The Shakespeare Name Dictionary

The authors cover everything: characters (Touchstone, the clown inAs You Like It), places (Tours, the French city mentioned inHenry VI), animals (Tray, one of King Lear's three dogs), buildings (the Tower of London), officials (Roman Tribunes), rivers (the Trent), nationals ("Transylvanian"), nicknames (Monsieur Traveller, applied to Jaques inAs You Like It), astrological groupings (Trigon, an astrological group of three signs), and much more. The Shakespeare Name Dictionaryidentifies them all in full, readable entries. The authors' coverage includes such information as the historical errors in Shakespeare's plays, as well as variant interpretations of names. Line references in the plays are keyed to the Oxford Shakespeare. With fuller coverage than anything currently available,The Shakespeare NameDictionary-available in paperback for the first time--is the ultimate guide to the plays.

A. Daniel Frankforter is Professor of History at Pennsylvania State University.