Fascinating and accessible approach to Shakespeare, 05 Nov 2008
I really enjoyed this book. It was a quick and easy read, admittedly, but it does not bill itself as a Shakepeare textbook or biography and would be a different animal if it was. If you take it at face value, it's a fun read, helped along by Bryson's amusing style.

Read this even if you are bored by Shakespeare, 28 Oct 2008
Bought it as a background book to a historical novel on Shakespeare. I knew so little about the man.It is one of the best books I read all year. Bryson explains with great clarity how scholars are forced to deduce so much with very little hard evidence. Even the basic facts that 'every school-child knows' are really conjectures. No contemporary manuscript of his plays exists. His birthday (23 April) is based upon assumptions drawn from his baptism. Even his picture may not be him. Bryson then dances his way through the host of theories, myths and scholastic analysis over the past five hundred years like a wiry court jester. It helped me make sense of it all and even become quite excited. I finally understood the significance of the different folios/quartos - and even more amazingly, I cared. For the first time in 30 odd years I had the urge to re-read Shakespeare's plays and I even thought about buying an audio-tape of Macbeth. I didn't but my hand hesitantly stretched out towards the shelf before I put it down again.

Makes the most of what little there is to know, 26 Sep 2008
A neat little book exploring what little we know about Shakespeare's life. Bryson hasn't had the easiest of tasks, trying to work a coherent life out of such scant information and vague references to Shakespeare during his lifetime, and all in all he's done well.

It starts a little dry, and the small details get a bit overwhelming - but then, there is little emotive material to work with so detail is there is to offer. Where Bryson excels is in fleshing out these patchy details with other interesting information about the theatrical conventions of the time, life in Stratford and London, and other literary types who surrounded Shakespeare. In doing so he turns this into a much more interesting biography than it would otherwise have been. The last chapter, relating to the various theories that Shakespeare didn't write the plays and sonnets attributed to him, is where Bryson's wit and sharp humour really come into their own as he batters them down one by one, and the book thus ends on a vibrant note which made me laugh aloud and left a lasting smile!

Much Ado About Nothing, 21 Sep 2008
Although his name is oft bandied about as a must read this is the first time I've ever had the chance. Bryson that is not Shakespeare! This serves as a nice intro to Shakespeare the man with a "just the facts ma'am" approach. And as he admits, this slim volume is a testament to the fact that what we can take as absolute fact about Shakespeare is very little at all.

For a giant in literary terms Shakespeare has left very few footprints. However as Bryson points out this isn't as odd as it might sound, one can't reasonably expect records dating 400 years ago to either be in a sturdy condition or to be legible or even to have survived numerous calamities over the years from natural fires to German bombing campaigns. The fact that the actual early copies of manuscripts of Shakespeare's plays account for about 15 % of all surviving plays from the late Elizabethan / early Jacobean period is pretty remarkable in and of itself.

The author obviously allows room to discuss the speculation of other scholars or this would be a very very slim volume indeed, but he clearly demarcates between what is established fact and what is theory. From his early years we get the speculation of his education and whether he was a secret Catholic, to the sparse years in London before becoming an established writer taking in such romantic fancies that he sailed with Drake.

The one thing Bryson holds no stock in at all is the theory that Shakespeare is not the author of the plays and though he dutifully covers all the potential others he is quite clear on the lack of any tangible evidence that anyone other than William of Stratford wrote the plays

The Perfect Layman's Biography of Shakespeare, 13 Sep 2008
Well, I suppose the big beardy Anglophile yank had to do it sooner or later.

As Bryson himself says in his introduction, the world doesn't really need another book on Shakespeare. From the incredibly specific and obscure to the uselessly vague and general, from the trivially lightweight to the inaccessibly somber, the Bard of Stratford is the subject of literally dozens of new books of facts, biography, analysis, opinion, theory and conjecture, every damn year.

For all that, this was a worthwhile book to have written, which is more or less all we'd expect of Bryson, who is a clear, clever and witty writer who rarely fails to please.

Bryson has chosen biography as his goal. The book is written in more or less chronological order, with chapters covering distinct periods in Will's life. Bryson starts by characterising the period, analysing the (usually scant) evidence available, then raising and scrutinising the various popular interpretations about what is known. He detours occasionally into anecdotal discussion about his researches or funny or impressive stories about other people's attempts at research, which all over helps it from getting too dry and to remain a very Bryson book.

Throughout he's diligent about the distinction between evidence and interpretation. The problem is, we actually have pretty slender information about Shakespeare's life: a veritable wealth of data by the standards of Elizabethans in general, but still very little from which to derive any reliable idea of the facts of his life. Inevitably, this means foraying into conjecture from time to time; a practice at which Shakespearean academe excels, but a dangerous one. Bryson gives an example of the famous deer-poaching incident, a romantic guess made in the eighteenth century that was repeated as solid fact in Shakespeare scholarship for more than a hundred years after. Bryson, by contrast, while happy to include reasonable and useful guesses as to how to interpret what is known, is very careful to let you know what's fact - and where it's from - and what's conjecture and how it was arrived at.

If you're seriously into your Shakespeare scholarship, this book probably doesn't have anything new to tell you (although Bryson's research is up to date, and he has access to facts I didn't have at Uni), but if you're only likely to buy one Shakespeare biography in your life, this isn't a bad one to choose.

Fascinating and accessible approach to Shakespeare, 05 Nov 2008
I really enjoyed this book. It was a quick and easy read, admittedly, but it does not bill itself as a Shakepeare textbook or biography and would be a different animal if it was. If you take it at face value, it's a fun read, helped along by Bryson's amusing style.

Read this even if you are bored by Shakespeare, 28 Oct 2008
Bought it as a background book to a historical novel on Shakespeare. I knew so little about the man.It is one of the best books I read all year. Bryson explains with great clarity how scholars are forced to deduce so much with very little hard evidence. Even the basic facts that 'every school-child knows' are really conjectures. No contemporary manuscript of his plays exists. His birthday (23 April) is based upon assumptions drawn from his baptism. Even his picture may not be him. Bryson then dances his way through the host of theories, myths and scholastic analysis over the past five hundred years like a wiry court jester. It helped me make sense of it all and even become quite excited. I finally understood the significance of the different folios/quartos - and even more amazingly, I cared. For the first time in 30 odd years I had the urge to re-read Shakespeare's plays and I even thought about buying an audio-tape of Macbeth. I didn't but my hand hesitantly stretched out towards the shelf before I put it down again.

Makes the most of what little there is to know, 26 Sep 2008
A neat little book exploring what little we know about Shakespeare's life. Bryson hasn't had the easiest of tasks, trying to work a coherent life out of such scant information and vague references to Shakespeare during his lifetime, and all in all he's done well.

It starts a little dry, and the small details get a bit overwhelming - but then, there is little emotive material to work with so detail is there is to offer. Where Bryson excels is in fleshing out these patchy details with other interesting information about the theatrical conventions of the time, life in Stratford and London, and other literary types who surrounded Shakespeare. In doing so he turns this into a much more interesting biography than it would otherwise have been. The last chapter, relating to the various theories that Shakespeare didn't write the plays and sonnets attributed to him, is where Bryson's wit and sharp humour really come into their own as he batters them down one by one, and the book thus ends on a vibrant note which made me laugh aloud and left a lasting smile!

Much Ado About Nothing, 21 Sep 2008
Although his name is oft bandied about as a must read this is the first time I've ever had the chance. Bryson that is not Shakespeare! This serves as a nice intro to Shakespeare the man with a "just the facts ma'am" approach. And as he admits, this slim volume is a testament to the fact that what we can take as absolute fact about Shakespeare is very little at all.

For a giant in literary terms Shakespeare has left very few footprints. However as Bryson points out this isn't as odd as it might sound, one can't reasonably expect records dating 400 years ago to either be in a sturdy condition or to be legible or even to have survived numerous calamities over the years from natural fires to German bombing campaigns. The fact that the actual early copies of manuscripts of Shakespeare's plays account for about 15 % of all surviving plays from the late Elizabethan / early Jacobean period is pretty remarkable in and of itself.

The author obviously allows room to discuss the speculation of other scholars or this would be a very very slim volume indeed, but he clearly demarcates between what is established fact and what is theory. From his early years we get the speculation of his education and whether he was a secret Catholic, to the sparse years in London before becoming an established writer taking in such romantic fancies that he sailed with Drake.

The one thing Bryson holds no stock in at all is the theory that Shakespeare is not the author of the plays and though he dutifully covers all the potential others he is quite clear on the lack of any tangible evidence that anyone other than William of Stratford wrote the plays

The Perfect Layman's Biography of Shakespeare, 13 Sep 2008
Well, I suppose the big beardy Anglophile yank had to do it sooner or later.

As Bryson himself says in his introduction, the world doesn't really need another book on Shakespeare. From the incredibly specific and obscure to the uselessly vague and general, from the trivially lightweight to the inaccessibly somber, the Bard of Stratford is the subject of literally dozens of new books of facts, biography, analysis, opinion, theory and conjecture, every damn year.

For all that, this was a worthwhile book to have written, which is more or less all we'd expect of Bryson, who is a clear, clever and witty writer who rarely fails to please.

Bryson has chosen biography as his goal. The book is written in more or less chronological order, with chapters covering distinct periods in Will's life. Bryson starts by characterising the period, analysing the (usually scant) evidence available, then raising and scrutinising the various popular interpretations about what is known. He detours occasionally into anecdotal discussion about his researches or funny or impressive stories about other people's attempts at research, which all over helps it from getting too dry and to remain a very Bryson book.

