William Shakespeare

Shakespeare's Scottish story of witchcraft and murder is probably one of his darkest works. Macbeth's bloody rise to power is encouraged by his wife, Lady Macbeth. Like her husband, Lady Macbeth's ambition leads her into a dark world of guilt and madness which slowly destroys their marriage, and ends in tragedy.

HarperCollins is proud to present its new range of best-loved, essential classics. 'Stars, hide your fires! Let not light see my black and deep desires.' One of Shakespeare's darkest and most violent tragedies, Macbeth's struggle between his own ambition and his loyalty to the King is dramatically compelling. As those he kills return to haunt him, Macbeth is plagued by the prophecy of three sinister witches and the power hungry desires of his wife.

A young prince meets with his father's ghost, who alleges that his own brother, now married to his widow, murdered him. The prince devises a scheme to test the truth of the ghost's accusation, feigning wild madness while plotting a brutal revenge. But his apparent insanity soon begins to wreak havoc on innocent and guilty alike. Hamlet's combination of violence and introspection is unusual among Shakespeare's tragedies. It is also full of curious riddles and fascinating paradoxes, making it one of his most widely discussed plays.

Dark and violent, Macbeth is also the most theatrically spectacular of Shakespeare's tragedies. Promised a golden future as ruler of Scotland by three sinister witches, Macbeth murders the king to ensure his ambitions come true. But he soon learns the meaning of terror — killing once, he must kill again and again, and the dead return to haunt him. A story of war, witchcraft and bloodshed, Macbeth also depicts the relationship between husbands and wives, and the risks they are prepared to take to achieve their desires.

A Midsummer Night's Dream is perhaps the best loved of Shakespeare's plays. It brings together aristocrats, workers, and fairies in a wood outside Athens, and from there the magic begins. A young woman flees Athens with her lover, only to be pursued by her would-be husband and by her best friend. Unwittingly, all four find themselves in an enchanted forest where fairies and sprites soon take an interest in human affairs, dispensing magical love potions and casting mischievous spells. In this dazzling comedy, confusion ends in harmony, as love is transformed, misplaced, and ultimately restored.

This is undoubtedly the greatest love story ever written, spawning a host of imitators on stage and screen, including Leonard Bernstein's smash musical West Side Story and Franco Zeffirelli's Romeo and Juliet filmed in 1968. A young man and woman meet by chance and fall instantly in love. But their families are bitter enemies, and in order to be together the two lovers must be prepared to risk everything. Set in a city torn apart by feuds and gang warfare, Romeo and Juliet is a dazzling combination of passion and hatred, bawdy comedy and high tragedy.

Who said « Neither a lender nor a borrower be»? Who are the star-crossed lovers? Which Shakespearean lady protests «too much»? If you have ever been stuck trying to identify a Shakespearean quote then this is the book for you! With over 3,000 quotes from single lines to quite long extracts, organized by topic and by play, this is an essential book for anyone with an interest in Shakespeare. The key word index makes it easy to use and it also includes a glossary of unfamiliar terms and a brief biography of Shakespeare. The Dictionary is easy to dip into by word or theme (love, greed, disease, war etc.) or by play, and the indexes allow readers to track down a half-remembered quote easily. An ideal companion for all students, teachers or performers of Shakespeare.

INTRODUCTION BY GERMAINE GREER. Shakespeare's sonnets are lyrical, haunting, beautiful and often breath-taking, representing one of the finest bodies of poetry ever penned. They demonstrate the writer's skill in capturing the full range of human emotions within a carefully prescribed form and creating something unique in every one. Some are familiar — Shall I compare thee to a summer's day? — others unexpected, but together they form an extraordinary meditation on the nature of love, lust, beauty and time.

Shakespeare became famous as a dazzling poet before most people even knew that he wrote plays. His sonnets are the English language's most extraordinary anatomy of love in all its dimensions-desire and despair, longing and loss, adoration and disgust. To read them is to confront morality and eternity in the same breath. Produced under the editorial supervision of Jonathan Bate and Eric Rasmussen, two of today's most accomplished Shakespearean scholars, The Sonnets and Other Poems includes all of Shakespeare's sonnets, the long narrative poems «Venus and Adonis» and «The Rape of Lucrece» and several other shorter works. Incorporating definitive texts and authoritative notes from William Shakespeare: Complete Works, this unique volume also includes an expanded Introduction by Jonathan Bate that places the poems in literary and historical context and illuminates their relationship to Shakespeare's dramatic writing. Also featured are key facts about the individual selections; an index of the first lines of the sonnets; a chronology of Shakespeare's life and times; and recommendations for further reading. Ideal for students and general readers alike, this modern and accessible edition sets a new standard in Shakespearean literature for the twenty-first century.

The Merry Wives of Windsor was almost certainly required at short notice for a court occasion in 1597: Shakespeare threw into it all the creative energy that went into his Henry IV plays. Falstaff is here, with Pistol, Mistress Quickly, and Justice Shallow, in a spirited and warm-hearted 'citizen comedy'. Boisterous action is combined with situational irony and rich characterization. In his introduction T. W. Craik discusses the play's probable occasion (the Garter Feast of 1597 at court), its relationship to Shakespeare's English history plays and to other sources, its textual history (with particular reference to the widely diverging 1623 Folio and 1602 Quarto), and its original quality as drama. He assesses various interpretations of the play, topical, critical, and theatrical. In the commentary he pays particular attention to expounding the literal sense (he proposes some new readings) and evoking the stage business.

Shakespeare's famous story of the young Prince Hamlet's journey into despair and revenge after learning that his uncle is his father's murderer. This Macmillan Reader is written as a playscript and includes original extracts.

