Rating: 
Summary: not as good as arden
Review: This book is empty and useless. If you want to read and understand what Shakespeare wrote buy the Arden Complete Shakespeare, it is much better.
This book is a waste of money
Rating: 
Summary: Overrated author
Review: The only ones who seem to like ol' Shakes are drama department queens. His plays are essentially empty souled affairs with emotions that are either shallow or excessively melodramatic. There is not a single recognizable flesh and blood human being in his plays. He lacks any consistent viewpoint so that his output all adds up to nothing. Don't waste your time.
Rating: 
Summary: Check This Guy Out
Review: This is a book with a lot of good stories in it. This guy can really write.
Rating:
Summary: A false-economy buy
Review: To buy an unannotated Shakespeare volume like this, where even the quality of the text is in doubt, is a pure waste of money. Anyone who feels it is good enough to buy an unannotated text should at least make sure to get a good, well-edited one: for example, a second-hand copy of Peter Alexander's edition (the so-called "Tudor Edition", originally published by Collins in 1951). The text prepared by Alexander remains one of the very best. It really does matter what text one buys, as various editions differ greatly in the quality of what they produce. It is by no means the case that all editions of Shakespeare offer the same text, as one would expect if one bought a work by a modern author. Furthermore, it is impossible to read Shakespeare - even if you are a specialist in Renaissance literature - without plenty of help, none of which is supplied in this edition. A good edition, like that produced by David Bevington, or the Riverside, will contain the following helpful components as a minimum: a comprehensive introduction to Shakespeare and his work generally; reasonably full analytical/interpretative introductions to individual works; lists of further reading (referring the reader to other helpful commentators); and above all - most essentially - useful explanatory notes on words, phrases, and sentences difficult to understand. Of these there are a great many. Anyone who approaches Shakespeare as a modern reader without knowledgde of the language of his period will soon find all sorts of words and grammatical usages that obviously are no longer current. But even more treacherous are those many instances of words that LOOK the same, but MEAN something very different, as a result of the fact that the meaning of words changes over time. For all these reasons, then, readers should spend their money on a value-for-money buy, whether new or second-hand, and not waste it on a worthless volume of this nature. If you don't want to buy a well-annotated one-volume Shakespeare, buy well-annotated editions of individual works - e.g. those belonging to the Arden series, or the Oxford Shakespeare, or the New Cambridge. These reflections are not, of course, criticisms of Shakespeare as an author, but purely of a useless edition like this. ...
Rating: 
Summary: Have no fear, the whole career of Shakespear is here.
Review: This by far is one of the best books I bought. It has most of Shakespears works printed in a split page bible style. I recommend this book highly and I also recommed A Shakespear Glossary to go with it.
Rating:
Summary: Outstanding !!
Review: I have always wanted to read William Shakespeare but several of my friends who were English majors in college told me I was crazy. They even had trouble with it. I love it. I cant get enough. I read Hamlet first thing after I opened the package. I recommend it for anyone who wants to deversify and defy the tight boundry that people try to fit us all into. Buy...Its a "must have."
Rating:
Summary: Writer, actor, poet-unless you have his experience...
Review: I know-I have never read this particular edition of Shakespheare. But I got sick of reading "THIS IS THE WORST BOOK EVER...BORING." I act Shakespheare. I memorize passages and I savor them. It's boring, huh? Pick it back up-Turn to The Tempest or The Midsummer Night's Dream. Shakespheare even had the guts in Midsummer Night's Dream, the last scene, the "Play Scene" to make fun of himself-some say he may have been even making fun of Romeo and Juliet. The story of Pyramous and Thisbee is awfully similar. Read each speech as a poem. Emphasize stress. Read out loud. Why The Tempest? I picked that-not only because it is a great comedy, but to prove the depth of the characters. Calliban is a monster, a possessive evil, and yes drunken wise man. He shows more sense about his schemes than the two drunks, which fit in perfectly, proving Prospero's power. Shakespheare made mistakes in his plays. Some of them are not good, but there are aprox. 40 of them, so try them. Nevertheless, each mistake has a jewel. I don't particularly think Romeo and Juliet matches the wonderful romance of Trolius and Cressida, but I can't help thinking about Mercutio, the wise man who makes up Queen Mab to mock Romeo, or the nurse who loves marriage so much that she becomes a poor advisor to Juliet. Look carefully-and you will love the characters that do sound clear after 400 years. If you don't beleive me, go out and buy the paperback edition of one of his plays or click to it. You can also view them all online. With that all said, The Riverside is great, and the individual Arden's and Oxford's are great. Get one with footnotes. You don't have to understand every line in order to enjoy the poetry. I don't neccessarily.
Rating:
Summary: my name is henry
Review: Guess what! This is a great book! JUST KIDDING! It's HORRIBLE! IT IS BY FAR THE WORST BOOK I HAVE READ IN MY ENTIRE LIFE! I would never, ever, ever, ever buy this book. NEVER! Oh, did I mention how bad the writing is? The writing is HORRIBLE! IT IS THE WORST WRITING THAT I HAVE READ IN MY ENTIRE LIFE! If you are bored enough to read this book, you have way too much free time and don't deserve to have the money that it costs to buy it. I really don't know why everyone says that Shakespeare is such a great writer. He isn't.
Rating:
Summary: Looks good on the shelf, but. . .
Review: There are, obviously, pros and cons to buying any book. This edition of the complete works of Shakespeare is no different. Of course, Shakespeare is great no matter what the binding of the book looks like, but I would really hesitate to purchase a single book containing the complete works, if you're buying for everyday reading. I find that such large volumes are awkward, hard to hold and really thick. My personal collection of Shakespeare's works consists of single-work paperback volumes, not lovely to look at, but functional. Someday I hope to buy a set of the complete works in hardcover, but when I do, I'll look for a set, not a single book. However, if you're looking for the complete works in a compact package, this book is for you.
Rating:
Summary: Why couldn't there be a rating greater than 5 stars?
Review: One may consider me naive because I am 16 years old and I feel that Shakespeare is the greatest writer of all time. Wait, I can't say that really because there are so many different tastes out there. My cousin in NJ recently told me of the uproar that came about in her English class when she said she liked Shakespeare. But I myself feel that his writing captivates the soul and mind, as well as the spirit. When you read it it's like, who's that much of a superb writer in this lifetime? Anyway, if you're into that English, Romeo and Juliet, Julius Caesar, Midsummer Night's Dream kind of stuff--creativity and imagination stuff that is, you'll like this collection. I think my main reason for liking it is because I wish I were that great of a writer!
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