Twelfth Night or What You Will The Oxford Shakespeare — William Shakespeare

Hamlet s combination of violence and introspection is unusual among Shakespeare s tragedies It is also full of curious riddles and fascinating paradoxes making it one of his most widely discussed plays Professor Hibbard s illuminating and original introduction explains the process by which variant texts were fused in the eighteenth century to create the most commonly used text of today Drawing on both critical and theatrical history he shows how this fusion makes Hamlet seem a much more problematic play than it was when it originally appeared in the First Folio of 1623 The Oxford Shakespeare edition presents a radically new text based on that First Folio which printed Shakespeare s own revision of an earlier version The result is a theatrical and highly practical edition for students and actors alike

In its towering central characters vast geographical and historical sweep and its variety of style and mood Anthony and Cleopatra is perhaps the most ambitious of Shakespeare s designs Yet the degree and nature of its success remain surprisingly contentious and performances of the play have seldom matched the extravagant expectations of its admirers Michael Neill s wide ranging introduction from a number of angles including those of gender and race He examines the sources and discusses the theatrical challenge presented by Shakespeare s technique with its extraordinary tensions between rhetoric and action A full stage history further illustrates its theatrical fortunes both here and in the extensive commentary this edition illuminates the play s theatrical dimensions as well as the rich complexity of its poetic language

Sparkling with the witty dialogue between Beatrice and Benedicts Much Ado About Nothing is one of Shakespeare s most enjoyable and theatrically successful comedies This edition offers a newly edited text and an exceptionally helpful and critically aware introduction Paying particular attention to analysis of the play s minor characters Sheldon P Zitner discusses Shakespeare s transformation of his source material He rethinks the attitudes to gender relations that underlie the comedy and determine its view of marriage Allowing for the play s openness to reinterpretation by successive generations of readers and peformers Zitner provides a socially analytic stage history advancing new views for the actor as much as for the critic

A Midsummer Night s Dream is perhaps the best loved of Shakepeare s plays It brings together aristocrats workers and fairies in a wood outside Athens and from there the enchantment begins Simple and engaging on the surface it is none the less a highly original and sophisticated work remarkable for both its literary and its theatrical mastery It is one of the very few of Shakespeare s plays which do not draw on narrative sources which suggests that it reflects his deepest imaginative concerns to an unusual degree In his introduction Peter Holland pays particular attention to dreams and dreamers and to Shakespeare s construction of a world of night and shadows Both here and in his commentary he explores the play s extensive performance history to illustrate the wide range of interpretations of which it is capable

The Winter s Tale is Shakespeare s most perfectly realized tragi comedy as notable for its tragic intensity as for its comic grace and throughout for the richness and complexity of its poetry It concludes moreover with the most daring and moving reconciliation scene in all Shakespeare s plays Though the title may suggest an escapist fantasy recent criticism has seen in the play a profoundly realist psychology and a powerful commentary on the violence implicit in family relationships and deep longlasting friendships Stephen Orgel s edition considers the play in relation to Renaissance conceptions of both dramatic genre and the family traces the changing critical and theatrical attitudes towards it and places its psychological and dramatic conflicts within the Jacobean cultural and political context The commentary pays special attention to the play s linguistic complexity and the edition also includes a complete reprint of Shakespeare s source Pandosto by Robert Greene

Troilus and Cressida is perhaps Shakespeare s most philosophical play and its preoccupation with war sex and time has seemed peculiarly relevant since the First World War Fine productions have demonstrated the play s theatrical power and critics have explored and illuminated its ideas and its exceptionally complex language Kenneth Muir in his introduction sets the play in its historical context discusses its odd career in the theatre examines Shakespeare s handling of his multiple sources and assesses the contribution of interpretative criticism to a deeper understanding of this sombre examination of a fallen world

What was Shakespeare s attitude to Semitism The Introduction to this edition of The Merchant of Venice opens by addressing this vital issue raised by the play and goes on to study the sources background and date includuing a discussion of Sigmund Freud s essay on The Three Caskets Professor Halio interprets the play s contradictions inconsistencies and complementarities especially as these relate to the overarching theme of bonds and bondage A survey of the play s stage history ranges from discussions of its early staging to important twentieth century productions and performances outside England particularly in Israel The text based on a fresh examination of the early editions is presented in modernized spelling and punctuation Unfailingly lucid and helpful this is an ideal edition for students actors and the general reader

The Winter s Tale is Shakespeare s most perfectly realized tragi comedy as notable for its tragic intensity as for its comic grace and throughout for the richness and complexity of its poetry It concludes moreover with the most daring and moving reconciliation scene in all Shakespeare s plays Though the title may suggest an escapist fantasy recent criticism has seen in the play a profoundly realist psychology and a powerful commentary on the violence implicit in family relationships and deep longlasting friendships Stephen Orgel s edition considers the play in relation to Renaissance conceptions of both dramatic genre and the family traces the changing critical and theatrical attitudes towards it and places its psychological and dramatic conflicts within the Jacobean cultural and political context The commentary pays special attention to the play s linguistic complexity and the edition also includes a complete reprint of Shakespeare s source Pandosto by Robert Greene

