ABSTRACT
Demystifying and contextualising Shakespeare for the twenty-first century, this book offers both an introduction to the subject for beginners as well as an invaluable resource for more experienced Shakespeareans.
In this friendly, structured guide, Robert Shaughnessy:
- introduces Shakespeare’s life and works in context, providing crucial historical background
- looks at each of Shakespeare’s plays in turn, considering issues of historical context, contemporary criticism and performance history
- provides detailed discussion of twentieth-century Shakespearean criticism, exploring the theories, debates and discoveries that shape our understanding of Shakespeare today
- looks at contemporary performances of Shakespeare on stage and screen
- provides further critical reading by play
- outlines detailed chronologies of Shakespeare’s life and works and also of twentieth-century criticism
The companion website at www.routledge.com/textbooks/shaughnessy contains student-focused materials and resources, including an interactive timeline and annotated weblinks.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
part |77 pages
Life and contexts
chapter |4 pages
Introduction
chapter |6 pages
Shakespeare's early years
chapter |56 pages
A life in writing
chapter |6 pages
Final years
part |216 pages
Works
chapter |2 pages
A catalogue
chapter |11 pages
Henry VI, Parts 1, 2 and 3
chapter |6 pages
Titus Andronicus
chapter |6 pages
The Taming of the Shrew
chapter |5 pages
Richard III
chapter |6 pages
Venus and Adonis and Lucrece
chapter |13 pages
A Midsummer Night's Dream and Romeo and Juliet
chapter |5 pages
The Merchant of Venice
chapter |7 pages
King John and Richard II
chapter |11 pages
Henry IV, Parts 1 and 2
chapter |12 pages
Twelfth Night, Much Ado about Nothing and As You Like It
chapter |10 pages
The Merry Wives of Windsor and Henry V
chapter |5 pages
Julius Caesar
chapter |13 pages
Hamlet
chapter |10 pages
Shakespeare's Sonnets and A Lover's Complaint
chapter |8 pages
Othello
chapter |4 pages
Timon of Athens
chapter |10 pages
King Lear
chapter |6 pages
Macbeth
chapter |13 pages
Coriolanus and Antony and Cleopatra
chapter |7 pages
The Tempest
chapter |7 pages
The Winter's Tale
chapter |10 pages
Pericles, Cymbeline and The Two Noble Kinsmen
chapter |4 pages
Henry VIII, or All Is True
part |96 pages
Criticism
part |49 pages
Screen and stage