The Riverside Shakespeare

by William Shakespeare

The Riverside Shakespeare

book data

871 ratings, 4.68 average rating, 89 reviews (more data...)

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published

December 31st 1997 by Houghton Mifflin Company

binding

Hardcover, 2057 pages

isbn

0395754909 (isbn13: 9780395754900)

description

The Second Edition of this complete collection of Shakespeare's plays and poems features two essays on recent criticism and productions, fully upda...more

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other reviews (showing 1-20 of 983)

All ratings | 5 stars (670) | 4 stars (144) | 3 stars (41) | 2 stars (13) | 1 star (3) | avg 4.68

all | this edition

Tessa

Tessa rated it:

05/02/07

bookshelves: sogoodyoureadthemagain

Ok, so I haven't read EVERY play, but I'm working on it. Much Ado, Winter's Tale, R & J, and Hamlet all stand out as favorites. If you want to read Shakespeare, Riverside is a great way to do it--most of the discussions of the plays are quite good and you can brush up on the history of his life and theatre in the time period as well.

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Dan

Dan rated it:

(review of isbn 0395044022)

11/13/08

bookshelves: theatre--plays

I won't say I've read all the entire book (I'm leaving King John and Henry VI for some time later)--but I think I've read enough to comment on it. A good edition of Shakespeare, with a general introduction, textual notes, and illustrations (including coloured plates).

Here's my review of Hamlet:
The hero wears black, is a university student, writes poetry, studies philosophy at university. He's got a thing going with Ophelia. Horatio has his back. Following the death of his father and th...more

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Reading

Reading is currently reading it

07/24/08

bookshelves: currently-reading

Half-price book store for my favorite edition of S's plays: 4 bucks. Yeah. Is it sad that this is what made my week?

The Riverside's certainly the clearest-printed I've run across, of the dozen or so well-known versions out there - and though I wish there were a few more annotations per page as far as the more obscure Elizabethan language goes, I still think this one "feels" best, with just the right amount of spacing between lines, so that it's discernible enough to be read witho...more

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Maria

Maria rated it:

04/03/08

bookshelves: currently-reading, plays

Read in September, 2007

This one will probably always be on my currently reading shelf. Right now I am working on scenes from Richard III and Twelfth Night and monologues from Cymbeline and Henry IV, part ii, also the sonnets. My least favorite play so far is the Merry Wives of Windsor - the opening scene makes no sense and if Shakespeare wrote it he must have been drunk.

Now I'm working on a new scene from Twelfth Night and one from All's Well That Ends Well. The latter one I have never read so more on what I th...more This one will probably always be on my currently reading shelf. Right now I am working on scenes from Richard III and Twelfth Night and monologues from Cymbeline and Henry IV, part ii, also the sonnets. My least favorite play so far is the Merry Wives of Windsor - the opening scene makes no sense and if Shakespeare wrote it he must have been drunk.

Now I'm working on a new scene from Twelfth Night and one from All's Well That Ends Well. The latter one I have never read so more on what I think about it later this week.

All's Well is nice, not my favorite comedy but nice nonetheless. Interesting use of rhyming couplets between Helena and the king. This play is awkward for me because Bertram and Helena seem ill-matched but maybe that makes it more realistic than some of the other plays about love. There also seems to be a stronger female presence than in other plays but the women are not very three dimensional for the most part. I think this play succeeds or fails based on the vision of the director and cast more so than one like Twelfth Night.

Measure for Measure is interesting. The "virtuous" characters have serious flaws and the villains are charming. Especially Lucio. There is a very similar subplot to All's Well whose moral runs along the lines of "If you have a wife or fiancee who you are avoiding while pursuing a virtuous maiden, don't make plans to deflower the maiden at midnight in the garden because the woman you meet will probably be your wife."

Tempest: Just revisited for the first time since a production in college (cast as Miranda turned it down to play a spirit in an ugly mustard leotard...) It is surprising to me what language stuck and what didn't. I have part of a song that often runs through my head that evidently comes from this play but I had forgotten where I learned it. It is much shorter than I remembered. Prospero is by far the most dimensional character but the other characters are nice archetypes. Love the comedy between Stephano, Trinculo, and Caliban. I think it is interesting that Caliban speaks in verse I would have expected prose from him. Anyway. lovely play. I hope I have the chance to play Miranda before I get too old.

