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A Personal Anthology of Shakespeare

William Shakespeare (1564 - 1616)

This personal anthology is my choice of speeches from Shakespeare that I enjoy reading (that I would like to have had by heart years ago!) and that seem to me to illustrate his unsurpassed use of language. He was a man who seemed to know everything about human nature and as Orson Welles said ‘he speaks to everyone and we all claim him’. I know that it has been said that ‘it is impossible to be a great Shakespearian actor without an idiosyncratic and extraordinary voice’ and this may be so, but that does not preclude ordinary mortals from reading, hearing and enjoying Shakespeare. (Summary by Martin Clifton)

Genre(s): Humorous Fiction, Romance

Language: English

Section	Chapter	Reader	Time
Play 01	As You Like It (Act 2, Scene 7) : All the World’s a Stage	Martin Clifton	00:01:41
Play 02	Hamlet (Act 1, Scene 3) : To Thine Own Self Be True	Martin Clifton	00:01:36
Play 03	Hamlet (Act 2, Scene 2) : What a Piece of Work Is Man	Martin Clifton	00:01:24
Play 04	Hamlet (Act 3, Scene 1) : To Be or Not To Be	Martin Clifton	00:02:01
Play 05	Hamlet (Act 3, Scene 2) : Speak the Speech	Martin Clifton	00:02:11
Play 06	Julius Caesar (Act 1, Scene 2) : Bestrides the Narrow World	Martin Clifton	00:01:47
Play 07	Julius Caesar (Act 3, Scene 2) : If You Have Tears Prepare To Shed Them Now	Martin Clifton	00:01:51
Play 08	Julius Caesar (Act 3, Scene 2) : Friends, Romans, Countrymen	Martin Clifton	00:02:01
Play 09	Julius Caesar (Act 3, Scene 2) : Let Me Not Stir You Up	Martin Clifton	00:01:22
Play 10	Julius Caesar (Act 5, Scene 5) : This Was the Noblest Roman of Them All	Martin Clifton	00:00:41
Play 11	King Henry V (Act 3, Scene 1) : Once More Unto the Breach	Martin Clifton	00:01:55
Play 12	King Henry V (Act 4, Scene 3) : This Day is Called the Feast of Crispian	Martin Clifton	00:01:43
Play 13	King Richard III (Act 1, Scene 1) : Now is the Winter of Our Discontent	Martin Clifton	00:02:18
Play 14	Macbeth (Act 1, Scene 7) : If It Were Done	Martin Clifton	00:01:47
Play 15	Macbeth (Act 2, Scene 1) : Is This a Dagger	Martin Clifton	00:02:06
Play 16	The Merchant of Venice (Act 1, Scene 3) : Many a Time and Oft	Martin Clifton	00:01:27
Play 17	The Merchant of Venice (Act 3, Scene 1) : If You Prick Us Do We Not Bleed	Martin Clifton	00:01:36
Play 18	The Merchant of Venice (Act 4, Scene 1) : The Quality of Mercy	Martin Clifton	00:01:26
Play 19	Romeo and Juliet (Act 2, Scene 2) : What Light Through Yonder Window Breaks	Martin Clifton	00:01:28
Play 20	Romeo and Juliet (Act 2, Scene 2) : Romeo, Romeo	Martin Clifton	00:01:10

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A Personal Anthology of Shakespeare