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Hamlet by William Shakespeare: Book Review, Summary and Analysis

Book: Hamlet  Written by William Shakespeare

The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark, often shortened to Hamlet, is a tragedy written by William Shakespeare sometime between 1599 and 1601. It is Shakespeare's longest play, with 29,551 words. Wikipedia

• Characters: Ophelia, Claudius, Polonius, Laertes, Horatio, Gertrude, MORE
• Original language: Early Modern English
• Genre: Shakespearean tragedy, Drama
• Setting: Denmark

Who is Hamlet

Hamlet is the protagonist in Shakespeare's tragedy "Hamlet".

Hamlet, Prince of Denmark, is an idealist and perfectionist. The death of the father, the marriage of the mother to the uncle, and the ghost of the father telling Hamlet that he was killed by Claudius. 

Hamlet's outlook on life has changed, and his personality has become complicated and suspicious. In the end, Hamlet dies for justice in order to avenge his father, which is regrettable and regrettable.

"Hamlet" Synopsis

"Hamlet", also known as "The Prince's Revenge", "Hamlet", "Macbeth", "King Lear" and "Othello" are called Shakespeare's "four tragedies". "Hamlet" is the longest play among Shakespeare's plays, and it is also the most prestigious play. 

It has profound tragic significance and represents the highest achievement of Western Renaissance literature. The "to be or not to be" said by Hamlet in the play is even more classic among the classics.

Why Hamlet is a Masterpiece

"Hamlet" deserves to be a masterpiece, it can be a magical work, or it can be a work created by God. To put it simply, this work has been widely circulated in the world today, and it has been touched on in various fields of Western culture. If you want to learn Western culture, "Hamlet" is definitely a classic work. 

Everyone in the West Thinkers should study this book in depth because, in this book, the ideas or ideas that they want to convey are not accepted by everyone.

For example, in "Hamlet" in the book, don't be attached to your mother. From the perspective of modern people, this kind of behavior may be more or less understandable, but when Shakespeare wrote this book, if he had such an idea, it was absolutely detached. of. 

This does not belong to the simple love between men and women that we usually call, because "Hamlet" is too attached to his mother, which makes "Hamlet" become hesitant, hesitant, and even weak.

Even though later generations have remade the book "Hamlet" into a movie, the details described in the book have not been fully shown in the video. 

Reading the original work is the greatest respect for the author. Since Shakespeare was able to create such a work, his thoughts must surpass others and be more open.

What exactly does Hamlet want to reflect?

Many people read "Hamlet" but didn't really understand it, and didn't understand what the book wanted to express. It will be easier if you look at the writing background. 

When Shakespeare wrote this book, he was in the Renaissance period. What he wanted to express was the rampant bourgeoisie and the chaotic and dark age in England at that time. Relics of history.

About the Author:  William Shakespeare

William Shakespeare (April 23, 1564-April 23, 1616) was a great dramatist and poet during the European Renaissance. He was born in a small merchant family in Strasford-upon-Erwen, England. In 1587, Shakespeare left his hometown and went to London. 

At first, he worked as a horse guard for the theater and did chores in other houses, and later became an actor. Just play in the beginning. In 1593, Shakespeare's first long poem, Venus and Adonis, was published.

William Shakespeare is the most outstanding dramatist in the history of English literature, the most important and greatest writer of the European Renaissance, the master of humanist literature at that time, and the most outstanding literature in the world Home.

Born and raised in Stratford-upon-Avon, Shakespeare married Anne Hathaway at the age of 18, with whom they had three children: Susannah and twins Hamnet and Judith. 

For more than 20 years from the end of the 16th century to the beginning of the 17th century, Shakespeare started a successful career in London. 

He was not only an actor and a playwright, but also one of the partners of the Chamberlain's Theater Company, which was later renamed the King's Theater Company. Shakespeare retired to Stratford-upon-Avon around 1613, where he died three years later.

The period from 1590 to 1600 was the golden age of Shakespeare's writing. His early plays were mainly comedies and historical plays, which reached their peak of depth and artistry in the late 16th century. 

From 1601 to 1608, he mainly wrote tragedies. Shakespeare advocated noble sentiments and often described sacrifice and revenge, including "Othello", "Hamlet", "King Lear" and "Macbeth", which are considered to be among the best examples in English. In the last period of his life, he began to write tragicomedies, also known as romantic dramas.

Shakespeare's handed-down works include 37 plays, 154 sonnets, and two long narrative poems. His plays have been translated into every major language and performed more often than any other playwright.

Excerpts from the original text: Hamlet

Introduction to the story of hamlet.

"Hamlet" describes the Danish prince Hamlet's revenge for his father. When the prince was studying in Germany, his father was killed by his younger brother Claudius. The murderer covered up the truth, usurped the throne, and married the king's wife; Hamlet worked hard to understand the truth in the play. 

