Homework Center - Pathfinders

There are many copies of individual works or complete works volumes, as well as books on individual works, available for check out. Below you will find the best general secondary sources that circulate.

All Things Shakespeare: An Encyclopedia of Shakespeare's World (2 vols.) - Call number 822.33/Ols v.1 or v.2

Readings of the Tragedies of William Shakespeare - Call number 822.33TRA/Rea
Some content highlights in this book are a biography, "The Elements of Greek and Shakespearean Tragedy", "Women in Shakespeare's Tragedies", and individual critical, essays on Hamlet, Romeo & Juliet, Othello, MacBeth, and King Lear.

Readings on the Comedies of William Shakespeare - Call number 822.33COM/Rea
Some content highlights of this book are essays on "Shakespeare's Early Comedies", "Popular Romantic Comedies", and his "Final Plays".

Readings on the Histories of William Shakespeare - Call number 822.33HIS/Rea
Some content highlights include a biography, essays such as "Understanding Shakespeare's Histories", "Historical Background of History Plays", "Family in History Plays", "Women in the History Plays", "Essays on Richard III", the "Henry Plays", and "King John".

Readings on the Sonnets of William Shakespeare - Call number 822.33SON/Rea

Companion to Shakespeare - Call number 822.33/Com

William Shakespeare: Comedies & Romances - Call number 822.33COM/Wil

William Shakespeare: The Tragedies - Call number 822.33TRA/Wil

Shakespeare for Dummies - Call number 822.33/Doy

Shakespeare's Characters for Students - Call number 822.33/Sha

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Reference Sources

Who's Who in Shakespeare - Call number REF 822.33/Q

Shakespeare (Magill's Choice series) A Reader's Guide to Shakespeare - Call number REF 822.33/Sha
This book provides biographical information on Shakespeare as both poet and dramatist and alphabetical entries on plays and poems. Information is brief and themes are not explored in depth.

Critical Survey of Drama - Call number REF 822.009/Cri 2003/ v.01…

NTC's Dictionary of Shakespeare - Call number REF 822.33/Sha

Shakespeare the Playwright: A Companion to the Complete Tragedies, Histories, Comedies, and Romances - Call number REF 822.33E/Cah
This book provides a short introduction to Shakespeare's life and career and continues with a general overview and guide through each play using quotes and critical writings.

Shakespeare for Students: Books I & II - Call number REF 822.33/Sha bk.1 or REF 822.33/Sha bk.2
Volume one contains critical interpretations of As You Like It, Hamlet, Julius Cesar, MacBeth, The Merchant of Venice, A Midsummer Night's Dream, Othello, and Romeo & Juliet. Volume two contains critical interpretations of Henry IV (part one), Henry V, King Lear, Much Ado About Nothing, Richard III, The Taming of the Shrew, The Tempest, and Twelfth Night.

William Shakespeare: His World, His Work, His Influence - Call number REF 822.33/Wil v.1…
Volume one discusses the world Shakespeare lived in, volume two describes and critiques his work, and volume three relates the influence Shakespeare and his work have had over the centuries centuries.

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Electronic Resources
GaleNet's Literature Resource Center
"Literature Resource Center provides access to biographies, bibliographies, and critical analyses of authors from every age and literary discipline. Combining Gale Group's core literary databases in a single online service, the Literature Resource Center covers more than 120,000 novelists, poets, essayists, journalists, and other writers, with in-depth coverage of 2,500 of the most-studied authors."

Under AUTHOR search, type SHAKESPEARE. Click on Shakespeare, William-1564-1616. There are tabs for each entry with categories such BIOGRAPHY, LITERARY CRITICISM, BIBLIOGRAPHY, LITERARY-HISTORICAL TIMELINE, etc. Under each tabbed section, there are many articles on William Shakespeare. (Note: This type of search can be done hundreds of authors.)

Select an article(s) and read and/ or print the full text, with complete citation information provided at the end of each article. Also, a TITLE search can be completed following the same basic procedure for a specific work of Shakespeare's. For example, click TITLE search button from the top of the page, and then type the TITLE OF THE WORK (e.g. The Taming of the Shrew). All articles/ essays discussing the specified work will be available for viewing and/ or printing (Note: Make sure to look at both the LITERARY CRITICISM and general ARTICLES sections!)

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Selected Web Sites

Shakespeare Resource Center
Sections of information include:
- "The Man" a biography
- "The Works" a summary/ overview of the four main periods of Shakespeare's works that include online version of the plays and some Shakespearean criticism
- "Play Synopses" has plot summaries from all 38 official works (However, a reading of the play will still have to done by students in order to pass tests!)
- "Shakespeare's Will" a last will and testament by Shakespeare himself
- "Authorship Debate" provides links to articles on the debate of whether or not Shakespeare wrote all the plays by himself done in an opposing viewpoints format
- "The Globe" contains short history of the Globe theater where Shakespeare performed most of his plays
- "Elizabethan England" gives some history of the culture and events during the time period Shakespeare lived
- "Language" is a link to the Shakespeare Resource Center website that has a "Guide to the Bard's English" which includes a searchable glossary
- "Theatre Companies" links to sites of companies who specialize in performing Shakespeare live.

The best website to visit to collect data on current productions is the Stratford Festival of Canada at http://stratfordfestival.ca/

Shakespeare Frequently Assigned Topics Page

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