Four Late Plays
Subtitle: Pericles, Cymbeline, The winter's tale, The tempest
Contributors: Judith Buchannan (Introduction)
Publisher: Wordsworth Classics of World Literature
Published: 2001
Place of publication: Ware, Hertfordshire
Language: eng
Format: Paperback
Number of pages: 410
ISBN-13: 9781840221046
Copyright date: 2001
Subjects: Shakespeare plays, texts
Description: 'It is required you do awake your faith' (The Winter's Tale). Written late in Shakespeare's life, these plays delightfully exhibit his interest in the conventions of the fairy-tale. They are tales of enchantment, heard from afar and seen through a fine gauze. In this fantasy world truths about the real world are played out on a different plane. In each play a family is forcibly divided through natural mischance (a storm at sea) or human folly (a wrongful accusation), and in each the lost ones are restored to their families. We move from the pain of separation through the despair of loss to the joy of restoration and resurrection. This mature vision of the world looks unblinkingly into the jaws of despair, yet still chooses to consider life worth celebrating.
Notes: Wordsworth Classics of World Literature
Table of contents: title: Pericles / Shakespeare, William, 1564-1616 --; title: Cymbeline / Shakespeare, William, 1564-1616 --; title: Winter's tale / Shakespeare, William, 1564-1616 --; title: Tempest / Shakespeare, William, 1564-1616.