William Shakespeare Books

Wonderful movie! Now to find the Flying Karamazov Brothers' rendition of the Merchant of Venice.

It's as the title implies..nothing this film did nothing for me. None of the actors really seemed to sparkle or stand out (maybe that guy from House but barely). This movie also features Keanu Reeves in one of his worst acting roles since Bram Stoker's Dracula. It seems to me I get Shakespeare's dramas better than I get his comedies.The lines are supposedly witty and funny, funny to who an audience from ol' Willie's century? Maybe, or maybe the performance was too dumbed down to make it either but I digress.
There are some scenes I find totally pointless and dumb. The opening shot of the menfolk returning homes from a battle or something riding thier horses over the hill to some extremely corny triumph music "RIDING HORESES YAH! WOO look how cool we look riding slow-mo on our horses while making constipated faces. And another shot of the men and women getting ready to go greet each other by getting cleaned up, they show [...] shots of both sexes (though I think they linger disturbingly longer on the women) just for the sake of having [...] shots. And be warned the lighting for the mens shot has you seeing a little more than you want to.
Tell me when there's a good Shakespeare adaptation I can rave about Ciao!

Nobody could say the storyline in Much Ado About Nothing is particularly clever. In fact, despite some very witty lyricism you would have to say this is one of Shakespeare's weakest plays. Having said that, this interpretation by Kenneth Branagh makes the most of the material. The comic characters are completely over-the-top (including Michael Keaton of Batman fame, and Ben Elton, creator of the Young Ones) and the more serious ones are given a slightly modern interpretation. The main plot which deals with the importance of virginity in a new bride, has a gently mocking modern treatment. The whole play is, as its name suggests, a storm in a teacup and Kenneth Branagh and Emma Thomson make the most of the sarcastic interplay available to them. Even the charming Denzel Washington manages not to stumble over his lines.

After swearing that they will never marry anyone, let alone each other, two bickering "friends", Beatrice (Emma Thompson) and Benedick (Kenneth Branagh), end up falling in love after each is falsely led to believe that the other is in love with them.

Given the fact that neither of his most recent Shakespearean adaptations have received so much as a DVD release out here (Australia), let alone a cinema release, it is hard to imagine that there was once a time when Kenneth Branagh was hailed as being the next Laurence Olivier. However, back in the 1990's, Kenneth Branagh did manage to produce some of the best Shakespearean adaptations ever made, the best of which being the 4-hour "Hamlet" and this version of "Much Ado About Nothing".

"Much Ado About Nothing" is rare among Shakespeare's comedies in that it is actually funny, thus making it one of Shakespeare's most accessible plays, and Kenneth Branagh has a gift for making Shakespeare understandable to anyone, even someone who has never encountered "the Bard" before. Not all of the actors are up to the same standard as Branagh (Kate Beckinsale, in an early film role, is notably wooden), but this is more than made up for by Branagh and Thompson. Branagh and Thompson are both excellent actors in anything in which they appear, but they are at their best when appearing together. When this film was made, they were married to each other and the chemistry between them is something beautiful. I have always considered it to be a great tragedy that their marriage didn't last.

I consider this to be one of my favorite movies. It's a true chamer that proves that a good play of Shakespeare can be set at any time. The charming game of cat-and-mouse with lovers is only part of the wonder when it comes to the talented set of actors, each one perfect for their role. However, the best performances are demonstrated by Branagh and Emma Thomspon, whom we all know can do just about anything. The setting of the little villa is charming, and the classical score suits the story well. Even if you think Shakespeare is boring, you will adore this fun romp.

The Cd begins with the powerful witches scene-great music-definitely causing my students to sit-up and listen.

The Dover Thrift Edition is a good choice for a reading text because it presents the entire, unabridged play, and has enough notes to be helpful to inexperienced readers without overwhelming or distracting them. The omition of a scholarly apparatus makes the Dover Edition more flexible and keeps it from becoming outdated.

This product was great. It helped my students and I read and comprehend Macbeth so much better than us trying to read it and comprehend it. The actors voices are great! I think they do a great job being the characters on tape!

Virtually all editions of Macbeth will have at least some annotations. Rummaging through five different editions, I preferred the Yale University Press version, edited by Burton Raffel, as having the most comprehensive and comprehensible notes, as well as an excellent introduction to Shakespeare's play. Raffel not only explains the meanings of obscure words, but also gives brief notes pertaining to relevant history, geography, stage directions, etc, that are rarely addressed as fully by other editors. In addition, Raffel frequently gives the proper way to stress the syllables in a line when reading it aloud, which can be extremely helpful. (However, in most places these stresses need to be very subtle, so that you don't sound like "taDUM taDUM taDUM".) And Yale's page layout is among the clearest that I've seen.

(To find this edition: at Avanced Search, enter ISBN 0300106548; or, enter Macbeth as title, and either Raffel as author or Yale as publisher.)

As a bonus, this edition includes at the back a long essay on the play by Harold Bloom. This is not an uninteresting commentary, but Bloom desperately needs a good editor. His essay is not only at least three times longer than it should be, but is startlingly repetitious. Yale would have been wise to have asked Bloom for a rewrite.

William Shakespeare (1564-1616) was a dramatist whose genius is universally acknowledged, with a reputation as an actor, playwright and poet. He lived in an age of vast and significant changes characterised by the rise of the middle class and of a centralised government and the disappearance of medieval religious beliefs. England was transforming into a modern state. This was a time when self-realisation, self-respect and boldness of thought and action was idealised. Shakespeare's drama merely reflected the dramatic times of the age.

