One of the most magical and uplifting of Shakespeare's plays, A Midsummer Night's Dream is a celebration of love and all its joys. Escaping the Athenian court to marry, Hermia and Lysander take refuge in a nearby wood. There, too, are Helena and Demetrius and Oberon and Titania, the king and queen of the fairies. Oberon orchestrates a series of mischievous and magical tricks by which love is transformed, misplaced, deceived, revealed and, finally, restored.
"Hath not a Jew eyes? Hath not a Jew hands, organs, dimensions, senses, affections, passions?" Shylock's impassioned plea in the middle of The Merchant of Venice is one of its most dramatic moments. After the Holocaust, the play has become a battleground for those who argue that the play represents Shakespeare's ultimate statement against ignorance and anti-Semitism in favour of a liberal vision of tolerance and multiculturalism. Other critics have pointed out that the play is, after all, a comedy that ultimately pokes fun at a 16th-century Jew. In fact, the bare outline of the plot suggests that the play is far more complex than either of these characterisations. Bassanio, a feckless young Venetian, asks his wealthy friend, the merchant Antonio, for money to finance a trip to woo the beautiful Portia in Belmont. Reluctant to refuse his friend (to whom he professes intense love), Antonio borrows the money from the Jewish moneylender. If he reneges on the deal, Shylock jokingly demands a pound of his flesh. When all Antonio's ships are lost at sea, Shylock calls in his debt, and the love and laughter of the first scenes of the play threaten to give way to death and tragedy. The final climactic courtroom scene, complete with a cross-dressed Portia, a knife-wielding Shylock, and the debate on "the quality of mercy" is one of the great dramatic moments in Shakespeare. The controversial subject matter of the play ensures that it continues to repel, divide but also fascinate its many audiences.
One of the later plays, King Lear is such a powerful depicition of suffering and redemption it is now thought by many to be Shakespeare''s greatest creation. When King Lear abdicates his throne and divides his kingdom between his three daughters, he offends both the law of family and law of kingship. Spiritually blind and on the brink of madness he begins to recognize the faults that lie within his soul and as the drama reaches its cathartic conclusion, to make amends for them. The New Penguin Shakespeare offers a complete edition of the plays and poems. Each volume has been newly prepared from the original texts and includes an introduction, a list of further reading, a full and helpful commentary, and a short account of the textual problems of the play.
Julio César es una obra trágica escrita por William Shakespeare, probablemente en 1599. Recrea la conspiración en contra del dictador romano, su homicidio y sus secuelas, así como su lugar de desarrollo: la antigua Roma. Constituye uno de los varios trabajos shakespearianos basados en hechos historicos.A diferencia de muchos personajes principales en otras obras del genero, Cesar no es el centro de la accion, apareciendo tan solo en tres escenas, y muriendo al comienzo del tercer acto. La figura mas relevante de la historia es Bruto, y la trama gira en torno a la lucha psicologica entre las demandas en conflicto sobre el honor, el patriotismo y la amistad.