Throughout he's diligent about the distinction between evidence and interpretation. The problem is, we actually have pretty slender information about Shakespeare's life: a veritable wealth of data by the standards of Elizabethans in general, but still very little from which to derive any reliable idea of the facts of his life. Inevitably, this means foraying into conjecture from time to time; a practice at which Shakespearean academe excels, but a dangerous one. Bryson gives an example of the famous deer-poaching incident, a romantic guess made in the eighteenth century that was repeated as solid fact in Shakespeare scholarship for more than a hundred years after. Bryson, by contrast, while happy to include reasonable and useful guesses as to how to interpret what is known, is very careful to let you know what's fact - and where it's from - and what's conjecture and how it was arrived at.

If you're seriously into your Shakespeare scholarship, this book probably doesn't have anything new to tell you (although Bryson's research is up to date, and he has access to facts I didn't have at Uni), but if you're only likely to buy one Shakespeare biography in your life, this isn't a bad one to choose.


Essential, 04 Sep 2008
Really great book that can be used throughout A level study or as a last minute revision guide.

This would be a good investment, 23 Mar 2004
I'm studying Hamlet at the moment and due to the nature of Shakespeare's over descriptive and complicated yet beautiful language, it's quite hard to follow and concentrate upon the plot. Though when I got this guide, I easily grasped what was happening and was able to concentrate more on the themes and language etc which you have to comment on in exams. It is helpful and gives lots of hints and info into what you're supposed to be focusing on in the scenes. It gives you ideas and pushes you in the right direction if you are struggling. It even has a glossary to simplify meanings and words. A more thorough understanding can be made from Hamlet and in the end you'll wonder why you didn't get this sooner. For five pounds, it's worth it, if you get an 'a' in your exams.

Getting to the Heart of Hamlet?, 23 Feb 2004
This is one of the most thorough study guides on the market, not likely to confuse anyone and particularly well informed on the latest developments in critical approaches to the play though never too dense for the average school student to digest. The scene summaries and commentaries are models of clarity and precision whilst the textual analyses are searching, provocative and incisive. There is an excellent bibliography and useful pointers to websites, films and theatrical tradition. An invaluable introduction to advanced studies and a handy revision tool for teachers pressurised to work on the play at short notice!

Nice clear summary of the action, 15 Apr 2002
The best aspect of this guide to Hamlet is the careful scene-by-scene summary of the action. The plot seems not so tricky to follow, after all. It's also good to be reminded of the significant differences between the quarto and folio versions of the play. Perhaps the authors should have devoted a bit more space to the really big issue raised by the play: the intermingling of good and evil in human existence. The assessment of Ophelia's character is strangely thin, as well. But it's very helpful, all in all.

A difficult task, 10 Apr 2000
To make an "informative" notebook on such a vast and complicated work, will never be easy. There are simply too many interpretative opportunities. But York Notes list up most of the basics, in a comprehensive manner.

Fascinating and accessible approach to Shakespeare, 05 Nov 2008
I really enjoyed this book. It was a quick and easy read, admittedly, but it does not bill itself as a Shakepeare textbook or biography and would be a different animal if it was. If you take it at face value, it's a fun read, helped along by Bryson's amusing style.

Read this even if you are bored by Shakespeare, 28 Oct 2008
Bought it as a background book to a historical novel on Shakespeare. I knew so little about the man.It is one of the best books I read all year. Bryson explains with great clarity how scholars are forced to deduce so much with very little hard evidence. Even the basic facts that 'every school-child knows' are really conjectures. No contemporary manuscript of his plays exists. His birthday (23 April) is based upon assumptions drawn from his baptism. Even his picture may not be him. Bryson then dances his way through the host of theories, myths and scholastic analysis over the past five hundred years like a wiry court jester. It helped me make sense of it all and even become quite excited. I finally understood the significance of the different folios/quartos - and even more amazingly, I cared. For the first time in 30 odd years I had the urge to re-read Shakespeare's plays and I even thought about buying an audio-tape of Macbeth. I didn't but my hand hesitantly stretched out towards the shelf before I put it down again.

Makes the most of what little there is to know, 26 Sep 2008
A neat little book exploring what little we know about Shakespeare's life. Bryson hasn't had the easiest of tasks, trying to work a coherent life out of such scant information and vague references to Shakespeare during his lifetime, and all in all he's done well.

It starts a little dry, and the small details get a bit overwhelming - but then, there is little emotive material to work with so detail is there is to offer. Where Bryson excels is in fleshing out these patchy details with other interesting information about the theatrical conventions of the time, life in Stratford and London, and other literary types who surrounded Shakespeare. In doing so he turns this into a much more interesting biography than it would otherwise have been. The last chapter, relating to the various theories that Shakespeare didn't write the plays and sonnets attributed to him, is where Bryson's wit and sharp humour really come into their own as he batters them down one by one, and the book thus ends on a vibrant note which made me laugh aloud and left a lasting smile!

Much Ado About Nothing, 21 Sep 2008
Although his name is oft bandied about as a must read this is the first time I've ever had the chance. Bryson that is not Shakespeare! This serves as a nice intro to Shakespeare the man with a "just the facts ma'am" approach. And as he admits, this slim volume is a testament to the fact that what we can take as absolute fact about Shakespeare is very little at all.

For a giant in literary terms Shakespeare has left very few footprints. However as Bryson points out this isn't as odd as it might sound, one can't reasonably expect records dating 400 years ago to either be in a sturdy condition or to be legible or even to have survived numerous calamities over the years from natural fires to German bombing campaigns. The fact that the actual early copies of manuscripts of Shakespeare's plays account for about 15 % of all surviving plays from the late Elizabethan / early Jacobean period is pretty remarkable in and of itself.

The author obviously allows room to discuss the speculation of other scholars or this would be a very very slim volume indeed, but he clearly demarcates between what is established fact and what is theory. From his early years we get the speculation of his education and whether he was a secret Catholic, to the sparse years in London before becoming an established writer taking in such romantic fancies that he sailed with Drake.

The one thing Bryson holds no stock in at all is the theory that Shakespeare is not the author of the plays and though he dutifully covers all the potential others he is quite clear on the lack of any tangible evidence that anyone other than William of Stratford wrote the plays

The Perfect Layman's Biography of Shakespeare, 13 Sep 2008
Well, I suppose the big beardy Anglophile yank had to do it sooner or later.

As Bryson himself says in his introduction, the world doesn't really need another book on Shakespeare. From the incredibly specific and obscure to the uselessly vague and general, from the trivially lightweight to the inaccessibly somber, the Bard of Stratford is the subject of literally dozens of new books of facts, biography, analysis, opinion, theory and conjecture, every damn year.

For all that, this was a worthwhile book to have written, which is more or less all we'd expect of Bryson, who is a clear, clever and witty writer who rarely fails to please.

Bryson has chosen biography as his goal. The book is written in more or less chronological order, with chapters covering distinct periods in Will's life. Bryson starts by characterising the period, analysing the (usually scant) evidence available, then raising and scrutinising the various popular interpretations about what is known. He detours occasionally into anecdotal discussion about his researches or funny or impressive stories about other people's attempts at research, which all over helps it from getting too dry and to remain a very Bryson book.

Throughout he's diligent about the distinction between evidence and interpretation. The problem is, we actually have pretty slender information about Shakespeare's life: a veritable wealth of data by the standards of Elizabethans in general, but still very little from which to derive any reliable idea of the facts of his life. Inevitably, this means foraying into conjecture from time to time; a practice at which Shakespearean academe excels, but a dangerous one. Bryson gives an example of the famous deer-poaching incident, a romantic guess made in the eighteenth century that was repeated as solid fact in Shakespeare scholarship for more than a hundred years after. Bryson, by contrast, while happy to include reasonable and useful guesses as to how to interpret what is known, is very careful to let you know what's fact - and where it's from - and what's conjecture and how it was arrived at.

If you're seriously into your Shakespeare scholarship, this book probably doesn't have anything new to tell you (although Bryson's research is up to date, and he has access to facts I didn't have at Uni), but if you're only likely to buy one Shakespeare biography in your life, this isn't a bad one to choose.


Essential, 04 Sep 2008
Really great book that can be used throughout A level study or as a last minute revision guide.

This would be a good investment, 23 Mar 2004
I'm studying Hamlet at the moment and due to the nature of Shakespeare's over descriptive and complicated yet beautiful language, it's quite hard to follow and concentrate upon the plot. Though when I got this guide, I easily grasped what was happening and was able to concentrate more on the themes and language etc which you have to comment on in exams. It is helpful and gives lots of hints and info into what you're supposed to be focusing on in the scenes. It gives you ideas and pushes you in the right direction if you are struggling. It even has a glossary to simplify meanings and words. A more thorough understanding can be made from Hamlet and in the end you'll wonder why you didn't get this sooner. For five pounds, it's worth it, if you get an 'a' in your exams.

Getting to the Heart of Hamlet?, 23 Feb 2004
This is one of the most thorough study guides on the market, not likely to confuse anyone and particularly well informed on the latest developments in critical approaches to the play though never too dense for the average school student to digest. The scene summaries and commentaries are models of clarity and precision whilst the textual analyses are searching, provocative and incisive. There is an excellent bibliography and useful pointers to websites, films and theatrical tradition. An invaluable introduction to advanced studies and a handy revision tool for teachers pressurised to work on the play at short notice!

