Summary
Summary of Tales from Shakespeare
Key ideas
Key idea 1
Shakespeare becomes a collection of stories
Charles and Mary Lamb turn twenty Shakespeare plays into prose tales, keeping the people, quarrels and choices at the center of each plot. Mary takes the comedies, while Charles takes the tragedies. They write mainly for young readers who might otherwise meet Shakespeare only through extracts, or not at all.
Wherever possible, they keep Shakespeare’s own words. The result offers both a clear path through the action and something of his music, beginning with a storm and a magician waiting to answer an old wrong.
Key idea 2
Prospero brings his enemies within reach
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Key idea 3
Disguise sends love in unexpected directions
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Key idea 4
Misjudgment gives the trouble its shape
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Key idea 5
Suspicion separates people who love
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Key idea 6
Human passions drive the tragedies
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Key idea 7
Clear prose opens the plays
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Key idea 8
Each wrong sets a story moving
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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 readers who love Shakespeare’s comedies of love and disguise and tragedies of ambition and jealousy, and anyone exploring the plots before seeing or reading the plays. A welcoming choice for parents choosing stories for children and teachers.
What this book is
Tales from Shakespeare is a book of twenty stories, each one a Shakespeare play told again in plain prose. Charles Lamb and his sister Mary Lamb wrote it in London, and it first appeared in 1807. Mary retold the comedies and Charles took the tragedies. They wrote it mainly for young readers, who in those days often met Shakespeare only in rough extracts or not at all.
What do you get from it? You get the full plots of plays such as The Tempest, Twelfth Night, Romeo and Juliet, Macbeth and Hamlet in a few pages each. You meet the people, the quarrels and the choices that drive each story. Wherever they could, the Lambs kept Shakespeare's own words, so the tales carry something of his music. Let us begin where the book begins, on an island after a storm, with a magician who has waited twelve years to set a wrong right.
In this summary
- 1A storm and an island begin the bookFree
- 2Comedies of love, disguise and mix-ups
- 3Law, money and mistaken identity
- 4Stories of exile, jealousy and lost children
- 5Charles Lamb and the six tragedies
- 6How the Lambs tell the tales
Key point 1 of 6
A storm and an island begin the book
The book opens with The Tempest. A ship seems to break apart in a storm near a lonely island, and the people on board are brought ashore. The island belongs to Prospero, a wise man who was once the Duke of Milan. His own brother pushed him from his throne and sent him to sea with his small daughter Miranda.
Prospero has lived on the island for twelve years. He has studied magic from his books, and he commands a quick, airy spirit named Ariel. He also keeps a rough servant, Caliban, who is the son of a witch and resents his master. Miranda has seen almost no one but her father, so the shipwrecked young prince Ferdinand is the first young man she has ever met.
The Lambs tell all this calmly and clearly. They explain the old wrong in a few lines so that the reader knows why the storm was no accident. Prospero raised it on purpose, to bring his enemies within his reach. Everyone he meets on the island is tested in some way.
What will Prospero do with the power he has finally won? That question is what holds the tale together. The Lambs place this play first, and it makes a gentle door into the rest of the book. It shows at once that these retellings aim to give you the story and also the moral weight beneath it.
That’s 1 of 6 key points.
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Check yourself
What brings Prospero’s enemies within his reach?
Right. “Prospero raised it on purpose, to bring his enemies within his reach.”Not quite. “Prospero raised it on purpose, to bring his enemies within his reach.”
What danger connects the tales of exile and separated families?
Right. “A single wrong belief, held with great certainty, can wreck a family.”Not quite. “A single wrong belief, held with great certainty, can wreck a family.”
What did the Lambs hope young readers would do after meeting these tales?
Right. “They said in their preface that they hoped young readers would later go to the plays themselves.”Not quite. “They said in their preface that they hoped young readers would later go to the plays themselves.”
Who’s who
- Prospero
- Miranda's father is the wronged Duke of Milan, living on an island where he practices magic.
- Miranda
- Prospero's daughter grows up on the island, knowing scarcely anyone beyond her father.
- Viola
- A shipwrecked young woman, Viola disguises herself as a boy and serves Duke Orsino in Illyria.
- Portia
- A wealthy heiress of Belmont, Portia has suitors who must pass a test to marry her.
- Romeo and Juliet
- These young lovers belong to the feuding Montague and Capulet families of Verona.
- Macbeth
- A Scottish general, Macbeth hears the witches' prophecy and faces encouragement from his ambitious wife.
- Hamlet
- A grieving Danish prince, Hamlet encounters a ghost who gives him a terrible task concerning his father.
About this edition
Every format is free to start, and print and large print are at cost.
- LengthAbout 104,000 words
- Reading timeAbout 6 h 55 min
- Listening time11 h 30 min
- FormatseBook, large-print eBook, audiobook, 15-minute summary
- LanguagesEnglish and 11 other languages
Questions about Tales from Shakespeare
What is Tales from Shakespeare about?
It retells twenty Shakespeare plays as short prose stories. Mary Lamb tells the comedies and Charles Lamb the tragedies, so a reader can follow each plot, its people and its main turns without reading the full play.
Who wrote Tales from Shakespeare, Charles or Mary Lamb?
Both did. Mary Lamb retold the comedies and Charles Lamb the tragedies. The book first appeared in 1807, and it is often credited to Charles alone, although Mary wrote most of the tales.
Which plays are in Tales from Shakespeare?
There are twenty, including The Tempest, A Midsummer Night's Dream, Twelfth Night, The Merchant of Venice, Romeo and Juliet, Macbeth, Othello, King Lear and Hamlet. Some of the history plays are not included.
Is Tales from Shakespeare hard to read?
No. The prose is clear and the tales are short. Most readers of about twelve or older can follow it, and adults often find it a useful guide.
Is Tales from Shakespeare good for learning the plays?
Yes. It gives the plot, the main people and the central choices of each play, so the play itself is easier to follow later. It leaves out much of the poetry and many minor scenes.
