Essential Shakespeare Handbook

I used this book because of the pictures and information about the plays. I read the actual Shakespeare play and Cliff Notes along with this book and got a very good idea of the plays so that I could intelligently see a Shakespeare play and understand what was taking place. I highly recommend it. It helped bring it to life in my mind.

The Essential Shakespeare Handbook is just that, the first place to turn for the answers. It has taken its place on my bookshelf right along side of The Oxford Companion to Shakespeare. I'll bet I take it down from that shelf more often than I do its companion. D-K's colorful Handbook has a real advantage over others in the field: it's attractive and approachable for a very wide audience. Who knows? Your kids might even decide that Will was a cool guy.

No teacher or student of Shakespeare can afford NOT to own this book. I wish I'd had it when I was first confronted by the Bard. It only takes one tedious production to get off on the wrong foot. Like many people, I didn't know quite where to start with an author I was told was England's greatest poet and playwright. Thisis the guide I needed then. Now, years later, I already find it indispensable. I have tested the book before seeing Shakespeare plays I did not know well: it works! Early essays place Shakespeare in the context of the theatre and politics of his times. Later essays dissect his language and poetry in an highly illuminating manner. The heart of the book, though, ticks around Shakespeare's plays. Divided into genres, each play is deftly summarised (with key speeches highlighted) and analysed from both theatrical and literary points of view. And making the Essential Shakespeare Handbook a true delight both to read and peruse, it is packed with illustrations of famous productions as well as of opera, ballet and film adaptations. To students and theatregoers alike, this book offers a key to loving Shakespeare.

Brimming with fabulous illustrations and information, The Essential Shakespeare Handbook is also a good read. (a quality lacking in most books of this type, and most especially the Oxford Companion). The authors have not only given an overall history of Shakespeare's works but also of the Elizabethan Period in general. I loved the way they divided the plays into color-coded categories of history plays, comedies, tragedies and romances. There is an introduction to each play which provides background on what inspired Shakespeare to write on that particular subject. I find it most helpful that they give a capsule bio of each character in a play before summarizing each act. I loved the way they provide guidance on how to read the play as well as what to look for when viewing the play. This is such an amazing book that I have ordered a dozen copies and regularly give it to friends and relatives (it made a great graduation gift). Many of the recipients are now ordering multiple copies to give to their own friends. We all feel that this book is the best yet of the hundreds of reference books on the works of Shakespeare.

Someone once said that no reader ever buys a book because of who the publisher is but DK Books is an exception to that rule. Everythig they publish is wonderfully written, packed with informattion and fun. Essential Shakespeare gives you an overview of Shakespeare's life, looks at the different argurments about his "true" identity and talks about the role and realities of theater life in the Elizabethan and Jacobean ages. Next it launches into in depth discussions about each play, long poem and gives a quick look at the sonnets. The book sumarizes each play, gives you a who's who among the characters and then tells you in detail what happens act by act. Then it talks about how the play has been shown to audiences through out the years. Like all DK books it's full of pictures and sidebars.I spent hours readig this book and only put it down because I had to get up early the next morning. Essential Shakespeare is not only a great gift for a Shakespeare lover but it's a really effective way to itroduce the works of the Bard to someone who didn't know much or anything about them before. Alls well that ends well, this book is most definitely worth the money.