Twelfth Night: Just revisited this for an audition. It is a wonderful comedy that holds up with few alterations in the modern world. Also three great characters for women. I was surprised by how much of the play is in prose but I suppose it makes sense because it is a comedy and so much of the action takes place between the servants. I remember seeing a wonderful production of this show at UCSB when I was in high school. I feel badly about how the audition went and I just realized it is making me reluctant to spend much time thinking about the play so maybe I will return and review it more objectively at a later date.

Coriolanus was a wonderful surprise. I wanted to read it because we were going to the opening night of OSF's production of it. In general I am not much of a history person and despite the fact that this is considered a tragedy I was pretty sure it was Roman history cleverly disguised. Anyway, I found the play to be very accessible, if rather long. The language, perhaps because so much is spoken by and with commoners, is very visceral. Lots of land and animal imagery (is a dragon an animal?) that I found to be particularly appealing. I also found the play to be philosophical particularly about the role of government and tension between classes, certainly a relevant discussion in any society and time period. I didn't find Caius Marcius, later Coriolanus, to be particularly likable, but he does say some wonderfully inflammatory things and his journey was interesting. The real revelation for me was Volumina, his mother. She is incredibly powerful and interesting, right down to her intriguing child-rearing philosophies. What a role. Can't wait until I am old enough to use her monologues as audition pieces. Also lots of humor in the play. Class tensions makes for some funny disagreements. I look forward to being surprised by other works in the canon. ...less

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Mike

Mike rated it:

(review of isbn 0395044022)

10/13/07

bookshelves: drama, england-and-uk, fiction-drama-poetry, poetry, z-read-in-1980s

I realize that it's lazy of me to add this instead of having to think about how the individual plays (I'm in Shakespeare for the plays, not the sonnets) stack up against each other, but I have to add this if for no other reason than that it is one of the very few books in my personal library that has survived every single one of my residential relocations since college, which I think is about 15-20 moves and a total of more than 20,000 miles.

Also, it's a book, right? And a really great on...more

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Lydia

Lydia marked it as to-read

10/14/08

bookshelves: plays, to-read

Read thus far:
The Taming of the Shrew
As You Like It
Twelfth Night
Measure for Measure
Romeo and Juliet
Julius Ceasar
Hamlet
Othello
Macbeth
The Tempest
King Lear
Various sonnets

To read:
The Comedy of Errors
The Two Gentlemen of Verona
Love's Labor's Lost
A Midsummer Night's Dream
Much Ado About Nothing (seen)
Troilus and Cressida
All's Well That Ends Well
Henry VI: 1, 2, 3
Richard III (seen)
King John
Richard II
Henry IV: 1, 2
Henry V
Henry VIII
Titus Andronicus ...more

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Chandra

Chandra rated it:

10/18/08

bookshelves: anglophilia, classics

Anyone who loves language and literature should be familiar with the fabulous Bill.

This book was a gift from my father when I enrolled in my first Shakesperean lit class in college. It was an unmitigated disaster and I dropped the course pretty early on. The huge book was an albatross - a constant reminder of my shame and I finally re-took the course my senior year. I learned more about language and literature than I could have ever imagined. There is a reason why everyone loves Bill. ...more

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Simon

Simon rated it:

(review of isbn 0395044022)

02/27/08

bookshelves: personal-library

Read in February, 2008

Recently read:
Hamlet (January/February 2008)--fifth reading--This time around Elsinore, Gertrude is a stupid cow and that Ophelia was fortunate she never had to have Gertie as her mother-in-law. Gert's just oblivious to so many things. Ophelia is obedient, but at least (and tragically) knows what's what. As I get older, I lose respect/adoration/sympathy for Hamlet the Junior.

Titus Andronicus (January/February 2008)--first & second reading--Too much maligned and underrated. Now ranks as on...more

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Nathan

Nathan rated it:

01/23/08

Read in January, 2008

recommended to Nathan by: Evan Lamb, a nutty bibliophile
recommends it for: you nutty bibliophiles who can't imagine the world without another volume of Shakespeare plays

A Shakespeare play is only as good as its edition. Fortunately, the Riverside Shakespeare maximizes the positive qualities of both the second (good) quarto and the first folio, borrowing the best elements from both versions of the play to create a new authoritative edition. The introductions to the plays, as well as the footnotes and endnotes, are both insightful and delightful to study. If you love Shakespeare or Shagspear, Shaksper, whatever you want to call him (he wasn't very particular)...more

