Product Description
Two Gentlemen of Verona - The Works of William Shakespeare [Cambridge Edition] [9 vols.] is presented here in a high quality paperback edition. This popular classic work by William Shakespeare is in the English language. If you enjoy the works of William Shakespeare then we highly recommend this publication for your book collection. ... Read more

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Measure for Measure - The Works of William Shakespeare [Cambridge Edition] [9 vols.] is presented here in a high quality paperback edition. This popular classic work by William Shakespeare is in the English language. If you enjoy the works of William Shakespeare then we highly recommend this publication for your book collection. ... Read more

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The Comedy of Errors - The Works of William Shakespeare [Cambridge Edition] [9 vols.] is presented here in a high quality paperback edition. This popular classic work by William Shakespeare is in the English language. If you enjoy the works of William Shakespeare then we highly recommend this publication for your book collection. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Some problems with the text
The text needs editing for stray punctuation.

For example, where there should be an apostrophe ('), there are three question marks instead (???).

The print is good sized and the font is well chosen for easy reading. There is not too much text on a page so you'll be paging down a lot. Some don't like this but I don't mind - I'm getting used to this in Kindle books. As a rule, KIndle books are easier to read than complete book .pdf files.

There are minimal text notes - I'd like more but it IS a FREE download.

I tend to use Kindle books as reading material on my netbook when travelling. I'm willing to put up with a few minor glitches for the convenience.

If I were paying for a Kindle book, I'd like to be able to preview it first.

... Read more

Product Description
The Tempest - The Works of William Shakespeare [Cambridge Edition] [9 vols.] is presented here in a high quality paperback edition. This popular classic work by William Shakespeare is in the English language. If you enjoy the works of William Shakespeare then we highly recommend this publication for your book collection. ... Read more

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Kindle users: please adjust the font-size to level 2 for optimal viewing experience. At a greater font-size some verses may not fit on one line.

Customer Reviews (16)

Missing one of the Bard's plays
This edition of the "Complete Works" of Shakespeare is slightly incomplete.In general this is an outstanding volume.However, it is missing one of Shakespeare's plays, "The Two Noble Kinsmen."

Froze two Kindles
This rating, of course, refers to this digital version - not the literary content. This version froze two Kindles within the first 3 or 4 page clicks. I went to JC, my wife to Hamlet and right away we were both locked up. We were not able to turn off or reset. After about 2 or 3 mins both Kindles 'spontaneously' rebooted themselves. I took it off my wife's Kindle but decided to try again with mine: same results. I then deleted it from mine - re-downloaded - and tried again. Exactly the same results.

From what I could tell of the first few clicks - the TOC does function. Just doesn't let you read the actual content.

It's kind of sad that the works of Shakespeare are not easily available in a usable version for Kindle. It's really kind of perverse.

Talk about value for money...
Hpw can this not be a great purchase if you want to read Shakespeare? (Of course if you'd rather read Clyde Custler, don't bother.)I downloaded this to my iPhone and read it use=ing the Kindle iPhone app.The screen is smaller than that of a dedicated e-reader, but it's certainly adequate for reading plays.It would be great on a Kindle.Read a couple of scenes or an act, close the app, turn it back on and the same play opens right where you left off.Or put in a bookmark for a passage you want to find easily again.And the content is, well... Shakespeare, pretty much complete.

What footnotes
This is one of the first books I got for my Kindle. I've gotta say it's really nice, but I was hoping for a few annotations, footnotes, etc. The product description says, "All books feature hyperlinked table of contents, footnotes...". So far, I've found only one footnote, and it links to a Wikipedia article. Sometimes a little help is nice reading Shakespeare. In the print editions I have read, I have appreciated annotations explaining archaic language, humor that was obvious to Shakespeare's audience but not to modern readers, etc. Why is there none of that here? Are there other Kindle versions of Shakespeare that makes this information available?

Kindle Shakespeare Collection
Complete Works of William Shakespeare. 154 Sonnets, Romeo and Juliet, Othello, Hamlet, Macbeth, Antony and Cleopatra, The Tempest, Julius Caesar, King ... & more. Published by MobileReference (mobi)

Shakespeare is one of the few writers of whom it can be said: if you don't like it, you don't really get it. If you gave four out of five stars to a collection of his entire output, the sum total of the most copied and regarded scribe ever, you really should stick to Stephen King. ... Read more

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Customer Reviews (4)

Exactly what I wanted
As an actor, I thought it would be helpful to have these plays on hand in separate books instead of one large compilation. The books are thin & very easy to take with me. I would recommend these for anyone, especially those who are love with Mr. Billy Shakes!

AMAZING BOX SET
This box set was awesome! The pictures don't lie...It comes with 12 of Shakespeares best and I ordered it as new and it actually came in as BRAND new, plastic on and everything!A must buy!

Just Okay
Thought it would be the real writings and not the play versions.That's okay because it is easy reading for a child & that is what I really needed.

Nice box, terrific price
This boxed set contains 12 separate paperback books (Dover Thrift Editions).They're fairly compact and as such, will fit into my summer travel plans. The box itself is really nice (very solid); it looks pretty good on my shelf and I could see giving this set as a gift.At $15 for 12 books the price is pretty hard to beat. ... Read more

Product Description
The new Oxford edition of Shakespeare's complete works reconsiders every detail of their text and presentation in the light of modern scholarship. The nature and authority of the early documents are re-examined, and the canon and chronological order of composition freshly established. Spelling and punctuation are modernized, and there is a brief introduction to each work, as well as an illuminating and informative General Introduction. OUP and Shakespeare's Globe Theatre this year embark on an official partnership to celebrate the plays both in print and performance - this reissued and rejacketed edition of the complete works underscores the commitment. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (5)

Tales of the bard
Shakespeare requires no introduction -- he is "the Bard," the most imposing playwright and storyteller in the English language. And "The Oxford Shakespeare: The Complete Works" brings together every one of his 39 plays, ranging from harrowing tragedies to airy little puffs of comedy -- and even the lesser plays are still brilliant.

The plays basically are divided into comedies, histories and tragedies. The tragedies are pretty much... tragic, the comedies are not always funny but end semi-happily, and the histories... well, dramatizations of history.

And everybody has heard of the greats here -- the Scottish lord who murders his way to kingship, young lovers divided by a feud, a Moorish general who is driven mad with jealousy, an elderly king whose arrogance rips his life apart, a very cleaned-up version of Henry VIII's split from his first wife, the goofy Prince Hal and his growth into a great king. There are feuding fairies, bickering lovers, romantic tangles, Julius Caesar's demise, gender-bending, an exiled duke/magician on his island, and the infamous "pound of flesh" bargain.

But Shakespeare also wrote a bunch of lesser-known plays that often can't be so neatly categorized -- a rotten love affair during the siege of Troy, a Roman general attacking his own city, an Athenian gentleman embittered by humanity, Richard III's Machiavellian plot to become king, two sets of twins separated at birth, a corrupt judge obsessed with a lovely nun, Falstaff's doomed efforts to make money, and so on. Some of these ("Troilus and Cressida") aren't nearly as good as his "main" body of work, but they're still excellent.

For all Shakespeare's plays, it's best to read them AFTER you've seen a good performance. Otherwise, it's like reading a movie script to a movie you haven't seen -- easy to get lost, and the dramatic effects aren't easy to connect to. But if you've seen performances of any/all of Shakespeare's plays, then his vibrant stories and poetry leap off the page.

There are long eloquent speeches, puns, clever linguistic twists, and evocative language that soaks the play in atmosphere ("With sweet musk-roses and with eglantine/There sleeps Titania sometime of the night/Lull'd in these flowers with dances and delight..."). In fact, his plays are diamond mines of quotations -- some are infamous ("To be or not to be") and some of which have floated into public knowledge without labels ("Cowards die many times before their deaths/The valiant never taste of death but once").

And while some of his plays are basically fluff, he manages to weave in moral questions, criticism and explorations of the human soul. And his characters range as far as his plots -- kings and princes, teenage lovers, proud but doomed men, bratty queens, the witty but combative Beatrice and Benedick, and even the puppet-master mage Prospero.