Shakespeare's genius can be reflected by the variety of his productions, where out of the 36 plays he has left, no two are alike and he managed to articulate the diverse subjects with exceptional expertise, handling both tragedies and comedies with ease.

Macbeth is a tragedy, intended to teach us a lesson about the human condition. The play is a tragedy about a wealthy Scottish noble called Macbeth who kills his king to gain the throne. During Shakespeare's time, this was a terrible thing to do, and from then on, Macbeth was doomed to die a tragic death.

The play starts with three witches confronting the great Scottish general Macbeth on his victorious return from a war between Scotland and Norway. The witches predict that he will one day become king. They also predict that another General called Banquo will be the father of kings, although he will not ascend the throne himself. The Scottish king, Duncan, decides that he will confer the title of the traitorous Cawdor on the heroic Macbeth. Macbeth, with the urging of his evil and ambitious wife murder King Duncan and ascends to the throne of Scotland.

Macbeth and his evil wife begin to do strange things, partly because of what they have done and also because they never get a whole night's sleep. Macbeth thinks he has to kill two of his former friends because he believes that they threaten his new throne. His efforts fail and he is eventually killed.

I really enjoyed this quick read. I knew virtually nothing about Shakespeare; never having read much of his work, nor any explanation of his existence. I learned a good bit, stayed entertained and walked away with a much better appreciation of Shakespeare's impact on the world.

I still can't watch Laurence Olivier's Hamlet however.....

When I visited Ashland, Oregon's Shakespeare Festival the buyer in their large, authoritative bookstore suggested this as a good basic biography of William Shakespeare. I've concluded it was a good recommendation for several reasons.

It is a relatively brief 224 pages because Bryson makes the case that extremely few documented facts are known about Shakespeare's life. It seems that essentially nothing is known about Shakespeare's relationships with his immediate family members or known theatrical colleagues, and there are blocks of years during which nothing can be said with certainty about even where he lived much less what he was doing. Bryson makes the case that other - more scholarly? - biographies of The Bard which purport to provide greater detail are, of necessity, essentially speculative if not fictitious. He also explains that most of the visual images we have of Shakespeare and his world - portraits, busts, drawings of The Globe theater, etc., - are demonstratably, or at least arguably, inaccurate if for no other reason than they are non-contemporaneous.

Besides telling us about as much as can be documented about Shakespeare's life Bryson provides an interesting overview of the Elizabethan-Jacobean theater world which was an important social and financial phenomenon that brought people of all classes together in intimate surroundings on a daily basis. In a period of less than 150 years - the Puritans shut down the theaters in 1642 - more than 12,000 new words entered the English language of which 2,035 are attributed to - or at have their first recorded by - William Shakespeare. And we learn that the bulk of Shakespeare's work might have been lost forever if his fellow thespians had not collected his plays into what we know as The First Folio within a few years of his death.

Bryson devotes a useful chapter to summarizing the cult that has grown up - dating from the early 1800s - around the effort to demonstrate that Shakespeare's work was actually written by someone else; there are multiple suspects. Most of this "scholarship" is far more speculative than even the most speculative Shakespearean biographies, and Bryson makes the case that the not-Shakespeare faux exposes are clearly absurd; more than one of the candidates died before several of Shakespeare's plays were written. The argument against these theories that exhibits the most common sense is that absolutely nobody alive when the plays were produced questioned that Shakespeare from Stratford on Avon wrote them and, in fact, numerous well known contemporaries praised The Bard.

Bryson's style is fast moving and the material is well organized, but fans of Bryson's trademark sarcastic humor won't find any of it here. There is a five-page bibliography.

Highly recommended.

Bryson is the perfect choice for this addition to the "Eminent Lives" series, as he takes what little is known about Shakespeare's life and distills it into an easily digestible biography. Conceding that little is known about Shakespeare, Bryson succeeds in capturing the writer and bringing his life into the best focus possible. Filling in the few details he can, Bryson proceeds to create an idea of Shakespeare that forms as solid a portrait as we are ever likely to get. While that alone is praiseworthy, the real outstanding achievement in this work is Bryson's dissection of the "Who really wrote Shakespeare's plays?" myths with a case by case demolition of each one of those silly attempts by others to find the "real" Shakespeare. All the pretenders are examined and thoroughly debunked and that alone makes this book must reading.

In Shakespeare: The World as Stage, Bill Bryson tackles the enigma that is Shakespeare by majoring on only those facts that are definitely known about him. Much time is spent exploring the world of Shakespeare's day to reach an understanding of the kind of man he was in relation to his era and his people. Bryson makes the case that a surprising quantity of details survive for this man in an age when such things were rarely codified. Bryson also explores Shakespeare's family, his role as actor, the rumors surrounding him, and answers the claims that he was not who history says he is. His wit and logic as he debunks the many baseless theories and projections about other Shakespeares is truly worth the read. Grade: A.

It's a hard thing to produce a groundbreaking book about Shakespeare, and Bill Bryson makes no claim to it. This small book is part of Harper Collins' Eminent Lives series; their website describes Eminent Lives as "brief biographies by distinguished authors on canonical figures." That said, SHAKESPEARE: THE WORLD AS STAGE is an entertaining and informative little package.

