Shakespeare Classics

 

Shakespeare...need I say more? An entire year can be spent on Shakespeare alone. My children have grown to love Shakespeare so much that they have requested their own copies. We have a copy from The Great Books of the Western World and one from the National Classics Series, both are accurate editions.

In addition to reading the classics, Shakespeare needs to be seen and experienced in play form to be complete. We try to attend as many Shakespeare plays as we can. They can be disappointing, however, in how they are interpreted. We've seen some modernized versions that are so cheap and misrepresented that it gives a poor shadow of the original. There are some good ones too, even some movies are perfectly depicted and are preferred over poorly constructed plays.

In my humble opinion, no education is complete without Shakespeare. I once read an article about all the every-day sayings that come from Shakespeare, and is second only to the Bible in the number of sayings derived from it's works.

Here are our recommendations. The links provided have several versions for eReaders like Nook and Kindle as well as audio downloads.

Shakespeare Dramas/Tragedies:

• Hamlet, Prince of Denmark - Movie: Great Performances versions (free online streaming), Mel Gibson version
• Romeo and Juliet
• Julius Caesar 
• Antony and Cleopatra
• Coriolanus
• King Lear - Movie: Great Performances
• Macbeth - Movie: Great Performances
• Othello
• Timon of Athens
• Titus Andronicus
• Troilus and Cressida

Shakespeare Comedies:

• All's Well That Ends Well
• As You Like It
• Comedy of Errors
• Love's Labour's Lost
• Measure for Measure
• Merchant of Venice
• Merry Wives of Windsor
• Midsummer Night's Dream
• Much Ado About Nothing
• Taming of the Shrew
• Tempest
• Twelfth Night
• Two Gentlemen of Verona
• Winter's Tale

Shakespeare Histories:

• Cymbeline
• Henry IV, Part I
• Henry IV, Part II
• Henry V
• Henry VI, Part I
• Henry VI, Part II
• Henry VI, Part III
• Henry VIII
• King John
• Pericles
• Richard II
• Richard III