Othello

William Shakespeare’s tragedy Othello, first performed around 1604, illustrates the destructive power of jealousy. Othello, a Moorish general living in Venice, marries Desdemona, the beautiful daughter of a Venetian Senator amidst much controversy over her love for Othello. Othello and Desdemona prove that their love is genuine and they begin a happy life together.

Iago, Othello’s ensign, hates the Moor and designs a cruel plan to destroy him and his happiness. Iago begins by raising doubts in Othello’s mind about Desdemona’s faithfulness. Iago manipulates Cassio, Othello’s lieutenant, making it appear that he is having an affair with Desdemona. Iago arranges to have a conversation with Cassio while Othello is eavesdropping, eliciting from him the details of the affair Cassio is having with Biancha. However, the conversation is skewed so that Othello thinks Cassio is boasting of having an affair with Desdemona.

As Othello’s jealousy reaches its peak, Iago has his wife, Emilia, Desdemona’s maid, steal the handkerchief Othello gave Desdemona. Iago plants the “evidence” on Cassio and Othello is fully convinced when it is found on him.

That night Iago arranges to have Cassio murdered by Rodrigo, a former lover of Desdemona and Othello conspires to murder Desdemona for her infidelity. Unfortunately, Rodrigo only wounds Cassio and is killed in return. Othello, however, succeeds in suffocating Desdemona, only to be discovered by Emilia. When Cassio is brought before Othello and Emilia, the truth about Iago’s plot comes out. Iago, in a rage, kills his wife, Emilia, and flees. Othello realizing he has been deceived into murdering his wife, wails with regret, and commits suicide before he can be arrested.

Shakespeare vividly portrays the evil of the green monster, jealousy. Jealousy is a deadly disease that will destroy you and all that you love. The Bible frequently warns against jealousy because of its destructive power and its ability to twist and mangle the soul.

Two Noble Kinsmen

William Shakespeare’s romantic tragedy/comedy, The Two Noble Kinsmen, first performed in 1612, was one of his last plays and was based on the Knight’s Tale of Chaucer. The two main protagonists, Palamon and Arcite, are both princes of Thebes, best friends and cousins. When Athens attacks Thebes, both are taken prisoner where they pledge their undying loyalty and affection for each other.

No sooner have they eloquently declared their eternal friendship that Arcite, through the prison window, sees Emilia, a beautiful princess of Athens and falls instantly in love. Upon hearing of her beauty, Palamon looks through the prison bars and falls for her as well. Immediately they begin fighting over her, each declaring the right to marry her. Their friendship turns into bitter rivalry and they both vow to kill the other in order to wed the beautiful princess.

Arcite is released from prison and sent away from Athens. He returns to Athens in disguise and in a contest wins the right to be Emilia’s attendant. Meanwhile, the jailor’s daughter falls in love with Palamon and helps him escape from prison, believing he will surely marry her after her daring rescue. Palamon, however, spurns her love in favor of pursuing Emilia, and she goes mad.

Arcite finds Palamon on the run and helps him remove his chains. He provides Palamon with food and armor and allows him to regain his strength so they can duel to the death to see who has the right to wed Emilia. While they are engaged in battle, the king of Athens stops their fight and commands them to engage in a public contest.

Before the tournament, Arcite prays to the gods that he may win the battle; Palamon prays that he may marry Emilia; Emilia prays that she may be wed to the one who loves her best. Each prayer is granted: Arcite wins the contest, but is then thrown from his horse and dies, leaving Palamon to wed Emilia.

Timon of Athens

Shakespeare’s tragedy, Timon of Athens, first performed in 1607, centers around Timon, a wealthy and generous man who loves to give gifts to his friends without expecting anything in return. Timon lavishes so many gifts on all he can that he runs out of money. When the debtors come to collect the money Timon borrowed from them, he realizes the terrible shape he is in. Timon begs all of his friends to loan him money, but not one is moved to help him. Timon is surprised since he sincerely believed that most men were like him and would freely help him as he had helped them. Timon is held prisoner in his own home until he can pay off his debts.