Bryson catalogues the few facts known about Shakespeare's personal life and whereabouts, and some of the arcana -- word and line counts, for example, and how many plays were prepared by which typesetters, and all the different ways Shakespeare spelled his surname on legal documents. These facts have a certain WOW factor of their own, but mostly demonstrate the thoroughness with which the available information has been mined by hordes of Shakespeare scholars. Bryson devotes a chapter to theories that someone else wrote the plays, and debunks them. Again there are many facts presented in a wry and entertaining way; Bryson does that very well. A reader knowing little about 16th and early 17th century England would learn some interesting things from this little book, which is probably well crafted for its target audience of "survey readers."

There was less analysis of the plays than I expected; I found this a disappointment and took off a star for it.

The audio presentation finished with an interview of Bryson, in which he stated that he's not present in this book as he is in most of his writing; he kept himself out of it. That's true to the extent that he's not playing for humor, but it's clearly in his style: a bit like interesting vacation photos artfully arranged in an album and not for one second trying to integrate themselves into a video. He achieves what he sets out to do but if you're not crazy about his levity, this book may not appeal to you; I enjoyed it. The author reads this audio version, as he usually does, and his Midwestern/British fusion may not be what you care for. In that case, choose the print version.

* Subject line is from Sonnet LIX:

If there be nothing new, but that which is
Hath been before, how are our brains beguiled,
Which, labouring for invention, bear amiss
The second burden of a former child!
...

Linda Bulger, 2008

I bought this for a class sort of against the professor's orders; he had recommened we get the Norton Shakespeare, but a number of the reviews for that volume had mentioned that the page were very fragile and also see-through. So I searched around for one that had been reviewed better and eventually bought this one, which I don't regret. This is a gigantic book, but it's still quite a bit smaller than many other complete Shakespeares, and it manages its compactness without sacrificing page thickness or having a ridiculously tiny font size. Furthermore, the annotations are easily accessible and (relatively) complete. The included essays (that cover every play) are also very helpful and englightening, and they give support for a number of different readings of each text. I would also like to mention that this is a very handsome volume; the excellent binding and Thurber-esque drawing of Shakespeare on the cover make it stand out among other editions. Finally, the price is very reasonable-- a new Pelican Shakespeare costs less than a number of the other editions used. Highly recommended!

(Also, the book description doesn't really make this clear-- this *is* a normal, not-based-on-a-specific-folio-or-quarto complete Shakespeare; I was a little worried when I bought it, but it *is* a normal complete Shakespeare.)

Why do we buy "complete" editions of Shakespeare, when individual plays are available in many excellent editions, reasonably priced, eminently portable, and offering far richer commentary than will ever be available in a single volume?

The one reason I can provide is that a "complete" Shakespeare is--or ought to be--just that: complete, including everything the author is generally understood to have written.

This edition of the Pelican Shakespeare has many virtures: it is handsome, high-quality, and features thoughtful and thorough introductions to the plays, along with good annotations.

But it falls flat on the claim it makes in its very title: it is not complete. "The Two Noble Kinsmen" is nowhere to be found, although the introductions to several different plays mention it and acknowledge it as Shakespeare's. Many scholars believe that at least one scene of another play, "Sir Thomas More," is likely to be by Shakespeare, and yet another play, "Edward III," has a great deal of support for partial Shakespeare attribution as well. These items are routinely included in modern editions of Shakespeare. They are absent here, and the editors give us no explanation at all for the omissions. This is a substantial oversight, and makes it difficult to recommend this edition.

To anyone looking to read a little Shakespeare, I would encourage you to pick up a Folger and a Signet single-play edition, and see which suits your taste better. If you are set on a one-volume Shakespeare, I have to suggest you get one that is actually "complete"--Riverside, perhaps, or the new RSC.

This is a must have for any student of literature or lover of Shakespeare. However, this is not meant to be light reading. If you are a student, particularly undergrad, you will be better served by cliffs notes or spark notes.

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

I have several complete Shakespeare editions, and the Pelican stands out as the most readable I own. The book is, of course, large and thick, but the paper is not see-through, and the type is large enough for those of us with aging eyes. The text is in two columns with footnotes at the bottom of each column, making it easy to skip from words to notes and back again.

Best of all, as an owner of the Arkangel Shakespeare on CD, the Pelican is the text they use for these recordings, so following the text in print when listening to those excellent audio versions is perfect with this edition. While there is not a lot of critical apparatus - any Shakesperean worth his or her salt already has several books analyzing the plays - this volume offers a great readability for its cost. A must-have.

I love time travel stories! This YA novel is great for teens who love time travel, but mostly for teens who love Shakespeare! A really well-written tale of a boy who travels back in time to the Globe Theater and stars in some of the bards best loved plays...and becomes an apprentice to Will S. himself! A really lovely story, with great characters and a tense plotline.

I have a soft spot for time-travel books and have read a fair few. This one will go right to my "very special" shelf of YA books, alongside "The Dark is Rising" (which is actually better than this, but it's better than just about anything!). I read a borrowed copy in one gulp, and now I'm ordering my own.

Looking through the reader reviews, I didn't notice anyone linking this to the "Dark is Rising" series, but did anyone else notice that we have a character in here who has been living for a very long time, making things happen for Good?

