For the first time, the world-renowned Arden Shakespeare is producing Performance Editions, aimed specifically for use in the rehearsal room. Published in association with the Shakespeare Institute, the text features easily accessible facing page notes - including short definitions of words, key textual variants, and guidance on metre and pronunciation; a larger font size for easier reading; space for writing notes and reduced punctuation aimed at the actor rather than the reader. With editorial expertise from the worlds of theatre and academia, the series has been developed in association with actors and drama students. The Series Editors are distinguished scholars Professor Michael Dobson and Dr Abigail Rokison and leading Shakespearean actor, Simon Russell Beale.

The greatest tragic plays of William Shakespeare--including Hamlet, Othello, King Lear, and Macbeth. What is tragedy? The Elizabethans defined it as a "lofty" play showing "personages of great state" caught up in a "lamentable" action that "beginneth prosperously and endeth unfortunately." Whether judged by this or any other standard, the plays selected for this collection are considered to be the four central works of Shakespearean tragedy and must be included in any list of the world's finest tragic literature. And to make these plays more accessible for the modern reader, this edition includes the following special features: - Reliable texts by noted Shakespeare scholars - Texts printed in the clearest, most readable type - Names of each speaker given in full - Detailed footnotes at the bottom of each page keyed to the numbered lines of the text - Textual notes - Updated bibliography

Ambition overpowers loyalty in this drama of a Scottish noble's rise to power. Goaded by his scheming wife, Macbeth realizes too late that "blood will have blood," as each monstrous crime demands the reinforcement of another, sending him further and further down the path to his own destruction. Shakespeare's drama of treason and doom features a fast-paced plot, tumultuous action, and a cast of compelling characters, including a trio of fortune-telling witches. A definitive survey, this Dover Thrift Study Edition offers the drama's complete and unabridged text, plus a comprehensive study guide. Created to help readers gain a thorough understanding of "Macbeth"'s content and context, the guide includes: - Scene-by-scene summaries
- Explanations and discussions of the plot
- Question-and-answer sections
- Shakespeare biography
- List of characters and more
Dover Thrift Study Editions feature everything that students need to undertake a confident reading of a classic text, as well as to prepare themselves for class discussions, essays, and exams.
A selection of the Common Core State Standards Initiative.

This edition of Sir Thomas More is the first to bring the play into the context of a major Shakespeare series, to provide a substantial critical analysis, and to offer a comprehensive modern stage history. The introduction deals with issues such as the strange involvement of the anti-Catholic spy-hunter Anthony Munday as chief dramatist, the place of Sir Thomas More as a Catholic martyr in Protestant late Elizabethan culture, and the play's representation of a multi-cultural London.The text itself, supported by a searching and detailed commentary, adopts a distinctive presentation that enables readers to keep track of the manuscript and the hands that produced it, whilst engaging with the play as a fascinating theatrical piece. Sir Thomas More deals with matters so controversial that it may never have reached performance on stage. The authors' determination to deal with rioting and religious politics led to a play that is compelling in its own right but also intriguing as a document of what could, and could not, be articulated in the early modern public theatre. Surviving only as a manuscript text on which Shakespeare was thought to have worked, it can be considered to be the most important play manuscript of the period, owing to its highly complex witness to collaboration between dramatists and to censorship.

The New Cambridge Shakespeare appeals to students worldwide for its up-to-date scholarship and emphasis on performance. The series features line-by-line commentaries and textual notes on the plays and poems. Introductions are regularly refreshed with accounts of new critical, stage and screen interpretations. This third edition of Twelfth Night retains the text edited and annotated by Elizabeth Story Donno for the first edition of 1985, and features an updated introduction by Penny Gay, which focuses on recent scholarship and performance history. Building on her Introduction to the second edition, Gay stresses the play's theatricality, its elaborate linguistic games and its complex use of Ovidian myths. She analyses the delicate balance Shakespeare strikes in Twelfth Night between romance and realism, and explores representations of gender, sexuality and identity in the text. A selection of new photographs completes the edition.

Pericles was one of the most popular plays of its time, and it has regained much of that popularity today. In a wide-ranging introduction, Roger Warren draws on his experience of the play in rehearsal and performance to explore the reasons for this enduring popularity. Unfortunately Pericles survives only in a corrupt text, the Quarto of 1609, in which many passages are nonsensical and others appear to be missing altogether. Earlier editions have merely cleaned-up the Quarto, but this edition offers a conjectural reconstruction of what the original play might have been like. It draws upon George Wilkin's The Painful Adventures of Pericles (1608) to emend some of the errors and missing material. It does so in the belief that the play is a collaboration between Shakespeare and Wilkins. The entire Quarto text is reprinted in an appendix, together with the passages from Wilkin's narrative that have particularly contributed to the reconstruction, so that readers can see for themselves how the reconstruction has been made.
About the Series: For over 100 years Oxford World's Classics has made available the broadest spectrum of literature from around the globe. Each affordable volume reflects Oxford's commitment to scholarship, providing the most accurate text plus a wealth of other valuable features, including expert introductions by leading authorities, voluminous notes to clarify the text, up-to-date bibliographies for further study, and much more.

