Античная литература
794 кн.
The historical basis for “King Lear” comes from Geoffrey of Monmouth’s account of the legendary King Leir of the Britons recorded in the historian’s “History of the Kings of Briton.” King Lear is an elderly man and wishes to retire from power. In the decision to divide up his estate he requests that his daughters profess their feelings for him, vowing to give whomever loves him the most the largest share. His two eldest daughters Regan and Goneril go first and based on their responses are...
| Автор | Уильям Шекспир |
Based upon an Italian tale which was translated by 16th century English poet Arthur Brooke into the narrative poem “The Tragical History of Romeus and Juliet,” Shakespeare’s “Romeo and Juliet” is one of the Bard’s most popular and frequently performed plays. Romeo who is a member of the house of Montague falls in love with the beautiful Juliet, a member of the house of Capulet. The Montagues and the Capulets have been engaged in a feud for many years and as such the love between Romeo and Juliet...
| Автор | Уильям Шекспир |
![Oedipus Rex (Oedipus the King) [Translated by E. H. Plumptre with an Introduction by John Williams White]](https://knigism.online/covers/74/2f/680256.jpg "Oedipus Rex (Oedipus the King) [Translated by E. H. Plumptre with an Introduction by John Williams White]")
The second Theban play written by Sophocles, “Oedipus Rex,” or “Oedipus the King,” is the drama which chronologically begins the Oedipus cycle. After Laius, King of Thebes, learns from an oracle that he is doomed to perish by the hand of his own son, he binds the feet of his newborn child and orders his wife Jocasta to kill the infant. Unable to kill her own child, Jocasta entrusts a servant with the task instead, who takes the baby to a mountaintop to die of exposure. A passing shepherd rescues...
| Автор | Sophocles |
Sophocles, along with Aeschylus and Euripides, is considered one of three important ancient Greek tragedians. Writing during the 5th century BC, Sophocles created some one hundred and twenty three plays during his lifetime, of which only seven have survived in their entirety. In this edition are included the three “Theban” plays, which are widely considered his most important works. This collection of dramas includes “Antigone” the story of its title character, a strong heroine whose complete...
| Автор | Sophocles |
Believed to have been written in 1599, William Shakespeare’s “Henry V” forms the final installment of a tetralogy of plays which includes “Richard II”, “Henry IV, Part I”, and “Henry IV, Part II”. The play focuses on the events surrounding the Battle of Agincourt during the Hundred Years’ War. Henry, who is introduced in the earlier plays as a wild and undisciplined youth, has now come of age and ascended to the thrown following the death of his father, King Henry IV. At the outset of the play...
| Автор | Уильям Шекспир |
Aristophanes, often referred to as “The Father of Comedy”, is an ancient Greek poet and playwright who is credited with helping to create the art of satire and irony. Of the over forty plays Aristophanes wrote during his lifetime only eleven survive to this day of which six are collected together here in this volume. In “The Acharnians”, there is the story of Dikaiopolis, an Athenian who brokers a private peace treaty with the Spartans. “The Knights” satirizes Athenian society and politics...
| Автор | Aristophanes |
Only seven plays of the Ancient Greek dramatist Sophocles have survived to today. Sophocles is best known for his trilogy of dramas known as the “Three Theban Plays”, which is comprised of the plays “Oedipus Rex”, “Oedipus at Colonus”, and “Antigone”. The remaining four extant plays are collected together in this volume of “Electra and Other Plays”. First in this collection we find “Ajax”, the oldest of Sophocles plays which unfolds the destiny of the warrior Ajax after the Trojan War. Second...
| Автор | Sophocles |
Set in Scotland, “Macbeth” is the story of its titular character, a general in the army, who conspires with his wife to murder the King and usurp the throne. One of Shakespeare’s most powerful and deeply tragic plays, the work explores the psychological consequences when an immoral path is taken to advance one’s personal position. Among Shakespeare’s tragedies, “Macbeth” is noted for the exceptional simplicity of its plot and the directness of the action. Here there are no subplots to complicate...
