Download or read book The Two Gentlemen of Verona Annotated with Biography and Critical Essay written by William Shakespeare and published by BookCaps Study Guides. This book was released on 2013-11-07 with total page 116 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Two Gentlemen of Verona, a romance, is one of Shakespeare’s early plays, and was written in 1590 or 1591. The setting is Verona, Milan, and a forest near Mantua of the sixteenth century. Two plot lines are intertwined in the play. It is thought that Shakespeare borrowed the plot of love triangle from a Spanish story Diana published in 1559 and the story of friendship from an English story, The Boke Named the Governour, from 1531. Many Shakespearean scholars believe that The Two Gentlemen of Verona was Shakespeare’s first play. The play begins with Valentine, a “gentleman of Verona,” seeking adventure, leaving that place to serve the Duke of Milan. He falls in love with the Duke’s daughter, Silvia. Valentine’s friend, Proteus, another gentleman of Verona, although reluctant to leave, is sent to Milan by his father. Proteus has a steady love interest, Julia, who he claims to love, but when he arrives in Milan he falls in love with Silvia too. The wealthy Thurio is also in love with her. The friendship of Valentine and Proteus is challenged when Proteus foils Valentine’s plot to elope with Silvia. After discovering the elopement plot, Silvia’s father, the Duke of Milan, banishes Valentine, who joins a gang of outlaws. This annotated edition includes a biography and critical essay.
Download or read book The Tempest Annotated with Biography and Critical Essay written by William Shakespeare and published by BookCaps Study Guides. This book was released on 2013-11-07 with total page 109 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Tempest has elements of both tragedy and comedy. The Tempest is one of two of Shakespeare’s works that is set on an island. The action takes place over the course of one day. Prospero, the rightful Duke of Milan, has been exiled to the island by his brother Antonio who had usurped his title twelve years before. Antonio was able to achieve this with the help of Alonso, the King of Naples. Prospero lives on the island with his fifteen year old daughter Miranda. This annotated edition includes a biography and critical essay.
Download or read book The Winter s Tale Annotated with Biography and Critical Essay written by William Shakespeare and published by BookCaps Study Guides. This book was released on 2013-11-07 with total page 141 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The setting is Sicily, and Polixenes, the King of Bohemia, is visiting his childhood friend, Sicily’s King, Leontes. Leontes suspects that his wife Hermione and Polixenes are having an affair and he becomes murderously jealous. Leontes tells Camillo, one of his lords, that he wants him to poison Polixenes. Camillo, however, informs Polixenes of the plan, and the two men quickly depart for Bohemia. Shakespeare took much of the story from Pondasto, A Triumph of Time by Robert Greene, a contemporary of his who had little admiration for the playwright. Shakespeare changed the story by giving it a happy ending. This annotated edition includes a biography and critical essay.
Download or read book A Midsummer Night s Dream Annotated with Biography and Critical Essay written by William Shakespeare and published by BookCaps Study Guides. This book was released on 2013-11-07 with total page 103 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A Midsummer’s Night Dream was written and first performed in the mid 1590’s. Shakespeare used the device of magic extensively in this early comedy. There are four separate but intertwined plots. The main plot is the marriage of Duke Theseus of Athens to Hippolyta, the Amazonian queen. Theseus is looking forward to his wedding and has ordered his master of the revels to prepare a wonderful wedding feast. While Theseus waits, he is approached by Egeus, father of Hermia. Egeus wants Hermia to marry Demetrius, who loves Hermia. Hermia, however, wants to marry Lysander. Under Athenian law, a woman must marry according to her father’s wishes. This annotated edition includes a biography and critical essay.
Download or read book The Merchant of Venice Annotated with Biography and Critical Essay written by William Shakespeare and published by BookCaps Study Guides. This book was released on 2013-11-07 with total page 121 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: It is not known when The Merchant of Venice was written although it is known that it was performed at the royal Court in February of 1605. The setting is Venice, Italy. The play begins with Bassanio, a friend of Antonio who is a merchant, asks Antonio for a loan. Bassanio wants to woo Portia, the rich heiress of Belmont. Although Antonio is wealthy, his money is tied up in investments, mostly ships, so he asks Shylock, a rich Jewish moneylender, for the loan. Shylock hates Antonio. He tells him that he will lend him the money, but if the loan is unpaid within three months’ time, he must give Shylock a pound of his flesh. Antonio, wanting to help Bassanio who is besotted with Portia, agrees to this unusual arrangement. This annotated edition includes a biography and critical essay.
