The Complete Works of Shakespeare (4th Edition)

Rating:
Summary: Essential and Readable
Review: As of late I have seen some pretty strong arguments for reading Shakespeare (even if he really didn't write everything attributed to him). Most of my recent reasons have to do with my teaching high school English.

For my sophomores, it is Julius Caesar, and for my seniors, it is Hamlet. Having the need to read along with the students from a second text, I always reach for my Bevington Edition. I like having a second text available, but more importantly, I love having such a comprehensive discussion of Shakepeare at hand each time the moment arises(rare as they are) that a question comes up either during the reading or discussion. The Bevington edition serves me well whenever I teach Shakespeare because I can easily find important information quickly.

I also like the fact that the text is modernized in spelling, presented in a clean and legible font, while keeping an academic presentation in mind. For me this simply means I can read it for enjoyment as well as for teaching purposes easily and without any real problems.

I also like the way that the plays are organized. with many of the other complete editions I have owned throughout the years, chronological order gets to be a bother.

Now, I am no real scholar, but I have acted in several college level and other post-educational setting productions of Shakespeare, and from an actor's point of view the Bevington edition scores well again.

If you are deep into scholarly persuits I am certain you can find flaws within the Bevington edition, as could be found by any expert in any edited literary text. However, as far as an all-round, readable, and informative version of the complete works of Shakespeare (or whoever REALLY wrote all the plays etc.) the Bevington edition has my vote as the best one I have yet to see.

Rating:
Summary: Essential and Readable
Review: As of late I have seen some pretty strong arguments for reading Shakespeare (even if he really didn't write everything attributed to him). Most of my recent reasons have to do with my teaching high school English.

For my sophomores, it is Julius Caesar, and for my seniors, it is Hamlet. Having the need to read along with the students from a second text, I always reach for my Bevington Edition. I like having a second text available, but more importantly, I love having such a comprehensive discussion of Shakepeare at hand each time the moment arises(rare as they are) that a question comes up either during the reading or discussion. The Bevington edition serves me well whenever I teach Shakespeare because I can easily find important information quickly.

I also like the fact that the text is modernized in spelling, presented in a clean and legible font, while keeping an academic presentation in mind. For me this simply means I can read it for enjoyment as well as for teaching purposes easily and without any real problems.

I also like the way that the plays are organized. with many of the other complete editions I have owned throughout the years, chronological order gets to be a bother.

Now, I am no real scholar, but I have acted in several college level and other post-educational setting productions of Shakespeare, and from an actor's point of view the Bevington edition scores well again.

If you are deep into scholarly persuits I am certain you can find flaws within the Bevington edition, as could be found by any expert in any edited literary text. However, as far as an all-round, readable, and informative version of the complete works of Shakespeare (or whoever REALLY wrote all the plays etc.) the Bevington edition has my vote as the best one I have yet to see.

Rating:
Summary: The Complete Bard
Review: Bevington's Complete Works of Shakespeare is a priceless source for the writings of history's greatest author. All of the plays, sonnets and poems are contained, plus extensive commentary. An invaluable treasure for actors, producers, students, scholars, writers, and anyone else interested in Shakespeare. The Bard's canon is presented in an easily read format. Highly recommeded.

Rating:
Summary: The Complete Bard
Review: Bevington's Complete Works of Shakespeare is a priceless source for the writings of history's greatest author. All of the plays, sonnets and poems are contained, plus extensive commentary. An invaluable treasure for actors, producers, students, scholars, writers, and anyone else interested in Shakespeare. The Bard's canon is presented in an easily read format. Highly recommeded.

