A Midsummer Night's Dream Texts and Contexts

by Shakespeare, William

• ISBN13: 9780312166212
• ISBN10: 0312166214
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 1999-01-15
• Publisher: Bedford/St. Martin's

Summary

This edition of Shakespeare'sA Midsummer Night's Dreamreprints the Bevington edition of the play accompanied by four sets of primary documents and illustrations thematically arranged to offer a richly textured understanding of early modern culture and Shakespeare's work within that culture. The texts, including facsimiles of period documents, conduct literature, county records, reports of court entertainments, and Queen Elizabeth's speeches, contextualize the play's treatment of popular and royal festivity, communities of women (including Amazons, gossips, and nuns), marriage expectations, and the supernatural. Editorial features designed to help students read the play in light of the historical documents include an intelligent and engaging general introduction, an introduction to each thematic group of documents, thorough headnotes and glosses for the primary documents (presented in modern spelling), and an extensive bibliography.

Table of Contents

About the Series
About this Volume
List of Illustrations
Introduction	p. 1
William Shakespeare, A Midsummer Night's Dream	p. 11
Contextual Readings	p. 87
Popular Festivals and Court Celebrations	p. 89
The Rites of May	p. 91
The Ballad	p. 110
Court Entertainments	p. 117
The Making of Men	p. 149
The Ranks of Men: William Harrison's Of Degrees of People	p. 151
The Formation of the Ruler: Plutarch's Life of Theseus	p. 156
The Formation of the Gentleman: Sir Thomas Elyot and Roger Ascham	p. 166
Working Men	p. 179
The New Man: Simon Forman's Dreams	p. 188
Female Attachments and Family Ties	p. 192
Amazons	p. 194
Gossips	p. 217
Nuns	p. 221
The Virgin Queen	p. 231
A Poet and Her Patron	p. 238
Family Ties	p. 245
Natural and Supernatural	p. 265
Bad Weather and Dearth	p. 267
Metamorphosis and Monstrosity	p. 275
Bestiality and Monstrosity	p. 295
Monsters and Prodigies	p. 300
Fairy Belief	p. 307
Bibliography	p. 325
Index	p. 338
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