Nice clear summary of the action, 15 Apr 2002
The best aspect of this guide to Hamlet is the careful scene-by-scene summary of the action. The plot seems not so tricky to follow, after all. It's also good to be reminded of the significant differences between the quarto and folio versions of the play. Perhaps the authors should have devoted a bit more space to the really big issue raised by the play: the intermingling of good and evil in human existence. The assessment of Ophelia's character is strangely thin, as well. But it's very helpful, all in all.

A difficult task, 10 Apr 2000
To make an "informative" notebook on such a vast and complicated work, will never be easy. There are simply too many interpretative opportunities. But York Notes list up most of the basics, in a comprehensive manner.

Heart-rending and bittersweet, 05 Nov 2008
I enjoyed this book, even though the subject matter is dark and the overall tone of the book is rather melancholy. He writes extremely well; the only mild irritant is his tendency to waffle on and on, making a sentence extremely long and sometimes a little boring and you begin to wonder when he will finally place a full stop.A little like that!
On the whole though, highly recommended and can be read as a ' stand alone ' book, although it is beneficial to have read The Smoking Diaries.

Fascinating and accessible approach to Shakespeare, 05 Nov 2008
I really enjoyed this book. It was a quick and easy read, admittedly, but it does not bill itself as a Shakepeare textbook or biography and would be a different animal if it was. If you take it at face value, it's a fun read, helped along by Bryson's amusing style.

Read this even if you are bored by Shakespeare, 28 Oct 2008
Bought it as a background book to a historical novel on Shakespeare. I knew so little about the man.It is one of the best books I read all year. Bryson explains with great clarity how scholars are forced to deduce so much with very little hard evidence. Even the basic facts that 'every school-child knows' are really conjectures. No contemporary manuscript of his plays exists. His birthday (23 April) is based upon assumptions drawn from his baptism. Even his picture may not be him. Bryson then dances his way through the host of theories, myths and scholastic analysis over the past five hundred years like a wiry court jester. It helped me make sense of it all and even become quite excited. I finally understood the significance of the different folios/quartos - and even more amazingly, I cared. For the first time in 30 odd years I had the urge to re-read Shakespeare's plays and I even thought about buying an audio-tape of Macbeth. I didn't but my hand hesitantly stretched out towards the shelf before I put it down again.

Makes the most of what little there is to know, 26 Sep 2008
A neat little book exploring what little we know about Shakespeare's life. Bryson hasn't had the easiest of tasks, trying to work a coherent life out of such scant information and vague references to Shakespeare during his lifetime, and all in all he's done well.

It starts a little dry, and the small details get a bit overwhelming - but then, there is little emotive material to work with so detail is there is to offer. Where Bryson excels is in fleshing out these patchy details with other interesting information about the theatrical conventions of the time, life in Stratford and London, and other literary types who surrounded Shakespeare. In doing so he turns this into a much more interesting biography than it would otherwise have been. The last chapter, relating to the various theories that Shakespeare didn't write the plays and sonnets attributed to him, is where Bryson's wit and sharp humour really come into their own as he batters them down one by one, and the book thus ends on a vibrant note which made me laugh aloud and left a lasting smile!

Much Ado About Nothing, 21 Sep 2008
Although his name is oft bandied about as a must read this is the first time I've ever had the chance. Bryson that is not Shakespeare! This serves as a nice intro to Shakespeare the man with a "just the facts ma'am" approach. And as he admits, this slim volume is a testament to the fact that what we can take as absolute fact about Shakespeare is very little at all.

For a giant in literary terms Shakespeare has left very few footprints. However as Bryson points out this isn't as odd as it might sound, one can't reasonably expect records dating 400 years ago to either be in a sturdy condition or to be legible or even to have survived numerous calamities over the years from natural fires to German bombing campaigns. The fact that the actual early copies of manuscripts of Shakespeare's plays account for about 15 % of all surviving plays from the late Elizabethan / early Jacobean period is pretty remarkable in and of itself.

The author obviously allows room to discuss the speculation of other scholars or this would be a very very slim volume indeed, but he clearly demarcates between what is established fact and what is theory. From his early years we get the speculation of his education and whether he was a secret Catholic, to the sparse years in London before becoming an established writer taking in such romantic fancies that he sailed with Drake.

The one thing Bryson holds no stock in at all is the theory that Shakespeare is not the author of the plays and though he dutifully covers all the potential others he is quite clear on the lack of any tangible evidence that anyone other than William of Stratford wrote the plays

The Perfect Layman's Biography of Shakespeare, 13 Sep 2008
Well, I suppose the big beardy Anglophile yank had to do it sooner or later.

As Bryson himself says in his introduction, the world doesn't really need another book on Shakespeare. From the incredibly specific and obscure to the uselessly vague and general, from the trivially lightweight to the inaccessibly somber, the Bard of Stratford is the subject of literally dozens of new books of facts, biography, analysis, opinion, theory and conjecture, every damn year.

For all that, this was a worthwhile book to have written, which is more or less all we'd expect of Bryson, who is a clear, clever and witty writer who rarely fails to please.

Bryson has chosen biography as his goal. The book is written in more or less chronological order, with chapters covering distinct periods in Will's life. Bryson starts by characterising the period, analysing the (usually scant) evidence available, then raising and scrutinising the various popular interpretations about what is known. He detours occasionally into anecdotal discussion about his researches or funny or impressive stories about other people's attempts at research, which all over helps it from getting too dry and to remain a very Bryson book.

Throughout he's diligent about the distinction between evidence and interpretation. The problem is, we actually have pretty slender information about Shakespeare's life: a veritable wealth of data by the standards of Elizabethans in general, but still very little from which to derive any reliable idea of the facts of his life. Inevitably, this means foraying into conjecture from time to time; a practice at which Shakespearean academe excels, but a dangerous one. Bryson gives an example of the famous deer-poaching incident, a romantic guess made in the eighteenth century that was repeated as solid fact in Shakespeare scholarship for more than a hundred years after. Bryson, by contrast, while happy to include reasonable and useful guesses as to how to interpret what is known, is very careful to let you know what's fact - and where it's from - and what's conjecture and how it was arrived at.

If you're seriously into your Shakespeare scholarship, this book probably doesn't have anything new to tell you (although Bryson's research is up to date, and he has access to facts I didn't have at Uni), but if you're only likely to buy one Shakespeare biography in your life, this isn't a bad one to choose.


Essential, 04 Sep 2008
Really great book that can be used throughout A level study or as a last minute revision guide.

This would be a good investment, 23 Mar 2004
I'm studying Hamlet at the moment and due to the nature of Shakespeare's over descriptive and complicated yet beautiful language, it's quite hard to follow and concentrate upon the plot. Though when I got this guide, I easily grasped what was happening and was able to concentrate more on the themes and language etc which you have to comment on in exams. It is helpful and gives lots of hints and info into what you're supposed to be focusing on in the scenes. It gives you ideas and pushes you in the right direction if you are struggling. It even has a glossary to simplify meanings and words. A more thorough understanding can be made from Hamlet and in the end you'll wonder why you didn't get this sooner. For five pounds, it's worth it, if you get an 'a' in your exams.

Getting to the Heart of Hamlet?, 23 Feb 2004
This is one of the most thorough study guides on the market, not likely to confuse anyone and particularly well informed on the latest developments in critical approaches to the play though never too dense for the average school student to digest. The scene summaries and commentaries are models of clarity and precision whilst the textual analyses are searching, provocative and incisive. There is an excellent bibliography and useful pointers to websites, films and theatrical tradition. An invaluable introduction to advanced studies and a handy revision tool for teachers pressurised to work on the play at short notice!

Nice clear summary of the action, 15 Apr 2002
The best aspect of this guide to Hamlet is the careful scene-by-scene summary of the action. The plot seems not so tricky to follow, after all. It's also good to be reminded of the significant differences between the quarto and folio versions of the play. Perhaps the authors should have devoted a bit more space to the really big issue raised by the play: the intermingling of good and evil in human existence. The assessment of Ophelia's character is strangely thin, as well. But it's very helpful, all in all.

A difficult task, 10 Apr 2000
To make an "informative" notebook on such a vast and complicated work, will never be easy. There are simply too many interpretative opportunities. But York Notes list up most of the basics, in a comprehensive manner.

Heart-rending and bittersweet, 05 Nov 2008
I enjoyed this book, even though the subject matter is dark and the overall tone of the book is rather melancholy. He writes extremely well; the only mild irritant is his tendency to waffle on and on, making a sentence extremely long and sometimes a little boring and you begin to wonder when he will finally place a full stop.A little like that!
On the whole though, highly recommended and can be read as a ' stand alone ' book, although it is beneficial to have read The Smoking Diaries.

A very witty masterpiece , 11 Mar 2008
In my quest to read more work by Irish literary greats this year, I recently purchased a newly repackaged Penguin Popular Classic version of Oscar Wilde's 1895 play The Importance of Being Earnest. This edition, with its vibrant green cover and tracing-paper thin paper (all 100 per cent recycled), retails for a meagre £2 -- that's a very cheap price for a masterpiece, in my opinion.

I had seen a film version of this play a couple of years ago (the 2002 version starring Rupert Everett, Colin Firth, Frances O'Connor, Reese Witherspoon and Judi Dench) and I remember laughing out loud at a lot of it. But seeing the words in black-and-white print makes them seem even funnier -- if that is possible.

