Shakespeare Books

This play is best known for the St. Crispian's Day "Band of Brothers" speech given by King Henry just before the battle at Agincourt. It is a powerful speech that rallies people at all times and in every place. Sir Lawrence Olivier made a film version in 1944 during WWII and Kenneth Branagh made another as recently as 1989. You can count on there being more versions. Epecially so when computers can help them make spectacular battle scenes (that aren't really in the play) with less expense.

Audiences love this play and they should. There is a lot to like and enjoy. I think upon repeated readings Henry becomes a more equivocal character than he seems at first. And readers of the King Henry IV plays will know him before he became King Henry and know something deeper about his personality.

And of course there is the whole bit about the drive to France being sponsored by the Church to avoid confiscation of property by the Crown. Moreover, there is the slaughtering of the French prisoners, and his treatment of Falstaff (who dies offstage in this play). This isn't revisionist stuff, it is right there in the play, but it is easy to miss the first time you are trying to take in the play.

In any case, this Arden edition is the one to buy and read from. Why? Because it has the most authoritative text, but that is only the beginning. It also shows variants between the early sources. The notes at the bottom of each page of the play are simply fabulous. The editor includes not only helpful notes explaining what might be obscure in the text of the play, he provides sources Shakespeare probably used such as Holinshed and makes for some very interesting study. There are also some helpful notes on how various scenes have been performed over time.

And to make this sound more like an infomercial, you get more! The introduction provides great background material on the play, its sources, and how it has been performed throughout history. After the play, there is a photo reproduction of the first Quarto from 1600 and it is fairly readable. There are also a couple of maps showing the path of the English Army from Harfleur through other towns on its way to Calais and makes clear how they had to pass through Agincourt.

There is also a helpful genealogical table so you can see the confusing claims used by Henry and the French nobility to make their claims. And there is a doubling chart so you can see how theater companies can perform all the roles with fewer actors.

This is a great edition as are all the plays published by the Arden Shakespeare. The amount of work collected in these volumes is stunning and they will enrich your experience of the plays tremendously. I can't recommend them enough.

Alec Guiness, Cyril Cusack, and Jill Bennet perform in this unabridged version of King Lear. Interpreted in traditional Shakespearean style, the sound effects are effectively done to augment the performances.

I liked this book because it was much larger than the normal size of a Folger Shakespeare Library book. It provided ample amounts of space for notes and the text went along with most copies of King Lear, at times providing more text.

As far as Shakespeare's tragedies go, I have some respect for "Romeo and Juliet." I think "Timon of Athens" and "Coriolanus" are really underrated. I do not like "Othello" at all. I really like "Macbeth." And along with "Julius Caesar" and "Hamlet," "King Lear" is one of my favorite tragedies. The play starts with an aged King Lear displaying poor judgement by announcing his retirement and leaving his power to his 2 overly ambitious daughters (Goneril and Regan) while banishing the daughter (Cordelia) who IS worthy of his trust. (Cordelia ends up getting married to the French king and thus becoming Queen of France.) (King Lear also banishes his loyal servant Kent whom he should trust as well.) In a subplot, the good hearted Gloucester is unhappy with the king's decision, but ironically he falls into the same trap of declaring war on his son (Edgar) whom he should trust, and placing trust and reliance on his monstrously evil son Edmund. By the end of the first act, the ever loyal Kent disguises himself and King Lear allows him to be in his employ. At first, Shakespeare leaves it ambiguous as to who we should like. (King Lear was not so likable, and his questionable at best sanity makes us like him even less.) But by the end of the second act, Shakespeare shows us that Regan, her husband Cornwall, and Goneril would do Satan proud. And Edmund may outdo even these three! And once Shakespeare shifts our sympathy to King Lear, he DOES NOT allow it to slack for a moment. In fact, it will intensify throughout the story. While we don't see much of Goneril's virutous and honorable husband Albany, other characters speak of his growing contempt for the diabolical Duke of Cornwall, and we are prepared for his sudden entrance in the 4th act. This helps build suspense as well as the French invasion Cordelia is planning on behalf of her father. (Talk about forgiving someone really fast!) Meanwhile, Kent, Cordelia, and Edgar are quite Christ like. Kent never abandons the king, Cordelia never lost her love for her father, and Edgar continues to love his father. (This is prevalent when Gloucester suffers a horrible fate at the end of the 3rd act, and Edgar does everything humanly possible for him.) The diabolical Cornwall may have been killed, but sadly, the harm is done. It is interesting that Kent and Edgar both continue to love and serve the one who mistreated them, even to the point of wearing a disguise. Well, moving on, Lear is eventually reunited with Cordelia, and the scene where Cordelia forgives him is one of Shakespeare's most beautiful scenes. But Shakespeare does not stop here. Lear's two wicked daughters both want the affection of the evil Edmund, and Goneril plots to have her benevolent husband Albany killed. To complicate matters further, Cordelia launches the French invasion on behalf of her father, and while Albany shares her views, he really does have an obligation to protect the land: "For this business, it touches us as France invades our land." In an almost Easter fashion, Edgar reappears to challenge his wicked brother in trial by combat. (It is interesting that on an audio version, Robert Powell who is famous for playing Jesus in "Jesus of Nazareth" does the voice of the Christ like Edgar.) But even as Albany, Edgar, and Kent gain control of the situation, Shakespeare has one of his saddest endings waiting for us. This play is the perfect cure for Hollywood's movies that tend to glorify war. "King Lear" is arguably Shakespeare's most brutal play, but the violence is most disturbing even when the virtuous characters are triumphant. The story actually DOES need the violence, but Shakespeare seems to know quite well that war and violence are disturbing and should be portrayed so. Furthermore, the death of one's enemies may NOT exactly lead to a happy ending!