But he fell into the metaphysical thinking of "to be or not to be", and gave up the chance of revenge. As a result, Claudius counterattacked, and he could only parry. In the sword competition, Hamlet finally awakened and bravely stabbed his enemy to death; at the same time, he was also poisoned and martyred.

"Hamlet" is a tragic work written by English playwright William Shakespeare between 1599 and 1602. The play tells that Uncle Claudius murdered Hamlet's father, usurped the throne, and married the king's widow Gertrude; Prince Hamlet avenged his uncle for his father.

"Hamlet" is the longest play among all Shakespeare's plays, and it is also Shakespeare's most famous play. It has profound tragic significance, complex characters, and rich and perfect tragic art techniques, and represents the whole of Western Renaissance literature. highest achievement. Together with "Macbeth", "King Lear" and "Othello", they form Shakespeare's "four tragedies".

"Hamlet" is Shakespeare's most famous play, and it is also the earliest, most complex, and longest of his four tragedies. In the three acts and one scene of the play, Hamlet has a monologue, which is popular both in the original text and in translation.

"Hamlet" is known as one of the four great masterpieces in Europe. Since its inception, it has been adapted many times into stage plays, operas, film and television, and other works.

William Shakespeare was an English Renaissance dramatist and poet, a master of humanist literature in the European Renaissance, and one of the founders of modern European literature. He wrote a total of 37 plays, 154 sonnets, two long poems, and other poems.

What are the main contents of Hamlet?

It mainly describes the story of Prince Hamlet of Denmark avenging his father. When the prince was studying in Germany, his father was killed by his younger brother Claudius. The murderer covered up the truth, usurped the throne, and married the king's wife; Hamlet worked hard to understand the truth in the play.

" Hamlet " is a tragic work written by English playwright William Shakespeare between 1599 and 1602. The play tells that Uncle Claudius murdered Hamlet's father, usurped the throne, and married the king's widow Gertrude; Prince Hamlet avenged his uncle for his father.

The story happened in Denmark, when Prince Hamlet's father was killed by his uncle, and his uncle married her mother, and he became the king of Denmark. These were a great blow to Prince Hamlet of Denmark. In the past, he lived a carefree life, went to college, practiced swordsmanship with friends, ate, drank, and had fun. But now his life has changed drastically.

The loving father was robbed of his life, and the state power was robbed by his cruel uncle, and her mother remarried. These bad things hit Hamlet all at once, causing him to completely collapse, and even have the idea of ​​suicide. But his fortunes change when Bernardo and Francesco discover a ghost one night on the terrace in front of the castle.

That ghost was the ghost of Hamlet's father. They observed it for two consecutive nights. On the third night, they called Horatio and found the ghost. He was Hamlet's good friend, so he decided to call this ghost Tell Hamlet. On the morning of the fourth day, he told Hamlet about it, and Hamlet was so surprised that he also decided to go and have a look.

He was a little puzzled and half-believed, so that night on the castle terrace, he really saw the ghost, and the ghost waved to him. He rushed like a ghost, and the ghost took him to the corner and told him that his father had been killed by his uncle. Venom poured into his ear.

Now the ghost needs Hamlet to avenge him. After speaking, the ghost disappeared. At this time, Horatio and Bernardo appeared. They promised Hamlet not to tell others what they heard, and then Hamlet told them about the ghost. Then Hamlet begins to prepare for revenge, and his first impression plan is to pretend to be crazy.

Makes everyone look crazy when they see him, and makes others think he is really crazy. At this time, she fell in love with Ophelia, the daughter of a flattering minister Polonius. In order to please the king, Polonius is unwilling to let Hamlet and Ophelia touch each other, so Hamlet is very angry and becomes crazier.

His two very good friends, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, spent his childhood with Hamlet when he was young, and these two friends, whom he thought were loyal, also fought for the king and money. , honor, betrayed him. Inquire about him for the king, and why he has gone mad. And his mother is constantly testing him. Everyone is against him.

His heart is also very safe and angry. And at this time a pair of theater troupes came and gave Hamlet a wonderful play. Hamlet told them to let them play another play. In it, Hamlet adds some fragments, which are similar to the content of the State Grid killing his father. When watching a play, look at the king's facial expression. If he is a little disturbed, it means he killed him.

He kept thinking about these things, concentrating on how to avenge the king and finally found out that it was he who killed him. After the play in the queen's bedroom, when he was talking with the queen, Polonius was entrusted by the king to hide behind the curtain and eavesdrop on their conversation. 

As a result, Hamlet thought it was the king, so he drew his sword and stabbed into the curtain.

He stabbed Polonez to death with a sword, but after opening the reply, he found out that it was Polonez, and he was very regretful. Then he fled the palace in a hurry. 

