King Henry Viii (The New Cambridge Shakespeare) - Softcover

Shakespeare, William

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0521296927 ISBN 13: 9780521296922

Publisher: Cambridge University Press, 1990

Synopsis

The New Cambridge Shakespeare appeals to students worldwide for its up-to-date scholarship and emphasis on performance. The series features line-by-line commentaries and textual notes on the plays and poems. Introductions are regularly refreshed with accounts of new critical, stage and screen interpretations. Edited and introduced by John Margeson, King Henry VIII appears here for the first time in a New Cambridge Shakespeare edition. In his introduction Margeson explores the political and religious background to the play, its pageant-like structure and visual effects, and its varied ironies. He also discusses its stage history, from the famous occasion in 1613 when the Globe theatre burned down during a performance of King Henry VIII to important theatrical productions of the late twentieth century. A balanced account is provided of the authorship controversy that arose in the nineteenth century, when John Fletcher's name was first put forward as a likely collaborator.

About this title

Review:

Believed to be Shakespeare's very last play, Henry VIII is probably best remembered as the play which, when performed in June 1613, led to the Globe Theatre burning down due to the fireworks and cannon fire listed in the stage directions. However, otherwise the play has puzzled critics, who can see little more in it than a nostalgic account of Henry's reign, and the prophetic birth and christening of Elizabeth, Shakespeare's Queen, which takes place at the end of the play.

Henry VIII deals with the intrigue which surrounds Henry's court, and in particular the controversial figure of Cardinal Wolsey, and Henry's separation from his wife Katherine, and infatuation with Anne Bullen. However, there is little sense of the psychological complexity created by Shakespeare in earlier history plays like Henry V. Henry VIII himself is a grand but distant figure, and the virulent anti-Catholicism lacks complexity. Within an increasingly troubled political period, the final hopeful invocation of "Peace, plenty, love, truth" seems rather flat, as does the play as a whole. This has led many critics to argue that Shakespeare was just one of many collaborators in the writing of the play. --Jerry Brotton

Review:

Halio gives a useful historical summary of the split from Rome ( Years Work in English Studies)

Textual apparatus is of a high standard . . . the commentary provides succinct notes on chronological and historical detail, pointed reference to sources used and works that supplement the playwrights' sources, and a comprehensive gloss to problematic words and phrases usefully keyed to a separate index. This is an excellent edition for undergraduate study: the introduction works to consolidate previous critical approaches without itself ever offering restrictive pronouncements on how to read the play, while the text and commentary are set out in a clear, uncrowded manner. Attention to the working needs of the student is evident throughout ( Matthew Woodcock, University College, Oxford, Sixteenth Century Journal XXXII/1 (2001))

About this edition

• Publisher: Cambridge University Press
• Publication date: 1990
• ISBN 10: 0521296927
• ISBN 13: 9780521296922
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 206