Timon decides to throw one last feast and invites all of his friends and many lords. When he serves the mean he reveals stones and boiling water. Timon is then banished from Athens and lives like a wild beast in the forest. While searching for food he finds a large cache of gold. He buries most of it, keeping some with him. When his friend Alcibiades, a soldier, finds Timon, he relates his anger towards Athens and tells Timon that he plans to invade the city to right all the wrongs done to him and Timon. Timon is moved and gives the gold to Alcibiades. Timon then laments his poor condition and curses all mankind.

As Alcibiades and his army approach Athens, the elders beg Timon to dissuade Alcibiades. Timon refuses and the elders return to find Athens under siege. They reason with Alcibiades that the city should not be destroyed since it was only a few evil men who mistreated him and Timon. Alcibiades agrees to save Athens if the elders turn over the wrongdoers. The elders comply and as Alcibiades punishes them, word comes that Timon has hanged himself. Alcibiades laments his death and delivers a moving eulogy. He discovers that many in the city truly honored Timon, revealing that his generosity genuinely affected the whole city.

Like many people, Timon thinks that he can buy friendship. But when money is used to buy friends, often unsavory kind of people are the ones who are attracted to the generous person. When times are good, “friends” abound, but when fortune takes a bad turn, these “friends” are nowhere to be found. However, true generosity will always touch the hearts of the sincere, often in unknown ways.

Timon was just as self-centered as some of the unworthy characters who leeched off him since he loved the flattery and status that his generosity created. It took a serious setback to get his attention and deepen his character and teach him wisdom. Unfortunately, he let his bitterness destroy his heart and ultimately his life. Because he refused to let go of his bitterness he didn’t get to see the positive impact he had had on many citizens of Athens.

The Taming of the Shrew

The Taming of the Shrew, a romantic comedy, is one of William Shakespeare’s earlier plays, first performed in 1593-94. It is a play within a play, with the first act setting the stage for the second play. The first play is a comedy where a wealthy lord plays a joke on a drunken peasant, Christopher Sly, by taking him to his home while he is passed out and instructing everyone to treat him like a lord when he comes to. Sly refuses to believe he is a lord even though all the servants and attendants tell him that he has suffered amnesia and has mistakenly claimed to be a poor peasant for the last several years. He finally believes them when he meets his “wife” who is a young page dressed up as a woman. When he wants to go to bed with his wife, the staff force him to watch a play instead. The play we watches becomes the main focus for the rest of the play.

Lucentio, a rich young man, and his two servants arrive in Padua in order to attend the university. However, when Lucentio sees a beautiful young woman, Bianca, he decides to pursue her instead. There are several barriers that threaten to make his desires impossible. First, Bianca’s father refuses to let anyone marry Bianca until her older sister Katherine is married. Unfortunately, Katherine is an ill-tempered woman with a bitter tongue and no one wants her. The second problem is that there are two other young men already seeking to win Bianca’s love.

Lucentio poses as a Latin tutor and is allowed to teach Bianca Latin. He quickly uses the Latin lessons to declare his love for Bianca and she begins to fall in love with him. However, another young man poses as a music teacher and also wins the right to teach Bianca music. In the end, Lucentio wins her heart but still must wait for Katherine to be married first.

This problem is solved when Petruccio, a rich man from Verona, arrives to find a rich woman to marry. Upon hearing about Katherine, he immediately sets out to marry her in spite of her bad reputation. Since he doesn’t care what kind of character his wife has, as long as she has a large dowry, Petruccio sets out to tame the shrew right from the start. When he meets her father, he declares his intentions to marry Katherine, and her father thinks he is crazy. Nevertheless, he meets with Katherine and they have a bitter exchange of words, but Petruccio is ready and follows his plan to break her will. He tells Katherine’s father that she loves him and wants to marry him on Sunday.