Polonez's daughter, Ophelia, went mad when she found out, sang songs without thinking at all, and finally committed suicide by jumping into the river. Her brother, Laertes, was furious when he came back from France and decided to kill Hamlet.

He is united with the king. The triple shackle trick was planned, so that Hamlet could not escape. But when the two of them implemented their plan, a tragedy happened. A poisonous sword was supposed to kill Hamlet, but it killed Hamlet and Laertes. Hamlet. When dying, a sword pierced the king's body.

The queen also drank the poisoned wine originally given to Hamlet and died. Finally, Fortinbras, who came to Danmai, saw the tragedy, took advantage of the fire, and returned Denmark to his territory.

Why is it said that "action" is the most brilliant stroke in Hamlet's life?

In fact, this scene also reflects the characteristics of Hamlet's actions. "To be or not to be" seems to have two options on the surface, but in fact Hamlet has no intention of accepting reality, giving up the mission of revenge, and living in the world. 

He is just uneasy about the unknown afterlife. Then Hamlet realizes that too much "careful thinking" will prevent him from taking decisive action, and again feels uneasy about his delay. That's why he had the behavior of attacking from behind. The second scene of the fifth act concentratedly demonstrates his power of action in contradictions.

This is the climax and the last part of the whole tragedy. First, Hamlet tells his friend Horatio how he saw through Claudius' treachery and returned to Denmark. Then write about his sword match with Laertes and the arrangements for his funeral. 

The biggest feature of Hamlet's character is the delay, but Hamlet is in action in the sword fight. It seems contradictory, but it is in line with the logic of Hamlet's character. Because fighting swords was not a strategy he took on his own initiative, when he accepted the challenge, he completely had the mentality of letting fate arrange it.

Shakespeare's description in this way reflects Hamlet's delayed character more vividly. But no matter how you say it, Hamlet finally dies with his opponent and finally completes his revenge. 

The scene of this last scene is full of horror and tragedy: Hamlet, Claudius, the queen, and Laertes all die one by one, and Polonius, Ophelia, Rosenger, etc. Lands and Guildenstern, together with the old king, made a total of nine fatalities. 

It can be said that at the end of the tragedy, Hamlet finally overcomes the fear of death and bravely sends out a final blow to evil. He is finally destroyed by evil, but he uses his actions to tell the world that the spirit of humanism The brilliant brilliance of the spirit and ideal also makes this work have a distinct critical significance.

What enlightenment significance does Hamlet's tragedy have?

The significance of the tragedy of Hamlet's image lies in From a positive perspective, his struggle reflects the historical progress of the uncompromising struggle between the humanist thinkers of the Renaissance and the declining feudal forces and is the product of the inevitable requirement of historical development.

From the perspective of summarizing experience and lessons, his tragedy stems from two aspects: First, the era he lived in was an era when feudal forces were still very strong, and the object of his struggle was the entire official court represented by Claudius. 

Hamlet uses his personal strength to compete with this powerful evil force, and a tragic fate is inevitable. In addition, as a bourgeois humanist, he doesn't believe in the masses and believes that only "poor me" can "reset the world", has been fighting alone, and in the end, he can only die with hatred. 

Secondly, the tragedy of Hamlet is also the result of the limitations of humanists' understanding of human beings under the new historical conditions at that time. He clings to the ideal of "human" in the early Renaissance, and cannot adapt to the reality that people have changed in the new historical environment. 

He uses abstract anthropological theories to solve practical problems, and tragedy is inevitable. Therefore, the tragedy of Hamlet is the tragedy of the later humanists, and also the tragedy of the anthropological theory of a specific era in the late Renaissance

Hamlet Book Summary and Analysis  

Hamlet's book review.

Hamlet (drawing sword) what! Which rat thief is it? It must be fatal, I will kill you. (Piercing the curtain with a sword) Polonius (behind) Ah! I'm dead! Ouch, queen! What have you done? I don't know Hamlet; isn't that the king? Queen, what reckless and cruel behavior! Hamlet's cruel behavior! Good mother, it's as bad as killing a king and marrying his brother. The queen killed a king! Hamlet Well, mother, that's exactly what I said. (See Polonius on the drape) Goodbye, you unlucky, careless, nosy fool! …… —— "Hamlet" Act 3, Act 4, Act  5, Act 1  

Hamlet, you prayed wrongly. Please don't pinch my head and neck; because although I am not an irritable person, it is very dangerous for my fire to break out, so don't annoy me. Let go of your hand!

Hamlet, hey, I'm willing to fight him over this subject until my eyelids stop blinking.

