Publisher's Synopsis
Excerpt from Arden of Feversham
These two plays are modified versions of older ones, and the second of them is in all probability a composition by Shakespeare. It originally formed a part of the early chronicle play, Edward the Third, a drama which can be said to have small dramatic or poetic merit beyond the love-scene supplied by Shakespeare. For this reason it is now separated from the rest of the chronicle so as to form a play complete in itself, and it has been given besides an independent title.
The first play is also re-named because it has been almost entirely reconstructed to allow of its being acted on the modern stage. Both dramas deal with the subject of unlawful love, but the method of treatment is strikingly different in each, as also is the portraiture of the two women, - Alice Arden and Lady Salisbury. They are in fact the antithesis of each other, and can with advantage be studied side by side. This the present publication renders convenient for the first time.
In the appendix many passages from Love's Constancy are quoted in comparison with other lines by Shakespeare to show their similarity in diction, and all of them belong to his lyrical period. Those who are familiar with the rhythm of Shakespeare's verse at the time he was writing Richard the Second will not fail to detect his hand in the new play. Nor is the similarity confined to the versification, for it is equally noticeable in the dramatic treatment of the subject.
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