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The Winter's Tale: Third Series (The Arden Shakespeare Third Series) 3rd Edition

by William Shakespeare (Author), John Pitcher (Editor), Ann Thompson (Series Editor),
4.3 4.3 out of 5 stars 833 ratings
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One of Shakespeare's later plays, best described as a tragi-comedy, the play falls into two distinct parts. In the first Leontes is thrown into a jealous rage by his suspicions of his wife Hermione and his best-friend, and imprisons her and orders that her new born daughter be left to perish. The second half is a pastoral comedy with the "lost" daughter Perdita having been rescued by shepherds and now in love with a young prince. The play ends with former lovers and friends reunited after the apparently miraculous resurrection of Hermione.

John Pitcher's lively introduction and commentary explores the extraordinary merging of theatrical forms in the play and its success in performance. As the recent Sam Mendes production at the Old Vic shows, this is a play that can work a kind of magic in the theatre.

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  1. ISBN-10
    1903436354
  2. ISBN-13
    978-1903436356
  3. Edition
    3rd
  4. Publisher
    The Arden Shakespeare
  5. Publication date
    August 1, 2010
  6. Language
    English
  7. Dimensions
    5.18 x 1.04 x 7.82 inches
  8. Print length
    496 pages
  9. See all details
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Editorial Reviews

Review

“Cleverly and clearly designed for study, notes and commentary appear on the same page as the text and the introduction encompasses the play's historical, cultural and performance contexts as well as a survey of critical approaches.” ―Sardines Theatre Magazine

About the Author

William Shakespeare (1564-1616) was an English dramatist, poet, and actor, generally regarded as the greatest playwright of all time.

ANN THOMPSON is Emeritus Professor in English at King' s College London UK.

David Scott Kastan is the George M. Bodman Professor of English at Yale University, USA.

Henry Woudhuysen is Rector of Lincoln College, Oxford, UK.

Professor Richard Proudfoot served as Senior General Editor of the Arden Shakespeare for 35 years, until his retirement from King's in 1999. In 2001 The Arden Shakespeare published Proudfoot's Shakespeare: Text, Stage and Canon a critical overview of the scholarly achievements made in the field of Shakespeare studies by the end of the twentieth century.

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ The Arden Shakespeare; 3rd edition (August 1, 2010)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Paperback ‏ : ‎ 496 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1903436354
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1903436356
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.18 pounds
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.18 x 1.04 x 7.82 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.3 4.3 out of 5 stars 833 ratings

About the author

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William Shakespeare

William Shakespeare

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William Shakespeare was an English poet and playwright, widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's preeminent dramatist. He is often called England's national poet and the "Bard of Avon". His surviving works, including some collaborations, consist of 38 plays, 154 sonnets, two long narrative poems, and several other poems. His plays have been translated into every major living language and are performed more often than those of any other playwright.

Shakespeare was born in Stratford-upon-Avon in Warwickshire and was baptised on 26 April 1564. Thought to have been educated at the local grammar school, he married Anne Hathaway, with whom he went on to have three children, at the age of eighteen, before moving to London to work in the theatre. Two erotic poems, Venus and Adonis and The Rape of Lucrece were published in 1593 and 1594 and records of his plays begin to appear in 1594 for Richard III and the three parts of Henry VI. Shakespeare's tragic period lasted from around 1600 to 1608, during which period he wrote plays including Hamlet and Othello. The first editions of the sonnets were published in 1609 but evidence suggests that Shakespeare had been writing them for years for a private readership.

Shakespeare spent the last five years of his life in Stratford, by now a wealthy man. He died on 23 April 1616 and was buried in Holy Trinity Church in Stratford. The first collected edition of his works was published in 1623.

(The portrait details: The Chandos portrait, artist and authenticity unconfirmed. NPG1, © National Portrait Gallery, London)

Customer reviews

4.3 out of 5 stars
4.3 out of 5
833 global ratings
I like that there's pictures in the book
4 Stars
I like that there's pictures in the book
I need this book for English class, it's fine. I was slightly disappointed that although I bought it new, it came in with a crease (see picture) but it's only minor.
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Top reviews from the United States

