William Shakespeare

Presents the text of Shakespeare's drama in which Romeo and Juliet, two teens from opposite sides of feuding families in medieval Verona, spark a tragic chain of events when they fall in love and secretly marry. Includes notes on facing pages, background on Shakespeare's life and times, and commentary.

Presents the full text of Shakespeare's tragedy in which Cassius, fearing Julius Caesar's ambition, forms a conspiracy among Roman republicans including Caesar's trusted friend Brutus to assassinate him on the Ides of March.

The second play in William Shakespeare's tetralogy of plays which also includes "Richard II", "Henry IV, Part 2", and "Henry V", "Henry IV, Part 1" is believed to have been written no later than 1597. A history play, the drama concerns the unquiet reign of Henry Bolingbroke. Following the usurpation of the throne, Henry IV is plagued with guilt over his role in the imprisonment and death of King Richard II. In order to resolve himself of this internal...

Villainy and Treachery-- Richard III tells of the story of how Richard steals the kingdom from his young nephew after the death of his brother Edward. There is much murder and treachery until Richmond leads a revolt against Richard. Now is the winter of our discontent Made glorious summer by this sun of York; And all the clouds that lour'd upon our house In the deep bosom of the ocean buried.

The Rape of Lucrece (1594) is a narrative poem by William Shakespeare about the legendary Roman noblewoman Lucretia. In his previous narrative poem, Venus and Adonis (1593), Shakespeare had included a dedicatory letter to his patron, the Earl of Southampton, in which he promised to compose a "graver labour". Accordingly, The Rape of Lucrece has a serious tone throughout. The poem begins with a prose dedication addressed directly to the Earl of Southampton,...