William Shakespeare
1564-1616
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.
In 2006, Open Source Shakespeare averaged more than 14,000 unique visitors a month, who visited 250,000 times during the year. Most visitors were from English-speaking countries (U.S., U.K, Canada, Australia), with Western European nations contributing a significant portion of the trafic. In addition, a large number of visitors came from non-European countries such as Brazil, China, Egypt, India, and Turkey.
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
How sweet a thing it is to wear a crown,
Within whose circuit is Elysium
And all that poets feign of bliss and joy!
— King Henry VI. Part III, Act I Scene 2
Questions and suggestions
The site management is always glad to hear from you: oss@bernini-communications.com