Synopses & Reviews
Synopsis
From William Shakespeare to Arthur Miller, the greatest playwrights are examined in a new series edited by noted literary critic Harold Bloom. Each book covers several plays, and includes a biography of the writer, plot summary of each work, and critical interpretations of the plays and their characters. The plays most frequently studied in high school and university literature courses today have been included in this series.
Description
Includes bibliographical references (p. 114-115) and index.
Table of Contents
Biography of William Shakespeare --Plot summary of Richard III --List of characters in Richard III --Critical views on Richard III: --August Wilhelm Schlegel on the play's poetical justice --Bruce W. Young on parental blessings in the play --William C. Carroll on ritual and succession in the play --E. Pearlman on the invention of Richard of Gloucester --Marie A. Plasse on corporeality and the opening of the play --Ian Frederick Moulton on Richard's unruly masculinity --Plot summary of Henry IV, part 1 --List of characters in Henry IV, part 1 --Critical views on Henry IV, part 1: --Robert N. Watson on King Henry's guilt and Hal's incorrigibility --Graham Holderness on Falstaff as a political and moral foil to the King --Paul M. Cuteta on Falstaff's convenient deaths --Alexander Leggatt on deception in Henry IV, part 1 --Ralph Berry on social life in part 1 --Barbara Hodgdon on Falstaff's feminine characteristics --Bernard J. Paris on King Henry, Hal, and Hotspur --Plot summary of Henry IV, part 2 --List of characters in Henry IV, part 2 --Critical views on Henry IV, part 2: --Sigurd Burckhardt on the play's overturning of the "Tudor Myth" of history --James Winny on the autonomy of parts 1 and 2 --David Bergeron on Falstaff and the concept of "Ahistory" in part 2 --Theodore Weiss on Prince Hal and comedy in the plays --James Black on the setting of figure against form in the plays --Jonathan Crewe on reforming Prince Hal in part 2 --Robert B. Bennett on nature's reclaiming of humanity in part 2 --Matthew H. Wikander on Hal's "Unknowable real self" --Plot summary of Henry V --List of characters in Henry V --Critical views on Henry V: --Samuel Johnson comments on the play, 1765 --August Wilhelm Schlegel on the chorus as dramatic device in the play --Larry S. Champion on the structural devices of the play --Andrew Gurr on the theme of brotherhood in the play --Jonathan Hart on the play's "Self-Conscious Theatricality" --P.K. Ayers on Harry as "Chameleon Linguist" --Harold Bloom on the irony of power in the play.