The Two Noble Kinsmen [Easyread Edition]

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The Two Noble Kinsmen [Easyread Edition]

3.33 of 5 stars 3.33 · rating details · 322 ratings · 25 reviews

This is Shakespeare's last dramatic work. The two noble kinsmen are cousins who swear a vow of friendship until death. King Theseus of Athens leads an invasion against Thebes and returns to Athens with the two cousins who both fall in love with Princess Emilia, Theseus' sister-in-law. Both become rivals for Emilia's hand arousing the wrath of Theseus. The story is adorned...more

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Jan 01, 2013 V rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I enjoyed this play. I watched a high school production of it on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=... and really enjoyed their performance. Since the plays were written to be performed and having found and watched this play and Midsummer's Night performed, I am going to try to see if I can continue to find performances of the plays.

Note from Wiki: "The Two Noble Kinsmen is the only one of Shakespeare's plays that has never been adapted for film or television."

The play reinforces wh...more

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Feb 12, 2012 Bryn Hammond rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: poets-playwrights

A tragedy of friendship - friendship ruined by love.

I came to this through Harold Bloom. He quotes Emilia on her dead girlhood friend, a speech which has this end, That the true love 'tween maid and maid may be More than in sex dividual. And Bloom says, this declaration is unique in Shakespeare, and deserves to be better known as the locus classicus in defense of such love in the language.

The play runs on strong friendships - love-friendships; that of Theseus and Pirithous is hymned by Theseus...more

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Jul 24, 2012 Bill Kerwin rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: stuart-drama, 16th-17th-c-brit

I've believed for years that I loved Shakespeare, but while reading the collaboration “The Two Noble Kinsmen” for the first time, I was gratified to have the reality of that love confirmed by my autonomic nervous system. After reading the Prologue (obviously not Shakespeare) and the initial song (charming, generic, perhaps Shakespeare), I began to read the first scene--the one in which the wedding of Theseus and Hippolyta is interrupted by the pleading of three widowed queens—and, as I gradually...more

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May 21, 2013 Elizabeth rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Should be called The Two Noble Numpties. They love each other better than their lives or liberty, and they fall to fighting over a woman who's pretty indifferent to both of them. Meanwhile the woman who adores Palamon so much she risks her own life and her father's life to help him escape, is a abandoned and goes mad. All that nobility shit doesn't apply to Women Of The Lower Classes. See the movie The Duellists for other example of how noble sentiments don't apply when abandoning women you've b...more

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Feb 01, 2013 Lydia Shellenbarger rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Wasn't my favorite Shakespeare, as I honestly wasn't sure what I was dealing with (tragedy or comedy), as it vacilitates strongly between the two for the whole play and in the end doesn't really specify.

Storyline: two cousins are fighting against a good king who is seeking justice for a wrong. Good king wins, the cousins are captured and imprisoned. Where, looking out their window, they chance to see the king's lovely sister, and though they were the best of friends before, for love of her (who

...more

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Apr 25, 2010 rr added it · review of another edition

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

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Nov 15, 2012 Phil rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: drama

This is a very interesting play for a number of different reasons. First is the collaborative element--Shakespeare wrote this play with Fletcher, and as with all collaborative Renaissance plays there is debate over which playwright contributed what materials. During the Renaissance most plays had some kind of collaborative element, whether that was playwrights borrowing material from one another, active collaboration, or actors improvising lines that later got incorporated into the published tex...more

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Oct 25, 2009 Justyn Rampa rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Although it is somewhat controversial to do so, I will claim this as the "last" written work of Shakespeare which he co-wrote with the guy that eventually took over The Globe. I probably should re-read this soon, but I loved the crap out of this play! Since Shakespeare wrote this at the end of his career, I feel that it is a very self-aware work. The Shakespeariest of works, if you will. Unfortunately, it is largely ignored due to questions of authorship and where it falls on the time line. I ha...more

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Sep 07, 2012 Trelesa rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

The three queens pleading for the dead bodies of their kings promised an enticing story - but apparently that was just a disjointed beginning. It seemed to lead off into tangents from the beginning, losing any momentum it gained.

The play couldn't have ended well without maintaing the strong relationship of the cousins (the two noble kinsmen). The strength of the play, to me, was the cousins ability to recall respect and consideration for each other even when they were desperately set against ea...more

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Nov 11, 2011 TAB rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: drama, 1600s, england

Authorship be damned, this is a great play. I remembered that I really liked Chaucer's "The Knight's Tale" from high school, but truthfully when I started this play I thought I was going to hate it. I admittedly also thought that there was no way Shakespeare wrote this. But all that changed quickly once Arcite and Palamon came on the scene.