Israel Drazin
5.0 out of 5 stars A very thought-provoking tragic tale
Reviewed in the United States on April 15, 2021
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“The Winter’s Tale” by William Shakespeare is a fascinating, tragic, psychological but little known play that Shakespeare wrote about five years before his death. It is about a pagan king with a loving lovely pregnant wife, and a son. He develops an unfounded jealousy and is convinced despite no one agreeing with him that his wife, the queen, was unfaithful to him with his friend and the child in her body is not his. Despite being assured by the Oracle that his wife committed no adultery and the child is his, he has her killed and banishes his just born daughter. His son dies out of anguish. He soon realizes that he was wrong. But it is too late. Now he suffers for what he did.
Sixteen years pass. His daughter is raised in another kingdom. By chance, she comes to his land, he meets her, realizes she is his daughter, and embraces her. He is shown a statute of his late wife. The statute comes alive and his wife forgives him saying she still loves him. He is is now after sixteen years given a second chance, forgiven for what he thought was unforgivable – although his son is lost.
The play is well-worth watching. Its moral is that problems, even the worst ones, can be resolved in a large measure, at least somewhat.
6 people found this helpful
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Linda Rader
5.0 out of 5 stars Anne Boleyn comes Alive
Reviewed in the United States on February 21, 2015
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In the Winter's Tale Shakespeare "rewrites" the tragedy of Anne Boleyn. In the play Sicilia's Queen Hermione is accused of adultry just as Queen Anne was in England a generation before. Like Boleyn, this queen too is imprisoned, tried in public and found guilty. Then the king's son by Hermione dies depriving the king of his male heir. (In Anne Boleyn's case the son was stillborn.) Hermione is now pregnant with a second child, a daughter that the king disavows is his and sends the child to her death. (In real life Anne Boleyn's daughter was Elizabeth who lived in the shadow of her younger half-brother Edward and in fear of her older half-sister Mary.) But there is a twist in Shakespeare's telling of this familiar-to-his-audience family tragedy. In the play, Hermione, the queen, is not executed but goes into hiding. 16 years later the Sicilian King repents his behavior. Their abandoned daughter, Perdita, is found to be alive after all, living in Bohemia and is reunited with her father. But that's not the best reunion.The play is worth it for the final scene, when Hermione, pretending to be her own statue, being admired by the King and daughter Perdita, suddenly "comes to life" and steps off the pedestal. In the end mother and daughter are reunited, a magical ending that death had denied to Queen Elizabeth and Anne Boleyn. The irony of history is that the legacy of Henry VIII was carried on not by his son by Jane Seymour, not by his catholic daughter Mary, but by the daughter of executed Anne Boleyn, the feisty Queen Elizabeth I. In the Winter's Tale, Shakespeare is giving Anne Boleyn and Queen Elizabeth the last laugh.
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A Book Vacation
4.0 out of 5 stars Interesting
Reviewed in the United States on April 4, 2012
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I feel like this Shakespearian play doesn't get enough face time. The first time I ever saw its title, I was in High School, looking at the names of all the plays Shakespeare ever wrote. We all know about his overly famous plays, like Hamlet, Romeo and Juliet, A Midsummer Night's Dream, but what about The Winter's Tale? I was intrigued by the title at the time, and the fact that I'd never heard of it before (and with a brother heavily into Shakespeare and acting, that was unusual). I've never seen this title on a playbill, though I'm sure it must be preformed somewhere, and my curiosity about this play was peaked--though in High School I didn't do anything about it. Recently, I had to teach Hamlet, and as I was looking on Amazon for a copy for my Kindle, I once again came across The Winter's Tale. As it was a free copy, I scooped it up and read it right away, just to assuage my curiosity.

It was interesting. In my opinion, it's not really like Shakespeare's other plays. It's a bit intense in the beginning, and though there are comedic scenes, I wouldn't necessarily classify this as a comedy, nor a tragedy either. A romance, I suppose, but for me, it's a bit strange. Through a little research I found that Shakespeare actually modeled his play off Pandosto, by Robert Greene (which I've never read), but I, personally, see much of Oedipus Rex in this play. I know Shakespeare dealt a lot with Greek mythology in his works, and The Winter's Tale seems to really follow that of Oedipus Rex. I'm not going to give the entire synopsis away, or any spoilers, but, like Oedipus, King Leontes is a haughty man, paranoid. He refuses to listen to oracles and attempts to do away with his newborn child by sending her away to die. While there are many differences between The Winter's Tale and Oedipus, there are also many similarities and I found this rather interesting, especially because I really enjoy Oedipus. That being said, I'd like to see this play preformed someday, I always tend to like plays more when they're preformed, so I'll have to keep my eyes peeled for this one.

(Please note: I use the star rating system of Goodreads, which is different from that of Amazon. My overall rating is that I liked it.)
4 people found this helpful
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Dylan Bray
3.0 out of 5 stars Paranoia
Reviewed in the United States on December 2, 2016
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A tale of paranoia wherein a king loses his wife, son and daughter. It starts well, and shows how paranoia is like a religion. The affected individual can only see that which is hypothesis confirming. Everyone else has joined in conspiracy against him. The rest of the play is boring and full of the typical, disguises and coincidence.
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Top reviews from other countries

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serena
5.0 out of 5 stars CONSIGLIATISSIMO👌
Reviewed in Italy on May 8, 2021
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Tutto fantastico 🤩!
Spedizione puntualissima come sempre e imballato e arrivato in perfette condizioni!
Consiglio veramente il volume più importante di The Winter's Tale di Shakespeare, oltre ovviamente la versione di melchiori. C'è tutto ciò che riguarda l'opera, comprese le musiche di scena.
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serena
5.0 out of 5 stars CONSIGLIATISSIMO👌
Reviewed in Italy on May 8, 2021
Tutto fantastico 🤩!
Spedizione puntualissima come sempre e imballato e arrivato in perfette condizioni!
Consiglio veramente il volume più importante di The Winter's Tale di Shakespeare, oltre ovviamente la versione di melchiori. C'è tutto ciò che riguarda l'opera, comprese le musiche di scena.
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JC
5.0 out of 5 stars Same as a new book
Reviewed in Spain on February 28, 2019
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It was practically as new. Did not seem second-handed
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SteveRR
5.0 out of 5 stars Value-priced and Best annotated Shakespeare for the Money
Reviewed in Canada on March 14, 2017
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This has to be the best series of Shakespeare's plays. Erudite, well laid out and comprehensive - this is far better than what my uni wanted me to buy. I will continue to buy this series going forward.
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sam
5.0 out of 5 stars A must have for students!!
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on April 2, 2015
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This helped me so much when writing my essay for Uni. It gives helpful background information and clear explanations.
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Amazonkundin
5.0 out of 5 stars The Winter's Tale
Reviewed in Germany on September 25, 2013
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Da meine Tochter zur Zeit das Abitur macht und dort Shakespeare im Original gelesen wird, hat sie sich schon einige Bücher auf ihr Kindle geladen.
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