Everything Shakespeare

by Peter Rubie

A comprehensive guide to Shakespeare's entire body of work. Whether you are studying Shakespeare, seeing his plays on stage or film, or simply reading him for pleasure, The Everything Shakespeare Book... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1580625916
• ISBN13: 9781580625913
• Release Date: August 2002
• Publisher: Everything
• Length: 309 Pages
• Weight: 1.35 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 7.9" x 9.5"

Customer Reviews

Worth the Price

Take it for what it is: a quick summary for everything about Shakespeare. Although this is not an in-depth summarization of all Shakespeare's works, The Everything Shakespeare Book gives the reader the gist of sonnets, background, and individual play summaries. For the price, this is beneficial resource for anyone who wants a little information about Shakespeare and the Elizabethan periods. For instance, there is a discussion on the significance of the sonnets and speculation about whom they were written for. There are also some generalities about travel, costumes, entertainment, theatre opposition and rivals of Shakespeare during this time period. There are a few problems with the book.Some of the details are a bit vague and some of the "essentials" are relatively unessential (Rubie should have called this section "tidbits" instead). There is a section on Shakespearean words and their present day definitions (aye means "yes", etc), but it would have been more effective to include tougher Shakespeare words. The most significant part is the play summaries and character lists (from these plays). Although this section is not complete in thoroughly characterizing any one play, they are certainly useful for a reader just wanting a quick summary of the work. After each play description, there is a quick caption that discusses elements such as where and when the play was first performed and how it ranks among other plays, as well as a brief commentary about the play. Finally, the section finishes with a list of popular quotes within each drama. Overall, this is recommended for anyone wanting to brush up on a little Shakespeare or wanting some insight into this time period.