Like The Tempest and probably other late plays, Shakespeare is given to very long speeches and soliloquies at times that often come across as more philosophic...more

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Jun 03, 2011 Lauren rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

One of the more controversial works co-written by Shakespeare (in terms of authorship). I liked it (didn't love it), but I am happy I read it. At some point I think I'll read it again as I find it takes a few readings for me to get the full effect of Shakespeare's work. As a warning: Most of my book group HATED it (since I didn't love it, I didn't really expect to spend a Friday night defending this play, although it did make me appreciate it that much more). Recommended for hard-core drama buff...more

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Apr 01, 2012 Nancy Kelley rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: classics

I set myself a challenge last year to read all of Shakespeare's plays. To give the challenge some structure, I'm reading them in reverse alphabetical order. Therefore, The Two Noble Kinsmen was the second on my list.

It took me three months to get through it, and I finally gave up around the beginning of the last act. I read Chaucer in high school, and I immediately recognized this play as a retelling of my least favorite of the Canterbury Tales. I believe this will now be my least favorite of Sh...more

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Nov 05, 2011 Ibis3 rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: canonical, classic, greece, historical, plays, shakespeare, seventeenth-century, 2011, 2011-favourites, ethics, family, suspense, women

Quite tragic, though it ends (view spoiler). I kept wanting the two protaganists to decide that it would be better by far to both marry the fair Emilia (and at one point she even says to the audience that she'd rather have them both than have one of them die for her), and continue to be like brothers to one another. I even think Arcite would have gone for that solution, but Palamon was just "mine mine mine I saw her first".

As a Pagan at heart (though an atheist b...more

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Apr 08, 2009 Nicholas Whyte added it · review of another edition

http://nwhyte.livejournal.com/1227279.html[return][return]The two noble kinsmen of the title are Palamon and Arcite, kin of the ruler of Thebes, taken as prisoners of war to Athens where they both fall in love with the Duke's sister. Arcite is paroled, Palamon escapes, and they are duelling to the death for the fair Emilia when the Duke discovers them and makes them go away for a while in order to come back and fight properly. Arcite wins the combat, but just as Palamon and his team-mates are ab...more http://nwhyte.livejournal.com/1227279.html[return][return]The two noble kinsmen of the title are Palamon and Arcite, kin of the ruler of Thebes, taken as prisoners of war to Athens where they both fall in love with the Duke's sister. Arcite is paroled, Palamon escapes, and they are duelling to the death for the fair Emilia when the Duke discovers them and makes them go away for a while in order to come back and fight properly. Arcite wins the combat, but just as Palamon and his team-mates are about to be executed, Arcite falls off his horse and dies, so Palamon gets to marry Emilia and everyone (except Arcite) lives happily ever after.[return][return]As you can tell from the summary, the sexual politics of this play is a bit, er, challenging. And I haven't mentioned the unfortunate jailer's daughter who falls in love with Palamon, engineers his escape, goes mad with guilt, and eventually goes off with the anonymous Athenian bloke who was always in love with her. He is described in the cast list as 'Wooer'. Her doctor advises him to have sex with her even though she thinks he is Palamon, but only if it will make her feel better.[return][return]As you can tell from that second paragraph, the deeper sexual politics of this play is a bit, er, challenging. And I haven't mentioned the deep manly love that Palamon and Arcite profess for one another when they are not competing to win Emilia, nor Emilia's early professed deep womanly love for the otherwise unmentioned Flavinia (though if I was directing this I would make her the jailer's daughter). The least odd bit of the play is the first scene where three widowed queens beg the Duke of Athens to make war on Thebes to recover their husbands' corpses. There is also a comic rustic dance and some divine manifestations.[return][return]And yet plenty of other Shakespeare plays have very dodgy sexual politics - thinking especially of The Taming of the Shrew - and can be staged effectively, and I expect that this is no exception. Arkangel have made a very decent fist of it, especially with Jonathan Firth as Palamon and Sarah-Jane Holm as the jailer's daughter (and I've been listening to her father as Frodo Baggins too). I can understand why it is relatively obscure, but I am a little surprised that there has never been a TV or film version of it. It is not a particularly strong piece of work, but it's not all that bad.(less)

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Jul 24, 2011 Steve rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: shakespeare, plays

Really cool. The greatest English poet working from a model of the second-greatest English poet -- interesting stuff indeed. The story is great, a fairy-tale of idealized love at first sight (no wonder it appealed to the Elizabethans as well as the medievals), and Shakespeare handles it well. I found it interesting that we have an Ophelia-like character in here in the Jailor's daughter; and I also found it interesting that Emilia is constantly bringing up gender issues (in fact, ATTENTION GRAD S...more

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Apr 26, 2013 Darren Freebury-Jones rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

A much underrated comedy with some masterful writing from the Stratford dramatist and touching moments from John Fletcher. An interesting example of Shakespeare returning to his semi-pastoral comedic routes, echoing Two Gentlemen in this play and works such as Cymbeline/Cardenio (judging by Double Falsehood for the latter). A film or television version needs to be made!

