Arden Student Skills: Language and Writing offer a new type of study aid which combines lively critical insight with practical guidance on the critical writing skills you need to develop in order to engage fully with Shakespeare's texts. The books' core focus is on language: both understanding and enjoying Shakespeare's complex dramatic language, and expanding your own critical vocabulary, as you respond to his plays. Key features include: ' an introduction considering when and how the play was written, addressing the language with which Shakespeare created his work, as well as the generic, literary and theatrical conventions at his disposal ' detailed examination and analysis of the individual text, focusing on its literary, technical and historical intricacies ' discussion of performance history and the critical reception of the work ' a 'Writing matters' section in every chapter, clearly linking the analysis of Shakespeare's language to your own writing strategies in coursework and examinations Written by world-class academics with both scholarly insight and outstanding teaching skills, each guide will empower you to read and write about Shakespeare with increased confidence and enthusiasm. How to find something new to say about this most familiar of Shakespeare's plays? Catherine Besley shows you how to build your understanding by starting with a focus on key speeches before looking at Shakespeare's sources and showing how his use of them can inform a critical appreciation of the play. She goes on to examine the exquisite poetry in the play and to unpick its complex rhetoric as well as examining key productions and adaptations such as the classic Baz Lurhmann film.