Freshly edited text based on the best early printed version of the play
Full explanatory notes conveniently placed on pages facing the text of the play
Scene-by-scene plot summaries
A key to famous lines and phrases
An introduction to reading Shakespeare's language
An essay by an outstanding scholar providing a modern perspective on the play
Illustrations from the Folger Shakespeare Library's vast holdings of rare books
The Folger Shakespeare Library in Washington, D.C., is home to the world's largest collection of Shakespeare's printed works, and a magnet for Shakespeare scholars from around the globe. In addition to exhibitions open to the public throughout the year, the Folger offers a full calendar of performances and programs. For more information, visit www.folger.edu.
Shakespeare is forever I'm not a believer in love at first sight, so I always thought the premise was a bit silly. I didn't come to love this play until I taught it to a group of ninth graders during my semester of student teaching.
I had read the play in school, but was never given the opportunity to do more than merely read it. My students were encouraged to act it out and to watch clips from several versions to see how a different director's perspective could change the story. The most fun day was when the class divided up into Montagues and Capulets and hurled Shakespearean insults at each other.
People get scared of the language, but that's really the best part of Shakespeare. Revel in it!
The supporting actors shine... "Romeo and Juliet" maintains pace until the very last page. Audacious crashing of the enemy's ball, love at first sight, underground marriage, fateful killings of Merkutio and of Tybalt, exile, ruse with Juliet's death, life-threatening return to Verona, killing of Paris and the double death make it as eventful as any Shakespearean play.
The first pages of Scene I set the tone. The rapid-fire wordplay exchange between Sampson and Gregory will be echoed in the puns throughout the play. The speed with which the servants' brawl escalates to the brawl of their masters will be repeated when the two youngsters, having met at the evening ball, immediately fall in love and the same night decide to marry. The spirit and imagination of the two minor characters, shining especially bright against the clumsiness of the two pater familias, will resurface in the colorful if bawdy Merkutio and the bold old Nurse, dangerously close, respectively, to Romeo and Juliet.
Merkutio and Nurse are the most playful characters of this play. Like Richard in "Richard III", Porter and Weird Sisters in "Macbeth", Fool in "Lear" or Iago in "Othello", they are the recipients of the most animated spirits. While Romeo and Juliet advance the narrative, these supporting characters create sparks for the moment. I enjoyed the play more for these sparks than for the larger movements of the plot.
A Student's Review I'll admit that the only reason I purchased this book was so that I didn't have to carry around my twenty pound Literature book. I purchased ths particular copy because it had many of the same interpretations as my Literature book did, so I could carry this little two ounce book around instead.
For all instances, it worked very well. I could read this book along with the movie and follow along flawlessly. I could read the interpretations along the left binding and see exactly what people meant when I couldn't figure it out.
I did, however, have two problems, which is why this is only a four-star review. The first thing I noticed was that even if there were little explanations on the left side, the right side didn't give you a clear indication of what was being translated. You had to actually be confused enough to look to the page on the left, and then you had to find line numbers, which I found extremely irritating.
Another thing I found annoying was that only the bare minimum was actually translated. On further inspection of our ninth-grade Literature book and this book, I found that the Literature book actually went into more detail, with examples, alternate word orders, etc.
Overall, this is an especially great book to purchase if your English teacher suddenly sticks you with Romeo and Juliet two weeks before the end of school. And even if she didn't. :D
But if you're only at the age of fourteen or fifteen, try to stick with your Literature book. I didn't have any trouble, but there are definitely MORE modern interpretations in your Lit book, solely to help with the fact that you're not at a senior or college level yet.
Even if you're only purchasing to get rid of the back strain, you won't regret it.
too good First of all, before I begin actually talking about the story itself, I congratulate Folger's edition for providing summaries in the beginning of each act and definitions of some words. You see, this edition is rather helpful as the story is located on the right pages and definitions and plot synopsis is on the left. This is for the people who cannot understand old English!
Anyways, this was the first Shakespeare book I have ever read, and it is probably the same for all high school students. Obviously I know everyone knows that this is about a love story, so I won't bother mentioning that. I will add, however, that Shakespeare is a master at writing tragic dramas. He was also somewhat witty. It seems that if one pays close attention and reads the prologue, one will find out all that will happen in the plot. An explanation could be because that this was a play and people actually acted his stories out. Well, considering the times, it would not be presumptuous to say that during those times, the more talkative people would still be talking after the play begins, he uses the prologue to hush his audience, and naturally nobody would ever really pay attention to the prologue.
Set around the Renaissance and in northern Italy, the play begins rather comically with sexual allusions and a big ruckus. You have to remember, that not only was Shakespeare's goal to write, but to entertain and make people laugh. He has many intended puns weaved into his story, which are really quite funny, if one reads hard enough.
Shakespeare's forte is weaving a lot of imagery and figurative language in his dialogue. He would paint Juliet as the beautiful, but strong and determined woman bordering between the age of child and adulthood, a teenager. One can see that she is a rather rational thinker, whereas Romeo is impulsive and rash acting only on his emotions and disregarding the consequences. This was the thing that bugged me the most, Romeo's character, although he is a protagonist, I found it impossible to like him, rather I liked his best friend the most, Mercutio. He is the witty prankster who has to die because of Romeo's impulsive thinking, he seems to be the mediator between Romeo and his irrational love, always keeping him in check.
This book is not very long, but the contents are quite deep, there is so much going on in each of Shakespeare's rhythmic sentences, that one just needs to stop and admire how much he can cram into just one sentence, it is just amazing. This makes for a very high re-readability.
Anyone who has not yet read this book is simply deprived, and anyone who has chosen not to read it has sinned! (don't take this too seriously, I am just exaggerating so you guys get my point) So what are you waiting for? Enlighten yourself and discover the poetry in Shakespeare's iambic writing.
Never got here. I can't review this item because it never made it to me. I received an email a few days later saying the money would be credited back to me (which it was). However, I have never had a problem with receiving shipments at my address. The seller claimed that my address was not found. I received something from a different seller just 2 days before though. I am not sure what address they tried to send it to, but it was not the one I gave. Unfortunately I had to find this book somewhere else. The book is a great find, however, and I am very pleased with it.
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