Richard III is one of the great Shakespearean characters and roles. James R Siemon examines the attraction of this villain to audiences and focuses on how beguiling, even funny he can be, especially in the earlier parts of the play. Siemon also places King Richard III in its historical context; as Elizabeth I had no heirs the issue of succession was a very real one for Shakespeare's audience. The introduction is well-illustrated and provides a comprehensive account of the play, critical approaches to it and its varied stage history.

The edition also provides a clear and authoritative playtext, edited to the most rigorous standards of scholarship, with detailed notes and commentary on the same page. With a wealth of helpful and incisive commentary the Arden Shakespeare is the finest edition of Shakespeare you can find, giving a deeper understanding and appreciation of his work.

Shakespeare Studies is an annual volume containing essays and studies by critics and cultural historians from around the world. This issue includes a nine-part Forum on Whiteness and Shakespeare Studies. Also included are three additional articles, and substantial critiques of 14 important new books.

Shakespeare Studies is an annual volume containing essays and studies by critics and cultural historians from around the world. This issue includes a forum on English Among the Literatures of Early Modernity. Also included are essays by contributors to the Shakespeare Associated on America's 2019 'Net Generation Plenary', four additional articles, a review article, and substantial critiques of ten important new books.

'Tell me worldlings, underneath the sun, If greater falsehood ever has been done'

"The Jew of Malta," written around 1590, can present a
challenge for modern audiences. Hugely popular in its day, the play
swings wildly and rapidly in genre, from pointed satire, to bloody
revenge tragedy, to melodrmatic intrigue, to dark farce and grotesque
comedy. Although set in the Mediterranean island of Malta, the play
evokes contemporary Elizabethan social tensions, especially the highly
charged issue of London's much-resented community of resident merchant
foreigners. Barabas, the enormously wealthy Jew of the play's title,
appears initially victimized by Malta's Christian Governor, who quotes
scripture to support the demand that Jews cede their wealth to pay
Malta's tribute to the Turks. When he protests, Barabas is deprived of
his wealth, his means of livelihood, and his house, which is converted
to a nunnery. In response to this hypocritical extortion, Barabas
launches a horrific (and sometimes hilarious) course of violence that
goes well beyond revenge, using murderous tactics that include
everything from deadly soup to poisoned flowers. The play's sometimes
complex treatment of anti-Semitism and its relationship to
Shakespeare's "Merchant of Venice "remain matters of continuing scholarly reflection.

This student edition contains a lengthy Introduction with background
on the author, date and sources, theme, critical interpretation and
stage history, as well as a fully annotated version of the playtext in
modern spelling.

James R. Siemon is Professor of English at Boston University.

Shakespeare Studies is an annual volume containing essays and studies by critics and cultural historians from around the world. This issue features a Forum on "Early Modern Animal/Human Interfaces." In addition, there are articles on Simile, Paternity and Identity in Henry V, Shakespeare's Sleeping Workers, and Comedy and the Erotics of the Grave in The Widow's Tears, a review article, and reviews of seventeen books of current interest.

Word against Word offers a new approach to Shakespearean drama, and in particular to Shakespeare's Richard II, through an extended engagement with the Bakhtinian concept of art as a form of social utterance. The book is the first to explore this central Bakhtinian conception and its associated notions of social accent, dialogism, and heteroglossia in the context of drama and of Shakespeare studies.

James R. Siemon begins by examining the variety of accents, discourses, and behaviors that competed for the social space of early modern England. He surveys Shakespeare and his contemporaries, including dramatists, poets, and other writers, in order to document early modern attitudes toward the implications of sociolinguistic behavior in a heteroglot environment. While ranging broadly, the book takes Richard II as an exemplary instance of Bakhtinian utterance, showing the play to be, despite its apparent thematic and formal unities, an arena marked by struggles among competing groups and orientations, with their socially defined languages and assumptions. The figure of Shakespeare's King Richard emerges as a revealing example of a form of subjectivity constructed amid the demands of conflicting voices.

Taking his lead from V. N. Volosinov's stress on the social implications of formal elements of utterance, Siemon argues for the utility of formal analysis in historical and new historical study. To this end he reconsiders the social implications of such features as tonality, diction, timing, gesture, and metaphor. His analysis extends not only to Richard II but also to the materials on which historians and new historians have based arguments about the sociopolitical location of the theater,the role of honor culture, the rise of agrarian enclosure, and the cultural polarization of English society.

Shakespeare Studies is an annual volume containing essays and studies by critics and cultural historians from around the world. This issue includes a Forum on Literature and Science. Also included are essays by contributors to the Shakespeare Association of America's 2020 "Next Generation Plenary."; three additional articles, a review article, and substantial critiques of twelve important new books.

Shakespeare Studies is an annual volume containing essays and studies by critics and cultural historians from around the world. This issue includes a forum on Shakespeare for Specialised Performers and Audiences. Also includes are essays by contributors to the Shakespeare Associated on America's 2018 'Net Generation Plenary', four additional articles, a review article, and substantial critiques of ten important new books.

Shakesepare Studies is an annual volume containing essays and studies by critics and cultural historians from around the world. This issue includes a form on Shakespeare and Culture Translation. Also included are essays by contributors to the Shakespeare Association of America's 2017 ""Next Generation Plesary."" Book reviews offer substantial critiques of ten important works.

Shakespeare Studies is a peer-reviewed volume published annually in hard cover featuring the work of performance scholars, literary critics and cultural historians across the globe. The journal focuses attention primarily on Shakespeare and his contemporaries, but embraces theoretical and historical studies of socio-political, intellectual and artistic contexts that extend well beyond the early modern English theatrical milieu in both space and time. In addition to articles, Shakespeare Studies offers unique opportunities for extended intellectual exchange through its thematically-focused forums, and includes substantial reviews of significant publications. An international Editorial Board of distinguished scholars maintains the quality of each annual volume so that Shakespeare Studies may serve as a reliable resource for all students of Shakespeare and the early modern period - for research scholars, certainly, but also for teachers, actors and directors.

An international volume published annually featuring essays and book reviews focusing on the theatrical milieu of Shakespeare and his contemporaries.

An international volume published annually featuring essays and book reviews focusing on the theatrical milieu of Shakespeare and his contemporaries.

Richard III is one of the great Shakespearean characters and roles. James R Siemon examines the attraction of this villain to audiences and focuses on how beguiling, even funny, he can be, especially in the earlier parts of the play. Siemon also places King Richard III in its historical context; as Elizabeth I had no heirs the issue of succession was a very real one for Shakespeare's audience. The introduction is well-illustrated and provides a comprehensive account of the play, critical approaches to it and its varied stage history.

The edition also provides a clear and authoritative playtext, edited to the most rigorous standards of scholarship, with detailed notes and commentary on the same page. With a wealth of helpful and incisive commentary the Arden Shakespeare is the finest edition of Shakespeare you can find, giving a deeper understanding and appreciation of his work.