WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE, página 34 de 165

Hamlet és probablement la més famosa i la més representada de les tragèdies de Shakespeare. Colpidora i enigmàtica, és, a parer de Goethe, una obra que oprimeix l’ànima com un problema tenebrós. Basa

King Henry is married to Katherine of Aragon, but he is smitten by the charms of the queen's maid of honour, and is tempted to divorce his wife. Meanwhile, the lords of England resent the influence of Henry's trusted advisor, Cardinal Wolsey, who is gradually drawing power into his own hands.

Mi fin será la desesperación . En estas palabras finales de La Tempestad muchos han visto el testamento poético de Shakespeare. Escrita en 1611, cinco años antes de su muerte, lo cierto es que, despues de esta obra, el dramaturgo abandono su oficio.La tempestad es un drama severo y sobrecogedor que habla de las ilusiones perdidas, de la amarga sabiduria y de una fragil esperanza. Y conforma, ademas, la violencia de la naturaleza (la tempestad) con la violencia del orden social (el poder del monarca y un contexto de conspiraciones).

One of Shakespeares most popular yet controversial plays, this edition of The Taming of the Shrew considers its reception in the light of the hostility and embarrassment it often arouses, taking account of both scholarly defences and modern feminist criticism of the play. For this updated edition Ann Thompson has added new sections to the Introduction which describe the deeply problematic nature of debates about the play and its reception since the 1980s. She discusses recent editions and textual, performance and critical studies.

The most striking difference between Othello and Shakespeare''s other tragedies is its more intimate scale. Because the play focuses on personal rather than public life, Othello''s private descent into jealous obsession is especially chilling to behold. This invaluable new study guide to one of Shakespeare''s greatest tragedies contains a selection of the finest criticism through the centuries on Othello, including commentaries by such important critics as Voltaire, Charles Lamb, A. C. Swinburne, T. S. Eliot, and many others. Studients will also benefit from the additional features in this volume, including an introduction by Harold Bloom, an accessible summary of the plot, an analysis of several key passages, a comprehensive list of characters, a biography of Shakespeare, essays discussing the main currents of criticism in each century since Shakespeare''s time, and more.

One of the great Shakespearean tragedies, Macbeth is a dark and bloody drama of ambition, murder, guilt and revenge. Prompted by the prophecies of three mysterious witches and goaded by his ambitious wife, the Scottish thane Macbeth murders Duncan, King of Scotland, in order to succeed him on the throne. This foul deed soon entangles the conscience-stricken nobleman in a web of treachery, deceit and more murders that ultimately spells his doom.

This joyous play, the last comedy of Shakespeare''s career, sums up his stagecraft with a display of seemingly effortless skill. Prospero, exiled Duke of Milan, living on an enchanted island, has the opportunity to punish and forgive his enemies when he raises a tempest that drives them ashoreas well as to forestall a rebellion, to arrange the meeting of his daughter, Miranda, with an eminently suitable young prince, and, more important, to relinquish his magic powers in recognition of his advancing age. Richly filled with music and magic, romance and comedy, the play''s theme of love and reconciliation offers a splendid feast for the senses and the heart.

Much Ado has always been popular on the stage. This edition pays especial attention to the history and range of theatrical interpretation, in which the most famous actors, from the time of Garrick to the present, have appeared as the sparring lovers Benedick and Beatrice. A full commentary includes annotation of the many sexual jokes in the play that have been obscured by the complexity of Elizabethan language. For this updated edition Angela Stock has added a new section to the Introduction in which she reviews the romantic and the darker, more cynical aspects of the play in the light of late twentieth-century stage, film and critical interpretations. She also tackles the interesting question of Beatrices proper age and the critical fortunes of Hero and Claudio in terms of the plays interest in sexuality and misogyny, eavesdropping and deception.

