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This Is Shakespeare

Emma Smith

4.28 · Rating details · 537 ratings · 97 reviews

An electrifying new study that investigates the challenges of the Bard's inconsistencies and flaws, and focuses on revealing, not resolving, the ambiguities of the plays and their changing topicality.

A genius and prophet whose timeless works encapsulate the human condition like no others. A writer who surpassed his contemporaries in vision, originality, and literary master ...more

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Hardcover, 368 pages

Published March 31st 2020 by Pantheon Books (first published May 2nd 2019)

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Dec 10, 2019 Jan-Maat added it · review of another edition

Shelves: 21st-century, non-fiction, shakespeare

This is Shakespeare is a delightful easy reading book.

Emma Smith argues that Shakespeare remains continually interesting because his plays are incomplete, plot holes and unanswered questions allowing thinking space for audiences and performers throughout the generations.

The book contains twenty chapters each about a different play (view spoiler) This is Shakespeare is a delightful easy reading book.

Emma Smith argues that Shakespeare remains continually interesting because his plays are incomplete, plot holes and unanswered questions allowing thinking space for audiences and performers throughout the generations.

The book contains twenty chapters each about a different play (view spoiler) and an epilogue (because it is Shakespearian) and she does not take a consistent line through all these chapters but picks up on different issues as prompted by the play, so in Richard II she looks at character, observing that Richard behaves as if he is in a tragedy and so is fatalistic, while his rival acts as though he is in a history play and is dynamic, she draws our attention here to language too, once that rival takes the throne he begins to use end rhymes in his speeches so he sounds like an insincere politician (view spoiler). And smith shows how Shakespeare invented the sequel and the spin off to accommodate the popularity of the Falstaff character from 1 Henry IV!

In other places Smith looks at the actors, that companies had fewer actors than the plays had parts, that Shakespeare later on had an actor who could play adult female parts convincingly allowing him to devise the character of Cleopatra (there were only male actors allowed on stage at the time). While in a Merchant of Venice, she looks at the language of commerce and the commercialisation of relationships. Macbeth reminds her of the Anatomy of Melancholy, it becomes a play playing with ideas of motivation and causation. Throughout she looks at changing interpretations, sometimes driven by what is known about Shakespeare's life. It is a thoroughly entertaining exploration. This review is really all about the updates. ...more

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Jun 06, 2019 Emma rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: audible

Shakespeare has always seemed inherently unapproachable to me, layers of meaning mired in incomprehensible conversations that I had no means of untangling. Everything about his plays felt decided. Treasured, they sat on a high pedestal, presented as the most sublime expression of English language and literature. There to be adored. Nothing about them made for the likes of me. My memory of studying Macbeth at secondary school is part terror at being called on to read aloud and part boredom at lea Shakespeare has always seemed inherently unapproachable to me, layers of meaning mired in incomprehensible conversations that I had no means of untangling. Everything about his plays felt decided. Treasured, they sat on a high pedestal, presented as the most sublime expression of English language and literature. There to be adored. Nothing about them made for the likes of me. My memory of studying Macbeth at secondary school is part terror at being called on to read aloud and part boredom at learning by rote what this symbolises or that means. There was no room, and probably no time, for anything more than answers at that point. No space to think or explore. When I started to discover Greek tragedy at uni, I found something new. That plays are about questions, not answers. It came as a revelation.

And this is what Emma Smith brings to Shakespeare: a way in. She demolishes the idea of perfection and highlights the 'gappiness' of the plays. She gives permission to not understand it all, because nobody does. Who can when the reader/audience is such an integral part of the experience? And who says there's a 'right' way to read something anyway? She brings in conflicts/change, opening up varied ways of thinking about themes or characters or plot. She doesn't say, 'this is what to think'. Instead she asks, ponders, offers, argues, suggests... 'what happens if you take this aspect and look at it like this...' or 'see how this could be more like/unlike than you'd think...' It's intriguing. More than that, it presents an opportunity. Because the author repeatedly asks what I think, I want to know too. It took less than 2 chapters for me to download Shakespeare's collected works. And the change in my reading was incredible, it was fun instead of oppressive. Do I still have problems with the language? Oh yes. But now I can both tackle it and see beyond it.

