The Authorship of Shakespeare's Plays: A Socio-linguistic Study

by Jonathan Hope

Overview

This book introduces a new method for determining the authorship of Renaissance plays. Based on the rapid rate of change in English grammar in the late-sixteenth and early-seventeenth centuries, socio-historical linguistic evidence allows us to distinguish the hands of Renaissance playwrights within play texts. The present study focuses on Shakespeare, his collaborations with Fletcher and Middleton, and the apocryphal plays. Among the plays examined are Henry VIII, The Two Noble Kinsmen, Macbeth, Pericles, and Sir Thomas More. Using graphs to present statistical data in a readily comprehensible form, the book also contains a wealth of information about the history of the English language during a period of rapid and far-reaching change.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780521033862
Publisher:	Cambridge University Press
Publication date:	02/01/2007
Edition description:	Reissue
Pages:	212
Product dimensions:	5.94(w) x 9.02(h) x 0.51(d)

Table of Contents

List of tables and graphs; Preface; Acknowledgements; List of Abbreviations; Part I. Methodology: 1. Introduction; 2. The auxiliary 'do'; 3. Relative markers; 4. 'Thou' and 'you'; Part II: Applications: 5. Shakespeare as collaborator; 6. The Shakespeare apocrypha; Part III. Conclusion: 7. Summary of findings; Statistical appendix; Bibliography; Index.

Editorial Reviews

"The patience with which Hope has assembled and evaluated his data is matched by the tact with which he applies it." Times Literary Supplement

"...an interesting study..." Cryptologia

From the Publisher