Shakespeare's "Complete Works" is a must-have for anyone who loves the English language -- his writing was unparalleled, and even his lesser plays are a cut above the rest.

Usual annoying typos, unusually high price for them
At the price of nearly $30, the Kindle Oxford Complete Shakespeare is a bad bargain.

Another reviewer says that many of the lines end with line-numbers, and that these numbers are not in the right hand margin, but right after the last word in the lines, which is confusing and annoying. Then the reviewer takes it back and says he was mistaken. He wasn't. He got it right, except that there are line numbers only now and then, here and there, which means you can't even count on finding the line numbers when you need them, but continue to have all the annoyance of having to disregard them at line ends when they DO show up.

It is true also that there are no reverse accent marks (the sign \ over an "-ed" ending) to indicate when "-ed" endings are pronounced to rhyme with "head." Those marks ARE in the Oxford printed text; in the Kindle version, you can't tell the difference between, say, "inform'd" and "informed," since both are printed the second way and the mark Oxford uses to distinguish them is in the book, but not in the Kindle version.

There are also passages where verse is set as prose.

Overall, this edition is better than the complete editions you can get here for a dollar or so, but paying two thousand eight hundred percent more for a couple fewer errors probably won't appeal to many readers.

Some day the major companies will develop enough respect for the Kindle that they'll do serious proofreading of their Kindle versions. In the meantime, I figure the price alone will result in an effective boycott of this edition from Kindle customers. It certainly should.

P. S. I just downloaded the Tom Corbett Space Cadet series for something like three bucks, and I read the first volume. It was pristine: completely typo free. Somebody worked hard proofreading these boys' stories from the fifties; nobody has done half as much work on the Oxford Shakespeare.

Disappointed with Kindle edition
This ebook contains everything known to have been written by the great bard, and as such is worth having on your Kindle so you'll always have the great works of Shakespeare by your side.

That said, however, I am rather disappointed with the formatting of the Kindle edition.It completely lacks diacritical marks (accented characters) and proper justification of text, which makes it difficult if not impossible to glean the proper metrical structure of the lines.For example, if a single line of verse is split across two speakers, then the typical convention is to have the second line pushed out to the right so that its left edge aligns with the previous line's right edge.The editors of this text chose to follow this convention, and even illustrate it in the introduction, but in the actual plays the formatting is lost and it turns out that even in the introduction it was "faked" with an image.Furthermore, line numbers are provided every 5th line, but they are simply tacked on to the end of each 5th line of text instead of being properly right or left justified, and it is extremely distracting to read these line numbers as part of the normal flow of text each fifth line, especially since the lines are formatted in the "ragged right" style.

If you want to have all of Shakespeare's works on your Kindle, this is the best you'll find right now.But due to the above formatting issues I cannot recommend it wholeheartedly.

All the World's A Stage.
The 1598 loss of their theater's lease should have been a major blow to the Lord Chamberlain's Men, one of Elizabethan England's premier acting troupes, who had gained even more popularity by teaming up with one Will Shakespeare, a Warwickshire glover's son come to London some six years earlier in pursuit of his Muse, leaving behind a wife and three children; daughter Susanna, born but seven months into his marriage, and twins Hamnet and Judith, who'd followed two years later. Yet, what to another company might have spelled "present death" only brought greater fame and fortune to the one boasting, in addition to Master Shakespeare's talents, those of Richard Burbage: not only a superb tragedian but also his troupe's financier and, together with brother Cuthbert, happily able to afford the construction of a new theater in Bankside, on the opposite side of the River Thames. Prophetically, the company named their new home "The Globe" and endowed it with a motto which, in approximate translation, audiences of one of the first plays produced there - "As You Like It" - would soon also hear pronounced from the stage, and which sums up the essence of the Bard's plays better than anything else: "Totus mundus agit histrionem" - "All the world's a stage."

The new playhouse's name and motto were apposite not only because the era did indeed consider a stage a model of the world (the area above was referred to as heaven, the area below as hell, and characters would often appear accordingly: as such, Hamlet's father is heard crying "below [stage]" after his encounter with the Prince), but first and foremost because Shakespeare's plays themselves, individually as well as collectively, represent a microcosm of human relationships and behavior virtually unparalleled to this day: Laced with murderous schemes, revenge, and the search for justice, love, and peace of mind, but also comedy, all-too-human fallibility and great nobility of spirit, they delve into the human mind's darkest recesses and soar to its greatest heights; exploring greed, envy, ambition, guilt, remorse and pure evil, next to compassion, generosity, humility, innocence, fidelity, cleverness, boundless cheers and optimism; all interwoven in timeless plots unmatched in wit, variety, construction, and richness of characters.

Yet, for all this, the biggest difficulty remaining to modern editors and readers alike is that while Shakespeare himself didn't seek the publication of his plays, in the absence of anything approximating modern copyright laws, he was unable to prevent their publication by others, in so-called "quarto" editions, often based on unreliable transcripts made during or after a performance. Only after his death, in 1623, his former fellow-actors John Hemmings and Henry Condell published 37 of his plays "cured and perfect of their limbs" - i.e., restored to their author's true intentions - in a volume since referred to as the "First Folio."

Alas, authoritative weight though it has, even the latter doesn't conclusively answer what the Bard intended as the final version of these 37 plays. For one thing, research shows that even some of the Folio texts were edited by others; most prominently so "Macbeth," where Thomas Middleton inserted, inter alia, the witch queen Hecate as an additional character. Secondly, quarto editions of several plays published prior to the "First Folio" (especially of "Henry IV Part 2," "Hamlet," "Troilus and Cressida," "Othello," and "King Lear") are widely believed to represent earlier (or rival) drafts written by Shakespeare himself, and thus accorded considerable authoritative weight of their own. Often, these plays are therefore presented (both in print and on stage) by "conflating" both versions' texts. In the interest of purity, the editors of this particular volume have eschewed that approach, choosing instead to reproduce the Folio text throughout (with gently modernized spelling), because this was probably the text originally used on stage, and appending the passages most frequently added from the rivaling quartos at the end of the respective plays. Thus, this edition's reader will find Hamlet musing in "To be, or not to be" about "enterprises of great pith and moment" whose currents "turn awry and lose the name of action" (not "of great pitch and moment," as in the 1604 "Second Quarto"); he will, however, have to consult the appendix to find the Prince's reflections on that "stamp of one defect" so prominently featuring in Sir Laurence Olivier's movie, or his vows of "bloody thoughts" after encountering Fortinbras. Only in the case of "Lear," the editors chose to fully include both rivaling versions - that of the First Folio and that of the 1608 quarto - because here, the omission of entire scenes and reassignment of numerous pieces of dialogue essentially transforms the Folio text into a new play vis-a-vis the 1608 quarto.

As painstakingly researched and an as obvious labor of love as this work's first edition, the second edition moreover restores the plays' original titles ("All Is True" instead of "Henry VIII," etc.), and also contains Shakespeare's long poems and sonnets, brief accounts on the lost plays ("Cardenio," "Love's Labour's Won"), and - with appropriate caveats - the texts of works of only partial/uncertain attribution, such as "The Two Noble Kinsmen," sundry poetry, and (for the first time) "Edward III," as well as the editorially and topically so problematic "Sir Thomas More."

Background and supplemental materials include introductions to Shakespeare's life, career and language and on the Elizabethan theater, a user's guide, a list of contemporary references to the Bard, commendatory poems and prefaces of his works (including those of the "First Folio"), a glossary, an ample reading list, as well as a short introduction to each work. At well over 1000 pages a brick even in paperback format, this isn't the place to turn for a complete scholarly review of any given play - for that, the reader is well-advised to consult this volume's "Textual Companion" or one of the many excellent editions of the individual plays - but a marvelously-presented one-volume resource on the legacy of the playwright whose works, as already friendly rival Ben Jonson rightly prophesied, would last "for all time."

