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| Recommended Sites | |
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The Shakespeare Resource Center This well-organized page provides a biography, links, a bibliography, notes on Shakespeare's use of language, a page on the Globe Theatre, contextual material on Elizabethan England, and much more. | |
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Shakespeare and His Critics The Shakespeare and His Critics page offers, at present, an essay on Ophelia by a notable 19th-century actress and an essay on Hamlet by critic William Hazlitt. Both essays are excellent, and the page promises more to come. | |
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Mr. William Shakespeare and the Internet Here is probably the most comprehensive index of Shakespeare resources on the Internet. It includes both internal and external links to Shakespeare's works, biographical and bibliographical materials, annotations and synopses, criticism and scholarship, timelines, related and miscellaneous materials, and so forth. These pages are well-organized, contain intelligent annotations of the links they provide and are an indispensible tool for anyone interested in reading or researching Shakespeare on the Internet. | |
| Research Sites | |
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The Complete Works of William Shakespeare This MIT Web page has searchable editions of all of Shakepeare’s plays online and laid out in easy-to-navigate table format. | |
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Mr. William Shakespeare's Comedies, Histories, Tragedies and Poems From the University of Victoria, here is one more Shakespeare collected works archive, listed here because it contains scholarly editions of the works. | |
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The Shakespeare Authorship Page It may surprise some to learn that the question of "who really wrote Shakespeare?" has been around for almost as long as the plays themselves. There are those, almost certainly in the minority, who still believe that the plays of William Shakespeare are not so easily attributable to the Stratford gentleman, Will Shaxper. This page presents a very thorough and convincing argument countering their claims. | |
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Some Acount of the Life &c. of Mr. William Shakespear by Nicholas Rowe Here is a famous early biography of the author. Much of the biography focuses on criticism of Shakespeare's works. | |
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Shakespeare's Life For those who want the basic facts, this page contains a substantial but straightforward and concise biography of the author. | |
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Shakespeare Illustrated These unique pages, full of pictures, but not short on text, "[explore] nineteenth-century paintings, criticism, and productions of Shakespeare's plays and their influences on one another." | |
| Fan Sites | |
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Literary Connection: William Shakespeare This page offers many links to Shakespeare sites and pages, including Shakespeare's works, biographical data, bibliographies, study and criticism, and much more. | |
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Collected Works of Shakespeare Here are all the canonical plays and poems, a useful glossary, and a text search engine. | |
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Othello Notes This page offers notes on the play by two Hawaiian students. The site includes annotated lists of dramatis personae, a scene-by-scene commentary, proposed paper topics on the play, and links. | |
| Other Sites of Interest | |
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The Oxford Society Homepage This is the official homepage of the society whose members believe that Edward de Vere, the 17th Earl of Oxford, wrote Shakespeare. This is currently the most fashionable Anti-Stratfordian position. The page provides biographical and critical information, and essays on Shakespeare and Edward de Vere. Whatever one chooses to believe, this site and the three preceding sites cannot but further acquaint one with the life of the author. | |
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Miriam Webster: Coined by Shakespeare Shakespeare's contribution to the English language is inestimable. This page is a brief introduction to the book Coined by Shakespeare, but contains some words and phrases that first appeared in the works of Shakespeare. | |
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Tales from Shakespeare by Charles and Mary Lamb Here is the complete on-line text of the famous book, written by the early nineteenth-century writers Charles and Mary Lamb, as an introduction to twenty of Shakespeare's plays. The tales are fine prose "translations" of Shakespeare's verse into third-person narratives. They were originally intended for young children, to "[give] to them a few hints and little foretastes of the great pleasure which awaits them in their elder years." | |
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The Collegiate Church of the Holy and Undivided Trinity, Stratford-upon-Avon This is the homepage for the celebrated church where William Shakespeare was baptized and where his funeral took place. It is assumed that Shakespeare also attended church here. The site contains historical information on the church and also on the author. There is a virtual tour and a list of upcoming events as well. | |
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Stratford-upon-Avon II This is another site devoted to Stratford-upon-Avon and its most famous inhabitant. It includes a great deal of information and many links to sites for the author and the town. It appears to be less explicitly directed at the tourist trade. | |
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Shakespeare and the Globe The Globe Theatre opened in 1599. After it burnt down in 1613, it was reopened for another three decades and then closed. After 350 years, a replica has been built - no small task, considering the paucity of the documents on the original layout - and was officially opened by Queen Elizabeth II in 1997. These pages provide important information on the theater and on Shakespeare's plays as they were likely produced in the early 17th century. There is also an archive on the Globe, documents relevant to its reconstruction, related links, and much more. | |
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Shakespearean Insult Server Thou art violently carried away from grace! Here is a program that generates authentic-sounding Shakespearean insults like those found, perhaps most notably, in Henry IV, Parts I and II. Authentically Shakespearean insults are sometimes generated as well. | |
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Furness Shakespeare Library An absolutely amazing site where you can find facsimiles of the orginal Shakespeare texts and then compare, side by side, different versions of the same play. Over the years, the texts changed considerably. Now you can see how, page by page. A must-see site. Requires Flash. | |
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Beginner's Guide to the Shakespeare Authorship Problem An intense debate exists over the authorship of Shakespeare’s plays. The problem begins with the fact that we do not know much about the 17th Century playwright’s life and becomes more complicated by historical hints which point to the possibility that Shakespeare was a mere pen name for another author or authors. This Web page is a good introduction to the mystery. Read it and then decide where you stand in the debate.  |
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