Hamlet, I love Ophelia; the love of forty thousand brothers, combined, is not worth my love for her. What are you willing to do for her? ——In the first scene of the fifth act of "Hamlet"

Hamlet, you are a man, give me the glass! (Compete with Horasch for the glass) Let go! God, give it to me! (Overturning the wine glass in Horasch's hand) God, if no one can expose the truth of this matter, then how much my name will be harmed! If you ever loved me, Then please sacrifice the happiness of heaven for the time being, and stay in this cold world to bear the pain and tell the world my story. —— "Hamlet" Act 5, Scene 4,

Reading Notes:  Hamlet by William Shakespeare

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Muhiuddin Alam is the Founder and Editor-in-Chief of ReadingAndThinking.com. He serves as a consistent contributor to various websites and publications, including Medium , Quora , Reddit , Linkedin , Substack , Vocal , Flipboard , and Amazon KDP . Alam personally read numerous books and, for the past 10 years, has been providing book recommendations and reviews. Find Me: About Me & Google Knowledge Panel .

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Romeo and Juliet

By william shakespeare.

Shakespeare creates an absolute masterpiece here with his groundbreaking ideas underpinned by his legendary writing skills. 

About the Book

Article written by Lee-James Bovey

P.G.C.E degree.

Romeo and Juliet almost speaks for itself. However, in keeping with the other articles on Book Analysis , we will try and review it honestly. (As honest as can be from a self-proclaimed Shakespeare fanboy!)

Characterization

It is not as straightforward to show characters in a play. Often the actors themselves help bring a text to life. However, having done some amateur theatre what I can say categorically is that with a dull script the talent of the actors is irrelevant. That is not an issue here. There is a range of characters and they all feel distinct from one another.

We see a range of motivations and people adapting the way they behave to suit their situation. Take for instance the character Lord Capulet who is defensive about the idea of Juliet marrying given her age but in the wake of Tybalt’s death and facing her showing a rebellious side he transforms completely appearing to threaten violence against her.

It is well known that Shakespeare borrowed plot ideas liberally from ancient Greek plays . However, with Romeo and Juliet , he broke new ground. Of course, it wasn’t the first tragedy but it was the first to use love as the hero’s fatal flaw. Up until this point, of course, we had seen love in plays but usually in comedy. It was considered not serious enough to warrant being a factor in a tragedy. The impact of this has shaped culture immeasurably.

But is the plot any good? It is not his most complex. There are no multiple side plots at play. However, it is such a good story. It truly is timeless and has been borrowed and liberally ripped off for centuries since. Personally, it is one of my favorites.

Language use

There is no doubt that Shakespeare was a master of his craft. So much of what he has written has shaped and bled into modern society. What he always did beautifully is use speech patterns to denote class or changes in status. Or in the case of Rome and Juliet to signify love. You know how they say when people are in love they “complete one another” Shakespeare subconsciously shows us that. When Romeo and Juliet first talk to one another their words form a perfect Shakespearean sonnet. Isn’t that beautiful? Plus looking beyond that you have the subtle difference in the way Romeo describes Juliet compared to Rosaline.

His metaphors are all about war and misery with Rosaline signifying his inner turmoil while his imagery when describing Juliet draws on religion and light. These skills combined with the masterful use of foreshadowing and the beautifully crafted witty exchanges between Romeo and Mercutio prove just how good the bard was.

It might not be the literary critic’s favorite. That honor seems to lie with Hamlet but can you really argue with the lasting appeal of Romeo and Juliet ? Here is a play that is still discussed and performed more than 400 years after it was written in an era where the language has developed so much that people struggle to understand everything which is said and yet it maintains its mystique. Some could point to the literary canon and suggest that it is full of dead white men and of course that is correct. I would suggest that not all of those dead white men deserve their place either.

However, I do not believe that you can extend that critique to the works of Shakespeare who was clearly ahead of his time in terms of the issues he was tackling. He also consistently displayed a masterful use of language and was as good at turning a phrase as anyone who has ever picked up a quill or sat in front of a typewriter. So, yes while I do display a certain degree of bias towards Shakespeare I still believe that Romeo and Juliet is an absolute masterpiece.

Should you read it?

This is a slightly more complex question to answer than you might expect. Yes, Shakespeare was a phenomenal writer but he was not an author. You can read his works and get enjoyment from them but truly to see them brought to life I’d recommend going to the theatre and seeing them performed and if you can’t bring yourself to do that watch one of the movies adaptations. So yes by all means read it. But if you ever get the opportunity to see it performed, do that! Especially if it is by somebody who does it well like the RSC in the UK.

Romeo and Juliet: Still as relevant today as it was in its day

• Writing style
• Lasting effect on reader

Romeo and Juliet Review

• Impeccable use of language
• Iconic story
• The music scene near the climax is dated
• Some of the humour is lost on a modern audience
• Language can be tricky to understand

About Lee-James Bovey

Lee-James, a.k.a. LJ, has been a Book Analysis team member since it was first created. During the day, he's an English Teacher. During the night, he provides in-depth analysis and summary of books.

