WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE
HAMLET
The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark, often shortened to Hamlet (/ˈhæmlɪt/), is a tragedy written by William Shakespeare sometime between 1599 and 1601. It is Shakespeare’s longest play. Set in Denmark, the play depicts Prince Hamlet and his attempts to exact revenge against his uncle, Claudius, who has murdered Hamlet’s father in order to seize his throne and marry Hamlet’s mother.
Hamlet is considered among the “most powerful and influential tragedies in the English language”, with a story capable of “seemingly endless retelling and adaptation by others.”[1] It is widely considered one of the greatest plays of all time.[2] Three different early versions of the play are extant: the First Quarto (Q1, 1603); the Second Quarto (Q2, 1604); and the First Folio (F1, 1623). Each version includes lines and passages missing from the others.[3] Many works have been pointed to as possible sources for Shakespeare’s play, from ancient Greek tragedies to Elizabethan dramas.
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CLIFFSNOTES ON SHAKESPEARE’S HAMLET
The original CliffsNotes study guides offer expert commentary on major themes, plots, characters, literary devices, and historical background. The latest generation of titles in this series also feature glossaries and visual elements that complement the classic, familiar format.
Something may be rotten in the state of Denmark, but your grades will be sweet when you rely on CliffsNotes on Hamlet as you digest Shakespeare’s tragic masterpiece. In this play, Hamlet explores the meaning of life, death, eternity, relationships, hypocrisy, truth, the existence of God, and almost anything else that concerns mankind.
Character studies shed new light on Prince Hamlet, his father King Hamlet, the malevolent Claudius, the troubled Ophelia — and the rest of the cast. You’ll also explore the life and times of William Shakespeare, and unlock the play’s themes and literary devices. Count on CliffsNotes on Hamlet for detailed summaries and commentaries on every scene to help you appreciate the complexity of the play.
Other features that help you study include
- Character analyses of major players
- A character map that graphically illustrates the relationships among the characters
- Critical essays
- A review section that tests your knowledge
Classic literature or modern modern-day treasure — you’ll understand it all with expert information and insight from CliffsNotes study guides.
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CLIFFSCOMPLETE WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE’S HAMLET
In the CliffsComplete guides, the novel’s complete text and a glossary appear side-by-side with coordinating numbered lines to help you understand unusual words and phrasing. You’ll also find all the commentary and resources of a standard CliffsNotes for Literature.CliffsComplete Hamlet covers details of the most widely produced and critiqued Shakespearean play. Written in poignant language, Hamlet contains all the elements necessary for a good tragedy, including a brave and daring hero who suffers a fatal flaw.Discover what happens to the complicated cast of characters — and save valuable studying time — all at once. Enhance your reading of Hamlet with these additional features:A summary and insightful commentary for each chapterBibliography and historical background on the author, William ShakespeareA look at Early Modern England historical, intellectual, religious, and social contextInsight into the play’s classical elements and languageA character map that graphically illustrates the relationships among the charactersReview questions, a quiz, discussion guide, and activity ideasA Resource Center full of books, articles, films, and Web sitesStreamline your literature study with all-in-one help from CliffsComplete guides!
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WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE
MACBETH
The Tragedy of Macbeth, often shortened to Macbeth (/məkˈbɛθ/), is a tragedy by William Shakespeare, estimated to have been first performed in 1606.[a] It dramatises the physically violent and damaging psychological effects of political ambitions and power. It was first published in the Folio of 1623, possibly from a prompt book, and is Shakespeare’s shortest tragedy.[1] Scholars believe Macbeth, of all the plays that Shakespeare wrote during the reign of King James I, contains the most allusions to James, patron of Shakespeare’s acting company.[2]
In the play, a brave Scottish general named Macbeth receives a prophecy from a trio of witches that one day he will become King of Scotland. Consumed by his latent ambition and spurred to violence by his wife, Macbeth murders King Duncan and takes the Scottish throne for himself. Then, racked with guilt and paranoia, he commits further murders to protect himself from enmity and suspicion, becoming a tyrannical ruler in the process. The violence perpetrated by the power-hungry couple leads to their insanity and finally to their deaths.
Shakespeare’s source for the story is the account of Macbeth, King of Scotland, Macduff, and Duncan in Holinshed’s Chronicles (1587), a history of England, Scotland, and Ireland familiar to Shakespeare and his contemporaries, although the events in the play differ extensively from the history of the real Macbeth.
There was a stage superstition that the name of the play should not be spoken, and that it should instead be called “The Scottish Play“. The play has attracted some of the most renowned actors to the roles of Macbeth and Lady Macbeth and has been adapted to film, television, opera, novels, comics, and other media.
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CLIFFSNOTES ON SHAKESPEARE’S MACBETH
The original CliffsNotes study guides offer expert commentary on major themes, plots, characters, literary devices, and historical background. The latest generation of titles in this series also feature glossaries and visual elements that complement the classic, familiar format.