Troilus and Cressida is perhaps Shakespeares most philosophical play and its preoccupation with war sex and time has seemed peculiarly relevant since the First World War Fine productions have demonstrated the plays theatrical power and critics have explored and illuminated its ideas and its exceptionally complex language Kenneth Muir in his introduction sets the play in its historical context discusses its odd career in the theatre examines Shakespeares handling of his multiple sources and assesses the contribution of interpretative criticism to a deeper understanding of this sombre examination of a fallen world

Troilus and Cressida is perhaps Shakespeare s most philosophical play and its preoccupation with war sex and time has seemed peculiarly relevant since the First World War Fine productions have demonstrated the play s theatrical power and critics have explored and illuminated its ideas and its exceptionally complex language Kenneth Muir in his introduction sets the play in its historical context discusses its odd career in the theatre examines Shakespeare s handling of his multiple sources and assesses the contribution of interpretative criticism to a deeper understanding of this sombre examination of a fallen world

A Midsummer Night s Dream is perhaps the best loved of Shakepeare s plays It brings together aristocrats workers and fairies in a wood outside Athens and from there the enchantment begins Simple and engaging on the surface it is none the less a highly original and sophisticated work remarkable for both its literary and its theatrical mastery It is one of the very few of Shakespeare s plays which do not draw on narrative sources which suggests that it reflects his deepest imaginative concerns to an unusual degree In his introduction Peter Holland pays particular attention to dreams and dreamers and to Shakespeare s construction of a world of night and shadows Both here and in his commentary he explores the play s extensive performance history to illustrate the wide range of interpretations of which it is capable

Sparkling with the witty dialogue between Beatrice and Benedicts Much Ado About Nothing is one of Shakespeare s most enjoyable and theatrically successful comedies This edition offers a newly edited text and an exceptionally helpful and critically aware introduction Paying particular attention to analysis of the play s minor characters Sheldon P Zitner discusses Shakespeare s transformation of his source material He rethinks the attitudes to gender relations that underlie the comedy and determine its view of marriage Allowing for the play s openness to reinterpretation by successive generations of readers and peformers Zitner provides a socially analytic stage history advancing new views for the actor as much as for the critic

Twelfth Night is one of the most popular of Shakespeare s plays in performance and this edition emphasizes its theatrical qualities in both

In its towering central characters vast geographical and historical sweep and its variety of style and mood Anthony and Cleopatra is perhaps the most ambitious of Shakespeare s designs Yet the degree and nature of its success remain surprisingly contentious and performances of the play have seldom matched the extravagant expectations of its admirers Michael Neill s wide ranging introduction from a number of angles including those of gender and race He examines the sources and discusses the theatrical challenge presented by Shakespeare s technique with its extraordinary tensions between rhetoric and action A full stage history further illustrates its theatrical fortunes both here and in the extensive commentary this edition illuminates the play s theatrical dimensions as well as the rich complexity of its poetic language

The Winter s Tale is Shakespeare s most perfectly realized tragi comedy as notable for its tragic intensity as for its comic grace and throughout for the richness and complexity of its poetry It concludes moreover with the most daring and moving reconciliation scene in all Shakespeare s plays Though the title may suggest an escapist fantasy recent criticism has seen in the play a profoundly realist psychology and a powerful commentary on the violence implicit in family relationships and deep longlasting friendships Stephen Orgel s edition considers the play in relation to Renaissance conceptions of both dramatic genre and the family traces the changing critical and theatrical attitudes towards it and places its psychological and dramatic conflicts within the Jacobean cultural and political context The commentary pays special attention to the play s linguistic complexity and the edition also includes a complete reprint of Shakespeare s source Pandosto by Robert Greene

What was Shakespeare s attitude to Semitism The Introduction to this edition of The Merchant of Venice opens by addressing this vital issue raised by the play and goes on to study the sources background and date includuing a discussion of Sigmund Freud s essay on The Three Caskets Professor Halio interprets the play s contradictions inconsistencies and complementarities especially as these relate to the overarching theme of bonds and bondage A survey of the play s stage history ranges from discussions of its early staging to important twentieth century productions and performances outside England particularly in Israel The text based on a fresh examination of the early editions is presented in modernized spelling and punctuation Unfailingly lucid and helpful this is an ideal edition for students actors and the general reader

Hamlet s combination of violence and introspection is unusual among Shakespeare s tragedies It is also full of curious riddles and fascinating paradoxes making it one of his most widely discussed plays Professor Hibbard s illuminating and original introduction explains the process by which variant texts were fused in the eighteenth century to create the most commonly used text of today Drawing on both critical and theatrical history he shows how this fusion makes Hamlet seem a much more problematic play than it was when it originally appeared in the First Folio of 1623 The Oxford Shakespeare edition presents a radically new text based on that First Folio which printed Shakespeare s own revision of an earlier version The result is a theatrical and highly practical edition for students and actors alike