An Introduction to Shakespeare's Late Plays

by Joe Nutt

Shakespeare's last four plays, Pericles , The Winter's Tale , Cymbeline and The Tempest , have grown considerably in stature in recent years. Always favourite choices for study by teachers and examiners alike, these last plays contain some of Shakespeare's most sophisticated dramatic thinking. Extreme suffering and intense joy can be evoked in a single play, manipulating the audience's emotions to such a remarkable degree that there is nothing quite as raw or expressive anywhere else in the Shakespeare canon. These plays explore what it is to be human, to be part of a family, to feel love and endure loss at its most poignant and powerful.

This engaging new study takes a comprehensive look at all four of the late plays, and contains detailed analyses to show you how to approach Shakespeare's verse and consider its dramatic potential. Crowded into the final few years of Shakespeare's working life, the late plays still have much to teach us today, whatever our reason for reading An Introduction to Shakespeare's Late Plays will help you to appreciate and understand these most complex and compelling of dramatic works.

168 pages, Hardcover

First published May 7, 2002

About the author

Joe Nutt's writing career really began when he published an essay on Anthony Powell as a postgraduate student at The University of Warwick, (after his tutor had graded it B) and then followed that up by winning first prize in the university's short story competition. His academic books are used by some of the leading schools in the UK. He wrote a fortnightly column for the Times Educational Supplement between 2015 and 2019 and has written for The Spectator, Spiked and Areo magazines. His most recent book, 'The Point of Poetry,' was published by Unbound in March 2019. He is writing a new book for John Catt, 'Teaching English for the Real World.'