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...

A comedy of Petruchio's determination to subdue the irascible Katherine and to make her his wife.

This drama is about love and marriage. But the path to marriage in this play is unusually hazardous. ... To win Portia's hand, Bassanio must put his future at risk in an attempt to choose correctly among three caskets or chests of gold, silver, and lead. If he chooses rightly, he wins, in marriage, the beautiful, intelligent, and supremely resourceful Portia and her great wealth. If he chooses wrongly, he must forever abandon Portia and may never...

Background information about Shakespeare, Elizabethan theater, and the text accompany his play about unrequited love and mistaken identity.

The play deals with the issues of mercy, justice, and truth and their relationship to pride and humility.

Othello, a high-ranking Moorish soldier, marries Desdemona, daughter of a Venetian senator who opposes the marriage. Othello wins over her family, but a frustrated ensign, Iago, sabotages his happiness by insinuating that Desdemona is having an affair with Cassio, another officer. Jealousy, racial overtones, confusion, fear, and lies eventually destroy love, honor, friendship, and respect.

Drawing room comedy exposing quirks and foibles of Victorian society with plot revolving around amorous pursuits of two men who face social obstacles when they woo young ladies of quality. This play's noted for its witty lines, its clever situations, and its satire on the British nobility and clergy.

Likely written around 1607 or 1608 and attributed at least in part to Shakespeare, "Pericles, Prince of Tyre" is an adventure-filled play that follows the extended sailing journeys of a young prince. Pericles, a young prince from Phoenicia, is forced to flee Antioch when he correctly guesses a riddle that reveals the incestuous activity of King Antiochus. Unable to stay at home in Tyre because of Antiochus' vengeance, he sails away and ends up shipwrecked...

Romeo and Juliet are young lovers separated by the ancient and enduring hatred between their families. This text includes an essay on the theatrical world of Shakespeare, an introduction to the play, and a note on the text used.

Presents the original text of Shakespeare's play side by side with a modern version, with marginal notes and explanations and full descriptions of each character.