William Shakespeare was an English playwright, poet, and actor. He is the writer of numerous plays, sonnets, narrative poems and verses.
He is considered the greatest and best English-speaking writer of all time . In fact, we often refer to English as “ Shakespeare’s language”.
Studied and admired to this day, his work has inspired multiple works of art and fiction. One of the great names of Universal Literature.
So, if you’re looking for any books on this illustrious character, let ‘s check out the 14 Best William Shakespeare Books .
Hamlet
- Number of pages: 760
- Edition year: 2006
While Hamlet was studying in England, he learned of the death of his father, the King of Denmark. Forced by duty, he had to return to his country.
Upon arrival he finds a bitter surprise: his uncle sitting on his father’s throne and married to his mother.
One night, some soldiers, including Horace, Hamlet’s friend; they inform him that they have sighted a ghost haunting the place.
The ghost turns out to be the ghost of his father who, unable to confess before dying, has been condemned to wander for all eternity.
Hamlet listens to the story of his father who tells him that his brother has poisoned him. The late king asks her to kill him in revenge.
Hamlet is probably Shakespeare’s best play and one of the best at the time it first came out.
The rape of Lucrecia
- Number of pages: 124
- Edition year: 2016
First published in 1594 and dedicated to the Earl of Southampton, Henry Wriothesley.
Lucrecia was raped by the son of the King of Rome, Sextus Tarquin. In spite of her, she asks her father and her husband to avenge her, and then she kills herself.
Her father and Collatinus, her husband, decide to parade her deceased body through the Roman Forum to start a revolt and make the Romans expel Tarquin.
Romeo and Juliet
- Number of pages: 128
- Edition year: 2006
If Hamlet is the best work done by Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet is undoubtedly the most popular , with a much greater number of adaptations and a better reception by the public.
A more than well-known story. The forbidden love between a couple of adolescents members of two rival families in Verona, Romeo Montesco and Juliet Capulet.
At a ball at the Capulet house, organized to promote the courtship between Juliet and Prince Paris, Romeo has been convinced to attend the party even without being invited.
It is at this party where the iconic scene occurs where Juliet confesses her love to Romeo, without knowing that he was listening to her.
A story with a tragic ending for the impossible love of Romeo and Juliet .
Othello
- Number of pages: 160
- Edition year: 2020
Another classic of English literature , more than studied in institutes and schools like the previous works.
Othello is a general in the service of Venice, shown at the beginning as a brave hero who fights for his love for a princess. But at the end of the story, jealousy and betrayal end up tarnishing his image.
Desdemona is the eternal love of Othello. She adores and considers Othello as her knight and she didn’t care about her father’s anger by leaving with him.
Iago is the villain of the story. Treacherous, cruel and calculating, he pretends, for a good part of the play, to be Othello’s friend.
A work that belongs to the 100 best books of all history .
Love’s labors lost
- Number of pages: 188
- Edition year: 2017
Comedy first published in 1595, probably inspired by a visit to Henry IV by his wife Margaret of Valois, Princess of France.
The King of Navarre and three of his knights agree not to see any woman for the next three years.
Three years dedicated to sobriety and study. At first it seems that everything is going well, but a short time later it is evident that the four have not thought it through very well.
And to top it off, the princess of France and three of her ladies-in-waiting, all very beautiful, show up at his door.
What kind of funny situations will these three men create to make the ladies fall in love?
King’s Night
- Number of pages: 464
- Edition year: 2006
Work also known by the titles of Epiphany Night and Twelfth Night, refers to the eve of Three Kings Day, January 5, twelve days after Christmas Eve.
Twins Viola and Sebastian have been separated by a shipwreck. Viola ends up working as a page alongside Duke Orsino.
The duke, trusting Viola – who goes by the name of Cesario – asks her to intercede for him and speak to Duchess Olivia, the woman he loves. A request that Cesario hates for being in love with Orsino.
And in all this madness of feelings and love, Sebastian ends up marrying Olivia.
How? You’ll have to read it to find out.
Much ado About Nothing
- Number of pages: 192
- Edition year: 2012
The comedy Much Ado About Nothing revolves around love and the misunderstandings that occur in romantic relationships.
On the one hand, Beatriz and Benedicto have been deceived by their relatives to confess their love.
And on the other, Claudio and Hero annul their marriage at the altar due to rumors that Hero was seeing another man.
