Download or read book Shakespeare and the Countess written by Chris Laoutaris and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2015-06-15 with total page 642 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In November 1596, a countess signed a document that would nearly destroy the career of William Shakespeare. Who was this woman who played such an instrumental, yet little known, role in Shakespeare's life? Never far from controversy when she was alive—she sparked numerous riots and indulged in acts of bribery, breaking-and-entering, and kidnapping—Lady Elizabeth Russell has been edited out of public memory, yet the chain of events she set in motion would make Shakespeare the legendary figure we all know today. Lady Elizabeth Russell’s extraordinary life made her one of the most formidable women of the Renaissance. The daughter of King Edward VI’s tutor, she blazed a trail across Elizabethan England as an intellectual and radical Protestant. And, in November 1596, she became the leader of a movement aimed at destroying the career of William Shakespeare—a plot that resulted in the closure of the Blackfriars Theatre but the construction, instead, of the Globe. Providing new pieces to this puzzle, Chris Laoutaris's rousing history reveals for the first time this startling battle against Shakespeare and the Lord Chamberlain's Men.

Download or read book Shakespeare and the Countess written by Chris Laoutaris and published by Fig Tree. This book was released on 2015-03-05 with total page 544 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: William Shakespeare, the dowager countess Elizabeth Russell and the battle which nearly destroyed the bard and gave birth to the globe theatre. 'A work of historical and literary detection which takes us straight to the heart of religious politics in Elizabethan England . . . There is a great deal to admire in this hugely ambitious book . . . and Laoutaris paints a striking biographical portrait.' Frances Wilson, New Statesman 'Fascinating, compelling, impressive detective work. Laoutaris sheds new light on this turbulent episode in the Bard's career. He tells it with a winning combination of scholarly rigour and elegant prose. A splendid book that tells us a great deal about the machinations of high politics, the skirmishes of Elizabethan cultural life, and a woman who played a key role in the career of our greatest dramatist.' Herald 'A gripping tale that enables us to see Shakespeare in a new light. Elizabeth Russell, unjustly infamous in legend, deserves to be better known. I could not recommend it highly enough.' Alison Weir 'Splendid, original. No one has fleshed out the characters or followed in their footsteps as assiduously as Laoutaris.' Sunday Telegraph

Download or read book All s Well that Ends Well written by William Shakespeare and published by . This book was released on 1812 with total page 140 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Women of Will written by Tina Packer and published by Vintage. This book was released on 2016-03-08 with total page 354 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Women of Will is a fierce and funny exploration of Shakespeare’s understanding of the feminine. Tina Packer, one of our foremost Shakespeare experts, shows that Shakespeare began, in his early comedies, by writing women as shrews to be tamed or as sweet little things with no independence of thought. The women of the history plays are much more interesting, beginning with Joan of Arc. Then, with the extraordinary Juliet, there is a dramatic shift: suddenly Shakespeare’s women have depth, motivation, and understanding of life more than equal to that of the men. As Shakespeare ceases to write women as predictable caricatures and starts writing them from the inside, his women become as dimensional, spirited, spiritual, active, and sexual as any of his male characters. Wondering if Shakespeare had fallen in love (Packer considers with whom, and what she may have been like), the author observes that from Juliet on, Shakespeare’s characters demonstrate that when women and men are equal in status and passion, they can—and do—change the world.

Download or read book All s Well That Ends Well Annotated written by William Shakespeare and published by . This book was released on 2020-10-17 with total page 120 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Set in France and Italy, All's Well That Ends Well is a story of one-sided romance, based on a tale from Boccaccio's The Decameron. Helen, orphaned daughter of a doctor, is under the protection of the widowed Countess of Rossillion. In love with Bertram, the countess' son, Helen follows him to court, where she cures the sick French king of an apparently fatal illness. The king rewards Helen by offering her the husband of her choice. She names Bertram; he resists. When forced by the king to marry her, he refuses to sleep with her and, accompanied by the braggart Parolles, leaves for the Italian wars. He says that he will only accept Helen if she obtains a ring from his finger and becomes pregnant with his child. She goes to Italy disguised as a pilgrim and suggests a 'bed trick' whereby she will take the place of Diana, a widow's daughter whom Bertram is trying to seduce. A 'kidnapping trick' humiliates the boastful Parolles, whilst the bed trick enables Helen to fulfil Bertram's conditions, leaving him no option but to marry her, to his mother's delight.

