Penguin USA. 08/01/2000. Reprint. 109 pgs. Written in 1604 when James I--a king particularly concerned with the religious aspects of his leadership--was fresh on the throne, MEASURE FOR MEASURE is a reflection of its time. In it, a sovereign's role in the legislation of morality is explored, as two extreme poles of government are navigated--the Duke's over-leniency as the play opens, and his deputy's rigid judgement that precipitates the tragicomedy. When the Duke realizes that his rule is too lax, he appoints his deputy Angelo to reinforce authority. However, forgiveness, a Christian virtue and therefore an implied virtue of the play's Christian government, is not a characteristic of Angelo, who, reviving an old morality law, condemns Claudio to death for impregnating Juliet. The dilemma of the drama is presented when Claudio's sister Isabella leaves the cloister of the convent to plead for Claudio's freedom. Scandalously, Angelo agrees to free Claudio if Isabella will sleep with him. An estranged wife, a bed trick, and a subplot concerning a pimp present further complications, but ultimately lighten the atmosphere to lead a tragic drama toward a comic resolution. Shakespeare drew on many sources that were themselves inspired by a real 16th-century event in which an Italian man who was condemned to death was promised freedom after his wife accepted a sexual proposition from the judge in exchange. The first records of performance point to December 26, 1604. The next documentation recalls a performance one hundred years later. Though records certainly get destroyed, such scant evidence indeed suggests poor public reception of the play. MEASURE FOR MEASURE was the last of Shakespeare's comedies, and intense tragic material surfaces in it that is fully developed in the plays to come, including OTHELLO, KING LEAR, and MACBETH. Originally published at $6.00 You save 75% off the cover price!

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Penguin USA. 08/01/2000. 105 pgs. One of Shakespeare's early plays, written in 1598 or 1599, AS YOU LIKE IT is in many ways a typical Elizabethan romantic comedy, but it is also a satire in which Shakespeare ridicules many of the courtly-love conventions that were still current in his day: love as a disease, for example, and the lover as slave to his imperious mistress. In AS YOU LIKE IT, when these notions rear their heads, they are presented as silly absurdities. Orlando is in thrall to Rosalind, the simple shepherd Silvius is put through mental tortures by Phoebe--but ridiculing such formulaic excesses ("Men have died from time to time, and worms have eaten them, but not for love") and keeping the play grounded in reality, Shakespeare reminds his audience that true love can bring happiness and is a force for good. In Jaques's famously acerbic soliloquy on the stages of a man's life (which end in a second childhood followed by oblivion), he speaks of the naturalness and inevitability of change--and as the characters in AS YOU LIKE IT enter the Forest of Arden, they undergo changes that will ultimately lead to a transformation in their attitudes. Embittered men are reunited with the brothers they loathed, the rightful Duke is returned to his throne, and four absurdly warring couples are reconciled. The forest provides--as it does in many plays of the period--a pastoral interval in which the characters come to their senses and return to the city better people. In the course of the play, despite its light-hearted tone, Shakespeare does tackle some difficult questions involving love, aging, nature, and the coming of death. Originally published at $5.00 You save 80% off the cover price!

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Random House Inc. 05/01/1990. Originally published at $22.95 You save 96% off the cover price!

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Houghton Mifflin College Div. 06/01/1971. Originally published at $33.16 You save 97% off the cover price!

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Berkley Pub Group. 08/01/1996. 206 pgs. A reference book for comedy writers that advises on where the jobs are, how to make pitches, how to deal with agents, why performing helps careers even for those who don't want to do stand-up, how to make the right connections, and what comedy writers need to know about copyrights and contracts. Originally published at $12.95 You save 85% off the cover price!

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Simon & Schuster Merchandise &. 05/01/2001. 85 pgs. Originally published at $3.99 You save 75% off the cover price!

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Princeton Univ Pr. 07/01/1988. 289 pgs. Originally published at $39.50 You save 97% off the cover price!

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