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This ebook contains Shakespeare's complete plays and complete poems in a new, easy-to-read and easy-to-navigate format. This is the most reader-friendly introduction to Shakespeare available today. 'The Complete Works of William Shakespeare' collects all thirty-seven of the immortal Bard's comedies, tragedies, and historical plays in a Collectible Edition. This volume also features Shakespeare's complete poetry, including the sonnets. With this beautiful Collectible Edition, you can enjoy Shakespeare's enduring literary legacy again and again.
This collection features the following works:
THE PLAYS
A Midsummer Night’s Dream
All’s Well that Ends Well
Antony and Cleopatra
As You Like It
The Comedy of Errors
Coriolanus
Cymbeline
Hamlet, Prince of Denmark
Julius Caesar
King Henry the Eighth
King Henry the Fifth
King Henry the Fourth, the First Part
King Henry the Fourth, the Second Part
King Henry the Sixth, the First Part
King Henry the Sixth, the Second Part
King Henry the Sixth, the Third Part
King John
King Lear
King Richard the Second
King Richard the Third
Love’s Labour’s Lost
Macbeth
Measure for Measure
The Merchant of Venice
The Merry Wives of Windsor
Much Ado About Nothing
Othello, the Moor of Venice
Pericles, Prince of Tyre
Romeo and Juliet
The Taming of the Shrew
The Tempest
Timon of Athens
Titus Andronicus
Troilus and Cressida
Twelfth Night; or, What You Will
The Two Gentlemen of Verona
The Winter’s Tale
SONNETS AND POEMS
The Sonnets
A Lover’s Complaint
The Passionate Pilgrim
The Phoenix and the Turtle
The Rape of Lucrece
Venus and Adonis
If you have struggled in the past reading Shakespeare, then BookCaps can help you out. This book is a modern translation of A Midsummer Nights Dream.
A Midsummer’s Night Dream was written and first performed in the mid 1590’s. Shakespeare used the device of magic extensively in this early comedy. There are four separate but intertwined plots.
The original text is also presented in the book, along with a comparable version of the modern text.
We all need refreshers every now and then. Whether you are a student trying to cram for that big final, or someone just trying to understand a book more, BookCaps can help. We are a small, but growing company, and are adding titles every month. Visit BookCaps.com to find out more.
Although MacBeth is classified as a tragedy in Shakespeare’s canon of work, it is also a history play based upon true events in Scotland’s past. Shakespeare’s source of information was Raphael Holinshead’s Chronicles. The playwright was undoubtedly inspired to construct a Scottish plot by the arrival on the English throne of King James I. James was also heir to the throne of Scotland, through his mother Mary, Queen of Scots. Mary had been executed for conspiracy by her cousin, Queen Elizabeth I. Shakespeare probably felt a little flattery of the king might go a long way – King James was a descendant of the real life Banquo. Shakespeare sought to please by celebrating the return of the rightful Scottish king (Malcolm) at the end of the play. MacBeth is referred to as “The Scottish Play” and is considered somewhat unlucky in theatre circles.
Shakespeare used magic devices (such as witches and apparitions) in MacBeth, which begins with three witches planning to meet MacBeth and Banquo, two generals in the army of Scotland’s king, Duncan. The generals, thanks to their ability as military leaders, have prevented an invasion from the north by Norwegians. The witches tell MacBeth that he will rule Scotland. They also tell Banquo that his descendants will also sit on the throne.
This annotated edition includes a biography and critical essay.
This guide encourages readers to see connections between the play and related events and ideas. Dramatic Context considers subjects such as the nature of tragedy, the historical source of the play (with timeline of Scottish history), and the language and thematic patterns within it. Historical Context includes a wide variety of seventeenth-century primary documents that bring the turbulent political context to life.Macbeth's journey to the present reveals how changing attitudes and expectations about acting styles, political viewpoints, and social values have influenced the play's performance and interpretation over the centuries. Contemporary Applications provides materials on political parallels such as Duvalier's Haiti, as well as the social and psychological impact of contemporary events on which the play casts a shadow. This resource book is an ideal companion for teacher use and student research. It will encourage a broad spectrum of approaches to the play and help the student discover and appreciate a wide variety of conflicting ideas and interpretations that can inform and enrich the student's experience of the play.
