare showed considerably more interest in Italy than in Britain. was not only interested in Britain but also in Italy. placed little importance on the setting of his Italian plays. did not have a long-term impact on Italian culture. 2. The word tackle (underlined in paragraph 4) means the same as: bring about disapprove of do away with deal with 3. Which of the following is NOT mentioned by Francesco de Mosto? Shakespeare created the image of Italy as the country of romance. Setting some plays in Italy allowed Shakespeare to hide his real intentions. In all his Italian plays Shakespeare showed Italy of the Renaissance period. Nobody knows where Shakespeare was between 1584 and 1592. 4. While travelling across Italy, Richard Roe used over 150 maps, photographs and paintings to guide him. used exclusively Shakespeare’s Italian plays as his guide. found the exact setting for all the scenes in all ten Italian plays. wrote several gripping detective stories and a travelogue. 5. Which of the following statements is true? Richard Roe thoroughly investigated a system of waterways that still makes it possible to go by boat from Verona to Milan. Richard Roe concluded that Shakespeare’s picture of Italy is as accurate as was possible form the sources available in England at that time. Richard Roe suggests that Shakespeare might have picked up detailed knowledge about Italy from travellers or merchants. Richard Roe has been able to show that Shakespeare had accurate knowledge of Italian geography and customs. 6. Professor Michael J. Redmond claims that there were few sources Shakespeare could have used to get information about Italy. during the Renaissance, books played the same informative role as the Internet today. Machiavellian political thought did not have much influence on Shakespeare’s works. Shakespeare had no opportunity to read much about Italy, so he must have travelled there. 7. In the final paragraph, the author of this text suggests that the question which remains to be answered is: How did Shakespeare know so much about Italy? How did Shakespeare travel when in Italy? Why did Shakespeare set so many of his plays in Italy? Why did Shakespeare rely so heavily on inaccurate fantasy? FINISHED? Kliknij niebieski przycisk na dole strony 'Hand in' dwa razy, by Twoje odpowiedzi automatycznie się sprawdziły :) Podświetliły się na zielono? - dobra odpowiedź, czerwono - coś poszło nie tak, więc koniecznie zajrzyj do Answer Key poniżej :) AnswerKey_ABCDReading#2 Sprawdź swoje odpowiedzi z kluczem rozwiązań. Click HERE. Tutaj załączam również wyjaśnienia, dlaczego jedna odpowiedź jest poprawna a pozostałe nie. Enjoy! :) ANSWER KEY