The Importance of Audience

Macbeth

The Dover Edition of "Macbeth" geared its contents to both passing readers and readers interested in scholarly material. It achieved this by including two introductions--one to appeal to a reader wanting a basic background and another in a more scholarly tone.The basic background does not contain a great deal of detail, making it appealing to the average reader, reading the book for pleasure. The scholarly introduction presents a greater amount of detail, which would help a scholar to see the play in different ways.

As You Like It

The scholarly intent and audience of the Arden Shakespeare’s edition of As You Like It can be quickly deduced by observing the unbalanced ratio of play script to auxiliary material. The text of the play itself only occupies the first half of each page, while the bottom half contains two solid columns of footnotes. What is more, the script is sandwiched between an introduction and a set of three appendices, which, together, out-length the play itself—clearly, the auxiliary material of this edition holds center stage. (ba-dum) The audiences for which this edition is intended are those who would appreciate a documentary-like experience, or a “behind the scenes” look at Shakespeare’s writing process, the unique production aspects of 16^th century theater, possible “alternate endings,” and “deleted scenes” which might round out a more rich and diversified understanding of the play and, clearly more importantly, the playwright and his actors. The Arden Shakespeare, serves the purposes of a college course famously—given that it provides historical context and gives college-level readers an idea of where the Shakespeare research community stands in terms of discovery and theory today. On the other hand, I would not recommend purchasing this edition to direct a theater production, or to introduce anyone new to Shakespeare to As You Like It—especially since understanding the auxiliary material requires an already decent knowledge of Shakespeare’s other works, awareness of standing theories about his life, and a deep thirst for superfluous factoids.

The Tempest

"The Tempest" from Bedford/St. Martin connects with an audience at a university level. The edition features articles varying from historical perspectives of the play to feminine criticism. The edition includes a number of articles and critical theory pieces on "The Tempest" which would interest readers interested in the literary conversation and possibly entering it themselves. It also features a short synopsis of the life of Shakespeare. The biography suggests that academia does not know definitely if Shakespeare actually wrote the works attributed to him in order provoke readers into contemplating the role authorship plays in an interpretation of a work.

Richard III

Thomas Cartelli's Norton edition of of Richard III has a good mix of accessibility as well as scholarly depth. The Preface to the play is comfortably explanatory and contains parenthetical clarifications regarding previous plays by Shakespeare as well as background information useful for a first-time reader. This Preface gives good context for the play and explains where the play fits in with Shakespeare's previous historical works. The play itself has fairly simple footnotes that explain words and phrases, and for the most part remain in the realm of textual analysis. After the play itself, there is a more complex "Note on the Text," as well as substantial scholarly articles and arguments. This post-play material would appeal to a more experienced reading audience and would provide useful materials for future academic papers. This mix between the rather gentle introduction via the Preface and the "richer" material following the actual play provide an edition that seems to be widely accessible to multiple audiences.

Measure for Measure

Shakespeare's "Measure for Measure" edited by Ivo Kamps and Karen Raber in the Bedford Shakespeare Series has a pretty specific audience in mind. This edition was published in response to an emphasis on New Historicism, which focuses more on the historical content surrounding a work. A good portion of this edition focuses on the cultural contexts such sections as governance, the underworld, marriage, sex and society, and geography and religion. The editors included this context to give students background and topics that are relevant to the play as well as help them to discover how primary works can influence a text. The introduction deals heavily with comparisons to other Shakespeare plays as well as comparisons to other editions of "Measure for Measure". I would conclude that this edition is primary targeted to university students who are studying the works of Shakespeare.   

Our Edition

Many people often feel as though Shakespeare is inaccessible because of the style and language he wrote in. We want to demystify Shakespeare by creating an edition more accessible to everyone. Our edition would be specifically aimed at middle school students. By exposing the students to a less difficult edition of Shakespeare's play, we hope to kindle a love and a desire for Shakespeare's work and for literature as a whole.