The Penguin Podcast is back! Listen Now
The Tempest

The Tempest

Published According to the True Originall Copy

Summary

Shakespeare's Plays: The First Folio is a beautiful new Penguin edition of William Shakespeare's first folio, with original spelling, getting as close as possible to the original plays for an authentic reading experience. It is published to coincide with the RSC's World Shakespeare Festival, and the 2012 Cultural Olympiad.

William Shakespeare was the finest poet and playwright in the English language, whose dramas such as Hamlet, Macbeth, King Lear and Romeo and Juliet are read and watched by millions globally. We are used to reading his work effectively in translation, with modernised spelling, footnotes and glosses. This new Penguin edition allows us to experience the original as it was intended, in a beautiful hardback volume.

About the author

William Shakespeare

William Shakespeare was born in Stratford-upon-Avon in Warwickshire, and was baptised on 26 April 1564. His father was a glove maker and wool merchant and his mother, Mary Arden, was the daughter of a well-to-do local land owner. Shakespeare was probably educated in Stratford’s grammar school. In 1582 he married Anne Hathaway, and the couple had a daughter the following year and twins in 1585.

Shakespeare’s theatrical life seems to have commenced around 1590. We do know that he was part of the Lord Chamberlain’s Company, which was renamed the King’s Company in 1603 when James I succeeded to the throne. The Company acquired interests in two theatres in the Southwark area of London, near the banks of the Thames - the Globe and the Blackfriars.

Shakespeare’s poetry was published before his plays, with two poems appearing in 1593 and 1594, dedicated to his patron Henry Wriothesley, Earl of Southampton. Most of Shakespeare’s sonnets were probably written at this time as well.

Records of Shakespeare’s plays begin to appear in 1594, and he produced roughly two a year until around 1611. His earliest plays include Henry VI and Titus Andronicus. A Midsummer Night’s Dream, The Merchant of Venice and Richard II all date from the mid to late 1590s. Some of his most famous tragedies were written in the early 1600s; these include Hamlet, Othello, King Lear, Macbeth and Antony & Cleopatra. His late plays, often known as the Romances, date from 1608 onwards and include The Tempest.

Shakespeare died on 23 April 1616 and was buried in Holy Trinity Church in Stratford. The first collected edition of his works was published in 1623 and is known as ‘the First Folio’.
Learn More

Sign up to the Penguin Newsletter

For the latest books, recommendations, author interviews and more