Considered one of Shakespeare's most haunting tragic-comedies, The Winter's Tale is an in-depth analysis of the psychology of family and friendship, jealousy and love, art and nature, all illustrated in rich poetry. Based on Robert Greene's story Pandosto, the play tells the story of Leontes, king of Sicilia, and his childhood friend, Polixenes, king of Bohemia. In a jealous rage, Leontes mistakenly accuses Polixenes and his own his wife, Hermione, of adultery and her newborn daughter as illegitimate, casting her into the wilderness, causing their son to die of grief and Hermione to seemingly follow suit. With his family dead or believed dead, Leontes must face the tragic consequences of his actions. With unbridled honesty and the pain of love, the final act is one of Shakespeare's most moving reconciliation scenes.

HarperCollins is proud to present its incredible range of best-loved, essential classics. Power, corruption and betrayal are at the heart of Shakespeare's most well-known historical and political drama. As Julius Caesar moves closer to securing power for himself and is perceived by some as a threat to Roman citizens, his senators plot to bring about his downfall. Caesar's assassination leads to civil war rather than peace and the play explores the subsequent deaths of the conspirators Brutus and Cassius. Shakespeare's contemporaries would have spotted the playwright's attempts to use the shift from republican to imperial Rome to highlight the political situation of the Elizabethans at the time. Featuring some of the most powerfully resonant and rousing speeches of any of Shakespeare's plays, Julius Caesar remains one of his most well-loved historical tragedies.

HarperCollins is proud to present its incredible range of best-loved, essential classics. Hugely ambitious in its historical focus and vast geographical scope, Antony and Cleopatra is one of Shakespeare's most astonishing tragedies. The drama centres on the relationships between his main protagonists, Octavius Ceasar, Mark Antony and Cleopatra and the highly charged affair between Mark Antony and the Egyptian queen that forms the backdrop to the pervading theme of struggle between East and West throughout the play. The internal battle of personal emotion and duty that Antony experiences, and the dynamics of power and sexuality portrayed by Cleopatra give the play its dramatic tension. Rich and complex in its language and poetic in tone, Shakespeare shows how the politics of Rome ultimately cause disaster for a man who is torn between reason and passion.

King Lear is old but not wise. He loves the two daughters who secretly hate him. He hates the only daughter who really loves him. In time, he discovers his mistake. Has he learnt his lesson? Or will his proud and angry nature bring him even more sadness and pain?

William Shakespeare: Complete Plays collects all thirty-seven of the immortal Bard's comedies, tragedies and historical plays. In this volume all of Shakespeare's memorable characters — star-crossed lovers, majestic monarchs, wise fools, lovable rogues, treacherous villains, conflicted heroes, cagey heroines and creatures magical and mythic — strut and fret their hour upon the stage. These characters and the roles they play, have influenced virtually all literature written since. For readers who appreciate the emotional power of the written word, the heights of humour and the depths of drama that can be encompassed by a single type of literature, William Shakespeare: Complete Plays is an indispensable collection of timeless masterpieces.

Oxford School Shakespeare is an acclaimed edition especially designed for students, with accessible on-page notes and explanatory illustrations, clear background information, and rigorous but accessible scholarly credentials. The Taming of the Shrew is a popular text for study by secondary students the world over. This edition includes illustrations, preliminary notes, reading lists and classroom notes.

In The Taming of the Shrew, Katharina learns to love Petruchio only after she has learnt to be an obedient wife. Romeo and Juliet’s love is destined to end in tragedy. In Twelfth Night, love is romantic but also painful, while in Othello love turns into jealousy. And in the final story, Antony and Cleopatra’s passionate love has tragic consequences.

A power-hungry Richard III, a remorseful Macbeth, a revengeful Prince Hamlet, a powerful Julius Caesar, and a ruthless and ambitious King Henry V: various aspects of power and ambition feature in these five stories based on plays by William Shakespeare.

After a long civil war between the Houses of Lancaster and York, England is enjoying a period of peace under King Edward IV. But Edward’s younger brother, Richard, resents Edward’s power, Richard begins to aspire secretly to the throne and decides to kill anyone he has to in order to become king.

Romeo and Juliet is one of the most famous love stories in the world. But it is more than a great love story. It is also about life and death, happiness and sadness, and the terrible hate between two great families. Shakespeare's beautiful tale is still as popular today as it was more than 400 years ago.

'Hail, Macbeth, who will be king one day'. On a cold Scottish heath, three witches make a prophecy. Inspired by their words and encouraged by his evil wife, Macbeth begins his trail of destruction to gain and keep the Scottish throne.

Since the late twentieth century, when scholarly attention began to focus on sexuality, collaboration and Shakespeare's late plays, The Two Noble Kinsmen has become an essential script. Turner and Tatspaugh's edition presents a strong case for taking the play more seriously now than ever before. A lively introduction discusses Shakespeare's craftsmanship in adapting a medieval tale for the Jacobean stage, the extent of co-authorship with John Fletcher, the rhetorical complexity of Shakespeare's late style, the themes of sexuality and friendship, and contemporary critical responses to the play. In addition to presenting a detailed history of performance, the edition calls attention to productions that have demonstrated the play's theatrical vitality and solved — or failed to solve — difficulties inherent in the text. Bringing the textual history completely up to date, the edition reflects renewed interest in The Two Noble Kinsmen, confirming it as a play for today.

Dès ses premières représentations à la fin du XVIe siècle, la pièce de Shakespeare connaît un succès considérable. Le dramaturge anglais donne à l'histoire tragique des deux amants de Vérone une dimension mythique. L'édition Classico propose la traduction de J.-M. Déprats, publiée en 2002, et qui est aujourd'hui considérée comme la traduction de référence. Dans le volume de l'édition, de nombreux éclairages sur les adaptations musicales et cinématographiques de l'œuvre (Histoire des arts). Groupements de textes de l'édition: Passions mortelles, Le poids de la fatalité.

Lovely Bianca has a queue of admirers anxious to marry her. But her older sister, Katharina, must get married first. Katharina has such a fiery temper she is known as 'the shrew', and no man is brave enough to propose. Can Petruchio tame her with his outrageous behaviour? With Notes on Shakespeare and the Globe Theatre and Love and Marriage in The Taming of the Shrew.

Учебное издание популярнейшей трагедии У. Шекспира предназначено для учащихся старших классов гимназий с углубленным изучением английского языка, студентов-филологов, а также для широкого круга читателей, владеющих английским языком. Издание снабжено постраничными сносками и подробным комментарием, иллюстрациями, списком произношения имен собственных. Текст печатается по оксфордскому изданию 1914 года.

King Lear is old but not wise. He loves the two daughters who secretly hate him. He hates the only daughter who really loves him. In time, he discovers his mistake. Has he learnt his lesson? Or will his proud and angry nature bring him even more sadness and pain?

This is a wonderful collection of six retellings of William Shakespeare's best-loved plays — a perfect mix of comedy, tragedy, magic and romance, retold for younger readers. It is full of colourful illustrations from the Usborne Young Reading Programme. It contains the plays: A Midummer Night's Dream, Hamlet, Macbeth, Romeo and Juliet, The Tempest, and Twelfth Night. It also includes a section at the back on the life and times of Shakespeare.

This is an attractive genuine bonded leather edition, with gilt-edged pages and gold ribbon marker that will make an elegant addition to any home library. This is a beautiful collection of Shakespeare's works that will be treasured forever; a wonderful gift idea. William Shakespeare is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. His plays remain highly popular today and are constantly studied, performed and reinterpreted in diverse cultural and political contexts throughout the world.