Shakespeare in Plain English
All 38 plays · Original & Modern English · Free

Choose your play.
Read it two ways.

Shakespeare's original on the left leaf, a clear and genuinely fun modern translation on the right. Line by line, side by side.

Read Macbeth — complete →
Tragedies — everyone dies Comedies — everyone marries Histories — everyone fights over a crown

Tragedies 10 plays

Ambition, jealousy, revenge, and body counts. The red-spine shelf.

Macbeth

Ambitious couple takes career advice from witches. It goes poorly for Scotland.

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Hamlet

A ghost, a prince, and history's longest revenge procrastination.

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Romeo & Juliet

Teen romance moves way too fast. The families disapprove. It escalates.

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King Lear

Retirement planning goes catastrophically wrong.

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Othello

A toxic coworker and one handkerchief destroy everything.

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Julius Caesar

Beware the Ides of March. He did not beware the Ides of March.

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Antony & Cleopatra

History's most powerful couple choose love over empire. Both lose.

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Coriolanus

A brilliant war hero who cannot do politics. At all. Even a little.

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Titus Andronicus

Shakespeare's slasher film. Revenge is served as a pie. Literally.

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Timon of Athens

A generous man discovers his friends only loved his wallet.

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Comedies & Romances 18 plays

Disguises, shipwrecks, love potions, and at least one wedding per ending. The green-spine shelf.

A Midsummer Night's Dream

Love potions, fairy drama, and a man who becomes a donkey.

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Much Ado About Nothing

Two people who "hate" each other. You've seen the rom-com; this is the original.

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Twelfth Night

Shipwreck, disguises, and a love triangle with extra geometry.

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As You Like It

Everyone flees to the forest and falls in love. Home of "All the world's a stage."

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The Merchant of Venice

A loan with a body part as collateral. What could possibly go wrong?

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The Tempest

A wizard, an island, and a revenge plot that turns into forgiveness.

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The Taming of the Shrew

The battle-of-the-sexes comedy that launched four centuries of debate.

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The Comedy of Errors

Two sets of identical twins, one city, maximum confusion.

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The Winter's Tale

Jealousy, a lost princess, and the greatest stage direction ever: exit, pursued by a bear.

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Measure for Measure

A morality crackdown, led by the least moral man in Vienna.

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All's Well That Ends Well

She cures a king to win a husband who frankly doesn't deserve her.

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The Merry Wives of Windsor

Falstaff tries to seduce two married women. They compare notes.

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Love's Labour's Lost

Four men swear off women forever. Four women arrive immediately.

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The Two Gentlemen of Verona

Best friends, one girl, and Shakespeare's first (and messiest) comedy.

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Troilus & Cressida

The Trojan War, with the heroism surgically removed.

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Pericles

Shipwrecks, pirates, and riddles — Shakespeare's adventure serial.

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Cymbeline

A wager on a wife's faithfulness spirals into wild adventure.

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The Two Noble Kinsmen

Cousins and best friends fall for the same woman. Co-written with John Fletcher.

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No comedies match that search.

Histories 10 plays

English kings, disputed crowns, and one very large knight named Falstaff. The gold-spine shelf.

Henry V

Underdog king delivers the greatest pre-game speech of all time.

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Richard III

A villain so charming he narrates his own crimes to your face.

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Henry IV, Part 1

A rebel prince, a tavern, and Falstaff — the greatest comic character ever written.

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Henry IV, Part 2

The party ends. Growing up means breaking Falstaff's heart.

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Richard II

A poet-king learns that crowns are borrowed, never owned.

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King John

A disputed crown and the original "bad King John."

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Henry VI, Part 1

England starts losing France. Enter Joan of Arc.

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Henry VI, Part 2

The Wars of the Roses ignite.

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Henry VI, Part 3

England tears itself apart — and a certain villain begins his rise.

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Henry VIII

Divorce, politics, and a baby named Elizabeth. The grand finale.

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No histories match that search.