2
HENRY HOLT AND COMPANY
WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE
BY
JOHN MASEFIELD
AUTHOR OF "THE TRAGEDY OF POMPEY THE GREAT," "MULTITUDE AND SOLITUDE," "LOST ENDEAVOUR," "CAPTAIN MARGARET," "THE TRAGEDY OF NAN," ETC.
NEW AND REVISED EDITION
LONDON
WILLIAMS AND NORGATE
CONTENTS
CHAP. PAGE
I THE LIFE OF SHAKESPEARE 9
II THE ELIZABETHAN THEATRES 18
III THE PLAYS 23
Love's Labour's Lost 24
The Two Gentlemen of Verona 34
The Comedy of Errors 43
Titus Andronicus 49
King Henry VI, Part I 51
" " " " II 54
" " " " III 60
A Midsummer Night's Dream 63
Romeo and Juliet 67
King John 75
King Richard II 86
King Richard III 93
The Merchant of Venice 102
The Taming of the Shrew 105
King Henry IV, Part I 109
" " " " II 114
King Henry V 120
The Merry Wives of Windsor 123
As You Like It 128
Much Ado About Nothing 133
Twelfth Night 138
All's Well that Ends Well 144
Julius Cæsar 149
Hamlet, Prince of Denmark 157
Troilus and Cressida 168
Measure for Measure 174
Othello, the Moor of Venice 180
King Lear 186
Macbeth 195
Antony and Cleopatra 202
Coriolanus 208
Timon of Athens 214
Pericles, Prince of Tyre 218
Cymbeline 223
The Winter's Tale 226
The Tempest 231
King Henry VIII 235
WORK ATTRIBUTED TO SHAKESPEARE 238
THE POEMS:
Venus and Adonis 241
The Rape of Lucrece 242
The Passionate Pilgrim 244
The Sonnets 244
The Phoenix and the Turtle 249
AUTHOR'S NOTE 250
INDEX 253
CHAPTER I
THE LIFE OF SHAKESPEARE
Stratford-on-Avon is cleaner, better paved, and perhaps more populous than it was in Shakespeare's time. Several streets of mea