Also recommended:
William Shakespeare: A Textual Companion (Oxford Shakespeare)
Shakespeare & Co.: Christopher Marlowe, Thomas Dekker, Ben Jonson, Thomas Middleton, John Fletcher and the Other Players in His Story (Vintage)
Shakespeare: For All Time (Oxford Shakespeare)
The Complete Arkangel Shakespeare: 38 Fully-Dramatized Plays
BBC Shakespeare Tragedies DVD Giftbox
Olivier's Shakespeare - Criterion Collection (Hamlet / Henry V / Richard III)
William Shakespeare's Hamlet (Two-Disc Special Edition)
Henry V
Richard III
Peter Brook's King Lear

A Must Have For Shakespeare Studies!
Great Compilation of the works of Shakespeare.Something my daughter had to have while studying at RADA in London. Great to become familiar with his lesser known plays! ... Read more

Product Description
TROTTER. Yfaith, I aim at the fairest. Ah, Em, sweet Em! Fresh as the flower, That hath pour To wound my heart, And ease my smart, Of me, poor thief, In prison bound.... ... Read more

Product Description
William Shakespeare (1564-1616) is acknowledged as the greatest dramatist of all time. He excels in plot, poetry and wit, and his talent encompasses the great tragedies of Hamlet, King Lear, Othello and Macbeth as well as the moving history plays and the comedies such as A Midsummer Night's Dream, The Taming of the Shrew and As You Like It with their magical combination of humour, ribaldry and tenderness. This volume is a reprint of the Shakespeare Head Press edition, and it presents all the plays in chronological order in which they were written. It also includes Shakespeare's Sonnets, as well as his longer poems Venus and Adonis and The Rape of Lucrece. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (73)

In defense of Shakespare
I posted these comments in response to one of amazon's top 500 reviewers whose review can basically be summed up as "Shakespeare is old hat, I don't like him, and therefore he deserves to be forgotten."Since I have seen other reviews of Shakespeare on amazon that take the form of "Shakespeare?Yecch.Now, Top Gun, that's something worth seeing!," I thought I would post these comments as their own review.Just writing these comments has rekindled my enthusiasm for the great Bard, not that it needed rekindling.

By the way, I think this edition, as several have pointed out, has a real place on the bookshelf of the Shakespeare lover.One way I enjoy reading Shakespeare is while following along with a recording, of which fortunately there have been many good ones, going back at least as far as the wonderful Argo series back in the 1950s and 1960s, and completed in time for the 400th anniversary of the Bard's birth in 1964.When following with an annotated edition, I am way too tempted to keep checking the notes.When following with this or another bare-bones text, the temptation is automatically gone.

Now, on to my comment:

I deleted my original comments some time ago, having realized that I couldn't respond to Jmark's lengthy remarks about Shakespeare in just a few pithy words, and so I only ended up misrepresenting myself and Shakespeare (not that he needs me to defend him).I resolved to make a lengthier, more reasoned, and less personal response to Jmark's diatribe at a future date.

Having re-read Jmark's review and his responses to my remarks, and deduced what I must have originally said in the comments I deleted, I still am of the opinion that his arguments don't hold water.His essential argument is that "I don't like Shakespeare and therefore he deserves to be relegated to the trash heap."Certainly Jmark is entitled not to like Shakespeare, just as I am entitled not to like Michael Jackson; it's the "therefore" part that makes no sense.To answer his assertions one by one:

1)If Shakespeare were not a vital author, nobody past the age of being influenced by the educational system would pay any attention to him.Certainly he would have been forgotten ages ago since the teachers who had been forced to read him when going through the deluded educational system would have rebelled against the idea of teaching such claptrap when they joined that system.

2)"Silly romances," "boring dramas," "improbable plots," "vulgar jokes" are all value judgments and relate back to Jmark's "I don't like Shakespeare" thesis (well, some of the jokes *are* pretty vulgar).If Jmark finds the romances silly and the dramas boring, he certainly has a right to.I doubt I've ever judged a play, movie, opera, etc. (especially opera) on the probability of its plot.I love Crank also and it's probably fairly improbable, although I don't expect folks to be watching Crank 400 years from now, assuming that civilization hasn't self-destructed by then; as for Crank 2, well once was enough given the level of its violence.I look at how well the story is told; Jmark and I will have to agree to disagree on this one.

3)Actually, the "nuts" do get to have it both ways.On the one hand, Shakespeare does deserve to be approached with a certain degree of reverence, which doesn't take Jmark's comments about "no one must dare question" out of the realm of hyperbole.And on the other hand, the plays themselves *are* entertaining, enormously so.As two examples, and these from a couple of the lesser-known plays, I offer the scenes in Much Ado About Nothing where Beatrice and Benedict are tricked into believing that the other is in love with her/him or the ending of the Cymbeline where all the plot twists are more or less straightened out to the hilarity of the audience; actually, these are both pretty improbable which doesn't take away from their entertainment value.I have kept to comic scenes here, although Cymbeline is usually classed among the tragedies or more recently among a new genre called the romances.It would be just as easy to find entertaining scenes among the tragedies or the histories, and I'll let each person do that for him- or herself.Actually, the comparison with Crank 2 is not completely off the wall; Titus Andronicus is at least as violent as Crank, but Shakespeare's poetry and the strength of some of the characterizations raise the play way above the level of Crank 2.

4)The comparison with Beowulf is patently unfair.When reading Beowulf, one would need to have a glossary of every word in order to make sense of it at all.In Shakespeare, only some words need to be glossed and, with a little experience, one will not need to check all of the glosses because a lot of the phrases and constructions are used over and over again.Likewise, most members of a Shakespeare audience will not have read the play in advance; it doesn't matter because, with a little attention, one can follow the story even without understanding every single word because the inflections of the actors and the stage business make it clear and carry the viewer along.The same could not be said of a performer presenting Beowulf in the original English.

5)The "intriguing" and "entertaining" arguments are once again personal opinons.However, looking through Jmark's other reviews, I can see that he is mostly into relatively modern stuff.I think we can easily take his opinion about Shakespeare with a grain of salt, given his comments about "what was entertaining even twenty years ago" and "last year's fashions"; old = bad, new = good (except when what is new gets to be twenty years old and then it = bad as well).

And finally, I would love to see Shakespeare "freed from the support of the educational system," just so I could watch him still be considered one of the most vibrant authors (yes, my opinion, just as Jmark believes just the opposite).And I'll leave out Shakespeare's influence on more modern authors.

I've probably spent way too much time responding to this post.I will not be doing a follow-up, even if Jmark responds.My intent in responding was to defend my beloved Shakespeare whom I discovered several years before I even reached high school and so my admiration of him has nothing to do with what the academics think.

Tales of the bard
Shakespeare requires no introduction -- he is "the Bard," the most imposing playwright and storyteller in the English language. And "William Shakespeare: The Complete Works" brings together every one of his 39 plays, ranging from harrowing tragedies to airy little puffs of comedy -- and even the lesser plays are still brilliant.

The plays basically are divided into comedies, histories and tragedies. The tragedies are pretty much... tragic, the comedies are not always funny but end semi-happily, and the histories... well, dramatizations of history.

And everybody has heard of the greats here -- the Scottish lord who murders his way to kingship, young lovers divided by a feud, a Moorish general who is driven mad with jealousy, an elderly king whose arrogance rips his life apart, a very cleaned-up version of Henry VIII's split from his first wife, the goofy Prince Hal and his growth into a great king. There are feuding fairies, bickering lovers, romantic tangles, Julius Caesar's demise, gender-bending, an exiled duke/magician on his island, and the infamous "pound of flesh" bargain.

But Shakespeare also wrote a bunch of lesser-known plays that often can't be so neatly categorized -- a rotten love affair during the siege of Troy, a Roman general attacking his own city, an Athenian gentleman embittered by humanity, Richard III's Machiavellian plot to become king, two sets of twins separated at birth, a corrupt judge obsessed with a lovely nun, Falstaff's doomed efforts to make money, and so on. Some of these ("Troilus and Cressida") aren't nearly as good as his "main" body of work, but they're still excellent.