Packed with action and vivid portrayal of human relationships, Shakespeare’s Macbeth traces the bloody climb to power and tragic ruin of a fate-plagued king. Count on CliffNotes on Macbeth to carry you through the rise and fall of a cast of characters that includes a cruel and ambitious warrior, his wicked wife, and a trio of witches who have wormed their way into audiences’ hearts since William Shakespeare first presented their prophecies about 300 years ago.
Show your classmates – and your grade-granting teacher – that you’re in the know with English literature. You can’t miss with scene summaries, plot explorations, language simplification, and insights into the author’s life and times. Other features that help you study include
- A brief synopsis of the play
- A character map to help you see relationships among the characters
- Critical essays on major themes and stage productions
- An interactive quiz to test your knowledge
- Essay topics and practice projects
Classic literature or modern modern-day treasure – you’ll understand it all with expert information and insight from CliffsNotes study guides.
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CLIFFSCOMPLETE WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE’S MACBETH
In the CliffsComplete guides, the novel’s complete text and a glossary appear side-by-side with coordinating numbered lines to help you understand unusual words and phrasing. You’ll also find all the commentary and resources of a standard CliffsNotes for Literature.CliffsComplete Othello makes you familiar with one of the most staged of all of Shakespeare’s plays. Othello is a tale of love and betrayal, secrets, passion, and intrigue. Psychology and wit pit strength and virtue against jealousy and evil agendas. The results leave no winners, only tragedy in the lives of the jealous Moor, Othello, and his wife, Desdemona.Enhance your reading of Othello and save valuable studying time — all at once — with CliffsComplete Othello. Additional features include:A summary and insightful commentary for each sceneBibliography and historical background on the playwright, William ShakespeareA look at the historical context and structure of the playDiscussions on the play’s symbols and themesA character map that graphically illustrates the relationships among the charactersReview questions, a quiz, discussion topics (essay questions), activity ideasA Resource Center full of books, articles, films, and Internet sitesStreamline your literature study with all-in-one help from CliffsComplete guides!
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WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE
OTHELLO
The Tragedy of Othello, the Moor of Venice, often shortened to Othello,[a] is a tragedy written by William Shakespeare around 1603. Set in Venice and Cyprus, the play depicts the Moorish military commander Othello as he is manipulated by his ensign, Iago, into suspecting his wife Desdemona of infidelity. Othello is widely considered one of Shakespeare’s greatest works and is usually classified among his major tragedies alongside Macbeth, King Lear, and Hamlet. Unpublished in the author’s life, the play survives in one quarto edition from 1622 and in the First Folio.
Othello has been one of Shakespeare’s most popular plays, both among playgoers and literary critics, since its first performance, spawning numerous stage, screen, and operatic adaptations. Among actors, the roles of Othello, Iago, Desdemona, and Emilia (Iago’s wife) are regarded as highly demanding and desirable. Critical attention has focused on the nature of the play’s tragedy, its unusual mechanics, its treatment of race, and on the motivations of Iago and his relationship to Othello. Originally performed by white actors in dark makeup, the role of Othello began to be played by black actors in the 19th century.
Shakespeare’s major source for the play was a novella by Cinthio, the plot of which Shakespeare borrowed and reworked substantially. Though not among Shakespeare’s longest plays, it contains two of his four longest roles in Othello and Iago.
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CLIFFSNOTES ON SHAKESPEARE’S OTHELLO
The original CliffsNotes study guides offer expert commentary on major themes, plots, characters, literary devices, and historical background. The latest generation of titles in the series also feature glossaries and visual elements that complement the classic, familiar format.
Betrayal and manipulation lie at the heart of Othello . Keep up with all the crosses and double-crosses of this tragic play with the CliffsNotes version of the play, which will help you form your own opinions about Iago’s schemes, Othello’s motives, and Desdemona’s loyalty.
Other features that help you study include
- Background information about the life and times of William Shakespeare to help you understand his influences
- A character map that graphically illustrates the relationships among the characters
- Glossaries to help you comprehend Shakespeare’s language
- Critical essays on the character pairs and major themes of the play
- A review section that tests your knowledge
Classic literature or modern modern-day treasure — you’ll understand it all with expert information and insight from CliffsNotes study guides.
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CLIFFSCOMPLETE WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE’S OTHELLO
In the CliffsComplete guides, the novel’s complete text and a glossary appear side-by-side with coordinating numbered lines to help you understand unusual words and phrasing. You’ll also find all the commentary and resources of a standard CliffsNotes for Literature.CliffsComplete Othello makes you familiar with one of the most staged of all of Shakespeare’s plays. Othello is a tale of love and betrayal, secrets, passion, and intrigue. Psychology and wit pit strength and virtue against jealousy and evil agendas. The results leave no winners, only tragedy in the lives of the jealous Moor, Othello, and his wife, Desdemona.Enhance your reading of Othello and save valuable studying time — all at once — with CliffsComplete Othello. Additional features include:A summary and insightful commentary for each sceneBibliography and historical background on the playwright, William ShakespeareA look at the historical context and structure of the playDiscussions on the play’s symbols and themesA character map that graphically illustrates the relationships among the charactersReview questions, a quiz, discussion topics (essay questions), activity ideasA Resource Center full of books, articles, films, and Internet sitesStreamline your literature study with all-in-one help from CliffsComplete guides!
