Websites and Study Guides
"Study is like the heaven's glorious sun..." --Berowne, Love's Labor's Lost, Act One, scene one
Adobe Stock. (n.d.). Shakespeare birthplace [Photograph]. Adobe Stock. https://stock.adobe.com/search?k=shakespeare+birthplace&asset_id=95341953
There's no doubt that Shakespeare can be intimidating to read, but thanks to the internet, you have access to some really great study guides and websites that can make learning Shakespeare both easy and--GASP!--fun. Citations for all of these sites can be found on the References page.
Sometimes, the easiest places to start our research are with old-school encyclopedias. Encyclopedia Britannica is a free online resource that has biographical information about William Shakespeare. Encyclopedias can be somewhat limited in what information is included. For example, this source will not include Shakespeare's entire works. What makes this source worthy to include in this guide, however, is the References and Edit History page. Looking through this page can lead you to other worthwhile sources to study. Encyclopedia entries can also be a good way to collect some keywords to use in future searches.
This is a great website to find modern translations of all of Shakespeare's works. What separates LitCharts from other study guides is the fact that users can click on a word in order to see its definitions. This is an especially useful site when studying Shakespeare's diction, themes, and use of literary devices. Summaries and analyses are also included for each work. Using LitCharts while reading Shakespeare's texts can provide a deeper, more enriching experience for readers.
This website makes all of Shakespeare’s plays and sonnets more accessible to readers. Users can find modern translations and in-depth summaries for all of Shakespeare’s works. Plays are presented with the original writing on one side and the modern translation on the other, allowing readers to access the text line by line. The website also offers character analyses, quizzes, quotes, and major themes of the texts.
This website is chock-full of cool pages to explore--you can even take a virtual slideshow tour of Shakespeare's childhood home and the cottage of his wife, Anne Hathaway! There are articles about the music Shakespeare would have listened to, an online archive of collections from Shakespeare's lifetime, and more information about his birthplace, Stratford-upon-Avon. The website covers Shakespeare's early years and also chronicles his years as a playwright and actor in London. The many photographs help to bring this website to life.
This website is the official website for Bell Shakespeare, Australia's national theatre company that specializes in Shakespeare's plays. The site offers free and engaging resources for both teachers and students. One of the best features of the site is the interactive timeline, which includes major historical events in Shakespeare's time and major events of The Bard's life. Resources for Shakespeare's major plays are also available, including fun facts about the plays, debatable points, and historical backgrounds. There are also interviews with Shakespearean actors where they talk about their acting experiences.
NoSweat Shakespeare uses many different resources to make Shakespeare's texts more accessible to students. These resources include text summaries, modern translations, and popular quotations. The website also shows the fun side of Shakespeare: users can work with the insult generator to create a Shakespearean-style insult to use on their friends! The website also provides in-depth biographical information not only of The Bard, but his family members, including his sisters, as well. The website is a comprehensive resource for any high school student studying Shakespeare.
The Complete Works of William Shakespeare
This website has been run through M.I.T. since 1993 and is the web's first edition of The Bard's complete works. The site provides an easy way for students to access all of Shakespeare's works outside of the classroom. Since the texts are rendered in simple HTML, users should have no issues accessing the works on any browser. The works are categorized by genre and are easily displayed. It's worth noting, however, that there is no commentary or analysis on this site; it is simply a repository of Shakespeare's works.