Author: David Charles Bell

Publisher: Forgotten Books

Published: 2015-06-15

Total Pages: 770

ISBN-13: 9781330088012

Excerpt from The Reader's Shakespeare, Vol. 3 of 3: His Dramatic Works Condensed, Connected, and Emphasized, for School, College, Parlour, and Platform; Comedies This Third Volume of "The Reader's Shakespeare" contains all the Comedies - with the exception of "The Tempest," which, as a Romantic Play, is printed in the Second Volume. These "Readings" do not consist of isolated Selections, but they are original "Condensations" of each play; including the various plots, and introducing the principal Scenes, Incidents, and Characters; rejecting nothing which good taste and experienced judgment should wish to be retained; for, in Shakespeare's Plays, whether performed on the Stage, presented on the Platform, or read in the family-circle, there is much that must be omitted - a great deal that may be omitted - but, happily, with a valuable residuum of poetic beauty, human interest, good sense, good humour, and verbal photography. The preparation of these Condensations has extended over more than sixty years, the greater number of them having been often read in public; therefore the retained text has been frequently revised, and it is now as carefully preserved as expurgation and compression allow; all the important verbal changes (many of them being evident improvements,) are contrasted with the Original Readings (O. R.) of the first Folio or the earlier Quartos. The poetic gems have been retained, as well as the refined wit and humour, of character or situation. The Connecting Remarks enable the Reader to dispense with superfluous and unimportant dialogue, and are so arranged as to form, with the abridged and purified text, a continuous story; avoiding the theatrical divisions into Acts and Scenes, as well as the annoying repetition of the names of the dramatis personœ - with their "entrances" and their "exits.". The Notes explain all obsolete, irregular, and "folk-lore" expressions; and, being directly under the eye of the Reader, each page becomes self-interpreting. The unobtrusive little diacritic guides the attentive reader, by its silent direction, to ascertain at once the prominent or emphatic (antithetic) words - thus making many obscure passages easily intelligible, by denoting the exact meaning, or suggesting an oblique reference. - With these advantages, aided by revised punctuation, the whole of Shakespeare's Dramatic Works are, for the first time, presented in a readable, untheatrical form. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.