Addressing the transition from pre-university to undergraduate Shakespeare studies, this introductory critical guide examines 16 key plays. Each chapter focuses on modern theoretical methods, close reading skills, early modern contexts, and productions from stage and screen spanning several decades. You will gain insights into each play, develop skills of analysis and be introduced to a diverse range of critical approaches that are central to the study of English today. Suggestions for further reading are included at the end of each chapter, together with examples of Shakespearean adaptation across genres, media and time.New to the second edition:* A revised and expanded introduction* Two additional plays and further critical approaches are covered: As You Like It and Titus Andronicus * Revised chapters on Othello and Twelfth Night* Updates to each chapter with wider reading and extended Afterlives sections* New links between chapters to aid study* A preface to the revised edition* An appendix featuring recommended open access online resources* Glossary of critical terms used in this book

Produktinformation

Utgivningsdatum:2025-10-16
Mått:158 x 236 x 24 mm
Vikt:660 g
Format:Inbunden
Språk:Engelska
Antal sidor:336
Upplaga:2
Förlag:Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
ISBN:9781350444270

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Pamela Bickley is an experienced teacher of A-Level and IB students and taught for many years as a Visiting Lecturer at Royal Holloway, University of London, UK.Jenny Stevens has taught English at both pre-university and degree level. She currently combines literature teaching at the City Lit, London, with academic writing, educational consultancy and series editing for Methuen Drama Student Editions.

Recensioner i media

The particular strength of Pamela Bickley and Jenny Stevens’ thorough guide to the study of Shakespeare’s plays is its targeting. Their discussion of each of the fourteen plays is framed via the introduction of a theoretical method and an exploration of Shakespeare’s language, thus offering a critical tool-kit aimed squarely and effectively at undergraduates and ambitious sixth formers . . . Bickley and Stevens know their audience and address it clearly and unpatronisingly. Everyone who wants, or is just beginning, to study English literature at university would benefit from this book. (Of the 1st edition)

Innehållsförteckning

Preface to the Revised EditionHow to Use this BookIntroduction1. A Midsummer Night’s Dream: Transformations, Illusions, Festivity2. Much Ado About Nothing: Exploring Language and Gender3. As You Like It: ‘Let the Forest Judge’4. Twelfth Night, Or What You Will: Genderqueer Desires5. Measure for Measure (and its problems...)6. Titus Andronicus: Shakespeare’s Most Violent Play?7. Hamlet: Repeats, Returns, Retellings8. Othello: Sex, Race and Rhetoric9. King Lear: ‘That things might change, or cease’10. Macbeth: Kingship and Witchcraft11. Antony and Cleopatra: The Legendary on Stage12. King Richard II: The Performance of Majesty13. King Richard III: History’s Monster or Charismatic Villain?14. Cymbeline: Moving Across Place, Time and Genres15. The Winter’s Tale: Tyranny, Trials, Time16. The Tempest: Where ‘Thought is free’Linking QuestionsRecommended Open Access Online ResourcesGlossary of Critical Terms Used in this BookAbbreviationsReferencesIndex