William Shakespeare

A satire directed against intellectual pride and pedantry. The King of Navarre and three of his lords vow to spend three years in study and not to see any women. But when the Princess of France arrives with her three ladies, the men break their vow and fall in love with them.

Claudio and Hero are engaged, but the jealous Don John tries to thwart the wedding by denouncing Hero as unchaste. Meanwhile, Beatrice and Benedick, who scorn each other, become betrothed as a result of the schemes of their friends.

King Leontes unjustly accuses his wife Hermione of adultery with King Polixenes. He imprisons Hermione, who falls into a swoon he believes is death, and orders her infant daughter to be abandoned on the shore. Sixteen years later, their daughter falls in love with Polixenes's son and when they come to Leontes' kingdom, her identity is revealed. Leontes and Polixenes become friends again, and Hermione is found to be alive after all.

Considered the greatest love story of all time and a bona fide "hit" for over 400 years. Romeo & Juliet is full of passion and oration. Shakespeare's most popular tragedy, it expresses love and death better perhaps, than any work in the English language.

In his most cynical work, Shakespeare explores money--its virtues and its vices. Timon, a noble Athenian, is wildly extravagant with his inheritance. But as his money runs out, so do the friends who urged his lavishness. Timon loses his mind, then finds another fortune.