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  • Published: 12 August 1998
  • ISBN: 9780451527127
  • Imprint: Signet
  • Format: Paperback
  • Pages: 288
  • RRP: $14.99
Categories:

The Tempest




The legendary Pelican Shakespeare series features authoritative and meticulously researched texts paired with scholarship by renowned Shakespeareans. Each book includes an essay on the theatrical world of Shakespeare’s time, an introduction to the individual play, and a detailed note on the text used.

The Signet Classics edition of William Shakespeare's fantastical play that combines elements of tragedy and comedy.

Prospero—sorcerer and rightful Duke of Milan—has lived a reclusive life with his daughter Miranda in the years since his position was usurped by his brother, Antonio. Now, as Antonio’s ship passes near Prospero’s island home, the sorcerer conjures up a terrible storm that will change all of their destinies....

This revised Signet Classics edition includes unique features such as:

• An overview of Shakespeare's life, world, and theater
• A special introduction to the play by the editor, Robert Langbaum
• Selections from William Strachey, Sylvester Jourdain, Montaigne, and Ovid, sources from which Shakespeare derived The Tempest
• Dramatic criticism from Samuel Taylor Coleridge, E.M.W. Tillyard, Lori Jerrell, and others
• A comprehensive stage and screen history of notable actors, directors, and productions
• Text, notes, and commentaries printed in the clearest, most readable text
• And more...

  • Published: 12 August 1998
  • ISBN: 9780451527127
  • Imprint: Signet
  • Format: Paperback
  • Pages: 288
  • RRP: $14.99
Categories:

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About the author

William Shakespeare

William Shakespeare was born in Stratford-upon-Avon in Warwickshire, and was baptised on 26 April 1564. His father was a glove maker and wool merchant and his mother, Mary Arden, was the daughter of a well-to-do local land owner. Shakespeare was probably educated in Stratford’s grammar school. In 1582 he married Anne Hathaway, and the couple had a daughter the following year and twins in 1585.

Shakespeare’s theatrical life seems to have commenced around 1590. We do know that he was part of the Lord Chamberlain’s Company, which was renamed the King’s Company in 1603 when James I succeeded to the throne. The Company acquired interests in two theatres in the Southwark area of London, near the banks of the Thames - the Globe and the Blackfriars.

Shakespeare’s poetry was published before his plays, with two poems appearing in 1593 and 1594, dedicated to his patron Henry Wriothesley, Earl of Southampton. Most of Shakespeare’s sonnets were probably written at this time as well.

Records of Shakespeare’s plays begin to appear in 1594, and he produced roughly two a year until around 1611. His earliest plays include Henry VI and Titus Andronicus. A Midsummer Night’s Dream, The Merchant of Venice and Richard II all date from the mid to late 1590s. Some of his most famous tragedies were written in the early 1600s; these include Hamlet, Othello, King Lear, Macbeth and Antony & Cleopatra. His late plays, often known as the Romances, date from 1608 onwards and include The Tempest.

Shakespeare died on 23 April 1616 and was buried in Holy Trinity Church in Stratford. The first collected edition of his works was published in 1623 and is known as ‘the First Folio’.

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