On the wedding day Petruccio is late and arrives poorly dressed riding a worn out old horse. After the wedding, he refuses to stay for the banquet and commands Katherine to come away immediately to his house. At home Petruccio refuses to let Katherine eat or sleep for several days, pretending he loves her too much to let her eat his poor food or sleep in his poor bed.

On the way back to Padua, Petruccio forces Katherine to agree that the sun is the moon and that an old man is a young maiden. Through his cunning plan, Petruccio has broken Katherine’s willfulness and has brought her under his control. At a banquet Petruccio bets the other two men that they cannot get their wives to come them before he can get Katherine to come. Since they know how strong-willed Katherine is, they agree to the bet. The first man’s wife refuses to come because she “is busy” and the second man’s wife demands that he “come to her.” When Petruccio sends word to Katherine, she comes immediately and asks what he wants. The other men are shocked, and Petruccio commands Katherine to make the other two women to come as well. When she returns with them, Petruccio tells Katherine to remove her hat because it makes her look silly. She quickly complies to the astonishment of all. He then commands her to rebuke the other two women for not obeying their husbands, which she aptly does. Everyone then fully realizes that Petruccio has truly tamed the shrew.

King John

The Life and Death of King John, written by William Shakespeare before 1596, but first published in 1623, chronicles the struggle for the English crown during the War of the Roses. Unlike his earlier historical plays, Shakespeare doesn’t give any fundamental importance to King John’s reign and tends to depict the events as unpredictable and not having any ultimate end. John’s rival to the throne, Arthur, son of John’s elder brother, was backed by King Philip of France, and had the stronger right to the throne since he was the son of the older child. John ordered Arthur’s death while trying to distance himself from it, lending him some degree of deniability.

The play begins with King Philip’s threat of war if John does not step down from the throne and allow Arthur to take his rightful place. John refuses, so France threatens to attacks the English-held town of Angers if it doesn’t swear allegiance to Arthur. John arrives with his army and asks the town which king they support. The citizens say they support the “rightful heir to the throne” but don’t say whether it is John or Arthur. The two armies fight, but since they are equally matched neither side wins. The two armies decide to join forces to attack the town and then fight each other. However, the citizens talk them out of it and suggest that Philip’s son Louis marry John’s niece Blanche in order to seal a peace treaty. Both armies agree and an ambassador from the Pope comes to marry the couple. The ambassador ends up excommunicating John because he refused to obey the Pope, and then charges Philip with the duty of overthrowing John.

More fighting ensues and John’s army captures Arthur. John sends Hubert to kill Arthur, but Arthur, tearfully pleading with his uncle, talks him out of it. Hubert orders Arthur to hide and then tells John that Arthur is dead. When the people of England become angry with King John for ordering Arthur’s death, along with robbing the monasteries to pay for the war, Hubert reveals that Arthur is still alive. However, Arthur tries to escape by leaping off the castle wall and falls to his death. The nobles find Arthur’s mangled body and accuse Hubert of severe brutality. In anger, they leave to join forces with Louis’ army.

John apologizes to the Pope and asks for the Pope to turn back the French army. During the battle a wounded French lord tells the English nobles that Louis plans to kill them after the battle, so they defect and return to John. Louis’ reinforcements are lost at sea and he realizes that he cannot win. Meanwhile, King John is poisoned by some monks and falls ill on the battlefield. John’s son Henry is declared king and a peace treaty is made with Louis.


The most impressive part of this play was the emotionally charged pleading of Arthur for his uncle Hubert to spare his life:

ARTHUR
Have you the heart? When your head did but ache,
I knit my handercher about your brows,
The best I had, a princess wrought it me,
And I did never ask it you again;
And with my hand at midnight held your head,
And like the watchful minutes to the hour,
Still and anon cheer'd up the heavy time,
Saying, 'What lack you?' and 'Where lies your grief?'
Or 'What good love may I perform for you?'
Many a poor man's son would have lien still
And ne'er have spoke a loving word to you;
But you at your sick service had a prince.
Nay, you may think my love was crafty love
And call it cunning: do, an if you will:
If heaven be pleased that you must use me ill,
Why then you must. Will you put out mine eyes?
These eyes that never did nor never shall
So much as frown on you.

