Product Description

Each edition includes:

• Freshly edited text based on the best early printed version of the play

• Full explanatory notes conveniently placed on pages facing the text of the play

• Scene-by-scene plot summaries

• A key to famous lines and phrases

• An introduction to reading Shakespeare's language

• An essay by an outstanding scholar providing a modern perspective on the play

• Illustrations from the Folger Shakespeare Library's vast holdings of rare books

Essay by Catherine Belsey

The Folger Shakespeare Library in Washington, D.C., is home to the world's largest collection of Shakespeare's printed works, and a magnet for Shakespeare scholars from around the globe. In addition to exhibitions open to the public throughout the year, the Folger offers a full calendar of performances and programs.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #15187 in Books
• Published on: 2004-01-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Mass Market Paperback
• 256 pages

Features

• ISBN13: 9780743477543
• Condition: NEW
• Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
• Click here to view our Condition Guide and Shipping Prices

About the Author
The Folger Shakespeare Library in Washington, D.C., is home to the world's largest collection of Shakespeare's printed works, and a magnet for Shakespeare scholars from around the globe. In addition to exhibitions open to the public throughout the year, the Folger offers a full calendar of performances and programs. For more information, visit www.folger.edu.

Barbara A. Mowat is Director of Academic Programs at the Folger Shakespeare Library, Editor of Shakespeare Quarterly, Chair of the Folger Institute, and author of The Dramaturgy of Shakespeare's Romances and of essays on Shakespeare's plays and on the editing of the plays.

Paul Werstine is Professor of English at King's College and the Graduate School of the University of Western Ontario, Canada. He is the author of many papers and articles on the printing and editing of Shakespeare's plays and was Associate Editor of the annual Medieval and Renaissance Drama in England from 1980 to 1989.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

Surviving documents that give us glimpses into the life of William Shakespeare show us a playwright, poet, and actor who grew up in the market town of Stratford-upon-Avon, spent his professional life in London, and returned to Stratford a wealthy landowner. He was born in April 1564, died in April 1616, and is buried inside the chancel of Holy Trinity Church in Stratford.

We wish we could know more about the life of the world's greatest dramatist. His plays and poems are testaments to his wide reading -- especially to his knowledge of Virgil, Ovid, Plutarch, Holinshed's Chronicles, and the Bible -- and to his mastery of the English language, but we can only speculate about his education. We know that the King's New School in Stratford-upon-Avon was considered excellent. The school was one of the English "grammar schools" established to educate young men, primarily in Latin grammar and literature. As in other schools of the time, students began their studies at the age of four or five in the attached "petty school," and there learned to read and write in English, studying primarily the catechism from the Book of Common Prayer. After two years in the petty school, students entered the lower form (grade) of the grammar school, where they began the serious study of Latin grammar and Latin texts that would occupy most of the remainder of their school days. (Several Latin texts that Shakespeare used repeatedly in writing his plays and poems were texts that schoolboys memorized and recited.) Latin comedies were introduced early in the lower form; in the upper form, which the boys entered at age ten or eleven, students wrote their own Latin orations and declamations, studied Latin historians and rhetoricians, and began the study of Greek using the Greek New Testament.

Since the records of the Stratford "grammar school" do not survive, we cannot prove that William Shakespeare attended the school; however, every indication (his father's position as an alderman and bailiff of Stratford, the playwright's own knowledge of the Latin classics, scenes in the plays that recall grammar-school experiences -- for example, The Merry Wives of Windsor, 4.1) suggests that he did. We also lack generally accepted documentation about Shakespeare's life after his schooling ended and his professional life in London began. His marriage in 1582 (at age eighteen) to Anne Hathaway and the subsequent births of his daughter Susanna (1583) and the twins Judith and Hamnet (1585) are recorded, but how he supported himself and where he lived are not known. Nor do we know when and why he left Stratford for the London theatrical world, nor how he rose to be the important figure in that world that he had become by the early 1590s.

We do know that by 1592 he had achieved some prominence in London as both an actor and a playwright. In that year was published a book by the playwright Robert Greene attacking an actor who had the audacity to write blank-verse drama and who was "in his own conceit [i.e., opinion] the only Shake-scene in a country." Since Greene's attack includes a parody of a line from one of Shakespeare's early plays, there is little doubt that it is Shakespeare to whom he refers, a "Shake-scene" who had aroused Greene's fury by successfully competing with university-educated dramatists like Greene himself. It was in 1593 that Shakespeare became a published poet. In that year he published his long narrative poem Venus and Adonis; in 1594, he followed it with The Rape of Lucrece. Both poems were dedicated to the young earl of Southampton (Henry Wriothesley), who may have become Shakespeare's patron.

It seems no coincidence that Shakespeare wrote these narrative poems at a time when the theaters were closed because of the plague, a contagious epidemic disease that devastated the population of London. When the theaters reopened in 1594, Shakespeare apparently resumed his double career of actor and playwright and began his long (and seemingly profitable) service as an acting-company shareholder. Records for December of 1594 show him to be a leading member of the Lord Chamberlain's Men. It was this company of actors, later named the King's Men, for whom he would be a principal actor, dramatist, and shareholder for the rest of his career.

