The authorship of Shakespeare's plays
Subtitle: a socio-linguistic study
By: Jonathan Hope.
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Published: 1994
Place of publication: Cambridge; New York
Language: eng
Number of pages: 188
Subjects: Shakespeare, William, 1564-1616 -- Authorship -- Collaboration.; English drama -- Early modern and Elizabethan, 1500-1600 -- History and criticism.; English drama -- 17th century -- History and criticism.; English language -- Early modern, 1500-1700 -- Grammar.; Authorship -- Collaboration -- History.; Playwriting -- History.
Description: This book introduces a new method for determining the authorship of Renaissance plays. Based on the rapid rate of change in English grammar in the late sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries, socio-historical linguistic evidence allows us to distinguish the hands of Renaissance playwrights within play texts. The present study focuses on Shakespeare: his collaborations with Fletcher and Middleton; and the apocryphal plays.

Among the plays examined are Henry VIII, The Two Noble Kinsmen, Macbeth, Pericles, and Sir Thomas More. The findings of the book allow us to be more confident about the divisions of collaborative plays, and confirm the status of Edward III as a strong candidate for inclusion in the canon.

. Using graphs to present statistical data in a readily comprehensible form, the book also contains a wealth of information about the history of the English language during a period of far-reaching change. The book will be of interest to students and scholars of Shakespeare studies, English literature, the history of the language and linguistics.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references (p. 177-185) and index.