This is a super novel I'm using in my Drama class to prepare for reading Shakespeare. Cooper provides some good background information--daily life, the Globe Theater, Shakespeare himself--as well as theater life (actors, costumes, makeup, rehearsals, scripts). My students will relate well to the sympathetic protagonist as King of Shadows is written at a level that my ELL students will benefit from.
Mrs. Wooster, Desert Springs Middle School, DHS, CA

Nat Field has been chosen along with a group of select boys to perform Julius Caesar and A Midsummer Night's Dream at the newly-built Globe in London. The cast consists of all boys - the director wants this play to be as true to the time as possible. A different adventure begins for Nat when he awakes to find himself 400 years back in time, when the original Globe was first built!

A couple of summers ago I took part in a production of A Midsummer Night's Dream, which is the play this book mainly focuses on. I had a wonderful time reading about their preparations, costumes, and ultimately the performance. It brought back a lot of memories!

I also enjoyed reading about Nat's friendship with Shakespeare. When they acted together (Nat as Puck and Shakespeare as Oberon) the author wrote that they had a natural chemistry. And as a reader you could feel that chemistry working between them, whether they were on or off stage.

My main complaint with this book was that in the few chapters that didn't take place back in time, there was some foul language scattered throughout. I'm not sure why the author thought it necessary to make the modern-day kids and adults have bad mouths, it certainly didn't add anything to the story. Also, *POSSIBLE SPOILER* parents of young children should be warned that Nat's father commits suicide, and that scene gets just a little graphic. *SPOILER OVER*

That aside, I think King of Shadows is a well-written, intriguing peek into life as an actor during the Elizabethan time period. Anyone who is interested in history or acting is sure to enjoy it.

Nat is eleven years old and has been chosen to be a member of a very exclusive boys' theater company. The company, made up of Americans, is going to travel to London to perform two Shakespeare plays at the newly rebuilt Globe Theater, modeled after the theater William Shakespeare first wrote his plays for four hundred years ago. The idea is thrilling to Nat. Ever since the death of his parents, theater has been his escape. His aunt has encouraged him to perform as a way of finding calm and comfort, and Nat has found that he has real talent in acting and tumbling.

Soon after his arrival in London, though, Nat becomes very ill. One night he loses consciousness and when he wakes up his surroundings are both strange and eerily familiar. Before long he realizes that he is still in London--but four hundred years earlier! He is a member of the theater company that Shakespeare himself writes for and performs with, and he is preparing for the same part in the same play he was to perform in modern-day England.

Nat adores William Shakespeare and loves his old English theater company, but he can't figure out what is going on and why he is here. Furthermore, he worries that after this performance is finished, he will be sent back to the boarding school where someone is sure to notice something funny about him.

The details of life in the theater were great, and I loved the characterization of Shakespeare and the way Nat interacted with him. However, the time-travel aspect seemed really gimmicky and forced, with far too many coincidences to overlook.

From my Summer reading comes Ruled Britannia by Harry Turtledove, one of my favorite authors. Turtledove tends to write alternate history books. The plot of this book revolves around the question "what if the Spanish Armada had conquered England during the reign of Elizabeth I"? The main character in this book is the playwright William Shakespeare who gets caught up in a web of intrigue trying to restore Elizabeth to the throne.

This is one of the better alternative history books I've seen. It certainly gets the atmosphere of Elizabethan England right, based on other books from the period that I've read. And it only requires one historical twist, which is that the Spanish Armada succeeded instead of failed. That results in an occupation of Britain by the Spanish, and a "resistance" into which William Shakespeare is drawn.

From that starting point, good research by Turtledove is evident in the characters and their roles. I was particularly taken by Lope de Vega, who in the real world was a prolific Spanish playright almost as well known as Cervantes. Lope de Vega really was in the Spanish Armada, so his presence in occupied Britain makes complete sense. Based on biographical notes I checked on the web, his character in the book is extremely well drawn, particularly regarding his penchant for the ladies.

The book has pretty good pacing, and a very satisfying ending. The only thing you might struggle with is decoding Elizabethan dialects. Turtledove really works at getting those right, but as a result I needed to re-read several to parse out the meaning. But I'd say that's all just part of the experience.

It took me quite a while after this book was published for me to get around to reading it. Now that I have, I'm glad I did!

Other reviewers have described the plot in detail; my own contribution to that is to say that there was considerable tension in the story. It kept me wondering what was going to happen next.

The characterization is above average for Turtledove's work. This one feels to me like a labor of love (and it isn't lost!); I'm certain that he took more time on this novel than he customarily does. Characters such as Cicely Sellis and Constable Strawberry don't generally show up in most of Turtledove's work. I incidentally liked the "cunning woman" a lot; I think she is my favorite character in the book.

Another strong point of this story is the accurate-seeming portrayal of life at the end of the 16th century, right down to the commonly-held attitudes of the populace.

I give this review the title of "Tour de Force" mainly because most of the dialogue is written in Shakespearean English (the dialogue between Spaniards that's supposed to be in Spanish looks more like modern English). I myself play at writing, and have to say that I couldn't write one scene with convincing dialogue in that idiom -- though maybe I could if I took time out to read all of Shakespeare's extant work, as Turtledove mentions he did, in the Afterword (I think he actually re-read it). At any rate, the truly remarkable dialogue is a huge delight, and could have carried the book along even if the rest of it wasn't as strong as it is.

Then, of course, there are the unexplained references, a practice I suspect that Turtledove picked up from Heinlein. The one I caught in this book is the character Will Adams. When that one was revealed (at the end of the book), my jaw almost dropped in surprise (I must admit that I can't stand James Clavell's writing habits, though).