So far as we can tell, that career spanned about twenty years. In the 1590s, he wrote his plays on English history as well as several comedies and at least two tragedies (Titus Andronicus and Romeo and Juliet). These histories, comedies, and tragedies are the plays credited to him in 1598 in a work, Palladis Tamia, that in one chapter compares English writers with "Greek, Latin, and Italian Poets." There the author, Francis Meres, claims that Shakespeare is comparable to the Latin dramatists Seneca for tragedy and Plautus for comedy, and calls him "the most excellent in both kinds for the stage." He also names him "Mellifluous and honey-tongued Shakespeare": "I say," writes Meres, "that the Muses would speak with Shakespeare's fine filed phrase, if they would speak English." Since Meres also mentions Shakespeare's "sugared sonnets among his private friends," it is assumed that many of Shakespeare's sonnets (not published until 1609) were also written in the 1590s.

In 1599, Shakespeare's company built a theater for themselves across the river from London, naming it the Globe. The plays that are considered by many to be Shakespeare's major tragedies (Hamlet, Othello, King Lear, and Macbeth) were written while the company was resident in this theater, as were such comedies as Twelfth Night and Measure for Measure. Many of Shakespeare's plays were performed at court (both for Queen Elizabeth I and, after her death in 1603, for King James I), some were presented at the Inns of Court (the residences of London's legal societies), and some were doubtless performed in other towns, at the universities, and at great houses when the King's Men went on tour; otherwise, his plays from 1599 to 1608 were, so far as we know, performed only at the Globe. Between 1608 and 1612, Shakespeare wrote several plays -- among them The Winter's Tale and The Tempest -- presumably for the company's new indoor Blackfriars theater, though the plays seem to have been performed also at the Globe and at court. Surviving documents describe a performance of The Winter's Tale in 1611 at the Globe, for example, and performances of The Tempest in 1611 and 1613 at the royal palace of Whitehall.

Shakespeare wrote very little after 1612, the year in which he probably wrote King Henry VIII. (It was at a performance of Henry VIII in 1613 that the Globe caught fire and burned to the ground.) Sometime between 1610 and 1613 he seems to have returned to live in Stratford-upon-Avon, where he owned a large house and considerable property, and where his wife and his two daughters and their husbands lived. (His son Hamnet had died in 1596.) During his professional years in London, Shakespeare had presumably derived income from the acting company's profits as well as from his own career as an actor, from the sale of his play manuscripts to the acting company, and, after 1599, from his shares as an owner of the Globe. It was presumably that income, carefully invested in land and other property, which made him the wealthy man that surviving documents show him to have become. It is also assumed that William Shakespeare's growing wealth and reputation played some part in inclining the crown, in 1596, to grant John Shakespeare, William's father, the coat of arms that he had so long sought. William Shakespeare died in Stratford on April 23, 1616 (according to the epitaph carved under his bust in Holy Trinity Church) and was buried on April 25. Seven years after his death, his collected plays were published as Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies (the work now known as the First Folio).

The years in which Shakespeare wrote were among the most exciting in English history. Intellectually, the discovery, translation, and printing of Greek and Roman classics were making available a set of works and worldviews that interacted complexly with Christian texts and beliefs. The result was a questioning, a vital intellectual ferment, that provided energy for the period's amazing dramatic and literary output and that fed directly into Shakespeare's plays. The Ghost in Hamlet, for example, is wonderfully complicated in part because he is a figure from Roman tragedy -- the spirit of the dead returning to seek revenge -- who at the same time inhabits a Christian hell (or purgatory); Hamlet's description of humankind reflects at one moment the Neoplatonic wonderment at mankind ("What a piece of work is a man!") and, at the next, the Christian disparagement of human sinners ("And yet, to me, what is this quintessence of dust?").

As intellectual horizons expanded, so also did geographical and cosmological horizons. New worlds -- both North and South America -- were explored, and in them were found human beings who lived and worshiped in ways radically different from those of Renaissance Europeans and Englishmen. The universe during these years also seemed to shift and expand. Copernicus had earlier theorized that the earth was not the center of the cosmos but revolved as a planet around the sun. Galileo's telescope, created in 1609, allowed scientists to see that Copernicus had been correct; the universe was not organized with the earth at the center, nor was it so nicely circumscribed as people had, until that time, thought. In terms of expanding horizons, the impact of these discoveries on people's beliefs -- religious, scientific, and philosophical -- cannot be overstated.

London, too, rapidly expanded and changed during the years (from the early 1590s to around 1610) that Shakespeare lived there. London -- the center of England's government, its economy, its royal court, its overseas trade -- was, during these years, becoming an exciting metropolis, drawing to it thousands of new c...

Customer Reviews

A Midsummer Night's Dream
Ah, the Bard...how I love Shakespeare! A playwright like no other, this is my all time favorite of his. A Midsummer Night's Dream is poetic, sassy, and sultry...just love it. I think I've read it near thirty times by now. But, indeed, how does one leave alone a play with such great poetry?