Download or read book The Comedy of Errors Annotated with Biography and Critical Essay written by William Shakespeare and published by BookCaps Study Guides. This book was released on 2013-11-07 with total page 113 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Comedy of Errors, is of course, a comedy, and was possibly written as early as 1591 and is on record as being performed in 1594 in London. It is the shortest of Shakespeare’s works with just eighteen hundred lines. The playwright adapted the play from a work by the ancient Roman playwright Plautus called Menaechmi. The play is set in Syracuse, Sicily when it was part of the Roman Empire. The play’s action revolves around the unlikely scenario of two sets of identical twins that are separated as infants and are reunited years later in the city of Ephesus. Most of the play’s plot is taken up with the hilarity that ensues from the twins being mistaken for each other. This annotated edition includes a biography and critical essay.
Download or read book All s Well that Ends Well Annotated with Biography and Critical Essay written by William Shakespeare and published by Golgotha Press. This book was released on 2013-11-07 with total page 138 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: All’s Well that Ends Well was written circa 1604 and was the first of a series of plays that Shakespeare wrote mixing humor and pathos. The play may have been a comment on a situation that was being debated in Parliament at the time – that the King could control the property of a nobleman who inherited his title before he turned twenty-one. The plot of the play revolves around Helen, the orphaned daughter of a doctor, who has helped cure the King of France. He had promised her if she could cure him, she could have any man she wanted as her husband. Helen asks him if she could marry Bertram, the Count of Rossillion, whom she is in love with. The Count is considerably above her in station, and the King agrees to the marriage, but with great reluctance. Bertram is unhappy about the whole situation, and soon after the wedding, he leaves for war in Italy, the marriage unconsummated. He is accompanied by, Parolles, who is a bit of an opportunist although Bertram thinks he is a true friend. He later betrays Bertram. This annotated edition includes a biography and critical essay.
Download or read book The Taming of the Shrew Annotated with Biography and Critical Essay written by William Shakespeare and published by BookCaps Study Guides. This book was released on 2013-11-07 with total page 133 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Taming of the Shrew, a comedy, was first published in the Folio in 1623. It is considered to be a rewriting of an earlier play – possibly called Love’s Labour Won. The play was written to entertain - it is full of bawdy jokes, puns, and double entendres. By today’s standards it could be considered sexist, but its value must be examined within the time that it was written. The Taming of the Shrew is set in Padua, in Renaissance Italy and Shakespeare uses the device of a play within a play. During the Induction (or set-up for the plot) the character Christopher Sly, a drunken tinker, watches a play in which two stories are interwoven. The first, and main strand, involves Katharina, the daughter of Baptista, a rich gentleman of Padua, and Petruchio. The second strand is about Katharina’s sister Bianca and Lucentio. The story revolves around the courtship and marrying off the two young women. Tradition of the time and place held that the second daughter (Bianca) could not marry until her older sister, Katharina (also called Kate), was married. The dilemma for Baptista is that Bianca, attractive, sweet and gentle, had plenty of suitors while her older sister is considered something of a “shrew” – bad tempered and hard to handle – most men were not interested in wooing her. The ultimate “taming” of Katharina by Petruchio is the main plot. This annotated edition includes a biography and critical essay.
