A Midsummer Night's Dream Paperback

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A raucous comedy that thrusts a quartet of reckless young lovers headfirst into a world of magic & fantasy William Shakespeare&s A Midsummer Night&s Dream is edited by Stanley Wells with an introduction by Helen Hackett in Penguin Shakespeare & Lovers & madmen have such seething brains Such shaping fantasies that apprehend More than cool reason ever comprehends& Lovers Lysander & Hermia flee Athens to escape the authority of their parents only to be pursued by Hermia&s betrothed Demetrius & her friend Helena Unwittingly all four find themselves in an enchanted forest where Oberon the king of the fairies & Titania his queen soon take an interest in human affairs dispensing magical love potions & casting mischievous spells In this dazzling comedy confusion ends in harmony as love is transformed misplaced &
- ultimately
- restored This book contains a general introduction to Shakespeare&s life & Elizabethan theatre a separate introduction to A Midsummer Night&s Dream a chronology suggestions for further reading an essay discussing performance options on both stage & screen & a commentary William Shakespeare (1564-1616) was born to John Shakespeare & Mary Arden some time in late April 1564 in Stratford-upon-Avon He wrote about 38 plays (the precise number is uncertain) many of which are regarded as the most exceptional works of drama ever produced including Romeo & Juliet (1595) Henry V (1599) Hamlet (1601) Othello (1604) King Lear (1606) & Macbeth (1606) as well as a collection of 154 sonnets which number among the most profound & influential love-poetry in English If you enjoyed A Midsummer Night&s Dream you might like The Taming of the Shrew also available in Penguin Shakespeare & He could mingle sublimity with pathos bitterness with joy & peace with love& Aldous Huxley