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second maiden tragedy

Dramatis Personae: The Tyrant; the Lady; The Wife; Anselmus.

Text & Context: An unnamed, anonymous play which survives only in manuscript. While considered by some to be Shakespeare's lost play Cardenio, most scholars attribute it to Thomas Middleton.

 

 Revision notes have been inserted into the prompt book which some handwriting experts compare to the Hand D document falsely attributed to Shakespeare from the Sir Thomas More manuscript. From what signatures we have, William Shaksper could barely write his own name. As with More's Hand D, these slips are likely the hand of a scribe or amanuensis.  

 

 A play about female fidelity, its subject matter includes necrophilia, making it - had this been a play by Shakespeare - a dead-trick. Here, as Shakespeare Tarot Apocrypha, it replaces the 9 of Swords card Ophelia.  

The Second Maiden's Tragedy

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