Four Great Comedies: The Taming of the Shrew/A Midsummer Night's Dream/Twelfth Night/The Tempest

Four of the Bard's most famous comedies--including The Taming of the Shrew, A Midsummer Night's Dream, Twelfth Night, and The Tempest.

"Comedies," as one of William Shakespeare's contemporaries wrote, "begin in trouble and end in peace." This is certainely true of the four masterworks selected for this collection, each of which represents a significant stage in the development of the world's greatest dramatist. Reading these plays, we sample the whole comic spectrum of the Elizabethan world--from the satiric comedy that portrays a world of people whose unreasonable behavior is ludicrous and in need of reform to the romantic comedy that takes us into a dreamlike holiday world whose inhabitants, for all their folly, are still endearing characters. And to give these plays more meaning for the modern reader, this edition includes the following special features:

- Reliable texts by noted Shakespeare scholars
- Texts printed in the clearest, most readable type
- Names of each speaker given in full
- Detailed footnotes at the bottom of each page keyed to the numbered lines of the text
- Textual notes
- Updated bibliography

About the Author:

William Shakespeare (1564-1616) was a poet, playwright, and actor who is widely regarded as one of the most influential writers in the history of the English language. Often referred to as the Bard of Avon, Shakespeare's vast body of work includes comedic, tragic, and historical plays; poems; and 154 sonnets. His dramatic works have been translated into every major language and are performed more often than those of any other playwright.