PENGUIN READERS Level 4 Three Great Plays of Shakespeare.pdf

Three Great Plays of

Shakespeare

Level 4

Retold by Karen Holmes

Series Editors: Andy Hopkins and Jocelyn Potter

Contents

page

Introduction

Romeo

and

Juliet

Macbeth

King Lear

Activities

Introduction

'And so,' the prince said, 'this dark and cloudy morning has brought

a sad peace. There will never be a sadder story than the story of Romeo

and Juliet.'

Romeo and Juliet tells the story of two important families in

Verona, in Italy. The families hate each other. Romeo, the son of

Lord Montague, falls in love with Juliet, the daughter of Lord

Capulet. But when people hate each other, everybody around

them is affected. The story does not end happily because Romeo

and Juliet cannot escape from the war between their families and

live happily together. In this play, hate has more power over

people's lives than love.

All three stories in this book have sad endings. In each story,

the main characters die. They die because they, or others, are

weak, greedy or very foolish.

Lord and Lady Macbeth (Macbeth) are greedy, and as a result a

lot of people die. Macbeth is also weak. Lady Macbeth says,

'Macbeth is too kind, too gentle. There are things that he must

do but he is afraid to do them. I must speak to him, and make

him brave.' He becomes a murderer and a cruel king because his

wife tells him that he must perform evil acts. By the end of the

play, Macbeth does not care about anybody. When his wife dies,

he says,' It would be better if she died at another time.'

In the third story, King Lear, the king is an a very old man. His

great age makes him weak and foolish. He does not understand

the characters of his three daughters, and he believes Goneril and

Regan when they say that they love him. He thinks that his

youngest daughter, Cordelia, does not love him because she

refuses to use such fine words. But Goneril and Regan are greedy

for power and they do not care about their father.

Many of the characters in these stories have a lot of faults but,

like real people, they have good qualities and moments of

greatness too. Macbeth is a fine army commander. He wins an

important war and King Duncan admires him. Lear is a great

king. The King of France thinks that he is a good man, and the

Earl of Gloucester loves him. Even the Montagues and the

Capulets end their quarrel — but too late.

historical plays; nine of these are about English kings. The third

type were sad and serious plays, like the three stories in this book.

William Shakespeare is the most famous writer of plays in the

English language. He was born in Stratford-upon-Avon in 1564,

six years after Elizabeth I became Queen of England. He wrote

thirty-nine plays; thirty-four of these are still regularly seen on

the stage. Many are famous as films too. He also wrote hundreds

of poems.

We do not know very much about William Shakespeare's life.

We think that he went to school in Stratford. He married Anne

Hathaway in 1582, and they had three children: Suzanna (born in

1583), Hamnet and Judith (born together in 1585).

After that, we know nothing about his life until 1592. He

went to London, where he began to write successful plays. He

became an important member of a theatre company, which

performed at two London theatres: the Globe and the

Blackfriars. His plays were given special performances at the

courts of Queen Elizabeth I and King James I. Shakespeare's

success made him a wealthy man, and in 1597 he bought New

Place, the largest house in Stratford. We believe that he left

London and went back to live at New Place in 1610. He

continued to write plays until he died in Stratford in 1616.

We know more about Shakespeare's plays than we know about

the writer. For 400 years, people have studied every word that

Shakespeare wrote. He wrote amusing plays with happy endings,

like A Midsummer Night's Dream and Twelfth Night. He also wrote

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