HUBERT
I have sworn to do it;
And with hot irons must I burn them out.

ARTHUR
Ah, none but in this iron age would do it!
The iron of itself, though heat red-hot,
Approaching near these eyes, would drink my tears
And quench his fiery indignation
Even in the matter of mine innocence;
Nay, after that, consume away in rust
But for containing fire to harm mine eye.
Are you more stubborn-hard than hammer'd iron?
An if an angel should have come to me
And told me Hubert should put out mine eyes,
I would not have believed him,--no tongue but Hubert's.

ARTHUR
Hubert, the utterance of a brace of tongues
Must needs want pleading for a pair of eyes:
Let me not hold my tongue, let me not, Hubert;
Or, Hubert, if you will, cut out my tongue,
So I may keep mine eyes: O, spare mine eyes.
Though to no use but still to look on you!
Lo, by my truth, the instrument is cold
And would not harm me.

HUBERT
I can heat it, boy.

ARTHUR
No, in good sooth: the fire is dead with grief,
Being create for comfort, to be used
In undeserved extremes: see else yourself;
There is no malice in this burning coal;
The breath of heaven has blown his spirit out
And strew'd repentent ashes on his head.

HUBERT
But with my breath I can revive it, boy.

ARTHUR
An if you do, you will but make it blush
And glow with shame of your proceedings, Hubert:
Nay, it perchance will sparkle in your eyes;
And like a dog that is compell'd to fight,
Snatch at his master that doth tarre him on.
All things that you should use to do me wrong
Deny their office: only you do lack
That mercy which fierce fire and iron extends,
Creatures of note for mercy-lacking uses.

HUBERT
Well, see to live; I will not touch thine eye
For all the treasure that thine uncle owes:
Yet am I sworn and I did purpose, boy,
With this same very iron to burn them out.

ARTHUR
O, now you look like Hubert! all this while
You were disguised.

Richard III

William Shakespeare wrote this tragedy, Richard III, around 1592-7, making the historical King Richard III one of the most infamous villains of English history. Shakespeare wrote most of his historical plays at the beginning of his career, and the first recorded performance of Richard III was in 1600. Richard, duke of Gloucester, reigned as king of England from 1483 to 1485. He was from the house of York and gained his kingship by having his brother King Edward IV murdered and his two sons locked in the London Tower, only to have them murdered. Richard was defeated at the Battle of Bosworth on August 22, 1485, ending the Plantagenet dynasty, bringing the Wars of the Roses to a culmination.

Here are two famous quotes made by Richard III in this play.


“But then I sigh; and, with a piece of scripture,
Tell them that God bids us do good for evil:
And thus I clothe my naked villany
With old odd ends stolen out of holy writ;
And seem a saint, when most I play the devil.”



“A horse, a horse, my kingdom for a horse.”



Queen Margaret and the Duchess of York mourn the loss of their husbands and children and curse Richard who was behind their murders. I thought the description of the “hell-hound” by Queen Margaret was powerful:

“Thou hadst a Clarence too, and Richard kill'd him.
From forth the kennel of thy womb hath crept
A hell-hound that doth hunt us all to death:
That dog, that had his teeth before his eyes,
To worry lambs and lap their gentle blood,
That foul defacer of God's handiwork,
That excellent grand tyrant of the earth,
That reigns in galled eyes of weeping souls,
Thy womb let loose, to chase us to our graves.
O upright, just, and true-disposing God,
How do I thank thee, that this carnal cur
Preys on the issue of his mother's body,
And makes her pew-fellow with others' moan!”