The Oxford Shakespeare offers authoritative texts from leading scholars in editions designed to interpret and illuminate the works for modern readers — a new, modern-spelling text, based on the 1623 Folio text — on-page commentary and notes explain meaning, staging, language and allusions — detailed introduction considers composition, sources, and critical and theatrical history — includes full text of Plautus' Menaechmi and extracts from Gesta Grayorum and the Geneva Bible — illustrated with production photographs and related art — full index to introduction and commentary — durable sewn binding for lasting use

The Sonnets of William Shakespeare, a cycle of 154 linked poems, were first published — that is to say, entered at Stationers' Hall by the publisher Thomas Thorpe — on 20th May 1609. This 400th-anniversary edition contains all of the poems and they deal with many of Shakespeare's most common themes: jealousy, betrayal, melancholy, and are written in the same beautiful and innovative language that we have come to know from his plays. They ache with unfulfilled longing, and for many they are the most complete and moving meditations on love ever written.

Shakespeare's immortal drama is retold here in a graphic novel format. The prince of Denmark seeks to avenge his father's death by exposing the king as his murderer. Barron's popular and growing series of 'Graphic Classics' titles introduce many of the world's literary masterpieces to young readers. Elementary and secondary school teachers will value these books as a way to make great novels and plays accessible to their students especially to those students who resist reading. Presented in graphic novel format, each title tells an absorbing, fast-paced story dramatized with high-quality color illustrations. After delving into any of these stimulating titles, many boys and girls will feel encouraged to discover the joy of reading the masterworks in their original form. Each 'Graphic Classics' title includes a thumbnail biography of the author, a list of his or her important works, a timeline of historic events that helped inspire the story, general notes, and an index. 'Graphic Classics' titles are available in both paperback and hardcover editions.

Shakespeare's immortal drama is retold here in a graphic novel format. Julius Caesar, emperor of Rome, is brutally assassinated, but soon the conspirators Brutus, Marc Antony, and Cassius turn against one another to spark a civil war. Barron's popular and growing series of Graphic Classics titles introduce many of the worlds literary masterpieces to young readers. Elementary and secondary school teachers will value these books as a way to make great novels and plays accessible to their students especially to those students who resist reading. Presented in graphic novel format, each title tells an absorbing, fast-paced story dramatized with high-quality color illustrations. After delving into any of these stimulating titles, many boys and girls will feel encouraged to discover the joy of reading the masterworks in their original form. Each Graphic Classics title includes a thumbnail biography of the author, a list of his or her important works, a timeline of historic events that helped inspire...

In William Shakespeare's «Macbeth» an ambitious nobleman intends to become king of the Scots. He and his lady allow nothing to stop them — including murder.

In this «Graphic Classics» version of a famous Shakespearean tragedy, mortal enmity exists between the powerful houses of Montague and Capulet, but Romeo, the Montagues' son, and Juliet, daughter of the Capulets, are in love. Theirs is a romance destined to end in tragedy. «Graphic Classics» are graphic novel versions of immortal novels and plays, presented in a way to help make great literary works accessible to students, and encourage boys and girls to discover the joy of reading the masterworks in their original form. Titles in this series tell absorbing, fast-paced stories dramatized with high-quality color illustrations. Each «Graphic Classics» title includes a thumbnail biography of the author, a list of his or her important works, a timeline of historic events that helped inspire the story, general notes, and an index. «Graphic Classics» titles are available in both paperback and hardcover editions.

This title includes more than five hundred full colour illustrations by Sir John Gilbert. It features the Complete Works, reset using the famous Shakespeare Head text. All of Shakespeare's works in one volume. It also includes Shakespeare's world been captured by the titan of Victorian illustration, Sir John Gilbert RA. Gilbert's illustrations sensitively hand-coloured by Barbara Frith, one of Britain's finest colourists, whose work has won widespread acclaim. This sumptuous volume contains biographies of Shakespeare and Sir John Gilbert. It is presented in page size 270mm X 210mm; 726 pages; printed laminated case and dustjacket.

These are the stories of some of Shakespeare's most famous plays. We travel to Venice, Greece, Denmark and Rome, and meet many different people. There is a greedy money-lender, a fairy king and queen, some Roman politicians and a young prince who meets the ghost of his murdered father.

Hamlet is the Prince of Denmark. His heart is filled with sadness and pain. Why? Only his two best friends, Horatio and Marcellus, know the true reason. The new king, Claudius, murdered Hamlet's father and married the young prince's mother. Will Hamlet be strong and brave enough to take revenge? Is he mad? Or does he have a secret plan?

Macbeth, a brave soldier, is trusted by the Scottish king. Then a strange meeting with three witches makes him greedy for power. Macbeth wants to be king. He and his evil wife make murderous plans. But how many people will have to die before their dreams come true? This Penguin Reader play is written for acting making English come alive.

Othello is a popular soldier who is in love with his beautiful new wife. He also has good friends like Iago, another soldier. So when Iago tells him terrible stories about his wife, Desdemona, who should Othello believe? Will jealousy destroy all their lives? This is one of William Shakespeare's greatest plays.

These are the stories of some of Shakespeare's most famous plays. We travel to Venice, Greece, Denmark and Rome, and meet many different people. There is a greedy money-lender, a fairy king and queen, some Roman politicians and a young prince who meets the ghost of his murdered father.

Hamlet is the Prince of Denmark. His heart is filled with sadness and pain. Why? Only his two best friends, Horatio and Marcellus, know the true reason. The new king, Claudius, murdered Hamlet’s father and married the young prince’s mother. Will Hamlet be strong and brave enough to take revenge? Is he mad? Or does he have a secret plan?