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Midsummer Night's Dream

A Midsummer Night's Dream is a romantic comedy by William Shakespeare, suggested by "The Knight's Tale" from Geoffrey Chaucer's The Canterbury Tales, written around 1594 to 1596. It portrays the adventures of four young Athenian lovers and a group of amateur actors, their interactions with the Duke and Duchess of Athens, Theseus and Hippolyta, and with the fairies who inhabit a moonlit forest. The play is one of Shakespeare's most popular works for the stage and is widely performed across the world.

Synopsis

The play features three interlocking plots, connected by a celebration of the wedding of Duke Theseus of Athens and the Amazonian queen Hippolyta, and set simultaneously in the woodland, and in the realm of Fairyland, under the light of the moon.[2]
In the opening scene, Hermia refuses to follow her father, Egeus's, instructions for her to marry his chosen man, Demetrius. In response, Egeus quotes before Theseus an ancient Athenian law whereby a daughter must marry the suitor chosen by her father, or else face death. Theseus does not want this young girl to die, and offers her another choice, lifelong chastity worshipping Diana as a nun. (The word 'nun' in this sense is an anachronism.)
Hermia and her lover Lysander decide to elope by escaping through the forest at night. Hermia informs her best friend Helena, but Helena has recently been rejected by Demetrius and decides to win back his favour by revealing the plan to him. Demetrius, followed doggedly by Helena, chases Hermia. Hermia and Lysander, believing themselves safely out of reach, sleep in the woods.

Study for The Quarrel of Oberon and Titania by Joseph Noel Paton
Meanwhile, Oberon, king of the fairies, and his queen, Titania, arrive in the forest outside Athens. Titania tells Oberon that she plans to stay there until after she has attended Theseus and Hippolyta's wedding. Oberon and Titania are estranged because Titania refuses to give her Indian changeling to Oberon for use as his "knight" or "henchman," since the child's mother was one of Titania's worshippers. Oberon seeks to punish Titania's disobedience and recruits the mischievous Puck (also called Hobgoblin and Robin Goodfellow) to help him apply a magical juice from a flower called "love-in-idleness" (a.k.a. pansy), which makes the victim fall in love with the first living thing seen upon awakening. He instructs Puck to retrieve the flower so that he can make Titania fall in love with some vile creature of the forest. Oberon applies the juice to Titania in order to distract her and force her to give up the page-boy.
Having seen Demetrius act cruelly toward Helena, Oberon orders Puck to spread some of the elixir on the eyelids of the young Athenian man. Instead, Puck accidentally puts the juice on the eyes of Lysander, who then falls in love with Helena. Oberon sees Demetrius still following Hermia and is enraged. When Demetrius decides to go to sleep, Oberon sends Puck to get Helena while he charms Demetrius' eyes. Due to Puck's errors, both lovers now fight over Helena instead of Hermia. Helena, however, is convinced that her two suitors are mocking her, as neither loved her originally. The four pursue and quarrel with each other most of the night, until they become so enraged that they seek a place to duel each other to the death to settle the quarrel. Oberon orders Puck to keep the lovers from catching up with one another in the forest and to re-charm Lysander for Hermia, to prevent them all from killing each other.
Meanwhile, a band of lower-class labourers ("rude mechanicals", as they are famously described by Puck) have arranged to perform a crude play about Pyramus and Thisbe for Theseus' wedding, and venture into the forest, near Titania's bower, for their rehearsal. Nick Bottom, a stage-struck weaver, is spotted by Puck, who transforms his head into that of an ass (donkey). Titania is awakened by Bottom's singing and immediately falls in love with him. She treats him like a nobleman and lavishes him with attention. While in this state of devotion, she encounters Oberon and casually gives him the Indian boy. Having achieved his goals, Oberon releases Titania and orders Puck to remove the ass's head from Bottom. The magical enchantment is removed from Lysander but is allowed to remain on Demetrius, so that he may reciprocate Helena's love.

The fairies then disappear, and Theseus and Hippolyta arrive on the scene, during an early morning hunt. They wake the lovers and, since Demetrius doesn't love Hermia anymore, Theseus over-rules Egeus's demands and arranges a group wedding. The lovers decide that the night's events must have been a dream. After they all exit, Bottom awakes, and he too decides that he must have experienced a dream "past the wit of man." In Athens, Theseus, Hippolyta and the lovers watch the mechanicals perform "Pyramus and Thisbe." It is ridiculous and badly performed but gives everyone pleasure regardless, and afterward everyone retires to bed. Finally, as night falls, Oberon and Titania bless the house, its occupants, and the future children of the newlyweds, and Puck delivers a soliloquy to the audience.