Download or read book Sweet Swan of Avon written by Robin Williams and published by Peachpit Press. This book was released on 2006-03-15 with total page 587 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: It is long overdue that someone took a closer look at the brilliant Mary Sidney. I have a suspicion that Mary Sidney’s life, and especially her dedication to the English language after her brother’s death, may throw important light on the mysterious authorship of the Shakespeare plays and poems. —Mark Rylance Actor; Artistic Director of Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre, 1996–2006; Chairman of the Shakespearean Authorship Trust For more than two hundred years, a growing number of researchers have questioned whether the man named William Shakespeare actually wrote the works attributed to him. There is no paper trail for William Shakespeare—no record that he was ever paid for writing, nothing in his handwriting but a few signatures on legal documents, no evidence of his presence in the royal court except as an actor in his later years, no confirmation of his involvement in the literary circles of the time. With so little information about this man—and even less evidence connecting him to the plays and sonnets—what can and what can’t we assume about the author of the greatest works of the English language? For the first time, Robin P. Williams presents an in-depth inquiry into the possibility that Mary Sidney Herbert, the Countess of Pembroke, wrote the works attributed to the man named William Shakespeare. As well educated as Queen Elizabeth I, this woman was at the forefront of the literary movement in England, yet not allowed to write for the public stage. But that’s just the beginning . . . The first question I am asked by curious freshmen in my Shakespeare course is always, “Who wrote these plays anyway?” Now, because of Robin Williams’ rigorous scholarship and artful sleuthing, Mary Sidney Herbert will forever have to be mentioned as a possible author of the Shakespeare canon. Sweet Swan of Avon doesn’t pretend to put the matter to rest, but simply shows how completely reasonable the authorship controversy is, and how the idea of a female playwright surprisingly answers more Shakespearean conundrums than it creates... —Cynthia Lee Katona Professor of Shakespeare and Women’s Studies, Ohlone College; Author of Book Savvy

Download or read book Lichtenbergianism written by Dale Lyles and published by Lichtenbergian Press. This book was released on 2017-10-15 with total page 172 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Lichtenbergianism: procrastination as a creative strategy gives you nine Precepts, ways to restructure your thinking about how you create and why so that you can just get to work and create the work of your dreams.

Download or read book Shakespeare and the Resistance written by Clare Asquith and published by PublicAffairs. This book was released on 2018-08-21 with total page 253 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Shakespeare's largely misunderstood narrative poems contain within them an explosive commentary on the political storms convulsing his country The 1590s were bleak years for England. The queen was old, the succession unclear, and the treasury empty after decades of war. Amid the rising tension, William Shakespeare published a pair of poems dedicated to the young Earl of Southampton: Venus and Adonis in 1593 and The Rape of Lucrece a year later. Although wildly popular during Shakespeare's lifetime, to modern readers both works are almost impenetrable. But in her enthralling new book, the Shakespearean scholar Clare Asquith reveals their hidden contents: two politically charged allegories of Tudor tyranny that justified-and even urged-direct action against an unpopular regime. The poems were Shakespeare's bestselling works in his lifetime, evidence that they spoke clearly to England's wounded populace and disaffected nobility, and especially to their champion, the Earl of Essex. Shakespeare and the Resistance unearths Shakespeare's own analysis of a political and religious crisis which would shortly erupt in armed rebellion on the streets of London. Using the latest historical research, it resurrects the story of a bold bid for freedom of conscience and an end to corruption that was erased from history by the men who suppressed it. This compelling reading situates Shakespeare at the heart of the resistance movement.

Download or read book Reimagining Shakespeare for Children and Young Adults written by Naomi Miller and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2013-10-15 with total page 348 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: First published in 2003. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.

