Shakespeare's essential greatness is clarified by placing his plays in the broad context of sacred art and showing his preoccupation with the quest for human perfection and the mystery of sanctification. In The Secret of Shakespeare, Martin Lings "says more to reveal the quintessence of Shakespeare's greatness than the most laborious exposition could ever do". -- Kathleen Raine

"Martin Ling was for many years lecturer on Shakespeare at the University of Cairo, and is now on the senior staff of the British Museum. 'Shakespeare's greatness,' he says, 'lies above all in the total impact that each of his best plays makes on us when acted. But being a synthesis, this impact is not easily put into words; and once the curtain is down and we have left the theatre, what is said and written about these plays tends to be on a comparatively low level and bears little or no relation to the greatness of each as a while, which it seems unable to account for.' Here he sets out to discuss ten of the maturer plays, one by one, in a way which does account for the greatness as a whole. With out attention thus centered on the texts and on their theatrical rendering rather than on their author, we are none the less left with a deeper impression of Shakespeare the man and Shakespeare the artist than we can get from most of the biographies. This readable, revealing and at times very moving book shows that it is still possible, even now at the 350th anniversary of the poet's death, to make a fundamentally important contribution to the study of his art in its most essential aspect." -Publisher.

Revised and Expanded Edition of The Secret of Shakespeare Reveals the full scope of Shakespeare's plays as sacred visionary dramas, illuminating the bard's greatest works and the man behind them • Reveals how, through the use of esoteric symbol and form, Shakespeare's plays mirror the inner drama of the journey of all souls • Conveys a heightened understanding of the plays through examining the theatrical rendering of their texts Through his study of such plays as Hamlet, Othello, MacBeth, and King Lear, Lings supplies expert and inspiring guidance to the beautifully wrought words and worlds of William Shakespeare. Lings's particular genius lies in his ability to convey, as perhaps no one else has ever done, the theatrical renderings of these texts, leaving readers with deep and lasting impressions not only of these masterpieces of dramatic artistry, but of the extraordinary man behind them as well.

Shakespeare's plays, argues Lings, concern far more than the workings of the human psyche; they are sacred, visionary works that, through the use of esoteric symbol and form, mirror the passage the soul must make to reach its final sacred union with the divine.