I highly recommend this book to anyone who likes alternate history, and to anyone who likes historical fiction. You're not likely to be disappointed.

I'm quickly learning that the mark of a good alternate history novel is that it tells a plausible story in an interesting way. The mark of a great alternate history novel, though, is that it tells a story so plausible that you sometimes have to remind yourself that history didn't really happen this way. If that's the test, then Harry Turtledove's Ruled Britannia definitely qualifies as one of the greats.

The point-of-departure for the book is 1588, the year that the British Navy defeated the Spanish Armada sent by Philip II and Pope Sixtus to convert England back to the Catholic faith by force of arms. In Turtledove's world, however, the Armada defeats the British and the Spanish Army, with apparent assistance from the Irish, conquers England, dethrones Elizabeth I (who is imprisoned in the Tower of London) and installs Philip's daughter Isabella and her husband Albert as the ruling monarchs of England.

The book is set nine years after the Spanish victory and as it opens we meet our hero, a guy you may have heard of named William Shakespeare. In this world as in ours, Shakespeare is a playwright and actor and reference is made to some of his greatest plays such as Hamlet (called Prince of Denmark here), Romeo & Juliet, and The Taming of the Shrew. Not mentioned at all are Shakespeare's historical plays which chronicle the lives of English monarchs from Richard II to Henry IV. Presumably, the censors never allowed those plays to be staged.

The other main character in the book is Don Lope de Vega, a Spanish Lieutenant but also a real historical figure, a Spanish playwright. De Vega keeps himself close to Shakespeare and the players both because of his love of theater, and because it's his job -- his commander orders him to spy on Shakespeare, who he suspects of treason.

Early in the book, Shakespeare is recruited by Sir William Cecil, the last living member of Elizabeth's Privy Council to write a play that -- staged at the right time -- would inspire the English masses to rise up and overthrow the Spanish. That right time would be after the death of Philip II (and lets just say its a good thing that it takes Philip a long time to die in this book, the Bard needed every minute). Ironically, Shakespeare is also recruited by the Spanish occupying Commander to write a play, this one a eulogy to Philip II to be put on after his death.

Much of the plot of the book involves Shakespeare struggling to write both plays, keeping on of them a secret, while at the same time living a normal life. And here is where Turtledove starts to shine. He paints a picture of a post-conquest England that is entirely plausible. The Spanish and their English-Catholic allies rule with an iron fist and any display of heresy is punished severly. Everyone pretends to follow the rules of the Catholic faith, but with an unspoken acceptance that they really don't believe it and are waiting for the day that they can return to the England they knew.

Turtledove obviously did alot of research to pull this book together. He had to characterize forms of speech from 400 years ago and, he had to know his hero. Turtledove said in his afterword that one of the best things abut writing the book was that he ended up reading every available writing that Shakespeare wrote. And it shows. When it comes time to put on the treasonous play, Turtledove adapts lines from other Shakepeare plays so well that one wishes that Boudicca, the story of a British Queen who rose up against the Romans 2000 years ago, really existed in the Shakespeare cannon.

I won't give away how the book ends, except to say that it certainly puts a different spin on English history. One wonders what England would've been like had the events in this book actually happened.

I will say that the Elizabethian dialogue and frequent quotations from plays of that era can be difficult to get through at times, but its worth it. This one is a masterpiece.

Turtledove is one of the most accomplished writers I have ever enjoyed. He is thoroughly knowledgeable about his underlying facts: even when he is writing an alternate history real people, real historical events and real geography are nicely fitted in. He makes the characters come alive: you feel that you are actually in there with them.

"Ruled Britannia" is unlike his other alternate histories (ie. those based on the War Between the States) in that it is easier reading and loaded with wonderful plays on words - puns and other subtle (and not so subtle) jokes. The story is complex: the strong plot(s) thicken (and occasionally thin) but you are never very far away from a good laugh.

The basic premise is that the Spanish Armada was not destroyed by the
storm and that Spain did, in fact, conquer England. A Spanish King and
Queen sit on the British throne, the English Inquisition runs rampant,and Queen Elizabeth in locked in the English Tower, and revolt is in the air. The central character is none other than William (Will) Shakespeare. His character, those of the players in his troupe, and of others throughout the story, are wonderfully well developed: some you love (most of the time), some you hate (most of the time), and some just stumble through. After reading this book (borrowed from a library) I purchased one for myself and two more as Christmas presents for my (grown) sons.

The only thing which mars this otherwise excellent Bantam Doubleday Dell Audio Publishing Renaissance Theatre Company King Lear with Sir John Gielgud (in around 1993), Dame Judith (formerly Judi) Dench, Bob Hoskins, Kenneth Brannagh, DEREK JACOBI, etc. is that following the academic fashion of that moment, it is First Folio only.

It is NOT abridged as indicated on the amazon product page. It is First Folio only. Otherwise it is overwhelming and excellent and demanding of repeated listenings.

For this reason alone the best recording we have available is the Caedmon recording King Lear in the Quarto or conflated version with the earlier Paul Scofield. Notice this is not the later Naxos Scofield recording King Lear (Naxos AudioBooks), which is most lamentably like this Gielgud, First Folio only.

