My daughter is going to High School for the first time this week and she is both excited and terrified. This year, I have also added some study aids to her school supply list. One of the most important is Shakespeare for Dummies. Of course, when she first saw it, she said, ”Thanks Mom, you have such faith in me.” And it wasn’t until I realized she was talking about the title that her sarcasm sank in. After chuckling a little, I told her and showed her my copy of The Merchant of Venice and it was then that she realized just how helpful this book will be to her in her Shakespeare classes this year.

There are 50 million copies of this book in print. Written by John Doyle, a Shakesperean scholar and former Artistic Director of the Theatre Royal Park and Ray Lischner a passionate Shakesperean actor and director, this complete guide to Shakespeare’s plays and poems is a Godsend for high school kids. I know that when I studied Shakespeare in England in high school, my major problem, even being English myself, was understanding the garb and olde English it contained, let alone analyzing and memorizing lines.

The book is made up of six main parts:

Part I: What makes Shakespeare Special
Part II: You Call That English?
Part III: The Play’s the Thing
Part IV Scorecards and Summaries
Part V: The Other Poems
Part VI: The Part of Tens

Including 21 sub-chapters such as Meet William Shakespeare, his biography. Shakespeare’s People, his characters.

Most importantly:

Reading a Play which explains Shakespeare’s verse and the need to use rhythm and syllable stress in order to memorize and word act.

Why does Everyone Talk So Funny which explains and helps the student analyze and understand Shakespearean English.

How to Read Shakespeare’s English reminding the student that “Shakespeare’s plays were written for performance – he never intended for people to read them as books” and encouraging the student to act out when reading the play.

I know that these three chapters may have helped give me a better grade in high school.

This book also contains summaries of all Shakespeare’s plays broken down into his famous categories of Comedies, Histories and Tragedies.

For example, The Merchant of Venice, my particular favorite, a comedy:

Key Characters are listed and each act is summarized separately, some even graced by photographs of the particular play.

Act One is clearly explained:

“Bassanio has been living beyond his means, but his best friend, Antonio, a successful merchant, is willing to pay Bassanio’s debts, if needed. Bassanio hopes to see his way clear of his financial burdens: He is in love with Portia, whose wealth matches her beauty. For these reasons, she is beset by suitors, and Bassanio needs a little extra cash so that he can woo her in a style suitable to her station. All of Antonio’s cash is tied up in ongoing ventures, but his credit is good in Venice, and he will raise the money that Bassanio needs.”

I really needed to know this back in the day. These simple interpretations that high schoolers can understand are going to make a big difference to my child’s studies this year. I am excited that this might spike her interest more than mine was. It was such a chore without this kind of help and English Literature was one of my favorite classes.

After looking over this information ridden book written in simple terms, my daughter agreed that Shakespeare For Dummies would be of great help to her. The only bad thing is the title. I can be sure that this book will never make it onto school property because of it. However, if it can help in anyway with her home studies, it will definitely be worth the miniscule $18.00 I paid for it.


Thank you for reading.












Recommended: Yes