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Feb 01, 2012 Mike Jensen rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Penguin Group recording is a fascinating but little known play by William Shakespeare and John Fletcher. The bird noises are overworked in the outdoor scenes and the music is less than it might be, but the performances are good and the script is worthy. This is the only commercial recording of this play in any media. Check it out.

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Mar 01, 2010 Guy rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: multiple-reads

This is, like many of Shakespeare's works, better in good production than in print. I have been blessed with seeing excellent productions that have raised this story far above what one might expect from the text.

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Jun 03, 2011 Abe Goolsby rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: classic-literature

A semi-apocryphal work of Shakespeare, probably written in collaboration with John Fletcher at the very end of his life and career. It is based on The Knight's Tale of Chaucer.

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Mar 20, 2013 Sammy rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: theatre

Delightful edition of this challenging play, with great textual notes, detailed introduction, and just all around a high-quality elucidation of this collaborative work.

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Dec 28, 2012 Chris rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Did not love. The whole book comes down to wondering how Shakespeare will resolve a lover's triangle.

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Sep 22, 2011 Indy rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Once again another Shakespeare play that I loved (although there are doubts as to how much of the play shakespeare actually wrote) It was really easy to get through and understand - an enjoyable read!

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Jun 09, 2012 Jane rated it 1 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Perhaps I will appreciate it more with a closer read (and footnotes). As is, it seemed like a spinoff of the two gentlemen of Verona with less organization and more assholes.

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Jan 21, 2011 Laurele rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: arkangel-shakespeare-complete, books-read-in-2011, kindle

Just barely Shakespeare, but a must to read along with the original--"The Knight's Tale" form Chaucer's Canterbury Tales.

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Jul 08, 2011 Rachel (Sfogs) rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

It was okay, but I thought the two cousins were a bit silly.

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May 22, 2013 Beaman Library marked it as shakespeare · review of another edition

May 22, 2013 Abigail is currently reading it · review of another edition

May 21, 2013 Kelsey marked it as to-read · review of another edition

Shelves: books-i-own

May 19, 2013 Molly Zeigler rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

May 18, 2013 Kyle Brackman marked it as to-read · review of another edition

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About William Shakespeare

William Shakespeare (baptised 26 April 1564) was an English poet and playwright, widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's national poet and the "Bard of Avon" (or simply "The Bard"). His surviving works consist of 38 plays, 154 sonnets, two long narrative poems, and several other poems. His plays have been tr...more William Shakespeare (baptised 26 April 1564) was an English poet and playwright, widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's national poet and the "Bard of Avon" (or simply "The Bard"). His surviving works consist of 38 plays, 154 sonnets, two long narrative poems, and several other poems. His plays have been translated into every major living language, and are performed more often than those of any other playwright.

Shakespeare was born and raised in Stratford-upon-Avon. Scholars believe that he died on his fifty-second birthday, coinciding with St George’s Day. It is an interesting idea that English writer is so closely identified with the Patron Saint of England!

At the age of 18 he married Anne Hathaway, who bore him three children: Susanna, and twins Hamnet and Judith. Between 1585 and 1592 he began a successful career in London as an actor, writer, and part owner of the playing company the Lord Chamberlain's Men, later known as the King's Men. He appears to have retired to Stratford around 1613, where he died three years later. Few records of Shakespeare's private life survive, and there has been considerable speculation about such matters as his sexuality, religious beliefs, and whether the works attributed to him were written by others.

Shakespeare produced most of his known work between 1590 and 1613. His early plays were mainly comedies and histories, genres he raised to the peak of sophistication and artistry by the end of the sixteenth century. Next he wrote mainly tragedies until about 1608, including Hamlet, King Lear, and Macbeth, considered some of the finest examples in the English language. In his last phase, he wrote tragicomedies, also known as romances, and collaborated with other playwrights. Many of his plays were published in editions of varying quality and accuracy during his lifetime, and in 1623, two of his former theatrical colleagues published the First Folio, a collected edition of his dramatic works that included all but two of the plays now recognised as Shakespeare's.

Shakespeare was a respected poet and playwright in his own day, but his reputation did not rise to its present heights until the nineteenth century. The Romantics, in particular, acclaimed Shakespeare's genius, and the Victorians hero-worshipped Shakespeare with a reverence that George Bernard Shaw called "bardolatry". In the twentieth century, his work was repeatedly adopted and rediscovered by new movements in scholarship and performance. His plays remain highly popular today and are consistently performed and reinterpreted in diverse cultural and political contexts throughout the world.

According to historians, Shakespeare write 37 plays and 154 sonnets throughout the span of his life. Shakespeare's writing average was 1.5 plays a year since he first started writing in 1589. There have been plays and sonnets contributed to Shakespeare that were not authentically written by the great master of language and literature.
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