Cite This Page

Bovey, Lee-James " Romeo and Juliet Review ⭐ " Book Analysis , https://bookanalysis.com/william-shakespeare/romeo-and-juliet/review/ . Accessed 4 April 2024.

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THIS IS SHAKESPEARE

by Emma Smith ‧ RELEASE DATE: April 21, 2020

A brief but sometimes knotty and earnest set of studies best suited for Shakespeare enthusiasts.

A brisk study of 20 of the Bard’s plays, focused on stripping off four centuries of overcooked analysis and tangled reinterpretations.

“I don’t really care what he might have meant, nor should you,” writes Smith (Shakespeare Studies/Oxford Univ.; Shakespeare’s First Folio: Four Centuries of an Iconic Book , 2016, etc.) in the introduction to this collection. Noting the “gappy” quality of many of his plays—i.e., the dearth of stage directions, the odd tonal and plot twists—the author strives to fill those gaps not with psychological analyses but rather historical context for the ambiguities. She’s less concerned, for instance, with whether Hamlet represents the first flower of the modern mind and instead keys into how the melancholy Dane and his father share a name, making it a study of “cumulative nostalgia” and our difficulty in escaping our pasts. Falstaff’s repeated appearances in multiple plays speak to Shakespeare’s crowd-pleasing tendencies. A Midsummer Night’s Dream is a bawdier and darker exploration of marriage than its teen-friendly interpretations suggest. Smith’s strict-constructionist analyses of the plays can be illuminating: Her understanding of British mores and theater culture in the Elizabethan era explains why Richard III only half-heartedly abandons its charismatic title character, and she is insightful in her discussion of how Twelfth Night labors to return to heterosexual convention after introducing a host of queer tropes. Smith's Shakespeare is eminently fallible, collaborative, and innovative, deliberately warping play structures and then sorting out how much he needs to un-warp them. Yet the book is neither scholarly nor as patiently introductory as works by experts like Stephen Greenblatt. Attempts to goose the language with hipper references— Much Ado About Nothing highlights the “ ‘bros before hoes’ ethic of the military,” and Falstaff is likened to Homer Simpson—mostly fall flat.

Pub Date: April 21, 2020

ISBN: 978-1-5247-4854-8

Page Count: 368

Publisher: Pantheon

Review Posted Online: Dec. 17, 2019

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2020

GENERAL NONFICTION

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More by Emma Smith

BOOK REVIEW

by Emma Smith

by E.T.A. Hoffmann ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 28, 1996

This is not the Nutcracker sweet, as passed on by Tchaikovsky and Marius Petipa. No, this is the original Hoffmann tale of 1816, in which the froth of Christmas revelry occasionally parts to let the dark underside of childhood fantasies and fears peek through. The boundaries between dream and reality fade, just as Godfather Drosselmeier, the Nutcracker's creator, is seen as alternately sinister and jolly. And Italian artist Roberto Innocenti gives an errily realistic air to Marie's dreams, in richly detailed illustrations touched by a mysterious light. A beautiful version of this classic tale, which will captivate adults and children alike. (Nutcracker; $35.00; Oct. 28, 1996; 136 pp.; 0-15-100227-4)

Pub Date: Oct. 28, 1996

ISBN: 0-15-100227-4

Page Count: 136

Publisher: Harcourt

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 1996

More by E.T.A. Hoffmann

by E.T.A. Hoffmann ; adapted by Natalie Andrewson ; illustrated by Natalie Andrewson

by E.T.A. Hoffmann & illustrated by Julie Paschkis

TO THE ONE I LOVE THE BEST

Episodes from the life of lady mendl (elsie de wolfe).

by Ludwig Bemelmans ‧ RELEASE DATE: Feb. 23, 1955

An extravaganza in Bemelmans' inimitable vein, but written almost dead pan, with sly, amusing, sometimes biting undertones, breaking through. For Bemelmans was "the man who came to cocktails". And his hostess was Lady Mendl (Elsie de Wolfe), arbiter of American decorating taste over a generation. Lady Mendl was an incredible person,- self-made in proper American tradition on the one hand, for she had been haunted by the poverty of her childhood, and the years of struggle up from its ugliness,- until she became synonymous with the exotic, exquisite, worshipper at beauty's whrine. Bemelmans draws a portrait in extremes, through apt descriptions, through hilarious anecdote, through surprisingly sympathetic and understanding bits of appreciation. The scene shifts from Hollywood to the home she loved the best in Versailles. One meets in passing a vast roster of famous figures of the international and artistic set. And always one feels Bemelmans, slightly offstage, observing, recording, commenting, illustrated.