For those who don't know the storyline, the brief synopsis goes something like this: Country gentleman Jack Worthing invents a younger brother, Ernest, whom he pretends to be when he visits the city. This gives him free reign to pursue the beautiful Gwendolen. Meanwhile his city-based friend, Algernon Moncrieff, invents a poorly relative, Bunbury, whom he pretends to visit in the country in order that he can leave his dull city existence behind for a bit of fun and frivolity. One day Algernon pretends to be Ernest and visits Jack's pretty charge, Cecily, in the country, which leads to all kinds of confusion about identity. Obviously, Jack is not happy, but when his own deceptive behaviour is called into question, the scene is ripe for much farce and hilarity.

In three short acts, this play delivers so many laughs and classic one-liners it's difficult to appreciate the genius of it in just one reading. Fortunately, it's short enough -- just 67 pages in this edition -- to read cover-to-cover twice in a very short amount of time.

How many people haven't heard this line?

* (Delivered by Lady Bracknell to Jack): To lose one parent, Mr Worthing, may be regarded as misfortune: to lose both looks like carelessness.

Or this one:
* (Delivered by Gwendolen to Cecily): I never travel without my diary. One should always have something sensational to read in the train.

But it's not just the lines which are funny, but the setting and the ways in which they are delivered that makes certain scenes especially comedic. This scene, in which Cecily serves tea and cake to her new rival in love, Gwendolen, is a good example of Wilde's ability to capture the little details in people's behaviour that conveys so much about their character and mood.

Cecily [sweetly]: Sugar?
Gwendolen [superciliously]: No thank you. Sugar is not fashionable any more. [Cecily looks angrily at her, takes up the tongs and puts four lumps of sugar in the cup.]
Cecily [severely]: Cake or bread and butter?
Gwendolen [in a bored manner]: Bread and butter, please. Cake is rarely seen at the best houses nowadays.
Cecily [cuts a very large slice of cake and puts it on the tray]: Hand that to Miss Fairfax.

Without wishing to wax lyrical, this is a sumptuous, dazzling read -- a wonderfully clever farce to brighten up the dullest day. It's tightly written, with not a word wasted, and there's a delightful conclusion in which all the lose ends are brought together and tied up with an unexpected flourish. Masterpiece, indeed.

absolutely brilliant!, 29 Nov 2007
everything about this book is perfect, the timing, the comedy, the situation. I can't even go into how fantastic it is, but i know that Osar Wilde is a genius and i wish he was still around, read this book, and don't loose out another second without it!

A very enjoyable reading, witty and full of "English" humor, 16 Jun 2005
Despite the fact that I usually like to watch plays, not so much to read them on paper, I found "The Importance of Being Earnest" a very enjoyable reading. The plot is greatly witty and I had a real fun reading several scenes described in this book. Given the theatrical style, the overall plot is not quite realistic, yet it is highly brilliant and full of "English" humor. After having read the book, I also bought the Audio-CD version of it, which I also enjoyed sincerely.

The Importance of Reading Earnest, 13 Dec 2004
I personally think that this play is fantastic. Superficially it is a very trivial, lighthearted play with little plot but peppered with witty conceits. On a deeper level it provides an incredible, satirical view of Victorian moral society, from one of the the 'insiders'. The links between the play and the life of Wilde are rife, especially regarding Algernon. I would recommend it wholeheartedly.

The wittiest play ever written in the English language, 11 Jul 2004
"The Importance of Being Earnest: A Trivial Comedy for Serious People" is one of the first plays written in English since the works of Shakespeare that celebrates the language itself. Oscar Wilde's comedy has one advantage over the classic comedies of the Bard in that "The Importance of Being Earnest" is as funny today as it was when it was first performed at the St. Jame's Theater in London on February 14, 1895. After all, enjoying Shakespeare requires checking the bottom for footnotes explaining the meaning of those dozens of words that Shakespeare makes up in any one of his plays. But Wilde's brilliant wit, his humor and social satire, remain intact even though he was a writer of the Victorian era.

Wilde believed in art for art's own sake, which explains why he emphasized beauty while his contemporaries were dealing with the problems of industrial England. "The Importance of Being Earnest" is set among the upper class, making fun of their excesses and absurdities while imbuing them with witty banter providing a constant stream of epigrams. The play's situation is simple in its unraveling complexity. Algernon Moncrieff is an upper-class English bachelor who is visited by his friend Jack Worthing, who is known as "Ernest." Jack has come to town to propose to Gwendolen Fairfax, the daugher of the imposing Lady Bracknell and Algy's first cousin. Jack has a ward named Cecily who lives in the country while Algernon has an imaginary friend named "Bunbury" whom he uses as an excuse to get out of social engagements.

Jack proposes to Gwendolen but has two problems. First, Gwendolen is wiling to agree because his name is Ernest, a name that "seems to inspire absolute confidence," but which, of course, is not his true Christian name. Second, Lady Bracknell objects to Jack as a suitor when she learns he was abandoned by his parents and found in a handbag in Victoria Station by Mr. Thomas Cardew. Meanwhile, Algernon heads off to the country to check out Cecily, to whom he introduces himself as being her guardian Jack's brother Ernest. This meets with Ceclily's approval because in her diary she has been writing about her engagement to a man named Ernest. Then things get really interesting.

Wilde proves once and for all time that the pun can indeed be elevated to a high art form. Throughout the entire play we have the double meaning of the word "earnest," almost to the level of a conceit, since many of the play's twists and turns deal with the efforts of Jack and Algernon to be "Ernest," by lying, only to discover that circumstances makes honest men of them in the end (and of the women for that matter as well). There is every reason to believe that Wilde was making a point about earnestness being a key ideal of Victorian culture and one worthy of being thoroughly and completely mocked. Granted, some of the puns are really bad, and the discussion of "Bunburying" is so bad it is stands alone in that regard, but there is a sense in which the bad ones only make the good ones so glorious and emphasize that Wilde is at his best while playing games with the English language.

But if Wilde's puns are the low road then his epigrams represent the heights of his genius, especially when they are used by the characters in an ironic vein (e.g., "It is very romantic to be in love. But there is nothing romantic about a definite proposal" and "I do not approve of anything that tampers with natural ignorance"). Jack is the male lead, but it is Algernon who represents the ideal Wilde character, who insists he is a rebel speaking out against the institutions of society, such as marriage, but with attacks that are so flamboyant and humorous that the cleverness of the humor ends up standing apart from the inherent point.

In the end, "The Importance of Being Earnest" is the wittiest play every written, in English or any other language, and I doubt that anything written in the future will come close. Wilde was essentially a stand-up comedian who managed to create a narrative in which he could get off dozens of classic one-liners given a high-class sheen by being labeled epigrams. Like a comedian he touches on several topics, from the aristocracy, marriage, and the literary world to English manners, women, love, religion, and anything else that came to his fertile mind. But because it is done with such a lighthearted tone that the barbs remain as timely today as they were at the end of the 19th-century and "The Importance of Being Earnest" will always be at the forefront of the plays of that time which will continue to be produced.

This is undoubtedly the greatest love story ever written, spawning a host of imitators on stage and screen, including Leonard Bernstein's smash musical West Side Story, Franco Zeffirelli's Romeo and Juliet filmed in 1968, and Baz Luhrmann's postmodern film version Romeo + Juliet. The tragic feud between "Two households, both alike in dignity/In fair Verona", the Montagues and Capulets, which ultimately kills the two young "star-crossed lovers" and their "death-marked love" creates issues which have fascinated subsequent generations. The play deals with issues of intergenerational and familial conflict, as well as the power of language and the compelling relationship between sex and death, all of which makes it an incredibly modern play. It is also an early example of Shakespeare fusing poetry with dramatic action, as he moves from Romeo's lyrical account of Juliet--"she doth teach the torches to burn bright!" to the bustle and action of a 16th-century household (the play contains more scenes of ordinary working people than any of Shakespeare's other works). It also represents an experimental attempt to fuse comedy with tragedy. Up to the third act, the play proceeds along the lines of a classic romantic comedy. The turning point comes with the death of one of Shakespeare's finest early dramatic creations--Romeo's sexually ambivalent friend Mercutio, whose "plague o' both your houses" begins the play's descent into tragedy, "For never was a story of more woe/Than this of Juliet and her Romeo". --Jerry Brotton

Fascinating and accessible approach to Shakespeare, 05 Nov 2008
I really enjoyed this book. It was a quick and easy read, admittedly, but it does not bill itself as a Shakepeare textbook or biography and would be a different animal if it was. If you take it at face value, it's a fun read, helped along by Bryson's amusing style.

Read this even if you are bored by Shakespeare, 28 Oct 2008
Bought it as a background book to a historical novel on Shakespeare. I knew so little about the man.It is one of the best books I read all year. Bryson explains with great clarity how scholars are forced to deduce so much with very little hard evidence. Even the basic facts that 'every school-child knows' are really conjectures. No contemporary manuscript of his plays exists. His birthday (23 April) is based upon assumptions drawn from his baptism. Even his picture may not be him. Bryson then dances his way through the host of theories, myths and scholastic analysis over the past five hundred years like a wiry court jester. It helped me make sense of it all and even become quite excited. I finally understood the significance of the different folios/quartos - and even more amazingly, I cared. For the first time in 30 odd years I had the urge to re-read Shakespeare's plays and I even thought about buying an audio-tape of Macbeth. I didn't but my hand hesitantly stretched out towards the shelf before I put it down again.

