Women Beware Women: And Other Plays (Oxford World's Classics) [Paperback]

Thomas Middleton (Author), Richard Dutton (Editor)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 019282614X | ISBN-13: 978-0192826145 | Publication Date: October 28, 1999

This volume contains Thomas Middletons four greatest plays, "A Chaste Maid in Cheapside," "Women Beware Women," "The Changeling," and "A Game at Chess." "A Chaste Maid in Cheapside" is the most complex and effective of the city comedies. "Women Beware Women" and "The Changeling" (with William Rowley) are two of the most powerful Jacobean tragedies aside from Shakespeare, studies in lust, power, violence, and self-delusive psychology. "A Game at Chess" was the single most popular play of the whole Shakespearean era, a satirical expos� of Jesuit plotting and Anglo-Spanish politics which played to packed houses at the Globe until King James and his ministers banned it. With the most up-to-date introduction available, this volume offers all the play texts newly edited with richly informative annotation.

Editorial Reviews

Review

Dutton presents an accessible and balanced assessment of the particular difficulties which Middleton poses for a modern audience (and critics) Years Work in English Studies

About the Author

Richard Dutton is Professor of English, Lancaster University.

Product Details

• Paperback: 530 pages
• Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA (October 28, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 019282614X
• ISBN-13: 978-0192826145
• Product Dimensions: 7.7 x 4.9 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.9 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,919,285 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Neglected Masterpieces, September 7, 2005

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Q (Q Continuum) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Women Beware Women: And Other Plays (Oxford World's Classics) (Paperback)

Thomas Middleton is one of the greatest playwrights of the early 17th century, and this is a collection of some of his best works. "Women Beware Women" and "The Changeling" are both devastating tragedies, fully comparable to Christopher Marlowe's and John Webster's greatest works. This collection also includes "A Chaste Maid in Cheapside," a good example of a 17th century London "city comedy." The editors also include a fascinating work of anti-catholic propaganda, "A Game at Chess," an historical allegory. "A Game at Chess" is not widely available, making this collection especially valuable.

The language of the plays is frequently quite difficult, making footnotes absolutely necessary. However, the editors of this work have inexplicably chosen to use endnotes instead of footnotes. This makes reading extremely slow and difficult, since there are 5 to 10 notes per page. For each page the reader must go to the back of the book 5 or 10 times to check the unfamiliar vocabulary, syntax, or sloppy 17th century editing.

For the reader interested in Middleton, there are other choices available, including a penguin collection (entitled FIVE PLAYS) which uses footnotes and includes "The Revenger's Tragedy" and another comedy in addition to the essential tragedies mentioned above. The Norton anthology of ENGLISH RENAISSANCE DRAMA includes Middleton's great tragedies in addition to the important cross-dressing comedy "The Roaring Girl," and also uses the more convenient footnotes.

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Three of the best Jacobean plays, March 26, 2004

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Oscar Wilde "doriangrey" (Athens, GA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Women Beware Women: And Other Plays (Oxford World's Classics) (Paperback)

After Shakespeare and Ben Jonson's best work, the best plays from the Jacobean era are probably: Webster's Duchess of Malfi, Webster's The White Devil, The Revengers' Tragedy, The Changeling, Women Beware Women, and A Game at Chess. The last three are handily present in this volume.

My personal favorite is A Game at Chess, a brutal satire on Catholic conspiracies to subvert England. The reign of James I began with the gunpowder plot - an attempt by catholics to blow up the entire parliament and the king with it - but by the end of his reign James was trying to negotiate for his son to marry a Catholic princess from arch-catholic power Spain. A Game at Chess was written during those latter years in order to rouse sentiment against 'the spanish match', and it got Middleton into some trouble.

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars If you are going to write a review do it right, May 4, 2005

By 

Jessica L. Suchanek "a random customer" (USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Women Beware Women: And Other Plays (Oxford World's Classics) (Paperback)

It's completely understandable if a certain piece of literature isn't suited to your personal tastes but to bash a work that is clearly of literary and historical value without even giving concrete reasons I can only attribute to a gross lack of understanding and general stupidity.