The Puritan Widow by William Shakespeare
"The Puritan Widow" is a Jacobean stage comedy first published in 1607. Attributed to "W.S." on its title page, this anonymous play has been linked to both Shakespeare and Thomas Middleton, though modern scholars favor Middleton's authorship. The story follows Lady Plus, a demonstrative Puritan widow, and her calculating family as they navigate grief, marriage prospects, and social ambition. Meanwhile, a group of clever rogues—including a poor scholar and discharged soldiers—plot to
deceive the wealthy widow through cons involving fortune-telling and wizardry, setting the stage for satirical comedy. (This is an automatically generated summary.)
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About this eBook
| Dubious author | Shakespeare, William, 1564-1616 |
|---|---|
| Title | The Puritan Widow |
| Alternate Title | The Puritaine Widdow |
| Note | Shakespeare apocrypha - work questionably attributed to Shakespeare and others. See en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shakespeare_apocrypha for more information |
| Note | Wikipedia page about this book: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Puritan |
| Credits | Tony Adam |
| Reading Level | Reading ease score: 81.4 (6th grade). Easy to read. |
| Language | English |
| LoC Class | PR: Language and Literatures: English literature |
| Subject | Shakespeare, William, 1564-1616 -- Spurious and doubtful works |
| Subject | English drama -- Early modern and Elizabethan, 1500-1600 |
| Category | Text |
| EBook-No. | 4214 |
| Release Date | Jul 1, 2003 |
| Most Recently Updated | Oct 1, 2025 |
| Copyright Status | Public domain in the USA. |
| Downloads | 240 downloads in the last 30 days. |
| Project Gutenberg eBooks are always free! | |