Makes the most of what little there is to know, 26 Sep 2008
A neat little book exploring what little we know about Shakespeare's life. Bryson hasn't had the easiest of tasks, trying to work a coherent life out of such scant information and vague references to Shakespeare during his lifetime, and all in all he's done well.

It starts a little dry, and the small details get a bit overwhelming - but then, there is little emotive material to work with so detail is there is to offer. Where Bryson excels is in fleshing out these patchy details with other interesting information about the theatrical conventions of the time, life in Stratford and London, and other literary types who surrounded Shakespeare. In doing so he turns this into a much more interesting biography than it would otherwise have been. The last chapter, relating to the various theories that Shakespeare didn't write the plays and sonnets attributed to him, is where Bryson's wit and sharp humour really come into their own as he batters them down one by one, and the book thus ends on a vibrant note which made me laugh aloud and left a lasting smile!

Much Ado About Nothing, 21 Sep 2008
Although his name is oft bandied about as a must read this is the first time I've ever had the chance. Bryson that is not Shakespeare! This serves as a nice intro to Shakespeare the man with a "just the facts ma'am" approach. And as he admits, this slim volume is a testament to the fact that what we can take as absolute fact about Shakespeare is very little at all.

For a giant in literary terms Shakespeare has left very few footprints. However as Bryson points out this isn't as odd as it might sound, one can't reasonably expect records dating 400 years ago to either be in a sturdy condition or to be legible or even to have survived numerous calamities over the years from natural fires to German bombing campaigns. The fact that the actual early copies of manuscripts of Shakespeare's plays account for about 15 % of all surviving plays from the late Elizabethan / early Jacobean period is pretty remarkable in and of itself.

The author obviously allows room to discuss the speculation of other scholars or this would be a very very slim volume indeed, but he clearly demarcates between what is established fact and what is theory. From his early years we get the speculation of his education and whether he was a secret Catholic, to the sparse years in London before becoming an established writer taking in such romantic fancies that he sailed with Drake.

The one thing Bryson holds no stock in at all is the theory that Shakespeare is not the author of the plays and though he dutifully covers all the potential others he is quite clear on the lack of any tangible evidence that anyone other than William of Stratford wrote the plays

The Perfect Layman's Biography of Shakespeare, 13 Sep 2008
Well, I suppose the big beardy Anglophile yank had to do it sooner or later.

As Bryson himself says in his introduction, the world doesn't really need another book on Shakespeare. From the incredibly specific and obscure to the uselessly vague and general, from the trivially lightweight to the inaccessibly somber, the Bard of Stratford is the subject of literally dozens of new books of facts, biography, analysis, opinion, theory and conjecture, every damn year.

For all that, this was a worthwhile book to have written, which is more or less all we'd expect of Bryson, who is a clear, clever and witty writer who rarely fails to please.

Bryson has chosen biography as his goal. The book is written in more or less chronological order, with chapters covering distinct periods in Will's life. Bryson starts by characterising the period, analysing the (usually scant) evidence available, then raising and scrutinising the various popular interpretations about what is known. He detours occasionally into anecdotal discussion about his researches or funny or impressive stories about other people's attempts at research, which all over helps it from getting too dry and to remain a very Bryson book.

Throughout he's diligent about the distinction between evidence and interpretation. The problem is, we actually have pretty slender information about Shakespeare's life: a veritable wealth of data by the standards of Elizabethans in general, but still very little from which to derive any reliable idea of the facts of his life. Inevitably, this means foraying into conjecture from time to time; a practice at which Shakespearean academe excels, but a dangerous one. Bryson gives an example of the famous deer-poaching incident, a romantic guess made in the eighteenth century that was repeated as solid fact in Shakespeare scholarship for more than a hundred years after. Bryson, by contrast, while happy to include reasonable and useful guesses as to how to interpret what is known, is very careful to let you know what's fact - and where it's from - and what's conjecture and how it was arrived at.

If you're seriously into your Shakespeare scholarship, this book probably doesn't have anything new to tell you (although Bryson's research is up to date, and he has access to facts I didn't have at Uni), but if you're only likely to buy one Shakespeare biography in your life, this isn't a bad one to choose.


Essential, 04 Sep 2008
Really great book that can be used throughout A level study or as a last minute revision guide.

This would be a good investment, 23 Mar 2004
I'm studying Hamlet at the moment and due to the nature of Shakespeare's over descriptive and complicated yet beautiful language, it's quite hard to follow and concentrate upon the plot. Though when I got this guide, I easily grasped what was happening and was able to concentrate more on the themes and language etc which you have to comment on in exams. It is helpful and gives lots of hints and info into what you're supposed to be focusing on in the scenes. It gives you ideas and pushes you in the right direction if you are struggling. It even has a glossary to simplify meanings and words. A more thorough understanding can be made from Hamlet and in the end you'll wonder why you didn't get this sooner. For five pounds, it's worth it, if you get an 'a' in your exams.

Getting to the Heart of Hamlet?, 23 Feb 2004
This is one of the most thorough study guides on the market, not likely to confuse anyone and particularly well informed on the latest developments in critical approaches to the play though never too dense for the average school student to digest. The scene summaries and commentaries are models of clarity and precision whilst the textual analyses are searching, provocative and incisive. There is an excellent bibliography and useful pointers to websites, films and theatrical tradition. An invaluable introduction to advanced studies and a handy revision tool for teachers pressurised to work on the play at short notice!

Nice clear summary of the action, 15 Apr 2002
The best aspect of this guide to Hamlet is the careful scene-by-scene summary of the action. The plot seems not so tricky to follow, after all. It's also good to be reminded of the significant differences between the quarto and folio versions of the play. Perhaps the authors should have devoted a bit more space to the really big issue raised by the play: the intermingling of good and evil in human existence. The assessment of Ophelia's character is strangely thin, as well. But it's very helpful, all in all.

A difficult task, 10 Apr 2000
To make an "informative" notebook on such a vast and complicated work, will never be easy. There are simply too many interpretative opportunities. But York Notes list up most of the basics, in a comprehensive manner.

Heart-rending and bittersweet, 05 Nov 2008
I enjoyed this book, even though the subject matter is dark and the overall tone of the book is rather melancholy. He writes extremely well; the only mild irritant is his tendency to waffle on and on, making a sentence extremely long and sometimes a little boring and you begin to wonder when he will finally place a full stop.A little like that!
On the whole though, highly recommended and can be read as a ' stand alone ' book, although it is beneficial to have read The Smoking Diaries.

A very witty masterpiece , 11 Mar 2008
In my quest to read more work by Irish literary greats this year, I recently purchased a newly repackaged Penguin Popular Classic version of Oscar Wilde's 1895 play The Importance of Being Earnest. This edition, with its vibrant green cover and tracing-paper thin paper (all 100 per cent recycled), retails for a meagre £2 -- that's a very cheap price for a masterpiece, in my opinion.

I had seen a film version of this play a couple of years ago (the 2002 version starring Rupert Everett, Colin Firth, Frances O'Connor, Reese Witherspoon and Judi Dench) and I remember laughing out loud at a lot of it. But seeing the words in black-and-white print makes them seem even funnier -- if that is possible.

For those who don't know the storyline, the brief synopsis goes something like this: Country gentleman Jack Worthing invents a younger brother, Ernest, whom he pretends to be when he visits the city. This gives him free reign to pursue the beautiful Gwendolen. Meanwhile his city-based friend, Algernon Moncrieff, invents a poorly relative, Bunbury, whom he pretends to visit in the country in order that he can leave his dull city existence behind for a bit of fun and frivolity. One day Algernon pretends to be Ernest and visits Jack's pretty charge, Cecily, in the country, which leads to all kinds of confusion about identity. Obviously, Jack is not happy, but when his own deceptive behaviour is called into question, the scene is ripe for much farce and hilarity.

In three short acts, this play delivers so many laughs and classic one-liners it's difficult to appreciate the genius of it in just one reading. Fortunately, it's short enough -- just 67 pages in this edition -- to read cover-to-cover twice in a very short amount of time.

How many people haven't heard this line?

* (Delivered by Lady Bracknell to Jack): To lose one parent, Mr Worthing, may be regarded as misfortune: to lose both looks like carelessness.

Or this one:
* (Delivered by Gwendolen to Cecily): I never travel without my diary. One should always have something sensational to read in the train.

But it's not just the lines which are funny, but the setting and the ways in which they are delivered that makes certain scenes especially comedic. This scene, in which Cecily serves tea and cake to her new rival in love, Gwendolen, is a good example of Wilde's ability to capture the little details in people's behaviour that conveys so much about their character and mood.

Cecily [sweetly]: Sugar?
Gwendolen [superciliously]: No thank you. Sugar is not fashionable any more. [Cecily looks angrily at her, takes up the tongs and puts four lumps of sugar in the cup.]
Cecily [severely]: Cake or bread and butter?
Gwendolen [in a bored manner]: Bread and butter, please. Cake is rarely seen at the best houses nowadays.
Cecily [cuts a very large slice of cake and puts it on the tray]: Hand that to Miss Fairfax.