Download or read book Macbeth Annotated with Biography and Critical Essay written by William Shakespeare and published by BookCaps Study Guides. This book was released on 2013-11-07 with total page 117 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Although MacBeth is classified as a tragedy in Shakespeare’s canon of work, it is also a history play based upon true events in Scotland’s past. Shakespeare’s source of information was Raphael Holinshead’s Chronicles. The playwright was undoubtedly inspired to construct a Scottish plot by the arrival on the English throne of King James I. James was also heir to the throne of Scotland, through his mother Mary, Queen of Scots. Mary had been executed for conspiracy by her cousin, Queen Elizabeth I. Shakespeare probably felt a little flattery of the king might go a long way – King James was a descendant of the real life Banquo. Shakespeare sought to please by celebrating the return of the rightful Scottish king (Malcolm) at the end of the play. MacBeth is referred to as “The Scottish Play” and is considered somewhat unlucky in theatre circles. Shakespeare used magic devices (such as witches and apparitions) in MacBeth, which begins with three witches planning to meet MacBeth and Banquo, two generals in the army of Scotland’s king, Duncan. The generals, thanks to their ability as military leaders, have prevented an invasion from the north by Norwegians. The witches tell MacBeth that he will rule Scotland. They also tell Banquo that his descendants will also sit on the throne. This annotated edition includes a biography and critical essay.
Download or read book Othello Annotated with Biography and Critical Essay written by William Shakespeare and published by BookCaps Study Guides. This book was released on 2013-11-07 with total page 161 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Othello, a tragedy, written about 1603, is about perceived adultery and murder. Othello is a Moor from northern Africa. The play is set in Venice where he is a general in the Venetian army. Shakespeare based the play on an Italian short story published in 1565. The play begins with Iago (Othello’s ensign - a low ranking officer) and Roderigo (a Venetian gentleman) going to visit Brabantio (a Venetian senator). Desdemona, his daughter, has eloped with Othello. Roderigo is in love with Desdemona. Iago is fuming about losing a promotion that Othello granted to Cassio. This annotated edition includes a biography and critical essay.
Download or read book Hamlet Annotated with Biography and Critical Essay written by William Shakespeare and published by BookCaps Study Guides. This book was released on 2013-11-07 with total page 172 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Hamlet, considered Shakespeare’s greatest tragedy, was first performed in 1600 or 1601. It was based on a story in the Historica Danica (History of Denmark) published four hundred years earlier. The play begins just after midnight at the castle in Elsinore, Denmark. The young Prince, Hamlet, is standing on the battlements when his father’s ghost appears. The ghost tells him that Hamlet must avenge his death at the hands of his brother Claudius, Hamlet’s uncle. Claudius has married his widow, Gertrude, Hamlet’s mother. The prince assures the ghost that he will avenge his death. This annotated edition includes a biography and critical essay.
Download or read book Henry V Annotated with Biography and Critical Essay written by William Shakespeare and published by BookCaps Study Guides. This book was released on 2013-11-07 with total page 146 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: As an historical play, Henry V as a narrative is a continuation of Henry IV Part I and II, as Henry V became the English king after the death of his father Henry IV in 1413. Henry V has been regarded over the centuries as Shakespeare’s most patriotic play. The English had fought the French for many years over lost and disputed French territory – and Henry’s victory at the Battle of Agincourt against strong odds built the confidence and stirred the patriotism of the English. When the play begins, France and England are avowed enemies and Henry’s advisors are urging him to claim the throne of France for himself. Since the Norman Conquest by William I in 1066, various tracts of territory in France had passed between French and English control. Louis, the heir to the French throne, and son of King Charles, sends Henry a barrel of tennis balls; a sly reference to Henry’s youth (he was twenty-six when he became king) and Henry’s reputation of being an underachiever. Henry decides he has been insulted - he must invade France. This annotated edition includes a biography and critical essay.
Download or read book King Lear Annotated with Biography and Critical Essay written by William Shakespeare and published by BookCaps Study Guides. This book was released on 2013-11-07 with total page 157 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The dates of the writing and first performance of King Lear are unknown, although it is known that King James I viewed the play on December 26, 1606. Shakespeare may have been inspired to write King Lear by the uncertainly that accompanied the last years of Queen Elizabeth I’s life, as she left no children or nieces and nephews to inherit the throne. King Lear is the King of Britain. He decides to “retire” as king and divide his land holdings among his three daughters – Goneril, Regan, and Cordelia. What they will inherit is dependent on how skillfully the daughters can publically proclaim love for their father. Goneril and Regan, who are married to the Duke of Albany and the Duke of Cornwall respectively, have no problem with this, and speak enthusiastically about their love for their father. Cordelia, the youngest girl, refuses to flatter her father. She is his favorite daughter, and in his disappointment, Lear cuts her off without a penny and banishes her. She marries the King of France who is willing to accept her without an inheritance. Lear’s friend and ally, the Earl of Kent, defends Cordelia and he is sent off in disgrace; he returns to the court in disguise. Lear’s kingdom is now split between his two older daughters. This annotated edition includes a biography and critical essay.