* Excellent formatting of the poems
* Wide breadth of poets from across time and cultures
* Special alphabetical contents tables for the poems and poets
* Easily locate the poems you want to read
* Scholarly ordering of texts into chronological order
CONTENTS:
The World’s Greatest Poems
CONTENTS OF THE COLLECTION
LIST OF POEMS IN ALPHABETICAL ORDER
LIST OF POETS IN ALPHABETICAL ORDER
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Also included in this edition are excerpts from a variety of literary source materials (including Geoffrey on Monmouth’s Historia Regum Britanniae, the anonymous True Chronicle Historie of King Leir, and Samuel Harsnett’s A Declaration of Egregious Popish Impostures); material on the historical Annesley case that raised many of the same issues as does Shakespeare’s play; and the happy ending from Nahum Tate’s version of the play, which held the stage for 150 years after its first performance in 1681.
This Macmillan Collector's Library edition is illustrated throughout by renowned artist Sir John Gilbert (1817-1897), and includes an introduction by Dr Robert Mighall.
Designed to appeal to the booklover, the Macmillan Collector's Library is a series of beautiful gift editions of much loved classic titles. Macmillan Collector's Library are books to love and treasure.
Sonnets are for romantics, starry-eyed lovers and ardent hearts. And Shakespeare’s sonnets are the best ever written.
But this is why they are also for cynics, for star-crossed lovers and for those who know the anguish of unrequited love.
Some of them are written to a young man, some of them to a woman. And although the poems are full of mystery – why did Shakespeare write them, what was his sexuality? – each one speaks to us from across the centuries of love, hate and the intensity of being alive.
Includes exclusive content: In the 'Backstory' you can find a short, handy, funny guide to everything you might want to know about Shakespeare and his sonnets.
‘This is a crazy, all-consuming, feverish and sweaty love; love, in all its uncut, full-strength intensity; an adolescent love’ Don Paterson, Guardian
This book is part of an expanding series that retells Shakespeare into fiction.
Though first published in quarto in 1598, the play's title page suggests a revision of an earlier version of the play. While there are no obvious sources for the play's plot, the four main characters are loosely based on historical figures. The use of apostrophes in the play's title varies in early editions, though it is most commonly given as Love's Labour's Lost.
The historical personages portrayed and the political situation in Europe relating to the setting and action of the play were familiar to Shakespeare's audiences. Scholars suggest that the play lost popularity as these historical and political portrayals of Navarre's court became dated and less accessible to theatergoers of later generations. The play's sophisticated wordplay, pedantic humour and dated literary allusions may also be reasons for its relative obscurity, as compared with Shakespeare's more popular works. Love's Labour's Lost was staged rarely in the 19th century, but it has been seen more often in the 20th and 21st centuries, with productions by both the Royal Shakespeare Company and the National Theatre, among others. It has also been adapted as a musical, an opera, for radio and television and as a musical film.
* concise introductions to the plays and other works
* images of how the plays first appeared in print, giving your eReader a taste of the Elizabethan texts
* ALL 38 plays and each with their own contents table – navigate easily between acts and scenes – find that special quotation quickly!
* even includes 17 apocryphal plays available nowhere else
* contains a special LOST PLAYS section, with concise information on Shakespeare’s lost works
* includes the special bonus play of DOUBLE FALSEHOOD
* ALL the sonnets and other poetry, with excellent formatting, in their own special contents table – find that special sonnet quickly and easily!
* packed full of hundreds of beautiful images relating to Shakespeare’s life, locations and works
* EVEN includes a special SOURCES section – spend hours discovering rare medieval texts that shaped Shakespeare’s greatest works.
* INCLUDES no less than 5 biographies – explore the bard’s mysterious life from multiple sources across history
* the SPECIAL literary criticism section boasts 11 works by writers as varied as Samuel Johnson, Coleridge, Pope, Bernard Shaw and Tolstoy
* scholarly ordering of texts into chronological order and literary genres
* includes a special ‘Glossary of Elizabethan Language’, which will aid your comprehension of difficult words and phrases
* UPDATED with line numbers to all 38 plays, in response to customers’ requests
* UPDATED with a special Quotations section, with hundreds of famous quotations from the plays and poetry
This eBook is quite simply stunning and deserves a place in the digital library of all lovers of literature.