Without wishing to wax lyrical, this is a sumptuous, dazzling read -- a wonderfully clever farce to brighten up the dullest day. It's tightly written, with not a word wasted, and there's a delightful conclusion in which all the lose ends are brought together and tied up with an unexpected flourish. Masterpiece, indeed.

absolutely brilliant!, 29 Nov 2007
everything about this book is perfect, the timing, the comedy, the situation. I can't even go into how fantastic it is, but i know that Osar Wilde is a genius and i wish he was still around, read this book, and don't loose out another second without it!

A very enjoyable reading, witty and full of "English" humor, 16 Jun 2005
Despite the fact that I usually like to watch plays, not so much to read them on paper, I found "The Importance of Being Earnest" a very enjoyable reading. The plot is greatly witty and I had a real fun reading several scenes described in this book. Given the theatrical style, the overall plot is not quite realistic, yet it is highly brilliant and full of "English" humor. After having read the book, I also bought the Audio-CD version of it, which I also enjoyed sincerely.

The Importance of Reading Earnest, 13 Dec 2004
I personally think that this play is fantastic. Superficially it is a very trivial, lighthearted play with little plot but peppered with witty conceits. On a deeper level it provides an incredible, satirical view of Victorian moral society, from one of the the 'insiders'. The links between the play and the life of Wilde are rife, especially regarding Algernon. I would recommend it wholeheartedly.

The wittiest play ever written in the English language, 11 Jul 2004
"The Importance of Being Earnest: A Trivial Comedy for Serious People" is one of the first plays written in English since the works of Shakespeare that celebrates the language itself. Oscar Wilde's comedy has one advantage over the classic comedies of the Bard in that "The Importance of Being Earnest" is as funny today as it was when it was first performed at the St. Jame's Theater in London on February 14, 1895. After all, enjoying Shakespeare requires checking the bottom for footnotes explaining the meaning of those dozens of words that Shakespeare makes up in any one of his plays. But Wilde's brilliant wit, his humor and social satire, remain intact even though he was a writer of the Victorian era.

Wilde believed in art for art's own sake, which explains why he emphasized beauty while his contemporaries were dealing with the problems of industrial England. "The Importance of Being Earnest" is set among the upper class, making fun of their excesses and absurdities while imbuing them with witty banter providing a constant stream of epigrams. The play's situation is simple in its unraveling complexity. Algernon Moncrieff is an upper-class English bachelor who is visited by his friend Jack Worthing, who is known as "Ernest." Jack has come to town to propose to Gwendolen Fairfax, the daugher of the imposing Lady Bracknell and Algy's first cousin. Jack has a ward named Cecily who lives in the country while Algernon has an imaginary friend named "Bunbury" whom he uses as an excuse to get out of social engagements.

Jack proposes to Gwendolen but has two problems. First, Gwendolen is wiling to agree because his name is Ernest, a name that "seems to inspire absolute confidence," but which, of course, is not his true Christian name. Second, Lady Bracknell objects to Jack as a suitor when she learns he was abandoned by his parents and found in a handbag in Victoria Station by Mr. Thomas Cardew. Meanwhile, Algernon heads off to the country to check out Cecily, to whom he introduces himself as being her guardian Jack's brother Ernest. This meets with Ceclily's approval because in her diary she has been writing about her engagement to a man named Ernest. Then things get really interesting.

Wilde proves once and for all time that the pun can indeed be elevated to a high art form. Throughout the entire play we have the double meaning of the word "earnest," almost to the level of a conceit, since many of the play's twists and turns deal with the efforts of Jack and Algernon to be "Ernest," by lying, only to discover that circumstances makes honest men of them in the end (and of the women for that matter as well). There is every reason to believe that Wilde was making a point about earnestness being a key ideal of Victorian culture and one worthy of being thoroughly and completely mocked. Granted, some of the puns are really bad, and the discussion of "Bunburying" is so bad it is stands alone in that regard, but there is a sense in which the bad ones only make the good ones so glorious and emphasize that Wilde is at his best while playing games with the English language.

But if Wilde's puns are the low road then his epigrams represent the heights of his genius, especially when they are used by the characters in an ironic vein (e.g., "It is very romantic to be in love. But there is nothing romantic about a definite proposal" and "I do not approve of anything that tampers with natural ignorance"). Jack is the male lead, but it is Algernon who represents the ideal Wilde character, who insists he is a rebel speaking out against the institutions of society, such as marriage, but with attacks that are so flamboyant and humorous that the cleverness of the humor ends up standing apart from the inherent point.

In the end, "The Importance of Being Earnest" is the wittiest play every written, in English or any other language, and I doubt that anything written in the future will come close. Wilde was essentially a stand-up comedian who managed to create a narrative in which he could get off dozens of classic one-liners given a high-class sheen by being labeled epigrams. Like a comedian he touches on several topics, from the aristocracy, marriage, and the literary world to English manners, women, love, religion, and anything else that came to his fertile mind. But because it is done with such a lighthearted tone that the barbs remain as timely today as they were at the end of the 19th-century and "The Importance of Being Earnest" will always be at the forefront of the plays of that time which will continue to be produced.

The Greatest Love Story Ever Told, 20 May 2008
This work needs no introduction. Two star crossed lovers, divided by family feud, united by love, can ultimately only be together in death. The word "tragedy" was coined for it.

It is my favourite of Shakespeare's plays and is the original and best. There is nothing wrong with West Side Story or Shakespeare in Love or even William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet starring Leonardo di Caprio, but the pure essence of the Bard's poetry is here, in the original.

If it doesn't make you cry you have a heart of stone!

Unbeatable..., 25 Jan 2006
Everyone, but everyone has heard of this play if not read it. Even the Beckhams, aliterate as they seem, saw fit to give the bard a nod by naming one of their brats after the hero of one of Shakespeare's finest plays.

I recently re-read 'Romeo and Juliet' after completing a degree in English. Full of arrogence and the pretension of literary criticism I was sure that 'Hamlet', 'King Lear' and 'Othello' were the finest plays of Shakespeare. That has all changed again now. I had forgotten how sharp and darkly witty this play was and how easy it was to become so emotionally attached to the characters. This is never more so apparent than at the tragic climax of the play that leaves you with the bitter-sweet feeling that you have just experienced one of the finest worls of fiction coupled with the ironic sacrifice of the two most famous characters in history. How can you not love this play?

The perfect love tradgedy, 20 Feb 2004
Quite simply, you need this in your collection. Some of the most quotable (and misquoted) work ever produced. The story is well known to all, but the lyrical qualities only come through when you read this remarkable piece. If you want all the analysis surrounding it, then this is not the version for you (try Arden) but if you want the words - which are enough in themselves - then this is a well priced essential.

A "nine year old" enjoying Shakespeare, 16 Mar 2002
This edition provides an easy way of introducing youngsters into the world of the classics in a small paperback, we have played the parts! and it's amazing how they enjoy and understand.

A beautiful story of two star cross'd lovers..., 30 Apr 2000
This is the most beautiful, love story in the world. The ending (even though it is tear jerking) makes it all the more beautiful and magical.

Fascinating and accessible approach to Shakespeare, 05 Nov 2008
I really enjoyed this book. It was a quick and easy read, admittedly, but it does not bill itself as a Shakepeare textbook or biography and would be a different animal if it was. If you take it at face value, it's a fun read, helped along by Bryson's amusing style.

Read this even if you are bored by Shakespeare, 28 Oct 2008
Bought it as a background book to a historical novel on Shakespeare. I knew so little about the man.It is one of the best books I read all year. Bryson explains with great clarity how scholars are forced to deduce so much with very little hard evidence. Even the basic facts that 'every school-child knows' are really conjectures. No contemporary manuscript of his plays exists. His birthday (23 April) is based upon assumptions drawn from his baptism. Even his picture may not be him. Bryson then dances his way through the host of theories, myths and scholastic analysis over the past five hundred years like a wiry court jester. It helped me make sense of it all and even become quite excited. I finally understood the significance of the different folios/quartos - and even more amazingly, I cared. For the first time in 30 odd years I had the urge to re-read Shakespeare's plays and I even thought about buying an audio-tape of Macbeth. I didn't but my hand hesitantly stretched out towards the shelf before I put it down again.

Makes the most of what little there is to know, 26 Sep 2008
A neat little book exploring what little we know about Shakespeare's life. Bryson hasn't had the easiest of tasks, trying to work a coherent life out of such scant information and vague references to Shakespeare during his lifetime, and all in all he's done well.

It starts a little dry, and the small details get a bit overwhelming - but then, there is little emotive material to work with so detail is there is to offer. Where Bryson excels is in fleshing out these patchy details with other interesting information about the theatrical conventions of the time, life in Stratford and London, and other literary types who surrounded Shakespeare. In doing so he turns this into a much more interesting biography than it would otherwise have been. The last chapter, relating to the various theories that Shakespeare didn't write the plays and sonnets attributed to him, is where Bryson's wit and sharp humour really come into their own as he batters them down one by one, and the book thus ends on a vibrant note which made me laugh aloud and left a lasting smile!

Much Ado About Nothing, 21 Sep 2008
Although his name is oft bandied about as a must read this is the first time I've ever had the chance. Bryson that is not Shakespeare! This serves as a nice intro to Shakespeare the man with a "just the facts ma'am" approach. And as he admits, this slim volume is a testament to the fact that what we can take as absolute fact about Shakespeare is very little at all.

