Shakespeare for Grown-ups

Need to swot up on your Shakespeare? If you've always felt a bit embarrassed at your precarious grasp on the plot of Othello, or you haven't a clue what a petard - as in 'hoist with his own petard' - actually is, then fear not, because this, at last, is the perfect guide to bring you up to speed.From the authors of the number-one bestselling Homework for Grown-ups, Shakespeare for Grown-ups is the essential book for anyone keen to deepen their knowledge of the Bard's key plays and sonnets. For parents keen to help with their children's homework, casual theatre-goers who want to enhance their enjoyment and understanding of the most-performed plays and the general reader who feels they should probably know more about Britain's most splendid scribe, Shakespeare for Grown-ups covers the historical context of his writing, his personal life, contemporaries and influences, his language and poetic skill, the key themes of his oeuvre, his less familiar works and characters, modern-day adaptations and productions, theories about the authorship of his plays, his most famous speeches and quotations, phrases and words that have entered general usage, and much more. With lively in-depth chapters on all the key works including Hamlet, Othello, King Lear, The Tempest, Romeo and Juliet, Much Ado About Nothing, Antony and Cleopatra, Richard II, Henry V, A Midsummer Night's Dream, The Merchant of Venice and Macbeth, Shakespeare for Grown-ups is the only guide to the Scribe you'll ever need.