"All the world's a stage... One of the most quoted lines of Shakespeare was first heard in this play. As You Like It is set in the enchanted Forest of Arden, where Rosalind, the daughter of an exiled duke, and Orlando, the son of one of her father's courtiers, become entangled in a game of love and mistaken identity. This short narrative version of the play has been suitably adapted to help introduce the play to young readers. It can be read by children...

This dark comedy, set in Vienna, explores virtue and sin. Claudio has been arrested for getting his mistress pregnant and Angelo, the strict, morality-spouting judge, has sentenced him to death. When Claudio's sister Isabella, a novice nun, begs Angelo to show mercy, he is instantly smitten, and offers Isabella a choice: her virginity for her brother's life.

"One of Shakespeare's most frequently performed comedies, Much Ado About Nothing includes two quite different stories of romantic love. Hero and Claudio fall in love almost at first sight, but an outsider, Don John, strikes out at their happiness. Beatrice and Benedick are kept apart by pride and mutual antagonism until others decide to play Cupid." --

"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...

"Shakespeare's "merry wives" are Mistress Ford and Mistress Page of the town of Windsor. The two play practical jokes on Mistress Ford's jealous husband and a visiting knight, Sir John Falstaff. Merry wives, jealous husbands, and predatory knights were common in a kind of play called "citizen comedy" or "city comedy." In such plays, courtiers, gentlemen, or knights use social superiority to seduce citizens' wives. The Windsor wives, though, do not...

Brutus, best friend of the Roman ruler Caesar, reluctantly joins a successful plot to murder Caesar and subsequently destroys himself. Includes notes and an introduction.

Friendship and Greed!-- Timon is a wealthy and generous man. Over the length of the play we watch as he slowly gives away his entire fortune. Then we witness the tragedy of a man who comes to realize that he has no friends now that he has no money. "Here lies a wretched corse, Of wretched soul bereft: Seek not my name: a Plague consume you wicked Caitiffs left! Here lie I, Timon; who, alive, all living men did hate: Pass by and curse thy fill, but...

Classic Books Library presents this new beautiful edition of William Shakespeare's play, "Pericles, Prince of Tyre", featuring a specially commissioned new biography of William Shakespeare. In "Pericles", a father loses his wife, who dies at sea during childbirth. Upon land, Pericles entrusts his new-born daughter, Marina, to the Governor of Tarsus and his wife. Fourteen years later, Marina escapes a deadly plan, devised by the jealous Governor's...

"The lost twin sons of the old merchant Egeon--both named Antipholus--find themselves in Ephesus, without either one even knowing of the other's existence. Meanwhile, Egeon has arrived in search of the son he thinks is still alive--and has been sentenced to death for the "crime" of being from Syracuse. To add to the confusion, the two Antipholuses have twin servants, both named Dromio. As the four men unwittingly encounter each other, the play is...

Presents the original text of Shakespeare's play side by side with a modern version, with marginal notes and explanations and full descriptions of each character.