William Shakespeare

Believed to have been written in 1599, William Shakespeare's "Henry V" forms the final installment of a tetralogy of plays, which includes "Richard II", "Henry IV, Part I", and "Henry IV, Part II". The play focuses on the events surrounding the Battle of Agincourt during the Hundred Years' War. Henry, who is introduced in the earlier plays as a wild and undisciplined youth, has now come of age and ascended to the thrown following the death of his...

The Tempest is a comedy that was written by William Shakespeare. The action centers around a sorcerer named Prospero, who is the rightful Duke of Milan, as he plans to restore his daughter's place in society through manipulation. Though The Tempest was listed as a comedy in Shakespeare's First Folio it is now often considered to be a tragicomedy. Twelfth Night by William Shakespeare is a delightful comic love story. The play begins with a shipwreck,...

Measure for Measure - William Shakespeare - Measure for Measure is a play by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written in 1603 or 1604. Originally published in the First Folio of 1623, where it was listed as a comedy, the play's first recorded performance occurred in 1604. The play's main themes include justice, "mortality and mercy in Vienna," and the dichotomy between corruption and purity: "some rise by sin, and some by virtue fall." Mercy...

Presents Shakespeare's drama about a man who kills the king of Scotland in order to claim the throne for himself, and includes explanatory notes, plot summaries, a key to notable lines and phrases, and other reference information.

All's Well That Ends Well (1607) is a comedy by William Shakespeare. All's Well That Ends Well was likely inspired by the tale of Giletta di Narbona from Boccaccio's Decameron. Unpopular during Shakespeare's lifetime, the play remains one of his least staged works to this day. Despite this, scholars praise All's Well That Ends Well for its moral ambiguity. "The web of our life is of a mingled yarn, good and ill together, our virtues would be proud...

This Dover edition contains the unabridged text of Twelfth night as published in volume VI of The Caxton edition of the complete works of William Shakespeare, London, n.d., plus literary analysis and perspectives from MAXnotes for Twelfth Night, published in 1996 by Research & Education Association, Piscataway, New Jersey.

Presents Shakespeare's tragicomedy that focuses on King Leontes, who accuses his boyhood friend of betrayal, condemns his wife for adultery, and banishes his newborn daughter, along with scene-by-scene analysis, commentary on past and current productions, and an overview of Shakespeare's theatrical career.

"While the word "gentlemen" suggests that its heroes are adults, The Two Gentlemen of Verona is more intelligible if we think of them as boys, leaving home for the first time. One has a crush on a girl, Julia, though he hasn't yet told her. Sent to court to learn to be "perfect gentlemen," Valentine and Proteus are derailed by their attraction to Sylvia, the ruler's daughter. Valentine's mental denseness does not deter Sylvia from returning his love,...

The most famous of all of Shakespeare's plays, Hamlet tells the story of the ghost of the King of Denmark who tells his son Hamlet, to avenge his murder by killing the new king, Hamlet's uncle. Hamlet pretends to be affected by madness, contemplates life and death, and seeks revenge. His uncle, fearing for his life, also devises plots to kill Hamlet.