Obviously, this is a fantastic resource for students. But Emma Smith ensures that anyone from the complete beginner to the seasoned reader/watcher of Shakespeare can find something within. She writes engagingly throughout, balancing humour and wit with thought-provoking argument. Considering the considerable number of Shakespeare retellings popular in fiction these days, there's clear evidence that something in these stories continues to capture our attention, and this book is an interesting and accessible way in to those original works. It takes you beyond the classroom, bringing you close enough to the stage to feel part of the production and maybe, finally, to see why some people consider Shakespeare THE greatest writer and dramatist.

(though I still prefer the Greek plays, sorry Shakespeare)

ARC via Netgalley ...more

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Oct 03, 2020 Rachel rated it it was amazing

Shelves: shakespeare, 2020, nonfiction

This Is Shakespeare is an essay collection by Shakespeare scholar and Oxford lecturer Emma Smith, whose work I first encountered on her excellent podcast Approaching Shakespeare. In each lecture-turned-podcast-episode she dissects a different play through the lens of a very specific question ("what is the narrative and thematic role of Antonio in Twelfth Night," "why does Bassanio choose the lead casket in Merchant of Venice," "why doesn't Marcus offer Lavinia first aid in Titus Andronicus").

Thi ...more

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May 14, 2019 Eleanor rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: work-heywood-hill

Smith is probably best known as the academic whose recorded lectures form the podcast series Approaching Shakespeare, which you can get from iTunes. (I went to them live, as an undergrad, which is saying something because no English students went to lectures after about third week.) Her book’s thesis is that we should read Shakespeare, not because he’s an immortal genius or whatever the propagandistic nonsense du jour is, but because his plays are weird: they’re gappy, ambivalent, they ask more ...more

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Jan 30, 2021 James rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

'This Is Shakespeare' (2019) by Emma Smith (Professor of Shakespeare Studies/ Hertford College) is an informed, passionate and extremely well considered attempt to grasp the essence of Shakespeare's standing as 'The World's Greatest Playwright' and to convey how and why he still matters in the 21st century.

Whilst Smith clearly has a highly accomplished academic career along with her very popular University of Oxford Shakespeare podcasts and whilst she does bring to bear that academic background 'This Is Shakespeare' (2019) by Emma Smith (Professor of Shakespeare Studies/ Hertford College) is an informed, passionate and extremely well considered attempt to grasp the essence of Shakespeare's standing as 'The World's Greatest Playwright' and to convey how and why he still matters in the 21st century.

Whilst Smith clearly has a highly accomplished academic career along with her very popular University of Oxford Shakespeare podcasts and whilst she does bring to bear that academic background underpinning 'This Is Shakespeare' - this is an accessible book, whilst at the same time not pandering to, or patronising the non academic reader.

Smith examines 20 key Shakespeare plays in (as far as we understand it) chronological order, from 'The Taming if the Shrew' through to 'The Tempest' and looks at how Shakespeare is questioning, ambiguous, open to interpretation, gappy (as she puts it) and not a writer of 'message'plays, hence to at least some extent, his longevity and relevance to all peoples across all times.

As someone who feels privileged to have seen all of Shakespeare's plays in the theatre (and some many times) especially considering the current pandemic and the absence of live theatre - this book came as somewhat a revelation. 'This Is Shakespeare' in some respects outlines the brilliance and ongoing relevance of Shakespeare that perhaps I'd only really partly understood until now - it has also made me reconsider aspects of all of the 20 plays written about here, that I had never previously considered.

Shakespeare and his plays have of course been the subject of endless academic/non-academic analysis over the centuries - quite often it seems by authors serving merely to support their own particular political, artistic or cultural agenda.

Ultimately though and as Smith alludes to here - Shakespeare's genius is much bigger than all of that and I really can't convey everything here in Smith's great book any better than the fantastic sentence at the very end of the epilogue to 'This Is Shakespeare':

"So, this is Shakespeare. Permissive, modern, challenging, gappy, frustrating, moving, attenuated, beautiful, ambiguous, resourceful, provoking, necessary. Yours."

