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...

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.

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...

Written in 1595, "Richard II" occupies a significant place in the Shakespeare canon. It marks the transition from the earlier history plays dominated by civil war and stark power to a more nuanced representation of the political conflicts of England's past where character and politics are inextricably intertwined. Deftly combining history with tragedy, its tale of bad government and usurpation had great political immediacy for its first audiences...

The second play in Shakespeare's "War of the Roses Tetralogy", this work continues Shakespeare's account of King Henry VI's reign. It commences with the marriage of Henry VI with the French noblewoman Margaret of Anjou, whose influence in court is, challenged by Duke Humphrey, the King's Protector. There is a large amount of aristocratic subversion in this play, in which the good Duke Humphrey is fatally, ensnared. Richard, the Duke of York, emerges...

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.

"There are 83 copies of the First Folio in a vault beneath Capitol Hill, the world's largest collection. Well over 150 Indian movies are based on Shakespeare's plays-more than in any other nation. If current trends continue, there will soon be more high-school students reading The Merchant of Venice in Mandarin Chinese than in early-modern English. Why did this happen-and how? Ranging ambitiously across four continents and 400 years, Worlds Elsewhere...

The first play of Shakespeare's "War of the Roses Tetralogy", which includes "Henry VI, Part 2", "Henry VI, Part 3", and "Richard III", "Henry VI, Part 1" is set during the lifetime of King Henry VI and deals with the loss of England's French territories and the political events that lead to the War of the Roses. The play was, written sometime, before 1591 and is, among some of the Bard's earliest works. "Henry VI, Part 1" was, published in the "First...

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.