The Arden Guide to Renaissance Drama

The Arden Guide to Renaissance Drama is a single critical and contextual resource for students embarking on an in-depth exploration of early modern drama, providing both critical insight and accessible contextual information. This companion equips students with the information needed to situate the plays in their socio-political, intellectual and literary contexts. Divided into two parts, it introduces students to the major authors and significant dramatic texts of the period and emphasises the importance of both a historicist and close-reading approach to better engage with these works.

The Guide offers:

· primary texts from key early modern scholars such as Machiavelli, Heywood and Sidney

· contextual information vital to a full understanding of the drama of the period

· close readings of 14 of the most widely studied play texts by Shakespeare and his contemporaries

· a single resource to accompany any study of early modern drama

This is an ideal companion for students of Renaissance drama, offering students and teachers a range of primary contextual sources to illuminate their understanding alongside close critical readings of the major plays of the period.