Shakespeare

"Sources and Contexts" reprints the sixteenth-century story by Giraldi Cinthio that Shakespeare used for the plot of Othello and for many of its details. Edward Pechter's essay provides context for readers through its discussion of the play's central topics--Moors, Turks, Venetians, marriage and domesticity, fathers and daughters, and female sexuality.

When a trio of witches foretell that Macbeth will become King of Scotland, the brave general is consumed by ambition. Encouraged by his wife to seize the throne, their quest for power leads down a blood-strewn path that ends in madness and death in this play that explores the consequences of guilt and corruption.

The Annotated Shakespeare series allows readers to fully understand and enjoy the rich plays of the world's greatest dramatist. One of the most frequently read and performed of all stage works, Shakespeare's Hamlet is unsurpassed in its complexity and richness. This fully annotated version of Hamlet makes the play completely accessible to readers in the 21st century. It has been carefully assembled with students, teachers and the general reader in mind. usage of Elizabethan English, pronunciation, prosody and alternative readings of phrases and lines. His on-page annotations provide readers with all the tools they need to comprehend the play and begin to explore its many possible interpretations.

A magnificent drama of love and war, this riveting tragedy presents one of Shakespeare's greatest female characters—the seductive, cunning Egyptian queen Cleopatra. The Roman leader Mark Antony, a virtual prisoner of his passion for her, is a man torn between pleasure and virtue, between sensual indolence and duty . . . between an empire and love.

ulius Caesar was the first of Shakespeare's Roman history plays. Presented for the first time in 1599, the play reveals the great dramatist's consummate ability to explore and express the most profound human emotions and instincts. So clearly and urgently does it impact its insights into history and human behavior, Julius Caesar is traditionally among the first of Shakespeare's plays to be studied at the secondary-school level. In addition to its compelling insights into the human condition, Julius Caesar is also superb drama, as Brutus, Cassius, and the other conspirators hatch a plot to overthrow Caesar, dictator of Rome. After Caesar is assassinated, Mark Antony cleverly turns the crowd against the conspirators in one of the most famous speeches in literature. In the civil war that follows, the forces of Mark Antony and Octavius Caesar eventually win out over the armies of Cassius and Brutus. Humiliated and desperate, both conspirators choose to end their lives. These tragic events unfold in a riveting dramatic spectacle that also raises profound questions about power, government, ethics, and loyalty.

In Henry VIII, Shakespeare presents a monarchy in crisis. Noblemen battle with Lord Chancellor Cardinal Wolsey, who taxes the people to the point of rebellion. Witnesses whom Wolsey brings against the Duke of Buckingham claim he is conspiring to take the throne, yet Buckingham seems innocent as he goes to his death. Henry is also without a male heir. After meeting the beautiful Anne Boleyn, he says that he suspects his current marriage to Katherine, with whom he has one surviving daughter, is invalid. Katherine, meanwhile, glows with such splendid integrity that actresses have long desired the role. She advocates for the people, suspects the witnesses against Buckingham, and eloquently defends her conduct as Henry’s wife.

This Norton Critical Edition of Richard III is based on the First Quarto (1597) edition of the play with interpolations from the First Folio (1623). The play is accompanied by a preface, explanatory annotations, A Note on the Text, a list of Textual Variants, and eighteen illustrations of seminal scenes from major dramatic productions and film versions of the play."Contexts" provides readers with the sources and analogues that informed Shakespeare's composition of Richard III.

The Merchant of Venice is classed as one of Shakespeare's comedies, but is more often remembered for its dramatic characters and situations. Though the villain of the piece, the Jewish moneylender Shylock is often the most prominent and well-remembered character of the play. As he can be played and directed either sympathetically or wholly villainous, the play remains a highly contentious piece of theater.

Macbeth is Shakespeare's shortest tragedy and one of his best-known plays. Often referred to as an archetypal tale, it warns against lust for power and the betrayal of friends. Shakespeare based the play loosely on a King Macbeth of Scotland. The play is traditionally considered "cursed", and thus many actors refer to it as "The Scottish Play" to avoid naming it.

The Tempest is thought by many to be Shakespeare's greatest and most perfect play. When the magician Prospero deliberately summons a storm to overcome his enemy King Alonso of Naples ship the passengers are washed ashore on a fantastical island. Prospero manipulates the king, his entourage, apparitions and fiends as he schemes revenge on the hapless Alonso. Prospero's daughter and the King's son Ferdinand fall in love and their fraught lover provides the catalyst for their fathers' reconciliation, contrition and clemency.

