San Antonio College Library

This book explores the expressions of Shakespeare's poetic will - his sexual desire, conscious and unconscious volition, and posthumous legacy - within the linguistic matrix that enfolds his characters and readers. Using a combination of psychoanalytic approaches, Willbern rescues Shakespeare from the limitations and distortions of dramatic performance by showing that his language, scenes, and characters are propelled by the genius of this will and...

"This book argues that something extraordinary happened to Shakespeare's language in midcareer, somewhere around 1600." "An initial discussion of some of the language of the earlier plays looks for signs as to what was afoot, and this leads to a treatment of the central turning point. The rest of the book provides close studies of what came after that, in the great works between Hamlet and The Tempest. Special attention is paid to many passages which...

"Replete with arcane references, unfamiliar expressions, and words of his own invention, Shakespeare's texts can intimidate even the most learned reader. From the adjective "acerb" in Othello to the verb "zwaggered" in King Lear, this revised and updated edition contains approximately 17,000 definitions, more than 2,000 of which are new. It also features a new introductory chapter "Introduction to Shakespeare and His Language," which provides essential...