While over the past four hundred years numerous opinions have been voiced as to Shakespeare's identity, these eleven essays widen the scope of the investigation by regarding Shakespeare, his world, and his works in their interaction with one another. Instead of restricting the search for bits and pieces of evidence from his works that seem to match what he may have experienced, these essays focus on the contemporary milieu-political developments, social and theater history, and cultural and religious pressures-as well as the domestic conditions within Shakespeare's family that shaped his personality and are featured in his works. The authors of these essays, employing the tenets of critical theory and practice as well as intuitive and informed insight, endeavor to look behind the masks, thus challenging the reader to adjudicate among the possible, the probable, the likely, and the unlikely. With the exception of the editor's own piece on Hamlet, Shakespeare the Man: New Decipherings presents previously unpublished essays, inviting the reader to embark upon an intellectual adventure into the fascinating terrain of Shakespeare's mind and art.

Forker's critical edition fills the need for a fully annotated, historically contextualised and modernised text of the most important Elizabethan chronicle play apart from Shakespeare and Marlowe's Edward II. Now attributed definitely to George Peele, this drama helped to establish a major theatrical genre, raising contemporary political and religious issues through the dramatisation of medieval history in a compelling and popular fashion. A major source for Shakespeare, it throws new light on the bard's adaptation of earlier drama and helps to illustrate his working methods. With the full introduction and generous notes this Revels Plays edition will be the first port of call for students and enthusiasts of Elizabethan and early modern drama. -- .

While over the past four hundred years numerous opinions have been voiced as to Shakespeare's identity, these eleven essays widen the scope of the investigation by regarding Shakespeare, his world, and his works in their interaction with one another. Instead of restricting the search for bits and pieces of evidence from his works that seem to match what he may have experienced, these essays focus on the contemporary milieu-political developments, social and theater history, and cultural and religious pressures-as well as the domestic conditions within Shakespeare's family that shaped his personality and are featured in his works. The authors of these essays, employing the tenets of critical theory and practice as well as intuitive and informed insight, endeavor to look behind the masks, thus challenging the reader to adjudicate among the possible, the probable, the likely, and the unlikely. With the exception of the editor's own piece on Hamlet, Shakespeare the Man: New Decipherings presents previously unpublished essays, inviting the reader to embark upon an intellectual adventure into the fascinating terrain of Shakespeare's mind and art.

This revised edition of King Richard II: Critical Tradition increases our the play was received and understood by critics, editors and general readers. Updated with a new introduction providing a survey of critical responses to Richard II since the 1990s to the present day, this volume offers, in separate sections, both critical opinions about the play across the centuries and an evaluation of their positions within and their impact on the reception of the play. The updated introduction offers an overview of recent criticism on the play in relation to feminist theory, queer theory, performance theory and ecocriticism. The chronological arrangement of the text-excerpts engages the readers in a direct and unbiased dialogue, whereas the introduction offers a critical evaluation from a current stance, including modern theories and methods. Featuring criticism by A.C. Swinburne, Walter Pater, Oscar Wilde and W.B. Yeats, this volume makes a major contribution to our understanding of the play and of the traditions of Shakespearean criticism surrounding it as they have developed from century to century.

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