Complete Works

This collection contains the texts of all Shakespeare's plays, as edited by leading Shakespeare scholars for the Arden Shakespeare series. Brief introductions to each play, discuss the date and contemporary context of the play, its position within Shakespeare's oeuvre, and its subsequent performance history. A general introduction, also by the Arden General Editors, gives the reader an overall view of how and why Shakespeare has become such an influential cultural icon, and how perceptions of his work have changed in the intervening four centuries. The introduction summarizes the known facts about the dramatist's life, his reading and use of sources, and the nature of theatrical performance during his lifetime. An extensive glossary explains vocabulary which may be unfamiliar to 20th-century readers.