For all Shakespeare's plays, it's best to read them AFTER you've seen a good performance. Otherwise, it's like reading a movie script to a movie you haven't seen -- easy to get lost, and the dramatic effects aren't easy to connect to. But if you've seen performances of any/all of Shakespeare's plays, then his vibrant stories and poetry leap off the page.

There are long eloquent speeches, puns, clever linguistic twists, and evocative language that soaks the play in atmosphere ("With sweet musk-roses and with eglantine/There sleeps Titania sometime of the night/Lull'd in these flowers with dances and delight..."). In fact, his plays are diamond mines of quotations -- some are infamous ("To be or not to be") and some of which have floated into public knowledge without labels ("Cowards die many times before their deaths/The valiant never taste of death but once").

And while some of his plays are basically fluff, he manages to weave in moral questions, criticism and explorations of the human soul. And his characters range as far as his plots -- kings and princes, teenage lovers, proud but doomed men, bratty queens, the witty but combative Beatrice and Benedick, and even the puppet-master mage Prospero.

Shakespeare's "Complete Works" is a must-have for anyone who loves the English language -- his writing was unparalleled, and even his lesser plays are a cut above the rest.

A good and cheap collection.
The way that long lines end is a little confusing at first, and makes reading with a group somewhat awkward, but for the price this is a great book.

do not use
I ordered a book, received it a few days after the last day of estimated arrival, and then it was the wrong book.

A Rose By Any Other Name
What can I say about the Bard that hasn't already been said?Nice haircut?The book was in good coindition and I got a great price.Great reading Ol' Willy.You should try it some time.BU then, you'd have to put down the remore, and the Wii wand. ... Read more

Product Description
The Works of William Shakespeare [Cambridge Edition] [9 vols.] - Introduction and Publisher's Advertising is presented here in a high quality paperback edition. This popular classic work by William Shakespeare is in the English language. If you enjoy the works of William Shakespeare then we highly recommend this publication for your book collection. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

It is what it says it is.
This e-text is the introductions and the author/publisher's notes ABOUT this edition of the Works of Shakespeare, not the works themselves. The works are published as 9 subsequent volumes.A scholar may find this information interesting but do not expect to find any of Shakespeare's writings.

No Plays
Searched the entire document and couldn't find a single play.Amazon would be wise to delete this listing.

No work of Shakespeare is actually given.
Vague promises of other etexts where the plays will show up.No actual Shakespeare plays are given.
it's 0.00 $$ so I got what I paid for. ... Read more

Product Description

Customer Reviews (33)

A different approach
I vacillate between giving this book 4 or 5 stars. I ended up giving it 5 due to its novel approach to its subject, and the amount of research involved. However as a text that consistently keeps your interest it is a 4, because I often found myself a little bored, and wishing for the author to get to his next subject.
This text is not a biography of Shakespeare. Rather it is a historical exploration of the year 1599, and the culture of Elizabethan England, and how those aspects of his life and times informed the four plays that Shakespeare probably wrote in that pivotal year in his career. This is a unique and solid way to approach Shakespeare and Mr. Shapiro is certainly well researched and insightful in his observations. This book made me think of many things in Shakespeare in a new way, and that is a great testament to its scope and depth. Mr. Shapiro is very strong in his analysis of how the political and cultural situation in England in 1599 informed Shakespeare's writing of "Henry V", "As You Like it", and "Hamlet". However, he has to reach a little to find much cultural context that is specific to 1599 for "Julius Caesar". Still, the points that he makes about how life in Elizabethan England relate to this Roman story are insightful, and certainly worth exploring.
If you want a text that is in the vein of biographies of Shakespeare, such as "Will in the World", etc I don't think you will like this book. It is a little more History and England than it is Shakespeare, and if you are not a fan of History, and specifically that period, you will not enjoy this read. There are some times where the literary history that Shapiro explores will bore the casual reader.
A different type of text to add to the library of writing on Shakespeare, but a welcome one!

a year in the life of wm. shakespeare
An erudite, very informative, well-researched book. Affords edifying perspective about shakespeare's political and social environment. Very readable. Somewhat discursive, but on independantluy interesting and enlightening topics.

A Work of Genius About a Genius
There are two major reasons why this book will be a classic.

First, if you ever thought that after 400 years, there could be nothing new to say about William Shakespeare, this will prove you wrong. Although the author graciously acknowledges predecessors, his ability to place Shakespeare's plays within the context of their times is extraordinary. You have a much better grasp of the plays that Shakespeare wrote in 1599 - including Julius Ceasar, Henry V, As You Like It and Hamlet - after Mr. Shapiro informs you of the current events which colored their writing. The author's excellent prose makes this as much a book to read for pleasure as it is for learning, a difficult combination to acheive.

The other reason is that as a "biography of a year," the book is unsurpassed. There is an interesting subgenre of popular history which sets out to inform the reader of the events of a particular year. These can be enjoyable exercises, but, ultimately, even the best of them are, when the smoke clears, no more than a collection of headlines. Not 1599. Mr. Shapiro sets out, not to recount everything that happened in that year, nor even everything that happened to England or to London in that year, but simply to tell about how the events of the day had an impact on one man, Mr. William Shakespeare. The result is that you have a stronger sense of what it was like to live in that year in that place than any other work of history I know. You can sense the smells and sounds and sights of turn of the 17th Century London almost as if you lived there.

This is an extraordinary acheivement.

Amazing scholarship and entertaining writing
Occasionally, you come across a book in which the scholar has so much depth in his or her subject matter that he (she) can see patterns and pick out details that are simply amazing.This is one of those books.

Author James Shapiro has obviously spent a lifetime getting to know Shakespeare's works and the time in which he lived and worked.That knowledge is fully on display in this book.

Shapiro sets out the premise that 1599 was a seminal year in Shakespeare's professional development, and that the breakthroughs he displayed that year in the four plays he wrote that year -- yes, four! -- Henry V, Julius Caesar, As You Like It, and Hamlet -- can be directly traced to business, cultural, political, and artistic trends in Shakespeare's environment.Along the way, Shapiro demolishes any suggestion that Shakespeare didn't write his plays because he gives a sense of how he managed to do such prodigious, innovative work (basically, it's because Shakespeare was a great borrower and improver of the work of others, so he didn't have to create his plots, characters, and even some of his themes from whole cloth).

To cover everything that the book covers would make this a long review and far beyond my non-scholarly abilities.Here's a summary.It begins with a discussion of the difficult atmosphere that the theater company with which Shakespeare worked -- The Chamberlain's Men -- faced in late 1598.Plays were banned in London, and the Chamberlain's Men's arrangement to build a theater fell apart in a dispute with their landlord. They literally took apart a nearly-built theater and moved it to the other side of the Thames in late December, and then spent the next six months overseeing its construction as The Globe.

So Shakespeare had to write crowd-pleasing works that would enable the Globe to quickly build a reputation. He started that way with "Henry V, Part II," a relatively safe bet. But then, as he began to understand the features of the new Globe and the capabilities of new members of the performing troop, he started to add depth that had been unseen in theater in the past.This book chronicles how he did it.

Henry V set out the themes of chivalry, knights, and fighting that were obsessing the London court at the time.Those themes came to life in the spring and summer of that year, as the unrest in Ireland resulted in the forced conscription of a huge army under Essex, who failed in his attempt to subdue the Irish.Meanwhile, rumors ran rampant all summer that Spain's armada would sail up the Thames and attack a defenseless people, as their army was in the north. That nervousness and intrigue ran through his plays of the time, too.

As Shakespeare wrote Julius Ceasar, he reflected on a time when people were in revolt against their rule, as was occurring in England against Elizabeth.Though we realize now that she held onto the throne through her death in 1603, this wasn't a guarantee in 1599 -- especially as she did not have a child to follow her.The battles of succession in Henry and Caesar resonated with theater-goers of the time.

