Product Description

"Shakespeare loves loose ends; Shakespeare also loves red herrings." - Stephen Orgel. Loose ends and red herrings are the stuff of detective fiction, and under the scrutiny of master sleuths, John Sutherland and Cedric Watts, Shakespeare's plays reveal themselves to be as full of mysteries as any Agatha Christie novel. Is it summer or winter in Elsinore? Do Bottom and Titania make love? Does Lady Macbeth faint, or is she just pretending? How does a man putrefy within minutes of his death? Is Cleopatra a deadbeat Mum? And why doesn't Juliet ask 'O Romeo Montague, wherefore art thou Montague?' As Watts and Sutherland explore these and other puzzles Shakespeare's genius becomes ever more apparent. Speculative, critical, good-humoured and provocative, their discussions shed light on apparent anachronisms, performance and stagecraft, linguistics, "Star Trek" and much else. Shrewd and entertaining, these essays add a new dimension to the pleasure of reading or watching Shakespeare. "Few modern academics are doing quite so much as Professor Sutherland to connect the "common reader" with great books." - "Independent."

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #550850 in Books
• Published on: 2000-04-13
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 240 pages

Customer Reviews

An English teacher's view
As a Literature enthusiast, I have always enjoyed John Sutherland's nit-picking, anal assessment of nineteenth century novels, finding his essays insightful and amusing at turns. I was glad to find that his assessment of Shakespeare took much the same approach: some of the points he raises are quite silly but others are genuinely thought provoking. I particularly engaged with the chapter on Viola's plan, since I am teaching 'Twelfth Night' at the moment. On concluding a first reading and discussion with my year 9 class, the students were problem solving some of the issues raised by Shakespeare's plotting and were especially bemused by Viola's eunuch plan and the fact that Olivia apparently sees marriage to a eunuch as a desirable prospect. They soon became obsessed by this idea and have been mentioning it in lessons at every opportunity. At last, thanks to this book, I can offer them one possible explanation and for that I am grateful. Don't take it all too seriously and just enjoy.

A useful tool for newcomers to the Bard.
... Any sweeping dismissal of Shakespeare is always a mistake, as illustrated by the sheer scope of topics covered in Henry V, War Criminal? Discussion ranges from Cleopatra's competency as a mother, to whether 'Love's Labour's Lost' is one of the earliest feminist texts. Anyone who has seen or read Henry V will be in no doubt that in today's terms, he is indeed a war criminal, possessing a cruel ruthlessness and a dubious claim to rule either France or England. Yet the authors do tackle aspects that seem a little less obvious questioning text that has rarely been commneted on, or that most have only interpreted superficially, such as the famous line 'Romeo Romeo, wherefore arthou Romeo?' While this particular loose end may not excite you too much, anyone unfamiliar with the subtlety and scope of Shakespeare's references will gain great insight from this book. Sutherland and Watts a;ways retain an accessible and entertaining tone that was probably missing from most of school encounters with Shakespeare...