Histories from the First Folio of Mr. William Shakespeare's Comedies, Histories and Tragedies. The first published collection of William Shakespeare's plays. Published in 1623. Histories include: King John -- Richard II -- Henry IV, Part 1 -- Henry IV, Part 2 -- Henry V -- Henry VI, Part 1 -- Henry VI, Part 2 -- Henry VI, Part 3 -- Richard III -- Henry VIII.

The gods have much to tell us about performance. When human actors portray deities onstage, such divine epiphanies reveal not only the complexities of mortals playing gods but also the nature of theatrical spectacle itself. The very impossibility of rendering the gods in all their divine splendor in a truly convincing way lies at the intersection of divine power and the power of the theater. This book pursues these dynamics on the stages of ancient Athens and Rome as well on those of Renaissance England to shed new light on theatrical performance. The authors reveal how gods appear onstage both to astound and to dramatize the very machinations by which theatrical performance operates. Offering an array of case studies featuring both canonical and lesser-studied texts, this volume discusses work of Aeschylus, Sophocles, Euripides, Aristophanes, and Plautus as well as Beaumont, Heywood, Jonson, Marlowe, and Shakespeare. This book uniquely brings together the joint perspectives of two experts on classical and Renaissance drama. This volume will appeal to students and enthusiasts of literature, classics, theater, and performance studies.

While many scholars in Shakespeare and Religious Studies assume a secularist viewpoint in their interpretation of Shakespeare’s works, there are others that allow for a theologically coherent reading. Located within the turn to religion in Shakespeare studies, this book goes beyond the claim that Shakespeare simply made artistic use of religious material in his drama. It argues that his plays inhabit a complex and rich theological atmosphere, individually, by genre and as a body of work. The book begins by acknowledging that a plot-controlling God figure, or even a consistent theological dogma, is largely absent in the plays of Shakespeare. However, it argues that this absence is not necessarily a sign of secularization, but functions in a theologically generative manner. It goes on to suggest that the plays reveal a consistent, if variant, attention to the theological possibility of a divine "presence" mediated through human wit, both in gracious and malicious forms. Without any prejudice for divine intervention, the plots actually gesture on many turns toward a hidden supernatural "actor", or God. Making bold claims about the artistic and theological of Shakespeare’s work, this book will be of interest to scholars of Theology and the Arts, Shakespeare and Literature more generally.

Most scholarly attention on Shakespeare's vocabulary has been directed towards his enrichment of the language through borrowing words from other languages and has thus concentrated on the more learned aspects of his vocabulary. But the bulk of Shakespeare's output consists of plays in which he employs a colloquial and informal style using such features as discourse markers or phrasal verbs. Both today and in earlier periods many informal words were gradually accepted into the standard language, and it may be difficult to recognize when certain words have become acceptable. This dictionary lists the types of words which constitute informal language, which are most often associated with less educated speakers. As with other books in this series the words are grouped either by semantic identity, such as words for 'head', or by some linguistic feature such as 'discourse markers', with some words that don't fit into specific categories, listed separately. >

For the first time, a photographic facsimile of the First Folio of Shakespeare's plays is available in one affordable volume. Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, and Tragedies gives actors, directors, and anyone interested in Shakespeare access to the plays as Shakespeare envisioned them. In returning to the original text, actors and directors can find answers to the many problems they find preparing a play of Shakespeare. Included is the introduction to acting from the First Folio and its accompanying acting guide and glossary, making this the most valuable tool for all who love the Bard.