Next, Shakespeare returned to his pastoral themes in As You Like It. He was from the country, or at least a very small town, and he proudly traced his roots back to the Forest of Arden, a place that evoked for the British at the time a period when they were a simpler, happier people. Shakespeare felt this intensely, and his comedies were often set in these pastoral areas, where he could contrast the slick city folk with both the wise and foolish country folk.In "As You Like It," he raised the complexity up several notches by having Rosalind cross-dress as a man, but then tell her future love that he should pretend she was a woman. This type of role-playing could only go on in a place like the woods, a magical place.

Finally, Shakespeare ended the year with his first masterpiece: Hamlet.He reworked a tale that had been told since at least the 1200's of a Danish prince avenging his father's death, and which had been made into a play in England about 30 years prior. Shakespeare's genius was to add extraordinary depth to Hamlet, and to show him wrestling with ideas of good and evil, and whether doing something for honor (revenge) was really acceptable to God. The idea that people would wrestle with these questions in print, which seems to obvious to us, was a completely new idea at the time; only Montaigne's essays in France, published a few years earlier, and Cornwallis's tentative foray into essays in London (which Shakespeare probably heard or saw) started this path.And then Shakespeare raised it up a notch.

Again and again, the book shows how Shakespeare took what was around him -- court intrigue, fear of revolution, a new sense of "self" by essayists, etc. -- and brought it into his plays.The book also shows how much understanding we have lost when we lack the knowledge of what was the atmosphere in London at the time.Things that don't make sense to us in the plays were references that would be obvious to the average person in London at the time, and Shakespeare was, of course, playing to that audience.He was a man of his time, and a very successful one.

At times, the author goes through the plays line-by-line, and he makes keen points about what the lines meant at the time.He explains how the plays began to reflect the exit of the troop's clown Will Kemp and his replacement by a more versatile comic actor.At other times, he looks at sweeping events, such as the battle effort by Essex and then his imprisonment and execution, and uses those to explain the larger sweep that Shakespeare also wrote about.

The book is truly a tour de force of scholarship and a "must" for anyone interested in Shakespeare.

Great History; Great Literature
James Shapiro gives me much more than I received from an elective college class in Shakespeare. Concentrating on the year 1599 (actually from mid-1598 through early 1600), the author discusses the historical background of the times, the politics of the Elizabethan age, the wars in which England was involved, the geography of London and southern England, the life of Shakespeare as well as of the other playwrights of the time, and folds all this into a marvelous web of a united history so that the reader gets a full picture of this era. We become aware of the political tightrope that playwrights needed to walk in those days. The development of the plays, the interpretation of the language in historical context, and the meanings of words and phrases to the audience of that day make the allusions of Shakespeare relevant to those times and more understandable to ours. The descriptions of the theaters themselves grant a realistic view of the troubles with which the production companies coped while continuing to produce plays which the citizens of the day appreciated.

One personal note sets an example: A trip by Shakespeare to visit his family in Stratford-on-Avon is describedwith details of geography, the length of the trip, the hardships along the way, and the landmarks he would have passed, thus giving the reader a realistic view of travel in those days, which today we can cover in a couple of hours.

There is so much more in the book than can be adequately covered in a short review. Take my word for it: any history/theater/language/literature buff will be well-served by this book. If you do not currently place yourself in one or more of those categories, you will do so after reading this book. ... Read more

Product Description

Customer Reviews (27)

best purchase off amazon yet!
This seller was very prompt and gracious.She left many of her personal touches in this order (bookmark and note), which really stood out to me.This is a great seller and product was as described.I purchased the book around 1am on Monday morning and received the book by 10am Tuesday morning!Ships fast and is a very charismatic seller!

Grace!
"The Winter's Tale" is one of Shakespeare's last plays, and it boasts one of the best ensembles of characters in the entire canon. This is a text where no single character dominates, and many have more than one brilliant moment.
The play follows the jealously inspired downfall, and eventually redemption, of King Leontes. While taking us on that journey Shakespeare glorifies the ideas of grace and forgiveness, the simplicity of country life, the lasting bonds of friendship, the power of parenting, the ardor of young love, the patience of mature love, and in the great character of Paulina, the lengths and benefits of loyalty. This text is the result of a writer at the top of his game, and the episodic plot (it takes place over 16 years) allows the Bard to weave in many varying themes that lead to a pleasing and satisfying conclusion.
This text is often maligned as not one of Shakespeare's better efforts, and I wholeheartedly disagree. Read it, and then try to find a really superior theatre company doing a performance. Enter the kingdoms of Sicilia and Bohemia; meet Paulina, Autolycus, the Old Shepherd and his doltish son, as well as many others. You will be glad you did!
As for the Pelican Shakespeare series, they are my favorite editions as the scholarly research is usually top notch and the editions themselves look good as an aesthetic unit. It looks and feel like a play and this compliments the text's contents admirably. The Pelican series was recently reedited and has the latest scholarship on Shakespeare and his time period. Well priced and well worth it.

"A sad tale's best for winter" that ends in joy
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(This review is for the talking book version of this play on compact disc by the "Complete Arkangel Shakespeare" and published by BBC Audiobooks America.)

"Too hot, too hot!
To mingle friendship far is mingling bloods.
I have tremor cordis on me,--my heart dances;
But not for joy,--not joy.--This entertainment
May a free face put on; derive a liberty
From heartiness, from bounty, fertile bosom,
And well become the agent: `t may, I grant:
But to be paddling palms and pinching fingers,
As now they are; and making practis'd smiles,
As in a looking glass; and then to sigh, as `twere
The mort o' the deer; O, that is entertainment
My bosom likes not, nor my brows."

The above is said as an aside by the King of Sicilia as he observes his Queen with his good friend (who he has known since childhood), the King of Bohemia. This is the occurrence that sparks the King of Sicilia's jealousy and forms the basis of this play (written circa 1611) by William Shakespeare (1564 to 1616).

(Note that this play is traditionally classified as a comedy but is more accurately known as a tragicomedy or romance.)

Having this play recorded on compact disc is a treat.This play (of five acts or fifteen scenes) is presented as uncut, fully dramatized, and accompanied by original music.This recording aids in comprehension by bringing the play to life using the voices of distinguished actors.

Included with the compact disc are liner notes that include among other things a complete cast list and a synopsis of each scene.What I did was before each scene, I paused the recording, read a particular scene's synopsis, and then listened to that scene. Doing it this way resulted in (for me anyway) complete comprehension of this play, something not easily obtainable when you simply read the play.

With respect to the play itself, it should be remembered that in most cases, the characters are not realistic.Jealousy appears with little motivation; characters perform actions that are symbolic rather than believable in terms of everyday life; common sense seems frequently to be lacking.(In fact, this is why many 17TH and 18TH century critics dismissed this play as absurd and totally lacking in reason.)

However, it seems to me that Shakespeare deliberately made most of these characters symbolic rather than realistic.The themes of the play (evil, repentance, and reconciliation) are of such a universal scope that they must be represented clearly in its characters.

This play is famous for the stage direction that Shakespeare gives in Act 3 Scene 3: "Exit, pursued by a bear."

Finally, for those playing this compact disc on their computer compact disc player, beware that a "cookie" of 0.1 KB size is stored on your computer's hard drive.A "cookie" is just a small piece of text and is NOT a virus.It can do no harm but for those that don't want it, it can be easily erased.

In conclusion, this compact disc brings this tragicomic or romance play to life aiding in its comprehension and thus enjoyment!!

