Cedric Thomas Watts Books

Set aboard the Narcissus, a merchant ship journeying from Bombay to London, the novella explores the tensions among the crew as they grapple with the illness of a West Indian sailor suffering from tuberculosis. While some crew members exhibit compassion and take on additional duties to care for him, others question the severity of his condition, leading to a conflict that reveals deeper themes of humanity, duty, and the fragility of life at sea. Joseph Conrad delves into the complexities of human relationships in this poignant narrative.

Professor Watts’s study examines the main phase in Joseph Conrad’s literary development.

Contains four stories, written between 1900 and 1902. One of them reveals the differences between instinct and intelligence in a partnership vital to human survival; and the other contains 'land-stories' that explore the utter isolation of an East European emigrant in England and in the other, the plight of a woman.

"Three Men in a Boat" describes a comic expedition by middle-class Victorians up the Thames to Oxford, and "Three Men on the Bummel" records a similar escapade - a break from the claustrophobia of suburban life some ten years later, as they take a cycling tour in the Black Forest.

This second edition of Othello has a new, illustrated introduction by leading American scholar Ayanna Thompson, which addresses such key issues as race, religion and gender, as well as looking at ways in which the play has been adapted in more recent times. Othello is one of Shakespeare's great tragedies-written in the same five-year period as Hamlet, King Lear, and Macbeth. The new introduction attends to the play's different meanings throughout history, while articulating the historical context in which Othello was created, paying particular attention to Shakespeare's source materials and the evidence about early modern constructions of racial and religious difference. It also explores the life of the play in different historical moments, demonstrating how meanings and performances develop, accrue, and metamorphose over time. The volume provides a rich and current resource, making this best-selling play edition ideal for today's students at advanced school and undergraduate level.

A new look at Shakespeare's play in accordance with the work of the Shakespeare and Schools Project, the National Curriculum for English, developments at GCSE and A-level, and the probable development of English and Drama throughout the 1990s. Cambridge School Shakespeare considers the play as theatre and the text as script, enabling pupils to inhabit the imaginative world of the play in an accessible, meaningful and creative way. Cambridge School Shakespeare approaches the plays in a new way, encouraging students to participate actively in examining them, to work in groups as well as individually, to treat each play as a script to be re-created, and to explore the theatrical/dramatic qualities of the text. The editorial comments cater for pupils of all ages and abilities, providing clear, helpful guidelines for school study. The format of the plays is also designed to help all teachers, whether experienced or inexperienced. NB This replaces the information previously issued.

To the events surrounding the assassination of Julius Caesar in 44BC, Shakespeare introduces the dangerous themes of thwarted ambition and political reaction.

This tragedy of doomed lovers from warring families has inspired poetic expression from young lovers the world over. The 300-year-old drama is perhaps Shakespeare's best-known work. The CliffsComplete Romeo and Juliet is a revised and expanded study edition. It contains Shakespeare's original play, a glossary, and expert commentary in a unique, 2-column format. To enhance your learning, notes and definitions appear directly opposite the line in which they occur, and a review section follows the play. This edition also introduces you to the life, works, and times of William Shakespeare.

Loose ends and red herrings are the stuff of detective fiction, and under the scrutiny of master sleuths John Sutherland and Cedric Watts Shakespeare's plays reveal themselves to be as full of mysteries as any Agatha Christie novel. Is it summer or winter in Elsinore? Do Bottom and Titania make love? Does Lady Macbeth faint, or is she just pretending? How does a man putrefy within minutes of his death? Is Cleopatra a deadbeat Mum? And why doesn't Juliet ask 'O Romeo Montague, wherefore art thou Montague?' As Watts and Sutherland explore these and other puzzles Shakespeare's genuius becomes ever more apparent. Speculative, critical, good-humoured and provocative, their discussions shed light on apparent anachronisms, performance and stagecraft, linguistics, Star Trek and much else. Shrewd and entertaining, these essays add a new dimension to the pleasure of reading or watching Shakespeare.