3 by Shakespeare: A Midsummer Night's Dream / Romeo and Juliet / Richard III

by William Shakespeare

Comedy, tragedy, and history — this anthology presents a trio of Shakespeare's most frequently studied and performed works. Each represents one of the playwright's primary genres, and together they run the gamut of the Elizabethan theater experience, from lighthearted romance to star-crossed passion to ruthless ambition:
A Midsummer Night's Dream, a celebration of the imaginative powers of love, replete with mischievous fairies, mistaken identities, and magical transformations
Romeo and Juliet, a gripping drama in which young love is thwarted by a bitter feud and a tragic twist of fate
Richard III, a portrait of a cunning and ambitious villain who seduces, betrays, and murders his way to the throne
All plays are complete and unabridged and feature informative footnotes.

Genres: Plays, Classics, Shakespeare

288 pages, Paperback

Published February 10, 2006

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

[Realini Ionescu · Rating 5 out of 5]

Richard III by William Shakespeare

Another version of this note and thoughts on other books are available at:

- https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list...


This is an adaptation with Ian McKellen in the title role and listed as one of the executive producers of this classic play.
And the cast was stellar, no less

- Annette Benning as Queen Elizabeth, Jim Broadbent as duke Buckingham, Robert Downey Jr. –lately the highest paid actor in the world- as Lord Rivers- a supporting role, Nigel Hawthorne – magnificent in the lead role of The Madness of King George by Alan Bennett- as Duke of Clarence, Kristin Scott Thomas as Lady Anne and the champion of longevity Maggie Smith, nominated at the age of eighty two for her roles in Downton Abbey and The Lady in the Van by the same Alan Bennett

So the premises of this spectacular and modern version were fantastic…
As Donald Trump likes to repeat: fantastic, beautiful, great.

Being so modern, this version has made me think of:

- Trump and Richard III

And I think they have so much in common.
Yes, The Donald has not killed anyone, except for a good number of small businesses that worked at his towers and real estate properties and that he has refused to pay, which in the case of small players meant death.

But the two leaders share a pathetic and pathological love of their own persona
And the list of similarities goes on:

- They would do anything to get to the highest position in the land and they finally get it, undeservedly, if you ask me
- Lying and accusing others of the most outrageous, preposterous and yet false acts or associations comes naturally to these individuals
- A psychopath is one who feels nothing, but can perceive and use other’s emotions to his own benefit…both do that
- They say what their audience wants to hear, even when that is a “post-truth”, a word elected as the word of the year by Oxford, for 2016

I was flabbergasted when Richard III has a dialogue with Lady Anne.
She is mourning near the dead body of her husband.

Both the spouse and the father in law have been murdered and Richard III, the ultimate villain is responsible.
And this is just the beginning of a long series of assassinations.

Clarence is killed.
Then young princes, Buckingham and others who have helped the tyrant obtain one of the most coveted thrown in the world at the time.

There is no limit to the ambition of either Richard III or The Donald.
They both see themselves as capable of superhuman endeavors, with Trump declaring a couple of days ago that he would be able to run both America -as yet the greatest democracy in the world- and his business empire.

Indeed, here is another shared element:

- Richard III is a king and the elected leader-alas- of the free world sees himself more as an emperor or a monarch than a leader of a democracy
- His latest press conference showed a discretionary bent, with King Donald refusing to grant CNN the right to ask any question

Meryl Streep has chastised a man who mocked a disabled journalist, laughing at his disability and addressing the lowest instincts in people, especially his flawed supporters, from the height of his powerful position.

The answer came quickly, via tweeter:

- Meryl Streep- nominated for 20 Golden Globes, winner of- I don’t know, 7?- and awarded the Oscar three times, among other outstanding achievements- is an over rated actress according to the man who has a disgusting video on a bus, bragging about what he can do to women…anything

Yes, Richard III has a confirmed violent history
But The elected Clown has spoken about torture, killing the families of suspected or confirmed terrorists.

Let’s hope, Insha’Allah that we can say at the end of the next four years:

“Now is the winter of our discontent
Made glorious summer by this sun of York;
And all the clouds that lour'd upon our house

In the deep bosom of the ocean buried.”

[Ali · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is not the version we read in our English classes, but it has both the plays we read over the course of two years: Midsummer and Romeo and Juliet. Both are excellent, as Shakespeare intertwines words to make it both hilarious and sarcastic to morose and pessimistic. Each story is very unique and demonstrates themes that everyone has in their lives. Yay!

[Mauricio Franco · Rating 4 out of 5]

Shakespeare is awesome