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Bets

Bets added it

02/05/08

bookshelves: shakespeare-320

Read in January, 2008

Read six plays for my Shakespeare literature class. "Richard II" was alright - a bit heavy for a first assignment, but not bad. "As You Like It" was plesant, and I really enjoyed it. "Measure for Measure" was another that I was a bit bored with. "The Merchant of Venice" was a bit heavy on the allegory/symbolism, and I was less than impressed. "Hamlet" was fantastic, and I'm glad that it was included on the reading list. "King Lear"...more

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Nika

Nika rated it:

(review of isbn 0395044022)

05/31/07

bookshelves: shakeseareanyone

Read in January, 1993

recommends it for: actors

Since I won this book at an annual Shakeseare Acting Competition it means alot to me. I heard it was a valuable book. It was a great honor to be awarded best shakespearean actress amoung so many different school of actresses. Two years in a row too. The second year I think I donated the book to the school library...not sure. I forgot now. I do knwo I donated it cause I never got it...didnt want two.

Its great for photcopying entire plays since the print is so small.

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Katie

Katie rated it:

07/29/07

bookshelves: plays

Read in September, 2004

Plays read:

A Midsummer Night's Dream
The Merchant of Venice
Much Ado About Nothing
As You Like It
Twelfth Night, or What You Will
All's Well That Ends Well
The Tragedy of King Richard the Second
The First Part of Henry the Fourth
The Second Part of Henry the Fourth
The Life of Henry the Fifth
The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet
The Tragedy of Julius Caesar
The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark
The Tempest

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Alexia

Alexia rated it:

(review of isbn 0395044022)

08/13/07

Read in January, 1994

recommends it for: those in need of an ego check

It is impossible when holding this book, which weighs about 12 lbs., not to feel like a mentally challenged illiterate. All of Shakespeare's works, the comedies, the tragedies, and even the damn sonnets are included in this volume. Yet every time I open it up and read just one page, I am intimidated beyond belief and put the door stop back on the shelf. One day I will read Hamlet...one day.

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Casey

Casey rated it:

08/28/08

When I first saw the cost (and the weight!) of this book at my university bookstore, I really did NOT want to buy it. However, it has really been a Godsend. It has wonderful annotations without a lot of frills, and it really is the entire collected works. For a student/teacher of literature or for any true Shakespeare fan, this one really is worth it in my opinion.

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Tara

Tara rated it:

08/08/07

bookshelves: collegereadinglist1994-1998

Took a Shakespeare class one semester in college and walked away with his complete works. I have always been a fan of Shakespeare and the class only heightened my fandom. I played the part of The Fool in King Lear and had a blast! Once I was able to figure out the best way to read Shakespeare (punctuation to punctuation, not line to line), it all made sense!

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Tessa

Tessa rated it:

03/12/08

recommended to Tessa by: my mom
recommends it for: nerds, geeks, and English Majors

Some people have teddy bears. I have my mom's college copy of the Riverside, and it sleeps by my bed. It's been scarred by life, covered in notes, doodled and dropped, the cover's halfway off, and I wouldn't replace it for the world.

The definitive collection of The Works, now with more incorrect information provided by Don Foster.

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Scott

Scott rated it:

(review of isbn 0395044022)

10/22/07

Read in May, 1987

Mike is right. It's true. I was officially married in Izu-Kogen Japan by a red-headed bearded Swiss guy named Alex playing the Priest and this book playing the Holy Bible. Does that mean I'm not really married? Hell, no! This book is waaay more interesting and entertaining than the Bible. Just as many people get killed, too.

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Matthew

Matthew rated it:

(review of isbn 0395044022)

09/25/07

This is easily the greatest and most accurate collection of Shakespeare's plays. It comes with terminology references at the bottom of each page so that you can understand the lexicon of the times as expressed in its original language. If you want a complete Shakespeare collection, this is the only book you will ever need.

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Mo rated it:

07/13/07

bookshelves: started-but-stopped

This wonderful compilation of Shakespeare's works was assigned to me as an English major during my undergraduate studies. I will always treasure it as I spent a lot of late nights (and all-nighters) with it in college. Someday I hope to go back to it and read some of the works that were not assigned to me in class.

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Becky

Becky rated it:

12/03/07

bookshelves: must-reads

Has a copy to sell/swap

recommends it for: EVERYONE

Since I've read most of Shakespeare's works, I might as well list the book that has it all! This is a great version though, with written commentary on each play. It also has all the sonnets . . . "Let us not to the marriage of true minds admit impediments." Beautiful! I need to pull this one out again.

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