The Girlhood of Shakespeare's Heroines: In a Series of Fifteen Tales Volume 3 (Cambridge Library Collection - Shakespeare and Renaissance Drama) - Softcover

Clarke, Mary Cowden

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1108001289 ISBN 13: 9781108001281

Publisher: Cambridge University Press, 2009

Synopsis

Mary Cowden Clarke (1809–98) was the daughter of the publisher Vincent Novello. She produced a complete concordance to Shakespeare's works in 1845, and her fascination with the plays led to her publishing in 1850 a series of imaginative accounts of the girlhood of some of his heroines. Her motive was 'to imagine the possible circumstances and influences of scene, event, and associate, surrounding the infant life of his heroines, which might have conduced to originate and foster those germs of character recognised in their maturity as by him developed; to conjecture what might have been the first imperfect dawnings of that which he has shown us in the meridian blaze of perfection'. These 'prequels' offer a back-story which is surprising in its subversive interpretation of the plays and especially of the role of the 'hero'. Volume 3 includes the stories of Beatrice and Hero.

About this title

Book Description:

Mary Cowden Clarke (1809–98) was a noted Shakespearian scholar, who published in 1850 a series of imaginative accounts of the girlhood of some of his heroines. Her motive was to provide a 'prequel' which showed the development of the heroine's character through the events of her formative years.

About this edition

• Publisher: Cambridge University Press
• Publication date: 2009
• ISBN 10: 1108001289
• ISBN 13: 9781108001281
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 524