
William Shakespeare
1564-1616
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Features
concordance
keyword search
advanced search
statistics
Plays
by genre
by number of lines
character list
character search
Sonnets and Poems
individual sonnets
sonnets compared side-by-side
all sonnets
all poems
More than just a collection of texts...
Open Source Shakespeare attempts to be the best free Web site containing Shakespeare's complete works. It is intended for scholars, thespians, and Shakespeare lovers of every kind. OSS includes the 1864 Globe Edition of the complete works, which was the definitive single-volume Shakespeare edition for over a half-century. READ MORE...
Why use Open Source Shakespeare?
This site was built with four attributes in mind: Power, Flexibility, Friendliness, and Openness. It won't replace the expensive, subscription-only sites at libraries or research institutions, but you can use the advanced search function, read the plays, and look up words in the concordance.
From June 2006 to December 2009, Open Source Shakespeare hosted over 1.2 million unique visitors, who have logged over 7.3 million page views. Most visitors were from English-speaking countries (U.S., U.K, Canada, Australia), with Western European nations contributing a significant portion of the traffic. In addition, a large number of visitors came from non-European countries such as Brazil, China, Egypt, India, and Turkey. Download a site usage summary in PDF format.
See how the site was built, and how it works
Read the paper (part of an M.A. thesis project) describing OSS's construction, as well as a history and analysis of the Globe Edition's texts. Visit this page to see how the database is built and how the texts are moved into the OSS database. Download the source code and database and use it in non-commercial projects of your own.
Quotation of the moment
The sense of death is most in apprehension;
And the poor beetle, that we tread upon,
In corporal sufferance finds a pang as great
As when a giant dies.
— Measure for Measure, Act III Scene 1
Questions and suggestions
The site management is always glad to hear from you: mail@opensourceshakespeare.org