Plays by William Shakespeare from Bantam Classic

On Sale February 26, 2008

Three Classical Tragedies

Three of the Bard's most powerful tragedies—Titus Andronicus, Timon of Athens, and Coriolanus—are brought together here along with revised introductory essays and updated notes, glosses and appendices.

On Sale March 25, 2008

The Late Romances

Four of Shakespeare's tragicomic romances—Pericles, Cymbeline, The Winter's Tale, and The Tempest—combined in this collection along with revised introductory essays and updated notes, glosses and appendices.

More Bantam Classic Shakespeare Titles:

Antony and Cleopatra

This epic story of the seductive Egyptian queen and the Roman leader torn between pleasure and virtue is a magnificent drama of love and war that ranks as one of Shakespeare's greatest achievements.

As You Like It

This wisely funny comedy, which contains some of Shakespeare's loveliest poetry, contrasts a country's world of envy and rivalry with a forest's world of compassion and harmony. In the Forest of Arden, the banished young heroine, Rosalind, disguised as a gentleman farmer, encounters an extraordinary assemblage of characters, including a fool, a malcontent traveler, her own exiled father, and the young man she loves.

The Comedy Of Errors

Two sets of twins meet for the first time in the city of Ephesus in this timeless comedy of mistaken identity, filled with Shakespeare's unmatched knack for puns, gags, slapstick and farce.

Four Comedies

A special collection of Shakespeare's finest comedies including A Midsummer Night's Dream, The Merchant of Venice, The Taming of the Shrew, and Twelfth Night. This new edition features thoroughly revised and updated facing page notes for each play to help you better understand Elizabethan language and idioms.

Four Tragedies

A special compilation of Shakespeare's most well loved tragedies including Hamlet, King Lear, Macbeth, and Othello. This new edition features thoroughly revised and updated facing page notes for each play to help you better understand Elizabethan language and idioms.

Hamlet

One of the greatest plays of all time, the compelling tragedy of the tormented young prince of Denmark continues to capture the imaginations of modern audiences worldwide. Confronted with evidence that his uncle murdered his father, and with his mother's infidelity, Hamlet must find a means of reconciling his longing for oblivion with his duty as avenger.

Henry IV, Part One

A play alive with escapades and action, comedy and history, Henry IV, Part One begins the transformation of the madcap Prince Hal into the splendid ruler King Henry. In it a rebellion against King and State is juxtaposed with another rebellion—the riotous misbehavior of Hal and his companions, principally Falstaff.

Henry IV, Part Two

Shakespeare probes at the responsibilities of power as an old king dies and a young king must choose between a ruler's solemn duty and his merry friend Falstaff.

Henry V

A triumphantly patriotic play that also casts a critical eye at war and warriors, this great epic drama depicts a charismatic ruler in a time of national struggle. The young King Henry's victory over the French despite overwhelming odds creates a spectacle of action, color, and thundering battles. Henry V represents the culimnation of Shakespeare's art as a writer of historical drama.

Julius Caesar

In this striking tragedy of political conflict, Shakespeare turns to the ancient Roman world and to the famous assassination of Julius Caesar by his republican opponents. The play is one of tumultuous rivalry, of prophetic warnings—"Beware the ides of March"—and of moving public oratory "Friends, Romans, countrymen!"

King Lear

A king foolishly divides his kingdom between his scheming two oldest daughters and estranges himself from the daughter who loves him. So begins this profoundly moving and disturbing tragedy that, perhaps more than any other work in literature, challenges the notion of a coherent and just universe.

Macbeth

No dramatist has ever seen with more frightening clarity into the heart and mind of a murderer than has Shakespeare in this compelling tragedy of evil. Taunted into asserting his "masculinity" by his ambitious wife, Macbeth chooses to embrace the Weird Sisters' prophecy and kill his king—and thus, seals his own doom.

Measure for Measure, Troilus and Cressida, and All's Well that Ends Well

An exciting new edition of the complete works of Shakespeare with these features: Illustrated with photographs from New York Shakespeare Festival productions, vivid readable readable introductions for each play by noted scholar David Bevington, a lively personal foreword by Joseph Papp, an insightful essay on the play in performance, modern spelling and pronunciation, up-to-date annotated bibliographies, and convenient listing of key passages.

The Merchant of Venice

Drama - British & Irish | Bantam Classics | Paperback
$4.99 | 978-0-553-21299-0 (0-553-21299-0)
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This is one of Shakespeare's darkest comedies, for the romantic story of a young man, Bassanio, who has squandered his fortune and must borrow money to woo the wealthy lady he loves is set against the most disturbing story of the Jewish moneylender Shylock and his demand for the "pound of flesh" owed him by the Venetian merchant, Antonio, who has fallen into Shylock's debt.

A Midsummer Night's Dream

Magic, love spells, and an enchanted wood provide the materials for one of Shakespeare's most delightful comedies. When four young lovers, fleeing the Athenian law and their own mismatched rivalries, take to the forest of Athens, their lives become entangled with a feud between the King and queen of the Fairies.

Much Ado About Nothing

Set in a courtly world of masked revels and dances, this play turns on the archetypal story if a lady falsely accused of unfaithfulness, spurned by her bridegroom, and finally vindicated and reunited with him.

Othello

Though this great tragedy of unsurpassed intensity and emotion is played out against Renaissance splendor, its story of a doomed marriage of a Venetian senator's daughter, Desdemona, to a Moorish general, Othello, is especially relevant to modern audiences. The differences in race and background create an initial tension that allows the horrifyingly envious villian Iago to methodically promote the "green eyed monster" jealousy until it leads the noble moor to commit an unspeakable act.

The Poems

With unmatchable eloquence and exquisite, sometimes dark beauty, Shakespeare's poems exploring the emotional complexity of love, loss, and friendship are part of the world's great literary heritage.

Richard II

The tale of the arrogant, yet poetic King Richard II's battle for the throne of England is a highly-charged political play about one man's divine right to power over another's legal right that still strikes up debate today.

Richard III

Here is Shakespeare's telling of the infamous hunchbacked King—as deformed in temperament as he is in body—who made his way to the crown through treachery, villainy, and murder.

Romeo and Juliet

Passionate, heartbreaking, and fateful, the Bard's legendary tale of young "star-crossed lovers" remains the standard by which all love stories are measured.

The Taming of the Shrew

A robust and bawdy battle of the sexes, this ever popular comedy captivates audiences with outrageous humor as Katharina, the shrew, engages in a contest of wills—and love—with her bridegroom Petruchio. Rich with the psychological themes of identity and transformation, the play is quintessentially lighthearted, filled with visual gags, witty repartee, and unmatched theatrical brilliance.

The Tempest

The last of Shakespeare's comedies—one that could be called his most theatrical—finds Prospero, the exiled Duke of Milan, plotting to take vengeance on his enemies by magically raising a tempest storm to trap them on his island.

Twelfth Night

Set in a topsy-turvy world like a holiday revel, this comedy devises a romantic plot around separated twins, misplaced passions, and mistaken identity. Juxtaposed to it is the satirical story of a self-deluded steward who dreams of becoming "Count Malvolio" only to receive his comeuppance at the hands of the merrymakers he wishes to suppress.