Characters
The men and women in the play of high social class:
Lysander, beloved of Hermia
Hermia, beloved of Lysander, engaged to Demetrius
Helena, in love with Demetrius
Demetrius, in love with Hermia but then falls in love with Helena later on. Engaged to Hermia
Egeus, father of Hermia, wants to force Hermia to wed Demetrius
Theseus, Duke of Athens, good friend of Egeus
Hippolyta, Queen of the Amazons and betrothed of Theseus
The lower-class citizens in the play:
Philostrate, Master of the Revels for Theseus
The acting troupe (otherwise known as The Mechanicals):
Peter Quince, carpenter, who leads the troupe
Nick Bottom, weaver; he plays Pyramus in the troupe's production of "Pyramus and Thisbe," and gets a donkey head put on him by Puck so that Titania will magically fall in love with a monster.
Francis Flute, the bellows-mender who plays Thisbe.
Robin Starveling, the tailor who plays Moonshine.
Tom Snout, the tinker who plays the wall.
Snug, the joiner who plays the lion.
The supernatural characters:
Puck, a.k.a. Hobgoblin or Robin Goodfellow; a faun, servant to Oberon
Oberon, King of Fairies
Titania, Queen of Fairies
Titania's fairy servants (her "train"):
First Fairy
Peaseblossom, fairy
Cobweb, fairy
Moth (sometimes rendered as 'Mote'), fairy
Mustardseed, fairy

