Shakespeare Resources
“All the world’s a stage, And all the men and women merely players...
This page includes a variety of quality web sites that provide resources for the study of Shakespeare and his work. Individual pages are also available for the following plays: Hamlet, Macbeth, King Lear, Julius Caesar and Romeo and Juliet.
Click on a link to jump ahead to the following sections:
Shakespeare - The Man
William Shakespeare (1564 - 1616) was an English poet, playwright and actor, widely regarded as both the greatest writer in the English language, and the world's pre-eminent dramatist.
Folger Shakespeare Library has the world's largest collection of materials relating to Shakespeare and his works.
Other Online Resources:
- Shakespeare Video - 5 minute video from the History Channel
- Shakespeare Online - The index of biographical and historical information about Shakespeare and his times.
- Shakespeare Documented features primary sources that document the life and career of William Shakespeare. One example:
- Shakespeare's Will: Did Shakespeare really leave his wife his "second best bed?" This page contains scans of the actual document, as well as a modernized transcript of the will.
- Timeline - A comprehensive list of important dates in the life of Shakespeare from WilliamShakespeareFacts.com
- Learning About Shakespeare: A Resource Guide (SuperSummary) - a resource about the life and times of Shakespeare, as well links to other resources
The Authorship Debate is the argument that someone other than William Shakespeare of Stratford-upon-Avon wrote the works attributed to him.
Shakespeare's Plays
William Shakespeare wrote at least 38 plays and over 150 short and long poems, many of which are considered to be the finest ever written in English. All of his plays and poems are in the public domain and are available online for free.
Folger Shakespeare Library has the world's largest collection of materials relating to Shakespeare and his works.
Other free online sources:
- The Internet Shakespeare Editions is a non-profit organization that produces a website devoted to William Shakespeare and his works. The website includes a variety of Shakespeare-related resources, including texts of his plays and poems, multimedia materials and records of his plays in performance, and historical information about Shakespeare's life and the Renaissance.
- Complete Works of Shakespeare from MIT, the first to make the plays available for free
- Project Gutenberg has all of Shakespeare's Plays in multiple formats including free ebooks, but their editions are without number lines.
Shakespeare Onstage
The Globe Theatre was a theatre in London associated with William Shakespeare. It was built in 1599 by Shakespeare's playing company, the Lord Chamberlain's Men, and was destroyed by fire on 29 June 1613.A second Globe Theatre was built on the same site by June 1614 and closed by an Ordinance issued on 6 September 1642. A modern reconstruction of the Globe, named "Shakespeare's Globe", opened in 1997 approximately 750 feet from the site of the original theatre.
Theatre in Shakespeare's Time:
Shakespeare's Language
Shakespeare had an impressive impact on English grammar and language. His manipulation of English grammar allowed the poet to invent more than 1,700 words, and use them in ways that hadn't been used before.
Clasroom Resources
Shakespeare Resources for teachers and students:
Folger Shakespeare Library has the world's largest collection of materials relating to Shakespeare and his works.
Other free online sources: