Tales from Shakespeare

This book includes 7 stories written by Shakespeare; The Tempest, A midsummer Night’s Dream, Much Ado About Nothing, As You Like It, The Merchant of Venice, Macbeth, and Twelfth Night, or What You Will.

William Shakespeare is the greatest playwright in the world. He is said that he created about 20,000 words by himself. He was born in Stratford-upon-Avon, England. He wrote very famous plays, comedies, histories, tragedies. He also wrote many poems.

Here is my favorite story’s storyline from this book, The Merchant of Venice. The protagonist, Antonio was a moneylender, and liked by all the people except the unprotagonist, Shylock. He was always planning to hurt Antonio. One day, Antonio asked him to borrow money. Shylock thought it was the very chance to hurt him. So this cruel man made him promise. The promise is, if Antonio didn’t pay back the money by the date, Shylock will cut off Antonio’s flesh for 1 pond. Antonio thought it was just a joke and agreed. But…

I found this story very interesting. First I felt very sorry for Antonio, but his rescuer was really smart so that I relieved. I thought that the winner is the one who are smarter and kind. The person who only thinks about his or her positive points will definitely lose.

I recommend this book to anyone who are interested in literature and who are going to take literature class from next semester! Actually I didn’t know many tales by Shakespeare so it became good preparation for the class. This book is easy to read, too! Next time, I want to read other Shakespeare story.

Nanako