Twelfth Night: No Fear Shakespeare Deluxe Student Editions - Shakespeare Side-by-Side Plain English

by William Shakespeare

Shakespeare everyone can understand—now in new DELUXE editions!   Why fear Shakespeare? By placing the words of the original play next to line-by-line translations in plain English, these popular guides make Shakespeare accessible to everyone. They introduce Shakespeare’s world, significant plot points, and the key players. And now they feature expanded literature guide sections that help students study smarter, along with links to bonus content on the Sparknotes.com website. A Q&A, guided analysis of significant literary devices, and review of the play give students all the tools necessary for understanding, discussing, and writing about Twelfth Night.The expanded content includes:  Five Key Five frequently asked questions about major moments and characters in the play.  What Does the Ending Mean?: Is the ending sad, celebratory, ironic . . . or ambivalent?  Plot What is the play about? How is the story told, and what are the main themes? Why do the characters behave as they do?  Study Questions that guide students as they study for a test or write a paper.  Quotes by Quotes organized by Shakespeare’s main themes, such as love, death, tyranny, honor, and fate.  Quotes by Quotes organized by the play’s main characters, along with interpretations of their meaning.

Genres: Classics, Plays

373 pages, Kindle Edition

Published August 3, 2021

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

[Christina Pilkington · Rating 4 out of 5]

*4.5 stars*

Once again, a great edition to the No Fear Shakespeare line of books. I've used these books with my homeschooled teens, and they are so helpful in making the play more understandable. We read one page of the Shakespeare version and then one page of the modern translation, switching back and forth.

This Deluxe Student Edition also provides analysis on characters, important quotes, themes symbols and motifs. There is also a student essay example and a chapter that breaks down how to write a literary analysis.

As to the play itself, it's a zany, wacky play full of gender swapping, identity confusion and disguise that isn't my favorite, but it's still a fun, comedic play to read. I went with my kids to see a production of the play, and having read it first and discussed it in length, we were able to really enjoy our time at the play.

My one criticism is that the usual quiz was not included in this edition. However, you can find a free quiz online if you search the Sparknotes website.

[Barry · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars (between good and very good)

I thought I should revisit this one since I hadn’t read it since high school and remembered approximately nothing about it.

Shakespeare sure loved comedies involving mistaken identities (and sexes) via disguises and crossdressing. Were people so easily fooled back then? Of course it was probably more believable (and confusing) on stage at the time since all the characters were portrayed by male actors. So in this play there would be a male actor playing the lead role of a woman whose character pretends to be a man who then falls in love with a man who instead loves a different woman who is played a man. And that woman played by a man loves the woman pretending to be a man, who is played by a man. And then her twin brother shows up…
Yeah.

It’s all fairly silly but entertaining. A fun time at the theater I’m sure.

[le chat gris · Rating 5 out of 5]

In anticipation of seeing a live theater 🎭 production of this play next week, I decided to go through the script ahead of time. This is the second of the “No Fear Shakespeare” series I’ve used to enhance my understanding and therefore my enjoyment of Shakespeare plays.

For those unfamiliar with this series, the original Elizabethan language appears on the left pages and the modern language interpretation is presented on the right pages, exactly opposite.

For those intimidated by archaic language, these books can be invaluable for preparing audience members to better understand what’s being said and what’s happening. One may then feel more apt to attend performances and get a bigger bang for the buck spent on their tickets! 🎟️

Grateful!! ☺️

[Olivia · Rating 5 out of 5]

I freaking loved this 🥹😌❤️

[Addison Schedin · Rating 3 out of 5]

This story was alright. Let’s start with everything I liked about it. I liked how the author wove together all these different subplots and main plots in order to create a cohesive story. Also, I liked the ending where all the characters meet together to find out all these secrets and identities and overall just wrap everything up in a gigantic ah ha moment. I also liked the female main character, Viola. I liked how she was so independent and cunning as she dressed as a man to survive in the society, I liked how she was not written as a weak woman even though this play was written a long time ago. I also liked how interesting and different all the character were and how they all connected and contributed to the story. I also liked the concept of this story, I thought the idea was interesting and creative and also pretty well executed. Now things I didn’t like as much. I didn’t really connect with a lot of the characters, I thought some of their characteristics and overall character were a little dull or just outright annoying. I also thought the sub plot with Andrew and Toby punishing Malvolio in the dark room was kind of dumb. They literally hated him because he didn’t want some stupid guys distressing Olivia when she was in mourning. Like Malvolio really didn’t even do that much wrong, he was just doing the right thing so that kind of annoyed. All in all all my other complaints can be justified by the fact that this is a play meant to be acted out. Of course the descriptions are not going to be as complex because it is meant to be acted out and it is all just dialogue. Overall I’m going to assume this is not Shakespeare’s best work but I will appreciate the plot and also the English translations because that helped me understand the play significantly more. I would probably not recommend this book to anyone though.

[Scott · Rating 5 out of 5]

I like how these editions make it simple to read. The extra notes on the text would be helpful for students studying the play
Original Shakespeare text is always better as the modern translations can be a bit childish.

[Dee]

Loved the quotes