The Necessary Shakespeare

by William Shakespeare

Extracted from the best-selling Complete Works of Shakespeare, 5/e by David Bevington, The Necessary Shakespeare offers the most comprehensive scholarly apparatus, with the most often taught—necessary—of Shakespeare's work, creating a truly concise yet complete anthology. This anthology provides extensive introductions to the plays and poems-offering discussion topics, sources for each play, and the stage history of performances. Readers interested in Shakespeare.

Genres: Classics, Shakespeare, Poetry, Fiction, Plays, Read For School, Drama

1136 pages, Paperback

First published July 25, 2001

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

[John Porter · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you want a one volume Shakespeare book that provides plenty of background material, nice discussions of film and criticism, and terrific editing and annotations of 20 odd Shakespeare plays that are the best known and most widely read, this is your ticket. It's a great, great book. I suppose you could quibble about a couple of plays that are left out--I, personally, miss Coriolanus--but there's no better one size fits all Shakespeare book out there.

[Sana · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you like Shakespeare then you need this book.

[Aletheia · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have no complaints about this book. Great for studying Shakespeare on a foundational level.

[Lisa · Rating 5 out of 5]

Just finished reading Hamlet - I've fallen in love with Shakespeare. I read several of his plays many years ago, but being older (and taking a wonderful Shakespeare class), his work means so much more to me now; endlessly fascinating characters; questions we'll never quite know the answers to (was Hamlet's madness feigned or real? did Ophelia commit suicide?) So many themes woven into the play - it's just as relevant today as it was over 400 years ago. Next is Othello....

[Faye · Rating 5 out of 5]

Five stars for Shakespeare, a few less for David Bevington. I really enjoyed reading the plays we studied in my LIT class this term. It was the first time I had read Antony and Cleopatra. Bevington's essays introducing the texts were insightful but often represented his personal views instead of providing a more general critical overview of the play. Most of the time I found myself agreeing with Bevington's scholarship, but for a text book the intros should be more broad.

[Victoria · Rating 5 out of 5]

There should be more stars to rate Shakespeare!

I have read:
The Taming of the Shrew
A Midsummer Night's Dream
Much Ado About Nothing
As You Like It
Twelfth Night
The First Part of King Henry the Fourth
Romeo and Juliet
Julius Caesar
Hamlet, Prince of Denmark
Othello, the Moor of Venice
King Lear
The Winter's Tale
The Tempest
Sonnets

[Brittney Fischer · Rating 3 out of 5]

I had to get this book for my Shakespeare class in college. And no, I don't think I used Cliffnotes...at least not for all of them ;) My favorite stories are (not in order)Macbeth, Romeo & Juliet, A Midsummer Night's Dream,& Hamlet (I did an essay on him, where Ia ctually made the point that he was just a really misunderstood guy ;)

[Megan · Rating 2 out of 5]

Bevington's edition is not worth your time. While it has a decent collection of plays, the introductions are rather pointless. The Arden series is the one to go with, even though it might cost you more money.

[Terri Lynn · Rating 3 out of 5]

If you like Shakespeare (and I do), you'll probably enjoy this though there is really nothing new here. The introductions are nothing special and just cover material I already knew. It's a nice volume but if, like us, you already have a volume of Shakespeare, you won't need this.

[Terri · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Tempest, Henry IV, First Henry V, A Midsummer Night's Dream, The Taming of the Shrew, Hamlet, MacBeth,King Lear, and several sonnets. Seems like I'm leaving one or two out, but these for sure are what we covered in my WBU Shakespeare course. Great editing. Enjoyable compilation.

[Kathleen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Have read:

Romeo and Juliet
A Midsummer Night's Dream
Much Ado About Nothing
The Taming of the Shrew
The Tempest
The Merchant of Venice
Hamlet
Othello
King Lear
Richard III
Henry IV
Henry V

Various Sonnets

[Kbord · Rating 4 out of 5]

Each play has an introduction to give you some historical context. Unfamiliar words, and words whose meanings have changed, are explained on the page where it appears in the play.

[Jill Korzun]

I did not read the entire collection. I read:
Othello
Hamlet
King Lear
Much Ado About Nothing
As You Like It
Twelfth Night
The Tempest

[Jennifer · Rating 3 out of 5]

Shakespeare Summer 2016

I liked his commentary and notes on each set of writings. Great, researched background information. Helped to put it all into context for me.

[Mary Jane De Guzman · Rating 5 out of 5]

Much more interesting.