The producers of these late recordings by Scofield and Gielgud wasted their final talent and experience doing a then currently academically correct First Folio-only recording. In the 36 page booklet which accompanies this Gielgud recording, the long experienced Fool, Michael Williams mentions politely that his best lines are cut. THe first brotherly banter between Edmund and Edgar (with the greatest joke in Shakespeare: "Since when are you a sectary astronomical?" Edgar's only joke) is lost, severely marring the play, as well as the enacting of a trial for the sisters in the straw hut: "I mistook you for a joint stool!" The Fool's best line: cut!

Basically the brochure enclosed reports no more than the fact this is First Folio only, and pages of bios of the actors and director with reflections on their performance. Cornwall at the time of this recording was presenting the part of Lear and wonders at Gielgud saying HIS lines. Also in the brochure are some overwrought black and white photos of earnest looking actors, and a few refreshing comments by Bob Hoskins and the Fool. Derek Jacobi has no comment.

I got two copies of this recording when I discovered my first purchase had no brochure. This head-shot brochure is not necessary for appreciation of the recording, but now I happily have a copy for the home and for the truck, without danger of the precautioned and unwanted FBI interference for illegal copying. May God bless amazon.com!

What a cast! Derek Jacobi (he of I, Claudius, of the saintly medical Brother Cadfael: Monk's Hook, The Leper of St. Giles, The Sanctuary Sparrow, One Corpse Too Many and of the mobster Duke in Mr. Alex Cox's Revengers Tragedy) presents an interesting if brief King of France, for once with a French accent which nevertheless occasionally slips into a Bela Lugosi imitation.

Bob Hoskins, best known here only for Who Framed Roger Rabbit, presents an interestingly husky Oswald, normally played as a weak courtier, here with a fresh take altogether, very effectively. It is worth hearing him, if only for his native cockney, but moreso for his excellent presentation of the otherwise despicable Oswald.

Dame Judith Dench is strong of course as Goneril, and strives to flesh out her evil role, as she describes in the brochure. Dench may be remembered from Macbeth / McKellen, Dench (Thames Shakespeare Collection) and Shakespeare in Love (Miramax Collector's Series), William Shakespeare's Hamlet (Two-Disc Special Edition) by Kenneth Branagh, etc., etc., etc.

Kenneth Branagh is well known for his numerous films of Shakespeare, as well as Mary Shelley's FRANKENSTEIN (1994) - WIDESCREEN VERSION! - Rare Original DVD release! - Branagh, De Niro and Woody Allen's Celebrity in which he plays Mr. Allen.

Sir John Gielgud, the magnificent, the greatest, is unfortunately, tragically, perhaps only known here for 10 as Dudley Moore's butler. He may also be seen in William Shakespear's Julius Caesar The Shaw Collection (Pygmalion / The Millionairess / Arms and the Man / The Devil's Disciple / Mrs. Warren's Profession / Heartbreak House), etc. Please read his Gielgud: An Actor and His Time: A Memoir.

In the Scofield recordings we hear the usual weary Paul Scofield playing King Lear.

Here we hear Lear, Lear alone, LEar entirely, as Gielgud IS Lear, in all his fullness.

If only the script enjoyed all of ITS fullness, with the First Quarto, and not just the First Folio version which had been censored for the royal censors of its day, excluding therefore the Fool's jokes about a monopoly on foolishness, as King James corruptly passed out monopolies to his favorites. If only the producers had taken Sir John for all he had done for sixty years upon the stage, and turned him loose, and not straitjacketed by First Folio-ness.

If you have already carefully read the play, and seen various presentations, this ancient BBC radio recording may prove an adequate and refreshing version. There are jarring interludes of Stravinsky-inspired music which may now seem anachronistic or otherwise out of place, rather than tragically atmospheric, but you may find as well redeeming qualities within this recording.

For one we do not find the monotone reedy Guiness voice familiar from his films, but a broad spectrumed and robust rendition of the mighty (and tragic) character of Lear. I find nevertheless the voicings of the Fool unfortunately most often nearly indistinguishable from the young gentlemen, and the voicings of the royal women barely distinguishable one from the other, even Cordelia. Although this may seem a prerequisite for any radio presentation in which only aural cues are possible, anyone reading along, for instance in the venerable and traditional and reliable King Lear (Arden Shakespeare) edition, or intimately familiar with this ancient fable may be able to distinguish well who speaks when. Otherwise it can grow incomprehensibly, dismayingly, even discouragingly confusing.

Thus you may find here an adequate aural presentation of this play. You may also wish to hear the great Paul Scofield as King Lear (Naxos AudioBooks). Audio recordings by Gielgud, etc. are also available, but this serves as a good place to start and not too greatly eviscerated, even if our eyes are plucked out and we must hear only, nosing our way to Dover. Certainly an excellent tragedy to revisit as we find a mad old man approaching the throne and a woman in the waiting.

This paperback is a handy edition of Shakespeare's great play, useful for students on all levels. The critical essays in the back are helpful, though one or two more recent ones could have been included.

I bought this edition as a teaching supplement, not realizing that it is the folio version of the play. The words "quarto" and "folio" refer to the size of the pages in the two editions. Many secondary schools and universities use the quarto edition and a lot is left out of the folio--this version cuts out three hundred lines and adds one hundred new ones. The effect is that it alters the way the characters are shown. If you are reading the play with a class and they have a quarto version, while you are using your trusty teacher's Cambridge, chances are there will be a lot of blank expressions and confusion on their faces. The lines they see will not jibe with yours. The extra articles and class activities are great though--just make sure that if you use the Cambridge, you have your students buy only folio editions.

