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A Midsummer Night's Dream

Book Hero Magic crafted this summary to help describe this book. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! Summary
In A Midsummer Night's Dream, Shakespeare explores the complexities of love through intertwined plots involving mythological figures and common folk. As Theseus and Hippolyta prepare for their wedding, young lovers navigate confusing enchantments in the Athenian woods, where fairy royalty Oberon and Titania clash over an orphan boy. Magic causes Titania to fall for Bottomโ€”an artisan with a donkey's headโ€”while a comical troupe attempts to stage the tragic tale of Pyramus and Thisbe.
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Format: Paperback / softback
$3500

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Book Hero Magic created this recommendation. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! IS THIS YOUR NEXT READ?

This authoritative edition is ideal for students, scholars, and general readers seeking a thorough understanding of Shakespeareโ€™s work, complete with notes, summaries, and scholarly essays.

Book Hero thinking about your next read

This edition of one of Shakespeare's most beloved comedies features a freshly edited text of the play, scene-by-scene explanatory notes, a key to famous lines and phrases, and much more. Reissue.

Book Hero Magic formatted this description to make it easier to read. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! Description

The authoritative edition of A Midsummer Night's Dream from The Folger Shakespeare Library, the trusted and widely used Shakespeare series for students and general readers.

In A Midsummer Night's Dream, Shakespeare stages the workings of love. Theseus and Hippolyta, about to marry, are figures from mythology. In the woods outside Theseus's Athens, two young men and two young women sort themselves out into couplesโ€”but not before they form first one love triangle, and then another.

Also in the woods, the king and queen of fairyland, Oberon and Titania, battle over custody of an orphan boy. Oberon uses magic to make Titania fall in love with a weaver named Bottom, whose head is temporarily transformed into that of a donkey by a hobgoblin or "puck," Robin Goodfellow. Finally, Bottom and his companions ineptly stage the tragedy of "Pyramus and Thisbe."

This edition includes:

  • 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 the play's famous lines and phrases
  • An introduction to reading Shakespeare's language
  • An essay by a leading Shakespeare scholar providing a modern perspective on the play
  • Fresh images from the Folger Shakespeare Library's vast holdings of rare books
  • An annotated guide to further reading

Essay by Catherine Belsey

The Folger Shakespeare Library in Washington, DC, is home to the world's largest collection of Shakespeare's printed works, and a magnet for Shakespeare scholars from around the globe. In addition to exhibitions open to the public throughout the year, the Folger offers a full calendar of performances and programs. For more information, visit Folger.edu.

Series: Folger Shakespeare Library

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  • A Midsummer Night's Dream
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Book Details

INFORMATION

ISBN: 9781501146213

Publisher: Simon & Schuster

Format: Paperback / softback

Date Published: 12 July 2016

Country: United States

Imprint: Simon & Schuster

Edition: Annotated edition

Contributors:

  • Edited by Paul Werstine
  • Edited by Barbara a Mowat

Audience: Teenage

DIMENSIONS

Spine width: 25.0mm

Width: 137.0mm

Height: 211.0mm

Weight: 386g

Pages: 304

About the Author

William Shakespeare was born in April 1564 in the town of Stratford-upon-Avon, on England's Avon River. When he was eighteen, he married Anne Hathaway. The couple had three children--an older daughter Susanna and twins, Judith and Hamnet. Hamnet, Shakespeare's only son, died in childhood. The bulk of Shakespeare's working life was spent in the theater world of London, where he established himself professionally by the early 1590s. He enjoyed success not only as a playwright and poet, but also as an actor and shareholder in an acting company. Although some think that sometime between 1610 and 1613 Shakespeare retired from the theater and returned home to Stratford, where he died in 1616, others believe that he may have continued to work in London until close to his death.

Barbara A. Mowat is Director of Research emerita at the Folger Shakespeare Library, Consulting Editor of Shakespeare Quarterly, and author of The Dramaturgy of Shakespeare's Romances and of essays on Shakespeare's plays and their editing.

Paul Werstine is Professor of English at the Graduate School and at King's University College at Western University. He is a general editor of the New Variorum Shakespeare and author of Early Modern Playhouse Manuscripts and the Editing of Shakespeare and of many papers and articles on the printing and editing of Shakespeare's plays.

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