O Romeo, Romeo! Where fur art though Romeo? William Shakespeare has given us so many of the most iconic moments in literary history. From the tortured existential genius of Hamlet's "To be or not to be", or the complex violence of Macbeth's "Is this a dagger I see before me" and the heart-breaking romance of Romeo and Juliet's balcony scene, millions of us have been moved to laughter and tears by his timeless poetry. Now, finally, we're able to experience these moments through the medium of small furry animals.

George Lyman Kittredge's insightful editions of Shakespeare have endured in part because of his eclecticism, his diversity of interests, and his wide-ranging accomplishments, all of which are reflected in the valuable notes in each volume.

These new editions have specific emphasis on the performance histories of the plays (on stage and screen).

Features of each edition include: The original introduction to the Kittredge EditionEditor's Introduction to the Focus Edition. An overview on major themes of the plays, and sections on the play's performance history on stage and screen.Explanatory Notes. The explanatory notes either expand on Kittredge's superb glosses, or, in the case of plays for which he did not write notes, give the needed explanations for Shakespeare's sometimes demanding language.Performance notes. These appear separately and immediately below the textual footnotes and include discussions of noteworthy stagings of the plays, issues of interpretation, and film and stage choices.How to read the play as Performance Section. A discussion of the written play vs. the play as performed and the various ways in which Shakespeare's words allow the reader to envision the work "off the page."Comprehensive Timeline. Covering major historical events (with brief annotations) as well as relevant details from Shakespeare's life. Some include time chronologies within the plays.Topics for Discussion and Further Study. Critical Issues: Dealing with the text in a larger context and considerations of character, genre, language, and interpretative problems. Performance Issues: Problems and intricacies of staging the play connected to chief issues discussed in the Focus Editions' Introduction.Select Bibliography & Filmography

Each New Kittredge edition also includes screen grabs from major productions, for comparison and scene study.

Ros King provides a completely new Introduction to the existing text and commentary for this updated edition of The Comedy of Errors. She argues that the play cannot be regarded only as a farcical romp based on a classical model, but should be considered part of a critically misunderstood genre of tragi-comedy. Stressing the play's underlying seriousness, the Introduction pays special attention to its religious imagery. First Edition Hb (1988): 0-521-22153-6 First Edition Pb (1988): 0-521-29368-5

Neither comedy nor tragedy, The Winter's Tale contains elements of each genre, and defies easy classification. It experiments, like many of Shakespeare's late plays, with different styles and tones, and draws on a wide range of sources and inspirations. Full of mysteries and miracles, grief and dark humour, this strange play has fascinated critics and theatregoers for centuries. Theatrical and cinematic productions have tried to capture the range of interpretations and staging possibilities presented by The Winter's Tale, and the introduction to this edition explores the play's long history in performance and in criticism. Illustrations and extended notes interleaved throughout the text discuss the echoes of religious, scientific, and mythological texts found in the play.

Who said "Neither a lender or borrower be", who loved "not wisely but too well" and whose "salad days" are now behind her? If you have ever struggled to remember a Shakespeare quote, this is the book for you. It has over 3,000 quotes from single lines to quite long extracts, organized by topic and by play, with a key word index making it very easy to use. The dictionary also includes a glossary of unfamiliar terms and a brief biography of Shakespeare. It is very easy to dip into by word, theme or by play and the key word index means you can track down a half-remembered quote easily. A beautifully produced small format hardback with a colourful jacket, book ribbon and a bookplate, this is great gift for literary types, after dinner speakers and crossword fillers!

Abridged specifically for all those interested in Shakespeare's plays, especially teachers and students of English and drama, these one-hour performance scripts maintain the arcs of Shakespeare's plots without compromising the integrity of his original language. What remains are manageable performance texts and the essential elements needed for an introduction to three of Shakespeare's most popular plays.