This a great book, going a long way to outlining and explaining the more unexpected and surprising reasons behind the brilliance and categoric genius that is William Shakespeare - the world's greatest playwright. ...more

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Jun 21, 2020 Joseph rated it really liked it · review of another edition

When I took English Literature classes at school, studying a Shakespeare play was de rigueur. And I can’t say I disliked that. Quite the contrary. I took a (worryingly?) nerdish pleasure in comparing different editions of Julius Caesar and Macbeth, reading every last footnote, looking up difficult essays on the plays. And yet, this precocious enthusiasm failed to translate into love for the Bard. It pains me to admit that besides these two plays, my knowledge of other works by Shakespeare works When I took English Literature classes at school, studying a Shakespeare play was de rigueur. And I can’t say I disliked that. Quite the contrary. I took a (worryingly?) nerdish pleasure in comparing different editions of Julius Caesar and Macbeth, reading every last footnote, looking up difficult essays on the plays. And yet, this precocious enthusiasm failed to translate into love for the Bard. It pains me to admit that besides these two plays, my knowledge of other works by Shakespeare works is limited to the few productions and movie adaptations I’ve watched over the years. I have occasionally attempted to read other plays of his, but it always seems too daunting a prospect.

In her introduction to This is Shakespeare, Professor Emma Smith highlights this problematic aspect of the playwright. Precisely because he is so often presented as an undisputed genius, Shakespeare too often comes across as a figure to admire rather than love. Smith, however, argues that what makes Shakespeare so “contemporary” and relevant is not that he is some sort of prophet, but because his plays are “gappy”, leaving much to interpretation, and allowing us to project onto them differing and sometimes diametrically opposite views. Just by way of example, it is surprising to note how rare it is for Shakespeare to physically describe his characters, thus giving free rein to a director’s (or reader’s) imagination.

Smith’s book started life as a series of lectures/podcasts and while the playwright’s “gappiness” remains an overarching theme, the book’s twenty chapters (and epilogue) are dedicated to specific plays and can be enjoyed as self-contained essays. Indeed, Smith herself suggests that for many of her readers, this will be a book to “dip into”, perhaps before going to watch a specific play.

The chapters provide intriguing insights and, more often than not, a discussion of one work leads Smith to investigate a more general subject. For instance, The Taming of the Shrew (unsurprisingly) prompts a discussion about Shakespeare’s views on women and marriage, whereas the essay on The Merchant of Venice explores the themes of business contracts and the play’s inherent homoeroticism.

Smith’s approach is fresh and engaging. She wears her scholarship and erudition lightly, and does not deem it beneath her to cite pop culture to drive home her points – she is just as likely to refer to Homer Simpson or to an episode in the sitcom Friends as to an avant-garde Shakespeare production. Throughout, her message is at once iconoclastic and enthusiastic – by taking Shakespeare off his pedestal, we might learn to love his works more.

https://endsoftheword.blogspot.com/20... ...more

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Aug 10, 2019 Wouter rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: essays

Emma Smith's collection of essays about 20 Shakespeare plays is serious, funny, acerbic, refreshing, witty, stimulating and at times outright provocative, but perhaps not always the easiest introduction to Shakespeare. Instead, Smith serves as a wonderful companion to catch up with after going to the theatre, or when you're reading your favourite play and you want to gain more insight into Shakespeare and what makes him still relevant today. What's so good about Smith is that she doesn't revere ...more

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Oct 11, 2020 Paula rated it it was amazing

Brilliant.A must read.

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Aug 14, 2020 A rated it it was amazing

Shelves: shakespeare-in-quarantine, audio, borrowed

I just.......I love Emma Smith okay?

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Aug 04, 2020 Jamie Lee rated it really liked it · review of another edition

'All these examples show how Shakespeare can resonate in particular circumstances, and how we can bring to the plays our own emotional, political, ideological and creative energies.'

Who ever thought that a book about Shakespeare would shake me out of my reading slump?

