Answer TWO of the following:
Q1: What did the First Folio preserve about Shakespeare’s
legacy, and what did it confuse or mystify? Why does the context of the Folio
remind us that we have to always read/interpret Shakespeare with a grain of
salt (or a lot of close reading/research)?
Q2: Where does Wells seem to venture his own
readings/interpretations about Shakespeare or his works? Where can we see the difference
between factual statements about Shakespeare and his own suppositions? Does he
always signpost the difference for us?
Q3: Wells notes that Shakespeare “was constantly
experimenting with dramatic form and with the conventions of theatre” (50). Why
would a playwright/actor whose business was to fill seats and make money being
willing to take such risks? Which of the plays discussed in the book seems to
do this most audaciously?
Q4: Reading about all his early comedies in a single chapter
can give us a profound sense of déjà vu—or
that we’re reading about virtually the same play. What themes or ideas seem to
crop up the most in the early comedies? If Shakespeare has a unique theatrical thumbprint
in his comedies, what might it be? In other words, how can we tell that The Two Gentlemen from Verona, A Midsummer
Night’s Dream, and Twelfth Night are
by the same author (according to what Wells tells us)?
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