Romeo and Juliet

Romeo and Juliet is a tragic play written early in the career of William Shakespeare about two teenage "star-cross'd lovers"[1] whose untimely deaths ultimately unite their feuding households. It was among Shakespeare's most popular plays during his lifetime and, along with Hamlet, is one of his most frequently performed plays. Today, the title characters are regarded as archetypal "young lovers".Romeo and Juliet belongs to a tradition of tragic romances stretching back to Ancient Greece. Its plot is based on an Italian tale, translated into verse as The Tragical History of Romeus and Juliet by Arthur Brooke in 1562, and retold in prose in Palace of Pleasure by William Painter in 1582. Shakespeare borrowed heavily from both, but developed minor characters, particularly Mercutio and Paris, in order to expand the plot. Believed to be written between 1591 and 1595, the play was first published in a quarto version in 1597. This text was of poor quality, and later editions corrected it, bringing it more in line with Shakespeare's original text.Shakespeare's use of dramatic structure, especially such effects as switching between comedy and tragedy to heighten tension, his expansion of minor characters, and his use of subplots to embellish the story, has been praised as an early sign of his dramatic skill. The play ascribes different poetic forms to different characters, sometimes changing the form as the character develops. Romeo, for example, grows more adept at the sonnet form over the course of the play.Romeo and Juliet has been adapted numerous times for stage, film, musical and opera. During the Restoration, it was revived and heavily revised by William Davenant. David Garrick's 18th-century version also modified several scenes, removing material then considered indecent, and Georg Benda's operatic adaptation omitted much of the action and added a happy ending. Performances in the 19th century, including Charlotte Cushman's, restored the original text, and focused on greater realism. John Gielgud's 1935 version kept very close to Shakespeare's text, and used Elizabethan costumes and staging to enhance the drama. In the 20th century the play has been adapted for screen and musical theatre in versions as diverse as West Side Story and Baz Luhrmann's Romeo + Juliet
Characters Main article: Characters in Romeo and JulietRuling house of VeronaPrince Escalus: Prince of VeronaCount Paris: Kinsman of Prince Escalus; desires to marry Juliet.Mercutio: Another kinsman of Prince Escalus; a friend of Romeo.CapuletsLord Capulet: Patriarch of the house of Capulet.Lady Capulet: Matriarch of the house of Capulet.Juliet: Daughter of the Capulets; the female protagonist.Tybalt: Cousin of Juliet, nephew of Lady Capulet.Capulet ServantsNurse: Juliet's personal attendant and confidante.Peter: Capulet servant, assistant to the nurse.Samson and Gregory: Capulet servants.MontaguesLord Montague: Patriarch of the house of Montague.Lady Montague: Matriarch of the house of Montague.Romeo: Son of the Montagues; the male protagonist.Benvolio: Cousin and friend of Romeo.Montague ServantsAbram (or Abraham[2]) and Balthasar: Montague servants.OthersFriar Lawrence: a Franciscan friar and Romeo's confidant.Chorus, who gives the opening prologue and one other speech.Friar John: Another friar who is sent to deliver Friar Lawrence's letter to Romeo.Apothecary: Druggist who reluctantly sells Romeo poison.Rosaline: unseen character with whom Romeo is in love before meeting Juliet.Synopsis
"Two Households, both alike in dignity ..."L’ultimo bacio dato a Giulietta da Romeo by Francesco Hayez. Oil on canvas, 1823.The play begins with a street brawl between Montagues and Capulets. The Prince of Verona, intervenes and declares that the heads of the families will be held accountable for any further breach of the peace. Meanwhile, Count Paris talks to Lord Capulet about marrying his daughter, but Capulet is wary of the suit because Juliet is still too young. Capulet asks Paris to wait another two years and invites him to attend a planned Capulet ball. Lady Capulet tries to persuade her daughter to accept Paris' courtship. In this scene Juliet's nurse is introduced as a talkative and humorous character, who raised Juliet from infancy. After the brawl, Benvolio talks with his cousin Romeo, Lord Montague's son, over Romeo's recent depression. Benvolio discovers that it stems from unrequited love for a girl named Rosaline, one of Lord Capulet's nieces. Persuaded by Benvolio and Mercutio, Romeo attends the ball at the Capulet house in hopes of meeting Rosaline. Romeo and Juliet fall in love, not knowing that they are on opposite sides of the feuding families. After the ball, Romeo sneaks into the Capulet courtyard and overhears Juliet vowing her love to him in spite of her family's hatred of the Montagues. Romeo makes himself known to her and they agree to be married.With the help of Friar Lawrence, who hopes to reconcile the two families through their children's union, they are married secretly the next day. Juliet's cousin Tybalt, however, is offended that Romeo snuck into a Capulet ball and challenges him to a duel. Romeo, considering Tybalt a kinsman to his wife, refuses to fight him. Mercutio is incensed by Tybalt's insolence, as well as Romeo's "vile submission", and accepts the duel on Romeo's behalf. Mercutio is fatally wounded and Romeo, angered by his friend's death, pursues and slays Tybalt. The Prince exiles Romeo from Verona for the killing. Lord Capulet, misinterpreting Juliet's grief, agrees to marry her to Count Paris and threatens to disown her when she refuses to become Paris's "joyful bride". Her mother coldly walks away from her when she pleads for her to delay it for even a month.Juliet visits Friar Lawrence for help, and he offers her a drug which will put her into a death-like coma for "two and forty hours".[4] She takes it and, when discovered apparently dead, she is laid in the family crypt. While she is sleeping the Friar sends a messenger to inform Romeo of the plan, so that he can rejoin her when she awakens.The messenger, however, does not reach Romeo and he learns of Juliet's apparent death from his servant Balthasar. Grief-stricken, Romeo buys poison from an apothecary, goes to the Capulet crypt. He encounters Paris who has come to mourn Juliet privately. Paris confronts Romeo believing him to be a vandal, and in the ensuing battle Romeo kills Paris. Still believing Juliet to be dead, he drinks the poison. Juliet then awakens and, finding Romeo dead, stabs herself with her lover's dagger. The feuding families and the Prince meet at the tomb to find all three dead. Friar Lawrence recounts the story of the two "star-cross'd lovers" and Montague reveals that his wife has died of grief after hearing of her son's exile. The families are reconciled by their children's deaths and agree to end their violent feud. The play ends with the Prince's elegy for the lovers: "For never was a story of more woe / Than this of Juliet and her Romeo."[5]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Romeo_and_Juliet

