This play is a dramatization of Boccaccio’s story of Gillette of Narbonne. Only the comic parts were of Shakespeare’s invention; he added the characters of the pusillanimous Parolles, the lofty courtier Lafew, the Clown Lavatch, and the long suffering Countess. He gave new depth and vitality to the leading characters, who are mere outlines in Boccaccio’s tale.
The comedy has for its heroine a young woman who loves the haughty Bertram with an unrequited and despised passion, cures the King of France of a dangerous sickness, claims as her reward the right to choose a husband from among the courtiers, chooses Bertram, is repudiated by him, and, after a nocturnal meeting at which she takes the place of another woman whom he believes himself to have seduced, at last overcomes his resistance and is acknowledged as his wife.
In Helena Shakespeare drew a portrait of familiar type of loving and cruelly maltreated womanhood—the woman who suffers everything in inexhaustible tenderness and humility, and never falters in her love until in the end she wins the rebellious heart.
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William Shakespeare (1564–1616), English poet and dramatist of the Elizabethan and early Jacobean period, is the most widely known author in all of English literature and often considered the greatest. He was an active member of a theater company for at least twenty years, during which time he wrote many great plays. Plays were not prized as literature at the time and Shakespeare was not widely read until the middle of the eighteenth century, when a great upsurge of interest in his works began that continues today.
Bleak December Inc. is a multimedia company founded by Canadian actor and filmmaker Anthony D.P. Mann.
Kyle Tait is a professionally trained voice actor and sports broadcaster based in Atlanta, Georgia. He’s done voice work for TV and radio ads around the world, corporate training videos, whiteboard and explainer videos, documentaries, audiobooks, and more. He’s narrated more than twenty titles on Audible and iTunes, across genres spanning from sports history to crime thrillers to self-help.
In addition to his voice work, Tait is an established sports broadcaster, calling baseball, basketball, and football on ESPN3, as well as serving as a studio host on multiple national college networks with IMG College.
Denis Daly is an audiobook narrator and codirector of Voices of Today, an Australian spoken word production house.
Linda Barrans is a British narrator with a fondness for Jane Austen and Shakespeare. She wrote the Sam the Sheep books to make positive use of the time during COVID lockdown, and to give herself and her friend Cate Barratt a modern piece to record together.
John Burlinson is an American audiobook narrator.
John Burlinson is an American audiobook narrator.
Gary MacFadden is a voice talent based in western Montana, USA. He works in commercial, e-learning, explainer videos, and audiobooks. Gary has narrated and produced over forty audiobooks, and has produced another dozen books for other narrators.
Graham Scott is a narrator and voice actor based in the UK. As well as solo performances of works by authors including PG Wodehouse, Charles Dickens, R Austin Freeman, Dorothy L. Sayers, Jules Verne, Anna Katherine Green, Joseph Conrad, GK Chesterton, and John Buchan, Graham is also a regular performer in group productions with both Voices of Today and the Online Stage. Website: www.GrahamScottAudio.com
Denis Daly is an audiobook narrator and codirector of Voices of Today, an Australian spoken word production house.