Read this little gem of a book the night before you go to a performance of King Lear or before you begin reading the play. You will completely understand the story, scene by scene, and all the crazy characters !!! You will want all The Shakespeare Handbooks !!!

Please see my review for Richmond's modern and sophisticated translation of Shakespeare's Twelfth Night, which also applies to his translation of Shakespeare's Lear. Richmond has dutifully contrasted the expert conflicting views, compared folios and quartos, and studied the scholars' and actors' traditions regarding this work. Even in modernized English, King Lear is one of Shakespeare's most difficult works, and its difficulty survives into this new traslation. But the burden of understanding is greatly lessened for students and initiates of the Master. The price is reasonable, and the benefits invaluable.

If you've been waiting until Shakespeare became more accessible, yet hoping that a modern version would contain all of the complexity of the original, then Richmond's translation provides you an ideal opportunity to jump in and enjoy Shakespeare.

King Lear has never been my favorite Shakespeare play. It's long and I find it hard to overlook Lear's initial foolishness to view him as a tragic hero. Still, it's required reading in my school - at the ninth grade!!!!!

So you can imagine the trouble my college-prep ninth-graders had every year until I discovered these Side-by-Sides. Students have the original text (because I do believe it is important for them to deal with Shakespeare's poetry, his use of similes, etc.), but they also have modern English translations to refer to if they get lost.

I know that before I used the King Lear side-by-side this year, my students read only enough of the play to bluff their way through class discussion and to pass the test. But this year I really think they got into it, the intricate characters, the sense of betrayal and loss. And I credit the fact that the difficult language did not get in their way.

I think I also got to see a play I'd never really cared for before in a new light.

These Side-by-Sides are excellent teaching tools - especially if you are struggling to meet some middle ground between your need to teach challenging material and the unpreparedness (or unwillingness) of your students to try.

Are you teaching Macbeth for the first time? Are you in an AP or college English class? Then you need this book. It is a line by line explanation of the text in a format that makes the play come to life. All British Lit teachers need this in their tool kit.

This edition includes Pericles, a prince who solves a riddle given by a king and is pursued because he discovers a terrible secret; Cymbeline, a story about Rome battling England with the memorable heroine, Imogen, and her jealous husband Posthumous. Happy Ending, but Imogen deserves better; Winter's Tale tells the story of incredibly Jealous husband Leontes and his suffering wife/heroine Hermione. A fairy tale to be told on a Winter's Eve; Tempest, a story of an exiled Magician who lives on an island with a fairy, Ariel, his daughter, Miranda, and a beast called Caliban.

All these stories are entertaining fairy tales with romantic themes. Highly recommended.

Palfrey gives such a fresh insight into the late plays that I found myself rushing back to the texts. The book fizzes and crackles with ideas and is often breathtaking in its vision and ambition. It is written with intelligence and wit and is clearly the work of a really original thinker. A refreshing change from most scholarly texts. Highly recommended.