Rating:
Summary: Best Complete Shakespeare available
Review: Bevington's edition is by far the best Complete Works of Shakespeare available today. Why? First and most important, the footnotes give you just what you need to understand the play and no more. They're complete, concise, and accurate. The formatting of the footnotes also facilitates their accessibility. Second, the introductions to individual plays are marvelous--they get right to the most important critical issues that make reading the plays interesting, without being vague and out-of-date or pedantic, overly concerned with trivial minutiae. Third, the background essays are excellent and up-to-date. The essays on "The Drama Before Shakespeare," "London Theaters and Dramatic Companies," "Shakespeare's Life and Work," and "Shakespeare's Language" are among the best available anywhere, complete and concise, giving you exactly the information that is needed for studying and appreciating Shakespeare in the 21st century, without bogging down in unnecessary details. Consider also Bevington's The Necessary Shakespeare, which uses the same footnotes, introductions, and background essays, but includes fewer plays. It's possible to quibble with some of the editorial decisions, but unless you're writing a Ph.D. dissertation on Shakespeare, students and aficionados will want a good "reading edition" like the Bevington that includes the important variants. If you really want a completely "authentic" 17th century version, folio reproductions are now widely available.

Rating:
Summary: the absolute best of all the shakespeare anthologies
Review: Bevington's edition of the Complete Works of Shakespeare stands apart from all of the other available editions in its biographical notes, summaries, commentary, and footnotes. For any Shakespeare student or scholar, or even those with only a passing interest in the bard, this edition is the absolute creme de la creme of Shakespeare anthologies.

Rating:
Summary: A Great Book to Begin Your Shakespeare Studies With!
Review: Bevington's The Complete Works of Shakespeare is an excellent place to start or continue one's study of Shakespeare and the Rennaissance Period. This is the book we used in my Shakespeare class in college and I found it extremly helpful in understanding not only Shakespeare, but also Elizabethan England. Bevington includes plenty of pictures to help one see what it looked like in the middle to late 16th Century and early 17th Century. Also, Bevington includes indepth introductions to each of the plays and explanatory notes on words Shakespeare used in a different context from what we use them today. I would recommend this book to anyone who wants to start or continue to study the Bard.

Rating:
Summary: A Well Done Edition
Review: David Bevington gives us a well-researched and useful edition of William Shakespeare's complete works. The bard's plays are, of course, indescribably good, and would be in any edition. Thus, an editor's job is to provide annotations to explain archaic vocabulary or 16th Century references which would otherwise escape us, to give the reader the best text available--since Shakespeare's plays were originally not written for publication but only for production on the stage, this is a recurring problem--to write short introductions to plays which guide a reader about certain themes recurring in the play, and to provide other helpful material in a general introduction and in end notes. Bevington succeeds at all these tasks. His annotations are, as a rule, helpful without being intrusive. Bevington seems instinctively to know when a word or phrase needs to be explained and when a description of a phrase not immediately obvious to modern readers would be more harmful than helpful by breaking up the flow of the text. His introductions to each play are insightful. A good example of this is Bevington's introduction to Much Ado About Nothing in which he explains that the Sixteenth Century pronunciation of "Nothing" was the same as the pronunciation of "Noting." Since the play involves numerous instances of people overhearing other character's conversations, the play's title has a double meaning--i.e., it is both Much Ado About Nothing and Much Ado About Noting. Finally, Bevington's introductory and concluding general remarks are also quite good. For example, Bevington gives brief descriptions of the Elizabethan stage and the history of Shakespearean productions over the last four hundred years in his introduction. He also gives his take on the controversy over whether Shakespeare wrote all his plays himself. After the plays, he gives the sources of the text for the various plays, including how the plays were first published.

Rating:
Summary: For beginners or long-time scholars of Shakespeare's works.
Review: For beginners or long-time scholars of William Shakespeare's masterful works, one cannot go wrong with David Bevington's THE COMPLETE WORKS OF SHAKESPEARE. Bevington provides a concise but highly informative introduction to Shakespeare's England, engaging critical introductions to each play, and very extensive annotation to help clarify Shakespeare's more challenging archaic passages. Purchase this volume, and you will be purchasing a lifetime of reading enjoyment.

Rating:
Summary: I found this book please help
Review: I really don't have much to say other then my mother found this book in the trash it very old and is belived to be the orignal copy of this book and we can't find a date on it anywhere it a hard cover and has his picture on it, It says Complete Works of Shakespear on it if you have any information please contact me at [e-mail] Thank you