William Shakespeare

"For this updated critical edition of Romeo and Juliet, Hester Lees-Jeffries has written a completely new Introduction. It draws on recent research in theatre to set Romeo and Juliet in its mid-1590s context,making connections with other plays by Shakespeare and other literature of the period, as well as with the social and cultural contexts of the day, with discussions of London and Italy; dancing and duelling; marriage, gender and sexuality. It...

One of Shakespeare's finest works is available in a new edition, based on the best early printed version of the play. This new edition of Othello reflects the latest scholarship and includes information on Shakespeare's life, explanatory notes, and a Modern Perspective section. Illustrated.

"Measure for Measure," while listed among William Shakespeare's comedies, is doubtless among the darkest of his lighter works and remains one of the Bard's most popular plays. When the Duke of Vienna decides to go undercover in his own city, he leaves Angelo, his deputy, in charge and disguises himself as a monk to see how things progress in his absence. Angelo, who purports to be a man of honor and a stickler for the rules, arrests young Claudio...

This play is set in the quiet town of Messina in Sicily, where two pairs of lovers, Benedick and Beatrice, and Claudio and Hero, meet at the house of Leonato, Hero's father and Beatrice's uncle. Benedick and Beatrice engage in a war of witty exchanges, while Claudio and Hero pledge their love for each other and decide to get married. However, in an unexpected turn of events, Hero and Claudio are estranged and Benedick and Beatrice confess their love....

Shakespeare's classic comedy depicting the romantic struggles of Rosalind and Orlando is accompanied by scene-by-scene analysis, text, plot, characters, and staging of the play

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.

Presents the original text of Shakespeare's play side by side with a modern version, discusses the author and the theater of his time, and provides quizzes and other study activities.

This edition of Othello has a new, illustrated introduction by leading American scholar Ayanna Thompson, which addresses such key issues as race, religion and gender, as well as looking at ways in which the play has been adapted in more recent times. Othello is one of Shakespeare's great tragedies-written in the same five-year period as Hamlet, King Lear, and Macbeth. The new introduction attends to the play's different meanings throughout history,...

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...

Romeo and Juliet is a tragedy written by William Shakespeare early in his career about two young star-crossed lovers whose deaths ultimately reconcile their feuding families. It was among Shakespeare's most popular plays during his lifetime and along with Hamlet, is one of his most frequently performed plays.