Pub Date: Feb. 23, 1955

ISBN: 0670717797

Page Count: -

Publisher: Viking

Review Posted Online: Oct. 25, 2011

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 1955

More by Ludwig Bemelmans

developed by Ludwig Bemelmans ; illustrated by Steven Salerno

by Ludwig Bemelmans ; illustrated by Steven Salerno

by Ludwig Bemelmans

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Shakespeare: The World as Stage

By bill bryson, a concise and well-researched biography.

Bill Bryson’s Shakespeare: The World as Stage is a short and well-researched biography on the famous Bard, with some background on Elizabethan England thrown in for good measure.

I’ve been meaning to read something of Bryson’s for a long time and thought this might make a good introduction, especially since I did a lengthy project on Shakespeare back in middle school and have continuously heard contradicting “facts” about him since then. Bryson seems to have a consistently good reputation, and now I can see why. His biography of Shakespeare was an enjoyable, informative and subtlety well-crafted read. The relative short length of this book, he tells us, is due mainly to the fact that there’s little that’s really “known” about Shakespeare, especially his early life, though we do have an impressive amount of his works nowadays due the efforts of two of his colleagues at the time to put together a portfolio of his works, what modern Shakespeare academics refer to as the First Folio.

Bryson does an impressive job of explaining the evidentiary support for and against the various of theories about Shakespeare’s life and works and the conclusions that have been drawn, without making the book feel bogged down in minutiae. While many, many writers have penned works on Shakespeare (roughly 200,000 works if I recall correctly from the book), many seem to resort to some “artistic license” in describing facts since much of what we know about him is conjecture or just false. (Bryson is very, very dismissive of theories about alternative authorship regarding Shakespeare’s works and skewers most of the “facts” they rely upon to draw those conclusions.)

An example of something that seems like we all should know, but don’t is that the spelling of “Shakespeare” is not one Shakespeare himself was ever known to use, and it’s not entirely clear what’s the “correct” spelling since they played fast and loose with things like that back in Elizabethan England. The pronunciation of his name might not even be accurate. (The phrase “fast and loose”, by the way, comes from Shakespeare, along with a whole host of other phrases we commonly use today.)

While we know very little of the man Shakespeare himself, we luckily have a great many of his works. The novel touches a little upon the literary criticism that has taken place with regards to drawing conclusions about Shakespeare’s life (i.e. parsing the text to find “clues” to indicate what type of person Shakespeare was), but Bryson doesn’t seem to place a lot of value on these conclusions. Bryson sums all of this discussion up by quoting the Bard himself: “The devil can cite Scripture for his purpose.” — in other words, there’s enough of his works that you can find support for almost any conjecture if you try hard enough. It also describes the extent and efficacy they’ve had in recovering the true original form of his works. There’s a complicated history there and Bryson does a deft job at detailing out enough to give a general sense of the accuracy and quality of what we have today.

Bryson’s novel is one that would likely prove to be entertaining for most theater fans and those interested in European history, especially about that era. For example, he mentions that Elizabethan England is when and where the concept of comic relief came into play. The huge demand for new plays meant that in the frenetic pace, traditional rules of play construction were being discarded or overlooked and therefore the prior rule of only having tragic scenes in tragedies or of only having funny scenes in comedies was bent — resulting in the first instances of comic relief in tragedies.

The whole book is littered with facts and asides that lend it color and accessibility to the average reader. I would say one of Bryson’s strengths in this book is making compelling comparisons and drawing links and parallels to aid a non-Shakespeare scholar in finding this information interesting and relevant.

To wrap this up, I’ll say that I really enjoyed this little biography, and it reminded me of my days volunteering at the Shakespeare Playhouse Tavern in Atlanta; we’d go and help out a little, and meanwhile we’d watch the show and they’d give us these delicious hot apple cobblers with vanilla bean ice cream melting and oozing all over them. Yum. Ahem. But back to the book: history lovers or Shakespeare fans will be well-served by this well-written and very enjoyable read. I know I enjoyed it because upon finishing it, my two conflicting =mpulses were to read something else relating to Shakespeare as a point of comparison or to read more of Bill Bryson’s work. Either way, I couldn’t come up with much good criticism on this book, so I will just say that I liked it and leave it there.

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Opinion: Shakespeare’s not boring, but the way we learn might be

Ilona Hanne

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It's not Shakespeare himself who is boring, it's how we read him that's the problem, writes Ilona Hanne. Photo / Unsplash

Shakespeare.

Does that name make you shudder? Does it conjure up images of dusty, thick books, filled with unpronounceable words and sentences that are seemingly impossible to make sense of?

Perhaps it made you think of endless late nights trying to put together an essay on unravelling the allure of power and ambition in Macbeth , or early mornings trying to memorise just some of the 30,557 words that make up Hamlet, in readiness for a pop quiz on the subject.