The Merchant of Venice has been performed more often than any other comedy by Shakespeare. Molly Mahood pays special attention to the expectations of the plays first audience, and to our modern experience of seeing and hearing the play. In a substantial new addition to the Introduction, Charles Edelman focuses on the plays sexual politics and recent scholarship devoted to the position of Jews in Shakespeares time. He surveys the international scope and diversity of theatrical interpretations of The Merchant in the 1980s and 1990s and their different ways of tackling the troubling figure of Shylock.

Tan utópico e ideal como describir el tipo de personalidad de Hamlet es intentar hacerlo con la de su autor, Shakespeare, inmerso no sólo en sus enigmas sino en los torrentes creados por bibliografías oceanicas. Cuando tenia cuarenta y cinco años, esto es en 1609, aparecio en sendas librerias de Londres un volumen delgado cuyo titulo era "SHAKE-SPEARES SONNETS. Neuer before imprinted". Comprendia ciento cincuenta y cuatro sonetos y un poema mas largo titulado A Lover"s Complaint. La originalidad de los Sonetos no ha de buscarse ni en la estructura, que preexistia; ni en la tematica, pues acaso el triangulo amoroso ya existe como variacion en la Iliada y en el libro de Samuel. Interesa si discernir la voz -o las voces- del poeta, que ha encarnado en palabras una experiencia. Las palabras no solo registran los hechos (tal vez lo menos importante), sino una plenitud de anhelos, luchas, ironias, quejas, meditaciones. En el soneto 96, el poeta usa dos veces la voz que en castellano significa "traducir". En un caso, los errores se traducen como verdades; en el otro, la verdad (el lobo) se traduce como error (el cordero) con el fin de engañar. Esta sintesis poderosa condensa la aporia milenaria que aqueja a los traductores: si es cierto que "traicionan" tambien es cierto que "traditan", es decir, "entregan". Al hacerlo abren, expanden, compelen a re-pensar y a resentir la experiencia poetica. Esta obra, traducida por Miguel Angel Montezanti, no blasona de haberse librado del primer estigma, pero si defiende haberse entregado apasionadamente a la segunda vocacion. Para las mentes mas criticas y escrutadoras, las notas y el estudio preliminar pueden alentar la prosecucion del estudio.

A Midsummer Nights Dream is perhaps Shakespeares most popular comedy, and also a profound, archetypal play. The Introduction describes the two main traditions in the stage history, one emphasising charm and innocence, the other stressing darker suggestions of violence and sexuality, and relates them to similar traditions in critical interpretation, showing that both are necessary to a full understanding of the play. For this updated edition the editor has added a new section to the Introduction which takes account of the number of important professional theatre productions and the large output of scholarly criticism on the play which have appeared in recent years. The Reading List has also been revised and augmented.

Las obras de teatro de Shakespeare, dramaturgo, poeta, actor, y empresario teatral, reflejan una visión universal de la vida. Con tan encontrados temas y elementos, lo que en verdad resulta admirable en el genio de este autor es aquella atinada y segura eleccion de los argumentos empleados para el logro de una acabada realizacion artistica y dramatica en sus obras, usando de continuo los elementos familiares que lo rodeaban, ofreciendo con sus elecciones y recreaciones, sugerencias teatrales mas ricas y fecundas que cuantas le habian precedido. Las creaciones de este dramaturgo poseen un inconfundible sello personal y las cualidades precisas para ser disfrutadas por los auditorios mas disimbolos, y aplaudidas por todos.

''Romeo e Xulieta'', traxedia estreada con grande éxito en 1956, é unha extraordinaria historia de amor cunha trama apaixonante e diálogos ateigados de enxeño, na que se prefigura todo un estilo no tratamento do tema amoroso. Xunto a ela, ''O rei Lear'' e a gran traxedia na que a subversion de todos os valores fai percibir con crua nitidez a presencia do absurdo na mesma cerna da vida; peza que constitue un dos puntos culminantes da obra do dramaturgo ingles.