Customer Reviews

The Arden Shakespeare Complete Works

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

After discovering to my horror that my carefully boxed volumes of the Temple Shakespeare had gone to mold and stain, I sat around for a year or more with nothing but one of these "club" books printed on onion skin paper, with teeny-tiny print and nothing but "some" (?) editorial version of the plays. I needed to get my hands on something to use, something convenient, not expensive and all inclusive. The Arden Trade paperback edition was my first choice due to the respect generated by this edition and editors. Also, as it was not a hardcover, I envisioned myself happily schlepping it about with me on the subway, on the plane or train.... This was not to be.

1) The volume is HUGE and heavy and too unwieldy - trying to make notes or highlight this while moving about in public transportation is impossible.

2) As noted elsewhere, if an unfamiliar or forgotten archaic word pops up, you need to put your finger in your place, flop over to the back of the book (somewhere) to the glossary and hope the definition is there. There are NO footnotes; therefore, no on-the-go interpretation or editorial explanation of the line/word.

3) The essays and editorial intros are okay, but not as valuable or lengthy/specific as I've found in the Pelican/Penguin individually published volumes - one play, one volume.

If you're intending to use this for purposes I've described and are not such a Shakespearean scholar that you still need help from time to time with an explanatory note or definition, then stay away from this one and get the singles. I now have 4 collections of Complete Works, still searching for the "perfect" one. Riverside is closest to perfect, I love my very old Signet edited by Barnet and keep it at work for lunch hour browsing/reading. I have the Bevington 4th edition on order (I buy most stuff used at the Amazon marketplace and their competitors or I'd be broke) based on word of mouth.

But still-- day to day, I use the Pelican single play copies and mark the heck out of them without worrying about reducing their worth by this practice. Your call.

I have taught several Shakespeare classes with several different texts. In the interest of my student's pocket-books I chose this complete works. The lack of editorial notes makes it unusable in class. I am also surprised by the decision to alphabetize the plays rather than arrange by date of composition (or presumed date of composition.)This is a sturdy volume, for a paperback, which is a mark in its favor, but the Riverside will be my edition of choice in all future classes.

As an actress, I often use the individual Arden play texts. The footnotes are numbered as such and touch on not only definitions, but expressions, historical figures, and locations. These appear at the bottom of the page where the word or phrase appears. This "in-complete works" lacks these. It contains only definitions in a glossary at the back of the book. Not helpful in the world of acting and even less so as a teaching reference. Very disappointing.

Instead of writing a regular review, I figured I'd rate this large book on a scale of 1-10 (ten being good) in several areas to give you idea of what you'd get.

As a book: 8
The font is great, the words are not scrunched together to save space, which gives it its rather large girth, but if I had to choose between reading at leisure or squinting and using a finger to stay on the right line, I'd choose the first.

Compilation: 6
It does have everything, and yes, it's in alphabetical order which may irritate some, but when you're a 10th grader looking for Julius Caesar, which would you rather find it quickly via your ABCs or have to find the index to see when it was written?

Age Appropriate: 7
Easy to follow if you're learning Shakespeare, based on the idea that the teacher is actually teaching you what the text means. It may not be the best first book if you're learning Shakespeare on your own, as it doesn't have an easy reference, but again, it's spacious text allows for easier reading.

Reference: 5
This is not the best reference book- in all honesty if you want to read Shakespeare indepth you'd be better off getting each play individually or a small collection of a plays with all the info.

Pairing: 10
Personally I'd rather pair this book with a reference book than have the text jumbled up with footnotes and on-page references (which tend to be squished together ala the King James Bible). You want facts? Pair this book with something like DK's Essential Shakespeare by Leslie Dunton-Downer.

Enthusiasts: 9
Usually Shakespeare enthusiasts like myself have every play in their own book, but this is a great Complete Works to add to the collection. If you don't need much help reading the texts, it's perfect.