For a giant in literary terms Shakespeare has left very few footprints. However as Bryson points out this isn't as odd as it might sound, one can't reasonably expect records dating 400 years ago to either be in a sturdy condition or to be legible or even to have survived numerous calamities over the years from natural fires to German bombing campaigns. The fact that the actual early copies of manuscripts of Shakespeare's plays account for about 15 % of all surviving plays from the late Elizabethan / early Jacobean period is pretty remarkable in and of itself.

The author obviously allows room to discuss the speculation of other scholars or this would be a very very slim volume indeed, but he clearly demarcates between what is established fact and what is theory. From his early years we get the speculation of his education and whether he was a secret Catholic, to the sparse years in London before becoming an established writer taking in such romantic fancies that he sailed with Drake.

The one thing Bryson holds no stock in at all is the theory that Shakespeare is not the author of the plays and though he dutifully covers all the potential others he is quite clear on the lack of any tangible evidence that anyone other than William of Stratford wrote the plays

The Perfect Layman's Biography of Shakespeare, 13 Sep 2008
Well, I suppose the big beardy Anglophile yank had to do it sooner or later.

As Bryson himself says in his introduction, the world doesn't really need another book on Shakespeare. From the incredibly specific and obscure to the uselessly vague and general, from the trivially lightweight to the inaccessibly somber, the Bard of Stratford is the subject of literally dozens of new books of facts, biography, analysis, opinion, theory and conjecture, every damn year.

For all that, this was a worthwhile book to have written, which is more or less all we'd expect of Bryson, who is a clear, clever and witty writer who rarely fails to please.

Bryson has chosen biography as his goal. The book is written in more or less chronological order, with chapters covering distinct periods in Will's life. Bryson starts by characterising the period, analysing the (usually scant) evidence available, then raising and scrutinising the various popular interpretations about what is known. He detours occasionally into anecdotal discussion about his researches or funny or impressive stories about other people's attempts at research, which all over helps it from getting too dry and to remain a very Bryson book.

Throughout he's diligent about the distinction between evidence and interpretation. The problem is, we actually have pretty slender information about Shakespeare's life: a veritable wealth of data by the standards of Elizabethans in general, but still very little from which to derive any reliable idea of the facts of his life. Inevitably, this means foraying into conjecture from time to time; a practice at which Shakespearean academe excels, but a dangerous one. Bryson gives an example of the famous deer-poaching incident, a romantic guess made in the eighteenth century that was repeated as solid fact in Shakespeare scholarship for more than a hundred years after. Bryson, by contrast, while happy to include reasonable and useful guesses as to how to interpret what is known, is very careful to let you know what's fact - and where it's from - and what's conjecture and how it was arrived at.

If you're seriously into your Shakespeare scholarship, this book probably doesn't have anything new to tell you (although Bryson's research is up to date, and he has access to facts I didn't have at Uni), but if you're only likely to buy one Shakespeare biography in your life, this isn't a bad one to choose.


Essential, 04 Sep 2008
Really great book that can be used throughout A level study or as a last minute revision guide.

This would be a good investment, 23 Mar 2004
I'm studying Hamlet at the moment and due to the nature of Shakespeare's over descriptive and complicated yet beautiful language, it's quite hard to follow and concentrate upon the plot. Though when I got this guide, I easily grasped what was happening and was able to concentrate more on the themes and language etc which you have to comment on in exams. It is helpful and gives lots of hints and info into what you're supposed to be focusing on in the scenes. It gives you ideas and pushes you in the right direction if you are struggling. It even has a glossary to simplify meanings and words. A more thorough understanding can be made from Hamlet and in the end you'll wonder why you didn't get this sooner. For five pounds, it's worth it, if you get an 'a' in your exams.

Getting to the Heart of Hamlet?, 23 Feb 2004
This is one of the most thorough study guides on the market, not likely to confuse anyone and particularly well informed on the latest developments in critical approaches to the play though never too dense for the average school student to digest. The scene summaries and commentaries are models of clarity and precision whilst the textual analyses are searching, provocative and incisive. There is an excellent bibliography and useful pointers to websites, films and theatrical tradition. An invaluable introduction to advanced studies and a handy revision tool for teachers pressurised to work on the play at short notice!

Nice clear summary of the action, 15 Apr 2002
The best aspect of this guide to Hamlet is the careful scene-by-scene summary of the action. The plot seems not so tricky to follow, after all. It's also good to be reminded of the significant differences between the quarto and folio versions of the play. Perhaps the authors should have devoted a bit more space to the really big issue raised by the play: the intermingling of good and evil in human existence. The assessment of Ophelia's character is strangely thin, as well. But it's very helpful, all in all.

A difficult task, 10 Apr 2000
To make an "informative" notebook on such a vast and complicated work, will never be easy. There are simply too many interpretative opportunities. But York Notes list up most of the basics, in a comprehensive manner.

Heart-rending and bittersweet, 05 Nov 2008
I enjoyed this book, even though the subject matter is dark and the overall tone of the book is rather melancholy. He writes extremely well; the only mild irritant is his tendency to waffle on and on, making a sentence extremely long and sometimes a little boring and you begin to wonder when he will finally place a full stop.A little like that!
On the whole though, highly recommended and can be read as a ' stand alone ' book, although it is beneficial to have read The Smoking Diaries.

A very witty masterpiece , 11 Mar 2008
In my quest to read more work by Irish literary greats this year, I recently purchased a newly repackaged Penguin Popular Classic version of Oscar Wilde's 1895 play The Importance of Being Earnest. This edition, with its vibrant green cover and tracing-paper thin paper (all 100 per cent recycled), retails for a meagre £2 -- that's a very cheap price for a masterpiece, in my opinion.

I had seen a film version of this play a couple of years ago (the 2002 version starring Rupert Everett, Colin Firth, Frances O'Connor, Reese Witherspoon and Judi Dench) and I remember laughing out loud at a lot of it. But seeing the words in black-and-white print makes them seem even funnier -- if that is possible.

For those who don't know the storyline, the brief synopsis goes something like this: Country gentleman Jack Worthing invents a younger brother, Ernest, whom he pretends to be when he visits the city. This gives him free reign to pursue the beautiful Gwendolen. Meanwhile his city-based friend, Algernon Moncrieff, invents a poorly relative, Bunbury, whom he pretends to visit in the country in order that he can leave his dull city existence behind for a bit of fun and frivolity. One day Algernon pretends to be Ernest and visits Jack's pretty charge, Cecily, in the country, which leads to all kinds of confusion about identity. Obviously, Jack is not happy, but when his own deceptive behaviour is called into question, the scene is ripe for much farce and hilarity.

In three short acts, this play delivers so many laughs and classic one-liners it's difficult to appreciate the genius of it in just one reading. Fortunately, it's short enough -- just 67 pages in this edition -- to read cover-to-cover twice in a very short amount of time.

How many people haven't heard this line?

* (Delivered by Lady Bracknell to Jack): To lose one parent, Mr Worthing, may be regarded as misfortune: to lose both looks like carelessness.

Or this one:
* (Delivered by Gwendolen to Cecily): I never travel without my diary. One should always have something sensational to read in the train.

But it's not just the lines which are funny, but the setting and the ways in which they are delivered that makes certain scenes especially comedic. This scene, in which Cecily serves tea and cake to her new rival in love, Gwendolen, is a good example of Wilde's ability to capture the little details in people's behaviour that conveys so much about their character and mood.

Cecily [sweetly]: Sugar?
Gwendolen [superciliously]: No thank you. Sugar is not fashionable any more. [Cecily looks angrily at her, takes up the tongs and puts four lumps of sugar in the cup.]
Cecily [severely]: Cake or bread and butter?
Gwendolen [in a bored manner]: Bread and butter, please. Cake is rarely seen at the best houses nowadays.
Cecily [cuts a very large slice of cake and puts it on the tray]: Hand that to Miss Fairfax.

Without wishing to wax lyrical, this is a sumptuous, dazzling read -- a wonderfully clever farce to brighten up the dullest day. It's tightly written, with not a word wasted, and there's a delightful conclusion in which all the lose ends are brought together and tied up with an unexpected flourish. Masterpiece, indeed.

absolutely brilliant!, 29 Nov 2007
everything about this book is perfect, the timing, the comedy, the situation. I can't even go into how fantastic it is, but i know that Osar Wilde is a genius and i wish he was still around, read this book, and don't loose out another second without it!

A very enjoyable reading, witty and full of "English" humor, 16 Jun 2005
Despite the fact that I usually like to watch plays, not so much to read them on paper, I found "The Importance of Being Earnest" a very enjoyable reading. The plot is greatly witty and I had a real fun reading several scenes described in this book. Given the theatrical style, the overall plot is not quite realistic, yet it is highly brilliant and full of "English" humor. After having read the book, I also bought the Audio-CD version of it, which I also enjoyed sincerely.

The Importance of Reading Earnest, 13 Dec 2004
I personally think that this play is fantastic. Superficially it is a very trivial, lighthearted play with little plot but peppered with witty conceits. On a deeper level it provides an incredible, satirical view of Victorian moral society, from one of the the 'insiders'. The links between the play and the life of Wilde are rife, especially regarding Algernon. I would recommend it wholeheartedly.

The wittiest play ever written in the English language, 11 Jul 2004
"The Importance of Being Earnest: A Trivial Comedy for Serious People" is one of the first plays written in English since the works of Shakespeare that celebrates the language itself. Oscar Wilde's comedy has one advantage over the classic comedies of the Bard in that "The Importance of Being Earnest" is as funny today as it was when it was first performed at the St. Jame's Theater in London on February 14, 1895. After all, enjoying Shakespeare requires checking the bottom for footnotes explaining the meaning of those dozens of words that Shakespeare makes up in any one of his plays. But Wilde's brilliant wit, his humor and social satire, remain intact even though he was a writer of the Victorian era.