The New Cambridge Shakespeare appeals to students worldwide for its up-to-date scholarship and emphasis on performance. The series features line-by-line commentaries and textual notes on the plays and poems. Introductions are regularly refreshed with accounts of new critical, stage and screen interpretations. For this second edition of Measure for Measure Angela Stock has written a new introductory section that takes account of recent scholarly criticism and important contemporary productions on stage and film. The edition retains the text prepared by Brian Gibbons together with his comprehensive introduction, in which he shows how the play's critical reception and stage history varies from one period to the next according to the prevailing social, moral and religious issues of the day. Gibbons explores the thrilling experience of watching the play in performance, with its shocking reversals and surprises, great tragic poetry and exuberant comic prose. An updated reading list completes the edition.

In what ways did playwrights like Shakespeare respond to the two urban locations of the Globe and the Blackfriars? What was the effect of their different acoustic and visual experiences on actors and audiences? What did the labels 'public' for the Globe and 'private' for the Blackfriars, actually mean in practice? Sarah Dustagheer offers the first in-depth, comparative analysis of the performance conditions of the two sites. This engaging study examines how the social, urban, sensory and historical characteristics of these playhouses affected dramatists, audiences and actors. Each chapter provides new interpretations of seminal King's Men's works written as the company began to perform in both settings, including The Alchemist, The Tempest and Henry VIII. Presenting a rich and compelling account of the two early modern theatres, the book also suggests fresh insights into recent contemporary productions at Shakespeare's Globe, London and the new Sam Wanamaker Playhouse.

This richly annotated edition takes a fresh look at the first part of Shakespeare's second tetralogy of history plays, showing how it relates to the other plays in the sequence. Forker places the play in its political context, discussing its relation to competing theories of monarchy, how it faced censorship because of possible comparisons between Richard II and Elizabeth I, and how Bolingbroke's rebellion could be compared to the Essex rising of the time. This edition also reconsiders Shakespeare's use of sources, asking why he chose to emphasize one approach over another. Forker also looks at the play's rich afterlife, and the many interpretations that actors and directors have taken. Finally, the edition looks closely at the aesthetic relationship between language, character, structure, and political import. A textual analysis of the play's eight early editions, a doubling chart for casting, and geneological tables are included as appendices.
The Arden Shakespeare has developed a reputation as the pre-eminent critical edition of Shakespeare for its exceptional scholarship, reflected in the thoroughness of each volume. An introduction comprehensively contextualizes the play, chronicling the history and culture that surrounded and influenced Shakespeare at the time of its writing and performance, and closely surveying critical approaches to the work. Detailed appendices address problems like dating and casting, and analyze the differing Quarto and Folio sources. A full commentary by one or more of the play's foremost contemporary scholars illuminates the text, glossing unfamiliar terms and drawing from an abundance of research and expertise to explain allusions and significant background information. Highly informative and accessible, Arden offers the fullest experience of Shakespeare available to a reader. Table of ContentsList of Illustrations
General Editors' Preface
Preface
Introduction
Politics
Historical Context and the Issue of Topicality
The Connection with Essex
Ideology: Competing Conceptions of Monarchy
Characterization: Attitudes towards Richard and Bolingbroke
Politics in Seventeenth- and Eighteenth- Century Stagings
Language
Style
Imagery, Major Themes, Symbolism, Patterns of Allusion
Rhetoric
Afterlife
The Date
The Relation to "Edward II" and "Woodstock
" "Richard II" and the Second Tetralogy
Probable Venues of Early Performance
Sources
"Holinshed"
"Hall"
The Mirror for Magistrates
"Daniel"
Woodstock
"Froissart"; "Creton"; Traison
Edward II
"Minor Sources"
Text
THE TRAGEDY OF KING RICHARD THE SECOND
Longer Notes
Appendices
1 Textual Analysis
2 Doubling Chart
3 Genealogical Tables
Abbreviations and references
Abbreviations used in notes
Works by and partly by Shakespeare
Editions of Shakespeare collated or referred to
Other works
Modern stage and television productions cited
Index