Download or read book Julius Caesar Annotated with Biography and Critical Essay written by William Shakespeare and published by BookCaps Study Guides. This book was released on 2013-11-07 with total page 125 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The setting of Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar is ancient Rome in the year 44 B.C. and opens with the Feast of Lupercalia, which was held in mid-February. Caesar has become the most powerful man in Rome. As he and his entourage celebrate the Feast, a soothsayer tells him that he should “beware the Ides of March”. The Ides of March fall on March 15th in the old Roman calendar. Caesar brushes off the soothsayer’s warning. Unbeknownst to Caesar, a conspiracy is being hatched. It is lead by Cassius, the brother-in-law of Marcus Brutus. Brutus is a good friend of Caesar’s, who has no reason to distrust him. Cassius is concerned that Caesar is becoming too powerful and that for the good of Rome, he must be murdered. This annotated edition includes a biography and critical essay.
Download or read book Twelfth Night Annotated with Biography and Critical Essay written by William Shakespeare and published by BookCaps Study Guides. This book was released on 2013-11-07 with total page 129 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Twelfth Night is the only one of Shakespeare’s plays to have a double title – the other title being What You Will. This play is a comedy with an intricate plot and dozens of jokes to keep an audience entertained. It was written circa 1601 and the setting is Illyria, a fictional country. Shakespeare’s inspiration for the story came from Riche his Farewell to Militarie Profession, written in 1581 by Englishman Barnabe Riche. The Duke of Illyria is one Orsino. Illyria appears to be a place where very little is happening and the inhabitants are somewhat bored. When the play begins, Orsino is courting Countess Olivia. Olivia, however, is in no mood for courting, as she has just lost her brother and is mourning her loss. Even so, her uncle Sir Toby Belch is matchmaking. He thinks she would make a suitable mate for the dubious buffoon Sir Andrew Aguecheek. Sir Andrew and Sir Toby spend much of their time drinking with a clown named Feste. This annotated edition includes a biography and critical essay.
Download or read book Measure for Measure Annotated with Biography and Critical Essay written by William Shakespeare and published by BookCaps Study Guides. This book was released on 2013-11-07 with total page 134 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Measure for Measure is set in Vienna but is considered to be Shakespeare’s comment on the decline of morality in Jacobean London – one of the results of this was its virtual ban from Victorian stages over two hundred years later. Its sources were an Italian novella published in 1563 and an English play by George Whetstone which appeared in 1578. The settings for the action of Measure for Measure include a courtroom, a nunnery, a brothel and a prison. Vincentio, Duke of Vienna, in an attempt to restore order and a more civilized code of behavior on his city, leaves the duchy in the hands of his morally straitlaced deputy, Angelo. This annotated edition includes a biography and critical essay.
Download or read book Love s Labour s Lost Annotated with Biography and Critical Essay written by William Shakespeare and published by BookCaps Study Guides. This book was released on 2013-11-07 with total page 135 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Love’s Labour’s Lost is generally considered one of the few plays that Shakespeare created and did not mine other sources for inspiration. It is a comedy and a farce, and has a rather inconclusive ending. The action begins with the Ferdinand, the king of Navarre, and three of his lord/companions (Biron, Longueville, and Dumaine) taking an oath to devote themselves to study. They intend of taking off three years to do this – at the same time they were abstain from the company of women and other forms of excess. Ferdinand wants to make Navarre the academic capital of the world. He has forgotten, however, that the daughter of the King of France is about to visit, and soon she shows up. She tells Ferdinand that she will repay the loan that her father owes Navarre, but he indignantly protests that the French King is falling short on the amount he must pay Ferdinand. This annotated edition includes a biography and critical essay.
