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Four Great Tragedies: Romeo and Juliet; Julius Caesar; Hamlet; Macbeth
This edition of four of Shakespeare's great tragedies is designed for the enjoyment of the modern reader. This complete "Cambridge Text" of each play is clear and understandable. The story of each play is summed up briefly by J. Walker McSpadden.
A glossary at the end of the book explains all unusual words and terms. The casts of characters are illustrated by Louis Glanzman.
Mark Van Doren's fine prefaces introduce each play, casting new light on some of the most inspired writing in the English language
393 pages, Paperback
First published November 6, 2013
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About the author
William Shakespeare
27.6k books47k followersWilliam 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".
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".
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Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews
April 28, 2011
HAMLET 5/5
I really liked Hamlet. At first I wanted to give it 4 stars because I thought : Okay I really liked it as a whole but now it's time to think about the things that really bugged me while reading and surprisingly I couldn't find a thing that was such a big deal that made me like the book less. Shakespeare's language is sometimes hard to follow but with footnotes explaining things you can manage and in "Hamlet" there were moments where I was a bit lost when Hamlet was talking but I think it was intention of the writer. This is one of the situations where I can't find reasonable explanation of why I wouldn't make it a 5 star book but something in my gut tells me that something that makes a book spacial for me was missing so it is not a full 5 stars book.
Macbeth 3,5/5
This is my second time reading "Macbeth" and I have to admit it was a tad better than the first time. I don't know why but even when I was beginning to read it for the first time I had some kind of aversion to this play, maybe third time will be a charm. I think that what kind of irritates me is the fact that Macbeth blindly listens to the witches and doesn't really question anything about their prophecies or doesn't think about consequences of his acts or morality of his behavior. This character just really bugged me and since he is the protagonist and everything in the play evolves around him my dislike to him kind of influenced how I feel about the whole book. The thing I liked about the book were the scenes with the witches. Texts like :" Double, double toil and trouble" or "Something wicked this way comes" lightened the mood of the play for me a little bit.
Othello 4/5
Main themes are trust and love. The story kept me quite curious till the end. The thing that bothered me a little was the fact that Othello so easily gave up to his jealousy and stopped trusting his wife, his emotions took over his common sense and thats why Iago so easily did what he did.If Othello put more trust into his wife Iago would have to play even more games to get to his goal and there would be more intrigues for us to uncover throughout the book. What I really like is that you can't really be sure what happens next so you read attentively wanting to know what will happen.
Romeo and Juliet 4,5/5
It's a story that nearly everyone knows. It is a great read. Only one thing bugges me a little and it is Romeo. I consider him to be a little too emotional, he kind of reminds me of a women with all his shifts of emotions. But if he wouldn't so easily fall in love and follow his emotions no matter what we wouldn't have the story.
I really liked Hamlet. At first I wanted to give it 4 stars because I thought : Okay I really liked it as a whole but now it's time to think about the things that really bugged me while reading and surprisingly I couldn't find a thing that was such a big deal that made me like the book less. Shakespeare's language is sometimes hard to follow but with footnotes explaining things you can manage and in "Hamlet" there were moments where I was a bit lost when Hamlet was talking but I think it was intention of the writer. This is one of the situations where I can't find reasonable explanation of why I wouldn't make it a 5 star book but something in my gut tells me that something that makes a book spacial for me was missing so it is not a full 5 stars book.
Macbeth 3,5/5
This is my second time reading "Macbeth" and I have to admit it was a tad better than the first time. I don't know why but even when I was beginning to read it for the first time I had some kind of aversion to this play, maybe third time will be a charm. I think that what kind of irritates me is the fact that Macbeth blindly listens to the witches and doesn't really question anything about their prophecies or doesn't think about consequences of his acts or morality of his behavior. This character just really bugged me and since he is the protagonist and everything in the play evolves around him my dislike to him kind of influenced how I feel about the whole book. The thing I liked about the book were the scenes with the witches. Texts like :" Double, double toil and trouble" or "Something wicked this way comes" lightened the mood of the play for me a little bit.
Othello 4/5
Main themes are trust and love. The story kept me quite curious till the end. The thing that bothered me a little was the fact that Othello so easily gave up to his jealousy and stopped trusting his wife, his emotions took over his common sense and thats why Iago so easily did what he did.If Othello put more trust into his wife Iago would have to play even more games to get to his goal and there would be more intrigues for us to uncover throughout the book. What I really like is that you can't really be sure what happens next so you read attentively wanting to know what will happen.
Romeo and Juliet 4,5/5
It's a story that nearly everyone knows. It is a great read. Only one thing bugges me a little and it is Romeo. I consider him to be a little too emotional, he kind of reminds me of a women with all his shifts of emotions. But if he wouldn't so easily fall in love and follow his emotions no matter what we wouldn't have the story.
June 29, 2015
What a wonderful introduction to Shakespeare if you don't have a lot of experience with the Bard. They cut out large portions to make it possible to have four plays into one book. The graphic novel type layout is fantastic. Iconic scenes like the balcony scene in Romeo and Juliet, Ophelia drowning, and Hamlet's dramatic scene are just so fabulously odd and wonderful when told in Lego. I know my eight year old son was engrossed in these stories that are timeless and because he loves Legos he loved the story. I would recommend this as a great way to introduce great literature to young people.
December 3, 2012
Haven't completely read the whole thing, but I've grown up with enough people reading or watching Shakespeare to understand everything going on. I'm not anywhere close to a Shakespeare fan, but I needed something of him in my collection and this book was just too beautiful not to pick up and read a little. A star for some of the smartest writing of all time, and another for being something one of the most beautiful bindings I've ever seen
September 18, 2017
This is clearly an amazing accomplishment. Building every scene in Legos?! Amazing. It also uses actual text, so it's a great companion resource or even substitute source for classroom use. But it's so jam packed that it was almost too much. But interesting and worth looking at if you teach Shakespeare.
August 22, 2021
Enjoyed these plays quite a lot! It was an interesting experience to read Shakespeare.
April 28, 2023
A pretty interesting take on shakespeare, each story chosen is accurate and well known to be shakespeare. This allows for a firm grasp on what shakespeare was all about. My only gripe being that they had to cut some of the more interesting pieces out for the sake of the book and lack of resources available to them. However overall, a worthy read. Easily five stars.
September 28, 2007
this book u must should try to read, coz the line of this books will know who is the really william shakespeare
August 23, 2007
I read Macbeth and also Romeo and Juliet in high school and Hamlet in college.
March 26, 2008
I really liked Macbeth and Hamlet in high school. So I got this book and loved the other tradegies as well.
October 5, 2011
I liked Othello, others were ok
Want to read
November 6, 2013This looks amazing and I really want to read it.
August 23, 2015
It's tough to take the tragedies seriously when they are all made out of Legos, but it was fun to read and now I have read more Shakespeare! My favorites were Hamlet and Macbeth - at least in Legos.
Read
August 12, 2016Hilarious!
November 14, 2016
Max stars. This is a no-brainer. Shakespeare should be not just on everyone's to read list, but on everyone's read list. Much more Shakespeare to come.
January 22, 2019
Great introduction to Shakespeare's tragedies.
April 8, 2014
I will not doubt finish this many times more.
Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews