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The Winter's Tale: Arden Shakespeare: Third Series Paperback – 19 October 2010

4.3 out of 5 stars 814 ratings
Edition: 3rd
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A new edition of this popular late Shakespearean play.

The Winter's Tale is one of Shakespeare's later plays. It falls into two distinct parts which has made it difficult to classify, having been variously considered a comedy, a tragicomedy or a romance. In the first part, Leontes is thrown into a jealous rage by his suspicions of his wife Hermione and his best friend. He imprisons her and orders that her new born daughter be left to perish. The second half is a pastoral comedy about the 'lost' daughter Perdita who has been rescued by shepherds and is now in love with a young prince. The play ends with former lovers and friends reunited after the apparently miraculous resurrection of Hermione.
John Pitcher's lively introduction and commentary explores the extraordinary merging of theatrical forms in the play and its success in performance. As the recent Sam Mendes production at the Old Vic shows, this is a play that can work a kind of magic in the theatre.
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"a play where miracles do happen and redemption does eventually come, but at a terrible price" --Lyn Gardner, Guardian, 22.9.09

"Like all of Shakespeare's later plays, this is a realistic fairy tale" --John Peter, Sunday Times, 20.9.09

"Shakespeare's perturbing fable" --Dominic Cavendish, Daily Telegraph, 18.12.10

"An age which loves science fiction and fantasy should take The Winter's Tale to heart" --Libby Purves, The Times, 18.12.10

"Cleverly and clearly designed for study, notes and commentary appear on the same page as the text and the introduction encompasses the play's historical, cultural and performance contexts as well as a survey of critical approaches." --Sardines Magazine (Autumn 2010)

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A new edition of this popular late Shakespearean play.

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  • Customer Reviews:
    4.3 out of 5 stars 814 ratings

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William Shakespeare

William Shakespeare

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William Shakespeare was an English poet and playwright, widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's preeminent dramatist. He is often called England's national poet and the "Bard of Avon". His surviving works, including some collaborations, consist of 38 plays, 154 sonnets, two long narrative poems, and several other poems. His plays have been translated into every major living language and are performed more often than those of any other playwright.

Shakespeare was born in Stratford-upon-Avon in Warwickshire and was baptised on 26 April 1564. Thought to have been educated at the local grammar school, he married Anne Hathaway, with whom he went on to have three children, at the age of eighteen, before moving to London to work in the theatre. Two erotic poems, Venus and Adonis and The Rape of Lucrece were published in 1593 and 1594 and records of his plays begin to appear in 1594 for Richard III and the three parts of Henry VI. Shakespeare's tragic period lasted from around 1600 to 1608, during which period he wrote plays including Hamlet and Othello. The first editions of the sonnets were published in 1609 but evidence suggests that Shakespeare had been writing them for years for a private readership.

Shakespeare spent the last five years of his life in Stratford, by now a wealthy man. He died on 23 April 1616 and was buried in Holy Trinity Church in Stratford. The first collected edition of his works was published in 1623.

(The portrait details: The Chandos portrait, artist and authenticity unconfirmed. NPG1, © National Portrait Gallery, London)

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  • E. A. Solinas
    5.0 out of 5 stars Forbid the sea for to obey the moon
    Reviewed in Australia on 16 January 2015
    "The Winter's Tale" is one of Shakespeare's most underrated works, probably because it can't be easily classified as a romance or a comedy. That's a shame, because this lush, emotionally-wrenching little play displays Shakespeare's powerful writing and fine grasp of human nature. It's just incredibly moving and exquisitely written.

    Polixenes, the King of Bohemia, has been visiting his pal King Leontes in Sicilia, and eventually he wants to go home. But after Queen Hermione convinces him to stay awhile, Leontes suddenly goes nuts and decides that Polixenes and Hermione have been having an affair, and that her unborn child must be his old friend's. Polixenes flees back to his own land, and Hermione dies soon after her newborn daughter is abandoned in the wilderness.

    Of course, Leontes soon finds out that he was off his gourd, and that poor Hermione was completely innocent. Charming, isn't he? Sixteen years later, Polixenes' son Florizel falls in love with a mysterious young shepherdess, who is actually Leontes' daughter Perdita (of course!). But with royal opposition to their marriage, the young couple must overcome many obstacles before everything is settled happily.

    "A Winter's Tale" is a curious hybrid of Shakespeare's different theatrical "types" -- there's some gentle comedy, some mellow tragedy, and a hefty dose of romance. The first three acts are basically one long disaster, with Leontes' crazy paranoia destroying his friendships, marriage and children's lives, until it seems that there's no happy ending for anybody.

    But the last few acts are very different. Shakespeare's writing takes on a more romantic, sweet tone, particularly when Florizel and Perdita are lavishing lovers' praise on each other ("My prettiest Perdita!/But O, the thorns we stand upon!"). Having worked up a massive tragedy in the first parts of the play, Shakespeare spends the latter half repairing all the cracks in the characters' lives.

    If there's a flaw in the story, it's that Hermione is so in love with a crazy belfry-bat like Leontes, but I suppose his story is meant to show the folly of letting suspicions rule your actions. Florizel and Perdita are charmingly earnest young lovers who initially know nothing of their parents' tragic past, and there are solid supporting characters like the thief Autolycus and the steadfast Camillo.

    "The Winter's Tale" is an emotionally wrenching but eventually uplifting story, and a roller-coaster ride that plunges you down into tragedy before hoisting you back up.
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  • SteveRR
    5.0 out of 5 stars Value-priced and Best annotated Shakespeare for the Money
    Reviewed in Canada on 14 March 2017
    Verified Purchase
    This has to be the best series of Shakespeare's plays. Erudite, well laid out and comprehensive - this is far better than what my uni wanted me to buy. I will continue to buy this series going forward.
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  • Israel Drazin
    5.0 out of 5 stars A very thought-provoking tragic tale
    Reviewed in the United States on 15 April 2021
    Verified Purchase
    “The Winter’s Tale” by William Shakespeare is a fascinating, tragic, psychological but little known play that Shakespeare wrote about five years before his death. It is about a pagan king with a loving lovely pregnant wife, and a son. He develops an unfounded jealousy and is convinced despite no one agreeing with him that his wife, the queen, was unfaithful to him with his friend and the child in her body is not his. Despite being assured by the Oracle that his wife committed no adultery and the child is his, he has her killed and banishes his just born daughter. His son dies out of anguish. He soon realizes that he was wrong. But it is too late. Now he suffers for what he did.
    Sixteen years pass. His daughter is raised in another kingdom. By chance, she comes to his land, he meets her, realizes she is his daughter, and embraces her. He is shown a statute of his late wife. The statute comes alive and his wife forgives him saying she still loves him. He is is now after sixteen years given a second chance, forgiven for what he thought was unforgivable – although his son is lost.
    The play is well-worth watching. Its moral is that problems, even the worst ones, can be resolved in a large measure, at least somewhat.
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  • serena
    5.0 out of 5 stars CONSIGLIATISSIMO👌
    Reviewed in Italy on 8 May 2021
    Verified Purchase
    Tutto fantastico 🤩!
    Spedizione puntualissima come sempre e imballato e arrivato in perfette condizioni!
    Consiglio veramente il volume più importante di The Winter's Tale di Shakespeare, oltre ovviamente la versione di melchiori. C'è tutto ciò che riguarda l'opera, comprese le musiche di scena.
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    serena
    5.0 out of 5 stars
    CONSIGLIATISSIMO👌

    Reviewed in Italy on 8 May 2021
    Tutto fantastico 🤩!
    Spedizione puntualissima come sempre e imballato e arrivato in perfette condizioni!
    Consiglio veramente il volume più importante di The Winter's Tale di Shakespeare, oltre ovviamente la versione di melchiori. C'è tutto ciò che riguarda l'opera, comprese le musiche di scena.
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  • Lou
    5.0 out of 5 stars A tragedy that becomes sunnier and sunnier, with an incursion in the paranormal
    Reviewed in France on 3 April 2012
    Verified Purchase
    Ey, it was free! The barebones play by Shakespeare. You can see a version of it and follow along on youtube, where the BBC presents it with animated puppets. I love Mamilius and one aspect that I disagree with, that the second part is a comedy because it "ends well", is that Mamilius dies and stays dead. If it'd been a real comedy, he'd have been found "pretend-dead" or saved then hidden from his father's wrath or something..
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  • Amazonkundin
    5.0 out of 5 stars The Winter's Tale
    Reviewed in Germany on 25 September 2013
    Verified Purchase
    Da meine Tochter zur Zeit das Abitur macht und dort Shakespeare im Original gelesen wird, hat sie sich schon einige Bücher auf ihr Kindle geladen.
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