(Part 2) Top products from r/shakespeare

Welcome to the cool-kids club.

I agree with much of what has already been said. Try to see them live, if you can't, a great "introductory" course is to watch videos while reading. Youtube, [PBS Great Performances}(http://www.pbs.org/wnet/gperf/), Digital Theatreand even cheap used DVDs on Amazon offer a host of free and low-cost options for viewing them at home. It can also be a great tool to start understanding the difference between reading the lines as written and hearing how they rhythmically change in performance.

You will, to be honest, miss some things without reading annotations, but it's also important to note that Shakespeare is incredibly complex-- I've been studying Shakespeare for about 9 years now seriously, and there are STILL days where I open up a script I've read a million times and go "Wait...that's TOTALLY a play on words!"

If you're really serious about getting into references aspect, I would recommend picking up a Lexicon. It's an amazing resource for learning words and references, organized in about every fashion you can think of. You can get them for pretty cheap-- I think I picked both of mine up for around $5 in the "used" section. They usually come in a two volume set, so make sure you get both!

There are all sorts of great reference books available-- a really rare one (but fantastic) is called "Playing Bit Parts in Shakespeare". I tracked down a copy at a used bookstore for about $60, but it's brilliant. It breaks down all of the plays by the smaller roles and gives an explanation of why they are significant and what purpose they serve in the show.
There's also this one. I am unashamed to say I proudly display this on my bookshelf.

You will also find that every Shakespeare scholar has a STRONG opinion on what versions of texts they prefer. I personally hate the versions Penguin publishes and really prefer the Folger Library editions, but much of it has to do with personal preference.

Good luck, new Shakespeare friend!

This line of thinking has been taken even further by some scholars, creating an arc for the entire contiguous series of history plays.

Starting in Richard II, the legitimate throne is usurped by Henry Bolingbroke. He attempts to justify this act to man and God, but his reign is plagued with rebellion and unrest because he has destroyed the natural and divine succession of the English throne. His successor, Henry V is portrayed in Shakespeare as a hero to the English people, and of critical importance, incredibly pious after his "conversion" from that of a trouble-maker upon assuming the throne. He builds numerous churches and supports multitudes of people who pray for forgiveness for his father's actions in usurping Richards crown. In lieu of this, God grants him victory at Agincourt.

But his pious reign is short-lived. The fact remains that the Henrys sit on an illegitimate throne. Henry V dies young, and his son, Henry VI sees great turmoil, losing his father's gains in France as well as serious unrest at home. This period then culminates in the ultimate punishment of the English people for their illegitimate kings in the form of the murderous and misshapen Richard III. A villain without equal who is eventually toppled and replaced by none other than Queen Elizabeth's granddad, Henry VII. Henry VII's claim to the throne is the "true" claim, derived from Old John of Gaunt, the legitimate Edward III's son.

Thus, it is the Tudors who rise to return the line of succession to it's true heirs, restoring the legitimate English monarchy, preserving God's mandate in England, and bringing in an age of prosperity and stability under the current queen.

However believable all that may be, it seems a reasonable arc for a playwright who is portraying the history of relatively recent leaders under the scrutiny of his own monarch, and one that seems to support divine right and the natural laws of succession. And yet, /u/DaitoRyu, you are right in asserting that Shakespeare has a certain knack for portraying the humanity and fallibility of his heroes, even those with a crown on their head. If you ask me, Shakespeare's incredible skill at portraying genuine and fully-developed characters was so unavoidable, that he gave his kings and queens these flaws and touches of humanity in spite of himself, even as he wrote a narrative that supported and perpetuated the idea of divine right.

Whatever conclusion you reach, it is a rich area for debate. We will never truly know Shakespeare's intentions in his writings, but much time and energy has been spent on trying to assert them, and more will undoubtedly follow. I can't remember if this text deals with this matter or not, but I think it does, and either way, it is an immeasurably useful resource when studying Shakespeare's histories, and also a quick read. Check it out! Shakespeare's English Kings

Aw man, I got excited, I thought a movie was coming. I rarely find such projects interesting. I've always said, I'm in it for the Shakespeare, so when an author writes their own storyline inventing whatever newer characters they want and picking and choosing which original characters to keep or kill, there's rarely enough meat left on the bones to hold my interest. I'd rather have "retelling" versions, so they at least try to hang onto more of the original, even if it's just in spirit. I mean, look at something like "The Story of Edgar Sawtelle", a retelling of Hamlet with intelligent dogs. I loved it.

If you're interested in Tempest fan fiction you might also like Caliban's Hour by Tad Williams.

You should purchase The Riverside Shakespeare, which is a large book filled with the complete collection of Shakespeare's plays and poems from the best folios. It also has accompanying literature for each play and poem. My copy is very precious to me so if you love studying Shakespeare, I would highly recommend purchasing this collection in particular.

Boy do I always recommend Goddard's "The Meaning of Shakespeare" for this stuff. He is very interested in Shakespeare's development and reach essay (one per play basically) connects the tropes and motifs he uses throughout his career. I would never say Shakespeare is "borrowing" from himself in "Twelfth Night". I think he's perfecting his ideas. "Twelfth Night" is my favorite Shakespeare play!

Here's Goddard's book:
The Meaning of Shakespeare, Volume 1 (Phoenix Books) https://www.amazon.com/dp/0226300412/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_awd_Vg2IwbDTVKTGD

That, my friend, is a tall task. There are Scholars that have devoted their entire life to that notion.

