The Kingsway Shakespeare [antikvár]

PREFACE The present edition of Shakespeare's Works has been prepared in the belief that world events of the past ten years have rendered almost imperative a revaluation of his plays. Ideas which have long lain buried under established institutions and accepted beliefs have suddenly been shocked into the open, with the result that we are now facing the facts of life with a frankness unknown to Christendom since the days of the Elizabethans. Indeed, it would not be surprising to find that with the violent changes in men's thoughts following the World War, a large part of the Shakespearean criticism of the past has become obsolete. It is in this belief that I have, in vmting the introductory comment on these plays, almost studiously avoided re-reading the criticism upon which in earlier days I had largely relied in forming my judgments. Rather, I have turned directly to a careful re-reading of the plays themselves. I have been astonished (as I think every Shakespearean student will be who tries the experiment) to find in how many instances new light has been thrown on these plays, sometimes to the point of changing their entire significance, by the new emphasis which new conditions have thrown on old problems. For it js a fact that the problems we are facing to-day are essentially the same as those tiiat Shakespeare saw. and incorporated in the structure of his plays. Problems of peace or war, of national sovereignty and ethics, of education, of authority, of the revolt of youth, were not unknown to him however new they may appear to us. Although he offers no solution, he does present them with such clarity that his wisdom is available to aid us in comprehending their nature, their complexity, and to guide us, therefore, in our attempt to solve them for ourselves. In other words, present conditions illumine Shakespeare, while Shakespeare thus illumined becomes more than ever vital in this age. The fact that I have prepared this edition primarily for the use of the common man —by whom I mean the man whose common sense has not been sacrificed even to an academic training—^has further emboldened me to give frank expression to my own opinions, however much they may differ from the recorded opinions of so-called authorities. I have assumed that no final word in Shakespearean interpretation is possible in a world where the thought of men undergoes constant change. If in boldness I have written foolishly, the wise will discover it and correct me; but I shall accept no correction which involves an interpretation of Shakespeare at variance with common sense. He is the rightful heritage of the common people, not the peculiar possession of the learned. If this edition in some degree helps to carry this heritage to its rightful possessors, I shall be satisfied. If in my introductory comment I have spoken liberally, I have in preparing the text been almost timidly conservative. As the basic text, I have used that of Delius which, in the words of Sir Sidney Lee, is "formed on sound critical principles and to be trusted thoroughly." Wherever I have departed from his reading I have been careful to follow that of some other widely recognized authority, refraining from introducing in the text a single emendation or conjecture of my own. I owe, of course, an incalculable debt to other writers on Shakespeare—one which it is impossible for me to acknowledge in detail. I can only hope that wherever I have used phrases not my own I have so indicated, although I should not be surprised to find that I have at times tmconsciously carried in my memory the exact words of others to whom acknowledgment was due. For errors, whether of fact or opinion, I am alone responsible. F. D, L. (V)