Or perhaps you are reminded of a particularly traumatic English lesson some years ago where your 15-year-old self had to say the word “nipple” out loud in front of your peers when reading the part of Lady Macbeth in class. Or maybe that’s just me.

Whatever the reason, chances are a fair few of you reading this are shuddering because “I hate Shakespeare”. A statement I’ve heard many people say over the years, and no matter the level of conviction with which the statement is uttered, without fail I always want to turn to them and ask - are you sure you do?

Because, perhaps, it’s not the bard himself you hate, but rather those memories - time spent struggling to understand made-up words, lines written in iambic pentameter, and pages upon pages of language that while it’s called English, is very, very different to the English we speak today.

Those endless hours we spent in the classroom reading Shakespeare may well have helped us get a certain grade in English literature, but I don’t believe they helped us get Shakespeare himself.

Shakespeare was a playwright - not an author. He wrote plays to be performed, not stories to be read.

Instead of thinking of those dusty tomes, or painful hours spent in the classroom trying to understand exactly why some poor lad ends up with a donkey’s head ( A Midsummer Night’s Dream ) or a king invades a country over a gift of tennis balls ( Henry V ), think about the times you have seen Shakespeare’s plays performed.

Do you immediately think of what is unarguably the most romantic fish tank in history - through which Romeo (Leonardo DiCaprio) and Juliet (Claire Danes) make eye contact in Baz Luhrmann’s adaptation of Romeo and Juliet . Fun fact - the part of Juliet was originally set to be played by Natalie Portman but it was determined that her actual age of 13, against DiCaprio’s 21, created an age difference that would be uncomfortable for viewers - a lesson perhaps DiCaprio should apply to his real life love life nowadays?

Or perhaps it is the Gil Junger-directed movie version of The Taming of the Shrew - known to movie fans as 10 Things I Hate About You starring Heath Ledger and Julia Stiles.

Maybe it’s one of the two versions of West Side Story , based on Romeo and Juliet , that you think of, or maybe you’ve seen a Shakespearean play performed on stage, not screen. Thanks to the efforts of the Stratford Shakespeare Trust in recent years, Taranaki audiences have been able to see some excellent Shakespearean live theatre, including this year’s line-up playing now .

Seeing Shakespeare’s works performed, be it on stage or screen, is seeing it as Shakespeare himself imagined.

Whether it’s a faithful retelling of one of his plays, or a completely modern screenplay loosely based on a Shakespearean tale, you are getting the spirit of Shakespeare - tellings of stories that may be as old as time, but are also still relevant in this, and any time.

Tales of love won and love lost, ambition, power and man’s pursuit of those things, wars, fate, free will, tragedy, comedy and all the bits in between.

So don’t write off Shakespeare as being irrelevant or boring, but instead take some time to go see some Shakespeare on stage or screen, and immerse yourself in all the feelings his plays capture when you see them, rather than read them.

Ilona Hanne is a Taranaki-based journalist who covers breaking and community news from across the region. She has worked for NZME since 2011.

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Losing Her Accent

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By Sue Halpern

• May 6, 2007

In the introduction to “Shakespeare’s Kitchen,” Lore Segal’s charming novel disguised as a book of short stories, the author offers an apology for not writing a more conventional narrative. Describing a meeting with a film producer who tells her that “in a good plot nothing happens that is not the result of what happened before or the cause of what happens next,” she says, “I like reading stories like that, but I don’t write them because that’s not how life happens to me or to the people I know.” It’s an illuminating point, but less about the book than about Segal herself.

She is just shy of 80 years old and, among other things, an accomplished children’s book writer. “Shakespeare’s Kitchen,” her fourth work of fiction for adults, comes 43 years after the publication of her roman à clef , “Other People’s Houses,” and 22 after the well-received novel “Her First American.” In that book, Segal tells the story of Ilka Weissnix, a young woman displaced by the Holocaust as a child, who, traveling across the United States by train, meets a man who ends up schooling her in displacement and integration. The man, Carter Bayoux — her first American — is black and an intellectual. He knows something about cultural dissonance.

Carter Bayoux has done his work so well, or else Ilka has been such an accomplished student, that by the time she reappears in “Shakespeare’s Kitchen” her background as a refugee is no longer her foreground. It’s there, but in the ambient way that everyone’s past is present. Her accent has faded.

If you hadn’t read “Her First American” you’d never know that references to a dead friend named Carter in “Shakespeare’s Kitchen” are actually references not only to Ilka at an earlier time but to a character in a different book. It’s back story, nothing more. This is just one of Segal’s clever narrative jokes — the first being that Ilka’s surname is now Weisz instead of Weissnix, so that she has gone from “know-nothing” to “wise” or, as Carter would have it, from “not white” to “white.” Ilka is now so assimilated that, as a protagonist, she stands on her own.

