A Midsummer Nights Dream is perhaps the best loved of Shakepeares plays. It brings together aristocrats workers & fairies in a wood outside Athens & from there the enchantment begins. Simple & engaging on the surface it is none the less a highly original & sophisticated work remarkable for both its literary & its theatrical mastery. It is one of the very few of Shakespeares 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 & dreamers & to Shakespeares construction of a world of night & shadows. Both here & in his commentary he explores the plays extensive performance history to illustrate the wide range of interpretations of which it is capable. ABOUT THE SERIES: For over 100 years Oxford Worlds Classics has made available the widest range of literature from around the globe. Each affordable volume reflects Oxfords commitment to scholarship providing the most accurate text plus a wealth of other valuable features including expert introductions by leading authorities helpful notes to clarify the text up-to-date bibliographies for further study & much more. ...

The Oxford Shakespeare General Editor Stanley Wells The Oxford Shakespeare offers authoritative texts from leading scholars in editions designed to interpret & illuminate the works for modern readers
- a new modern-spelling text based on the 1623 Folio text
- on-page commentary & notes explain meaning staging language & allusions
- detailed introduction considers composition sources & critical & theatrical history
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Includes:: full text of Plautus Menaechmi & extracts from Gesta Grayorum & the Geneva Bible
- illustrated with production photographs & related art
- full index to introduction & commentary
- durable sewn binding for lasting use not simply a better text but a new conception of Shakespeare. This is a major achievement of twentieth-century scholarship. Times Literary Supplement ABOUT THE SERIES: For over 100 years Oxford Worlds Classics has made available the widest range of literature from around the globe. Each affordable volume reflects Oxfords commitment to scholarship providing the most accurate text plus a wealth of other valuable features including expert introductions by leading authorities helpful notes to clarify the text up-to-date bibliographies for further study & much more.








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This is the first full-scale edition of Cymbeline for 37 years. During that time there has been considerable interest in Shakespeares late work in the theatre & several notable productions have demonstrated the powerful impact of Cymbeline. Based firmly on Roger Warrens extensive experience of the play in rehearsal & performance this edition shows how Shakespeare draws upon a wide range of sources to create a self-sufficient dramatic universe combining virtuoso theatrical & poetic means to present a story of a marriage imperilled by mistrust & painfully rebuilt through the physical & spiritual journeys undertaken by the heroine & hero set in a context of international conflict. A full & detailed commentary pays close attention to the plays complex evocative language. ABOUT THE SERIES: For over 100 years Oxford Worlds Classics has made available the widest range of literature from around the globe. Each affordable volume reflects Oxfords commitment to scholarship providing the most accurate text plus a wealth of other valuable features including expert introductions by leading authorities helpful notes to clarify the text up-to-date bibliographies for further study & much more. ...

Hamlet's combination of violence & introspection is unusual among Shakespeare's tragedies. It is also full of curious riddles & fascinating paradoxes making it one of his most widely discussed plays. Professor Hibbard's illuminating & 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 & theatrical history he shows how this gusion 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' & highly practical edition for students & actors alike. ABOUT THE SERIES: For over 100 years Oxford World's Classics has made available the widest range 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 helpful notes to clarify the text up-to-date bibliographies for further study & much more. ...

As Henrys throne is threatened by rebel forces England is divided. The characters reflect these oppositions with Hal & Hotspur vying for position & Falstaff leading Hal away from his father & towards excess. During Shakespeares lifetime Henry IV Part I was his most reprinted play & it remains enormously popular with theatregoers & readers. Falstaff still towers among Shakespeares comic inventions as he did in the late 1590s. David Bevingtons introduction discusses the play in both peformance & criticism from Shakespeares time to our own illustrating the variety of interpretations of which the text is capable. He analyses the plays richly textured language in a detailed commentary on individual words & phrases & clearly explains its historical background. ABOUT THE SERIES: For over 100 years Oxford Worlds Classics has made available the widest range of literature from around the globe. Each affordable volume reflects Oxfords commitment to scholarship providing the most accurate text plus a wealth of other valuable features including expert introductions by leading authorities helpful notes to clarify the text up-to-date bibliographies for further study & much more. ...

