A Midsummer Night's Dream
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Product Description
Amazon.co.uk Review
Traditionally seen as one of Shakespeare's more romantic and enchanting plays, A Midsummer Night's Dream has more recently been seen as a darker and more sinister play than generations of schoolchildren have ever imagined. The play has usually been seen as a comical tale with confused identities and the fickleness of youthful love, as the young lovers, Lysander, Hermia, Demetrius and Helena escape parental control and the "sharp Athenian law" of their elders by eloping into the forest outside the city. Unfortunately they stumble into civil war in fairyland, where King Oberon and Queen Titania fight over possession of a beautiful young Indian "changeling" boy. The appearance of the "rude mechanicals", a group of Athenian workers, including the weaver Nick Bottom, compounds the confusion. Chaos, confusion and "shaping fantasies" reign before the final settlement of the play, but underneath all the hilarity many critics have discerned more ambivalent attitudes towards coercive parental control, bestial sexuality and the destructive power of desire. These approaches in no way detract from the exquisite lyricism of many sections of the play, but make it a more complex and effective comedy than has often been appreciated. --Jerry Brotton
Product Description
Edited, Introduced and Annotated by Cedric Watts, Professor of English Literature, University of Sussex.
The Wordsworth Classics’ Shakespeare Series, with Romeo and Juliet, Henry V and The Merchant of Venice as its inaugural volumes, presents a newly-edited sequence of William Shakespeare’s works. The textual editing takes account of recent scholarship while giving the material a careful reappraisal.
Its lyricism, comedy (both broad and subtle) and magical transformations have long made A Midsummer Night’s Dream one of the most popular of Shakespeare’s works. The supernatural and the mundane, the illusory and the substantial, are all shimmeringly blended. Love is treated as tragic, poignant, absurd and farcical. ‘Lord, what fools these mortals be!’, jeers Robin Goodfellow; but the joke may be on him and on his master Oberon when Bottom the weaver, his head transformed into that of an ass, is embraced by the voluptuously amorous Titania. Recent stage-productions of A Midsummer Night’s Dream have emphasised the enchanting, spectacular, ambiguous and erotically joyous aspects of this magical drama which culminates in a multiple celebration of marriage.
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First Sentence
When Samuel Pepys saw A Midsummer Night's Dream in September 1662, he remarked that he had never seen it before - 'nor shall ever again, for it is the most insipid ridiculous play that ever I saw in my life'. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Back Cover
When Samuel Pepys saw A Midsummer Night's Dream in September 1662, he remarked that he had never seen it before - 'nor shall ever again, for it is the most insipid ridiculous play that ever I saw in my life'. Read the first page
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Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Back Cover
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
18 of 19 people found the following review helpful
Format:Kindle Edition
We all know this is a great Shakespearean play, the only question to answer is: how is the formatting on the Kindle edition?
In this example it's done sufficiently and the play reads as it should. The stage directions are included in full, and are also very clear. I'm very pleased with my free download.
In this example it's done sufficiently and the play reads as it should. The stage directions are included in full, and are also very clear. I'm very pleased with my free download.
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
If you need a copy for rehearsals, the copy is small, lightweight and fits the purpose very well. For [...] you don't feel guilty for writing in it, treating it badly, or generally throwing it about.
Most copies of Shakespeare plays have 50 odd pages about Shakespeare, the contextual factors etc. This only has a few, concise pages that are useful, as well as the glossary. Unless you want a lot of other information, get another copy that is more expensive, but if you want a copy of the play, that is cheep and cheerful in the best possibly way, then go for this one!
Most copies of Shakespeare plays have 50 odd pages about Shakespeare, the contextual factors etc. This only has a few, concise pages that are useful, as well as the glossary. Unless you want a lot of other information, get another copy that is more expensive, but if you want a copy of the play, that is cheep and cheerful in the best possibly way, then go for this one!
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
I owned a large volume of the complete works of Shakespeare for a number of years and opened it perhaps once. The first play I started with was Midsummer Night's Dream. The ponderous size of the book along with the large pages filled with close print soon overwhelmed me and I gave up.
I have had a nicely filled bookcase full of the Collector's Library for a number of years and have continued to add to it. I was pleased to see Shakespeare's sonnets and some of his plays begin to appear. What a difference it made for me! I read Macbeth in one sitting. Cute little books with pictures make the Bard seem far less daunting. Each volume has an introduction and a glossary. I like the bright white paper and the pretty red cloth covers. The dustwrappers are so attractive that all you need is some ribbon and a bow to put it under the Christmas tree. They are especially handsome when you have a whole bookcase full of the little books.
A Midsummer Night's Dream is a good one to start with if you've never read Shakespeare. It's lighthearted and fun with mischievous fairies and a sprinkling of magic. Frankly, it piqued my interest because I wanted to know how the unfortunately named Bottom ended up with an ass's head.
I really hope Collector's Library publishes all of Shakespeare's works like they did with Jane Austen and Sherlock Holmes.
I am now taking Hamlet to dinner.
I have had a nicely filled bookcase full of the Collector's Library for a number of years and have continued to add to it. I was pleased to see Shakespeare's sonnets and some of his plays begin to appear. What a difference it made for me! I read Macbeth in one sitting. Cute little books with pictures make the Bard seem far less daunting. Each volume has an introduction and a glossary. I like the bright white paper and the pretty red cloth covers. The dustwrappers are so attractive that all you need is some ribbon and a bow to put it under the Christmas tree. They are especially handsome when you have a whole bookcase full of the little books.
A Midsummer Night's Dream is a good one to start with if you've never read Shakespeare. It's lighthearted and fun with mischievous fairies and a sprinkling of magic. Frankly, it piqued my interest because I wanted to know how the unfortunately named Bottom ended up with an ass's head.
I really hope Collector's Library publishes all of Shakespeare's works like they did with Jane Austen and Sherlock Holmes.
I am now taking Hamlet to dinner.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Free Shakespeare
A true classic. Not a book I would have gone out and bought but as a free option it is unbeatable.
Published 13 days ago by Dave of Torquay
Midsummer Night's Dream
A review is almost superfluous, as this fantasy is one of the most well-known works of the greatest writer of all. Read more
Published 23 days ago by Alastair
amnd reveiw
This Product as amazing, I am so glad I had the courage to buy this item. It's just like the play!!!
One word AMAZING!!!!!
One word AMAZING!!!!!
Published 2 months ago by gemma
Great service!
One of my favourite Shakespearean plays, I absolutely love it and I read it to my family now. Great service, thank you! :)
Published 5 months ago by Jade
Wordsworth Classics are excellent
Wordsworth Classics do not try to be anything they are not, a feature I have liked about them for years. Read more
Published 6 months ago by RR Waller
Lots of fun
Confession: I watch soaps only when my wife does - Desperate Housewives, Dirty Sexy Money, Madmen, The Good Wife. Read more
Published 13 months ago by A. Joy
m s n d
This is a great way to learn this play it sit's right in your pocket for use at any time
Published 14 months ago by DGT Fisher ( Actor )
midsummers night dream
Another of Shakespeares great plays; a comedy this time based on two young couples who run away into the woods. Read more
Published 20 months ago by Alexi Weasel
Always funny but not always fresh
This is the slightest of Shakespeare's works, which is very comical and has some good poetry but not the soul and depth of his greatest output. Read more
Published 22 months ago by Brownbear101
Just what you need
The book contains everything you need when putting on a production of A Midsummer Night's Dream, there is a small glossary at the back for Shakespearian words no longer used and... Read more
Published on 8 Aug 2009 by Sambrina
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