The Complete Works of Shakespeare

by William Shakespeare, David Bevington (Editor)

A comprehensive volume comprising all of Shakespeare's works.

Genres: Plays, Classics, Shakespeare, Fiction, Poetry, Reference, Amazon

1706 pages, Hardcover

Published January 1, 1997

About the author

William Shakespeare was an English playwright, poet, and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's national poet and the "Bard of Avon" (or simply "the Bard"). His extant works, including collaborations, consist of some 39 plays, 154 sonnets, three long narrative poems, and a few other verses, some of uncertain authorship. His plays have been translated into every major living language and are performed more often than those of any other playwright. Shakespeare remains arguably the most influential writer in the English language, and his works continue to be studied and reinterpreted.
Shakespeare was born and raised in Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire. At the age of 18, he married Anne Hathaway, with whom he had three children: Susanna, and twins Hamnet and Judith. Sometime between 1585 and 1592, he began a successful career in London as an actor, writer, and part-owner ("sharer") of a playing company called the Lord Chamberlain's Men, later known as the King's Men after the ascension of King James VI and I of Scotland to the English throne. At age 49 (around 1613), he appears to have retired to Stratford, where he died three years later. Few records of Shakespeare's private life survive; this has stimulated considerable speculation about such matters as his physical appearance, his sexuality, his religious beliefs, and even certain fringe theories as to whether the works attributed to him were written by others.
Shakespeare produced most of his known works between 1589 and 1613. His early plays were primarily comedies and histories and are regarded as some of the best works produced in these genres. He then wrote mainly tragedies until 1608, among them Hamlet, Romeo and Juliet, Othello, King Lear, and Macbeth, all considered to be among the finest works in the English language. In the last phase of his life, he wrote tragicomedies (also known as romances) and collaborated with other playwrights.
Many of Shakespeare's plays were published in editions of varying quality and accuracy during his lifetime. However, in 1623, John Heminge and Henry Condell, two fellow actors and friends of Shakespeare's, published a more definitive text known as the First Folio, a posthumous collected edition of Shakespeare's dramatic works that includes 36 of his plays. Its Preface was a prescient poem by Ben Jonson, a former rival of Shakespeare, that hailed Shakespeare with the now famous epithet: "not of an age, but for all time".

Reviews

[Kyle K]

The Comedies:
The Comedy of Errors -

Love's Labor Lost -

The Two Gentlemen of Verona -

The Taming of the Shrew -

A Midsummer Night's Dream -

The Merchant of Venice -

Much Ado About Nothing -

The Merry Wives of Windsor -

As You Like It -

Twelfth Night; Or, What You Will -

All's Well That Ends Well -

Measure for Measure -

Troilus and Cressida -

History:
The First Part of King Henry the Sixth -

The Second Part of King Henry the Sixth -

The Third Part of King Henry the Sixth -

The Tragedy of King Richard the Third -

The Life and Death of King John -

The Tragedy of King Richard the Second -

The First Part of King Henry the Fourth -

The Second Part of King Henry the Fourth -

He Life of King Henry the Fifth -

The Famous History of the Life of King Henry the Eighth -

The Tragedies:
Titus Andronicus -

Romeo and Juliet -

Julius Cesar -

Hamlet, Prince of Denmark -

Othello, the Moor of Venice -

King Lear -

Macbeth -

Timor of Athens -

Anthony and Cleopatra -

Coriolanus -

The Romances:
Pericles -

Cymbeline -

The Winter's Tale -

The Tempest -

The Two Noble Kinsmen -

The Poems:
Venus and Adonis -

The Rape of Lucrece -

The Phoenix and Turtle -

A Lover's Complaint -

Sonnets -

A Funeral Elegy for Master William Peter -

[Ana Mardoll · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Complete Works of Shakespeare / 0-673-99996-3

Every play, every sonnet, every scribble is here - and much more. This volume includes useful background on the theater, politics, morality, and social mores of the day. The level of detail here is absolutely stunning; the footnotes are numerous and incredibly helpful, especially to 'translate' obscure sayings or particularly unusual English usage. Each play is prefaced with an introduction containing the complete 'cliffs notes' of the play, providing useful insight into character motivation and development. I highly recommend this volume, both for Shakespeare enthusiasts and for students just wishing for enough information that they can passably demonstrate familiarity with the Bard.

~ Ana Mardoll

[Risa · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Complete Works of Shakespeare by William Shakespeare (1996)

[Nikki Wilson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Used this text in class on Shakespeare & it seems to be the ultimate.

[Amanda · Rating 5 out of 5]

Reading just a few of the plays for a grad class, but I will read all of them one day.