Well-known scenes from "Hamlet," "King Lear," "Macbeth," "Romeo and Juliet," "Julius Caesar," and 15 other popular plays. Summaries, selections from the appropriate text, and captions accompany the illustrations. 30 black-and-white illustrations.

The title collects 45 classical and great speeches and soliloquies from Shakespeare plays, they have formed a part of our language, our culture and our daily lives.

A detailed guide to approaching Shakespearean text, Speak the speech! contains everything an actor needs to select and prepare a Shakespeare monologue for classwork, auditions, or performance. Included herein are over 150 monologues. Each one is placed in context with a brief introduction, is carefully punctuated in the manner that best illustrates its meaning, and is painstakingly and thoroughly annotated. Each is also accompanied by commentary that will spark the actor's imagination by exploring how the interrelationship of meter and the choice of words and sounds yields clues to character and performance. And throughout the book sidebars relate historical, topical, technical, and other useful and entertaining information relevant to the text. In addition, the authors include an overview of poetic and rhetorical elements, brief synopses of all the plays, and a comprehensive index along with other guidelines that will help readers locate the perfect monologue for their needs.

A collection of all of Shakespeare's greatest soliloquies, monologues and set speeches classified for use by the general reader or working actor; with notes and performance commentary.

To be or not to be... Tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow... O for a Muse of Fire... The quality of mercy is not strained... This sceptred isle... Once more unto the breach dear friends... Many of Shakespeare's greatest and best-loved speeches are brought together in this superb collection, performed by outstanding artists who bring to vivid life words which are an integral part of our language, our culture and our everyday lives.

Originally published as: Shakespeare: his work and his world / illustrated by Robert Ingpen. 2001.