Description In a French duchy, the old Duke has been usurped by his younger brother, Frederick. A young man named Orlando is mistreated by his elder brother, against their dead father’s wishes. Rosalind, the old Duke’s daughter, has been allowed to remain in court o [...]
Description A storm has caused a terrible shipwreck off the Illyrian coast. Two siblings, Viola and her brother Sebastian, become separated, each believing the other has drowned. Viola washes ashore and meets a friendly sea captain who offers to help her find work f [...]
Description Against the advice of his counselors, Richard II has been taking money from England’s coffers and spending it on fashion and close friends. In order to continue his wasteful spending, he raises taxes on the commoners and leases portions of English land t [...]
Description The authorship of Edward III has been up for debate ever since it was first published in 1596. Its publisher, Cuthbert Burby, published it without listing an author, and any records that might have shed light on the author’s name (or names) were destroye [...]
Description Henry VIII is one of the few of Shakespeare’s plays thought to have been written with a collaborator. It was initially published in the First Folio under Shakespeare’s name only, but in 1850 James Spedding, an English author and expert on the works [...]
Description All’s Well That Ends Well was not popular during Shakespeare’s time, and is still considered to be a play without renown even today. It’s also one of the three “problem plays,” in that it deals with controversial social issues. Although it remains [...]
Description Two close friends, Proteus and Valentine, are saying their goodbyes in the streets of Verona. Valentine plans to travel to Milan and discover the world, but Proteus wants to stay with Julia, a woman he loves. While in Milan, Valintine falls in love [...]
Description Antony and Cleopatra begins two years after Julius Ceasar. Mark Antony was supposed to be in Egypt to conduct government affairs on behalf of the Roman Empire. Instead, he fell in love with the beautiful Queen Cleopatra, became her lover, and abandoned h [...]
Description In the Italian city of Padua, a young gentleman named Lucentio comes to study at one of the city’s colleges. As is often the fate of men in Shakespeare’s plays, Lucentio falls in love at first sight. The object of his affection, Bianca, is the beautiful [...]
Description First published in 1602 by William Shakespeare, The Merry Wives of Windsor features the popular figure Sir John Falstaff, who first appeared in Henry IV, Part 1 and Part 2. Some speculate that Merry Wives was written at the behest of Queen Elizabeth I, w [...]
Description Though mostly known for his plays, Shakespeare also published poetry during his writing career. From 1592 to 1593, an outbreak of the bubonic plague swept through England, killing almost 20,000 people. In January 1593 city officials ordered the theaters [...]
Description Over four hundred years after it was first published, Romeo and Juliet remains one of Shakespeare’s most famous and most frequently performed plays. During the late 1500s many playwrights loved to base their plays off of Italian stories, and Shakes [...]