Four Comedies: The Taming of the Shrew, A Midsummer Night's Dream, The Merchant of Venice, Twel fth NightRandom House Publishing Group, 26. aug 2009 - 736 pages The Taming of the Shrew Robust and bawdy, The Taming of the Shrew captivates audiences with outrageous humor as Katharina, the shrew, engages in a contest of wills–and love–with her bridegroom, Petruchio, in a comedy of unmatched theatrical brilliance, filled with visual gags and witty repartee. A Midsummer Night's Dream Fairy magic, love spells, and an enchanted wood turn the mismatched rivalries of four young lovers into a marvelous mix-up of desire and enchantment, all touched by Shakespeare’s inimitable vision of the intriguing relationship between dreams and the waking world. The Merchant of Venice This dark comedy of love and money contains one of the truly mythic figures in literature–Shylock, the Jewish moneylender. The “pound of flesh” he demands as payment of Antonio’s debt has become a universal metaphor for vengeance. Here, pathos and farce combine with moral complexity and romantic entanglements, to display the extraordinary power and range of Shakespeare at his best. Twelfth Night Set in a topsy-turvy world like a holiday revel, this comedy juxtaposes a romantic plot involving separated twins and mistaken identity with a more satiric one about the humiliation of a pompous killjoy. The hilarity is touched with melancholy, and the play ends, not with laughter, but with a clown’s plaintive song. Each Edition Includes: • Comprehensive explanatory notes • Vivid introductions and the most up-to-date scholarship • Clear, modernized spelling and punctuation, enabling contemporary readers to understand the Elizabethan English • Completely updated, detailed bibliographies and performance histories • An interpretive essay on film adaptations of the play, along with an extensive filmography |
From inside the book
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... audience toward the everyday reality to which we must all return. The devices of illusion in these comedies say much about theatrical illusion, even the illusoriness of life itself. Most of The Taming of the Shrew takes the form of an ...
... audience toward the everyday reality to which we must all return. The devices of illusion in these comedies say much about theatrical illusion, even the illusoriness of life itself. Most of The Taming of the Shrew takes the form of an ...
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... , where he not only sees everything well but can also be seen, then he pays yet another English penny at another door. And during the performance food and drink are carried round the audience, so that for what one cares to.
... , where he not only sees everything well but can also be seen, then he pays yet another English penny at another door. And during the performance food and drink are carried round the audience, so that for what one cares to.
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... audience, so that for what one cares to pay one may also have refreshment. Scenery was not used, though the theater building itself was handsome enough to invoke a feeling of order and hierarchy that lent itself to the splendor and ...
... audience, so that for what one cares to pay one may also have refreshment. Scenery was not used, though the theater building itself was handsome enough to invoke a feeling of order and hierarchy that lent itself to the splendor and ...
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... audience laugh at Sly's naiveté, and yet we, too, are moved and even transformed by an artistic vision that we know to be illusory. Like Sly, many characters in the main action of the play are persuaded, or contrive, to be what they are ...
... audience laugh at Sly's naiveté, and yet we, too, are moved and even transformed by an artistic vision that we know to be illusory. Like Sly, many characters in the main action of the play are persuaded, or contrive, to be what they are ...
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... audiences was that of dreaming of social advancement or social control. At the same time, this theater treats such a liberating experience as holiday or farcical nightmare, and as Saturnalian escape; we realize as audience that we will ...
... audiences was that of dreaming of social advancement or social control. At the same time, this theater treats such a liberating experience as holiday or farcical nightmare, and as Saturnalian escape; we realize as audience that we will ...
Other editions - View all
Four Comedies: The Taming of the Shrew/a Midsummer Night's Dream/the ... William Shakespeare No preview available - 1988 |
Common terms and phrases
actors Antonio Athens audience BAPTISTA Bassanio Bianca BIONDELLO BOTTOM Christian comedy daughter Demetrius director doctor of laws doth Duke Egeus Enter Exeunt Exit eyes FABIAN fair fairies father FESTE film fool friends gentleman give GOBBO GRATIANO GREMIO hast hath hear heart Helena Hermia Hippolyta HORTENSIO husband Jessica Julina Kate KATHARINA lady Lancelot lion look lord LORENZO lovers Lucentio Lysander madam MALVOLIO MARIA marriage marry master Merchant of Venice Midsummer Night’s Dream mistress moon Nerissa never o’er Oberon OLIVIA ORSINO PETRUCHIO play’s PORTIA pray production Puck Pyramus and Thisbe Queen QUINCE SALERIO Sebastian servant Shakespeare Shakespeare’s play Shrew Shylock Signor Ansaldo Signor Giannetto Silla Silvio SIR ANDREW SIR TOBY sleep SOLANIO speak stage swear sweet Taming tell theater thee There’s THESEUS thou art Thou shalt Titania TRANIO Twelfth Night unto Vincentio VIOLA What’s wife young апс1