Midsummer Night's Dream is Shakespeare's classic tale of two couples who can't quite pair up to everyone's satisfaction. Demetrius and Lysander love Hermia. Hermia loves Lysander but has been promised to Demetrius by her father. Hermia's best friend Helena loves Demetrius, but in his obsession for Hermia Demetrius barely even notices her smitten friend. When Hermia and Lysander plan to elope all four find themselves in the forest late at night where the fairy Puck and his lord...

Dive into the tragedy that many critics regard not only as Shakespeare's finest play, but also as one of the best literary works ever produced. Set in Denmark, Hamlet recounts the events that transpire after the King is murdered by his brother Claudius, who then marries his brother's widow. Prince Hamlet uncovers the true nature of his father's death and feigns madness to create a trap. A must-read for fans of classic literature.

King Lear is considered one of Shakespeare's greatest plays. King Lear decides to step down and divide his kingdom between his three daughters. When his youngest and favorite daughter refuses to compete and perform her love for him, he is enraged and disowns her. She remains loyal to him, however, though he slides into madness and his other children betray him.

Although Shakespeare's play Julius Caesar is named after the legendary Roman political leader, the central character is thought by many to be Marcus Brutus, Caesar's friend turned foe who struggles throughout the play with conflicting obligations of friendship and duty. While Caesar is warned in a prophecy to beware the Ides of March the Roman senators, including Brutus are secretly plotting his assassination, hoping to rid Rome of the threat of a tyrant who they...

Shakespeare's comedy play Much Ado About Nothing pivots around the impediments to love for young betrothed Hero and Claudio when Hero is falsely accused of infidelity and the lover's trap set for the arrogant and assured Benedick who has sworn of marriage and his gentle adversary Beatrice. The merry war between Benedick and Beatrice with the promptings of their friends soon dissolves into farcical love, while Hero's supposed infidelity is shown to be little more...

Antony and Cleopatra is a tragic play by Shakespeare, which tells the ill-fated love story between Antony and Cleopatra and the antagonistic role played by Julius Caesar, future Emperor of Rome. I will tell you. The barge she sat in, like a burnish'd throne, Burn'd on the water: the poop was beaten gold; Purple the sails, and so perfumed that The winds were love-sick with them; the oars were silver, Which to the tune of flutes kept stroke, and made The water which they beat to follow...

As You Like It is truly one of Shakespeare's greatest romantic comedies. The heroine, Rosalind has grown up in the court of her usurping uncle Duke Frederick, her father, the rightful duke, having been exiled by his younger brother. Rosalind falls in love with Orlando, but Orlando is forced to flee when he is persecuted by his older brother Oliver. Soon Rosalind is also banished from the court by her uncle. Switching genders she assumes the identity of Ganymede and with her...

Prince Hamlet (Kenneth Branagh) is traumatized by the revelation that his father was murdered by the present king, Claudius (Derek Jacobi), with the aid of Hamlet's mother, Gertrude (Julie Christie). Hamlet considers a plot for revenge and mistakenly kills Polonius (Richard Briers), the father of his love, Ophelia (Kate Winslet), causing a chain reaction that leads to a climactic and tragic ending.

Domestic strife intrudes upon the atmosphere when one of the duke's subjects, Hermia (Pippa Guard), chooses Lysander (Robert Lindsay) as her future husband over her father Egeus' choice, Demetrius (Nicky Henson). Theseus reminds Hermia of a law requiring her to obey her father or face death or banishment. Hermia and Lysander then escape to the woods. There, tradesmen are rehearsing a play for the duke's wedding. Demetrius, the rejected suitor, searches the woods for Hermia, while another young lady, Helena (Cherith Mellor), follows him, praying that he will bestow his love on her instead of Hermia. Also in the woods are fairies gathered to bless the duke's wedding. Oberon, the fairy king, argues violently with his queen, Titania (Helen Mirren), after she refuses to give him a boy he wants as a servant. In retaliation, Oberon orders a fairy named Puck (Phil Daniels) to concoct a potion of flower juice, which, when squeezed on Titania's eyelids, will enamor her of the first creature she sees - whether animal or man.