The Two Noble Kinsmen
Shakespeare's final collaboration with John Fletcher is a romance about love, rivalry, and the arbitrary cruelty of fate, drawn from Chaucer's "Knight's Tale." It is one of the least-performed Shakespeare plays but offers a surprisingly modern take on friendship tested by desire.
“O queen Emilia, fresher than May, dearer in love than liberty.”
Why It Matters
Shakespeare's final collaboration with John Fletcher is a romance about love, rivalry, and the arbitrary cruelty of fate, drawn from Chaucer's "Knight's Tale." It is one of the least-performed Shakespeare plays but offers a surprisingly modern take on friendship tested by desire. The play bridges Shakespeare's late style and the next generation of English drama.
The 
Take
Personal reviewThe scene when they were first in jail was funny but the play as a whole dragged on awhile without memorable characters.
Notable Quotes
“This world's a city full of straying streets, and death's the market-place where each one meets.”