Curated category
Shakespearean tragedies
- MacbethWilliam Shakespeare wrote The Tragedy of Macbeth using material from Raphael Holinshed's Chronicles, published in 1587. This history book covered England…
- HamletThe Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark emerged from a deep well of ancient legends and medieval texts. Scholars point to the 13th-century Life of Amleth by…
- Romeo and JulietThe story of Romeo and Juliet did not begin in Shakespeare's mind. It emerged from a long tradition of tragic love stories stretching back to antiquity.
- OthelloWilliam Shakespeare wrote The Tragedy of Othello, the Moor of Venice around 1603. This play draws its core plot from a novella by Giovanni Battista Giraldi…
- Troilus and CressidaIn the year 1602, William Shakespeare began writing a play that would confuse audiences for four centuries. The story draws from two distinct traditions that…
- Antony and CleopatraThe story of Antony and Cleopatra begins in 1579 with a translation by Sir Thomas North. This English version of Plutarch's Lives provided the raw material…
- King LearThe Tragedy of King Lear emerged from a convergence of historical chronicles and folk traditions in the early 17th century.
- CoriolanusThomas North published his translation of Plutarch's Lives in 1579, and Shakespeare mined that volume for the bones of Coriolanus.
- Julius Caesar (play)Thomas Platter the Younger wrote in his diary on the 21st of September 1599 that he saw a tragedy about Julius Caesar at a Bankside theatre.
- Shakespearean tragedySarah Siddons stood on the stage in 1784 as the Tragic Muse, her face painted with the gravity of centuries. Joshua Reynolds captured this moment in a famous…
- Titus AndronicusPhilip Henslowe's diary entry from the 24th of January 1594 records a performance of Titus Andronicus by Sussex's Men at The Rose theatre.