Book Overview
Finally! Summaries and Commentaries for All of Shakespeare's tragedies are available in one easy-to-access volume. Titus Andronicus chronicles the violent offshoots of pride and an over-developed sense of honor. Romeo and Juliet, two impetuous teenagers, defy their warring families and marry, but their soaring happiness spirals swiftly downward, to death. Julius Caesar, superstitious and proud emperor of Rome, is assassinated by political colleagues, yet his spirit persists and hounds the most traitorous of the hypocritical conspirators. Hamlet, feigning madness and vowing to kill his father's murderer, is fatally nicked by a poisoned rapier, but steeled by a promise to his dead father, he manages to stab his guilty uncle. Othello spins a web of deadly jealousy so tightly around himself that ultimately he metamorphoses into his own victim. King Lear tragically believes that his children are equally loving--and then discovers that only one is worthy of his compassion and generosity. Macbeth is slain after his greedy ambition, fueled by his wife's lust for power, drives him to regicide. Timon of Athens restates the elements of tragedy with an emphasis on reconciliation. Antony and Cleopatra, two of the world's most powerful people, destroy themselves on the pyre of their passion. Coriolanus, set in ancient Rome, delineates the clash of social classes in a world center of power.
