Book Description

Excerpt from Disguise Plots in Elizabethan Drama: A Study in Stage Tradition In this book the dramatic construction and stage representation of the plays of Shakespeare and his brother playwrights have been inspected from a new angle of observation; and it is believed that the results obtained may help the reader to understand more completely the practice of Elizabethan playwrights, the nature of their medium, and the tastes of their audience. It is hoped that the illustrative significance of the four hundred and twenty-five plots here discussed may in some measure palliate the offense of many omissions. It should perhaps be explained that certain disguise situations, even though occurring in well-known plays, have been deliberately omitted in favor of other situations which served better to illustrate the point being made. Incidentally, this comparative study of Elizabethan plays in a new alignment has revealed a number of inter-relations which are here discussed for the first time. I take pleasure in expressing my obligation to Doctor Orie L. Hatcher of Bryn Mawr College, who suggested the subject and has offered many constructive criticisms of this work; to Doctor Winifred Smith of Vassar College, who kindly loaned me her translations of the commedie dell' arte in the Scala collection; and to Miss Vera Parsons for pointing out a great many disguise plots in Italian novelle. To Professor Brander Matthews and to Professor G. C. D. Odell, who have read the manuscript, I am greatly indebted for careful and illuminating criticisms. 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.