Summary
Summary of Beautiful Stories from Shakespeare
Key ideas
Key idea 1
Plays become stories for young readers
E. Nesbit retells Shakespeare's plays as short prose tales, giving young readers their plots, people and feelings before they encounter the plays on stage or in a classroom. Lovers, magicians, ghosts, kings and clowns share these stories with storms, feuds and disguises.
Each tale keeps the shape of its play and includes some of Shakespeare's own words. The aim is to introduce the people and the feelings that move them, so a young reader can follow what happens and understand what is at stake.
Key idea 2
A narrator keeps the plot clear
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Key idea 3
Magic unsettles power and love
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Key idea 4
Disguise and wit move the comedies
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Key idea 5
Love grows inside a family feud
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Key idea 6
Choices carry weight in the tragedies
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Key idea 7
Small beginnings grow into larger consequences
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Key idea 8
The tales offer a lasting map
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The rest of the summary, written and spoken, and the whole book: free to start.
Read the rest freeWho it’s for
For young readers, parents and teachers who want a gentle first meeting with Shakespeare, and anyone who enjoys lovers, magicians, ghosts and disguises or wants the plots straight before seeing a play.
What this book is
Beautiful Stories from Shakespeare is a book of Shakespeare's plays retold as short prose tales for young readers. It was written by E. Nesbit and published in 1907. Nesbit was a British author best known for her children's books. She wanted to give young readers the plots, people and feelings of the plays before they met the full text on the stage or in a classroom.
Each tale takes one play and turns it into a story you can follow in a single sitting. There are lovers, magicians, ghosts, kings and clowns. There are also storms, feuds, disguises and a few dark deeds. Nesbit keeps the shape of each plot, and she keeps some of Shakespeare's own words along the way. If you have always found the plays a little forbidding, this is a friendly door. Let us begin with how the book is built and what Nesbit does to make old plays easy to hear.
In this summary
- 1Nesbit turns plays into talesFree
- 2Magic rules the island and the wood
- 3Comedies run on disguise and scheming
- 4Romeo and Juliet shows love in a feud
- 5The tragedies bring ghosts, crowns and storms
- 6What the stories share and how they sound
Key point 1 of 6
Nesbit turns plays into tales
Shakespeare wrote his plays to be spoken and watched on a stage. Nesbit writes each play as a story told in plain prose, with a narrator who guides you from scene to scene.
She was not the first to try this. Charles and Mary Lamb had made their own Tales from Shakespeare in the early 1800s, and Nesbit wrote in that tradition for a new generation. Her voice is lively and warm. She speaks to the young reader as someone clever enough to follow a real story.
She also decides what to keep. The main plot stays, the chief people stay, and long side threads are trimmed. Where a line of Shakespeare says something so well that it cannot be bettered, she lets it stand inside her own sentences.
The result is a book of separate tales that can be read in any order. Each one gives you a clear map of a play. That map is useful whether you go on to read the text, see a performance, or simply want to know what people mean when they mention Hamlet or Portia.
That’s 1 of 6 key points.
The rest of the summary, written and spoken, and the whole book: free to start.
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Check yourself
How does Nesbit turn Shakespeare's plays into prose tales?
Right. “The main plot stays, the chief people stay, and long side threads are trimmed.”Not quite. “The main plot stays, the chief people stay, and long side threads are trimmed.”
Why does Friar Laurence help arrange Romeo and Juliet's secret wedding?
Right. “A secret wedding is arranged with the help of Friar Laurence, who hopes it may end the feud.”Not quite. “A secret wedding is arranged with the help of Friar Laurence, who hopes it may end the feud.”
What recurring pattern connects choices with consequences in the tragedies?
Right. “Disguise and mistaken identity run through the comedies, and in the tragedies a single choice grows into something much larger.”Not quite. “Disguise and mistaken identity run through the comedies, and in the tragedies a single choice grows into something much larger.”
Who’s who
- Prospero
- Prospero is a magician and former duke who lives on an island with his daughter Miranda.
- Puck
- Puck is Oberon's mischievous fairy servant, causing comic trouble among the lovers in a wood near Athens.
- Portia
- Portia is a wealthy, clever woman of Belmont whose sense of justice shapes her dealings with others.
- Viola
- Viola is a shipwrecked young woman who disguises herself as a boy to work in a duke's household.
- Juliet
- Juliet is a young Capulet of Verona who loves Romeo despite the feud between their families.
- Hamlet
- Hamlet is a Danish prince whose father's ghost brings troubling news and demands a response from him.
About this edition
Every format is free to start, and print and large print are at cost.
- LengthAbout 48,000 words
- Reading timeAbout 3 h 15 min
- FormatseBook, large-print eBook, audiobook, 15-minute summary
- LanguagesEnglish and 11 other languages
Questions about Beautiful Stories from Shakespeare
What is Beautiful Stories from Shakespeare about?
It is a book of Shakespeare's plays retold as short prose stories for young readers. Each tale follows the main plot and people of one play, from comedies such as Twelfth Night to tragedies such as Hamlet and Macbeth.
Who wrote Beautiful Stories from Shakespeare?
E. Nesbit wrote the retellings, which were published in 1907. The plots, characters and many phrases come from William Shakespeare's plays, but the prose telling is Nesbit's own work.
Is Beautiful Stories from Shakespeare hard to read?
No. Nesbit uses clear, plain prose and a steady storytelling voice, so the plots are easy to follow. It is written for young readers and works well read aloud.
Is this the same as reading Shakespeare's plays?
No. The book gives you the stories and characters, not the full poetry and drama of the plays. It is a good first step that makes the originals easier to enjoy later.
Is Beautiful Stories from Shakespeare worth reading for adults?
Yes, if you want a quick, clear refresher on the plots before seeing a play. Adults who want Shakespeare's full language and verse will need the original texts too.
