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Cover of The Dark Lady of the Sonnets

The Dark Lady of the Sonnets

by Bernard Shaw (1856–1950)

  • Free to read
  • 1 hour to read
  • 3 chapters
  • Reading level: 8th & 9th grade

"The Dark Lady of the Sonnets" by George Bernard Shaw is a short comedy written in 1910. The play imagines William Shakespeare waiting at Whitehall Palace for a secret meeting with his mysterious lover. Instead, he accidentally encounters Queen Elizabeth I and seizes the opportunity to pitch an ambitious idea: the creation of a national theatre. Shaw wrote this witty one-act play as part of a real campaign to establish a Shakespeare National Theatre by 1916, blending historical figures with literary mystery and theatrical ambition.

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  • Shakespeare, William, 1564-1616
  • Man-woman relationships
  • Fitton, Mary, 1578?-1641
  • London (England)

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The Dark Lady of the Sonnets

By Bernard Shaw

Preface
How the Play came to be Written
Thomas Tyler
Frank Harris
Harris "durch Mitleid wissend"
"Sidney's Sister: Pembroke's Mother"
Shakespear's Social Standing
This Side Idolatry
Shakespear's Pessimism
Gaiety of Genius
Jupiter and Semele
The Idol of the Bardolaters
Shakespear's alleged Sycophancy and Perversion
Shakespear and Democracy
Shakespear and the British Public
The Dark Lady of the Sonnets

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Contents

  1. The Dark Lady of the Sonnets
  2. Preface to the Dark Lady of the Sonnets
  3. The Dark Lady of the Sonnets

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About this edition

This free edition of The Dark Lady of the Sonnets by Bernard Shaw comes from Project Gutenberg eBook #1050, released 1997-09-01. It is in the public domain in the United States, so you can read it here in full at no cost, on any phone, tablet or computer. Genre: Plays/Films/Dramas, British Literature.

Summary provided by Project Gutenberg (automatically generated).

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