Tragedy of Hamlet

The American actor Edwin Booth as Hamlet, c. 1870 (Photographer: unknown)Hamlet is a tragedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written between 1599 and 1601. The play, set in Denmark, recounts how Prince Hamlet exacts revenge on his uncle Claudius, who has murdered Hamlet's father, the King, and then taken the throne and married Hamlet's mother. The play vividly charts the course of real and feigned madness—from overwhelming grief to seething rage—and explores themes of treachery, revenge, incest, and moral corruption.Despite much literary detective work, the exact year of writing remains in dispute. Three different early versions of the play have survived: these are known as the First Quarto (Q1), the Second Quarto (Q2) and the First Folio (F1). Each has lines, and even scenes, that are missing from the others. Shakespeare probably based Hamlet on the legend of Amleth, preserved by 13th-century chronicler Saxo Grammaticus in his Gesta Danorum and subsequently retold by 16th-century scholar François de Belleforest, and a supposedly lost Elizabethan play known today as the Ur-Hamlet.Given the play's dramatic structure and depth of characterization, Hamlet can be analyzed, interpreted and argued about from many perspectives. For example, commentators have puzzled for centuries about Hamlet's hesitation in killing his uncle. Some see it as a plot device to prolong the action, and others see it as the result of pressure exerted by the complex philosophical and ethical issues that surround cold-blooded murder, calculated revenge and thwarted desire. More recently, psychoanalytic critics have examined Hamlet's unconscious desires, and feminist critics have re-evaluated and rehabilitated the often maligned characters of Ophelia and Gertrude.Hamlet is Shakespeare's longest play, and among the most powerful and influential tragedies in the English language. It provides a storyline capable of "seemingly endless retelling and adaptation by others".[1] During Shakespeare's lifetime the play was one of his most popular works,[2] and it still ranks high among his most-performed, topping, for example, the Royal Shakespeare Company's list since 1879.[3] It has inspired writers from Goethe and Dickens to Joyce and Murdoch, and has been described as "the world's most filmed story after Cinderella".[4] The title role was almost certainly created for Richard Burbage, the leading tragedian of Shakespeare's time.[5] In the four hundred years since, it has been played by the greatest actors, and sometimes actresses, of each successive age.
SynopsisHoratio, Hamlet, and the Ghost (Artist: Henry Fuseli 1798)[6]The protagonist of Hamlet is Prince Hamlet of Denmark, son of the recently deceased King Hamlet and the nephew of King Claudius, his father's brother and successor. After the death of King Hamlet, Claudius hastily marries King Hamlet's widow, Gertrude, Hamlet's mother. In the background is Denmark's long-standing feud with neighbouring Norway, and an invasion led by the Norwegian prince, Fortinbras, is expected.The play opens on a cold night at Elsinore, the Danish royal castle. The sentinels try to persuade Hamlet's friend Horatio that they have seen King Hamlet's ghost, when it appears again. After hearing from Horatio of the Ghost's appearance, Hamlet resolves to see the Ghost himself. That night, the Ghost appears to Hamlet. He tells Hamlet that he is the spirit of his father, and discloses that Claudius murdered King Hamlet by pouring poison in his ears. The Ghost demands that Hamlet avenge him; Hamlet agrees and decides to fake madness to avert suspicion. He is, however, uncertain of the Ghost's reliability.Busy with affairs of state, Claudius and Gertrude try to avert an invasion by Prince Fortinbras of Norway. Perturbed by Hamlet's continuing deep mourning for his father and his increasingly erratic behaviour, they send two student friends of his—Rosencrantz and Guildenstern—to discover the cause of Hamlet's changed behaviour. Hamlet greets his friends warmly, but quickly discerns that they have turned against him.Polonius is Claudius' trusted chief counsellor; his son, Laertes, is returning to France, and his daughter, Ophelia, is courted by Hamlet. Neither Polonius nor Laertes thinks Hamlet is serious about Ophelia, and they both warn her off. Shortly afterwards, Ophelia is alarmed by Hamlet's strange behaviour and reports to her father that Hamlet rushed into her room but stared at her and said nothing. Polonius assumes that the "ecstasy of love"[7] is responsible for Hamlet's madness, and he informs Claudius and Gertrude. Later, in the so-called Nunnery Scene, Hamlet rants at Ophelia, and insists she go "to a nunnery".The "gravedigger scene"[8] (Artist: Eugène Delacroix 1839)Hamlet remains unconvinced that the Ghost has told him the truth, but the arrival of a troupe of actors at Elsinore presents him with a solution. He will stage a play, re-enacting his father's murder, and determine Claudius' guilt or innocence by studying his reaction. The court assembles to watch the play; Hamlet provides a running commentary throughout. When the murder scene is presented, Claudius abruptly rises and leaves the room, which Hamlet sees as proof of his uncle's guilt. Claudius, fearing for his life, banishes Hamlet to England on a pretext, closely watched by Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, with a letter instructing that the bearer be killed.Gertrude summons Hamlet to her closet to demand an explanation. On his way, Hamlet passes Claudius in prayer but hesitates to kill him, reasoning that death in prayer would send him to heaven. In the bedchamber, a row erupts between Hamlet and Gertrude. Polonius, spying hidden behind an arras, makes a noise; and Hamlet, believing it is Claudius, stabs wildly, killing Polonius. The Ghost appears, urging Hamlet to treat Gertrude gently but reminding him to kill Claudius. Unable to see or hear the Ghost herself, Gertrude takes Hamlet's conversation with it as further evidence of madness. Prior to embarking for England, Hamlet hides Polonius' corpse, ultimately revealing its location to the King and Gertrude.Demented by grief at Polonius' death, Ophelia wanders Elsinore singing bawdy songs. Her brother, Laertes, arrives back from France, enraged by his father's death and his sister's madness. She comes onstage briefly to give out herbs and flowers; her choices are informed by traditional English plant symbolism. Claudius convinces Laertes that Hamlet is solely responsible; then news arrives that Hamlet is still at large—his ship was attacked by pirates on the way to England, and he has returned to Denmark. Claudius swiftly concocts a plot. He proposes a fencing match between Laertes and Hamlet in which Laertes will fight with a poison-tipped sword, but tacitly plans to offer Hamlet poisoned wine if that fails. Gertrude interrupts to report that Ophelia has drowned.We next see two gravediggers discuss Ophelia's apparent suicide, while digging her grave. Hamlet arrives with Horatio and banters with a gravedigger, who unearths the skull of a jester from Hamlet's childhood, Yorick. Ophelia's funeral procession approaches, led by Laertes. Hamlet declares that he has always loved Ophelia, and he and Laertes grapple, but the brawl is broken up.Back at Elsinore, Hamlet tells Horatio how he escaped and that Rosencrantz and Guildenstern have been sent to their deaths. A courtier, Osric, interrupts to invite Hamlet to fence with Laertes. With Fortinbras' army closing on Elsinore, the match begins. Laertes pierces Hamlet with a poisoned blade but is fatally wounded by it himself. Gertrude drinks the poisoned wine and dies. In his dying moments, Laertes is reconciled with Hamlet and reveals Claudius' murderous plot. In his own last moments, Hamlet manages to kill Claudius and names Fortinbras as his heir. When Fortinbras arrives, Horatio recounts the tale and Fortinbras orders Hamlet's body borne off in honour.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hamlet

