Essential Shakespeare Handbook

"Till then I never knew there."
Henry VIII Act 1, Scene 4
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• A VIVID OVERVIEW OF SHAKESPEARE'S life and background, his contemporaries, critics and patrons and the fascinating world of Elizabethan and Jacobean theatre in which he worked.
"This is the short and the long of it."
The Merry Wives of Windsor, Act 2, Scene 2
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• CLEAR ACT-BY-ACT PLOT SYNOPSES OF ALL 39 PLAYS plus a detailed exploration of the Sonnets and narrative poems.
• SIDEBARS, ICONS AND BEAUTIFUL, SCENE-SETTING IMAGERY combine to enhance understanding of the themes, plots, characters, dramatic action, language and sources of each play.
• KNOWLEDGEABLE AND LIVELY COMMENTARY offers the reader and playgoer fresh insight into the Bard's work.