Retold by Karen Holmes
Series Editors: Andy Hopkins and Jocelyn Potter
Series Editors: Andy Hopkins and Jocelyn Potter
'And so,' the prince said, 'this dark and cloudy morning has brought a sad peace. There will never be a sadder story than the story of Romeo and Juliet.'
Romeo and Juliet tells the story of two important families in Verona, in Italy. The families hate each other. Romeo, the son of Lord Montague, falls in love with Juliet, the daughter of Lord Capulet. But when people hate each other, everybody around them is affected. The story does not end happily because Romeo and Juliet cannot escape from the war between their families and live happily together. In this play, hate has more power over people's lives than love.
All three stories in this book have sad endings. In each story, the main characters die. They die because they, or others, are weak, greedy or very foolish.
Lord and Lady Macbeth (Macbeth) are greedy, and as a result a lot of people die. Macbeth is also weak. Lady Macbeth says, 'Macbeth is too kind, too gentle. There are things that he must do but he is afraid to do them. I must speak to him, and make him brave.' He becomes a murderer and a cruel king because his wife tells him that he must perform evil acts. By the end of the play, Macbeth does not care about anybody. When his wife dies, he says,' It would be better if she died at another time.'
In the third story, King Lear, the king is an a very old man. His great age makes him weak and foolish. He does not understand the characters of his three daughters, and he believes Goneril and Regan when they say that they love him. He thinks that his youngest daughter, Cordelia, does not love him because she refuses to use such fine words. But Goneril and Regan are greedy
for power and they do not care about their father.
Many of the characters in these stories have a lot of faults but, like real people, they have good qualities and moments of greatness too. Macbeth is a fine army commander. He wins an important war and King Duncan admires him. Lear is a great king. The King of France thinks that he is a good man, and the Earl of Gloucester loves him. Even the Montagues and the Capulets end their quarrel — but too late.
William Shakespeare is the most famous writer of plays in the English language. He was born in Stratford-upon-Avon in 1564, six years after Elizabeth I became Queen of England. He wrote thirty-nine plays; thirty-four of these are still regularly seen on the stage. Many are famous as films too. He also wrote hundreds of poems.
We do not know very much about William Shakespeare's life.
We think that he went to school in Stratford. He married Anne Hathaway in 1582, and they had three children: Suzanna (born in 1583), Hamnet and Judith (born together in 1585).
After that, we know nothing about his life until 1592. He went to London, where he began to write successful plays. He became an important member of a theatre company, which performed at two London theatres: the Globe and the Blackfriars. His plays were given special performances at the courts of Queen Elizabeth I and King James I. Shakespeare's success made him a wealthy man, and in 1597 he bought New Place, the largest house in Stratford. We believe that he left London and went back to live at New Place in 1610. He continued to write plays until he died in Stratford in 1616.
We know more about Shakespeare's plays than we know about the writer. For 400 years, people have studied every word that Shakespeare wrote. He wrote amusing plays with happy endings, like A Midsummer Night's Dream and Twelfth Night. He also wrote historical plays; nine of these are about English kings. The third type were sad and serious plays, like the three stories in this book.
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