All these reviews are about the Penguin Readers version ‘Stories from Shakespeare’. The theatre plays are retold as stories. The texts are made easier to understand by Anne Collins. All the story texts are shorter than the original play texts.
‘The Merchant of Venice’
‘The Merchant of Venice’ is a play by William Shakespeare (1564 – 1616). The play was first published in 1600.
‘The Merchant of Venice’ is a comedy. But I do not find it funny. It is a story from the 17th century. Perhaps people found other things funny than people today. There are four main figures: Antonio, Bassanio, Shylock and Portia. The title ‘The Merchant of Venice’ refers to Antonio. He is a wealthy merchant and lives in Venice. The play takes place in Venice and Belmont. In Shakespeare’s time Venice was an important trade centre. Belmont is a place somewhere near to Venice. In that time only rich people had money to travel to Italy. Travelling took a very long time. That made it interesting that the story take place abroad. Everything could happen there. For us it is not so exciting any more.
The character I dislike is the moneylender Shylock. He is the villain in this story. He hates Antonio so much that he wants to kill him. He makes up a sly plan and tells about it that it is a joke. Cutting out one pound of flesh off Antonio’s body would kill Antonio. Shylock wants revenge. Antonio called him a dog because of the bad way Shylock makes business. Antonio was right to do so. Shylock is a bad person. Antonio is the opposite. He is kind, generous and a faithful friend to Bassanio. He even risks his life for him and gets into trouble. That he loves Bassanio sounds a bit strange.
My favourite character is Portia. She is good person and also very clever. She comes dressed as a judge. But she is not neutral like a judge must be. She is more like a lawyer of Antonio. She asks Shylock for mercy for Antonio. Shylock refuses that. He even does not take the double amount of money Bassanio offers to him. Then Portia finishes Shylock off with very clever arguments and a bright explanation of the law. At the end Shylock stands there angry and not well. He has nothing left but his life. I liked it how Portia used the law against Shylock.
There are two main stories in this play. One is about Bassanio’s adventure to choose the right box to marry Portia. The other one is about Shylock’s revenge on Antonio (taking a pound of flesh). The stories are twisted together. Like in a fairy tale morality is important in this story. Good triumphs over evil. The story is about many human things and behaviour. It is about things like friendship, love, trust, loyalty, mercy, hate and revenge as it is like in everyday life. But I like some more action.
‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’
‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’ is another theatre play by William Shakespeare. The play was also published in 1600.
It takes place in Greece in Athens. It is a place that most people d
id not visit in the 17th century. So they could imagine everything to happen there.
A lot of unrealistic things happen. There are three stories twisted with each other. One is the one of four young people who are in love with each other or not in love with each other, another one is about a dispute of the king and queen of the fairies who live in the woods and that of six amateur actors who practise a theatre play in the woods. The main characters are the four young people Demetrius, Lysander, Hermia and Helena, the fairy Queen Titania, the fairy king Oberon and the fairy Puck.
‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’ is a comedy. My favourite character is the fairy Puck. It is really quite funny when he confuses the young people and puts “Lazy Love” juice on their eyes while they are sleeping. All the time the wrong persons fall in love with each other. It is still the same happening. It takes a bit too long for me. It is also funny when Puck gives the workman a donkey’s head and puts “Lazy Love” juice on Titania’s eyes. She is crazy in love with the man called Bottom with a donkey’s head then.
They all have a magic chaos night in the forest. It is good for them that all the chaos has a happy ending on the next day. The fairy king Oberon makes that nobody can remember what happened. That is what the title is about. It is like a dream you forgot about in the morning when you wake up. All this love problems were boring to read.
‘Hamlet’
‘The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark’ is another theatre play by William Shakespeare. The play was published in 1603. It takes place in Denmark and on the sea. It is about the royal Danish family where the king died (was murdered) and his brother (the murderer) married his brother’s wife to become king.
The main characters are Hamlet, Claudius (his uncle and stepfather) and the ghost of Hamlet’s father.
Hamlet has spoken the ghost of his dead father. That is a secret. He got to know that his father was murdered by his uncle. Hamlet heard about all the details how it happened. The ghost told Hamlet that he must kill Claudius for his crime but don’t hurt his mother. Hamlet doubts about the information the ghost has given him.
Finally Hamlet finds a solution for this problem. He asks actors to act the story which is like the dead of his father. The plan works. Claudius reacts and betrays himself with it. That was a smart trap. Therefore my favourite character is Hamlet. He hates Claudius because he is a bad man. Hamlet does not kill cold blooded. That does Claudius. Claudius is a coward because he murders people cold blooded with poison or instructs other people to kill his enemies. That is why I dislike his character.
This story is a tragedy because Hamlet dies at the end. Not only Hamlet dies but also his girlfriend Ophelia, her father Polonius, Hamlet’s mother, Ophelia’s brother Laertes and also Claudius. It is a sad story with a lot of dead people. May be Hamlet would have had a better and happier life if Claudius was not there.
Julius Caesar
‘The Tragedy of Julius Caesar’ is another theatre play by William Shakespeare. The play was published in 1623. It takes place in Rome and Philippi in Italy 2000 years ago. The main characters are Julius Caesar, Mark Antony, Brutus and Cassius.
The story is about Julius Caesar’s murder and its consequences. The other senators don’t want Caesar to become king. They think that he will have too much power if he becomes king. Cassius is the leader of the conspiracy against Caesar. He convinces Brutus to take part in it. Brutus loves Caesar as a friend. But he truly believes that Caesar’s death will save Rome. They make a plan to kill Caesar and kill him together with knives and a sword. That is sneaky and cowardly. Therefore I dislike Cassius very much. He is after the power and he is a liar.
They don’t kill Caesar’s best friend Mark Antony because he says that he is on their side. They even allow him to hold a funeral speech for Caesar. The murderers do not flee. They tell the Roman people that it is good that they killed Caesar. Antony is my favourite character because he dares. He is a talented speaker. He turns the Romans against the murderers with his funeral speech. At the end Cassius and Brutus commit suicide when the loose the battle against Antony and Octavius.
It is a dramatic story about betrayal, cold blooded murder, power, friendship and loyality. The way Caesar is killed is tragic. The story is interesting. There is action in it and it is about history. I liked reading it.
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