Four Comedies: The Taming of the Shrew, A Midsummer Night's Dream, The Merchant of Venice, Twel fth Night

The Taming of the ShrewRobust and bawdy, The Taming of the Shrew captivates audiences with outrageous humor as Katharina, the shrew, engages in a contest of willsand lovewith her bridegroom, Petruchio, in a comedy of unmatched theatrical brilliance, filled with visual gags and witty repartee.

A Midsummer Night's DreamFairy magic, love spells, and an enchanted wood turn the mismatched rivalries of four young lovers into a marvelous mix-up of desire and enchantment, all touched by Shakespeares inimitable vision of the intriguing relationship between dreams and the waking world.The Merchant of VeniceThis dark comedy of love and money contains one of the truly mythic figures in literatureShylock, the Jewish moneylender.

The pound of flesh he demands as payment of Antonios debt has become a universal metaphor for vengeance.

Here, pathos and farce combine with moral complexity and romantic entanglements, to display the extraordinary power and range of Shakespeare at his best.Twelfth NightSet in a topsy-turvy world like a holiday revel, this comedy juxtaposes a romantic plot involving separated twins and mistaken identity with a more satiric one about the humiliation of a pompous killjoy.

The hilarity is touched with melancholy, and the play ends, not with laughter, but with a clowns plaintive song.Each Edition Includes: Comprehensive explanatory notes Vivid introductions and the most up-to-date scholarship Clear, modernized spelling and punctuation, enabling contemporary readers to understand the Elizabethan English Completely updated, detailed bibliographies and performance histories An interpretive essay on film adaptations of the play, along with an extensive filmographyFrom the Paperback edition.