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1903 edition. Excerpt: ...Though all things foul would wear the brows of grace, Yet grace must still look so. Macd. I have lost my hopes. Mal. Perchance even there where I did find my doubts. Why in that rawness left you wife and child,0 Those precious motives, those strong knots of love, Without leave-taking? I pray you, Let not my jealousies be your dishonours, But mine own safeties. You may be rightly just, 30 Whatever I shall think. Macd. Bleed, bleed, poor country: Great tyranny, lay thou thy basis sure, For goodness dare not check thee: wear thou thy wrongs; The title is affeer'd. Tare thee well, lord: I would not be the villain that thou think'st For the whole space that's in the tyrant's grasp And the rich East to boot. Mai. Be not offended: I speak not as in absolute fear of you. I think our country sinks beneath the yoke; It weeps, it bleeds, and each new day a gash Is added to her wounds: I think withal There would be hands uplifted in my right; And here from gracious England have I offer Of goodly thousands: but for all this, When I shall tread upon the tyrant's head, Or wear it on my sword, yet my poor country Shall have more vices than it had before, More suffer and more sundry ways than ever, By him that shall succeed. Macd. What should he be? Mal. It 0 is myself I mean: in whom I know All the particulars of vice so grafted That, when they shall be open'd, black Macbeth Will seem as pure as snow, and the poor state Esteem him as a lamb, being compared With my confineless harms. Macd. Not in the legions Of horrid hell can come a devil more damn'd In evils to top Macbeth. Mai. I grant him bloody, Luxurious, avaricious, false, deceitful, Sudden, malicious, smacking of every sin That has a name: but there's no bottom, none, 60 In my voluptuousness: your wives, ...

In Shakespeare's Language, Keith Johnson offers an overview of the rich and dynamic history of the reception and study of Shakespeare's language from his death right up to the present. Tracing a chronological history of Shakespeare's language, Keith Johnson also picks up on classic and contemporary themes, such as: lexical and digital studies original pronunciation rhetoric grammar. The historical approach provides a comprehensive overview, plotting the attitudes towards Shakespeare's language, as well as a history of its study. This approach reveals how different cultural and literary trends have moulded these attitudes and reflects changing linguistic climates; the book also includes a chapter that looks to the future. Shakespeare's Language is therefore not only an essential guide to the language of Shakespeare, but it offers crucial insights to broader approaches to language as a whole.

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1903 edition. Excerpt: ...Though all things foul would wear the brows of grace, Yet grace must still look so. Macd. I have lost my hopes. Mal. Perchance even there where I did find my doubts. Why in that rawness left you wife and child,0 Those precious motives, those strong knots of love, Without leave-taking? I pray you, Let not my jealousies be your dishonours, But mine own safeties. You may be rightly just, 30 Whatever I shall think. Macd. Bleed, bleed, poor country: Great tyranny, lay thou thy basis sure, For goodness dare not check thee: wear thou thy wrongs; The title is affeer'd. Tare thee well, lord: I would not be the villain that thou think'st For the whole space that's in the tyrant's grasp And the rich East to boot. Mai. Be not offended: I speak not as in absolute fear of you. I think our country sinks beneath the yoke; It weeps, it bleeds, and each new day a gash Is added to her wounds: I think withal There would be hands uplifted in my right; And here from gracious England have I offer Of goodly thousands: but for all this, When I shall tread upon the tyrant's head, Or wear it on my sword, yet my poor country Shall have more vices than it had before, More suffer and more sundry ways than ever, By him that shall succeed. Macd. What should he be? Mal. It 0 is myself I mean: in whom I know All the particulars of vice so grafted That, when they shall be open'd, black Macbeth Will seem as pure as snow, and the poor state Esteem him as a lamb, being compared With my confineless harms. Macd. Not in the legions Of horrid hell can come a devil more damn'd In evils to top Macbeth. Mai. I grant him bloody, Luxurious, avaricious, false, deceitful, Sudden, malicious, smacking of every sin That has a name: but there's no bottom, none, 60 In my voluptuousness: your wives, ...

For this updated critical edition of King Lear, Lois Potter has written a completely new introduction, taking account of recent productions and reinterpretations of the play, with particular emphasis on its afterlife in global performance and adaptation. The edition retains the Textual Analysis of the previous editor, Jay L. Halio, shortened and with a new preface by Brian Gibbons. Professor Halio, accepting that we have two versions of equal authority, the one derived from Shakespeare's rough drafts, the other from a manuscript used in the playhouses during the seventeenth century, chooses the Folio as the text for this edition. He explains the differences between the two versions and alerts the reader to the rival claims of the quarto by means of a sampling of parallel passages in the Introduction and by an appendix which contains annotated passages unique to the quarto.

George Lyman Kittredge's insightful editions of Shakespeare have endured in part because of his eclecticism, his diversity of interests, and his wide-ranging accomplishments, all of which are reflected in the valuable notes in each volume.

These new editions have specific emphasis on the performance histories of the plays (on stage and screen).

Features of each edition include:

- The original introduction to the Kittredge Edition

- Editor's Introduction to the Focus Edition. An overview on major themes of the plays, and sections on the play's performance history on stage and screen.

- Explanatory Notes. The explanatory notes either expand on Kittredge's superb glosses, or, in the case of plays for which he did not write notes, give the needed explanations for Shakespeare's sometimes demanding language.

