Presents the original text of Shakespeare's play side by side with a modern version, discusses the author and the theater of his time, and provides quizzes and other study activities.

One of Shakespeare's most frequently performed comedies, Much Ado About Nothing includes two quite different stories of romantic love. Hero and Claudio fall in love almost at first sight, but an outsider, Don John, strikes out at their happiness. Beatrice and Benedick are kept apart by pride and mutual antagonism until others decide to play Cupid. --Publisher

Shakespeare's popular comedy of love and mistaken identity is accompanied by a section on reading Shakespeare's language, information on Shakespeare's life and theater, explanatory notes, annotated reading lists, and an essay.--

"I believe that the reader will discover here the essential nature of one of the strangest and most awful chapters in human history, " Arthur Miller wrote in an introduction to The Crucible, his classic play about the witch-hunts and trials in seventeenth-century Salem, Massachusetts. Based on historical people and real events, Miller's drama is a searing portrait of a community engulfed by hysteria. In the rigid theocracy of Salem, rumors that women...

One of the last tragedies written by William Shakespeare, "Coriolanus" is the story of the legendary 5th century BC Roman general Caius Martius, later given the honorary name Coriolanus. Based largely on the biographical accounts of Plutarch and Livy, the play opens amongst riots over grain in which Coriolanus' contempt for the plebeians of Rome is exhibited. The general is drawn away from the riots to battle with the Volscian army. Following the...

The story of the Roman dictator Julius Caesar, after 44 BC, when there are fears he will be crowned king. Cassius and Casca get Brutus to join the conspiracy against him and kill Caesar.

Oscar Wilde's "The Importance of Being Earnest" is a timeless comedic masterpiece that combines witty satire, social commentary, and farcical humor in a delightful theatrical concoction. Set in the elegant drawing rooms of Victorian-era London, the play revolves around the hilarious deceptions of its characters, particularly Algernon Moncrieff and Jack Worthing. These dashing young men each maintain a fictitious persona-Algernon has invented a friend...

"Thornton Wilder's drama of life in the mythical village of Grover's Corners, New Hampshire--an allegorical representation of all life--is an American classic. It is the simple story of a love affair that asks timeless questions about the meaning of love, life, and death. Our Town explores the relationship between two young neighbors, George Gibbs and Emily Webb, whose childhood friendship blossoms into romance, and then culminates in marriage. When...

The Taming of the Shrew (1592) is a comedy by William Shakespeare. Written between 1590 and 1592, The Taming of the Shrew is one of Shakespeare's earliest works. Frequently critiqued by scholars for its demeaning portrayal of Katherina and for Petruchio's violence, the play has also been considered as an ironic treatment of the inequality experienced by women in marriage. The Taming of the Shrew has served as source material for countless film and...