30 Great Myths about Shakespeare

Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons Ltd

30 Great Myths about Shakespeare

Author(s): Laurie Maguire, Emma Smith

Published Online: 20 NOV 2012 06:41AM EST

Print ISBN: 9780470658505

Online ISBN: 9781118326770

DOI: 10.1002/9781118326770

About this Book

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About The Product

Think you know Shakespeare? Think again . . .

Was a real skull used in the first performance of Hamlet? Were Shakespeare's plays Elizabethan blockbusters? How much do we really know about the playwright's life? And what of his notorious relationship with his wife? Exploring and exploding 30 popular myths about the great playwright, this illuminating new book evaluates all the evidence to show how historical material-or its absence-can be interpreted and misinterpreted, and what this reveals about our own personal investment in the stories we tell.

Table of contents

    1. You have free access to this content
      Front Matter (pages i–vii)

    2. Introduction (pages 1–5)

    3. Chapter 1

      Shakespeare was the Most Popular Writer of his Time (pages 6–10)

    4. Chapter 2

      Shakespeare was not Well Educated (pages 11–17)

    5. Chapter 3

      Shakespeare's Plays Should be Performed in Elizabethan Dress (pages 18–25)

    6. Chapter 4

      Shakespeare was not Interested in Having his Plays Printed (pages 26–33)

    7. Chapter 5

      Shakespeare Never Traveled (pages 34–39)

    8. Chapter 6

      Shakespeare's Plays are Politically Incorrect (pages 40–46)

    9. Chapter 7

      Shakespeare was a Catholic (pages 47–53)

    10. Chapter 8

      Shakespeare's Plays had no Scenery (pages 54–59)

    11. Chapter 9

      Shakespeare's Tragedies are More Serious than his Comedies (pages 60–65)

    12. Chapter 10

      Shakespeare Hated his Wife (pages 66–71)

    13. Chapter 11

      Shakespeare Wrote in the Rhythms of Everyday Speech (pages 72–79)

    14. Chapter 12

      Hamlet was Named After Shakespeare's Son (pages 80–85)

    15. Chapter 13

      The Coarse Bits of Shakespeare are for the Groundlings; the Philosophy is for the Upper Classes (pages 86–93)

    16. Chapter 14

      Shakespeare was a Stratford Playwright (pages 94–98)

    17. Chapter 15

      Shakespeare was a Plagiarist (pages 99–105)

    18. Chapter 16

      We Don't Know Much About Shakespeare's Life (pages 106–112)

    19. Chapter 17

      Shakespeare Wrote Alone (pages 113–118)

    20. Chapter 18

      Shakespeare's Sonnets are Autobiographical (pages 119–124)

    21. Chapter 19

      If Shakespeare Were Writing Now, He'd be Writing for Hollywood (pages 125–129)

    22. Chapter 20

      The Tempest was Shakespeare's Farewell to the Stage (pages 130–136)

    23. Chapter 21

      Shakespeare had a Huge Vocabulary (pages 137–142)

    24. Chapter 22

      Shakespeare's Plays are Timeless (pages 143–149)

    25. Chapter 23

      Macbeth is Jinxed in the Theater (pages 150–155)

    26. Chapter 24

      Shakespeare Did Not Revise His Plays (pages 156–162)

    27. Chapter 25

      Boy Actors Played Women's Roles (pages 163–168)

    28. Chapter 26

      Shakespeare's Plays Don't Work As Movies (pages 169–174)

    29. Chapter 27

      Yorick's Skull was Real (pages 175–182)

    30. Chapter 28

      Queen Elizabeth Loved Shakespeare's Plays (pages 183–189)

    31. Chapter 29

      Shakespeare's Characters are Like Real People (pages 190–195)

    32. Chapter 30

      Shakespeare Didn't Write Shakespeare (pages 196–201)

    33. You have free access to this content
      Coda (pages 202–206)

    34. You have free access to this content
      Further Reading (pages 207–210)

    35. You have free access to this content
      Index (pages 211–216)

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