Cymbeline

William ShakespeareProject Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

4.0

Word count: 164K words
Chapters: 17

Summary

Project Gutenberg was the first provider of free electronic books, or eBooks. Michael Hart, founder of Project Gutenberg, invented eBooks in 1971 and his memory continues to inspire the creation of eBooks and related technologies today.Cymbeline by William ShakespeareAuthor: Shakespeare, William, 1564-1616,Language: English, Class: PR: Language and Literatures: English literature, Release Date: Dec 1, 1997

Editor's review

Cymbeline is one of Shakespeare's late romances. It combines court intrigue, family separation, a woman disguised as a man, divine prophecy, and reconciliation into a plot of wide span and dense reversals, and is often seen as an experimental work in which Shakespeare sought a new synthesis of tragedy and comedy. The historical backdrop of Britain and Rome, the ethical conflicts within the royal family, and the play's explorations of fidelity, forgiveness, and kingship offer readers rich space for interpretation. This edition is a public-domain English ebook released by Project Gutenberg and preserves the original language and textual form, making it suitable as a base text for reading the original and for close textual study. Reading it allows one to feel the gorgeous, slightly legendary narrative of Shakespeare's late style, and also to reflect on character motivation and ideas of fate through the misunderstandings and coincidences of the plot. For readers who wish to study Shakespeare's complete works systematically, this book is an essential link; for classroom teaching or reading groups, discussions can be organized around character relationship maps and key scenes, and results are better when used alongside annotated editions or introductory materials.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Literature students and researchers studying Shakespeare's late romances
Readers who want to finish Shakespeare's complete works and cover the plays beyond the four major tragedies and comedies
Readers of English originals who enjoy court intrigue and family reunion themes
Teachers offering Shakespeare courses who need public-domain electronic texts

Not a good fit for

Beginning readers who cannot yet read English originals and need sentence-by-sentence annotation
Casual readers who prefer a tight, single plot and dislike interwoven multi-strand narratives

Reading tips

First clarify the political thread between the British royal family and Rome, then read the passages of internal family conflict, to avoid confusing the character relationships.
Read closely the scenes of the woman disguised as a man and the divine prophecy, and compare their structure and themes with Shakespeare's other romances.
Read alongside an annotated edition or introductory materials; skip archaic words and allusions at first, and look them up after finishing the whole text.

About the publisher

Project Gutenberg United States · Founded in 1971

Project Gutenberg is a digital publishing project focused on public-domain ebooks. Its publishing direction centers on classic literary works whose copyright has expired, covering genres such as poetry, drama, fiction, and epic. Representative books include Lyrical Ballads by Wordsworth and Coleridge, Proust's Du côté de chez Swann, Shakespeare's Macbeth and The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, Homer's The Iliad, Dante's La Divina Comèdia: Purgatòri, Cervantes's The History of Don Quixote, Volume 2, and Grahame's The Wind in the Willows. Its author resources consist mainly of classic Western writers such as Wordsworth, Proust, Shakespeare, Homer, Dante, Cervantes, Grahame, and Tolstoy. Its publishing feature is the provision of freely accessible ebooks in EPUB and Kindle formats; it is not a traditional publisher, and publicly available information is limited.

FAQ

To which category of Shakespeare's plays does Cymbeline belong?

It is usually classified among Shakespeare's late romances, combining tragic conflict with a comic reunion ending and often mentioned together with The Winter's Tale and The Tempest, though its exact classification is still debated in scholarship; when reading, pay attention to its mixed-genre features.

Is this edition's text suitable for beginners to read directly?

This edition is the public-domain English original provided by Project Gutenberg, without modern annotations or a glossary, and its language and spelling are preserved as in the original. It is quite difficult for beginners to read directly, so it is advisable to use it alongside an annotated edition, an introduction, or a translation.

What background knowledge is needed before reading?

You may first learn about the historical relationship between Britain and Rome, the common motifs of Shakespeare's romances such as separation and reunion, and the stage tradition of the woman disguised as a man at the time; this background helps in understanding the plot arrangements and character motivations.

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About the author

William Shakespeare Author · English · 1564–1616

William Shakespeare (1564–1616) was the greatest playwright, poet and actor of the English Renaissance. Born in Stratford-upon-Avon, England, he is known as the "Bard of Avon." He wrote roughly thirty-seven to thirty-nine plays, one hundred and fifty-four sonnets and narrative poems. His representative works include Hamlet, Othello, King Lear, Macbeth and Romeo and Juliet. His works span tragedy, comedy and history play, distinguished by rich, poetic language and profound characterization. His explorations of human nature, power, love and fate have had a lasting influence, and his works have been translated into many languages and circulated widely around the world.