I have my degree in English... I like reading and teaching with this version as "help" not as a substitution. It gives a clearer understanding to Shakespeare for people who have difficulty with it.

My students read this for their literature club at school. It was definitely one of their favorites. Several told me they read the book in one afternoon!

"The Shakespeare Stealer" is basically a Shakespeare based historical fiction young adult novel. It's light, exciting, and fun.

The story is about an orphan boy who learns to write in a fast, secret code. He is taken from his master to a man and is told that he is to work for this new man with his talent. Widge is told to attend a play by Shakespeare and record every word heard, then return it to his new master, who will in turn sell the rights to the play, earning money that should go to Shakespeare.

Widge encounters difficulties, and ultimately joins forces with the actors. From then on, the story becomes a bit more complicated, but still maintains the simple, fun feel throughout.

There's some action in this book, some excitement, and some interesting historic facts. But on the whole, it's simply a story. The characters aren't nearly as engaging as one would hope, and on the whole the story has its aspects of disbelief and improbability.

An interesting, fun read, but not particularly amazing. Good.

This novel is a terrific example of historical fiction. The author blends true and fictional elements in a stirring and adventure filled story. The author ingeniously uses the spelling and language usage of the time to lend credibility to the characters and the setting. The characters presented are round and dynamic. The protagonist, Widge, undergoes the maturation of a typical adolescent attempting to form his or her identity. Other characters develop in their own way, each with their own distinct personality and desires. The author places authentic historical characters as well, Shakespeare and Queen Elizabeth. These characters are also historically accurate. The queen's white make up and Shakespeare's personal tragedies are described precisely. The main conflict is an internal one, Widge must decide if he should steal the play or remain among his new friends. His predicament mirrors Hamlet's `to be or not to be' dilemma. This struggle is universal and relevant to modern day readers. This book will appeal to readers who are interested in the time period, Shakespeare, theater or an exciting, well-told story. Another high point of this book is the use of humor, both lowbrow slapstick and highbrow allusions and word play. The themes of choosing right from wrong, finding your identity, racism and gender issues are all explored throughout this rich novel. A teacher may use this book as an introduction for the life and times of Shakespeare as well as any of his plays. The Shakespeare Stealer is a highly entertaining and rich look into the past.

To me, the true mark of good juvenile or young-adult fiction is if it can appeal to adult readers as well, and Gary Blackwood's The Shakespeare Stealer most definitely succeeds on that account. The basic plot is familiar enough: poor orphan boy is thrown into circumstances where he has a chance at truly having something of his own for the first time, but not without risks and having to make difficult decisions. But Blackwood does a superb job of giving his characters real depth, which makes the reader genuinely care about them and about what happens to them. The story is told from the point of view of Widge, the orphan boy who ends up by a combination of luck and mishap working with Shakespeare's theatrical company, the Lord Chamberlain's Men. It is there that he finds both a calling and, for the first time in his young life, friends and a sense of belonging. But he must also deal with the reason he is there: he has been sent to steal Shakespeare's newest play, Hamlet, by a mysterious rival whose hold on Widge is reinforced by threats of what he'll do if Widge should fail.

What Blackwood excels at, though, is showing us, through Widge's eyes, the life of the theatre in Elizabethan England. Blackwood makes it truly come alive, from the moment Widge first passes through the entrance of the Globe Theatre to when he gets unexpectedly involved in the theatrical company itself, learning everything that goes into the production of a play. Blackwood does an excellent job into revealing what goes on behind the scenes, where boys work their way up the ladder from "young hopeful" to "apprentice" to "hired-man", where boys must play the female roles because women are not allowed to be actors, where they are trained in everything from projecting to be heard over the noisy crowds to giving convincing performances in sword-play and death scenes, and the lengths to which theatrical companies went to keep their work from being stolen by competitors. You can see and feel what it was all like and what it means to Widge as he is torn by the choices he is called upon to make.

About the only reason I didn't give the book a full five stars was that while Blackwood's descriptions of theatre life were quite vivid and detailed, he didn't do quite as good a job with details outside of that sphere, particularly when it came to what some of the characters look like and to giving visual detail to how things were in Elizabethan era life in general. I found the beginning a bit slow, but once Widge enters the world of the theatre, the story really does come rapidly into full flower.

Blackwood also does a good job in showing how differently people talked even within Shakespeare's England, with words and phrases marking the speaker as from the city or the country, or from one part of the country or the other. He also does an excellent job at showing how word-play and puns were very much a part of Elizabethan culture, a verbal form of the literal sword-play that was also very much an aspect of the life of the period.

All in all, I found this book a very enjoyable read, and I highly recommend it to anyone interested in a good historical or theatrical read that can appeal to readers of any age.

This novel for young teens and its sequels follow the adventures in theatre and language of a boy named Widge. Those readers with an interest in theater, history, weaponry, England or linguistics will find this especially interesting. The names of streets and buildings will be familiar to those who have read other novels of London. Though some events are harsh, I found this quite appropriate for my son to read. Those who enjoyed reading this story of a boy in theatre might also like reading the similar adventures of a girl in choir in the historical novel A Murder for Her Majesty by Alice Hilgartner. The Shakespeare Stealer is recommended.

This is the first of a series that includes Shakespeare's Scribe and Shakespeare's Spy. All three are in the single-volume hardcover The Shakespeare Stealer Series. The series should be read in order. The Shakespeare Stealer is a complete novel and does not leave you hanging while you scramble to find the sequel.

