Shakespeare
Read this if you…
- want to read the earliest shakespeare plays even though they are among his worst
- are a weird person who is Interested in War of roses history
Skip this if you…
- aren't willing to go slow, read notes, look up analyses of famous passages (only way to "get" shakespeare)
- foolishly think shakespeare is overrated
- haven't read the classic histories yet
Gallery
Depicted in Art
Lord Clifford raises his sword over the twelve-year-old Edmund, Earl of Rutland, while the boy's tutor pleads for his life at the Battle of Wakefield.
Charles Robert Leslie, 1815
The pious King Henry sits alone on a molehill in the snow, surrendering the battlefield to thought while the carnage of Towton unfolds out of frame.
William Dyce, 1860
King Henry watches as a soldier discovers he has killed his own father and another that he has killed his own son, the two corpses laid before him.
John Ogborne, 1803
The young Edward of Westminster stands before Edward IV for questioning, with the king's brothers Richard, George, and Lord Hastings ranged around him.
James William Edmund Doyle, 1864
Editions
Recommended Editions
#1Top Pick$9.99$9.31
Folger Shakespeare Library
2008
Folger's the readable one. Text on one page, notes on the facing page, written in plain English instead of textbook-speak. Catches every word and reference you'd otherwise Google, without breaking the scene to do it.
Please support us by purchasing through these links, at no extra cost to you!
Notable Quotes
O tiger's heart wrapp'd in a woman's hide!
Adaptations
Screen & Stage
Posters via The Movie Database (TMDB)
AcclaimPraised by 1 notable voice
- Robert Greene, Elizabethan playwright and pamphleteer, c. 1558–1592: "An upstart crow, beautified with our feathers, that with his "tiger's heart wrapped in a player's hide" … is in his own conceit the only Shake-scene in a country."
More by William Shakespeare
- 11A Midsummer Night’s Dream~1595William ShakespeareGrueling·Quick·118 pagesInfluence24Popularity81ShakespeareComedyEnglish
- 13Hamlet~1600William ShakespeareGrueling·Quick·218 pagesInfluence98Popularity96ShakespeareTragedyEnglish
- 20Othello~1603William ShakespeareGrueling·Quick·189 pagesInfluence88Popularity76ShakespeareTragedyEnglish
- 23King Lear~1605William ShakespeareGrueling·Quick·187 pagesInfluence95Popularity72ShakespeareTragedyEnglish
- 26Macbeth~1606William ShakespeareGrueling·Quick·122 pagesInfluence94Popularity87ShakespeareTragedyEnglish
- 42Richard II~1595William ShakespeareGrueling·Quick·160 pagesInfluence22Popularity24ShakespeareHistory PlayEnglish
- 43Twelfth Night~1601William ShakespeareGrueling·Quick·142 pagesInfluence20Popularity60ShakespeareComedyEnglish
- 52Romeo and Juliet~1595William ShakespeareGrueling·Quick·175 pagesInfluence88Popularity99ShakespeareTragedyEnglish
- 54The Tempest~1611William ShakespeareGrueling·Quick·119 pagesInfluence87Popularity62ShakespeareRomanceEnglish
- 59Love's Labour's Lost~1594William ShakespeareGrueling·Quick·153 pagesInfluence8Popularity18ShakespeareComedyEnglish
- 69All's Well That Ends Well~1604William ShakespeareGrueling·Quick·164 pagesInfluence15Popularity18ShakespeareComedyEnglish
- 72Much Ado About Nothing~1598William ShakespeareGrueling·Quick·151 pagesInfluence18Popularity60ShakespeareComedyEnglish
- 77Julius Caesar~1599William ShakespeareGrueling·Quick·141 pagesInfluence21Popularity61ShakespeareTragedyEnglish
- 78King Henry IV, Part 1~1596William ShakespeareGrueling·Quick·176 pagesInfluence22Popularity24ShakespeareHistory PlayEnglish
- 80The Merchant of Venice~1596William ShakespeareGrueling·Quick·152 pagesInfluence20Popularity60ShakespeareComedyEnglish
- 81Measure for Measure~1604William ShakespeareGrueling·Quick·156 pagesInfluence18Popularity18ShakespeareComedyEnglish
- 94As You Like It~1599William ShakespeareGrueling·Quick·155 pagesInfluence19Popularity58ShakespeareComedyEnglish
- 112Antony and Cleopatra~1606William ShakespeareGrueling·Quick·178 pagesInfluence20Popularity32ShakespeareTragedyEnglish
- 120Richard III~1593William ShakespeareGrueling·Quick·209 pagesInfluence22Popularity58ShakespeareHistory PlayEnglish
- 129Henry V~1599William ShakespeareGrueling·Quick·187 pagesInfluence23Popularity50ShakespeareHistory PlayEnglish
- 137The Winter's Tale~1610William ShakespeareGrueling·Quick·178 pagesInfluence16Popularity16ShakespeareRomanceEnglish
- 138The Taming of the Shrew~1591William ShakespeareGrueling·Quick·150 pagesInfluence16Popularity59ShakespeareComedyEnglish
- 142Troilus and Cressida~1602William ShakespeareGrueling·Quick·186 pagesInfluence18Popularity17ShakespeareSatireEnglish
- 150The Comedy of Errors~1594William ShakespeareGrueling·Quick·105 pagesInfluence16Popularity20ShakespeareComedyEnglish
- 152Coriolanus~1608William ShakespeareGrueling·Quick·197 pagesInfluence17Popularity32ShakespeareTragedyEnglish
- 156King John~1596William ShakespeareGrueling·Quick·148 pagesInfluence14Popularity22ShakespeareHistory PlayEnglish
- 163Timon of Athens~1606William ShakespeareGrueling·Quick·130 pagesInfluence10Popularity14ShakespeareTragedyEnglish
- 173The Two Gentlemen of Verona~1590William ShakespeareGrueling·Quick·122 pagesInfluence8Popularity19ShakespeareComedyEnglish
- 174Henry IV, Part Two~1597William ShakespeareGrueling·Quick·183 pagesInfluence14Popularity22ShakespeareHistory PlayEnglish
- 176Titus Andronicus~1592William ShakespeareGrueling·Quick·148 pagesInfluence12Popularity14ShakespeareTragedyEnglish
- 178The Merry Wives of Windsor~1597William ShakespeareGrueling·Quick·156 pagesInfluence12Popularity20ShakespeareComedyEnglish
- 179Cymbeline~1610William ShakespeareGrueling·Quick·197 pagesInfluence11Popularity16ShakespeareRomanceEnglish
- 180Pericles~1607William ShakespeareGrueling·Quick·132 pagesInfluence10Popularity16ShakespeareRomanceEnglish
- 181The Two Noble Kinsmen~1613William ShakespeareGrueling·Quick·181 pagesInfluence9Popularity15ShakespeareRomanceEnglish
- 188Henry VI, Part 1~1592William ShakespeareGrueling·Quick·154 pagesInfluence14Popularity22ShakespeareHistory PlayEnglish
- 189King Henry VI, Part 2~1591William ShakespeareGrueling·Quick·182 pagesInfluence13Popularity21ShakespeareHistory PlayEnglish
- 190King Henry VI, Part 3~1591William ShakespeareGrueling·Quick·174 pagesInfluence12Popularity20ShakespeareHistory PlayEnglish
- 199Henry VIII~1613William ShakespeareGrueling·Quick·176 pagesInfluence10Popularity23ShakespeareHistory PlayEnglish
- Shakespeare's Sonnets1609William ShakespeareGrueling·Quick·121 pagesInfluence—Popularity—PoetsLyricEnglish
#