Shakespeare had a keen sense of human psychology, especially of villains. The lines of Richard where he describes his cunning deception is profound (quoted above). He quotes scripture and acts very piously in order to deceive everyone. They think he is an honorable gentleman all the while he is plotting and carrying out the murders of his brother the king and his nephews, the heirs to their father’s throne. It is a warning for us today to be careful not to let people fool us by speaking the right words while living contrary to those ideals. The Apostle Paul warns us in 2 Corinthians 11:13-15, “For such men are false apostles, deceitful workmen, masquerading as apostles of Christ. And no wonder, for Satan himself masquerades as an angel of light. It is not surprising, then, if his servants masquerade as servants of righteousness. Their end will be what their actions deserve.” Shakespeare was most likely thinking of these verses when he put these words into Richard’s mouth.

I also enjoyed the irony of the fateful end of Richard on the battlefield. He is determined to kill his enemy, Richmond, and slays many in his incredible fury but can’t find the real Richmond. In the battle his horse is killed and he must fight on foot. He is soon overwhelmed, causing him to cry out his famous words, “A horse, a horse, my kingdom for a horse.” Richard dies on the battlefield for want of a horse to escape the onslaught. The mighty are often laid low and the evil are often destroyed in the same way that they destroyed others.

Pericles: Prince of Tyre

This is one of William Shakespeare’s romantic plays written near the end of his life. While it is touching, I felt it was too contrived, losing its appeal. It is a wonderful tale of love lost and regained, but the circumstances are hard to believe and relate to. The ending was also easy to figure out half way through the story.

Young prince Pericles falls in love with the princess of Antioch, but the king tries to kill him, sending his chamberlain to pursue Pericles back to Tyre and kill him. Pericles takes a trip to escape the king’s wrath and ends up in Tharsus, where he helps alleviate a famine. He then goes on a sea voyage to escape the king’s assassin, and is shipwrecked and washed ashore at Pentapolis. There he enters a jousting contest and wins the heart of the king’s daughter, Thaisa. They marry, Thaisa becomes pregnant, and they agree to return to Tyre.

On the voyage back to Tyre, Thaisa gives birth to a daughter, whom they name Marina because she was born at sea. Thaisa dies in childbirth and Pericles buries her at sea in a wood coffin. Pericles stops off at Tharsus and leaves Marina there because he is afraid she might die in a storm at sea as well. After 12 months in Tharsus, Pericles returns to Tyre a broken and lonely man, having lost all that he loves.

However, Thaisa’s coffin washes ashore at Ephesus. The coffin is brought to Cerimon’s house, where he uses an ancient Egyptian ritual to restore her back to life. She takes up residence in the temple of Diana as a vestal virgin, convinced she will never see Pericles again.

Marina grows up in Tharsus, but the woman taking care of her becomes jealous of her beauty and seeks to kill her. The murder plot is thwarted but Marina is captured by pirates of Valdes who sell her to a brothel in Mytilene. Meanwhile, the story is spread that Marina is dead, making Pericles’ anguish greater. Pericles becomes so depressed he sets out to end his days wandering about.

Marina, meanwhile, refuses to be a prostitute and maintains her virginity. Many who try to seduce her end up being converted to living righteouly. She escapes the brothel and finds refuge teaching music to the children of the nobles. Pericles’ ship arrives at Mytilene and he is reunited with his daughter. He refuses to believe that she is truly Marina, but is finally convinced and rejoices in finding his long lost daughter.

Pericles then receives a vision from the goddess Diana who tells him to go to Ephesus and worship at her temple. He obeys the vision and finds his wife Thaisa living in the temple. Again, he refuses to believe that she is really his wife since he buried her at sea with his own hands. He is finally convinced and he embraces her and the family is joyfully reunited.

Pericles and Thaisa return to Pentapolis to rule in place of Thaisa’s dead father. Marina and her husband Lysimachus return to Tyre and reign on Pericles’ throne. The play ends with the narrarator, Gower, giving the moral of the tale, explaining how each character is an object lesson. As for Pericles, Thaisa, and Marina, the moral is that those who live righteous lives will be able to withstand the hatred of evil men and the harsh misfortunes of life.