See the series "No Fear Shakespeare" by SparkNotes, e.g. King Lear starts here: https://www.sparknotes.com/nofear/shakespeare/lear/page_2/ https://www.sparknote

See the series "No Fear Shakespeare" by SparkNotes, e.g. King Lear starts here: https://www.sparknotes.com/nofear/shakespeare/lear/page_2/ https://www.sparknotes.com/nofear/shakespeare/lear/page_2/ The full set is here: https://www.sparknotes.com/shakespeare/#jumpTo-no-fear https://www.sparknotes.com/shakespeare/#jumpTo-no-fear Ignore anyone who may look down on using this. The “plain English” version is often redundant, and of course the language in the original has metre and sometimes rhyme (take a look at the opening of Macbeth: https://www.sparknotes.com/nofear/shakespeare/macbeth/page_2/ https://www.sparknotes.com/nofear/shakespeare/macbeth/page_2...), but the “plain English” version is occasionally genuinely useful, and overall I find it valuable. Most of the time (at least after you get the hang of the language, if you haven't read anything from that period before) you'll be reading just the original, but having the “translation” right there can help.