Cardenio; Or, the Second Maiden's Tragedy

by William Shakespeare, John Fletcher, Charles Hamilton Jr.

One third of the volume is occupied by the lost play, co-authored by William Shakespeare and John Fletcher, last heard of in 1653. The other two thirds of this book are occupied with the theories and facts behind Charles Hamilton Jr. discovery.

Recently identified by one of the world's leading handwriting experts, Shakespeare's lost masterpiece, coauthored with John Fletcher, involves a character from Don Quixote and features love gone awry, seduction, grave robbery, madness, ghosts, and murder. Original. IP.

Genres: Shakespeare, Plays, Theatre, Classics, Drama

275 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1613

About the author

William Shakespeare was an English playwright, poet, and actor. He is 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 extant works, including collaborations, consist of some 39 plays, 154 sonnets, three long narrative poems, and a few other verses, some of uncertain authorship. His plays have been translated into every major living language and are performed more often than those of any other playwright. Shakespeare remains arguably the most influential writer in the English language, and his works continue to be studied and reinterpreted.
Shakespeare was born and raised in Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire. At the age of 18, he married Anne Hathaway, with whom he had three children: Susanna, and twins Hamnet and Judith. Sometime between 1585 and 1592, he began a successful career in London as an actor, writer, and part-owner ("sharer") of a playing company called the Lord Chamberlain's Men, later known as the King's Men after the ascension of King James VI and I of Scotland to the English throne. At age 49 (around 1613), he appears to have retired to Stratford, where he died three years later. Few records of Shakespeare's private life survive; this has stimulated considerable speculation about such matters as his physical appearance, his sexuality, his religious beliefs, and even certain fringe theories as to whether the works attributed to him were written by others.
Shakespeare produced most of his known works between 1589 and 1613. His early plays were primarily comedies and histories and are regarded as some of the best works produced in these genres. He then wrote mainly tragedies until 1608, among them Hamlet, Romeo and Juliet, Othello, King Lear, and Macbeth, all considered to be among the finest works in the English language. In the last phase of his life, he wrote tragicomedies (also known as romances) and collaborated with other playwrights.
Many of Shakespeare's plays were published in editions of varying quality and accuracy during his lifetime. However, in 1623, John Heminge and Henry Condell, two fellow actors and friends of Shakespeare's, published a more definitive text known as the First Folio, a posthumous collected edition of Shakespeare's dramatic works that includes 36 of his plays. Its Preface was a prescient poem by Ben Jonson, a former rival of Shakespeare, that hailed Shakespeare with the now famous epithet: "not of an age, but for all time".

Reviews

[Pia Marina · Rating 2 out of 5]

I like the play but Hamilton‘s arguments trying to make this Cardenio aren’t exactly convincing or based in reality, his wish to have been the one who found Cardenio definitely getting in the way of properly engaging with the material

[Gordan Karlic · Rating 3 out of 5]

Bad choice for last Shakespeare play.
Wasn't that interesting and by the half of it I just wanted to end it, had enough of Shakespeare.
Bunch of shenanigans happens her, it doesn't wonder me it is disputed did or didn't Shakespeare wrote this.

[Marsha · Rating 2 out of 5]

Packed to the brim with men in disguise, cheating spouses, lying maids, revenge-ridden Lotharios, desecrated tombs and a mad king, this play reads like one of Shakespeare’s more inventive comedies. The only thing missing is a deus ex machina. But it all ends in tragedy, bloodshed and murder.

In spite of the beauty of its prose, the idiotic plotline makes it one of the cheesiest, most ridiculous things I’ve ever read. It’s no wonder that many scholars debate its authenticity.

[Cody · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was in the first American production of this after its discovery. I'm not sure WHO wrote it but I can promise you that this was not written by Shakespeare. You can just tell.

[David · Rating 2 out of 5]

If scholars are convinced that Shakespeare wrote at least part of this, I won't dispute it. However, I would be skeptical of how much he wrote. This play has a lot of treachery and deaths, but not much else.

[Paul Jones · Rating 3 out of 5]

A real grind but well worth the read if you love Shakespeare as I do. The author, Charles Hamilton has some very convincing arguments as to the true authorship of "Cardenio". But you got to hang in with him as it is very scholarly.

[Lydia · Rating 3 out of 5]

For most of the play, I only considered it an "Okay" play. A lot of the characters are very vague (some of the "main" characters don't even have real names just being called "Wife" or "Tyrant", ironically they still have depth but it's murky and unclear depth so the characters as a whole are hard to grasp) with my favorite character spending most of the play as a body or spirit rather than a living person. The whole tone of the play is rather odd, as even when the Tyrant is in his most crazed (and he goes waaaaay off the deep end!), you are unsure of the ending (which is good, but odd for Shakespeare, and is why I bumped the rating up to three stars).

Content wise: no language issues, not really even Shakespeare's notorious double meanings as everything is pretty clearly stated. Sensuality is present, but all in thought not in action. the Tyrant tries to steal the former Queen's heart and when that fails tries to force her to become his mistress, though her husband is still alive. In the other story, a noble decides his wife must be unfaithful to him just because she seems so virtious so decides to have his friend seduce her. Neither of these plots end how they are intended, but the sensual feel is still there. There's a lot of death in this play, and all of it is by sword or poison, but as usual, the person involved always gets hit with the sword and dies, no dismembering or spurting blood.

[Stuart · Rating 3 out of 5]

This play is sort of a fun read, if you're into shows like TITUS ANDRONICHUS or TIS PITY SHE'S A WHORE. It's sort of like a goth-ed up Shakespeare play, though I think it's pretty ludicrous to suggest that Shakespeare actually wrote this play. The plot is all over the place, and includes the standards of tales like these- namely incest, betrayal, extreme violence and of course- necrophilia. I could see a young theater company having a lot of fun with this show some Halloween time or another, but to suggest it has tons of literary merit would be a lie. Still, you'll breeze right through it so it's an entertaining read and an interesting glimpse at some of the lesser known literature of Shakespeare and Marlowe's time- even if it is far too trashy to be placed on the same level as any of their works.

[John · Rating 4 out of 5]

Part of this book is the actual play, and part is a discussion of whether Shakespeare wrote it. As a play, it is lively. One oddity is that the subplot is so unrelated to the main plot that they could be divided and performed separately.

[Tex Tourais · Rating 3 out of 5]

One of Shakespeare's last (or possibly "lost") plays. Men behaving badly. I worry about the ending. There doesn't appear to be anyone asked to carry the weight for the misdeeds committed.

[sabiha ㅤ · Rating 5 out of 5]

İçinde bolca aşk, sadakat, fedakarlık, savaş, nefret, öfke ve umut barındıran, dolu dolu bir oyun.

Ana fikir: Alma mazlumun ahını çıkar aheste aheste.