(2005; 2 hr, 50 min;3 compact discs,15 tracks)

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The Winter's Tale
Very informative edition of this difficult play.The notes helped clarify Leontes' extreme switch in behavior toward his wife Hermione - from love and trust to suspicion and ruthlessness.Would recommend this Arden Shakespeare edition to people encountering 'The Winter's Tale' for the first time(as I was) for edification and clarification.
Linda Sheean

Book Review
This book came very quickly, and was in mint condition. Very pleased with this order. ... Read more

Product Description
The complete script to the critically acclaimed play. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (46)

An Absolutely Hysterical Play!
If you're reading the comedy play, The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Abridged), and hear a strange sound, it's probably Bill, himself rolling over in his grave.This play by, and originally starring, Adam Long, Daniel Singer and Jess Winfield, of The Reduced Shakespeare Company, takes many of Shakespeare's classics, making them all comedies. Unless you were to read "Shakespeare (Abridged)," Romeo and Juliet's final death scene and the "To Be Or Not To Be" soliloquy from Hamlet would never be quite as funny as these guys made it.
Revealing itself to be a constantly modern show from the very beginning, meaning that the actors have permission to update the jokes that they use for present-day audiences, this show stays clever and witty with each scene.For example, early in the show, breaking the fourth wall (as they constantly do), the performers feel that the audience "would not know Shakespeare from shinola."First thing, what the heck is shinola?Second thing, we don't need to know, because with the rights to the show, come the rights to the jokes and editing them, making it ok if nobody knows what shinola is.Personally, I'd put in something like, "They wouldn't know Shakespeare from Lady Gaga," or something around there.As a young, theatergoing person, I feel that my reaction and the reaction of others would be greater to that of a pop culture icon, than to a brand of shoeshine (I Googled that one).This is certainly an advantage over most shows, in which the performers would die onstage with their old jokes.Way to keep a show fresh, Reduced Shakespeare Company!
One criticism that I have about this play is the content.For many of the jokes, the reader or viewer needs a basic understanding of Shakespearian plotlines, characters and events.For example, I found myself loving the Romeo and Juliet scenes, because I have read and studied the piece.However, when it came to Hamlet, I lost it a little.This show is probably the only place where an example of needing to know classic literature to understand a joke can be found.The only way around this trouble is having read many of Shakespeare's plays before reading "Shakespeare (Abridged)."Although, when it comes to getting a clear, simple chuckle out of an old English work, Long, Singer, and Winfield are the guys to go to.
After reading The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Abridged) and The Complete History of America (Abridged), I hope to read the rest of The Reduced Shakespeare Company's plays.I would also love to perform in one of their many shows.The quick jokes, bad puns, and speed throughs of Shakespeare's works really appeal to me.I feel that these shows are funny, mainly because they are making a huge mockery of Shakespeare's work.After bring known all over the world for his classic work for hundreds of years, the 3 players in this show bring it all down in about an hour's worth of stage time.After rapping about Othello; saying that the day Tybalt died in Romeo and Juliet was just an "icky poo-poo-ca-ca-wee-wee-pee-peeweebles-wobble-but-they-don't-fall-down-day" for Juliet; and presenting the balcony scene from the same classic with an all male cast, it seems impossible to not appreciate the performers' and writer's work.The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Abridged) is certainly an enjoyable read, a hysterical show, and a great way to know one of history's most controversial authors better... in some sense.

Hilarious
The complete books is hilarious it is the funniest book that i have ever read!! i read it in a silent library and was cracking up making it very unsilent i was asked to leave!!!!!! This book makes shakespeare more enjoyable than ever!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!:D

Hilarious!
This is one of the most clever, zany, and madcap things ever written for the stage.It's not only fun to watch, it's just as enjoyable to read.There are guaranteed laugh-out-loud moments, for both fans of the bard and those who struggled to understand him in high school English classes.If you're not a fan of Shakespeare, there are definitely jokes and references you will miss, but there's enough ingenious, slapstick humor to appeal to readers with a variety of feelings about Shakespeare.

Great Seller!
Quick turnaround time, great product, and cheap! I will refer all my friends to this seller!

A high schooler's view
This is absolutely hilarious.I saw the preformace in my high school theater arts department and it was the best play i have ever seen. It's great because it really does teach you about all the shakespeare play but it keeps it really interesting. Thier rendition of Romeo & Juilet is so funny. And i really enjoyed their hamlet. The best part of this play is that it really is the complete works of william shakespeare. Just in fast-forward. I would suggest this to anyone who loves theatre, shakespeare, comedy, or just a really good laugh. ... Read more

Product Description
Hailed by The Washington Post as "a definitive synthesis of the best editions" and by The Times of London as "a monument to Shakespearean scholarship," The Oxford Shakespeare is the ultimate anthology of the Bard's work: the most authoritative edition of the plays and poems ever published.Now, almost two decades after the original volume, Oxford is proud to announce a thoroughly updated second edition, including for the first time the texts of The Reign of Edward III and Sir Thomas More, recognizing these two plays officially as authentic works by Shakespeare. This beautiful collection is the product of years of full-time research by a team of British and American scholars and represents the most thorough examination ever undertaken of the nature and authority of Shakespeare's work. The editors reconsidered every detail of the text in the light of modern scholarship and they thoroughly re-examined the earliest printed versions of the plays, firmly establishing the canon and chronological order of composition. All stage directions have been reconsidered in light of original staging, and many new directions for essential action have been added. This superb volume also features a brief introduction to each work as well as an illuminating General Introduction. Finally, the editors have added a wealth of secondary material, including an essay on language, a list of contemporary allusions to Shakespeare, an index of Shakespearean characters, a glossary, a consolidated bibliography, and an index of first lines of the Sonnets.Compiled by the world's leading authorities, packed with information, and attractively designed, The Oxford Shakespeare is the gold standard of Shakespearean anthologies. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (17)

Tales of the bard
Shakespeare requires no introduction -- he is "the Bard," the most imposing playwright and storyteller in the English language. And "The Oxford Shakespeare: The Complete Works" brings together every one of his 39 plays, ranging from harrowing tragedies to airy little puffs of comedy -- and even the lesser plays are still brilliant.

The plays basically are divided into comedies, histories and tragedies. The tragedies are pretty much... tragic, the comedies are not always funny but end semi-happily, and the histories... well, dramatizations of history.

And everybody has heard of the greats here -- the Scottish lord who murders his way to kingship, young lovers divided by a feud, a Moorish general who is driven mad with jealousy, an elderly king whose arrogance rips his life apart,a very cleaned-up version of Henry VIII's split from his first wife, the goofy Prince Hal and his growth into a great king. There are feuding fairies, bickering lovers, romantic tangles, Julius Caesar's demise, gender-bending, an exiled duke/magician on his island, and the infamous "pound of flesh" bargain.

But Shakespeare also wrote a bunch of lesser-known plays that often can't be so neatly categorized --a rotten love affair during the siege of Troy, a Roman general attacking his own city, an Athenian gentleman embittered by humanity, Richard III's Machiavellian plot to become king, two sets of twins separated at birth, a corrupt judge obsessed with a lovely nun, Falstaff's doomed efforts to make money, and so on. Some of these ("Troilus and Cressida") aren't nearly as good as his "main" body of work, but they're still excellent.

For all Shakespeare's plays, it's best to read them AFTER you've seen a good performance. Otherwise, it's like reading a movie script to a movie you haven't seen -- easy to get lost, and the dramatic effects aren't easy to connect to.But if you've seen performances of any/all of Shakespeare's plays, then his vibrant stories and poetry leap off the page.

There are long eloquent speeches, puns, clever linguistic twists, and evocative language that soaks the play in atmosphere ("With sweet musk-roses and with eglantine/There sleeps Titania sometime of the night/Lull'd in these flowers with dances and delight..."). In fact, his plays are diamond mines of quotations -- some are infamous ("To be or not to be") and some of which have floated into public knowledge without labels ("Cowards die many times before their deaths/The valiant never taste of death but once").

And while some of his plays are basically fluff, he manages to weave in moral questions, criticism and explorations of the human soul. And his characters range as far as his plots -- kings and princes, teenage lovers, proud but doomed men, bratty queens, the witty but combative Beatrice and Benedick, and even the puppet-master mage Prospero.

Shakespeare's "Complete Works" is a must-have for anyone who loves the English language -- hiswriting was unparalleled, and even his lesser plays are a cut above the rest.

This is the one, for my money
When searching for a complete edition of Shakespeare, it is easy to go wrong with a bad one.I went through two others before I found this one.I trust this edition to represent the best of up to date research, and it is the basis for any study I do.

Certainly one would need to supplement this work with other books of interpretation.I actually prefer it this way, as I find it unwieldy and distracting to have commentary taking up the pages of the actual edition I'm reading.

I find no fault with the binding of my copy.