CONTENTS
The Plays
ALL 38 PLAYS
The Lost Plays
LOVE’S LABOUR’S WON
CARDENIO
DOUBLE FALSEHOOD
The Sources
LIST OF THE PLAYS’ SOURCES
The Apocryphal Plays
ARDEN OF FAVERSHAM
THE BIRTH OF MERLIN
KING EDWARD III
LOCRINE
THE LONDON PRODIGAL
THE PURITAN
THE SECOND MAIDEN’S TRAGEDY
SIR JOHN OLDCASTLE
THOMAS LORD CROMWELL
A YORKSHIRE TRAGEDY
SIR THOMAS MORE
FAIR EM
MUCEDORUS
THE MERRY DEVIL OF EDMONTON
EDMUND IRONSIDE
THOMAS OF WOODSTOCK
VORTIGERN AND ROWENA
The Adaptations
TALES FROM SHAKESPEARE BY CHARLES AND MARY LAMB
The Poetry
THE SONNETS
VENUS AND ADONIS
THE RAPE OF LUCRECE
THE PASSIONATE PILGRIM
THE PHOENIX AND THE TURTLE
A LOVER’S COMPLAINT
The Apocryphal Poetry
TO THE QUEEN
A FUNERAL ELEGY FOR MASTER WILLIAM PETER
SONNETS TO SUNDRY NOTES OF MUSIC
The Criticism
PREFACE TO SHAKESPEARE AND NOTES ON PLAY BY SAMUEL JOHNSON
NOTES TO COMEDIES BY SAMUEL JOHNSON
A STUDY OF SHAKESPEARE BY ALGERNON CHARLES SWINBURNE
and many more!
The Biographies
SHAKESPEARE: HIS LIFE, ART, AND CHARACTERS BY HENRY NORMAN HUDSON
and many more!
Shakespeare’s Last Will and Testament
Resources:
Quotations
Glossary of Elizabethan Language
The play is believed to have been written between 1599 and 1606, and is most commonly dated 1606. The earliest account of a performance of what was probably Shakespeare's play is the Summer of 1606, when Simon Forman recorded seeing such a play at the Globe Theatre. It was first published in the Folio of 1623, possibly from a prompt book. It was most likely written during the reign of James I, who had been James VI of Scotland before he succeeded to the English throne in 1603. James was a patron of Shakespeare's acting company, and of all the plays Shakespeare wrote during James's reign, Macbeth most clearly reflects the playwright's relationship with the sovereign.
Macbeth is Shakespeare's shortest tragedy, and tells the story of a brave Scottish general named Macbeth who receives a prophecy from a trio of witches that one day he will become King of Scotland. Consumed by ambition and spurred to action by his wife, Macbeth murders King Duncan and takes the throne for himself. He is then wracked with guilt and paranoia, and he soon becomes a tyrannical ruler as he is forced to commit more and more murders to protect himself from enmity and suspicion. The bloodbath and consequent civil war swiftly take Macbeth and Lady Macbeth into the realms of arrogance, madness, and death.
Shakespeare's source for the tragedy is the account of Macbeth, King of Scotland, Macduff, and Duncan in Holinshed's Chronicles (1587), a history of England, Scotland, and Ireland familiar to Shakespeare and his contemporaries, although the events in the play differ extensively from the history of the real Macbeth. In recent scholarship, the events of the tragedy are usually associated more closely with the execution of Henry Garnett for complicity in the Gunpowder Plot of 1605.
In the backstage world of theatre, some believe that the play is cursed, and will not mention its title aloud, referring to it instead as "the Scottish play". Over the course of many centuries, the play has attracted some of the most renowned actors to the roles of Macbeth and Lady Macbeth. It has been adapted to film, television, opera, novels, comic books, and other media.
The earliest known production of the play was in 1674, when Thomas Shadwell wrote an adaptation under the title The History of Timon of Athens, The Man-hater. Multiple other adaptations followed over the next century, by writers such as Thomas Hull, James Love and Richard Cumberland. The straight Shakespearean text was at Smock Alley in Dublin in 1761, but adaptations continued to dominate the stage until well into the 20th century.
