Other editions of book Tales from Shakespeare

Tales from Shakespeare is the classic retelling of Shakespeare’s plays, first published in 1807 by Charles and Mary Lamb. The siblings retell twenty of Shakespeare’s most popular plays, occasionally including the most famous lines but otherwise making the original plays accessible to a wide audience. For over two centuries this classic source has been considered a magnificent introduction to the Bard, allowing younger readers and those new to the plays to understand the plots and characters--as well as providing additional insights to those who have read the full plays. This handsome edition contains the full, unabridged text of the original book from the Lambs, with all twenty plays included.

Charles and Mary Lamb adapted twenty of Shakespeare's plays in simple language so that it makes easy reading for the young readers. The book is designed to make the stories of Shakespeare's plays familiar to the young. However, as noted in the author's Preface, “Shakespeare's words are used whenever it seemed possible to bring them in” Mary Lamb was responsible for the comedies, while Charles wrote the tragedies.

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Tales from Shakespeare Charles & Mary Lamb Illustrated by Arthur Rackham The book is designed to make the stories of Shakespeare's plays familiar to the young. However, as noted in the author's Preface, "Shakespeare's words are used whenever it seemed possible to bring them in; and in whatever has been added to give them the regular form of a connected story, diligent care has been taken to select such words as might least interrupt the effect of the beautiful English tongue in which he wrote: therefore, words introduced into our language since his time have been as far as possible avoided." Mary Lamb was responsible for the comedies, while Charles wrote the tragedies; they wrote the preface between them.

Tales from Shakespeare is characterized by almost fairytale-like plot devices-complications arising from identical twins, magical forests, ghosts and witches, and foolish kings. The prose renditions of fourteen comedies and six tragedies are just as captivating for adults. Far from being mere plot summaries, the Tales closely follow the plays, frequently incorporating Shakespeare's exact language into the narratives and refusing to impose simplistic moral conclusions on the often-messy philosophical universe of Shakespearean drama.