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MARK TWAIN
THE ADVENTURES OF TOM SAWYER
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer (also simply known as Tom Sawyer) is a novel by Mark Twain published on June 9, 1876, about a boy, Tom Sawyer, growing up along the Mississippi River. It is set in the 1830s–1840s in the town of St. Petersburg, which is based on Hannibal, Missouri, where Twain lived as a boy.[2] In the novel, Sawyer has several adventures, often with his friend Huckleberry Finn. Originally a commercial failure, the book ended up being the best-selling of Twain’s works during his lifetime.[3][4]
Along with its 1885 sequel, Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, the book is considered by many to be a masterpiece of American literature.[5] It was alleged by Mark Twain to be one of the first novels to be written on a typewriter.[6]
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CLIFFSNOTES ON TWAIN’S THE ADVENTURES OF TOM SAWYER
The original CliffsNotes study guides offer expert commentary on major themes, plots, characters, literary devices, and historical background. The latest generation of titles in this series also feature glossaries and visual elements that complement the classic, familiar format. In CliffsNotes on The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, you experience the exciting adventures of a typical boy during the mid-nineteenth century. The characters — Tom himself, Becky Thatcher, Huck Finn, Injun Joe, and Aunt Polly — have become part of American heritage. Use this study guide to help you discover all of Tom’s dreams and fears — and perhaps a few of your own! You’ll also gain insight into the man behind this American classic — Mark Twain, a.k.a. Samuel Clemens. Other features that help you study include Character analyses of major players A character map that graphically illustrates the relationships among the characters Critical essays A review section that tests your knowledge A Resource Center full of books, articles, films, and Internet sites Classic literature or modern modern-day treasure — you’ll understand it all with expert information and insight from CliffsNotes study guides. In this book: learn about the life and background of the author, preview an introduction to the novel, study a graphical character map, explore themes and literary devices in the critical commentaries, examine in-depth character analysis, enhance your understanding of the work with critical essays, reinforce what you learn with CliffsNotes review, find additional information to further your study in CliffNotes Resource Center and online at www.cliffnotes.com This guide to Twain’s “The Adventures of Tom Sawyer” aims to help students understand the overall structure of the novel, actions and motivations of the characters, and the social and cultural perspectives of the author. Provides a summary of Twain’s life and times, an introduction to the novel, character analyses, critical…
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CHARLES DICKENS
OLIVER TWIST
Charles Dickens is perhaps the English-speaking world’s most beloved novelist—and Oliver Twist is one of his most popular works. A heartbreaking tale that portrays the cruelty of the Victorian era at its worst, it has been adapted for film, for the theatre (including the classic musical, Oliver!), and for television. Dickens’s dark and gritty story follows the adventures of an unfortunate orphan who goes from a harsh work house into to the wider, more dangerous world of the London slums. Many of the book’s characters have become household names, in particular the colorful criminals Fagin and the “Artful Dodger.” Packed with pity, suspense, humor, and vitality, Oliver Twist captures the thrilling battle of good against evil…all with an innocent young boy at its center. The world’s greatest works of literature are now available in these beautiful keepsake volumes. Bound in real cloth, and featuring gilt edges and ribbon markers, these beautifully produced books are a wonderful way to build a handsome library of classic literature. These are the essential novels that belong in every home. They’ll transport readers to imaginary worlds and provide excitement, entertainment, and enlightenment for years to come. All of these novels feature attractive illustrations and have an unequalled period feel that will grace the library, the bedside table or bureau.
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CLIFFSNOTES ON DICKENS’ OLIVER TWIST
The original CliffsNotes study guides offer expert commentary on major themes, plots, characters, literary devices, and historical background. The latest generation of titles in the series also feature glossaries and visual elements that complement the classic, familiar format.In CliffsNotes on Oliver Twist, you’ll meet a dear, grateful, gentle orphan who, “instead of possessing too little feeling, possessed rather too much.” The CliffsNotes commentaries, summaries, and character analysis will show you why this sweet, sad, and moving story is considered to be one of Dickens’ greatest works (and one of his more politically-charged ones). You’ll also find Life and background of the author, Charles DickensA short introduction to the novelA list of charactersEssays about symbolism, style, setting, and moreA review section that tests your knowledgeClassic literature or modern modern-day treasure — you’ll understand it all with expert information and insight from CliffsNotes study guides.