It is 10 years later when Ilka appears in “Shakespeare’s Kitchen,” or possibly three years or five. Segal doesn’t say. Ilka, who has been living and working in New York, has just taken a job at the Concordance Institute, a research center affiliated with a college in a bucolic corner of Connecticut, run by a British scholar named Leslie Shakespeare. It could be the ’60s or the ’70s or the ’80s. Places like this exist out of time, Segal suggests. They are their own universe, insular and self-regarding. It’s no wonder that the scholarship supported by Concordance seems both small and ineffectual, even when it embraces big ideas, like genocide.

Genocide is, in fact, on the agenda. The Concordance Institute is holding a symposium to talk about it, and the symposium — not genocide — occupies everyone’s working life for months on end. Finally the day arrives and the meeting is convened, with the speakers taking their places on the stage. But even before the discussion can begin, the auditorium mysteriously fills with the sounds of people being tortured — real people, real screams, Ilka says from Dachau and Hiroshima — that no one wants to acknowledge or hear. The panelists try to stifle them, but they can’t. They move out of the theater, but the sound follows them. The symposium is called off. The speakers go home. The stage of the auditorium is eventually torn down. Academic discourse has rarely seemed so blatantly beside the point.

Moral relativism is a staple of the academic novel (which may account for all that creepy fictional adultery among those who profess good and evil, right and wrong, beauty and truth), and “Shakespeare’s Kitchen” is no exception. The kitchen of the title belongs to Leslie Shakespeare and his wife, Eliza, who take Ilka in and embrace her like family, so that when Leslie and Ilka become lovers it seems inevitable and doomed — the triumph of fate over free will.

The difference is that in Segal’s world, a world where domestic tragedies occur against the backdrop of historic human cruelty, people tend to behave badly not out of a perverted sense of ambition or power but from a deep need for attachment and belonging. And so it’s crucial that the book doesn’t move in a straight line. The same people who are good are not good. The bad guys sometimes do decent things. The truth — surprise! — is nuanced, and so is the story, which doesn’t end the way it seems to be heading.

Lore Segal is an astute and gentle observer, and Ilka Weisz (née Weissnix), for worse and for better, has made it through another of her books. It’s hard not to wonder what will become of her now.

THE TIN ROOF BLOWDOWN

A dave robicheaux novel.

By James Lee Burke

373 pages. Simon & Schuster. $26.

Sue Halpern is the author, most recently, of “Introducing Sasha Abramowitz.” She is a scholar in residence at Middlebury College.

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The Book of Will review – friends fight to save Shakespeare’s plays

Queen’s theatre, Hornchurch Fearing the playwright’s works will be lost to history, former colleagues enact a rescue plan in Lauren Gunderson’s generous-hearted comedy

L ess giddy than Shakespeare in Love, less raucous than Upstart Crow, Lauren Gunderson ’s generous-hearted comedy enjoyably imagines the rocky publication of the First Folio, which rescued Shakespeare’s plays for posterity. Written in 2017, its European premiere aptly celebrates the Folio’s 400th anniversary.

We begin in the pub, as ageing lions of the stage sigh into their tankards. It’s three years since Shakespeare died, and his former colleagues John Heminges and Henry Condell fret that youngsters with poor texts and little talent already mangle his works. Shakespeare’s star player, Richard Burbage, knows everything by heart (“that’s the only way you get to tell everyone else what to do”) but when he dies, the friends realise that the words might fade with him. As Heminges warns: “Publish – or vanish.” It’s a risky project: “Half the country can’t read,” grumbles Heminges, “the other half can’t pay.” They battle foul papers and fading memories to assemble the scattered texts. Despite cantankerous printers and with the aid of Tomi Ogbaro’s earnest scribe, who secretly copied his favourite texts, the mighty book comes together.

Gunderson loves a geek – there’s a running gag about Pericles – but this isn’t a bardolaters’ night out. She describes the Folio project as a metaphor “for loss and legacy”: grief is a constant companion in this world and transient theatre suggests how easily things can slip through your fingers. It’s also an affecting play about friendship’s ardent joys and responsibilities. Lotte Wakeham’s snug production, staged in the round, initially skews shouty, but affection ripples through it. Carla Goodman’s autumnal costumes are warm russet and lichen. Bill Ward’s Condell, ruddy with enthusiasm, and Russell Richardson’s careworn Heminges lead a doughty cast – including the shrewd and salty women (nicely played by Jessica Ellis, Helen Pearson and Carrie Quinlan) to whom Gunderson gives voice. Gunderson’s sweet, spry plays are huge in her native US – only Lynn Nottage had more productions last season. The Book of Will doesn’t go deep, but you may find tears pricking your eyes. Shakespeare’s words meant all the world to his friends – and now they share those words with all the world.

• William Shakespeare
• Lauren Gunderson

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