Sparkling with the witty dialogue between Beatrice & Benedicts Much Ado About Nothing is one of Shakespeares most enjoyable & theatrically successful comedies. This edition offers a newly edited text & an exceptionally helpful & critically aware introduction. Paying particular attention to analysis of the plays minor characters Sheldon P Zitner discusses Shakespeares transformation of his source material. He rethinks the attitudes to gender relations that underlie the comedy & determine its view of marriage. Allowing for the plays openness to reinterpretation by successive generations of readers & peformers Zitner provides a socially analytic stage history advancing new views for the actor as much as for the critic. ABOUT THE SERIES: For over 100 years Oxford Worlds Classics has made available the widest range of literature from around the globe. Each affordable volume reflects Oxfords commitment to scholarship providing the most accurate text plus a wealth of other valuable features including expert introductions by leading authorities helpful notes to clarify the text up-to-date bibliographies for further study & much more. ...

The Oxford Shakespeare General Editor: Stanley Wells The Oxford Shakespeare offers authoritative texts from leading scholars in editions designed to interpret & illuminate the plays for modern readers
- A new modern-spelling text collated & edited from all existing printings
- Extensive introduction gives full attention to the play's bold treatment of racial themes gender & social relations
- Detailed performance history designed to meet the needs of theatre professionals
- On-page commentary & notes explain language word-play & staging
- Appendices on music in the play & a full translation of the Italian novella from which the story derives
- Illustrated with production photographs & related art
- Full index to introduction & commentary
- Durable sewn binding for lasting use 'not simply a better text but a new conception of Shakespeare. This is a major achievement of twentieth-century scholarship.' ABOUT THE SERIES: For over 100 years Oxford World's Classics has made available the widest range 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 helpful notes to clarify the text up-to-date bibliographies for further study & much more.







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The Oxford Shakespeare offers authoritative texts from leading scholars in editions designed to interpret & illuminate the plays for modern readers * a new modern-spelling text collated & edited from all existing printings * on-page commentary & notes explain meaning staging allusions & much else * detailed introduction considers composition sources performances & changing critical attitudes to the play * illustrated with production photographs & related art * full index to introduction & commentary * durable sewn binding for lasting use not simply a better text but a new conception of Shakespeare. This is a major achievement of twentieth- century scholarship. Times Literary Supplement ABOUT THE SERIES: For over 100 years Oxford Worlds Classics has made available the widest range of literature from around the globe. Each affordable volume reflects Oxfords commitment to scholarship providing the most accurate text plus a wealth of other valuable features including expert introductions by leading authorities helpful notes to clarify the text up-to-date bibliographies for further study & much more. ...

What was Shakespeares attitude to Semitism? The Introduction to this edition of The Merchant of Venice opens by addressing this vital issue raised by the play & goes on to study the sources background & date includuing a discussion of Sigmund Freuds essay on The Three Caskets. Professor Halio interprets the plays contradictions inconsistencies & complementarities especially as these relate to the overarching theme of bonds & bondage. A survey of the plays stage history ranges from discussions of its early staging to important twentieth-century productions & performances outside England particularly in Israel. The text based on a fresh examination of the early editions is presented in modernized spelling & punctuation. Unfailingly lucid & helpful this is an ideal edition for students actors & the general reader. ABOUT THE SERIES: For over 100 years Oxford Worlds Classics has made available the widest range of literature from around the globe. Each affordable volume reflects Oxfords commitment to scholarship providing the most accurate text plus a wealth of other valuable features including expert introductions by leading authorities helpful notes to clarify the text up-to-date bibliographies for further study & much more. ...

The Merry Wives of Windsor was almost certainly required at short notice for a court occasion in 1597: Shakespeare threw into it all the creative energy that went into his Henry IV plays. Falstaff is here with Pistol Mistress Quickly & Justice Shallow in a spirited & warm-hearted citizen comedy. Boisterous action is combined with situational irony & rich characterization. In his introduction T. W. Craik discusses the plays probable occasion (the Garter Feast of 1597 at court) its relationship to Shakespeares English history plays & to other sources its textual history (with particular reference to the widely diverging 1623 Folio & 1602 Quarto) & its original quality as drama. He assesses various interpretations of the play topical critical & theatrical. In the commentary he pays particular attention to expounding the literal sense (he proposes some new readings) & evoking the stage business. ABOUT THE SERIES: For over 100 years Oxford Worlds Classics has made available the widest range of literature from around the globe. Each affordable volume reflects Oxfords commitment to scholarship providing the most accurate text plus a wealth of other valuable features including expert introductions by leading authorities helpful notes to clarify the text up-to-date bibliographies for further study & much more. ...