Customer Reviews

Shakespeare's Julius Caesar (Wileys Manga Shakespeare)

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The themes that Shakespeare dealt with are universal. Yet, the biggest complaint that many people have when reading or discussing Shakespeare is the language: "People don't talk like that.", "Why don't they speak in English?", "I can't understand a word of what they just said." are just a sampling of complaints I've heard when attempting to teach Shakespeare to high school students. I try everything I can think of to get over the language issue, but very little seems to help (comments such as "You do know that the way people talk in movies usually isn't the same way people talk in real life, either, don't you?" seem incomprehensible to students). That's why I'm thankful when books such as SHAKESPEARE'S JULIUS CAESAR: THE MAGNA EDITION come around; it provides another avenue to use in trying to get students connected with the themes of the play and not worry about the language.

SHAKESPEARE'S JULIUS CAESAR takes Shakespeare's famous play and puts it into graphic novel form (even though subtitled "The Magna Edition" the book isn't a true magna because magna reads from the back of the book to the front). Some minor scenes have been cut out, but Shakespeare's language remains. The result is an engaging and accessible graphic novel that young people and more visually oriented people might be able to relate to and understand better than just reading the play directly from the text.