In 1612 Shakespeare gave evidence at the Court of Requests in Westminster – it is the only occasion his spoken words are recorded. The case seems routine – a dispute over an unpaid marriage-dowry – but it opens up an unexpected window into the dramatist’s famously obscure life-story. Charles Nicholl applies a powerful biographical magnifying glass to this fascinating episode in Shakespeare’s life. Marshalling evidence from a wide variety of sources, including previously unknown documentary material on the Mountjoys, he conjures up a detailed and compelling description of the circumstances in which Shakespeare lived and worked, and in which he wrote such plays as Othello, Measure for Measure and King Lear.
| ISBN: | 9780141023748 |
| Publication date: | 3rd July 2008 |
| Author: | Charles Nicholl |
| Publisher: | Penguin Books Ltd |
| Format: | Paperback |
| Pagination: | 400 pages |
| Genres: |
Biography: writers Literary studies: plays and playwrights Literary studies: c 1600 to c 1800 |