Good Complete Shakespeare
The print is surprising readable in this fairly compact, one-volume complete Shakespeare.It is well organized and more than good enough for this non-scholar to use as a reference book.We also read the plays out of this when the mood seizes us.

Believe what other reviewers said about this book's binding.
I own and have read thousands of books, and this Oxford edition of Shakespeare's complete works is by far the worst bound book I have ever come across. I had pages falling out of my copy within days of using it. Oxford University Press should be ashamed for binding this book so badly.If you want the text of the Oxford edition, then buy the hardcover Norton Shakespeare, which uses the text of the Oxford edition.Better yet, check out the RSC Complete Works, edited by Jonathan Bate and Eric Rasmussen and published by Modern Library.

Great text, poor binding
Though I admire the aims of The Oxford Shakespeare's editors and enjoy their text thoroughly, I am sorely disappointed by the binding on the present edition. It is not thoroughly sewn, but rather glued. Leaving the book open for extended periods of time (as in reading) results in splitting. The cover is unusually light and generally flimsy, succumbing easily to nicks and dents. For newcomers to Shakespeare, it is wholly impractical, as the glossary of archaic words is so insufficient it would best be left out completely. For general reading, go with Norton or Riverside. For individual editions, the Signet editions are probably penultimate to Folger library, the latter being notable for detailed summaries, notes, and supplimentary materials. ... Read more

Product Description
The beloved plays of Shakespeare are still produced everywhere,yet the life of the world’s most famous playwright remains largely amystery. Young Will left the town of Stratford to pursue theater inLondon, where his work eventually thrived and made him a famousand wealthy man. With black-and-white illustrations that include adiagram of the famous Globe theater, Celeste Davidson Mannis putstogether the pieces of Shakespeare’s life and work for young readers. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (5)

To be or not to be?I think so.
Another great book in this series."Who was William Shakespeare", was very well written and I like how the author.
Informed the reader on what was known as well as the unknown. It does mentiondeath and beheading, but I think it
was tastefully done. I really enjoyed the book.
A few years ago I started reading and giving a series of Classic books to my nephew. After completing that series
I found the "who was ?" series. All the people who I've shown or let read say these books are very enjoyable.

One of a very good series of books
Purchased as a birthday present for a 9 year old girl, this particular biography was chosen because Shakespeare was involved in a Doctor Who episode! The book did a wonderful job of adding reality to the fictional depiction used in the show -- and helped broaden her interest to the works of Shakespeare as well as making him a "real" person. The whole series of biographies was new to me, but it won't be the last purchase from the series I make. I would recommend this to any parent who children have an interest in biographies, history or any relevant person. It may not turn out to be every kid's cup of tea -- but it's an excellent starting point. And at about 5 dollars a book .....what have you lost?

Everything about the Bard in a nutshell!
Everything you need to know about Shakespeare, his life and times is put forth in this first-rate juvenile biography. Since little is known about Will Shakespeare, why waste time reading a lot of speculation? It is a marvel how Celeste Davidson Mannis creates many interesting asides in so short a space, including words and phrases that were coined by the Bard, an explanation of blank verse, what school was like, the politics of the time, big city London, and how the Globe Theatre came about. An abundance of B&W illustrations helps the reluctant reader along, but this is a worthy effort for any age reader who wants to know all there is to know about Shakespeare in a nutshell. Includes Bibliography, a timeline of Shakespeare's life, and a timeline of the world matching Shakespeare's dates.

A good way to learn about historical people
Reviewed by Gabriel Peralta (age 9) for Reader Views (5/08)

I chose this book because I didn't know about William Shakespeare.After reading it, I learned he was an actor, and he wrote famous plays that are still read by people today.The book tells you about his life. You learn everything about him. For example, I learned the he moved to London because he wanted to be an actor.He worked hard and made a lot of money.I think these books are great if you want to learn about a famous person. I think kids my age will enjoy "Who Was William Shakespeare?"

Who Was William Shakespeare? It's Okay!
I liked Who Was William Shakespeare? and it was alright, so i recommend buying Who Was William Shakespeare? and again, it's a good one!
... Read more

Product Description
Part of "The New Penguin Shakespeare" series, this text looks at "Romeo and Juliet" with an introduction, a list of further reading, commentary and a short account of the textual problems of the play. The series is used and recommended by the Royal Shakespeare Company. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (167)

Very Disappointed
I bought this book based on the other reviews saying how useful having the interpretations on the opposite page was. In reality it starts and ends directly with the play. No prologue, introduction or anything else. The reviews don't correspond to the item being sold.

Not Impressed
This book does not have line numbers.In addition, the pages don't have the scene or act number on them.So when you open up the book, you have no idea where you are in the play.You have to flip through pages and find the closest scene 1 so you can figure out which act you are in and then go from there.This book makes it difficult to follow with others in class and I would not recommend it to anyone.

Quick delivery, excellent product
I was very pleased with the condition of this book.It contained no marks and seemed new!

awesome
I'm very happy with the condition of this book and the price is extremely reasonable.

very cheap
new book $1 very cheap. good shipping. it translate some words at the bottom of each page. ... Read more

Product Description
Oxford School Shakespeare is an acclaimed edition especially designed for students, with accessible on-page notes and explanatory illustrations, clear background information, and rigorous but accessible scholarly credentials. In this edition of The Tempest, illustrations have been extended and updated; the preliminary notes have been expanded; reading lists have been updated, and include websites; and the classroom notes have been brought in line with recent practice. The Tempest is a set text for 11-14 year olds in England and remains one of the most accessible and popular of Shakespeare's plays for secondary students the world over. ... Read more

Product Description
He was the greatest poet and playwright who ever lived, the dramatist who penned lines that we quote without even realising their origin. Shakespeare's glorious works have even inspired animated films - like Disney's "The Lion King". Introduce children to the Bard with this wonderful, fully annotated collection of sonnets and soliloquies, enhanced with beautiful, highly realistic colour paintings that bring each excerpt to vivid life. Here are Shakespeare's most famous speeches: including everything from "Hamlets" - 'To be or not to be' - and "Macbeth's" witches cackling 'Double, double, toil and trouble' to the sonnets, "Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?" and humourous songs sung in comedies such as "Twelfth Night". Every entry is a revelation. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

WE COULD CERTAINLY USE MORE LIKE THIS ONE!
I cannot think of a better way to introduce the poetry of Shakespeare than this small volume.The selection is excellent and of interest you the young reader.The commentary is quite relevant as are the pictures which accompany it.I find that often now, our young people go all the way through the early grades in school and many of them have never heard of Shakespeare,much less read their poetry.This was the sort of stuff my generation and the generation before it grew up on and cut our teeth on.I do not feel I am any worse for the wear.I am fearful that we are bringing up an entire generation (rightfully or wrong, although I feel it is the later) of young folks who will have no appreciation to this great art form and will miss a lot.This book helps.This entire series helps, as a matter of fact and I certainly recommend you add this one and the others to your library.Actually, it is rather fun reading these with the young folk and then talking about them.Not only do you get to enjoy the work your self and perhaps bring back some great memories, but you have the opportunity to interact with your child or student.It is actually rather surprising what some of the kids come up with.I read these to my grandchildren and to the kids in my classes at school.For the most part, when I really get to discussing the work with them, they enjoy it.Recommend this one highly.

Perfect for those seeking intro to Shakespeare for kids
Joy!Shakespeare--undiluted--for everybody, either kids or adults!The layout of this book couldn't be more helpful.After a brief introduction, the compiler gets down to business.Each speech or poem is preceeded by a brief explaination, and after the selection, a small word-list to aid understanding.All are swathed in beautiful, dramatic paintings that are truly helpful for comprehension.All the famous lines are here, from Henry V's Agincourt "St. Crispin" speech, his inly-ruminating soliloquey about the nature of power, scenes from Macbeth, Midsummer Night's Dream, Hamlet, and a couple of sonnets, and much more.

