The Cambridge Shakespeare Guide

An indispensable reference tool for Shakespeare students and enthusiasts, this compact guide provides authoritative summaries of each of Shakespeare's works.

Emma Smith (Author)

9780521195232, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 22 March 2012

258 pages, 35 b/w illus.
24 x 13.2 x 1.5 cm, 0.4 kg

'I hope this book will find its way onto the shelves of many a Shakespeare enthusiast and into the satchels of many a student. For undergraduates, cramming for the next seminar or tutorial, Emma Smith's guide will, I suspect, become a trusted and valued friend, something you can turn to with a cup a coffee and read on the way to class. For its size and the range of information it offers, I cannot think of a better example of its kind.' Paul Edmondson, Around the Globe

Are you studying Shakespeare and looking for a handy summary of plots, characters and interpretations? Or are you a keen theatregoer wanting essential background on the Shakespeare plays you see on stage? Ideal for students and theatre enthusiasts alike, this lively and authoritative guide presents key information, clearly set out, on all Shakespeare's dramatic and poetic works, covering plots and people, sources, context, performance history and major themes. Ordered alphabetically for easy reference, each play entry features a 'key facts' box providing informative and revealing statistics, including a breakdown of each play's major roles. The guide is illustrated with striking performance photographs throughout, and also provides brief accounts of Shakespeare's life and language, Shakespeare in print and theatre in Shakespeare's time. This is an indispensable reference source for all students and theatregoers.

Part I. The Works: 1. All's Well That Ends Well
2. Antony and Cleopatra
3. As You Like It
4. The Comedy of Errors
5. Coriolanus
6. Cymbeline
7. Hamlet
8. Julius Caesar
9. King Henry IV Part 1
10. King Henry IV Part 2
11. King Henry V
12. King Henry VI Parts 1, 2, and 3
13. King Henry VIII, or All is True
14. King John
15. King Lear
16. King Richard II
17. King Richard III
18. Love's Labour's Lost
19. Macbeth
20. Measure for Measure
21. The Merchant of Venice
22. The Merry Wives of Windsor
23. A Midsummer Night's Dream
24. Much Ado About Nothing
25. Othello
26. The Phoenix and the Turtle
27. Pericles
28. The Rape of Lucrece
29. Romeo and Juliet
30. The Sonnets and A Lover's Complaint
31. The Taming of the Shrew
32. The Tempest
33. Timon of Athens
34. Titus Andronicus
35. Troilus and Cressida
36. Twelfth Night
37. The Two Gentlemen of Verona
38. The Two Noble Kinsmen
39. The Winter's Tale
40. Venus and Adonis
Part II. The Context: 41. Shakespeare's life
42. Shakespeare's theatre
43. Shakespeare in print
44. Shakespearean apocrypha
45. Shakespeare's language
Further reading.

Subject Areas: Literary reference works [DSR], Shakespeare studies & criticism [DSGS], Literary studies: plays & playwrights [DSG], Shakespeare plays [DDS], Theatre studies [AN]