Books with title Shakespeare's Stories: The Histories

In Stories from Shakespeare, Marchette Chute opens wide the gateway to the most varied and glorious world ever created by one man. Her retellings of all thirty-six First Folio plays are superbly lucid. It is not Ms. Chute's purpose to provide a substitute for these immortal comedies, tragedies, and histories; rather she seeks to provide the modern reader with essential insight into Shakespeare's narrative genius, clarifying the intricacies of plot and sharply delineating a host of characters, major and minor alike. This she does with surpassing grace and unobtrusive scholarship, closely following the sequence of onstage action and illuminating it with choice quotations and perceptive comments. The New Yorker has termed this work "a beautifully done job."

By skillfully weaving his own prose with Shakespeare's language, Leon Garfield has refashioned twelve of the Elizabethan playwright's most memorable dramas into stories, capturing all the richness of the characters, plot, mood, and setting. This format will delight both those who know the great dramatist's works and those who are new to them. Michael Foreman's dramatic color illustrations and varied black-and-white line drawings are the perfect complement to this celebration of Shakespeare's genius.

By skillfully weaving his own prose with Shakespeare's language, Leon Garfield has refashioned nine of the Elizabethan playwright's dramas into stories, capturing all the richness of the characters, plot, mood, and setting. This format will delight both those who know the great dramatist's works and those who are new to them. Plays included are: Much Ado About Nothing, Julius Caesar, Antony and Cleopatra, Measure for Measure, As You Like It, Cymbeline, King Richard the Third, The Comedy of Errors, and The Winter's Tale.

Finally! Summaries and Commentaries for All of Shakespeare's histories are available in one easy-to-access volume. Henry VI, Part 1 details the hasty settlement of a dispute and a grave error in judgment that start a fledgling king on a downward spiral. Henry VI, Part 2 describes a second weakness--the king's retreat into religion to avoid difficult decisions concerning policy. The result is the initiation of the Wars of the Roses. Henry VI, Part 3 is a bitter harvest of a king's poor political husbandry. Richard III presents a full-length portrait of a self-confessed egotistically ambitious, physically deformed king who vows to outdo Italy's wicked Machiavelli in order to win the crown of England. King John characterizes the disruption that results from a shallow, unethical monarchy. Richard II chronicles the fall from grandeur of the handsomest king of his time, fawned on by greedy, sycophantic courtiers and deposed by one of his noblemen whom he banishes unfairly and whimsically. Henry IV, Part 1 pivots merrily around the heir to Henry IV--his son, the lusty Prince Hal, who prefers the company of his bawdy tavern friends to his stuffy, conservative, politic-playing peers at court. Henry IV, Part 2 continues the saga of Prince Hal, who doffs his irresponsible attitudes, assumes the throne after the death of his father, and thereby sustains the country's measure of majesty. Henry V completes the portrait of Prince Hal, now Henry V, questing after the French crown and delivering one of the crown jewels of Shakespearean soliloquies--the St. Crispin's Day speech to the troops. Henry VIII pays tribute to the Tudor kings, whose might culminates in the linchpin of the dynasty--Henry's daughter: Elizabeth I.