Five Great Comedies: Much ADO about Nothing, Twelfth Night, a Midsummer Night's Dream, as You Like It and the Merry Wives of Windsor

William Shakespeare

$5.50

Publication Date: May 13th, 2005

Publisher:

Dover Publications

ISBN:

9780486440866

Pages:

388

Description

Merriment abounds in these beloved comedies by the Bard, in forms that range from magical mischief to rollicking farce. Five of Shakespeare's most popular comedies appear here, in one convenient and economical volume. Contents include:
Much Ado About Nothing, in which a betrothed couple set a lover's trap for a confirmed bachelor and his sharp-tongued sparring partner
Twelfth Night; or What You Will, the tale of a shipwrecked maiden who disguises herself as a boy and assists a duke in wooing a recalcitrant sweetheart
A Midsummer Night's Dream, in which the fairies of an enchanted forest employ a love potion to sport with four young lovers
As You Like It, concerning the retreat of banished royalty to a greenwood, where the constraints of everyday life are loosened and the characters free to reinvent themselves
The Merry Wives of Windsor, starring the jolly old rogue Sir John Falstaff in a madcap romp that gives his greed and vanity a humorous comeuppance.

About the Author

"He was not of an age, but for all time," declared Ben Jonson of his contemporary William Shakespeare (1564-1616). Jonson's praise is especially prescient, since at the turn of the 17th century Shakespeare was but one of many popular London playwrights and none of his dramas were printed in his lifetime. The reason so many of his works survive is because two of his actor friends, with the assistance of Jonson, assembled and published the First Folio edition of 1623.