With the sharpest of ironies, Shakespeare pushes these well-characterized characters into the most comical situations . All turning to the posture of people to love.
The merchant of Venice
- Number of pages: 160
- Edition year: 2007
Antonio, a Christian merchant, decides to pawn with his competitor, the Jew Shylock.
Both reach an agreement according to which, if Antonio defaults on the loan, he must give Shylock a pound of meat in the part of the body that the usurer decides.
Misfortune occurs and Antonio finds himself unable to pay the debt. Shylock, with very little sympathy for the merchant, seeks to collect what is due to him by mutual agreement.
An entertaining work with charismatic and very funny characters.
Macbeth
- Number of pages: 160
- Edition year: 2011
One of Shakespeare’s best-known tragedies, published in 1623.
The narrative begins with the encounter of the soldiers Macbeth and Banquo with three witches.
The witches tell Macbeth that he will be Lord of Glamis, then Cawdor, and finally King of Scotland.
Macbeth tells his wife of the encounter. After becoming lord of Glamis and Cawdor, his wife thinks it’s time to take the next step, and they both assassinate the current King of Scotland.
A story of revenge and war , of the lust for power no matter if innocent people are involved along the way.
The comedy of mistakes
- Number of pages: 74
- Edition year: 2020
Aegeon, a merchant from Syracuse, is sentenced to death for not having enough money to pay a ransom.
To try to appease him, Aegeon tells Ephesus, Duke of Syracuse, the reason why he is in the city.
A story where two sets of twins , some of his sons and other slaves dedicated to his service, were separated due to a shipwreck.
Later in the plot, both sets of twins are in the same city, and it is here that the story begins to get tangled up for the simple reason that the twin sons of Egeon have the same name; and the slave twins also share the same name.
A hilarious comedy as its name suggests.
The Lear King
- Number of pages: 208
- Edition year: 2013
Published in 1608 for the first time, it talks about the story of King Lear and his daughters , one of the topics that English scholars have been most interested in.
The tragedy is divided into two plots, the first is about King Lear and his three daughters: Goneril, Regan and Cordelia. And the second revolves around the Earl of Gloucester and his two sons.
The king intends to divide his kingdom according to how fond his daughters are of him. Goneril and Regan do not skimp on flattery towards the king and both receive a third of the kingdom.
But the humble and dignified Cordelia, unlike her sisters, expresses that she loves him as duty dictates. Upset by such a response, he disinherits her and distributes her portion of her kingdom to her two sisters.
One of Shakespeare’s most powerful dramas . Explore the depth of the human soul, the decision of actions and their consequences.
Antony and Cleopatra
- Number of pages: 168
- Edition year: 2005
Mark Antony, Octavian and Lepidus rule the Roman Empire together, but unlike the last two, Mark Antony prefers to be in Egypt with the bewitched beauty Cleopatra.
However, the news of the death of his wife Fluvia, and of a revolt in the Empire, lead him back to Rome.
Once there, he decides to put an end to the confrontation between him and Octavio Augusto by marrying his sister, Octavia. Fact that bothers and makes Cleopatra jealous.
But the union is short-lived, and Marco Antonio falls captive again under Cleopatra’s lust spell .
The Tempest
- Number of pages: 144
- Edition year: 2010
Prospero is the Duke of Milan, he has been deposed from power and thrown out of the city in a simple boat with his daughter Miranda, by his brother Antonio.
Chance leads them to land on the same island where the sorceress Sycorax had been banished. Prospero, thanks to the sorceress’s powers, manages to free several spirits and submits them to his orders.
Twelve years have passed since the arrival of Prospero and his daughter on the island. Now finally, and by a spell of the former duke, Antonio is stranded on the island’s shores, along with his ally, the King of Naples, and his son Fernando.
From this point is when the real story begins.
Composed late in Shakespeare’s career , this drama introduces supernatural elements that give depth to the play’s human actions.
Julius Caesar
- Number of pages: 160
- Edition year: 2012
Julius Caesar’s ambition in a city filled with rumors and tension has caused defenders of liberty to feel threatened by him and seek to take him down.
Between them, Cassius and Casca convince Brutus to try to assassinate Caesar. While the latter’s wife, alerted by a dream, tries to warn him not to go to the Capitol on the Ides of March, but she fails to persuade him.
Julio Cesar dies and the defenders of freedom shout in the streets thinking that they have the people on their side, but Marco Antonio, with Cesar’s corpse before him, gives a skillful message that rouses the people.
