• Macbeth (Folger Shakespeare Library)
• Hamlet (The New Folger Library Shakespeare)
• Othello (Folger Shakespeare Library)

Each edition includes:

• 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.

Customer Rating:
Summary: Loved It
Comment: I loved this book. Its Shakespeare at his best. Great edition of this timeless classic.

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Customer Rating:
Summary: Can Love Conquer All?
Comment: Innocent love is the most pure... and the sight of those who are in that beautiful whirlwind of its hypnotic clutches is a sight to behold.

Is it true? "Is youth wasted on the young."

Sometimes, sometimes not.

Romeo and Juliet is the most known western love story of all time.

Why?

This is not an easy question to answer, however, personally, I would never go back to those extremes of pure love; that game playing, jealousy, love-making so innocent,(wonderful) and the relationship inevitably ending in tragedy.

What makes this 500 year old love story one of a kind is its "truth", that we are essentially envious beings, and pure love is something we all either unconsciously or consciously yearn for...and attempt to destroy.

Shakespeare was a clever fellow: with the sacrifice of these two lover's, at last, the feuding families ended their years of fighting... the Montague's & Capulet's. Peace fell upon Verona.

Does true love always end in tragedy?

A good question.

Shakespeares' classic is considered a "love story"; but the Bard revealed pure love's true irony...young love so pure, so intense, so true, the god's become envious and tragedy is pure love's ultimate end.

Very sad, but very true.

As the cliche' goes:

"Nothing ventured nothing gained."

Re-read this beautiful story and reflect that true love just might conquer all.

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Customer Rating:
Summary: Shakespeare is forever
Comment: 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!

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Customer Rating:
Summary: The supporting actors shine...
Comment: "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.

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Customer Rating:
Summary: A Student's Review
Comment: 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.

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