Shakespeare s plays have never had a larger audience than they do in our time This wide viewing is complemented by modern scholarship which has verified and elucidated the plays texts Nevertheless Shakespeare s plays continue to be revised In order to find out how and why he has been rewritten Ruby Cohn examines modern dramatic offshoots in English French and German Surveying drama intended for the serious theater the author discusses modern versions of Shakespeare s plays especially Macbeth Hamlet King Lear and The Tempest Although the focus is always on drama contrast is supplied by fiction stemming from Hamlet and essays inspired by King Lear The book concludes with an assessment of the influence of Shakespeare on the creative work of Shaw Brecht and Beckett Originally published in 1976 The Princeton Legacy Library uses the latest print on demand technology to again make available previously out of print books from the distinguished backlist of Princeton University Press These editions preserve the original texts of these important books while presenting them in durable paperback and hardcover editions The goal of the Princeton Legacy Library is to vastly increase access to the rich scholarly heritage found in the thousands of books published by Princeton University Press since its founding in 1905