My aim is to cover shakespeare this year with my 9th grader (I home-school). I purchased this book along with "Twelfth Night". I am so happy I did. The whole original text is included along with a translation of the play in todays english. At the end of the book there are MANY, MANY exercises and tests for the student to complete to ensure they have understood what they read. With this book, you can literally give it to your child and leave them to it. Obviously, you may need to give some guidance along the way, but it will be minimal. A homeschooler's dream because there is very little lesson prep. I will definately be buying other titles in this series!

"The Tragedy of Julius Caesar" by William Shakespeare proves to be an amazing read if one thoroughly enjoys the challenge of deciphering the selective form of writing and occasionally complicated dialect. This classic play is based on the true, factual account of the assassination of Julius Caesar as it truly took place in 44 B.C. Of course, Shakespeare has completely made the story his own through the use of comic relief, characterization, and wonderful original composition. Julius Caesar, the ambitious and prideful dictator of Rome, has returned home from a victorious battle against his fellow Triumvirate, Pompey. As he celebrates and relishes his absolute power, little does he suspect the growing opposition of conspirators, some of whom he would never expect. This read is certainly worthwhile if one has a good taste for tragedy and does not mind a challenge.

The Arden Shakespeare series is the best, for either the beginning of scholarly research, the average needs of the English student, or as a resource for the informed theater professional. My only note of caution is for a casual reader who may find the extensive footnoting more of an interruption than a help. Love this book, love them all.

Shakespeare wrote Julius Caesar in about 1599. The play was the first of three Roman plays. Shakespeare based the source material for the play on a translation of a work by the Greek philosopher and biographer Plutarch, called "The lives of the Noble Greeks and Romans". Shakespeare, like Plutarch, praises and criticises the actions of the main characters in the assassination of Julius Caesar. However, the historical events in the play are fairly accurate, although the playwright sometimes changed the sequence and timing of events and added his limitless imagination to produce a timeless play that has been enacted and enjoyed by millions of people worldwide over the centuries.

The play is set in a period of political instability in Rome. The people of Rome celebrate Caesar victory over Pompey, their former leader. However, there are officials that are concerned about Caesar's growing power. The Romans were then aware that absolute power is open to abuse (there are people today who still do not know this simple fact). Among those concerned about the growing power of Caesar are Cassius and Brutus, who are both followers of Caesar.

Cassius persuades Brutus that something needs to be done to thwart Caesar's growing ambitions. Brutus has a problem with his conscience but ultimately decides that it is in the best interests of Rome that Caesar is eliminated.

Caesar receives warnings about the impending danger. During a festival that Caesar attends, he is warned "Beware the Ides of March". Caesar, however, dismisses the Soothsayer's warnings. When the Ides of March arrive and while Caesar is due to go to be crowned, warnings in the form of storms, bad omens and his wife's horrible dreams initially persuade Caesar to stay at home. However, Caesar decides to go after being advised that if he did not show up, Senators might change their minds about crowning him emperor. On entering the capitol, the conspirators stab Caesar to death.

Mark Anthony, a very close ally of Caesar, initially pretends to go along with the conspirators but he is determined to avenge his death. When Brutus addresses the confused crowd to drum up support for the assassination, Mark Anthony cleverly and expertly manages to turn the crowd against the conspirators and incites them to riot. With popular support in Rome, the triumvirs Anthony, Octavious and Lepidus plan to fight Brutus and Cassius. Brutus's conscience still troubles him and he sees Caesars ghost. Fighting takes place and Cassius and Brutus are defeated and both commit suicide to save their honour. The triumvirs then seize power after avenging Caesar.

I really enjoyed reading this edition of the play. Each scene is proceded by a summary of the secene and followed by commentary on the scene, and there are notes alongside the text explaining unusual words/phrases. As an actor, I have been reading Shakespeare for quite awhile, and I still found this book very helpful. If you are new to reading Shakespeare, I particularly recommend this because you will find it very helpful.

shakespeare has done it again... and thanks to amazon i was allowed to fully enjoy this great masterpiece

Hamlet is a book written by William Shakespeare. The book is very thrilling; it keeps you on your feet throughout the read. In the beginning it starts out with a family murder then it moves through incest then a big bang at the end as every major character is killed. This book goes to show that treason gets you know where.

I'm going to take some hits for this (by rabid Shakespeare fans mostly), but this play, whether read in a straightforward manner, or analyzed to the hilt, is just somewhat better than mediocre.
Most folks who would read this work know that Shakespeare's plays are broken down, at the top, into two groups: tragedies and comedies. Hamlet is a tragedy -- the limited humor that one finds herein is pretty darn subtle, (e.g., the comment about Englishmen all being mad). I do not criticise "Hamlet" for that actuality, in fact, I prefer the tragedies. However, the play, as plays go, is simply just so-so. I think folks get 'caught up' in the fact that this is SHAKESPEARE, and therefore, they are SUPPOSED to like it if they have an ounce of culture.
For people who wish to delve into ecclectic classic works (of all genres), "Hamlet" is difficult to read (unless you're a genius, you sort of have to stumble along and concentrate on what has been said), due mostly to the archaic language. I think, to be a fan of Shakespeare, one must assidiously STUDY Shakespeare... and for those folks who just want 'to read some Shakespeare,' I think that "Julius Caesar" is a much better place to begin.
The story about Haml