King Henry VIII

The first New Cambridge Shakespeare edition of King Henry VIII, edited by John Margeson.

William Shakespeare (Author), John Margeson (Edited by)

9780521228763, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 23 February 1990

204 pages, 17 b/w illus.
23.4 x 15.2 x 1.7 cm, 0.422 kg

The New Cambridge Shakespeare appeals to students worldwide for its up-to-date scholarship and emphasis on performance. The series features line-by-line commentaries and textual notes on the plays and poems. Introductions are regularly refreshed with accounts of new critical, stage and screen interpretations. Edited and introduced by John Margeson, King Henry VIII appears here for the first time in a New Cambridge Shakespeare edition. In his introduction Margeson explores the political and religious background to the play, its pageant-like structure and visual effects, and its varied ironies. He also discusses its stage history, from the famous occasion in 1613 when the Globe theatre burned down during a performance of King Henry VIII to important theatrical productions of the late twentieth century. A balanced account is provided of the authorship controversy that arose in the nineteenth century, when John Fletcher's name was first put forward as a likely collaborator.

List of illustrations
Preface
Abbreviations and conventions
Introduction
Date and occasion
Authorship
Sources
Divided critics
The unity of the play
The verse of the play
Stage history
Note on the text
List of characters
The play
Textual analysis
Reading list
Supplementary notes.

Subject Areas: Shakespeare plays [DDS]