The Winter's Tale (Cambridge School Shakespeare) [Paperback]

One of Shakespeare's most haunting and enigmatic late plays, The Winter's Tale is a fine example of Shakespeare's fascination with the dramatic genre of "romance": the portrayal of magical lands, familial conflict and exile, and final reunion and reconciliation. Drawing on Robert Green's story Pandosto, Shakespeare play tells the story of the middle-aged Leontes, king of Sicilia, and his childhood friend Polixenes, the king of Bohemia. Leontes mistakenly believes that his friend is having an affair with his wife, Hermione. In his jealousy, and consumed by "tremor cordis", he tries to murder Polixenes, who flees, and accuses his wife of adultery. Hermione gives birth to a baby girl, Perdita, who Leontes denounces as illegitimate, and casts her out into the wilderness. Hermione is ultimately proved innocent, but her son, Mamillius, dies of grief. Hermione collapses, apparently dead, and Leontes is left to pick up the tragic consequences of his actions. Time passes, and the action moves to Bohemia, where the lost child Perdita has grown up a shepherdess in the midst of "great creating nature". The final scenes of the play draw towards resolution and reconciliation between Leontes, Hermione and their lost daughter, culminating in one of Shakespeare's most moving final scenes. One of Shakespeare's most consummate plays, The Winter's Tale is a fascinating study of male insecurity and the relations between art and nature. --Jerry Brotton. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

'… The New Cambridge Shakespeare produces superb editions that rank with the Arden and the Oxford as the best in the business. This year's The Winter's Tale is no exception.' Studies in English Literature --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

'a play where miracles do happen and redemption does eventually come, but at a terrible price' Lyn Gardner, Guardian, 22.9.09 'Like all of Shakespeare's later plays, this is a realistic fairy tale' John Peter, Sunday Times, 20.9.09 --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

This play has been reissued with a new, attractive cover design --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Like every other play in the Cambridge School Shakespeare series, The Winter's Tale has been specially prepared to help all students in schools and colleges. This version aims to be different from other editions of the play. It invites you to bring the play to life in your classroom through enjoyable activities that will help increase your understanding. You are encourage to make up your own mind about the play, rather than have someone else's interpretation handed down to you. Whatever you do, remember that Shakespeare wrote his plays to be acted, watched and enjoyed.

Like every other play in the Cambridge School Shakespeare series, The Winter's Tale has been specially prepared to help all students in schools and colleges. This version aims to be different from other editions of the play. It invites you to bring the play to life in your classroom through enjoyable activities that will help increase your understanding. You are encourage to make up your own mind about the play, rather than have someone else's interpretation handed down to you. Whatever you do, remember that Shakespeare wrote his plays to be acted, watched and enjoyed.

''The Winter's Tale' is high fantasy, a tale to be told by the fire…The play belongs to the type known as "tragicomedy", but Shakespeare has separated the tragedy from the comedy. The first part has the same kind of tragic development as 'Othello'; the second part is pure idyllic comedy. 'The Winter's Tale' is a far better play to hear and see than to read; it needs the voice of the actor to give it life.'
G.B. HARRISON, editor of texts for The Shakespeare Recording Society.

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Stanley Wells is Emeritus Professor of the University of Birmingham and Chairman of the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust. Russ McDonald is Nation’s Bank Excellence Professor of English at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. The winner of multiple awards for distinguished teaching, he has recently edited Shakespeare: An Anthology of Criticism and Theory, 1945-2000. Ernest Schanzer was a Shakespeare scholar who taught at the Universities of Liverpool and Munich. Author of a book on Shakespeare's Problem Plays, he also had a special interest in Shakespeare's sources and in his late plays. He edited Pericles for the Signet edition.

Stanley Wells is Emeritus Professor of the University of Birmingham and Chairman of the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust.

Russ McDonald is Nation's Bank Excellence Professor of English at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. The winner of multiple awards for distinguished teaching, he has recently edited Shakespeare: An Anthology of Criticism and Theory, 1945-2000.

Ernest Schanzer was a Shakespeare scholar who taught at the Universities of Liverpool and Munich. Author of a book on Shakespeare's Problem Plays, he also had a special interest in Shakespeare's sources and in his late plays. He edited Pericles for the Signet edition.

--This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.