| Автор | Уильям Шекспир |
Greek playwright, Aristophanes, lived during the 5th and 4th century BC and is considered one of the principal authors of the Greek classical period. Of the nearly thirty plays he wrote during his career, eleven are extant. Amongst the most famous of these is “Lysistrata,” a comedy which focuses on the women of Greece whose husbands have left for the Peloponnesian War. The women do not care about the conflict as much as they care about missing their husbands. Its titular character, Lysistrata,...
| Автор | Aristophanes |
The second play in William Shakespeare’s tetralogy of plays which also includes “Richard II”, “Henry IV, Part 2”, and “Henry V”, “Henry IV, Part 1” is believed to have been written no later than 1597. A history play, the drama concerns the unquiet reign of Henry Bolingbroke. Following the usurpation of the throne, Henry IV is plagued with guilt over his role in the imprisonment and death of King Richard II. In order to resolve himself of this internal conflict Henry IV leads a crusade to the...
| Автор | Уильям Шекспир |
“Antigone,” the first Theban play written by Sophocles yet chronologically last in the cycle, is a masterpiece of classical antiquity which examines the conflict between public duty and personal loyalty. Following the banishment of Oedipus, his two sons Eteocles and Polyneices have died leading opposite sides in Thebes’s civil war, fighting each other for the throne. Queen Jocasta’s brother Creon, now the ruler of Thebes, declares that Eteocles will be honored but Polyneices is to be publically...
| Автор | Sophocles |
The influence of Euripides on the development of the dramatic genre cannot be overstated. Along with Sophocles and Aeschylus he is regarded as one of the three great Greek tragedians from classical antiquity. One of the most important of Euripides’ surviving dramas is “Medea”, the story of its title character, the wife of Jason of the Argonauts, who seeks revenge upon her unfaithful husband when he abandons her for a another bride. Set in Corinth sometime after Jason’s quest for the Golden...
| Автор | Euripides |
A pastoral comedy, William Shakespeare’s “As You Like It,” is the story of a Duke, who is unjustly deposed by his younger brother Frederick, and flees to the Forest of Arden. The Duke’s daughter, Rosalind, remains behind at the court. When it is discovered that Orlando, the youngest son of the deceased Sir Rowland de Boys, has fallen in love with her, Orlando is forced to flee. Rosalind follows after him, with her cousin Celia, to the Forest of Arden where he has gone to join the deposed Duke....
| Автор | Уильям Шекспир |
William Shakespeare’s “Twelfth Night,” is a classic comedy of mistaken identities, a device employed in a number of the bard’s plays, which is believed to have been written sometime between 1601 and 1602. When Viola is shipwrecked on the coast of Illyria she is separated from her twin brother Sebastian, who she mistakenly believes to be dead. With the help of the ship captain who rescues her, she enters into the service of Duke Orsino, who has fallen in love with Olivia, a wealthy countess whose...
| Автор | Уильям Шекспир |
One of Shakespeare’s most frequently performed plays and regarded as maybe his best comedy, “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” is the story of the events surrounding the wedding of Theseus, Duke and Athens, and the Amazonian queen Hippolyta. At the outset of the play we find Hermia, who is in love with Lysander but is betrothed by her father’s arrangement to Demetrius. Meanwhile Helena laments her unrequited love of Demetrius. Several parallel and interconnecting plot lines complicate the narrative....
| Автор | Уильям Шекспир |
Generally considered as one of Shakespeare’s best comedies, “Much Ado About Nothing” is believed to have been written near the middle of the bard’s career, sometime during 1598 or 1599. It is the story of Leonato, an Italian nobleman, his daughter, Hero, and his niece, Beatrice. Following the conclusion of a war Leonato welcomes into his house Don Pedro, his good friend; fellow soldiers of Don Pedro, Claudio and Benedick; as well as Don Pedro’s illegitimate brother, Don John. Quickly amorous...
