The Plays of William Shakespeare

The amount of material available on Shakespeare is endless. These pages are an attempt to collect information on the works most commonly encountered in a K-12 curriculum using materials geared to high school and introductory college level students. In addition, we have included a set of links to related sources dealing with the English monarchy and life and customs in Elizabethan England. Featured Listings
	On-line Hamlet Quizzes - TeachersFirst has created a set of on-line quizzes which students can use to help test their understanding of character relationships and lineage in Hamlet. These quizzes provide instant reinforcement, and they can help ensure that students understand "who did what to whom" as they progress through the play.
	Perfect Mate - A Romeo & Juliet Student/Parent Survey - This lesson lets students and their parents compare "the ideal mate." It's a proven exercise to introduce students to the themes in Shakespeare's play. A TeachersFirst exclusive.
	A Shakespearean Feast - Eat your way to a new understanding of Shakespeare.

400 Years Ago Today - While not strictly Shakespeare, this site helps students understand what was going on in the world in Shakespeare's day. The items included cover a wide range of topics.

Shakespeare's Magnetic Poetry - Students can rearrange words from Shakespeare's vocabulary to create their own poems and speeches. An amusing vocabulary builder!

Bill's Allusive Nature - A general lesson on allusion in Shakespeare's plays.

Shakespeare Wall - A lesson that lets students take apart (literally) eash scene of a play.

Mapping Shakespeare - A Folger Library lesson that works for any of the plays.

Divinity of Hell - Soliloquies, Cutting, and Computers - Students use a word processor to study a soliloquy.

A Shakespearean Feast - Eat your way to a new understanding of Shakespeare.

The Shakespeare Classroom - from Washington State University. Background information, study guides, and related resources.

Mr. William Shakespeare and the Internet - An overall Shakespeare reference site, including links to festivals and performances. The site also includes a number of the sources listed on this page.

The Works of Shakespeare - A full-text collection from the University of Sydney, Australia.

Shakespeare - The complete works - from the e-text collection at M.I.T.

Shakespeare Illustrated - From Emory University comes this pairing of etchings and other illustrations - mostly nineteenth century vintage - with Shakespeare's works. Interesting for their differences in interpretation.

Teaching Shakespeare when they don't all Speak English. Lesson ideas from the NCTE collection.

Hamlet - on its own page.

Henry V

We Happy Few - A lesson from the Folger Library examining the St. Crispin's Day speech as political rhetoric.

Harfleur to Agincourt - A lesson from the Folger Library collection dealing with the imagery of war in the text and subtext of Henry V.

Sparknotes - Literature summaries and resources created by enterprising Harvard alumni. About Sparknotes

Julius Caesar

Julius Caesar - Full text - from M.I.T.'s Shakespeare archive.

Julius Caesar - Study questions - from the Shakespeare Classroom.

Teacher's Guide - A teacher's guide with lesson ideas from McDougall-Littel.

Sparknotes - Literature summaries and resources created by enterprising Harvard alumni. About Sparknotes

King Lear

King Lear - Full text - from M.I.T.'s Shakespeare archive.

King Lear - Study questions - from the Shakespeare Classroom.

King Lear - Good or Bad? - a discussion group on Lear's motives from Hawken School, Cleveland, OH.

Dear Regan - A lesson on Lear from the Folger Library's collection.

Sparknotes - Literature summaries and resources created by enterprising Harvard alumni. About Sparknotes

The Merchant of Venice

The Merchant of Venice: Shakespeare and Anti-Semitism - Social Studies School Service (commercial site) - Grades 9-12 - (could fit with WWII and Holocaust, also) - Designed for students who have read the Merchant of Venice, this plan draws interdisciplinary connections with twentieth century social issues of prejudice and genocide. This lesson plan is a sample of those available from the book Teaching Social Studies with the Internet, available for sale from this web site. The lesson plan is fully useful on its own, no purchase required, and includes links to relevant Internet materials. Activities are designed for groups and utilize Internet research as an essential component for collecting information to be used in class discussions/presentations.

Sparknotes - Literature summaries and resources created by enterprising Harvard alumni. About Sparknotes

A Midsummer Night's Dream

A Midsummer Night's Dream - The complete text, from the archive at M.I.T.

A Midsummer Night's Dream - The word-for-word text of the folio edition, courtesy of the University of Victoria, Canada.

A Guide to A Midsummer Night's Dream - from Amy Ulen's Surfing with the Bard. Text, teaching ideas, and study materials.

A Plot Summary - A prose recounting of the play's story.

Study Questions for A Midsummer Night's Dream - From J. Massi's Shakespeare Classroom site, embellished by Amy Ulen.

The Movie - A Midsummer Night's Dream - Web site for the 1999 release of the film with Calista Flockhart in the cast. Worth a look if only for the beautiful visual effects. There is also an elegant study guide available in Adobe Acrobat format.

Teacher's Guide - A teacher's guide with lesson ideas from McDougall-Littel.

Sparknotes - Literature summaries and resources created by enterprising Harvard alumni. About Sparknotes

Much Ado About Nothing

Much Ado... Full Text - from M.I.T.'s Shakespeare archive.

Hero vs. Claudio - A lesson from the collection at the Folger Library.

Sparknotes - Literature summaries and resources created by enterprising Harvard alumni. About Sparknotes

Othello

Fear and Loathing in Othello - A lesson from the Folger Library collection.

Investigating Othello - A Folger lesson that helps students peel away the layers of meaning in the play.

Moors in Popular Renaissance Literature - This lesson helps students understand the context in which Renaissance playgoers understood the Moors and their role. From the Folger collection.

MTV Othello - A contemporary look from the Folger lesson plan collection.

Sparknotes - Literature summaries and resources created by enterprising Harvard alumni. About Sparknotes

 

Romeo & Juliet - on its own page.