Book Review - 'Shakespeare for Grown-Ups' by E. Foley and B. Coates

It’s been a while since I’ve done a book review. Although I have been reading, none of it has been what I consider review-material.

‘Shakespeare for Grown-ups’ by E. Foley and B. Coates

‘If you’ve always felt a bit embarrassed at your precarious grasp on the plot of Othello, or you haven’t a clue what a petard (as in ‘hoist with his own petard’) actually is, then fear not, because this, at last, is the perfect guide to the Bard.
From the authors of the number-one bestselling Homework for Grown-ups, Shakespeare for Grown-ups is the essential book for anyone keen to deepen their knowledge of the plays and sonnets.
For parents helping with their children’s homework, casual theatre-goers who want to enhance their enjoyment of the most popular plays and the general reader who feels they should probably know more about Britain’s most splendid scribe, Shakespeare for Grown-ups covers Shakespeare’s time; his personal life; his language; his key themes; his less familiar works and characters; his most famous speeches and quotations; phrases and words that have entered general usage, and much more.
With lively in-depth chapters on all the major works including Hamlet, Othello, King Lear, The Tempest, Romeo and Juliet, Much Ado About Nothing, Antony and Cleopatra, Richard II, Henry V, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, The Merchant of Venice and Macbeth, Shakespeare for Grown-ups is the only guide you’ll ever need.’

Being in no way familiar with all of Shakespeare’s plays and wanting, over the years, to increase my knowledge, I struggled to find an approach that wasn’t daunting and time-consuming.

Enter ‘Shakespeare for Grown-ups’, subtitled ‘Everything You Need to Know About the Bard’.

This book is a great introduction for complete beginners and those who, like me, want to learn more. I’d say it could also be of interest to those who are well-versed in the Bard’s plays as there’s a wealth of related information.

The Introduction treats us to ‘All Shakespeare’s Plays in One Sentence Each’ – great examples of the art of précis.

To list a very few:
“‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’ – Mistaken administering of love juice results in Titania, Queen of the Fairies, falling for the ass Bottom, while two sets of couples get confused in the woods, before the natural order of things is restored.”
“‘Henry VI, Part 2’ – Henry fails to control his nobles; cue War of the Roses.”
“‘Romeo and Juliet’ – Unsupportive relatives ruin young lovers’ bliss, leading to a fatal fake suicide mix-up.”

Foley and Coates then proceed with ‘The Life and Times of William Shakespeare’, taking the reader through what little is known of Shakespeare’s life.

To help orientate the reader in Elizabethan times, the authors lay out pertinent facts including but by no means limited to cities and communities, religion, foreign policy, and how violent the times really were.

In the section on his ‘Language and Style’, the authors explain the different kinds of plays and dramas that were already in existence, which the young Shakespeare would no doubt have seen.

Mystery plays “developed out of tenth-century church services and had chiefly biblical concerns at their heart…”

Miracle plays evolved from the mystery plays, focussing on “stories of saints and divine miracles…[and] appearances and interventions of the Virgin…”

And morality plays, which had their origins in mystery and miracle plays, dealt with “the presentation of allegories, with personifications of different moral facets who try to force the main protagonist to choose a life of good over evil.”

Being “a dramatist and a poet”, Shakespeare’s “genius was to combine his exceptional skills in both disciplines. He coined hundreds of new words and phrases…”

As familiar as I am with the well-known phrases from his plays – as I’m sure many people are – to see them laid out one after the other really brought home to me the mans’ brilliance:
“Hamlet’s ‘to be, or not to be’, Henry V’s ‘Once more unto the breach’… Mark Antony’s ‘Friends, Romans, countrymen’, Orsino’s ‘If music be the food of love’ and Jaques’ ‘All the world’s a stage’.”

As the authors point out, “Shakespeare’s impact on everyday speech is extraordinary. He introduced around 1,700 words to the English language and a multitude of phrases…” They then list “some of the expressions that have entered English idiom thanks to him.”
“‘A dish fit for the gods’ [and] ‘The dogs of war’… from Julius Caesar…
‘As luck would have it’… from The Merry Wives of Windsor…
‘At one fell swoop’… from Macbeth…
‘Brevity is the soul of wit’… from Hamlet…
‘Discretion is the better part of valour’… from Henry IV, Part 1…”

And so many more.

There’s a handy guide to some poetry terminology and a fantastic little Shakespearean dictionary, explaining words and phrases like “aroint thee – begone; insculp – to engrave; nether-stock – a stocking worn on one’s shin”.

We then come to the plays, separated into ‘The Comedies’, ‘The Histories’ and ‘The Tragedies’, and finishing with ‘The Poems’.

I admit to being confused by some of the plays that are described as comedies. But now I’ve read what constituted a comedy in Shakespeare’s time, I understand better.

According to the authors, the “comedy plays don’t quite resemble what we think of as classic humour pieces in the twenty-first century… the defining feature of a comedy play is not humour. The key characteristic is that it centres on an opposition or conflict between two groups: the young rebelling against the old, for example… [it] will often have a serious or sombre subplot…”

For each play, there’s a plot summary, the key themes, the key scene and a key symbol.

A handful have their famous speeches explained in modern English, giving a better understanding.

Peppered throughout are extra snippets covering historical details, which I found particularly interesting.

I didn’t appreciate that “Rome exerted more of an influence on Elizabethan culture than ancient Greece, and translations of Roman writers’ works were popular…”

Neither did I appreciate how closely connected the Roman past was “with contemporary life in Shakespeare’s day as the Eastern Roman Empire had only fallen in 1453…”

In ‘The Epilogue’, we have ‘Further Fascinating Facts for the Shakespeare Fan’.

Apart from tips for watching the plays and spotting recurring themes, my favourite bit of information is the first draft was named ‘foul papers’. I guess this is because they were written messily as the copy that was then written out neatly was called the ‘fair copy’.

That’s what I enjoyed most about this book – the interesting side notes and pieces of information.

Right at the end is a multiple-choice quiz to test your knowledge of Shakespeare with answers so you’re not left floundering.

The book, including the sections covering the plays, is written in modern English, with the only Shakespearean language being direct quotes from the plays. With its amenable, humorous style, it certainly eases the intimidation one might feel when approaching or contemplating the learning of Shakespeare’s plays.

‘Shakespeare for Grown-ups’ is so much more than helping the reader understand the Bard’s plays.

Apart from the sections I’ve already mentioned, we’re also introduced to his friends and fellow playwrights and actors – he was not only a playwright but also a successful actor and part-owner of a theatre; and we learn more of his relationship with Queen Elizabeth and King James I.

The book’s layout makes it perfect for dipping into whenever the mood grabs you; something I’ll be doing often.

Given Shakespeare’s superb use of language, I’ll end with a quote by Orson Welles, praising the great playwright:
“His language is starlight and fireflies and the sun and the moon. He wrote it with tears and blood and beer, and his words march like heartbeats.”