The Merry Wives of Windsor: The Oxford Shakespeare

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William Shakespeare T. W. Craik (Emeritus Professor of English, Emeritus Professor of English, University of Durham)

The Merry Wives of Windsor

The Oxford Shakespeare

William Shakespeare, T. W. Craik (Emeritus Professor of English, Emeritus Professor of English, University of Durham)

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English

Oxford University Press
10 July 2008

Literature, Poetry & Criticism; Shakespeare plays; Literary studies: c 1500 to c 1800; Literary studies: plays & playwrights

Series: Oxford World's Classics

The Merry Wives of Windsor was almost certainly required at short notice for a court occasion in 1597: Shakespeare threw into it all the creative energy that went into his Henry IV plays. Falstaff is here, with Pistol, Mistress Quickly, and Justice Shallow, in a spirited and warm-hearted 'citizen comedy'. Boisterous action is combined with situational irony and rich characterization.

In his introduction T. W. Craik discusses the play's probable occasion (the Garter Feast of 1597 at court), its relationship to Shakespeare's English history plays and to other sources, its textual history (with particular reference to the widely diverging 1623 Folio and 1602 Quarto), and its original quality as drama. He assesses various interpretations of the play, topical, critical, and theatrical. In the commentary he pays particular attention to expounding the literal sense (he proposes some new readings) and evoking the stage business.

ABOUT THE SERIES: For over 100 years Oxford World's Classics has made available the widest range of literature from around the globe. Each affordable volume reflects Oxford's commitment to scholarship, providing the most accurate text plus a wealth of other valuable features, including expert introductions by leading authorities, helpful notes to clarify the text, up-to-date bibliographies for further study, and much more.

By: William Shakespeare
Edited by: T. W. Craik (Emeritus Professor of English Emeritus Professor of English University of Durham)
Imprint: Oxford University Press
Country of Publication: United Kingdom
Dimensions: Height: 195mm, Width: 128mm, Spine: 9mm
Weight: 275g
ISBN: 9780199536825
ISBN 10: 0199536821
Series: Oxford World's Classics
Pages: 256
Publication Date: 10 July 2008
Audience: General/trade , ELT Advanced
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Out of Print

Reviews for The Merry Wives of Windsor: The Oxford Shakespeare

'Stanley Wells' OUP Complete Works of Shakespeare is now eight years old and has spawned a new Oxford Shakespeare which appears now in splendidly affordable volumes in that nonpareil of libraries of good reading The World's Classics.' The Oxford Times 'Craik is as good an advocate as one could wish for The Merry Wives, ... his disapproval of 'irony-obsessed' critics who are determined to deny it a happy ending is admirable' English Studies, Volume 72, Number 6, December 1991 `One of the strengths of Craik's edition is his careful and subtle analysis of the construction of the play ... Professor Craik's close attention to structure and staging is particularly valuable in dealing with the conundrums of the last act in Windsor Forest ... The commentary to this edition is as careful and thoughtful as the introduction, and, in its scrupulous distinction between material accepted from earlier editors and new material, it shows a scholarly responsibility that is now positively old-fashioned. The commentary is particularly helpful on the double meanings which so many characters accidentally stumble into.' Durham University Journal `T.W. Craik's edition of The Merry Wives is excellent ... can be recommended as one of the most scholarly, helpful, and authoritative texts so far to appear in the Oxford series.' The Review of English Studies