DAVID BEVINGTON, internationally renowned Shakespeare scholar, is Phyllis Fay Horton Professor of Humanities at the University of Chicago and editor of Scott, Foresman's The Complete Works of Shakespeare.JOSEPH PAPP, one of the most important forces in theater today, is the founder and producer of the New York Shakespeare Festival, America's largest and most prolific theatrical institution. He has produced or directed all but one of Shakespeare's plays.

it's hard to imagine, but Shakespeare wrote all of his plays with a quill pen, a goose feather whose hard end had to be sharpened frequently. How many times did he scrape the dull end to a point with his knife, dip it into the inkwell, and bring up, dripping wet, those wonderful words and ideas that are known all over the world?

In the age of word processors, typewriters, and ballpoint pens, we have almost forgotten the meaning of the word "blot." Yet when I went to school, in the 1930s, my classmates and I knew all too well what an inkblot from the metal-tipped pens we used would do to a nice clean page of a test paper, and we groaned whenever a splotch fell across the sheet. Most of us finished the school day with inkstained fingers: those who were less careful also went home with ink-stained shirts, which were almost impossible to get clean.

Foreword

Three Early Comedies

The Playhouse

LOVE'S LABOR'S LOST

Introduction

Love's Labor's Lost

  in Performance

Love's Labor's Lost

Date and Text

Textual Notes

Shakespeare's Sources

Further Reading

THE TWO GENTLEMEN OF VERONA

Introduction

The Two Gentlemen of Verona

  in Performance

The Two Gentlemen of Verona

Date and Text

Textual Notes

Shakespeare's Sources

Further Reading

THE MERRY WIVES OF WINDSOR

Introduction

The Merry Wives of Windsor

  in Performance

The Merry Wives of Windsor

Date and Text

Textual Notes

Shakespeare's Sources

Further Reading

Memorable Lines

  Love's Labor's Lost

  The Two Gentlemen of Verona

  The Merry Wives of Windsor