Timon of Athens was originally grouped with the tragedies, but some scholars name it one of the problem plays.
These new editions have specific emphasis on the performance histories of the plays (on stage and screen).
Features of each edition include:
The original introduction to the Kittredge Edition Editor’s Introduction to the Focus Edition. An overview on major themes of the plays, and sections on the play’s performance history on stage and screen. Explanatory Notes. The explanatory notes either expand on Kittredge’s superb glosses, or, in the case of plays for which he did not write notes, give the needed explanations for Shakespeare’s sometimes demanding language. Performance notes. These appear separately and immediately below the textual footnotes and include discussions of noteworthy stagings of the plays, issues of interpretation, and film and stage choices. How to read the play as Performance Section. A discussion of the written play vs. the play as performed and the various ways in which Shakespeare’s words allow the reader to envision the work "off the page." Comprehensive Timeline. Covering major historical events (with brief annotations) as well as relevant details from Shakespeare’s life. Some of the Chronologies include time chronologies within the plays. Topics for Discussion and Further Study Section. Critical Issues: Dealing with the text in a larger context and considerations of character, genre, language, and interpretative problems. Performance Issues: Problems and intricacies of staging the play connected to chief issues discussed in the Focus Editions’ Introduction. Select Bibliography & FilmographyEach New Kittredge edition also includes screen grabs from major productions, for comparison and scene study.
This Macmillan Collector's Library edition contains all of the poems, which explore many of Shakespeare's most common themes: jealousy, betrayal, melancholy. They ache with unfulfilled longing, and, for many, they are the most complete and moving meditations on love ever written.
With an afterword by Peter Harness.
Designed to appeal to the booklover, the Macmillan Collector's Library is a series of beautiful gift editions of much loved classic titles. Macmillan Collector's Library are books to love and treasure.
A Midsummer’s Night Dream was written and first performed in the mid 1590’s. Shakespeare used the device of magic extensively in this early comedy. There are four separate but intertwined plots.
The main plot is the marriage of Duke Theseus of Athens to Hippolyta, the Amazonian queen. Theseus is looking forward to his wedding and has ordered his master of the revels to prepare a wonderful wedding feast. While Theseus waits, he is approached by Egeus, father of Hermia. Egeus wants Hermia to marry Demetrius, who loves Hermia. Hermia, however, wants to marry Lysander. Under Athenian law, a woman must marry according to her father’s wishes.
This annotated edition includes a biography and critical essay.
Three different early versions of the play are extant, the First Quarto (Q1, 1603), the Second Quarto (Q2, 1604), and the First Folio (F1, 1623). Each version includes lines, and even entire scenes, missing from the others. The play's structure and depth of characterisation have inspired much critical scrutiny. One such example is the centuries-old debate about Hamlet's hesitation to kill his uncle, which some see as merely a plot device to prolong the action, but which others argue is a dramatisation of the complex philosophical and ethical issues that surround cold-blooded murder, calculated revenge, and thwarted desire. More recently, psychoanalytic critics have examined Hamlet's unconscious desires, and feminist critics have re-evaluated and rehabilitated the often maligned characters of Ophelia and Gertrude.
If you have struggled in the past reading Shakespeare, then we can help you out. Our books and apps have been used and trusted by millions of students worldwide.
Plain and Simple English books, let you see both the original and the modern text (modern text is underneath in italics)--so you can enjoy Shakespeare, but have help if you get stuck on a passage.
This Macmillan Collector's Library edition is illustrated throughout by renowned artist Sir John Gilbert (1817-1897), and features and introduction by Dr Robert Mighall.
Designed to appeal to the booklover, the Macmillan Collector's Library is a series of beautiful gift editions of much loved classic titles. Macmillan Collector's Library are books to love and treasure.
Inside you will find a comprehensive study guide, a biography about the life and times of Shakespeare, and a modern retelling (along with the original text) of Shakespeare’s Measure for Measure.
Each section of this book may also be purchased individually.
This Macmillan Collector's Library edition is illustrated throughout by renowned artist Sir John Gilbert (1817-1897), and includes an introduction by Ned Halley.
Designed to appeal to the booklover, the Macmillan Collector's Library is a series of beautiful gift editions of much loved classic titles. Macmillan Collector's Library are books to love and treasure.
