Shakespeare: The Basics [Paperback]

Shakespeare: The Basics is a lively and accessible introduction to reading and studying Shakespeare. Exploring all aspects of Shakespeares plays, Sean McEvoy considers the language, cultural contexts, and modern interpretations.

List of Illustrations

Acknowledgements

 

Introduction: William Shakespeare 1564-2024

Shakespeares Life: An Outline

Shakespeares Afterlife

Shakespeare Goes to College

Shakespeare 2025

How to Use this Book

 

PART I

Chapter 1. Shakespeares Language

Writing for a Theatre Audience

Box 1.1: Shakespeares Audiences

Simple or Complex, the Language is Dramatic

Verse and Prose

Box 1.2: Playtexts in Shakespeares Time

Rhetorical Figures and Tropes

Box 1.3: Some Rhetorical Figures and Tropes

Rhetoric and Dramatic Action

Box 1.4: Social Hierarchy in Shakespeares England

 

Chapter 2. Shakespeares Theatre

The Open Air Playhouse

Indoor Playhouses

Acting Style

Box 2.1: Males Playing Women

Representation on the Early Modern Stage

Box 2.2: Theatres Enemies

Dramatic Forms and Metatheatre

 

Chapter 3. Shakespeare on the Modern Stage

Paul Robesons 1930 Othello

Othello at the National Thl*