Into the Forest discussion

Our original tale for this group read is: The Tempest by William Shakespeare.

No spoilers in this thread, please!

I know we don't usually do separate Spoiler/No Spoiler threads for original tales, but I figured since this one is a bit longer and might take people a bit of time to get through, it might be appropriate in this case.

So, obviously, this can easily be found online.

I'm not seeing a free stand-alone Kindle version, but here's his Complete Works: https://smile.amazon.com/William-Shak...
Nook: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/s/shake...

Project Gutenberg: http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/23042
Librivox: https://librivox.org/the-tempest-by-w...
OpenSource Shakespeare: http://www.opensourceshakespeare.org/...
Folger: http://www.folgerdigitaltexts.org/htm... (Has the same intro as their paper editions, but leaves out the footnotes)

If you need a bit of help with a particular line, No Fear Shakespeare is awesome. It has a side-by-side translation into modern English right next to the original. http://nfs.sparknotes.com/tempest/ for the online version, or you can get it in paper.


For paper editions, I usually swear by Folger Shakespeare Library. I think they do a good job of balancing footnotes for the hardest portions/most obscure jokes and just letting you figure it out for yourself.

There's also Julie Taymor's film version. It got a lot of negative reviews, but I thought it was okay (not great, but still worth watching).

Just goes to show how everyone likes different things!

I picked up one of the Oxford School Shakespeare books once and thought it was kind of silly. It even had notes on what a pun was! Which... If you're not proficient enough with English to know what a pun is, the original text of Shakespeare isn't for you, and you probably either need a translation or adaptation.

I do agree on preferring notes off to the side, though. The Folger editions do the notes on the facing page for most of the notes, and end notes for the ones that are longer than a paragraph or so.

I'll definitely be using No Fear, Shakespeare for this! Thanks for the link Melanti :)

I also recommend LitCharts for delving into themes and analyses. The Tempest LitChart

I have the behemoth The Complete Works of William Shakespeare from Barnes and Noble which I'll be weightlifting reading. I've read two other plays in here, and while it's not annotated (boo), it's a nice format.

Also looking forward to connecting the parallels with "Forbidden Planet," which is based off of the play!

I've read this play twice, so I'll probably watch a film version instead. I've never seen any films based on this play, though it looks like there aren't too many.

I read Shakespeare in my The Riverside Shakespeare anthology. Has an essay at the beginning of each play giving historical context and nuances, and has good footnotes. The main problem with it, as with many giant anthologies, is the print is too small!

Via films--I'll probably watch the one Susan recommended with Helen Mirren. I also found a documentary free on Amazon Prime called Shakespeare Behind Bars, about a prison that puts on a production of The Tempest. I wonder if that's where Margaret Atwood got her inspiration for Hag-Seed?

I have an antique Collected Works edition but it's too fragile for casual reading, so it's mostly a shelf decoration at this point. But it's a pretty one.

Regardless, someone in the last century cut out The Tempest (along with the first page of Two Gentlemen of Verona) so even if I wanted to, I wouldn't be able to read it from there.

I have The First Folio of Shakespeare. It is a large, oversized book consisting of the facsimiles of Shakespeare's plays housed in the Folger Shakespeare Library. It isn't available to link on goodreads. I guess that's because it is an academic book. It was the text we used for our graduate seminar on Shakespeare. The pages are actual copies of the original manuscripts. It is quite a challenge to read because the letters look different. For example, lower case 's' looks like 'f' and 'v' looks like 'u' and the spelling is weird ('thank' is spelled 'thanke'). But once you get used to the printing style, it becomes fairly easy.

I hated lugging that heavy thing around to class at the time, but I am so glad I have it now. It is an amazing feeling looking at a page and knowing that the image in front of you replicates Shakespeare's first folio of around 400 years ago.

Any chance this might be close?

The First Folio of Shakespeare

Katy wrote: "Any chance this might be close?

The First Folio of Shakespeare"

I think it might be the same. My cover is different. But it has the same editor (Hinman). I pulled it up on Amazon and was able to look inside. And, yes, it's the same book--different edition.
Awesome! Thanks for finding it.

You are welcome

Tamara wrote: "I have The First Folio of Shakespeare. It is a large, oversized book consisting of the facsimiles of Shakespeare's plays housed in the Folger Shakespeare Library. It isn't available to link on good..."

Oh, that sounds neat!

I recently read The Canterbury Tales in Middle English and I found that keeping the original spelling really helped me keep the rhymes & meter that gets lost when you modernize the spelling.

Shakespeare's Early Modern, not Middle, but there are still some pronunciation changes, and the original spelling should hint at that. I've made a vow to myself that whenever I tackle Shakespeare's poetry, I am going to read at least a few in the original.

I'm also a fan of the Folger editions.

I just taught this play to my middle school students, and it was a big success!

For a visual aid, I used this short video version: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kAZKI...

Phil wrote: "I'm also a fan of the Folger editions.

I just taught this play to my middle school students, and it was a big success!

For a visual aid, I used this short video version: https://www.youtube.com/w..."

Thanks for the video! I'm definitely going to watch it when I have a chance. This play seems like a good choice for middle school. We read Julius Caesar in middle school, and I liked it, but not many others. But there's magic in The Tempest! I'm so glad your students enjoyed studying it!

I've done five Shakespeare plays with my students, and I rank their success in this order:

Midsummer Night's Dream (perfect)
The Tempest (very good, no true hero and not enough changes)
Henry V (very good, too much historical background)
Henry IV pt. 1 (very good, not a complete story, too much historical background)
Julius Caesar (good, too many white guys with weird names shouting at each other, too much historical background, not enough women, romance, or comedy)

Phil wrote: "I've done five Shakespeare plays with my students, and I rank their success in this order:

Midsummer Night's Dream (perfect)
The Tempest (very good, no true hero and not enough changes)
Henry V (v..."

Sounds about right!