I wanted to read Richard III to understand his evil character. I have found my answer. The appearance of various ghosts and Richard feeling dread demonstrated a guilty conscience. With guilt therein is redemption. Richard III had empathy. For Hitler, Stalin, and some other butchers of humanity did not develop empathy. Both Hitler and Stalin had harsh and cruel fathers. Dr. Josef Mengele, the Angel of Death in Auschwitz, operated on twins. In one case, he professorially delivered a Jewish child, and as he left the room, he ordered the mother and the newborn child to be immediately gassed. Dr. Mengele had a cruel mother. His feelings were truncated, shelved, and buried. With callous disregard, a politician, I have forgotten his name, commented on the death of 200,000 people as “It is what it is” and remains silent on the separated children from their mothers. I have been told that his father was uncaring and harsh.

A secondary and important element is guilt and shame. The terms are not synonymous. We usually think of guilt in a legal context, but it can be used in a religious context of guilt and salvation. The antonym of shame is honor. Honor and shame are far older dichotomies than guilt and redemption/innocence. Honor creates fusion in a family, tribe, and community. In Homer’s Iliad, honor is a primary virtue among the warriors. In Japan, to lose face results in suicides. Counter wise, guilt and salvation are more individualistic and one of the many byproducts of Christianity. Individuals can be saved or dammed, but kingdom, empires, and nations cannot be saved or dammed. They either thrive or expire. Later individualism replaced hierarchical and paternal communities with equal rights, popular sovereignty, and nations based upon laws. Today, many people display little shame on how they behave in public, whether talking, dressing, or posting on social media. Etiquette, politeness, and civility have been gored and debauched with toxic individuality. How can we have the dignity of man (humans) when we do not behave in an honorable manner?

The BBC House of Cards starring Ian Richardson is the closest parallel to Richard III. Both are Machiavellian artists thirsting for power. They make brilliant strategic moves playing one face and then another face. Their deeds are dastardly but not genocidal. The audience can understand their motivation. We can identify with the villain. As for the audience of Hitler, Stalin, and Dr. Mengele, we cannot identify with mass killers. We cannot grasp their motivation to kill millions of people. They introduced chaos as mass death, destruction, and night. It was beyond the human pale. With Richard III, we have a morality play between good and evil. Chaos temporarily unbalanced the natural order, but the Spindle of Necessity corrected the spinning whorl. Richard III is a didactic tale ending with justice. Richard III’s redemption is our redemption. Long live Richard III!

If you've actually managed to read this book- the collected works of the most famous writer since Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. Are you gonna say you don't like it? improbable.

This is a reasonably priced collection with decent commentary. See the Riverside Anthology for additional criticism and analysis that will round out your understanding of the literay discourse surrounding Shakespeare.

Yeah, I read Anthologies...what of it?

As can be expected from Norton, this is an excellent anthology. The editorial stuff is good.

But it's huge and cumbersome and the print is tiny. If you're actually trying to read these plays for the first time, do yourself a favor and buy the individual paperback versions.

if you want a comprehensive shakespeare, this is the best. great textual breakdown with cross-referencing folio/quarto text conflicts. great glossing on dated phrases. wonderful introductions, backgrounds, and essays on each work.

Hamlet: This is, in my opinion, the best piece of literature ever written in the English language.

Macbeth: I never read this play in school, or anything, which is weird because I was an English major in college and took a Shakespeare class. I just read it though, in anticipation of seeing the play performed. I wanted to understand what I was seeing better. There are some really great themes in this play -- trust, betrayal, the influence a corrupt leader has on his people -- and there are some great passages -- Macbeth's ruminations on the brevity and meaninglessness of life is powerful. Overall, it didn't wow me, but I think I need to read it a few more times so that I can really sink my teeth in it.

Othello: I love this play because Shakespeare does such a great job of showing how the characters do not do what they say they do. Othello says that he trusts his wife, but at the mere mention of her being unfaithful he loses it and ends up killing her. Trust means believing someone even when you have reason not to, not just when everything is fine.

This was the edition of Shakespeare I mainly used in college. (My used copy cost me $42.20 in 1997.) Stephen Greenblatt did a phenomenal job with this anthology. The scholarly and supplemental articles are excellent. I will always treasure it in my collection. Nowadays, I have the Riverside Shakespeare on my iPad for .99 cents, but it has no scholarly articles or footnotes included.
I also am partial to the individual Folger Library editions due to their easy-to-understand format. I have always heard the New Oxford is not exactly good. Haven’t tried the Arden Shakespeare yet.

Shakespeare's complete works, with scholarly commentaries by four editors. A weighty tome of 3,420 pages. Not a beach read.

Plays read:
Taming of the Shrew
A Midsummer Night’s Dream
Twelfth Night
Merchant of Venice
Tempest
Henry V
Hamlet
Julius Caesar

Norton does a fair job in its explanatory notes; that being said, sometimes they are arcane, esoteric, mundane, ridiculous, and somewhat banal or entirely obvious; that being said, they are better than what others would insert in some footnotes; that being said, they are worse than what some would include; that being said, I could do this all day...

Read Richard III, Richard II, Henry V, Twelfth Night, The Merchant of Venice, Measure for Measure, Hamlet, King Lear, Macbeth, and Cymbeline in English 24: Shakespeare I taught by Professor Peter Saccio.

Read (and taught) Romeo and Juliet in high school.

It's Shakespeare. What more needs to be said?