Shamala Sundaray S. is a Research Associate in CRPP. She is a former teacher and has taught English, Literature and Geography to secondary school students.

Issue 2 Nov 2005

William Shakespeare – The Complete Works

“…Full of Sound and Fury, Signifying Nothing” – Macbeth

Whether you are looking for Shakespeare’s more popular plays such as Julius Caesar or Twelfth Night, his lesser known plays such as Cymbeline or Coriolanus, or his poems, they can be found in this CD-ROM.

This interactive software is easy to manoeuvre with limited categories which make it non-mind-boggling. It also includes a category of “commendatory poems and prefaces (1599-1640)” by Ben Johnson, Sir William Davenant and others alike in honour of William Shakespeare.

To help those whose PCs might not allow for the interactive mode, the creators of this CD-ROM had included a main button-bar with relatively easy to understand headings such as “Bookshelf” which contains the list of plays and “Background” which (you guessed it!) provides us with information about Shakespeare’s life and career.

You can browse each play by the acts and scenes; this means you get to the exact act and scene that you want and not have to scroll down endlessly to get to a particular part of the play.

The glossary is another plus point. The alphabetical listing of Elizabethan vocabulary is extensive and a definite help to teachers (and students). Another key feature of this software is that it includes a word processor. This software also allows the users to copy the text and paste them onto their documents.

Other features of this CD-ROM are:

short commentaries or descriptions followed by some character analyses of the protagonists;
suggested activities;
structured and essay-type questions; and
project work (wherever possible).

However, the above “extras” are only provided for the more popular plays such as Merchant of Venice, Macbeth and others which have been used as ‘O’ and ‘A’ level texts.

Also, we are not provided with any explanation or translation of the Shakespearean language as done in other study guides. Hence, it would be of minimum help to students who definitely require a translation of Shakespeare. Hence, teachers might find use for this CD-ROM as a teaching resource rather than a teaching tool.

While this CD-ROM had seemed promising, it is but, in the words of Macbeth, “Full of sound and fury, Signifying nothing”.

Location of CD-ROM: NIE Library

For other resources on William Shakespeare, click here.