New Folger Library Shakespeare

"Shakespeare everyone can understand--now in this new EXPANDED edition of MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM! Why fear Shakespeare? By placing the words of the original play next to line-by-line translations in plain English, this popular guide makes Shakespeare accessible to everyone. And now it features expanded literature guide sections that help students study smarter. The expanded sections include: --Five Key Questions: Five frequently asked questions...

"Banished from her ambitious uncle's court, the lovesick Rosalind flees to the forest with her cousin, Celia. Disguised as the shepherds, they soon meet the dashing Orlando -- forced into hiding by a plot against his life, heartbroken at the separation from his beloved Rosalind. Fooled, Orlando grows close to this familiar stranger. But a local shepherdess, has also fallen for them too. As their hopes and dreams entangle, can everyone get what they...

Cymbeline tells the story of a British king, Cymbeline, and his three children, presented as though they are in a fairy tale. The secret marriage of Cymbeline's daughter, Imogen, triggers much of the action, which includes villainous slander, homicidal jealousy, cross-gender disguise, a deathlike trance, and the appearance of Jupiter in a vision. Kidnapped in infancy, Cymbeline's two sons are raised in a Welsh cave. As young men, they rescue a starving...

"Contains the text of the English history play that dramatizes the fifteenth-century conflict between the royal families of York and Lancaster, and includes full explanatory notes on pages facing the text, an introduction to Shakespeare's language, and essays about his life, theater, and the publication of his works."-- Provided by the publisher.

Henry VI, Part 2 presents a kind of story that was popular before Shakespeare began writing, tracing the fall of powerful individuals to their untimely deaths. The first to go is the Duke of Gloucester, Lord Protector of England and the most powerful man in the kingdom, who is murdered after his wife goes into exile. Next to meet a bad end is the Duke of Suffolk, the queen's lover, who rules England through her. After Suffolk conspires with the cardinal...

King Henry VIII schemes to divorce his wife Katherine of Aragon in order to marry the beautiful Anne Boleyn, even as political intrigues disrupt the court. Includes explanatory notes, scene-by-scene plot summaries, a key to famous lines and phrases, scholarly essay, and illustrations.

One of Shakespeare's early comedies and most ornately intellectual plays, "Love's Labour's Lost" is a mental adventure in hilarity and wit. First published in 1598, the play is filled with lexical puns, literary allusions, and shifting poetic forms, a rich example of the Bard's linguistic mastery. The play opens with King Phillip of Naverre announcing that the men of his court will devote the coming years to ascetic studies and to reduce distractions,...

"Discover STAGED, a limited collection of Shakespeare’s unabridged plays that celebrates the genius of the Bard and the tropes that continue to delight YA readers to this day. Offering the complete and unabridged text, set in a dyslexic-friendly font and introduced by renowned YA authors, this beautifully designed collection is the perfect way to introduce YA readers to Shakespeare's most iconic stories"--Penguin Books. Love, deception and discord...

"Family relationships are at the center of Henry IV, Part 1. King Henry IV and Prince Hal form one major father-son pair, with Henry in despair because Hal lives a dissolute life. The father-son pair of Hotspur (Lord Henry Percy) and his father, the Earl of Northumberland, is in seeming contrast; the king envies Northumberland 'his Harry,' wishing he could claim the gallant Hotspur as his own. Meanwhile, Hal has entered into a quasi-father-son relationship...