- Performance notes. These appear separately and immediately below the textual footnotes and include discussions of noteworthy stagings of the plays, issues of interpretation, and film and stage choices.

- How to read the play as Performance Section. A discussion of the written play vs. the play as performed and the various ways in which Shakespeare's words allow the reader to envision the work "off the page."

- Comprehensive Timeline. Covering major historical events (with brief annotations) as well as relevant details from Shakespeare's life. Some of the Chronologies include time chronologies within the plays.

- Topics for Discussion and Further Study Section. Critical Issues: Dealing with the text in a larger context and considerations of character, genre, language, and interpretative problems. Performance Issues: Problems and intricacies of staging the play connected to chief issues discussed in the Focus Editions' Introduction.

- Select Bibliography & Filmography

Each New Kittredge edition also includes screen grabs from major productions, for comparison and scene study.

This is the full play in quick modern English for a fast-paced read! Although "The Tempest" was the first play to appear in the first official Folio printing of Shakespeare's plays, it was almost certainly the last play he wrote. It held a pride of place in that first collection, presumably because the editors thought it to be his masterpiece; a crowning glory to the career of the most brightest of playwrights. Needless to say, we had to select the very best artists to do it justice, and to bring you the stunning artwork that you've come to expect from our titles. Poignant to the last, this book is a classic amongst classics.

In the heat of renaissance Italy two houses are at war. One son and one daughter from the opposing families break this bitter conflict by falling in love. Yet, in this whirlwind of enmity, Romeo and Juliet's passion agitates rather than unites the clashing houses, causing a trail of destruction. Locked in a burning embrace, the two young lovers are tragically doomed to live or die together. For the first time, the world-renowned Arden Shakespeare is producing Performance Editions, aimed specifically for use in the rehearsal room. Published in association with the Shakespeare Institute, the text features easily accessible facing page notes - including short definitions of words, key textual variants, and guidance on metre and pronunciation; a larger font size for easier reading; space for writing notes and reduced punctuation aimed at the actor rather than the reader. With editorial expertise from the worlds of theatre and academia, the series has been developed in association with actors and drama students. The Series Editors are distinguished scholars Professor Michael Dobson and Dr Abigail Rokison-Woodall and leading Shakespearean actor, Simon Russell Beale.

The acclaimed Pelican Shakespeare series, now in a dazzling new series designThis edition ofJulius Caesaris edited by William Montgomery with an introduction by Douglas Trevorand was recently repackaged with cover art by Manuja Waldia.Waldia received a Gold Medal from the Society of Illustrators for the Pelican Shakespeare series. The legendary Pelican Shakespeare series features authoritative and meticulously researched texts paired with scholarship by renowned Shakespeareans. Each book includes an essay on the theatrical world of Shakespeare s time, an introduction to the individual play, and a detailed note on the text used. Updated by general editors Stephen Orgel and A. R. Braunmuller, these easy-to-read editions incorporate over thirty years of Shakespeare scholarship undertaken since the original series, edited by Alfred Harbage, appeared between 1956 and 1967. With stunning new covers, definitive texts, and illuminating essays, the Pelican Shakespeare will remain a valued resource for students, teachers, and theater professionals for many years to come. For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,700 titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust the series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as up-to-date translations by award-winning translators."

The two-part tale of King Henry IV, rewritten with new language for the twenty-first century. Shakespeare's two Henry IV plays follow the exploits of King Henry IV after usurping the crown from his cousin Richard II. Featuring some of Shakespeare's most recognizable characters such as Prince Hal and the roguish Sir John Falstaff, Henry IV, Part 1 delves into complicated questions of loyalty and kingship on and off the battlefield. Henry IV, Part 2 follows Prince Hal as he grapples with his eventual ascent to the throne and his increasingly strained relationship with Falstaff. As the king falls sick and Hal's ascent appears imminent, Hal's decisions hold significant implications for all those around him. Modernizing the language of the two plays, Yvette Nolan's translation carefully works at the seeds sown by Shakespeare-bringing to new life the characters and dramatic arcs of the original. These translations of Henry IV were written as part of the Oregon Shakespeare Festival's Play On! project, which commissioned new translations of thirty-nine Shakespeare plays. These translations present work from "The Bard" in language accessible to modern audiences while never losing the beauty of Shakespeare's verse. Enlisting the talents of a diverse group of contemporary playwrights, screenwriters, and dramaturges from diverse backgrounds, this project reenvisions Shakespeare for the twenty-first century. These volumes make these works available for the first time in print-a new First Folio for a new era.