Shakespeare As You Like It

Readers and audiences have long greeted As You Like It with delight. Its characters are brilliant conversationalists, including the princesses Rosalind and Celia and their Fool, Touchstone. Soon after Rosalind and Orlando meet and fall in love, the princesses and Touchstone go into exile in the Forest of Arden, where they find new conversational partners. Duke Frederick, younger brother to Duke Senior, has overthrown his brother and forced him to live homeless in the forest with his courtiers, including the cynical Jaques. Orlando, whose older brother Oliver plotted his death, has fled there, too. Recent scholars have also grounded the play in the issues of its time. These include primogeniture, passing property from a father to his oldest son. As You Like It depicts intense conflict between brothers, exposing the human suffering that primogeniture entails. Another perspective concerns crossdressing. Most of Orlando’s courtship of Rosalind takes place while Rosalind is disguised as a man, “Ganymede.” At her urging, Orlando pretends that Ganymede is his beloved Rosalind. But as the epilogue reveals, the sixteenth-century actor playing Rosalind was male, following the practice of the time. In other words, a boy played a girl playing a boy pretending to be a girl. The authoritative edition of As You Like It from The Folger Shakespeare Library, the trusted and widely used Shakespeare series for students and general readers, is now available as an eBook. Features include: · The exact text of the printed book for easy cross-reference · Hundreds of hypertext links for instant navigation · Freshly edited text based on the best early printed version of the play · Full explanatory notes conveniently placed on pages facing the text of the play · Scene-by-scene plot summaries · A key to famous lines and phrases · An introduction to reading Shakespeare’s language · Illustrations from the Folger Shakespeare Library’s vast holdings of rare books · An essay by a leading Shakespeare scholar providing a modern perspective on the play

One of the best loved of Shakespeare's 'middle comedies', As You Like It has rarely been out of the theatrical repertoire. Centering on the cross-dressed figure of Rosalind, the play both celebrates and questions the state of being in love. This study attempts to recreate the Elizabethan audience's experience of the play - its awareness of issues that have been elided in subsequent, simply 'romantic' readings. Using an innovative theory of the significance of the Globe's stage space, Penny Gay examines the play's presentation of issues of power, sexuality, gender and genre.

The classic one-volume Shakespeare, including all the plays and poems, now completely revised and updated. The distinguished Pelican Shakespeare series has sold five million copies. Now Penguin is proud to offer this fully revised new hardcover edition of The Complete Pelican Shakespeare. Since the series debuted more than forty years ago, developments in scholarship have revolutionized our understanding of William Shakespeare, his time, and his works. With new editors who have incorporated the most up-to-date research and debate, this revised edition of The Complete Pelican Shakespeare will be the premier choice for students, professors, and general readers for decades to come. The general editors of the series-world-renowned Shakespeareans Stephen Orgel of Stanford University and A. R. Braunmuller of UCLA - devoted seven years to preparing introductions and notes with a team of eminent scholars to the forty volumes of Shakespeare's plays and poems. Now, the new series is complete and available in one lavish and complete edition. * *Authoritative and meticulously researched texts *Illuminating new introductions and notes by distinguished authors *Essays on Shakespeare's life, the theatrical world of his time, and the selection of texts *A handsome new design inside and out * Deluxe packaging, including a full-linen case, ribbon marker, Smyth-sewn binding, printed endpapers, acid-free paper, and illustrations throughout *Photos and drawings reflecting Shakespeare's theatrical legacy *Line numbers marking every tenth line and footnote references *Both glossorial and explanatory notes appearing conveniently at the foot of the page

This major new complete edition of Shakespeare's works combines accessibility with the latest scholarship. Each play and collection of poems is preceded by a substantial introduction that looks at textual and literary-historical issues. The texts themselves have been scrupulously edited and are accompanied by same-page notes and glossaries. Particular attention has been paid to the design of the book to ensure that this first new edition of the twenty-first century is both attractive and approachable.