Three Roman Plays: Julius Caesar/Antony and Cleopatra/Coriolanus

by William Shakespeare, Norman Sanders (Editor), Emrys Jones (Editor)

While Julius Caesar and Coriolanus are concentrated on the city of Rome, the epic love affair of Antony and Cleopatra extends across the Empire. Each of these plays is profoundly concerned with political action, with the relation between the political and the personal. Shakespeare, like Plutarch, closely scrutinizes his heroes and compels us to question what sort of men they are.

In this collection each play is accompanied by notes and an introduction, making this edition of particular value to students and theater-goers.

Genres: Classics, Theatre, Shakespeare, Fiction, Plays

672 pages, Mass Market Paperback

Published May 1, 1995

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

[Federica · Rating 5 out of 5]

Julius Ceasar: 5/5
Okay, I knew that it was going to be amazing, but this much?? No, I would have never imagined that. Every page, every line creates a definition of beauty, even the smallest comma is part of this project. I finished this book last night and I can't stop thinking about it, about a story that everyone already knows how it will end and yet can still astonish for the marvellous craftsmanship behind it. Shame on me for not reading it untill now.

Antony and Cleopatra: 4/5
Honestly, I do not have a precise opinion on this one, because I'm still think about Julius Caser, which was simply amazing. However this is good as well, with its great language and plot construction, but it didn't catch my attention in the same way.

Coriolanus: 4.5/5
I liked it more than Antony and Cleopatra but still less than Julius Caesar, and I think that the play starring Tom Hiddleston that I saw a couple of years ago has played an important part in my final judgment. Coriolanus doesn't even know what measure is, his hate for common people feels real, but the point is that Shakespeare is also able to make the reader blind to his faults.

No more tragedies in this book, the reading is over. But what an amazing reading it was. Definitely one of my favourites.

[Pinkes Einhorn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Julius Cäsar: 4
Antonius und Cleopatra: 2.5
Coriolanus: 4

[ｓｉｍ ✪ · Rating 4 out of 5]

Tre opere attribuite a William Shakespeare, ma molto probabilmente di un più esperto latinista, tutte basate su eventi riguardanti l'impero romano.

[Wm · Rating 5 out of 5]

Re-reading Coriolanus before watching the movie.