Table of Contents

Preface.- To the Reader.- Introduction.- Shakespeare, 'Shakespeare' and the Problem of Authorship.- 'To What End are all these Words?': Shakespeare's Dramatic Language...- Performances, Playhouses and Players.- 'What is Your Text?'.- Theatre a la Mode: Shakespeare and the Kinds of Drama.- From Betterton to Branagh: Shakespeare in Performance.- 'I Loved my Books': Shakespeare's Reading.- Town and Country: Life in Shakespeare's England.- Men and Women: Gender, Family, Society.- Politics and Religion: Early Modern Ideologies.- Bibliography Index.

Promotional Information

'Excellent back-up text, will be particularly useful for tutorials and exam preparation.' - Ann Heilmann, University of Wales Swansea Reviews of the First Edition: 'The introductions are cogent, balanced and represent most of the recent trends in critical study of Shakespeare. The documents are well chosen, and the selections of passages result in the most useful sampling of Renaissance culture.' - Karen Raber, University of Mississippi 'This is the work of an engaged teaching scholar who has excellent judgement of what students in an introductory course need to know and of how to make it accessible. I am impressed as I read it by the command McDonald shows of great areas of scholarship and the zest with which he writes about challenging issues.' - Michael Warren, University of California, Santa Cruz

About the Author

RUSS MCDONALD lectures in English at the University of North Carolina, Greensboro.