Understanding Shakespeare
Need a little help understanding Shakespeare?
Here are some good resources to improve and assist your understanding of Shakespeare's works, language, and production.
The Language of Shakespeare - The Shakespeare Resource Center
The Shakespeare Resource Center was first created as a student project at DePaul University, but has grown into a much larger site. This portion of the site has great links to resources directly related to Shakespeare's use of language and how to read Shakespeare.
Need a little help comprehending Shakespeare's words? No Fear Shakespeare is a good source for a paraphrased version of Shakespeare's works. Just be cautious when using this tool by remembering that it is one person's translation of Shakespeare. Don't be limited by this site's interpretation of the texts.
MLA International Bibliography
Trying to find scholarly works about Shakespeare? The MLA International Bibliography indexes works published on modern languages, literature, folklore, and linguistics -- including Shakespeare.
An online digital library created through a partnership between different institutions and libraries. This site provides access to many different editions and scholarly works, you will just need to search.
Printed Criticism
Shakespeare After All
Written by Harvard Professor of English Marjorie Garber, Shakespeare After All considers each of Shakespeare's plays in chronological order.
Garber, Majorie B. Shakespeare After All. New York: Pantheon Books, 2004. Print.
The Arden Shakespeare
This series of scholarly editions of Shakespeare, now in its third iteration, is filled with lengthy introductions and commentary. Check out an individual play or the complete works.
Shakespeare, William. The Arden Shakespeare Complete Works. Ed. Richard Proudfoot, Ann Thompson, and David Scott Kastan. London: A&C Black, 2001. Print.
The Norton Shakespeare
Edited by Stephen Greenblatt, Professor of English and American Literature and Language at Harvard University, the Norton Shakespeare includes informative introductions that give good historical perspectives for each play.
Shakespeare, William. The Norton Shakespeare. Ed. Stephen Greenblatt, Walter Cohen, Jean Elizabeth Howard, and Katharine Eisaman Maus. New York: W.W. Norton, 1997. Print.
Shakespeare's Songbook
This book examines all songs that appear in, are quoted in, and/or alluded to in Shakespeare's works. The book includes a CD of performances of the songs.
Duffin, Ross W. and Stephen Orgel. Shakespeare's Songbook. New York: W.W. Norton, 2004. Print.
Online Courses
Approaching Shakespeare Podcast - University of Oxford
A recording of a series of lectures by Emma Smith, who teaches Shakespeare and early modern literature at the University of Oxford. Each lecture exams an individual play.
Online Shakespeare Course: Shakespeare After All - Harvard University
Taught by Marjorie Garber, PhD, William R. Kenan Jr. Professor of English and American Literature and Language and of Visual and Environmental Studies, Harvard University and author of the five books about Shakespeare, including Shakespeare After All. You are able to watch or listen to this great course about Shakespeare's later plays for free.
Student at the University of Minnesota...
Here are some links to other resources for understanding Shakespeare only accessible to students and faculty at the University of Minnesota.
Their understanding
Begins to swell, and the approaching tide
Will shortly fill the reasonable shore
That now lies foul and muddy.
~ The Tempest, Act V, Scene 1