Hermia, a fair maid of Athens, is in love with Lysander. However, her father wants her to marry Demetrius, a youth who, until looking upon Hermia, loved Helena, even wooed her. Now he swears to love only Hermia, though Helena passionately begs him to come back to her. Egeus (Hermia's father) goes to Theseus, Duke of Athens, asking permission to dispose of Hermia unless she consents to marry Demetrius. Hermia and Lysander plot to fly from Athens, meeting in a grove that very night, and tell Helena of their plan. Helena, however, seeking to win Demetrius' love again, tells him of the plan. This beautiful tale of four lovers is interwoven with the story of commoner actors and magical fairies and their meeting in the same grove that night.

Brilliantly done. I cannot think of enough praise for this amazing play...it transports you to a different world completely.

The dream of romance is lighthearted laughter
The spirit of one of Shakespeare's richest plays is lighthearted laughter. The great impressario of the proceedings is Puck who in giving the 'love potion' to the wrong person, sets up the chaos of both Demetrius and Lysander loving Helena. There are numerous networks of parallel and contrast through the work , between the worlds of the royal humans, the fairies, and the craftsmen. The motif of dreaming and imagination play a strong part in the play. And the resolution in all the couples finding themselves in love and harmony at last is a supreme happy ending.
This is one of Shakespeare's most delightful and amusing works, one of the richest comically in all the world of theater.

What a Dream
A Midsummer Nights Dream is a play that shows Shakespeare's perspective on love and romance. This lay also is quite humorous and has a magical twist. I enjoyed the perspective that Shakespeare provided on how foolish and sappy love can be. However I also thought that having fairies involved with the storyline was creative and made the entirety of the play interesting.
The play unravels with the engaged Hippolyta and Theseus who were at first enemies but now madly in love. Theseus is the duke and is called to resolve a conflict of love. Lysander, a young handsome man, is determined to marry Euges's daughter Hermia, who also returns his love. The problem that arose and the one which the Duke was to solve was that Eugus has promised Demetrius for Hermia's hand in marriage, Demetrius had tried desperately to pursued Hermia to love him but it was no use, she truly did love Lysander. Hearing all this the Duke announces Hermia shall marry Demetrius or become a nun. Another factor is played into the play though when a young woman, Helena swears she is desperately in love with Demetrius. Helena hears of Lysander and Hermia's plan to meet in the woods so she tells Demetrius, hoping to win his favoritism.
Unknown to all humans, there in the woods are other ones living, the fairies. Oberon, King of the Fairies, sees the scene and is amused. Helena followed Demetrius into the woods telling him how much she loved him. Frustrated Demetrius runs off losing poor Helena. Oberon feels pity on poor Helena, and orders Puck, his messenger, to put a very special flower on Demetrius's eyes. The flower was a cupids flower and when applied to anyone's eye then the first object you see is the one you will fall instantly fall in love with. Puck then spies a human, not Demetrius, but Lysander who is asleep with Hermia, he applies it to Lysander's eye instead. Helena then runs in and wakes up Lysander, not knowing about the flower and its juices. Immediately, Lysander swears his love to Helena. but confused she runs off, with Demetrius following. After a long chase, the two couples collapse from exhaustion, and Puck comes to make amends from his first mistake. In the end they all fall in love, Hermia to Lysander and Demetrius to Helena. Throughout the entire play you can see how the fairies manipulate the lives and especially the love lives of the humans.
I believe that Shakespeare's purpose on writing this humorous, yet sometimes confusing, play was to show certain aspects on love. One way on looking at it is Shakespeare shows that at times love is foolish and can be shifted easily when it isn't based on the things that are long lasting but on petty things of looks and money. He demonstrates that love isn't just a feeling of butterflies in your stomach but it's a choice and hard work. The second aspect is that when you are in love to enjoy every moment of it and not to let it be unappreciated or wasted. Lysander and Hermia showed both angles. in the beginning they acted very much in love, but it only seemed as if it was a physical attraction not a heartfelt choice. The other kind of love I think they showed is that they did cherish every moment. They didn't exactly have their whole entire life planned out or how it would work out but just enjoyed the fact that they loved each other and that's how it would always be.
I have learned personally that when you are in love that it is a special and should be treated specially with care and respect. To disregard the joy of being in love would be to ignore something that is priceless. I also have learned that one day when you are in love to enjoy those magical moments that may never come again. I also think that you should take those moments to heart but to understand that its much more deeper that those moments go. Love isn't about how you feel but it is an act of growing up and being mature. Most of all I have learned how important and special it is to have love that never changes; Love that won't ever let us down or stop because of the circumstance. Love is hard to find and feels like it's even harder to give at times. God shows us the perfect love. The love of not changing when your tired, or don't feel like sacrificing but the sort of love that will last through anything. That's the kind of love that is worth cherishing.
I would definitely recommend this play. It is enjoyable to read and have laughs about. I think the story is very interesting and I had a lot of fun tagging along to find a world of magical love.