Brightest Heaven of Invention by Peter J. Leithart (a Christian study of six Shakespeare plays, aimed at high schoolers) includes Henry V, Julius Caesar, Hamlet, Macbeth, Taming of the Shrew, Much Ado About Nothing. These plays, which are among Shakespeare's more popular, repeat in AO's rotation every five or six years: A perfect introduction for all ages to the breadth and beauty of Shakespeare's work. Tales from Shakespeare has become a classic work in its own right. The tales bring vividly to life the power of Hamlet and Macbeth, the fun of A Midsummer Night's Dream, and the drama of The Tempest. Blending detailed narrative with original dialogue and poetic language, they fully convey the wit, wisdom and imagination of Shakespeare's magnificent plays. a b "A Double Life: A biography of Charles and Mary Lamb, by Sarah Burton". The Independent. 17 August 2003. Archived from the original on 26 May 2022 . Retrieved 31 October 2020. The Lambs wrote Tales from Shakespeare to introduce "young people not accustomed to the dramatic form of writing" to the famous plays by William Shakespeare. Selecting twenty popular comedies and tragedies which they considered appropriate for children, they simplified the plots and retold them in narrative form. They omitted any parts deemed inappropriate for young readers but preserved Shakespeare's original wording whenever possible.

Tales from Shakespeare - Wikipedia

Macbeth: Macbeth, after receiving a prophecy from the witches of his ascending the throne, along with his wife crosses every line from regicide to witchery to killing his own friends for the crown but they are haunted by the things they have done and it doesn't end well for them. illustration from a 1922 edition of Tales from Shakespeare that shows Shakespeare presenting his stories to Queen Elizabeth I and charles and Mary Lamb presenting their stories to children.Drabble, Margaret (1985). Oxford Companion to English Literature. Oxford: Oxford University Press. pp. 545. ISBN 0-19-866130-4.

Michael Morpurgo’s Tales from Shakespeare by - Waterstones

Mind you, the Lambs haven't included all of the plays in this work – notable absences include the Roman plays (which is a shame because Julius Caesar happens to be one of my favourites) and the History plays. The suggestion is, at least in the introduction to the edition that I read, is that the Lambs were more interested in the plays that operated within the domestic sphere as opposed to those that operated in the political sphere. While that may seem a little odd when we note that plays such as the Scottish Play and King Lear are included (as these two plays very much operate within the political sphere) I can sort of see where the Lambs are coming from – the book is primarily targeted at children, and at the age at which they would have been reading this their experience of the world outside of the home would have been quite limited.

Select a format:

Acquired as part of a multi-book deal brokered by Ann-Janine Murtagh, Executive Publisher at HarperCollins Children's Books, and Veronique Baxter at David Higham Associates, Morpurgo’s Tales from Shakespeare will be a landmark event in a decade-long publishing partnership between HarperCollins Children’s Books and Michael Morpurgo.

Tales From Shakespeare - RSC Michael Morpurgo introduces his Tales From Shakespeare - RSC

