Four Great Comedies

The greatest works of comedy from the Bard, this book features "The Taming ofthe Shrew, A Midsummer Night's Dream, Twelfth Night" and "The Tempest". Copyright © Libri GmbH. All rights reserved.

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

This inexpensive Dover edition brings together five of Shakespeare's most popular comedies, from the magic and mischief of A Midsummer Night's Dream to the rollicking farce of The Merry Wives of Windsor.

The collection of the finest of Shakespeare's plays presents Shakespeare's comedies with introductions by Judith Buchanan and tragedies with introductions by Emma Smith

Comedy classics that defined a new era in drama: The Country Wife by William Wycherley; The Man of Mode by Sir George Etheredge; The Rover by Aphra Behn; and The Relapse by Sir John Vanbrugh.

Plautus was the single greatest influence on Western comedy. Shakespeare's Comedy of Errors and Molière's The Miser are two subsequent classics directly based on Plautine originals. Plautus himself borrowed from the Greeks, but his jokes, rapid dialogue, bawdy humour, and irreverent characterizations are the original work of an undisputed genius. The comedies printed here show him at his best, and professor Segal's translations keep their fast, rollicking pace intact, making these the most readable and actable versions available. His introduction considers Plautus' place in ancient comedy, examines his continuing influence, and celebrates his power to entertain. 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, and much more.

This edition of Ben Jonson's four middle comedies places the works in the popular history and culture of the times, 1605-1614, and surveys the influences, both classical and contemporary, on Jonson as a playwright. On-the-page annotations recreate the audiences perception of the plays as performances by commenting on the stage-directions, the self-conscious theatricality of characters and scenes, and the vivid colloquialisms of early modern London that give the dialogue a heightened dimension of realism. Brief introductions to each play discuss the local settings, sources, theatre history and further readings. The general introduction includes a biography of Jonson, a chronology of the plays and masques, and separate essays on each play, dealing particularly with Jonson's satirical treatments of trends and shams of the day, whether political, social, commercial, or spiritual.

Contains Hamlet, Othello, King Lear and Macbeth. Copyright © Libri GmbH. All rights reserved.

Four of the Bard's most famous comedies—including The Taming of the Shrew, A Midsummer Night's Dream, Twelfth Night, and The Tempest. “Comedies,” as one of William Shakespeare's contemporaries wrote, “begin in trouble and end in peace.” This is certainly true of the four masterworks selected for this collection, each of which represents a significant stage in the Bard’s development as a writer. Reading these plays, we sample the whole comic spectrum of the Elizabethan world. This comedy collection in the Signet Classics Shakespeare series includes: • An overview of William Shakespeare’s life, world, and theater • A special introduction by the series’ general editor, Sylvan Barnet • Reliable texts by noted Shakespeare scholars • Text, notes, and commentaries printed in the clearest, most readable format • Recommended readings

Four of the Bard's most famous comedies—including The Taming of the Shrew, A Midsummer Night's Dream, Twelfth Night, and The Tempest. “Comedies,” as one of William Shakespeare's contemporaries wrote, “begin in trouble and end in peace.” This is certainly true of the four masterworks selected for this collection, each of which represents a significant stage in the Bard’s development as a writer. Reading these plays, we sample the whole comic spectrum of the Elizabethan world. This comedy collection in the Signet Classics Shakespeare series includes: • An overview of William Shakespeare’s life, world, and theater • A special introduction by the series’ general editor, Sylvan Barnet • Reliable texts by noted Shakespeare scholars • Text, notes, and commentaries printed in the clearest, most readable format • Recommended readings