A Theatergoer's Guide to Shakespeare's CharactersFollowing on his successful Guides to the plots and themes of Shakespeare's plays, Robert Fallon now explores the world of characters created by the Bard. Like Mr. Fallon's earlier books, A Theatergoer's Guide to Shakespeare's Characters is designed to enhance the playgoer's enjoyment of a performance, but it also makes for enlightening reading after the show. Intended for the general reader, it is written in plain but not inelegant English and avoids the specialized language of the theater and the academy. More than eight hundred characters appear in Shakespeare's thirty-eight plays--an astonishing variety of kings and queens, mothers and fathers, clowns and fairies, peasants and dukes, villains and heroes, the young and the old, the sinning and the sinned against. How could he have known so many in his diverse culture and portrayed them so convincingly? Mr. Fallon has chosen some sixty of these figures to examine. With few exceptions, they are the ones that modern theatergoers are most likely to encounter in performance, those that have captured the imagination of audiences over the centuries: Lear, Hamlet, Cleopatra, Rosalind, Portia, and the like. But some lesser-known characters are offered for their inherent interest and their example of Shakespeare's "infinite variety." Mr. Fallon locates each of them in the story of their play, relates them to other characters, shows how they change (or don't), and sums up their character and nature. Readers of his other Guides know they will find in Characters an entertaining and useful appraisal. "This book is as handy as they come...distilled without being dunderheaded--reader-friendly in the extreme."--American Theatre (on A Theatergoer's Guide to Shakespeare) |
From inside the book
Results 1-3 of 30
Page x
... Midsummer Night's Dream Bottom Oberon and Titania Puck Much Ado About Nothing Beatrice and Benedick Othello Iago Othello 80 55 166 152 175 182 68 3 233 271 72 63 235 6 141 214 Richard II Henry IV 100 Richard II 243 Richard III.
... Midsummer Night's Dream Bottom Oberon and Titania Puck Much Ado About Nothing Beatrice and Benedick Othello Iago Othello 80 55 166 152 175 182 68 3 233 271 72 63 235 6 141 214 Richard II Henry IV 100 Richard II 243 Richard III.
Page 104
... III . * It is only in the tumultuous relationship with Prince Hal that we catch a glimpse of the private Henry IV . His son is a severe dis- appointment to him . In the closing scenes of Richard ... Richard III were composed before Richard II ...
... III . * It is only in the tumultuous relationship with Prince Hal that we catch a glimpse of the private Henry IV . His son is a severe dis- appointment to him . In the closing scenes of Richard ... Richard III were composed before Richard II ...
Page 250
Robert Thomas Fallon. RICHARD III " I am determined to prove a villain . " RICHARD , Duke of Gloucester , is not a complex figure . He has a single goal in life , to rule England as Richard the Third , and he sets out to achieve it with ...
Robert Thomas Fallon. RICHARD III " I am determined to prove a villain . " RICHARD , Duke of Gloucester , is not a complex figure . He has a single goal in life , to rule England as Richard the Third , and he sets out to achieve it with ...
Contents
Angelo 36 | 3 |
Beatrice and Benedick | 6 |
Antony and Cleopatra | 10 |
Copyright | |
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Common terms and phrases
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