A Midsummer Night’s Dream, William Shakespeare

A Midsummer Night’s Dream is a comedy by William Shakespeare. It is believed to have been 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 of Athens, Theseus, the Queen of the Amazons, 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.

Paradise Lost, John Milton

Paradise Lost is an epic poem in blank verse by the 17th-century English poet John Milton. It was originally published in 1667 in ten books; a second edition followed in 1674, redivided into twelve books (in the manner of the division of Virgil’s Aeneid) with minor revisions throughout and a note on the versification. The poem concerns the Judeo-Christian story of the Fall of Man: the temptation of Adam and Eve by Satan and their expulsion from the Garden of Eden. Milton’s purpose, stated in Book I, is “to justify the ways of God to men” (l. 26) and elucidate the conflict between God’s eternal foresight and free will.

The protagonist of this epic is the fallen angel, Satan. Milton presents Satan as an ambitious and proud being who defies his creator, omnipotent God, and wages war on Heaven, only to be defeated and cast down. Indeed, William Blake, a great admirer of Milton and illustrator of the epic poem, said of Milton that “he was a true Poet, and of the Devil’s party without knowing it.”(Blake 1793) Some critics regard the character of Lucifer as a precursor of the Byronic hero.(Eliot 1932)

Milton worked for Oliver Cromwell and the Parliament of England and thus wrote first-hand for the Commonwealth of England. Arguably, the failed rebellion and reinstallation of the monarchy left him to explore his losses within Paradise Lost. Some critics say that he sympathized with the Satan in this work, in that both he and Satan had experienced a failed cause.

Milton incorporates Paganism, classical Greek references and Christianity within the story. He greatly admired the classics but intended this work to surpass them. The poem grapples with many difficult theological issues, including fate, predestination, and the Trinity.

Frankenstein, Mary Shelley

Frankenstein: or, The Modern Prometheus is a novel written by the British author Mary Shelley. Shelley wrote the novel when she was 18 years old. The first edition was published anonymously in London in 1818. Shelley’s name appears on the revised third edition, published in 1831. The title of the novel refers to a scientist, Victor Frankenstein, who learns how to create life and creates a being in the likeness of man, but larger than average and more powerful. In modern popular culture, people have tended to refer to the Creature as “Frankenstein” (especially in films since 1931), despite this being the name of the scientist. Frankenstein is a novel infused with some elements of the Gothic novel and the Romantic movement. It was also a warning against the “over-reaching” of modern man and the Industrial Revolution, alluded to in the novel’s subtitle, The Modern Prometheus. The story has had an influence across literature and popular culture and spawned a complete genre of horror stories and films. It is arguably considered the first fully realized science fiction novel. The novel raises many issues that can be linked to today’s society.

Hamlet, William Shakespeare

Hamlet, Prince of Denmark is a tragedy by renowned playwright William Shakespeare. It is one of his best-known works, and also one of the most-quoted writings in the English language. Hamlet has been called “Shakespeare’s greatest play” and it is universally included on lists of the world’s greatest books. It is also one of the most popular of Shakespeare’s plays, judging by the number of productions; for example, it has topped the list at the Royal Shakespeare Company since 1879. With 4,042 lines and 29,551 words, Hamlet is also the longest Shakespeare play. Hamlet is a tragedy of the revenge genre, in which the title character, and two other characters as well, seek revenge for their fathers’ deaths.

Online version of Hamlet

King Lear, William Shakespeare

King Lear is a play by William Shakespeare, considered one of his greatest tragedies, based on the legend of King Lear of Britain. The part of Lear has been played by many great actors, but although Lear is an old man, the part is rarely taken on by older actors in stage versions because it is so strenuous both physically and emotionally.

There are two distinct versions of the play: The True Chronicle of the History of the Life and Death of King Lear and His Three Daughters, which appeared in quarto in 1608, and The Tragedy of King Lear, which appeared in the First Folio in 1623, a more theatrical version. The two texts are commonly printed in a conflated version, although many modern editors have argued that each version has its individual integrity.

After the Restoration the play was often modified by theatre practitioners who disliked its nihilistic flavour, but since World War II it has come to be regarded as one of Shakespeare’s supreme achievements. The tragedy is particularly noted for its probing observations on the nature of human suffering and kinship on a cosmic scale.