Shakespeare

A Midsummer Night’s Dream is a comedic play by William Shakespeare that was likely first written and performed around 1600. The first certifiably recorded performance took place in 1604. Set in the Greek city-state of Athens, the play centers on an impending marriage. Before the wedding, the characters find themselves in a forest where a group of fairies manipulates and tricks them. A Midsummer Night’s Dream is one of Shakespeare’s most popular and most performed... Read A Midsummer Night's Dream Summary

As You Like It is a pastoral comedy by William Shakespeare. The date of its first performance is unknown, but it is believed to have been written in 1599. As You Like It was first published in 1623 in the First Folio, the first of the posthumously published collections of Shakespeare’s plays.This summary refers to the 2019 Folger Shakespeare Library updated edition. Your edition’s line numbers and spellings may vary slightly.Plot SummaryWhen the play begins... Read As You Like It Summary

Coriolanus is a tragedy by William Shakespeare, likely written around 1607-1608. The play is set in Ancient Rome, much like Shakespeare’s other plays Julius Caesar, Titus Andronicus, and Antony and Cleopatra. Coriolanus dramatizes the life of the legendary Roman soldier Gnaeus Marcius Coriolanus, a patrician who was exiled from the Roman Republic in the 5th century BC after an unsuccessful bid to become consul. Through this narrative, Shakespeare explores themes of the difficulties of controlling... Read Coriolanus Summary

First performed in 1609, Hamlet is a classic play and one of the best known and most influential works of the playwright William Shakespeare (1564-1616). This summary refers to the 2001 Pelican edition of the play.Plot SummaryOn a dark night, sentinels see a ghost stalking the battlements of Elsinore Castle, the royal seat of Denmark. It is the dead king, who has returned to tell his son Hamlet to avenge him. He was murdered by... Read Hamlet Summary

The Tragedy of Julius Caesar is a history play and tragedy written by William Shakespeare and first performed in 1599. The play dramatizes the events surrounding the 44 BC assassination of Julius Caesar, a Roman general and statesman. Shakespeare’s main source material for the play was Plutarch’s Lives, a series of biographies of famous men, published in the second century, and translated into English by Thomas North in 1579. Shakespeare sometimes deviated from his source... Read Julius Caesar Summary

King Lear is a play written around 1606 by the English playwright William Shakespeare. Widely considered one of Shakespeare’s greatest tragedies, King Lear tells the story of a king who goes mad after bequeathing his fortune and power to his daughters. It is loosely based on the myth of Leir of Britain, a legendary monarch said to have ruled Ancient Britons in the eighth century B.C.This guide refers to the 1999 Pelican Shakespeare edition. Please... Read King Lear Summary

Macbeth is one of William Shakespeare’s most celebrated plays. Classified as a tragedy and thought to be performed for the first time in 1606, it tells the story of a Scottish nobleman who becomes obsessed with power and is driven mad by guilt.Plot SummaryThe play opens with three witches, who make plans to meet again. In a military camp, King Duncan of Scotland hears the news of his generals’ success. Macbeth and Banquo have defeated... Read Macbeth Summary

Much Ado About Nothing, a comedy dating from the mid-career period of William Shakespeare was probably written just prior to 1600. The play has the trappings of a theatrical farce with its use of assumptions and misunderstandings. Main characters Benedick and Beatrice are duped into announcing their love for each other while Claudio is fooled into spurning Hero at the altar when he mistakenly believes that she has not been faithful to him. The theme of lovers being tricked... Read Much Ado About Nothing Summary

William Shakespeare’s Othello is a tragedy written in approximately 1603 and published in 1622. The play begins in Venice, where Iago, a subordinate of Othello’s and a captain in the Venetian defense forces, tells Roderigo that Othello has passed him over for promotion. Instead, Othello, a Moor, has chosen the noble and popular Michael Cassio to be his lieutenant. Iago tells Roderigo that he will have his revenge on Othello but behave as a loyal... Read Othello Summary

The Tragedy of King Richard II is a play by William Shakespeare. It was probably first performed in 1595, and published in 1597. The play covers the last two years of Richard II’s life, from 1398 to 1400, during which he was deposed by Henry Bolingbroke, who became Henry IV in 1399. The play explores Richard’s growing unpopularity and ineffective leadership, leading to his overthrow by Bolingbroke, who not only has a taste for power... Read Richard II Summary

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William Shakespeare is the author of “Sonnet 130.” The sonnet is one of 154 sonnets that Shakespeare published in 1609 under the title Shakes-spears Sonnets. The first 126 sonnets address a young man, while Sonnets 127-152 focus on a mysterious woman. As with “Sonnet 130,” the sonnets about the enigmatic woman concern ideas of love and beauty and directly undercut typical representations of both. Thus, “Sonnet 130” is satire; it makes fun of how adored... Read Sonnet 130 Summary

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“Sonnet 55” (1609) is an English love sonnet by renowned poet William Shakespeare (1564-1616). The sonnet is part of Shakespeare’s Fair Youth sonnet sequence, which makes up the first 126 of his sonnets. This sonnet follows a number of the Fair Youth sonnets in the way it praises the fair youth’s beauty and claims his beauty is eternal. In this sonnet specifically, Shakespeare claims that the subject’s beauty will outlive all monuments of princes and... Read Sonnet 55 Summary

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The Merchant of Venice is a play written in the 1590s by the English playwright William Shakespeare. It concerns a Jewish moneylender in Venice named Shylock who is determined to extract a pound of flesh from a merchant who fails to pay a debt on time. The play remains controversial due to the anti-Semitic stereotypes it perpetuated in its time and for centuries thereafter. Despite this, the play continues to be read and performed frequently... Read The Merchant of Venice Summary

The Taming of the Shrew is one of William Shakespeare’s earliest comedies, probably first performed around 1593. While the play’s depiction of women is the subject of much debate among modern readers and scholars, its popularity endures, and the play continues to be reproduced in various mediums. Notable adaptations include the 1967 film starring Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton, and the 1999 romantic comedy 10 Things I Hate About You.This guide refers to the 2014... Read The Taming of the Shrew Summary

One of the most popular plays by William Shakespeare, The Tempest tells the comic tale of Prospero, the overthrown duke of Milan, who maroons his betrayers on a magical island. There, he creates spells and enchantments that toy with the evildoers until they promise to return him to his throne. The production, first staged in London in 1611, provides spectacle, elaborate effects, screwball comedy, intrigue, and romance in a story about ambition, revenge, remorse, love... Read The Tempest Summary

The Winter’s Tale is a late romance play in five acts by William Shakespeare. Originally published in the First Folio of 1623 but debuted onstage circa 1611, the play follows a man’s reckless jealousy as it destroys his family and his own conscience. Shakespeare’s play is based on the romance Pandosto: The Triumph of Time by the Elizabethan author Robert Greene published in 1588, with Shakespeare taking a more lighthearted approach to Greene’s story toward... Read The Winter's Tale Summary

Exploring themes of love, gender, and identity, William Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night, or What You Will was first performed in England in 1602 and first published in 1623 after Shakespeare’s death. Twelfth Night takes its title from the twelfth night of Christmas, a raucous holiday marked with feasting and entertainment. The subtitle What You Will refers to freedom or a lack of restriction. This guide refers to the Folger Shakespeare Library edition of the text. Plot Summary The... Read Twelfth Night Summary

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