Download or read book All s Well That Ends Well written by William Shakespeare and published by BoD - Books on Demand. This book was released on 2023-03-08 with total page 132 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: All’s Well That Ends Well was not popular during Shakespeare’s time, and is still considered to be a play without renown even today. It’s also one of the three “problem plays,” in that it deals with controversial social issues. Although it remains unloved by the public, productions have featured star-studded casts, including actresses like Dame Judi Dench and Claudie Blakley. Helena, daughter of a skilled doctor and adopted child of the Countess of Rousillon, is in love with Bertram, the Countess’s son. Helena cures the King of France and is rewarded with a husband of her choice, so she selects Bertram. He contests the legitimacy of their marriage, and insists on demanding that she complete two tasks before he can consider their marriage legitimate: She must wear his family ring, and provide him an heir. This Standard Ebooks edition is based on William George Clark and William Aldis Wright’s 1887 Victoria edition, which is taken from the Globe edition.

Download or read book The Real Shakespeare written by Eric Sams and published by Yale University Press. This book was released on 1997-01-01 with total page 278 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: One of the central assumptions of established Shakespeare scholarship has been that the playwright produced flawless work needing no revision--that if a text was inferior in style, it could be assumed that Shakespeare did not write it. Thus Shakespeare had nothing to do with the "bad" quartos; these were instead the work of "memorial reconstruction," in which actors remembered and subsequently wrote down entire texts composed by others. In this controversial book, Eric Sams suggests that there is no evidence to substantiate memorial reconstruction, that Shakespeare very probably revised his plays repeatedly, and that he may therefore be the author of the "bad" quartos and of other works not attributed to him. Drawing on testimony from Shakespeare's contemporaries and on documents concerning his family, Sams presents a vivid biographical picture of the first thirty years of the playwright's life. He establishes that Shakespeare's origins were humble: his parents were illiterate Catholics and the family trade was farming and animal husbandry. During this period Shakespeare acquired some knowledge of legal practice, served as the legal hand in an attorney's office, married, and moved to London to join a theatre company and to establish a career as an actor and playwright. Sams traces the impact of Shakespeare's upbringing in the plays themselves--not only those of the Folio edition but others, including the "bad" quartos. He finds that these texts are filled with figurative language that would have been gleaned from a rural upbringing and legal experience. Using detailed textual analysis, he argues compellingly that during these early "lost" years, Shakespeare was in fact writing first versions of his later great works.

Download or read book Shakespeare written by Bill Bryson and published by HarperCollins. This book was released on 2016-04-26 with total page 141 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Bill Bryson’s bestselling biography of William Shakespeare takes the reader on an enthralling tour through Elizabethan England and the eccentricities of Shakespearean scholarship—updated with a new introduction by the author to commemorate the 400th anniversary of Shakespeare’s death William Shakespeare, the most celebrated poet in the English language, left behind nearly a million words of text, but his biography has long been a thicket of wild supposition arranged around scant facts. With a steady hand and his trademark wit, Bill Bryson sorts through this colorful muddle to reveal the man himself. His Shakespeare is like no one else's—the beneficiary of Bryson's genial nature, his engaging skepticism, and a gift for storytelling unrivaled in our time.

Download or read book All s Well That Ends Well written by William Shakespeare and published by Read Books Ltd. This book was released on 2018-08-17 with total page 153 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Read & Co. Classics presents this new beautiful edition of William Shakespeare's play, "All's Well That Ends Well" (1623). The play is an intricate tale of loss, lies, and love and is often considered to be both a comedy and a tragedy. The play depicts the trials and triumphs between Helena, a gentlewoman, and Bertram, the son of a Countess, whom Helena secretly loves. When Helena successfully heals the dying King of France, she is allowed to choose a husband from the court. Bertram does not respond well when he is selected, deeming Helena unworthy of him and his status. Enforced by the King to accept her, Bertram sets Helena unrealistic terms to meet before he will do so. Through determination, deception, and putting her life on the line, Helena faces the challenge of proving her worth. William Shakespeare (1564 - 1616) was an English playwright, poet, and actor. He is considered to be the greatest writer in the English language and is celebrated as the world's most famous dramatist.

Download or read book All s Well That Ends Well written by William Shakespeare and published by Namaskar Book. This book was released on 2024-02-12 with total page 120 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Laugh, love, and revel in the comedic twists of a tale where love triumphs over deception, bringing resolution to the most tangled of relationships. All's Well That Ends Well by William Shakespeare: Immerse yourself in the timeless world of the Bard, William Shakespeare, with the enchanting comedy All's Well That Ends Well. This play weaves a tapestry of love, trickery, and the triumph of unconventional romance. Join Helena on her journey as she navigates the complexities of courtship, testing the bounds of love and determination. Why This Book? All's Well That Ends Well invites readers into Shakespeare's comedic realm, where love's journey is anything but conventional. The play unfolds a delightful tapestry of wit, irony, and the inexorable twists of fate, showcasing Shakespeare's mastery in crafting narratives that resonate across centuries. William Shakespeare, the literary genius of the Elizabethan era, continues to captivate audiences with his unparalleled storytelling. Explore the comedic nuances and profound insights into human nature in All's Well That Ends Well, a testament to Shakespeare's enduring influence on the world of drama.

