Essential Shakespeare handbook / [print]
DK essential Shakespeare handbook
Leslie Dunton-Downer, Alan Riding.
- first American edition.
- New York, New York : DK Pub., (c)2004.
- 480 pages : illustrations (chiefly color) ; 22 cm.
How to use this book -- Life of William Shakespeare -- Shakespeare in his time -- Elizabethan and Jacobean theatre -- Shakespeare's canon -- Shakespeare's language -- Works of Shakespeare -- History plays: Henry Virgin Islands, part I -- Henry Virgin Islands, part II -- Henry Virgin Islands -- Part III -- Richard III -- King John -- Edward III -- Richard II -- Henry IV, part I -- Henry IV, part II -- Henry V -- Henry Virgin IslandsII -- Comedies: Comedy of errors -- Taming of the shrew -- Two gentlemen of Verona -- Love's labour's lost -- Midsummer night's dream -- Merchant of Venice -- Merry wives of Windsor -- Much ado about nothing -- As you like it -- Twelfth night -- Troilus and cressida -- All's well that ends well -- Measure for measure -- Tragedies: Titus andronicus -- Romeo and Juliet -- Julius Caesar -- Hamlet -- Othello -- King Lear -- Macbeth -- Antony and Cleopatra -- Coriolanus -- Timon of Athens -- Romances: Pericles -- Cymbeline -- Winter's tale -- Tempest -- Two noble kinsmen -- Non-dramatic poetry: Narrative poems: Venus and Adonis -- Rape of Lucrece -- Phoenix and the turtle -- Lover's complaint -- Lyric poems: Sonnets -- Shall I die? -- Epitaphs -- Global Shakespeare -- Index -- Picture credits and acknowledgements.
For each of Shakespeare's plays, provides an introduction, list of characters, plot summary, notes on reading the play, and notes on seeing the play. Also includes an introduction to Shakespeare and his time; a genre overview for each of the four types of play--history, comedy, tragedy, and romance; and overviews of selected non-dramatic poems.