A fresh new edition of Shakespeare's magical late play, developed by and for the RSC, includes new interviews with acclaimed directors Dominic Cooke and Emma Rice, looks at specific productions in the play's history, and an illuminating introduction to the play by acclaimed scholar Jonathan Bate.

A fresh new edition of Shakespeare's ambiguous, bittersweet fairy tale, developed by and for the RSC, includes new interviews with acclaimed directors Gregory Doran and Stephen Fried, and actor Guy Henry, looks at specific productions in the play's history, and an illuminating introduction by acclaimed scholar Jonathan Bate.

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. Professor Hibbard's illuminating and original introduction explains the process by which variant texts were fused in the eighteenth century to create the most commonly used text of today. Drawing on both critical and theatrical history, he shows how this gusion makes Hamlet seem a much more 'problematic' play than it was when it originally appeared in the First Folio of 1623. The Oxford Shakespeare edition presents a radically new text, based on that First Folio, which printed Shakespeare's own revision of an earlier version. The result is a 'theatrical' and highly practical edition for students and actors alike.

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.

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.

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.

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.»

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.