Research Guides: LIT 3350: Shakespeare: Play Analyses & Stage Histories

Play Analyses & Stage Histories

Having a clear understanding of Shakespeare's plays - their plot, characters, literary devices, historical context - will help you in your research assignments. A knowledge of a play's performance and theatrical history is helpful, too! All of these resources listed below will help you accomplish this:

Reference Books

The Oxford Companion to Shakespeare by Michael Dobson (Editor)
Call #: eBook
Publication Date: 2001
Covers Shakespeare's life and times, his plays and poems, and their interpretation around the world over the last four centuries. Entries on each play, include scene-by-scene explanations as well as examinations of the play's particular artistic features, critical history, and stage and screen history, and a listing of recent editions and selected criticism.
Magill's Choice: Shakespeare by Joseph Rosenblum (Editor)
Call #: REF 822.33 Z3625
Publication Date: 1998
Includes a biography of Shakespeare, as a man, dramatist, and poet. Entries on every play include plot summaries, critical analysis, and recommended readings. Analysis of Shakespeare's poems included as well.
Shakespeares After Shakespeare: An Encyclopedia of the Bard in Mass Media by Richard Burt
Call #: REF 822.33 Z673
Publication Date: 2006
Tracks the presence of Shakespeare in contemporary pop culture, theater, film, etc. Conveniently arranged in sections on types of adaptations, and then on particular plays, which include stage histories and biographies of actors and directors.
Critical Companion to William Shakespeare: A Literary Reference to His Life and Work by Charles Boyce
Call #: REF 822.33 Z6162
Publication Date: 2005
Includes Shakespeare's biography and entries for every play with a plot synopsis, critical commentary, the source/text of the play, its theatrical history, and analysis of characters. Also entries on important figures in Shakespeare's life, places, literary, and theatrical terms.

Main Collection Books

The Cambridge Introduction to Shakespeare by Emma Smith
Call #: MAIN 822.33 Z374
Publication Date: 2007
Covers a range of texts, divided into seven subject-based chapters: Character; Performance; Texts; Language; Structure; Sources and History.
The Globe Guide to Shakespeare: The Plays, The Productions, The Life by Andrew Dickson
Call #: MAIN 822.33 Z324
Publication Date: 2016
Covers 39 Shakespearian plays including a synopsis, full character list, stage history, and a critical essay for each. Also features accounts of Shakespeare's life and the Globe Theater itself, with colorful details about each play's original performance.
The Greenwood Companion to Shakespeare: A Comprehensive Guide for Students by Joseph Rosenblum
Call #: MAIN 822.33 Z3652
Publication Date: 2005
Introduces the genres (tragedies, history plays, comedies, and poems) and major works of Shakespeare. Each essay provides plot summaries, analyses of themes and characters, and discussions of historical contexts. Key passages are explicated with detailed discussions. Vol 1 covers topics related to Shakespeare's world: the Elizabethan age, his life, the theater, etc.
Shakespeare: The Essential Guide to the Plays by A. D. Cousins
Call #: MAIN 822.33 Z3172
Publication Date: 2011
Includes the life of Shakespeare; plot summaries and character lists for each play. Each work's themes, imagery, language and historical context are discussed.
The Shakespeare Book by DK
Call #: MAIN 822.33 Z3822
Publication Date: 2015
The Routledge Guide to William Shakespeare by Robert Shaughnessy
Call #: MAIN 822.33 Z3693
Publication Date: 2011
Introduces Shakespeare's life and works in context. Looks at each of Shakespeare's plays, considering their historical context, contemporary criticism, and performance history. Provides detailed discussion of 21st Shakespearean criticism. Looks at contemporary performances of Shakespeare on stage and screen.
Shakespeare's Watch: A Guide to Time and Location in the Plays by Buzz Podewell
Call #: MAIN 822.33 Z4629
Publication Date: 2009

Book Series

Want to find detailed information about a particular play? Check out these series below:

The Pelican Shakespeare Series
Each book includes an essay on the theatrical world of Shakespeare’s time, an introduction to the individual play, and a detailed note on the text used. These editions also incorporate Shakespeare scholarship. More info about series here
RSC Shakespeare Series
This series was developed in partnership with the Royal Shakespeare Company and based on the 1623 First Folio. Each book includes scene-by-scene synopsis, commentary on past and current productions of the play's history, interviews with acclaimed directors and actors, and an overview of Shakespeare's theatrical career. More info about series here
The Shakespeare Handbooks
This volume, while it raises all the questions appertaining to the cultural, historical and critical contexts of the play, has as its primary focus the play as theatrical performance. This focus is not taken in isolation, but observed in terms of all the social, material and practical aspects of theatrical production. The questions raised are those that face actors, stage managers and directors, scenic and costume designers, in the rehearsal room and on the stage.
The New Shakespeare (Cambridge University Press)

Literature Databases

These literature databases provide the same information - plot summaries, character analysis, themes and motifs, and minimal literary criticism:

Literary Reference Center This link opens in a new window
Contains plot summaries, author biographies, literary criticism essays, and book reviews. Combines research from major reference works, books, and literary journals. Also includes full-text of classic novels, short stories, and poems.
Literary Reference Center is a comprehensive database that provides a broad spectrum of information on thousands of authors and their works across literary disciplines and timeframes. LRC combines information from major respected reference works, books, literary journals as well as original content from EBSCO Publishing. LRC also includes full text of selected classic and contemporary poems and short stories, and of classic novels. As reference material, LRC includes full text of a number of literary encyclopedia and guides.
Literary Reference Center Plus This link opens in a new window
Contains plot summaries, author biographies, literary criticism essays, and book reviews. Similar to Literary Reference Center but also includes content on plays/drama, children's literature, fantasy, science fiction, religious literature, and contemporary literature.
Literary Reference Center Plus includes full-text resources focusing on plays/drama, poetry, religious literature and children's literature. This database also includes volumes of fantasy/science fiction, contemporary literature, world philosophy and religious literature, and literary study guides covering American Literature, English Literature and literary genres. also features dozens of lesson plans and a link to EBSCO's Curriculum Standards Module, a tool that can help teachers in the U.S. and Canada to correlate EBSCO content quickly and easily to Common Core, state- or province-specific curriculum standards. The module provides browsing of specific benchmarks, many which have recommended search strings for successful content retrieval.
Literary Reference eBook Collection This link opens in a new window
e-Book collection covering a broad range of literary-related subjects. Selections include literary criticism, study guides, and full-text of classics such as Emma, Dracula and Frankenstein.