William Shakespeare
41) Richard II
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Classic Books Library presents this new beautiful edition of William Shakespeare's play, "Richard II". This edition features a specially commissioned new biography of William Shakespeare. The play is the first in Shakespeare's tetralogy chronicling the successive reigns of Richard II, Henry IV and Henry V, and covers the battle for power between King Richard and Henry Bolingbroke (who would eventually be Henry IV). Embezzlement, exile and an uprising...
42) Titus Andronicus
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"The authoritative edition of Titus Andronicus from The Folger Shakespeare Library, the trusted and widely used Shakespeare series for students and general readers. Titus Andronicus is the earliest tragedy and the earliest Roman play attributed to Shakespeare. Titus, a model Roman, has led twenty-one of his twenty-five sons to death in Rome's wars; he stabs another son to death for what he views as disloyalty to Rome. Yet Rome has become a wilderness...
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Folger Shakespeare Library is the world's leading center for Shakespeare studies. Each edition includes: freshly edited text based on the best early printed version of the play; full explanatory notes conveniently placed on pages facing the text of the play; scene-by-scene plot summaries; a key to famous lines and phrases; an introduction to reading Shakespeare's language; an essay by an outstanding scholar providing a modern perspective on the play;...
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The Oxford Shakespeare brings the modern reader closer to Shakespeare's plays as originally performed than has ever before been possible. Based on eight years of full-time research by a team of distinguished British and American scholars, this monumental volume offers many remarkable innovations, including a new chronological order, revised stage directions, two full versions of King Lear--as originally written and as revised later for performance--and...
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Although one of his lesser known plays, Shakespeare's considerable abilities as a playwright are readily apparent in "Troilus and Cressida." This historical and tragic 'problem play', thought to be inspired by Chaucer, Homer, and some of Shakespeare's history-recording contemporaries, is initially a tale of a man and woman in love during the Trojan War. When Cressida is given to the Greeks in exchange for a prisoner of war, Troilus is determined to...
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The Life and Death of King John, one of William Shakespeare's historical plays, delves into the tumultuous reign of one of England's most controversial monarchs.
This gripping drama, often overshadowed by Shakespeare's more famous works, offers a vivid portrayal of the struggle for power and the complexities of royal politics in the 13th century. Shakespeare examines King John's conflict with France, his turbulent relationship with the Church,...
48) Henry IV
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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.
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Believed to have been written in 1603, Shakespeare's Othello is a tragedy that puts the playwright's prodigious creative gifts on full display. Based loosely on a Renaissance-era Italian tale, Othello follows the stormy relationship of the Moorish general Othello and his lovely wife Desdemona. Addressing timeless themes of love and betrayal, as well as surprisingly contemporary concepts such as race-based stereotypes, Othello
...50) Henry VI, part 3
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The third play of Shakespeare's "War of the Roses Tetralogy", this "Part III" is widely regarded as the best of the three works on Henry VI. The Bard's skill in producing scenes of moving drama is readily apparent, for Queen Margaret journeys to France in search of military aid, after King Henry brokers a deal with his enemy Richard, Duke of York, for physical protection. Many bloody and heart-rending battles take place in this play as the War of...
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While King Henry IV rightly laments that his heir, the young Prince Hal, has not distinguished himself in battle, Hal is up to no good at the Boar's Head Tavern with his rotund cohort, Falstaff. With a rebellion rising against the throne at home, Hal lives it up in the ale houses of London, associating with petty schemers and masterminding practical jokes instead of military strategies. When his father sends a messenger to fetch his delinquent son,...
52) Henry VI, part 1
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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...
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30-Minute Shakespeare plays three action-packed scenes from this tale of King Navarre and his three lords, who have vowed to retire from women for three years. Naturally, the Princess of France and her three ladies arrive, and comedic courtship ensues. The cutting includes the ridiculous dance of the lords disguised as Russians, the hysterical "Pageant of the Nine Worthies," and a dramatic, bittersweet ending that leaves the King and the three lords...
55) Henry VI, part 2
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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...
56) Henry IV, part 2
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The classic play about an aging king who leans on war hero Sir John Falstaff rather than his unreliable son and heir when rebels threaten the crown is accompanied by explanatory notes and illustrations.