Kenneth Muir

First published in 1977. This book ascertains what sources Shakespeare used for the plots of his plays and discusses the use he made of them; and secondly illustrates how his general reading is woven into the texture of his work. Few Elizabethan dramatists took such pains as Shakespeare in the collection of source-material. Frequently the sources were apparently incompatible, but Shakespeare's ability to combine a chronicle play, one or two prose chronicles, two poems and a pastoral romance without any sense of incongruity, was masterly. The plays are examined in approximately chronological order and Shakespeare's developing skill becomes evident.

First published in 1972. The emphasis of this book is that each of Shakespeare's tragedies demanded its own individual form and that although certain themes run through most of the tragedies, nearly all critics refrain from the attempt to apply external rules to them. The plays are almost always concerned with one person; they end with the death of the hero; the suffering and calamity that befall him are exceptional; and the tragedies include the medieval idea of the reversal of fortune.

Admired by Shelley for 'its satisfying completeness', this thought-provoking and skilfully constructed play, which dramatizes the same subject as Shakespeare's Henry VIII , is one of its creator's most outstanding achievements. Understandably, Calderon offers an interpretation of King Henry's divorce from Catherine of Aragon and break with the Church of Rome which is markedly different from that given in Shakespeare's work. Yet, despite his Counter-Reformation allegiances, Calderon brings Henry VIII sympathetically to dramatic life. The schismatic English monarch is portrayed by the Roman Catholic Spanish playwright as a man endowed with moral awareness and with exceptional talent for spiritual leadership, who is, nevertheless, morally and spiritually destroyed by his extraordinary surrender to the forces of physical passion. In this first published translation of the play into English Kenneth Muir and Ann MacKenzie have adhered to methods effectively adopted in their previous books ( Four Comedies by Calderon, and Three Comedies by Calderon). They have composed, almost entirely in blank verse, an accurate yet elegantly poetic version, after the manner of the Elizabethans, but avoiding vocabulary which might seem affected to a modern audience, in order to produce a 'script' that could be performed with success on the stage. The critical edition, prepared by Ann Mackenzie to accompany the translation, is based on the editio princeps (published by Vera Tassis in Calderon's Octava parte de comedias [Madrid, 1684]). Her substantial Introduction and comprehensive Commentary together constitute the most detailed critical evaluation accomplished to date of this key-drama from the Golden Age in Spain. The Introduction, in particular, supplies new evidence as to the date of the play (1627) and the circumstances of its composition, and provides an analysis of Calderon's creative treatment of his historical source-work: Ribadeneyra's Historia eclesiastica del cisma del reino de Inglaterra (1588). Spanish text with facing-page translation, introduction and commentary .

This volume brings together nine essays on King Lear by distinguished scholars, all of which were first published in Shakespeare Survey, the leading journal devoted to Shakespeare studies. A retrospective survey of criticism from 1934 to the present is followed by studies of the play's style and discussion of its background, meaning and theatrical presentation. The volume is illustrated with photographs of post-war productions.

Aspects of Hamlet brings together authoritative articles by distinguished Shakespeare scholars. In making their selection from the entire range of Shakespeare Survey volumes, Kenneth Muir and Stanley Wells have borne the interests of the general reader in mind, as well as the needs of teachers and students. The plates, chosen from the Royal Shakespeare Company's files at the Shakespeare Centre, Stratford-upon-Avon, illustrate post-war productions of the play.

Aspects of Othello, with its companion volume, Aspects of Macbeth, brings together authoritative articles by distinguished Shakespeare scholars. In making their selections from the entire range of Shakespeare Survey volumes, Professors Kenneth Muir and Philip Edwards have borne the interest of general readers in mind as well as the needs of teachers and students. In each volume the plate section includes both the articles' original illustrations and new material and there are specially written prefaces by the editors.