Download or read book Illustrated All s Well That Ends Well by William Shakespeare written by William Shakespeare and published by . This book was released on 2019-10-27 with total page 180 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: All's Well That Ends Well is a play by William Shakespeare, published in the First Folio in 1623, where it is listed among the comedies. There is a debate regarding the dating of the composition of the play, with possible dates ranging from 1598 to 1608.The play is considered one of Shakespeare's "problem plays"; a play that poses complex ethical dilemmas that require more than typically simple solutions.Helena, the low-born ward of a French-Spanish countess, is in love with the countess's son Bertram, who is indifferent to her. Bertram goes to Paris to replace his late father as attendant to the ailing King of France. Helena, the daughter of a recently deceased physician, follows Bertram, ostensibly to offer the King her services as a healer. The King is sceptical, and she guarantees the cure with her life: if he dies, she will be put to death, but if he lives, she may choose a husband from the court.The King is cured and Helena chooses Bertram, who rejects her, owing to her poverty and low status. The King forces him to marry her, but after the ceremony Bertram immediately goes to war in Italy without so much as a goodbye kiss. He says that he will only marry her after she has borne his child and wears his family ring. Helena returns home to the countess, who is horrified at what her son has done, and claims Helena as her child in Bertram's place.In Italy, Bertram is a successful warrior and also a successful seducer of local virgins. Helena follows him to Italy, befriends Diana, a virgin with whom Bertram is infatuated, and they arrange for Helena to take Diana's place in bed. Diana obtains Bertram's ring in exchange for one of Helena's. In this way Helena, without Bertram's knowledge, consummates their marriage and wears his ring.Helena fakes her own death. Bertram, thinking he is free of her, comes home. He tries to marry a local lord's daughter, but Diana shows up and breaks up the engagement. Helena appears and explains the ring swap, announcing that she has fulfilled Bertram's challenge; Bertram, impressed by all she has done to win him, swears his love to her. Thus all ends well.There is a subplot about Parolles-a disloyal associate of Bertram's: Some of the lords at the court attempt to get Bertram to know that his friend Parolles is a boasting coward-as Lafew and the Countess have also said. They convince Parolles to cross into enemy territory to fetch a drum that he left behind. While on his way, they pose as enemy soldiers, kidnap him, blindfold him, and, with Bertram observing, get him to betray his friends, and besmirch Bertram's character.Bertram, the son of a widowed countess sets off from Roussilon with his friend, Parolles, and the Lord Lafeu, to the French court. He is the ward of the French king. He is unaware that Helena, orphan daughter of the countess' physician, raised in the household of the countess, is in love with him. The countess gives her permission to try and cure the king's illness. No-one has been able to cure him but Helena succeeds and, as a reward, the king invites her to choose a husband from among his wards. She chooses Bertram. Bertram's ambitions for a wife go beyond her, however, and although he marries her on the king's orders, he runs away with Parolles to fight in the wars in Italy.He writes a letter to Helena, telling her that he will not recognise the marriage until she can demonstrate that she is wearing his heirloom ring and carrying his child.

Download or read book Twelfth Night Or What You Will written by William Shakespeare and published by Start Classics. This book was released on 2024-03-26 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Mistaken Identity--Viola and her twin brother Sebastian are shipwrecked. While coming ashore they are separated and she assumes he has drowned. Upon reaching shore Viola decides to disguise herself as a young man. Mistaken identity and romance ensue.'Tis beauty truly blent whose red and white Nature's own sweet and cunning hand laid on: Lady you are the cruell'st she alive If you will lead these graces to the grave And leave the world no copy.

Download or read book Shakespeare s Sisters written by Sandra M. Gilbert and published by Indiana University Press. This book was released on 1979 with total page 370 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: