William Shakespeare (1564 - 1616) is the most influential writer in English history. Shakespeare has been called The Barb of Avon and England's national poet. There are 2 narrative poems, 154 sonnets and 38 plays in his collected works. He began work as an actor and writer in London first writing comedies and historic plays. He later wrote tragedies. Romeo and Juliet, Macbeth and Othello are some of his more famous plays. Helena is a beautiful servant in the house of Rossilion. Bertram. The countess's son Bertram is about to leave for France. Helena has been in love with Bertram even though...

Set in a courtly world of masked revels and dances, this play turns on the archetypal story of a lady falsely accused of unfaithfulness, spurned by her bridegroom, and finally vindicated and reunited with him. Villainy, schemes, and deceits threaten to darken the brilliant humor and sparkling wordplay-but the hilarious counterplot of a warring couple, Beatrice and Benedick, steals the scene as the two are finally tricked into admitting their love for each other in Shakespeare's superb comedy of manners.
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Henry IV sits on a usurped throne, his conscience and his nobles in revolt, while his son Hal is immersed in a self-indulgent life of revelry with the notorious Sir John Falstaff. Shakespeare explores questions of kingship and honor in this masterly mingling of history, comedy, and tragedy.

Under the editorial supervision of Jonathan Bate and Eric Rasmussen, two of today's most accomplished Shakespearean scholars, this Modern Library series incorporates definitive texts and authoritative notes from William Shakespeare: Complete Works. Each play includes an Introduction as well as...

After defeat at the Battle of Shrewsbury the rebels regroup. But Prince Hal's reluctance to inherit the crown threatens to destroy the ailing Henry IV's dream of a lasting dynasty. Shakespeare's portrait of the prodigal son's journey from youth to maturity embraces the full panorama of society.
Under the editorial supervision of Jonathan Bate and Eric Rasmussen, two of today's most accomplished Shakespearean scholars, this Modern Library series incorporates definitive texts and authoritative notes from William Shakespeare: Complete Works. Each play includes an Introduction as well...

William Shakespeare (1564 - 1616) is the most influential writer in English history. Shakespeare has been called The Barb of Avon and England's national poet. There are 2 narrative poems, 154 sonnets and 38 plays in his collected works. He began work as an actor and writer in London first writing comedies and historic plays. He later wrote tragedies. Romeo and Juliet, Macbeth and Othello are some of his more famous plays. Two Gentlemen of Verona is a romantic comedy about two sets of lovers. The infidelity of one of the gentleman leads to complications and temporary heartbreak, but the...

"Sources" considers the probable, primary, and analogous sources Shakespeare drew upon while composingMeasure for Measure, including excerpts from G. B. Giraldi Cinthio's Hecatommithi and The Tragedy of Epitia, King James I's Basilikon Doron, and--most directly--George Whetstone's The History of Promos and Cassandra. "Criticism" collects seventeen important commentaries onMeasure for Measure spanning four centuries, including, among others, those by Alexander Pope, Charlotte Lennox, Samuel Johnson, Elizabeth Inchbald, A. C. Bradley, G....

Frank J. Morlock has produced a play based on that great comic character, Falstaff, with scenes taken from William Shakespeare's Henry IV cycle and The Merry Wives of Windsor, William Kendrick's Falstaff's Wedding, and John Dennis's The Comical Gallant, plus original material by Morlock himself. A dramatic and comedic triumph!

6m, 6f / Drama, High School/Community Theatre / Simple set Shakespeare's bloodiest romance. King Lear of Navarre splits up his kingdom, and swears off women, in hopes of spending more time with his books. But the unexpected arrival of the Princess of France, and the presence of Lear's three beauteous daughters at court, threaten romantic and political chaos int he land. From the authors of Romeo & Juliet [Caesar] and Ham/thello: the Moor of Denmark, award-winning playwright Jeff Goode intertwines two of Shakespeare's best-known plays in an original work of classic theatre. The third in a new...

The Merchant of Venice is probably the most controversial of all Shakespeare's plays. It is also one of the least understood. Is it a comedy or a tragedy? What is the meaning behind the test of the caskets? Who is the real villain of the trial scene? Is Shylock simply vicious and venomous, or is he more sinned against than sinning? Can the play be described as anti-semitic? What exactly is the quality of mercy? Is Portia one of the great Christian heroines of western literature? And what of the comedy of the rings with which Shakespeare ends the play? These questions and many others are...

"Titus Andronicus" is Shakespeare's earliest tragedy written in the early 1590"s. It is the story of a general engaged in a struggle with his enemy Tamora the Goth queen. The play, being quite bloody, lost its favor during the Victorian era and only recently has come back into favor.