Richard III (No Fear Shakespeare) [Paperback]

SparkNotes Editors (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 1411401026 | ISBN-13: 978-1411401020 | Publication Date: June 22, 2004

No Fear Shakespeare gives you the complete text of Richard III on the left-hand page, side-by-side with an easy-to-understand translation on the right.

 

Each No Fear Shakespeare contains

Product Details

• Paperback: 360 pages
• Publisher: SparkNotes (June 22, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1411401026
• ISBN-13: 978-1411401020
• Product Dimensions: 1 x 5.2 x 7.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #42,512 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #21 in Books > 4-for-3 Books > Reference > Education > Book Notes
  • #49 in Books > 4-for-3 Books > Literature & Fiction > Authors, A-Z > ( S ) > Shakespeare, William
  • #57 in Books > 4-for-3 Books > Literature & Fiction > World Literature > British > Shakespeare

More About the Author

William Shakespeare was born in Stratford-upon-Avon in April 1564, and his birth is traditionally celebrated on April 23. The facts of his life, known from surviving documents, are sparse. He was one of eight children born to John Shakespeare, a merchant of some standing in his community. William probably went to the King's New School in Stratford, but he had no university education. In November 1582, at the age of eighteen, he married Anne Hathaway, eight years his senior, who was pregnant with their first child, Susanna. She was born on May 26, 1583. Twins, a boy, Hamnet ( who would die at age eleven), and a girl, Judith, were born in 1585. By 1592 Shakespeare had gone to London working as an actor and already known as a playwright. A rival dramatist, Robert Greene, referred to him as "an upstart crow, beautified with our feathers." Shakespeare became a principal shareholder and playwright of the successful acting troupe, the Lord Chamberlain's Men (later under James I, called the King's Men). In 1599 the Lord Chamberlain's Men built and occupied the Globe Theater in Southwark near the Thames River. Here many of Shakespeare's plays were performed by the most famous actors of his time, including Richard Burbage, Will Kempe, and Robert Armin. In addition to his 37 plays, Shakespeare had a hand in others, including Sir Thomas More and The Two Noble Kinsmen, and he wrote poems, including Venus and Adonis and The Rape of Lucrece. His 154 sonnets were published, probably without his authorization, in 1609. In 1611 or 1612 he gave up his lodgings in London and devoted more and more time to retirement in Stratford, though he continued writing such plays as The Tempest and Henry VII until about 1613. He died on April 23 1616, and was buried in Holy Trinity Church, Stratford. No collected edition of his plays was published during his life-time, but in 1623 two members of his acting company, John Heminges and Henry Condell, put together the great collection now called the First Folio.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Perfect for Shakespeare Newbies!, May 21, 2011

By 

M. Jacobsen "I am not young enough to know ev... (Through the Looking Glass) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Richard III (No Fear Shakespeare) (Paperback)

This is highly, highly recommended for those new to Shakespeare. You get the text of the play and then, line by line on the facing page, there is a modern-day language translation. How does this help newbies? It allows you to immediately grasp what Shakespeare was saying to allow you to actually *think* about the play and even, dare I say, enjoy it. Because the "translations" are line for line on the facing page, it's easy to read the original, glance over at the modern day translation if you need to for clarification, then read the original again to find nuance.

All of this ease of reading frees you up to formulate your own thoughts and ideas about the play. So if you're expected to write critical thinking essays and papers about the play, this book makes it much easier to do that. All in all, it will save you an enormous amount time and energy.

Note: this is not one of those "cheat" books! It's not going to spoon-feed you ideas about themes, symbols, etc. But it makes it easier for you to come up with all that stuff for yourself. There are books available that talk about characterizations, themes, motifs, etc, but if you need a little help in that department, there's always Google. For what it's worth, if you read the play using this book, I'm willing to bet you won't even need help with all that other stuff....you'll find it in the text itself since you can actually understand what Shakespeare was saying using this translation.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Shakespeare for everyone, January 2, 2009

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G. Boglio - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Richard III (No Fear Shakespeare) (Paperback)

This is the perfect book for Shakespeare 101 classes. You get the original play and a translation that keeps the spirit of the text.
But don't expect to find a word by word translation (you'd be better off with a dictionary of Elizabethan English), or a detailed analysis of the characters and main themes (Sparknotes has another book for that). It's just the play, easy to read.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Makes Shakespeare accessible, December 2, 2008

By 

Zosia (Port Matilda,PA) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: Richard III (No Fear Shakespeare) (Paperback)

The "No Fear Shakespeare" books are a great way to get your kids reading these treasures. I tried the first one when my son asked why it was okay to read translations of great Greek literary works but Shakespeare, which seemed like Greek to him, had to be read in its original form. The nice thing about these books is that they give the original language side-by-side with the modern translation so you get to experience the beauty of the original while having a "translator" readily available when you need it to enhance understanding. All 4 of my children started reading Shakespeare in sixth grade with these books and read 3-5 of them a year. They start out relying heavily on the modern language but eventually abandon it almost entirely. Don't be afraid to try one.