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Cobbe Portrait of William Shakespeare
Tag Archives: Last Plays
“No full-length Shakespearian tragedy reaches the intensity of these three acts; they move with a whirling, sickening, speed.”
The Winter’s Tale Act Three, Part Two By Dennis Abrams ———————- First off, some highlights from Mark Van Doren, without the most often used quotes from the play: “’The Winter’s Tale’ tells of grievous divisions between friend and friend (Leontes … Continue reading
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Tagged Act Three, drama, Elizabethan tragedy, Hermione, Iago, jealousy, language, Last Plays, late play, Leontes, literature, Mark Van Doren, nature, obsession, Othello, Paulina, Perdita, Polixenes, romance, Shakespeare, Shakespeare's Language, the Shepherd, The Winter's Tale, The Winter’s Tale Act Three, tragicomedy, William Shakespeare, writing
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“I have drunk, and seen the spider.”
The Winter’s Tale Act Two, Part One By Dennis Abrams ———————————- Act Two: Hermione is with her son Mamillius when Leontes rushes in, having heard of Polixenes’s and Camillo’s escape to Bohemia. Taking this as proof of his former friend’s … Continue reading
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Tagged Act Two, drama, Hermione, Iago, innocence, jealousy, language, Last Plays, late play, Leontes, literature, nature, Othello, Perdita, Polixenes, Richard Lovelace, romance, Shakespeare, spider, The Winter's Tale, The Winter’s Tale Act, tragicomedy, William Shakespeare, writing
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“We cannot come to the end of Shakespeare’s greatest plays, because every time we achieve a new perspective, other fresh vistas appear that evade our expectations.”
The Winter’s Tale An Introduction By Dennis Abrams —————————– The title may seem all too appropriate given the weather we’ve been having for the last week, but to call something a “winter’s tale” was actually Jacobean slang for something fanciful … Continue reading
“Hang there like fruit, my soul/Till the tree die.”
Cymbeline Act Five, Part One By Dennis Abrams ———————————————- Act Five: Deep breath: Convinced that Imogen is dead, Posthumus repents and joins the British side: disguised as a peasant, he saves Iachimo (who doesn’t recognize him). Belarius and his “sons” … Continue reading
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Tagged A Midsummer Night's Dream, Act Five, Belarius, Ben Jonson, Comedy, Cymbeline, Cymbeline King of Britain, drama, Falstaff, god Jupiter, Iachimo, Imogen, language, Last Plays, late play, literature, Macbeth, Posthumus, religion, revenge, romance, Shakespeare, theatrical exit, tragicomedy, William Shakespeare
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“We have almost as great an affection for Imogen as she had for Posthumus; and she deserves it better. Of all Shakespeare’s women she is perhaps the most tender and the most artless.”
Cymbeline Act Three, Part Two By Dennis Abrams —————————— From Bloom: “Posthumus, even as an ideogram, is no fun. Shakespeare knew that a play must give pleasure, yet he portrays Posthumus as a very painful character, whose name refers both … Continue reading
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Tagged Act Three, Cymbeline, Cymbeline Shakespeare, distinctive voice, drama, entertainment, Henry V, history play, Iachimo, Imogen, King of Britain, language, Last Plays, late plays, literature, Posthumus, romances, Rome, Shakespeare, The Old Man and the Sea, tragicomedy, william hazlitt, William Shakespeare, writing
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“For mine’s beyond beyond…”
Cymbeline Act Three, Part One By Dennis Abrams ——————————– Act Three: In Britain, Cymbeline has refused to pay the annual tribute to Rome, to which the Roman ambassador Lucius responds by declaring war. Meanwhile, Pisanio has received a letter from … Continue reading
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Tagged Act Three, Ancient Britain, Belarius, Britons, Cymbeline, drama, Elizabethan theater, Elizabethan tragedy, entertainment, Hamlet, history, Iachimo, Imogen, Innogen, King of England, language, Last Plays, late plays, literature, politics, Posthumus, Shakespeare, tragicomedy, Wales, William Shakespeare, writing
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“Sluttery, to such neat excellence opposed,/Should make desire vomit emptiness,/Not so allured to feed.”
Cymbeline Act One, Part One By Dennis Abrams —————————— MAJOR CHARACTERS Cymbeline, King of Britain Princess Imogen (aka Innogen in the Oxford edition), Cymbeline’s daughter (later disguised as Fidele Posthumus Leonatus, Imogen’s husband, a poor gentlemen Queen (unnamed), Cymbeline’s second … Continue reading
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Tagged act one, Ancient Britain, Britain, Clean Imogen, Cymbeline, drama, Elizabethan theater, history, Iachimo, Imogen, King Cymbeline, King of Britain Princess Imogen, language, Last Plays, literature, Princess Imogen, Renaissance Rome, Rome Iachimo, Shakespeare, tragicomedy, William Shakespeare, writing
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“Yet I was mortally brought forth, and am/No other than I appear.”
Pericles Act Five, Part Two By Dennis Abrams ————————————— From Tanner: “Marina – Mistress of the Arts. This is what Gower emphasizes at the start of the last act. In her dancing, singing, learning, she is ‘like one immortal,’ ‘goddesslike’ … Continue reading
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Tagged Act Five, entertainment, Hamlet, King Lear, language, Last Plays, literature, Marina, Pericles, Prince of Tyre, romance, Shakespeare, Thaisa, Tyre, William Shakespeare, writing
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The Play's The Thing 