My intention when I bought this was just to read a chapter every so often but once I started it was hard to stop. The way Emma Smith writes with such passion has this power to have you gripped from the start. Some books about Shake ...more

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Aug 12, 2020 Toast rated it really liked it · review of another edition

I DO like this. OK I'm a pushover for Shakespeare. What can I say. But, this reminds us that he is a playwright first and foremost. Not the great I am that he is now. (And rightly so!!!!) This book talks about his plays and the interpretations that followed in a intelligent and informed way so you can form your own opinion. (Here! Here!) A must for anyone and everyone - the interested, those who have 'to study him' and those who 'watch' and 'play' with him. Its not ABC Shakespeare, it just takes ...more

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Nov 07, 2020 Lee Underwood rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Just like the person herself, this book was delightful. Emma was my Shakespeare Professor (tutor) in Grad School while I was at Oxford, and the book reads like how many of our seminars went: joyfully romping through the weedy wilderness of Shakespeare’s mind. Emma is one of the greatest living Shakespeare specialists on the planet, and she writes this book with whimsy. She encourages you to read Shakespeare with a kind of rambunctious enthusiasm. But she also expertly interweaves her immense bod ...more

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Jul 15, 2020 Azita Rassi rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Loved it and am going to read it once more, this time side by side rereading the corresponding play.

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May 30, 2019 Andreas Stokke rated it did not like it · review of another edition

This book is based on Smith's popular Oxford lectures on Shakespeare, which are all recorded and available for free (https://podcasts.ox.ac.uk/series/appr...). Having listened to all of them several times and enjoyed them, I hoped this book would be a more fleshed out version of them. But it's the opposite. A watered down version of what she does in the lectures. Go for the lectures instead. They're better. And free. ...more

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Mar 13, 2021 Scott Wilson rated it it was amazing

Shelves: shakespeare

Emma Smith is a professor of Shakespeare at Oxford and the creator of a well known Shakespeare podcast Approaching Shakespeare.

In "This is Shakeseare" she writes concise but interesting and very entertaining essays on 20 of Shakespeare's most famous plays.

Even though I have read several other books of critical analysis of Shakespeare I still found many new and enlightening takes on these very studied plays. I especially appreciated the lack of elitist language and attitude which unfortunately c ...more

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Jun 11, 2020 Carlos Silva rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: favs, net-galley

I love Emma Smith’s The Cambridge Shakespeare Guide, so I was nothing short of excited to dive into this new book. In this one, the author shows her critical views on a portion of the playwright’s works. What I loved the most about This is Shakespeare is that Smith clings on the smaller plots for her chapters, for instance: the murder of Cinna, the poet, in Caesar (which is a very short scene in the play); the whole arc with Portia’s caskets in Merchant; Shakespeare’s farewell to the theater wit ...more

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Jul 23, 2020 Katie rated it liked it

Based on the book summary I thought this was going to have a more conversational tone, but it’s highly academic, sometimes to the point of being a chore to get through. That being said, Smith made me think about Shakespeare’s work in new and different ways, which is the whole point.

As part of my major, I took a Shakespeare class many years ago, but we focused primarily on the meaning of the text and not necessarily “why” the text existed. My favorite parts of this book are the essays where Smit ...more

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Jan 21, 2021 Melissa rated it really liked it

Shelves: to-review, apropos-shakespeare

I think this is a really good collection of essays/criticism of 20 of Shakespeare's plays (most of the more commonly performed or familiar ones). It's a good jumping off point if you're in a Shakespeare course or reading through the plays on your own - Smith brings together a number of ideas to address gaps or inconsistencies in the plays that are a good jumping off point for discussion or interpretation. ...more

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Jun 29, 2019 Benjamin Stahl rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: non-fiction, audiobooks

Not quite the quintessential Shakespeare companion I was hoping for, but a fun and enjoyable read all the same. Made me appreciate what a great play Julius Caesar was even more, and has aroused a particular interest to read King Lear and also give The Tempest another go, which I naturally hated in high school.