| Автор | Уильям Шекспир |
Believed to be written in 1599, William Shakespeare’s “Julius Caesar” is one of several plays that the bard would write that were based upon Roman history. Closely based on actual events as chronicled in Plutarch’s “Lives”, it is the story of the tragic downfall of Julius Caesar and of those who conspired against him. The play begins with the celebration of Caesar’s return from defeating Pompey’s sons at the battle of Munda. When it is learned that Julius Caesar has been offered the crown of...
| Автор | Уильям Шекспир |
Considered by many as Shakespeare’s masterpiece and one of the greatest dramas of all time, “Hamlet” is the story of its titular character, the Prince of Denmark who discovers that his uncle, Claudius, is responsible for the murder of his father. Claudius has murdered Hamlet’s father, his own brother, in order to usurp the throne of Denmark and to marry Hamlet’s widowed mother. Sunk into a state of despair, Hamlet is torn between his grief over his father’s death and his desire for revenge....
| Автор | Уильям Шекспир |
Originally published in the First Folio of 1623, William Shakespeare’s “The Winter’s Tale” is a play which has been classified by some critics as a comedy and by others as a romance. The confusion arises out of the fact that the first three acts are filled with intense psychological drama while the last two acts provide a comedic and happy ending. At the outset of the play we are introduced to two childhood friends, Leontes, King of Sicilia, and Polixenes, the King of Bohemia, who has travelled...
| Автор | Уильям Шекспир |
Baptista Minola, a lord in Padua, insists that if his youngest daughter Bianca is to be married that her older sister Katherine be married first. Bianca, the more desirable of the two sisters, has no shortage of suitors. However, Katherine, the titular “shrew,” has a temper so notorious that it is thought that no man would ever wish to marry her. When Petruchio comes to town in search of a wife, Hortensio, one of Bianca’s suitors convinces Petruchio to marry Katherine. Only interested in her...
| Автор | Уильям Шекспир |
First published in the Folio of 1623, William Shakespeare’s “Antony and Cleopatra” is the historical drama based on the lives of its title characters. Based upon the historical accounts contained within Plutarch’s “Lives”, this dramatic tragedy follows the relationship between Mark Antony and Cleopatra from the time of the Sicilian revolt up until Cleopatra’s suicide. At the outset of the play Mark Antony is part of the ruling Second Triumvirate of Rome and is living in Egypt engaged in an...
| Автор | Уильям Шекспир |
One of William Shakespeare’s most farcical comedies, “The Comedy of Errors” is notable for its use of mistaken identity to achieve a slapstick comedic effect. Ripe with the bard’s characteristic word play, the comedy concerns the lives of two sets of identical twins that were accidentally separated shortly after their birth. The play begins by the elderly Syracusian trader Egeon relating the back story of his family. When Egeon was young he married Emilia who gave birth to two twin boys, known...
| Автор | Уильям Шекспир |
Believed to have been written in 1591, William Shakespeare’s “Richard III” is one of the bards first plays, the first installment in a tetralogy of plays which includes “Henry IV, Part I”, “Henry IV, Part II”, and “Henry V”. One of the longest of Shakespeare’s plays and consequently rarely performed unabridged, “Richard III” is the story of the Machiavellian rise to power and subsequent short reign of King Richard III of England. The play begins with Richard, known in the play as Gloucester,...
| Автор | Уильям Шекспир |
Drawing on his eighteen years of experience as a teaching artist for Folger Shakespeare Library, Nick Newlin offers eighteen scenes to get young actors on their feet performing Shakespeare with confidence, understanding, and fun!Each scene averages five minutes in length, containing two to six characters, and features a monologue that young performers can use in performance, audition, or competition. Every scene has been «road tested» by one of Newlin's student groups at the Folger's...
| Автор | William Shakespeare |