Overall Rating: 8
As an actor, I can't live without this book. It's great for quickly finding monologues, and, well, it just looks cool and modern. If I need more details, I have a multitude of lectures and gathered knowledge to reference so having this book is a nice clean cut way of studying Shakespeare.

Well, if you're looking for an affordable collection of Shakespeare's works (plays and sonnets) to read, then this is definitely the book for you! If you're looking to intensely study Shakespeare and get as many footnotes and literary interpretations as possible, this is NOT the one for you. However, this collection's paper quality is all right, the words are actually readable, and you will find some introductory essays as well as a glossary of terms at the back. The glorified cardstock cover is prone to easy damage (even in the mail getting to me, as I discovered), though it is nicely colored.

Quite a bargain for $20, and lightweight compared to other Complete Works that are out there. It doesn't contain the detailed footnotes and endnotes of the individual Arden editions, but is extremely useful as a reference or a way of reading through all of Shakespeare's works.

Arden's edition of Shakespeare's works is an essential item in everyone's shelter. It's a great buy (for a carefully sought edition), but it lacks the critical discussion of the single-play edition.

Shakespeare requires no introduction -- he is "the Bard," the most imposing playwright and storyteller in the English language. And "The Complete Pelican Shakespeare" brings together every one of his plays, ranging from harrowing tragedies to airy little puffs of comedy -- and even the lesser plays are still brilliant.

The plays basically are divided into comedies, histories and tragedies. The tragedies are pretty much... tragic, the comedies are not always funny but end semi-happily, and the histories... well, dramatizations of history.

And everybody has heard of the greats here -- the Scottish lord who murders his way to kingship, young lovers divided by a feud, a Moorish general who is driven mad with jealousy, an elderly king whose arrogance rips his life apart, a very cleaned-up version of Henry VIII's split from his first wife, the goofy Prince Hal and his growth into a great king. There are feuding fairies, bickering lovers, romantic tangles, Julius Caesar's demise, gender-bending, an exiled duke/magician on his island, and the infamous "pound of flesh" bargain.

But Shakespeare also wrote a bunch of lesser-known plays that often can't be so neatly categorized -- a rotten love affair during the siege of Troy, a Roman general attacking his own city, an Athenian gentleman embittered by humanity, Richard III's Machiavellian plot to become king, two sets of twins separated at birth, a corrupt judge obsessed with a lovely nun, Falstaff's doomed efforts to make money, and so on. Some of these ("Troilus and Cressida") aren't nearly as good as his "main" body of work, but they're still excellent.

For all Shakespeare's plays, it's best to read them AFTER you've seen a good performance. Otherwise, it's like reading a movie script to a movie you haven't seen -- easy to get lost, and the dramatic effects aren't easy to connect to. But if you've seen performances of any/all of Shakespeare's plays, then his vibrant stories and poetry leap off the page.

There are long eloquent speeches, puns, clever linguistic twists, and evocative language that soaks the play in atmosphere ("With sweet musk-roses and with eglantine/There sleeps Titania sometime of the night/Lull'd in these flowers with dances and delight..."). In fact, his plays are diamond mines of quotations -- some are infamous ("To be or not to be") and some of which have floated into public knowledge without labels ("Cowards die many times before their deaths/The valiant never taste of death but once").

And while some of his plays are basically fluff, he manages to weave in moral questions, criticism and explorations of the human soul. And his characters range as far as his plots -- kings and princes, teenage lovers, proud but doomed men, bratty queens, the witty but combative Beatrice and Benedick, and even the puppet-master mage Prospero.

Shakespeare's "Complete Works" is a must-have for anyone who loves the English language -- his writing was unparalleled, and even his lesser plays are a cut above the rest.

Great copy but has no liner/translation notes. Be warned if you need this for University! You will have to google the old english.

The product was exactly what it said it was - all of the plays of Shakespeare, in alphabetical order. There is a glossary in the back as well as an index. It was in very good condition.