Download or read book Shakespeare, the King's Playwright written by Alvin B. Kernan and published by Yale University Press. This book was released on 1997-01-01 with total page 294 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Eminent literary critic Alvin Kernan takes us back to the court performances of some of Shakespeare's most famous plays, showing how the courtly setting influenced the bard's work. Kernan argues that Shakespeare was a great dramatist whose plays commented on political and social concerns of his patrons and who adjusted his own art to pander to court needs. 30 illustrations.