Books in The Shakespeare Plot series

Along with Hamlet, King Lear, and Macbeth, Othello is one of Shakespeare's four great tragedies. What distinguishes Othello is its bold treatment of racial and gender themes. It is also the only tragedy to feature a main character, Iago, who truly seems evil, betraying and deceiving those that trust him purely for spite and with no political goal. This edition, the first to give full attention to these themes, includes an extensive introduction stresses the public dimensions of the tragedy, paying particular attention to its treatment of color and social relations. Designed to meet the needs of theatre professionals, the edition includes an extensive performance history, while on-page commentary and notes explain language, word play, and staging. Collated and edited from all existing printings, this entirely new edition uses modern day spelling to make readings smoother. Appendices are included which explain the dating problems many have found in the play, describe the music that has traditionally accompanied it, and provide a full translation of the Italian novella from which the story derives. Like all editions of the Oxford Shakespeare in the Oxford World Classics series, Othello includes a full index to the introduction and commentary. It is illustrated with production photographs and related art, and features a durable sewn binding for lasting use. The Oxford Shakespeare offers authoritative texts from leading scholars in editions designed to interpret andAbout the Series: For over 100 years Oxford World's Classics has made available the broadest spectrum of literature from around the globe. Each affordable volume reflects Oxford's commitment to scholarship, providing the most accurate text plus a wealth of other valuable features, including expert introductions by leading authorities, voluminous notes to clarify the text, up-to-date bibliographies for further study, and much more.

The Winter's Tale is Shakespeare's most fully realized tragicomedy, noted for the richness and complexity of its poetry. Though the title may suggest an escapist fantasy, recent criticism has seen in the play a profoundly realistic psychology and a keen commentary on the violence implicit in family relationships and deep friendships. Orgel traces the changing critical and theatrical attitudes towards the play, and places its psychological and dramatic conflicts within the Jacobean cultural and political context. This edition is made complete with a reprint of Shakespeare's source for the play, Pandosto, by Robert Greene.About the Series: For over 100 years Oxford World's Classics has made available the broadest spectrum of literature from around the globe. Each affordable volume reflects Oxford's commitment to scholarship, providing the most accurate text plus a wealth of other valuable features, including expert introductions by leading authorities, voluminous notes to clarify the text, up-to-date bibliographies for further study, and much more.

Richard III is one of Shakespeare's most popular plays on the stage and has been adapted successfully for film. This new and innovative edition recognizes the play's pre-eminence as a performance work: a perspective that informs every aspect of the editing. Challenging traditional practice, the text is based on the 1597 Quarto which, brings us closest to the play as it would have been staged in Shakespeare's theater. The introduction, which is illustrated, explores the long performance history from Shakespeare's time to the present. The commentary gives detailed explanation of matters of language, staging, text, and historical and cultural contexts, providing coverage that is both carefully balanced and alert to nuance of meaning. Documentation of the extensive textual variants is organized for maximum clarity: the readings of the Folio and the Quarto are presented in separate sections, andmore specific information is given at the back of the book. Appendices also include selected passages from the main source and a special index of actors and other theatrical personnel.About the Series: For over 100 years Oxford World's Classics has made available the broadest spectrum of literature from around the globe. Each affordable volume reflects Oxford's commitment to scholarship, providing the most accurate text plus a wealth of other valuable features, including expert introductions by leading authorities, voluminous notes to clarify the text, up-to-date bibliographies for further study, and much more.

Perhaps the most brilliant political play ever written, Coriolanus is a gripping psychological study of the relationship between personality and politics, and its Roman hero one of the most memorable Shakespeare ever created. The introduction to this new edition offers the first full stage history and analysis of the original production of Coriolanus at the Blackfriars theater, and also examines Shakespeare's adaptation of his historical material while emphasizing the wide range of interpretations that are possible in performance.About the Series: For over 100 years Oxford World's Classics has made available the broadest spectrum of literature from around the globe. Each affordable volume reflects Oxford's commitment to scholarship, providing the most accurate text plus a wealth of other valuable features, including expert introductions by leading authorities, voluminous notes to clarify the text, up-to-date bibliographies for further study, and much more.

Henry VI: Part One is a dramatic tale of the lives of soldiers, diplomats, kings, and insurrectionists. It depicts the fractious instability of the court and nobility of fifteenth-century England, and their squabbles with their French counterparts.Despite its debut performance in 1592, however, Henry VI: Part One does not appear in printed form until some thirty years later, in the 1623 folio. There are many questions, therefore, surrounding exactly how many people wrote the play, when they did so, how it was performed, who played what part, and the nature of the manuscript behind the first performance. In his wide-ranging introduction, Michael Taylor offers answers to these questions, and discusses other key issues such as language, structure, performance history, and the role of women in the play. Taylor edits the play for students, scholars, and theater-goers with an informative commentary on all aspects of the language, action, characters, and staging.About the Series: For over 100 years Oxford World's Classics has made available the broadest spectrum of literature from around the globe. Each affordable volume reflects Oxford's commitment to scholarship, providing the most accurate text plus a wealth of other valuable features, including expert introductions by leading authorities, voluminous notes to clarify the text, up-to-date bibliographies for further study, and much more.

The Introduction to this edition of The Merchant of Venice addresses one of the most important issues raised by the play, the question of Shakespeare's attitude toward Semitism. There follows a study of the play's sources, background, and date, including a discussion of Freud's essay on "The Three Caskets." The critical interpretation of the play focuses on its contradictions and inconsistencies, especially as they relate to the overarching theme of bonds and bondage. The text, based on a fresh examination of the early editions, is presented in modernized spelling and punctuation, and helpful commentary includes new interpretations of particular passages and characters. Unfailingly lucid and helpful, this is an ideal edition for students at all levels as well as for the general reader.

As You Like It is Shakespeare's most light-hearted comedy and one of the best-loved and most performed of all his plays. In his introduction to this new edition Alan Brissenden suggests reasons for its delayed publication and discusses in detail how productions have changed radically over the years. Shakespeare's use of his sources, his handling of the themes of love, doubleness, and pastoral are dealt with, as well as the significance of men playing women's parts on the Elizabethan stage. Detailed annotations explain allusions, puns, and difficult passages, enabling student, reader, actor, and director to savor the humor and the seriousness of the play to the full. There are illustrations, and appendices on "wit" and the songs, for which the earliest known music is printed.