But as much as I have truly enjoyed Tales From Shakespeare and do consider it a wonderful prose adaptation of and introduction to William Shakespeare’s comedies and tragedies (with most of the comedies being rendered by Mary Lamb and the tragedies by her brother Charles Lamb), personally, I am also rather furious and flabbergasted that the Lambs have included neither ANY of the British history plays nor the so-called Roman dramas. And since sadly and unfortunately, this shortcoming of course means that some of my very favourite Shakespeare plays, like Henry IV (parts one and two), Henry V, Julius Caesar and Anthony and Cleopatra are therefore really and truly missing in action, I absolutely cannot and will not completely consider Tales From Shakespeare as a personal favourite and am indeed annoyed enough with regard to the British history and the Roman plays having been left out of Tales From Shakespeare that I will only be able to consider a three star ranking, a high three star rating no doubt and I do still highly recommend Tales From Shakespeare but the gaps, that certain types of Shakespeare plays are seemingly simply en masse being ignored by Charles and Mary Lamb, this does indeed rather majorly bother me. Now that I know the stories of these plays maybe I'll be more comfortable reading the originals. I'm noticing out of these only Macbeth is one without a happy ending, hmm. It is interesting to consider the target audience of this book though – written in 1809 it would have mainly been for the children of the middle and upper classes, who no doubt would have been able to read. However it is suggested in Charles Lamb's introduction that it was more for the girls than the boys, as the boys would have had access to the father's library (another indication that it would have been for the upper classes) at a much younger age than the girls. It is also an indication that at the time children's literature would have been literally non-existent, namely because it was expected that when a child learnt to read, they would have been thrown straight into the deep end (though I suspect that the Bible would have been a major part of a child's introduction to literature). Let me say, before I go any further, that this book is easier to read than Shakespeare's plays, but just barely. Here is a sample paragraph, taken from a chapter about a play I not only haven't read, but that I hadn't even heard of before I read this book, Timon of Athens: Soft cover. Condition: Fair. Geoffrey Whittham (illustrator). 1st Edition. Cover is faded, little rubbing on the edges. Name of former owner inside. Spine is scuffed. This is the ninth Hong Kong impression.

You may also like

Granted, the Lambs wrote it during a time when women didn't get university educations, there were still smart people out there who could understand the Bard without the contents being dumbed down. Williams, Marcia (15 October 2013). Miller, Naomi (ed.). Reimagining Shakespeare for Children and Young Adults. Routledge. Anyway, this is a great little book, especially for those of us who happen to have young children (not that I'm one of those people), simply because it has been written in a style that is really accessible to those of us who might not be able to understand the language, or even be able to follow what is in effect a script. Okay, the Lambs do try retain as much of the original dialogue as possible, but only where they use the dialogue. For the most part the story is told using prose, which has a great effect on being able to help us understand the action of the play. I must admit that this is the first time that I have read this particular book in years (and even then I have only read it once before, not counting that time in highschool), and I generally don't grab it off the shelf to get an idea of what a particular play is about – that's what Wikipedia is for. The Winter's Tale is set in the land of fairy stories, where kings are cruel without cause and bears roam conveniently and sixteen years can be passed over as lightly as drawing breath. The story was popular when Shakespeare was a young man, and in his hands it becomes for the first time worth telling. For some of the people are enchanting and so is the poetry--harsh and strong as winter in the first part of the play, and then as lovely and flowerlike as spring." (Marchette Chute) A "NoFear" parallel version of The Winter's Tale is not available.

Shakespeare - AmblesideOnline - Charlotte Mason Curriculum Shakespeare - AmblesideOnline - Charlotte Mason Curriculum

A Midsummer Night's Dream: Magic is in the air. Magical forest, invisible fairies bring lovers together, undetected. Love is created by magic when it isn't there. Everyone lives happily ever after. If I am conquered, well, I was never happy; if I am killed, well I am willing to die. I shall do my friends no wrong, for I have none to weep for me. I shall do the world no harm for in it I have nothing. For I only take up a place in the world which may be better filled when I have made it empty.”

If you are curious, this book covers The Tempest; A Midsummer Night's Dream; The Winter's Tale; Much Ado About Nothing; As You Like It; The Two Gentlemen of Verona; The Merchant of Venice; Cymbeline; King Lear; Macbeth; All's Well That Ends Well; The Taming of the Shrew; The Comedy of Errors; Measure for Measure; Twelfth Night; Timon of Athens; Hamlet; Othello; Pericles, Prince of Tyre. Right, I may be in the minority here but this book was a mangled mess in my eyes missing the comedy particularly of the original plays. Whilst I could give the treatment of "Romeo and Juliet" and "Othello" 4 stars, the (mis)treatment of "A Midsummer Night's Dream" was shameful, missing all the fun and froth of the original play. There is a reason Shakespeare's works have survived to this day. It's timeless, classic and most all unique. About Lamb's Tales, the writing is atypical, top-notch, I loved it! This is a great way to dabble into Shakespeare, it's like dipping a toe, if you want to read Shakespeare or even if you don't plan to read the original works, if you're just curious.