The first thing that comes to my mind is the work of David Crystal, a linguist and Shakespeare scholar who has written multiple books on Shakespeare's language. Also, the best historiography of Shakespearean study that I have read is Shakespeare: the World as Stage by Bill Bryson - that might give you a lot of contextual clues as to why it is that Shakespeare's language survived where others were lost.

The latest Norton anthology comes in three versions: an elbow-punishing single-volume hardback, a two-volume paperback version split chronologically, and a four-volume one split into genres: histories, tragedies, comedies, and romances/poems.

The introductory essays are thorough and well-written and the glosses and footnotes are unobtrusive and helpful.

The series editor is Stephen Greenblatt, the Stephen Hawking of literary studies, and the volume editors are all known names.

I bought the four-volume set because I don’t want to have to explain to friends how I got tennis elbow from reading Shakespeare.

I read all the plays in a row using this edition, and I can say that the notes and glosses are consistently useful. The single-column format really does help.

Also, if you buy all four as a set, the price is a lot lower than if you buy the volumes individually.

https://smile.amazon.com/Norton-Shakespeare-Third-Vol-Four/dp/0393265463

I don’t know why anyone uses any other edition, frankly.

It is both a classic and something that makes Shakespeare scholars roll their eyes when they hear it mentioned.

Garber has already been mentioned. The Oxford Companion would give you a little bit on everything. Then there are a lot of great and accessible books out there that just deal with a couple of plays or certain aspects of his life like James Shapiro's books A Year in the Life of William Shakespeare: 1599 and his new one The Year of Lear: Shakespeare in 1606.

I haven't used others, but I got this Pelican one for my Shakespeare course in college 15 years ago and it's still kicking. After many, many readings, the binding is finally getting a little floppy, but it's a nice version, with great footnotes. I recommend it.

Edit, wrong bird.

A good Complete Works. My favorite is the Riverside. Arden is good too.

ORRRR something that's really cool are First Folio fascimiles. Here's a complete works, or Shakespeare's Globe in London sells individual plays.

The two classic Shakespeare books would be "Will in the World" by Greenblatt, which is about Shakespeare in the context of the world / culture he lived in, or "Shakespeare: Invention of the Human" by Harold Bloom, which discusses every single play. Personally, I really love Jan Kott's "Shakespeare Our Contemporary" but that might be a little intense for a teenager. Maybe not, though.

Play-within-a-play. I actually wrote my Master's Thesis on the topic in Early Modern drama, and didn't find a new word.


I warn against using the term "meta," though. All theater is meta-. It is all imitative.


I would recommend The Necessity of Theater: The Art of Watching and Being Watched by Paul Woodruff, should be compelled to learn more. I loved the book.


EDIT: A bit of specificity. In Taming, you could call the induction with Sly a framing device... or an induction. My comment runs more in line with the sort of plays-in-plays that firechao noted.

Tyrant: Shakespeare on Politics - Stephen Greenblatt (book & audiobook)

> Tyrant is an examination of Shakespeare's exploration of government, society, and tyrannical figures throughout his plays. Chapters are sorted by topic (the influence of party politics on the rise of tyrants, the abuse for populism for political gain, the types and importance of enablers, the influence of personality and mental illness on tyrannical behavior, etcetera) and tend to examine one or two plays/characters at a time, complete with helpful quotations citing act, scene, and line.

http://www.amazon.com/The-Life-William-Shakespeare-Biography/dp/1118281527

This book has a chapter called The Dangerous Year, which covers what I'm talking about. You can see like a page of the chapter in the Amazon preview.

This series of documentaries also has some good information.

https://youtu.be/Yel0RBEboD0

It isn't OP, but The Eloquent Shakespeare by Gary Logan is the authority for Standard American Stage Dialect for the pronunciation of all of Shakespeare's words.

The Eloquent Shakespeare: A Pronouncing Dictionary for the Complete Dramatic Works with Notes to Untie the Modern Tongue https://www.amazon.com/dp/022600631X/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_Zv.WzbE34EY5C

Do you have access to a university library? The definitive citation on this issue is The Division of the Kingdom by Taylor and Warren.

If you just need basic talking points, why not wikipedia?.

https://www.amazon.com/Titus-Andronicus-Oxford-Shakespeare/dp/0199536104/ref=mp_s_a_1_2?keywords=oxford+titus+andronicus&qid=1556841635&s=gateway&sr=8-2

What level are you at? If high school/secondary, Adrian Goldsworthy's Caesar should have all that you need. If you're in college, you should be doing some of this work yourself.

Go have a look at this:

http://www.amazon.com/Will-World-How-Shakespeare-Became/dp/039332737X

Maybe something about his upbringing in Stratford, his education, his father's up and then down economic fortunes or whether he grew up in a "secret Catholic" household.

Thank you.

Unfortunately, no I don't have any specific Macbeth annotations in mind yet. I remember tons of cool stuff in Bradley. If you have any interesting ones for Macbeth, feel free to sign up and add them to anno.wiki!

Also, if by which edition am I reading you mean that old annotated copy? I'm sorry, I lost it several years ago and don't remember any of the details about it. It was an old copy, from the 1970's or 1980's, and I've tried searching Amazon with no luck. I might be able to find it if I check the library of congress or something, but I doubt it if they don't have pictures of the texts, because I wouldn't recognize it by editor/title or any other details besides the nature of the cover (red and white and a strange square shape).

For the record, if you have never checked out Bradley's Shakespearean Tragedy I highly recommend it: here it is on Amazon and here it is for free on Gutenberg.

It's old, but it's considered one of the classics of Shakespeare interpretation. Reading it allows you to start to look into Shakespeare a little deeper, I think.