There are two things that are very impressive about this book.First, the compiler manages to introduce very adult themes about power,loyalty, etc., as well as the vocabulary of 400 years ago,even a brief explaination of iambic pentameter in a tone so chatty that you hardly realize you are learning.Second, the rich pictures impart a thirst for MORE Shakespeare.You'll hear, "Can we hear more?What's the rest of this story?" often!

Any publication that presents the Bard as accessable and enjoyable deserves a place in every school or public library, and certainly every home.Add this to Charles and Mary Lamb's "Tales of Shakespeare" as a new classic.

Fabulous!!!!!
A perfect selection from Shakespeare's greatest plays with gorgeous artwork. An ideal introduction to Shakespeare for young people. With a smart and easy to read preamble describing Shakespeare's life and work and wonderful introductions to each poem, the book does a fantastic job of explaining how Shakespeare's work is both drama and poetry. ... Read more

Product Description
The Merry Wives of Windsor - The Works of William Shakespeare [Cambridge Edition] [9 vols.] is presented here in a high quality paperback edition. This popular classic work by William Shakespeare is in the English language. If you enjoy the works of William Shakespeare then we highly recommend this publication for your book collection. ... Read more

Product Description
William Shakespeare was perhaps the greatest English playwright ever. Take a tour of Shakespeare's life and times, through the crowded streets of sixteenth-century London to the boisterous Globe theater and other playhouses where his work flourished.

Then follow Shakespeare's legacy to the present day and to the Globe's glorious reopening and its 400th anniversary. Learn, step-by-step, how the theater was reconstructed using the same methods builders used to construct the original Globe.

With Aliki's characteristically thorough and animated words and pictures, this beautifully crafted book provides a rich introduction to Shakespeare and his world. Sprinkled with quotations from Shakespeare's plays, it is richly enhanced by a map of Elizabethan London, a glossary of historical dates, a chronology of Shakespeare's works, a section of colloquial expressions, and a list of relevant sites to visit.

2000 ALA Notable Children's Book

Cleverly arranged as a play, with an aside and acts one through five, the book features a quotation from one of Shakespeare's plays on every spread. Bite-sized chunks of text are interspersed with the lovely detailed illustrations Aliki is famous for, making what might be a difficult subject very accessible. In addition, there are charts listing Shakespeare's plays, a chronology of his life, sidebars with mini-biographies of significant people in his life, and a partial list of words and expressions he invented (gloomy, moonbeam, mountaineer, zany, and bated breath, among 2,000 others!). Aliki also devotes a special section to Sam Wanamaker, a 20th-century man with a dream to reopen Shakespeare's Globe playhouse in London. (Ages 7 and older) --Emilie Coulter ... Read more

Customer Reviews (8)

Not exactly what I was expecting
I was hoping for older/known sketches of the globe but instead the entire book is the illustrators drawings of things.I teach and was hoping for big pictures to show my class but it wasn't really like that. I think my real disappointment was that there were no actual pictures, just drawings of things that we really have pictures of.
To be fair, it is an interesting read.I enjoyed reading it. Nearly half the book is dedicated to the rebuilding of the 'modern' globe theater (a topic we don't really address much in class.)
So it just didn't serve my needs well but I'm not saying that it won't serve yours.

A great intro to Shakespeare
This was a wonderful introduction to Shakespeare.I felt like it gave them enough information without going too indepth.It talked a bit about Will himself, as well as some of his contemporaries.It discussed the playhouse and social system of the time.

The book was written like a play, Act 1 Scene 2 and such and each page had a small quote from one of his plays.It also went on to describe Sam Wanamaker who started the project to rebuild the Globe in London.

Our favorite part was at the end where it showed a list of words and phrases that Shakespeare 'invented' like puke and Knock, Knock, Who's There?It also has a timeline of his life and plays.

For the third grade I thought this more than adequate coverage.We used this as a springboard to read some of his plays (written for children) and we're really enjoying those as well.

I think this book would be appropriate for K through 6th or 7th grade.You could possibly use it for older as well, but by that age they should be going a little more indepth, like Bard of Avon by Diane Stanley and the cartoonish drawings might not be appealing to older kids.

*taken from my review at goodreads

The Play's the Thing
I bought this book for my 1st grader as an intro to Shakespeare. For my purposes this book contains too much extraneous information about Sam Wanamaker. His accomplishment of having the new Globe theatre built is amazing, but pales in comparison to Shakespeare's accomplishments, which I would rather hear about. We get to know details about "Will," but not anything about his plays except for some excellent representative drawings of representative characters. What my daughter has taken away from this book so far is that London Bridge really did fall down, Shakespeare died at age 52 and Marlowe at age 29, Cleopatra is associated with a snake, London had city walls, and Queen Elizabeth I came before the current queen, Elizabeth II. That's all useful foundation material, but we'll need another book to really sample Shakespeare.

Revenge Tragedy in Earlier Times of Theater.
Using this pretty children's book about Shakespeare's theater of choice, I will give you some history this author failed in her effort to influence kids of all ages.The Globe Theater was the most famous of Elizabethean age and built on the south bank of the Thames River in 1599 by members of the Lord Chamberlain's Men.The nearby Rose Playhouse built by Philip Henslowe,was not as popular with the populace of London.

The Globe could hold between 2,000 to 3,000 spectators as most would be standing.In an 'aside', the actor would make a brief remark directly to the audience.Plays were performed in the afternoons, requiring no extra lighting."Hell" was the trapdoor used by the entrances and exits of devils, monsters, or ghosts."Heavens" were the machinery by which gods and goddesses were lowered to the stage below.There were no women on the Elizabethan stage as boys were used for their roles.In the reverse, we see Peter Pan as always a woman!Strange?

William Shakespeare began as an actor in London in the leading theatrical company called the Lord Chamberlain's Men, and went on to write thirty-seven plays.He used soliloquy in his plays, which is a single character alone on stage speaking his thoughts in length directly to the spectators.In Drama Class at the old Central High School, we had to perform a soliloquy.I was a shy girl, only 14 then, but the one I chose was a favorite with the other class members.When I finished, they all yelled, "Go on."But, there was nothing else.Needless to say, I did not become an actress.But my husband was a college play director, and we were involved in every phase of putting on dramas of every kind, and sometimes comedies.We also attended plays in Nashville and Huntsville, Alabama.My three boys acted as children in their dad's plays.

Shakespeare's acting company first staged his 'Hamlet' in 1600 or 1601 at the Globe Theatre, when it was relatively new.It was called a "revenge tragedy," which includes a ghost calling for vengeance, and the revenger must always die.They also performed "mystery plays,' "morality plays,' and "miracle plays."Are there such things as real miracles?After the way I was verbally abused by a bus of ghetto people using racial slurs and outright threatening remarks (all the time the driver ignored, saying she could not hear anything!), I have lost my faith in the fellowman and think they should have lived in Shakespeare's time, and they would have been hanged by the tail like donkeys as that is what they were.They should be sent back to Africa.

The art in this little book is fantastic.It is worth the price just to look at the beautiful rendering of the Globe, a unique place to us Twentieth Century Americans.

Great Introduction to the Globe
The presentation is clever.Aliki has organized her information into Acts, Scenes, and Asides, with Act Five being the work of Sam Wanamaker to recreate the Globe Theater.She has also laid out her prose text as if it were lines of poetry, furthering the playbook effect.I often checked the text to see if it was written in iambic pentameter (it isn't). The illustrations are lively and highly detailed.

The pages are very busy. Here are the contents of a typical page, from top to bottom: four lines from As You Like It; a drawing of Christopher Marlowe; an information box about the Rose Playhouse and builder Philip Henslowe's diaries; seven lines of text about the Admiral's Men and Marlowe; a drawing of three actors on a stage, surrounded by groundlings; the titles of sixteen Shakespeare plays superimposed in wavy lines over the drawing of the actors; a caption beneath; and a line from The Merry Wives of Windsor.

Aliki's efforts to squeeze as much as possible into this book sometimes become distracting.All of the illustrations have their own text boxes, with additional information provided in up to five sentences.Readers may have to keep backtracking in order to follow the narrative, and I sometimes wonder if texts like this are the best way to format nonfiction material. ... Read more