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Jun 28, 2020 Sue Chant rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: culture

Excellent short essays on 20 of the most popular Shakespeare plays. It's not a deeply technical analysis for academics, but more for ordinary readers. It gave me a different perspective on some of the plays I love, and includes ideas about different ways of dramatisation, attitudes of the day, and the openness of interpretation that I would never have expected from seeing recent performances. ...more

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Jul 28, 2019 Mike Grundy rated it liked it · review of another edition

A trifle on the 'woke' side of things to fully enjoy, but nonetheless provided some interesting insights and was easy enough to dip in and out of here and there. ...more

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Aug 02, 2020 Richard rated it really liked it · review of another edition

I enjoyed reading this and also know that I will use it for future reference. What particularly liked was how Emma Smith shows how Shakespeare can be related to any time or place, in part because he used very few stage directions.

Academic, informative and at times a really fun read.

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Jun 03, 2019 Miss Potter rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

A must-read!

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Oct 06, 2019 Andrew rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: essays, reference, uni, shakespeare

Covering 20 plays in a conversational style, Emma Smith's discussions are multi-layered, honing down on early modern and generic conventions that seam the differing genres - history, romcom, tragedy - picking up on the balances of structure and the types of heroine and villain, while giving a reasonable nod to the language, especially where it promotes the generic type. She refers to Shakespeare's sources, and she develops tropes and themes between plays where they illuminate similitude or devel ...more

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Feb 16, 2021 Jozsef rated it it was amazing

If Macbeth has a “mind full of scorpions”, so do I from this book. I am painfully obsessed with every detail and factoid in here. Especially the historical context and varied interpretations of Billy’s work. This book has taught me there is no one size fits all solution to understanding Shakespeare. Asking questions about his oeuvre rather than seeking answers.

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Oct 21, 2019 Bookthesp1 rated it really liked it · review of another edition

I enjoyed this witty, chatty but still scholarly take on the plays that the author likes with no grand theory and no definitive take on what Shakespeare meant when writing them. Smiths book is handsomely produced in the "Pelican" format signalling a serious book but I am glad to say it doesn't take itself too seriously. Smiths main insight is Shakespeare's gappiness (his plays have possibly deliberate gaps where things are not explained.) Hence, this invites interpretation and discussion as natu ...more

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Aug 20, 2020 Stacie rated it it was amazing

I received a complimentary copy of this title from the publisher through NetGalley. Opinions expressed are my own.

This Is Shakespeare is a wonderful companion to Shakespeare's works! It's definitely in the vein of Marjorie Garber's Shakespeare After All, in that it looks at different plays with each chapter/essay. However it focuses more on the performance side and reminds us that Shakespeare was a playwright.

This book would be wonderful for teachers--especially high school teachers struggling ...more

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May 31, 2019 Katedurie50 rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Emma Smith is a distinguished academic, but this is the attempt to reach a wider audience without sacrificing scholarship or stringency. She takes twenty of the best known plays and has a short (10+ pages) chapter on each, though these can range quite widely over the canon as a whole. There's always something enlivening and illuminating - perhaps best with the "Ah"moments when she points out something obvious which has hitherto eluded the average enthusiast. As in her comment that Richard III is ...more

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Apr 24, 2020 Jeimy rated it really liked it

I always enjoy reading about Shakespeare and this book was no exception. Smith offers a play-by-play analysis of Shakespeares work. While I did not agree with everything the author posits, I appreciated her arguments. This is a book I would love to use in my classroom. In fact, when I finished reading I wanted to design a Shakespeare class around this book.

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Jun 06, 2019 Lisa Martin rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Utterly brilliant. Hugely useful for English teachers, and really interesting for anyone who wants to learn more or to think more deeply about Shakespeare.

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About Emma Smith

Emma Smith

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Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name. See this thread for more information.

Emma Smith is Professor of Shakespeare Studies at the University of Oxford. She has lectured widely in the UK and beyond on the First Folio and on Shakespeare and early modern drama. Her research interests include the methodology of writing about theatre, and developing anal ...more

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Quotes from This Is Shakespeare

“Grief fills the room up of my absent child, Lies in his bed, walks up and down with me, Puts on his pretty looks, repeats his words, Remembers me of all his gracious parts, Stuffs out his vacant garments with his form; Then have I reason to be fond of grief. (3.4.93–8)” — 0 likes

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