Tragedy of Macbeth

Tragedy of Macbeth
•Set in Scotland
•Written for King James I (formerly of Scotland, now England)
•Queen of Denmark (James’s sister) was visiting
•Shakespeare researched The Chronicles - Banquo is an ancestor of King James I
Characters
•King Duncan of Scotland
–Murdered by cousin Macbeth
–Honest and good
•Malcolm & Donalbain
–Sons of the King
–Malcolm is the eldest son
•Macbeth
–Duncan’s most courageous general
–Ambition to become king corrupts him causing him to murder Duncan

•Banquo
–General and Macbeth’s best friend
–Suspects Macbeth in Duncan’s murder
–An actual ancestor of King James I
•Lady Macbeth
–As ambitious as her husband
–A dark force behind his evil deeds
•Macduff
–Scottish general, suspects Macbeth of murdering the king
–Macbeth has his family murdered
–Swears vengeance
WHAT REALLY HAPPENED???
•Good guy gone bad
•Guy wants power
•Married to a pushy control freak
•She wants power
•Kills people- LOTS of people
•Gets power
•Gets paranoid (a.k.a. goes crazy)
•Ticks off a lot of people
•Want more power! Kill! Kill!
•Gets what’s coming to him in the end
BEST LINE
“Life’s but a walking shadow; a poor player, That struts and frets his hour upon the stage, And is heard of no more: it is a tale Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, Signifying nothing.”
- Act V; s.5

Charles

His plays!!!!!

Shakespeare had written 36 plays. Some of them are:-
~Macbeth
~Hamlet
~Midsummer Night's Dream
~Romeo & Juliet
~Othello
~King Lear
~Julius Caesar and MANY MORE.

Charles