Four Comedies: The Taming of the Shrew, A Midsummer Night's Dream, As You Like It, Twelfth Night

by William Shakespeare, G.R. Hibbard (Editor), Stanley Wells (Editor)

Shakespearean comedy has as much to do with the structure and movement of the drama as with the wit of its dialogue or the humour of its characters. In these four comedies there is a near-tragic crisis at which disaster or happiness may ensue, but the overriding force of goodwill and the power of understanding, love and generosity brings us through to a joyful conclusion.

In comedy, 'sweet are the uses of adversity', so that the most bitter circumstances - exile, oppression, unrequited love - can give rise to higher feelings of friendship, respect, sympathy and acceptance.

In this collection of Shakespeare's four most spirited comedies, each text comes complete with notes and an introduction, making this edition of particular value to students, scholars and theatre-goers.
--back cover

Genres: Classics, Plays, Fiction

688 pages, Paperback

Published April 1, 1995

About the author

William Shakespeare was an English playwright, poet, and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's national poet and the "Bard of Avon" (or simply "the Bard"). His extant works, including collaborations, consist of some 39 plays, 154 sonnets, three long narrative poems, and a few other verses, some of uncertain authorship. His plays have been translated into every major living language and are performed more often than those of any other playwright. Shakespeare remains arguably the most influential writer in the English language, and his works continue to be studied and reinterpreted.
Shakespeare was born and raised in Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire. At the age of 18, he married Anne Hathaway, with whom he had three children: Susanna, and twins Hamnet and Judith. Sometime between 1585 and 1592, he began a successful career in London as an actor, writer, and part-owner ("sharer") of a playing company called the Lord Chamberlain's Men, later known as the King's Men after the ascension of King James VI and I of Scotland to the English throne. At age 49 (around 1613), he appears to have retired to Stratford, where he died three years later. Few records of Shakespeare's private life survive; this has stimulated considerable speculation about such matters as his physical appearance, his sexuality, his religious beliefs, and even certain fringe theories as to whether the works attributed to him were written by others.
Shakespeare produced most of his known works between 1589 and 1613. His early plays were primarily comedies and histories and are regarded as some of the best works produced in these genres. He then wrote mainly tragedies until 1608, among them Hamlet, Romeo and Juliet, Othello, King Lear, and Macbeth, all considered to be among the finest works in the English language. In the last phase of his life, he wrote tragicomedies (also known as romances) and collaborated with other playwrights.
Many of Shakespeare's plays were published in editions of varying quality and accuracy during his lifetime. However, in 1623, John Heminge and Henry Condell, two fellow actors and friends of Shakespeare's, published a more definitive text known as the First Folio, a posthumous collected edition of Shakespeare's dramatic works that includes 36 of his plays. Its Preface was a prescient poem by Ben Jonson, a former rival of Shakespeare, that hailed Shakespeare with the now famous epithet: "not of an age, but for all time".

Reviews

[Laura · Rating 4 out of 5]

The collection was well put together and was helpful in reading all of his big comedies. I do have to say that, by reading this, I discovered that I'm more of a fan of Shakespeare's tragedies. Of the four plays in this collection, I think I liked The Taming of the Shrew and A Midsummer's Night Dream the most, which surprised me because I didn't think I'd like The Taming of the Shrew.

[Ben · Rating 3 out of 5]

A Midsummer Night's Dream remains -- after all these years -- my favorite.

[india-mae]

date for reading 'as you like it' :)