Wilde believed in art for art's own sake, which explains why he emphasized beauty while his contemporaries were dealing with the problems of industrial England. "The Importance of Being Earnest" is set among the upper class, making fun of their excesses and absurdities while imbuing them with witty banter providing a constant stream of epigrams. The play's situation is simple in its unraveling complexity. Algernon Moncrieff is an upper-class English bachelor who is visited by his friend Jack Worthing, who is known as "Ernest." Jack has come to town to propose to Gwendolen Fairfax, the daugher of the imposing Lady Bracknell and Algy's first cousin. Jack has a ward named Cecily who lives in the country while Algernon has an imaginary friend named "Bunbury" whom he uses as an excuse to get out of social engagements.

Jack proposes to Gwendolen but has two problems. First, Gwendolen is wiling to agree because his name is Ernest, a name that "seems to inspire absolute confidence," but which, of course, is not his true Christian name. Second, Lady Bracknell objects to Jack as a suitor when she learns he was abandoned by his parents and found in a handbag in Victoria Station by Mr. Thomas Cardew. Meanwhile, Algernon heads off to the country to check out Cecily, to whom he introduces himself as being her guardian Jack's brother Ernest. This meets with Ceclily's approval because in her diary she has been writing about her engagement to a man named Ernest. Then things get really interesting.

Wilde proves once and for all time that the pun can indeed be elevated to a high art form. Throughout the entire play we have the double meaning of the word "earnest," almost to the level of a conceit, since many of the play's twists and turns deal with the efforts of Jack and Algernon to be "Ernest," by lying, only to discover that circumstances makes honest men of them in the end (and of the women for that matter as well). There is every reason to believe that Wilde was making a point about earnestness being a key ideal of Victorian culture and one worthy of being thoroughly and completely mocked. Granted, some of the puns are really bad, and the discussion of "Bunburying" is so bad it is stands alone in that regard, but there is a sense in which the bad ones only make the good ones so glorious and emphasize that Wilde is at his best while playing games with the English language.

But if Wilde's puns are the low road then his epigrams represent the heights of his genius, especially when they are used by the characters in an ironic vein (e.g., "It is very romantic to be in love. But there is nothing romantic about a definite proposal" and "I do not approve of anything that tampers with natural ignorance"). Jack is the male lead, but it is Algernon who represents the ideal Wilde character, who insists he is a rebel speaking out against the institutions of society, such as marriage, but with attacks that are so flamboyant and humorous that the cleverness of the humor ends up standing apart from the inherent point.

In the end, "The Importance of Being Earnest" is the wittiest play every written, in English or any other language, and I doubt that anything written in the future will come close. Wilde was essentially a stand-up comedian who managed to create a narrative in which he could get off dozens of classic one-liners given a high-class sheen by being labeled epigrams. Like a comedian he touches on several topics, from the aristocracy, marriage, and the literary world to English manners, women, love, religion, and anything else that came to his fertile mind. But because it is done with such a lighthearted tone that the barbs remain as timely today as they were at the end of the 19th-century and "The Importance of Being Earnest" will always be at the forefront of the plays of that time which will continue to be produced.

The Greatest Love Story Ever Told, 20 May 2008
This work needs no introduction. Two star crossed lovers, divided by family feud, united by love, can ultimately only be together in death. The word "tragedy" was coined for it.

It is my favourite of Shakespeare's plays and is the original and best. There is nothing wrong with West Side Story or Shakespeare in Love or even William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet starring Leonardo di Caprio, but the pure essence of the Bard's poetry is here, in the original.

If it doesn't make you cry you have a heart of stone!

Unbeatable..., 25 Jan 2006
Everyone, but everyone has heard of this play if not read it. Even the Beckhams, aliterate as they seem, saw fit to give the bard a nod by naming one of their brats after the hero of one of Shakespeare's finest plays.

I recently re-read 'Romeo and Juliet' after completing a degree in English. Full of arrogence and the pretension of literary criticism I was sure that 'Hamlet', 'King Lear' and 'Othello' were the finest plays of Shakespeare. That has all changed again now. I had forgotten how sharp and darkly witty this play was and how easy it was to become so emotionally attached to the characters. This is never more so apparent than at the tragic climax of the play that leaves you with the bitter-sweet feeling that you have just experienced one of the finest worls of fiction coupled with the ironic sacrifice of the two most famous characters in history. How can you not love this play?

The perfect love tradgedy, 20 Feb 2004
Quite simply, you need this in your collection. Some of the most quotable (and misquoted) work ever produced. The story is well known to all, but the lyrical qualities only come through when you read this remarkable piece. If you want all the analysis surrounding it, then this is not the version for you (try Arden) but if you want the words - which are enough in themselves - then this is a well priced essential.

A "nine year old" enjoying Shakespeare, 16 Mar 2002
This edition provides an easy way of introducing youngsters into the world of the classics in a small paperback, we have played the parts! and it's amazing how they enjoy and understand.

A beautiful story of two star cross'd lovers..., 30 Apr 2000
This is the most beautiful, love story in the world. The ending (even though it is tear jerking) makes it all the more beautiful and magical.

Well written, well laid out and useful, 16 Mar 2008
This book is an excellent introduction to what can be a dense and complex play. It starts with a simple plot outline. It then progresses to more in depth analysis of the play scene by scene. After which it lays out some key themes, symbols and ideas in the play in the forms of mini essays. It has a fairly good glossary, a potted history of Shakespeare himself and how his plays would have appeared. It also has a good time line and chronology, a glossary of common theatrical and critical terms and a good recommended reading list. It is very useful indeed.

Life-saver!, 13 Mar 2008
As a GCSE english student, i didnt get the language used in R&J at first and found the play very hard to read and hard to write an essay on.

This book is a life-saver! It has summaries of each Act as well as character files, clever language and theme ideas (that you are unlikely to find yourself) as well as essay-writing tips. I found the play a lot easier to write about with this book.

Also, it is a good price on here, i paid a fiver for it. What more do you want?!

A fantastic guide to a fantastic play, 08 May 2005
This guide to Romeo and Juliet explains the play in a clear and easily acessible way that makes understanding the play a whole lot easier. With exam tips and in depth as well as summarised explanations it is something you should not be without!

Fascinating and accessible approach to Shakespeare, 05 Nov 2008
I really enjoyed this book. It was a quick and easy read, admittedly, but it does not bill itself as a Shakepeare textbook or biography and would be a different animal if it was. If you take it at face value, it's a fun read, helped along by Bryson's amusing style.

Read this even if you are bored by Shakespeare, 28 Oct 2008
Bought it as a background book to a historical novel on Shakespeare. I knew so little about the man.It is one of the best books I read all year. Bryson explains with great clarity how scholars are forced to deduce so much with very little hard evidence. Even the basic facts that 'every school-child knows' are really conjectures. No contemporary manuscript of his plays exists. His birthday (23 April) is based upon assumptions drawn from his baptism. Even his picture may not be him. Bryson then dances his way through the host of theories, myths and scholastic analysis over the past five hundred years like a wiry court jester. It helped me make sense of it all and even become quite excited. I finally understood the significance of the different folios/quartos - and even more amazingly, I cared. For the first time in 30 odd years I had the urge to re-read Shakespeare's plays and I even thought about buying an audio-tape of Macbeth. I didn't but my hand hesitantly stretched out towards the shelf before I put it down again.

Makes the most of what little there is to know, 26 Sep 2008
A neat little book exploring what little we know about Shakespeare's life. Bryson hasn't had the easiest of tasks, trying to work a coherent life out of such scant information and vague references to Shakespeare during his lifetime, and all in all he's done well.

It starts a little dry, and the small details get a bit overwhelming - but then, there is little emotive material to work with so detail is there is to offer. Where Bryson excels is in fleshing out these patchy details with other interesting information about the theatrical conventions of the time, life in Stratford and London, and other literary types who surrounded Shakespeare. In doing so he turns this into a much more interesting biography than it would otherwise have been. The last chapter, relating to the various theories that Shakespeare didn't write the plays and sonnets attributed to him, is where Bryson's wit and sharp humour really come into their own as he batters them down one by one, and the book thus ends on a vibrant note which made me laugh aloud and left a lasting smile!

Much Ado About Nothing, 21 Sep 2008
Although his name is oft bandied about as a must read this is the first time I've ever had the chance. Bryson that is not Shakespeare! This serves as a nice intro to Shakespeare the man with a "just the facts ma'am" approach. And as he admits, this slim volume is a testament to the fact that what we can take as absolute fact about Shakespeare is very little at all.

For a giant in literary terms Shakespeare has left very few footprints. However as Bryson points out this isn't as odd as it might sound, one can't reasonably expect records dating 400 years ago to either be in a sturdy condition or to be legible or even to have survived numerous calamities over the years from natural fires to German bombing campaigns. The fact that the actual early copies of manuscripts of Shakespeare's plays account for about 15 % of all surviving plays from the late Elizabethan / early Jacobean period is pretty remarkable in and of itself.

The author obviously allows room to discuss the speculation of other scholars or this would be a very very slim volume indeed, but he clearly demarcates between what is established fact and what is theory. From his early years we get the specul