Helena and Lysander are fictional characters in what William Shakespeare play?
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Helena (A Midsummer Night's Dream) Helena is a fictional character and one of the four young lovers – Demetrius, Lysander, Hermia and Helena – featured in William Shakespeare's play "A Midsummer Night's Dream".
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Lysander (A Midsummer Night's Dream) Lysander is a fictional character in William Shakespeare's play "A Midsummer Night's Dream".
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The Winter's Tale The Winter's Tale is a play by William Shakespeare originally published in the First Folio of 1623. Although it was grouped among the comedies, some modern editors have relabelled the play as one of Shakespeare's late romances. Some critics consider it to be one of Shakespeare's "problem plays" because the first three acts are filled with intense psychological drama, while the last two acts are comedic and supply a happy ending.
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Troilus and Cressida Troilus and Cressida ( ) is a tragedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written in 1602. It was described by Frederick S. Boas as one of Shakespeare's problem plays. The play ends on a very bleak note with the death of the noble Trojan Hector and destruction of the love between Troilus and Cressida. The work has in recent years "stimulated exceptionally lively critical debate". Throughout the play, the tone lurches wildly between bawdy comedy and tragic gloom, and readers and theatre-goers have frequently found it difficult to understand how one is meant to respond to the characters. However, several characteristic elements of the play (the most notable being its constant questioning of intrinsic values such as hierarchy, honour and love) have often been viewed as distinctly "modern," as in the following remarks on the play by author and literary scholar Joyce Carol Oates:
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The Queen (play) The Queen, or The Excellency of Her Sex is a Caroline era tragicomedy. Though published anonymously in 1653, The play is now generally attributed to John Ford — making it a significant addition to the very limited canon of Ford's works.
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Edmund Ironside (play) Edmund Ironside, or War Hath Made All Friends is an anonymous Elizabethan play that depicts the life of Edmund II of England. At least three critics have suggested that it is an early work by William Shakespeare.
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Young Siward Young Siward is a character in William Shakespeare’s play "Macbeth" (1606). He is the son of Siward, general of the English forces in the battle against Macbeth. Macbeth kills him in the final battle, shortly before his swordfight with Lord Macduff.
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Sources of Hamlet The sources of "Hamlet", a tragedy by William Shakespeare believed to have been written between 1599 and 1601, trace back as far as pre-13th century Icelandic tales. The generic "hero-as-fool" story is so old and is expressed in the literature of so many cultures that scholars have hypothesized that it may be Indo-European in origin. A Scandinavian version of the story of Hamlet, Amleth or Amlóði (Norse for "mad", "not sane") was put into writing in the 12th century by Saxo Grammaticus around 1200 AD in the "Gesta Danorum" (from which Shakespeare borrowed). Similar accounts are found in the Icelandic "Saga of Hrolf Kraki" and the Roman legend of Lucius Junius Brutus, both of which feature heroes who pretend to be insane in order to get revenge. A reasonably accurate version of Saxo's story was translated into French in 1570 by François de Belleforest in his "Histoires Tragiques". Belleforest embellished Saxo's text substantially, almost doubling its length, and introduced the hero's melancholy.
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Dyskolos Dyskolos (Greek: , ] , translated as "The Grouch", "The Misanthrope", "The Curmudgeon", "The Bad-tempered Man" or "Old Cantankerous") is an Ancient Greek comedy by Menander, the only one of his plays, and of the whole "New Comedy", that has survived in almost complete form. It was first presented at the Lenaian festival in 317–16 BC, where it won Menander the first-place prize. It was long known only through fragmentary quotations; but a papyrus manuscript of the nearly complete "Dyskolos, "dating to the 3rd century, was recovered in Egypt in 1952 and forms part of the Bodmer Papyri.
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Helena, Marchioness of Northampton Elin Ulfsdotter Snakenborg, Marchioness of Northampton, also known as Helena, and Helena the Red for her red hair, (1548/1549 – 10 April 1635) was a Swedish-born noblewoman, Maid of Honour of Queen Elizabeth I of England, and Marchioness of Northampton by her marriage to William Parr, 1st Marquess of Northampton.
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Mary Shakespeare Mary Shakespeare, née Arden, (c. 1537–1608) was the mother of William Shakespeare. She was the daughter of Robert Arden. The Arden family had been prominent in Warwickshire since before the Norman Conquest. She was the youngest of 8 daughters, and she inherited her father's farm, now called Mary Arden's House, in Wilmcote, Warwickshire when Robert Arden died in December 1556.
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Second Folio The Second Folio is the 1632 edition of the collected plays of William Shakespeare. It follows the First Folio of 1623. Much language was updated in the Second Folio and there are almost 1,700 changes.
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Amphitryon (Plautus play) Amphitryon or Amphitruo is a Latin play for the early Roman theatre by playwright Titus Maccius Plautus. It is Plautus’ only play on a mythological subject; he refers to it as a "tragicomoedia" (tragic comedy) in the prologue. The play is mostly extant, but includes several large missing sections in its latter portion. The plot of the play involves Amphitryon’s jealous and confused reaction to Alcmena’s seduction by Jupiter, and ends with the birth of Hercules.
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Twelfth Night Twelfth Night, or What You Will is a comedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written around 1601–02 as a Twelfth Night's entertainment for the close of the Christmas season. The play centres on the twins Viola and Sebastian, who are separated in a shipwreck. Viola (who is disguised as Cesario) falls in love with Duke Orsino, who in turn is in love with the Countess Olivia. Upon meeting Viola, Countess Olivia falls in love with her thinking she is a man. The play expanded on the musical interludes and riotous disorder expected of the occasion, with plot elements drawn from the short story "Of Apollonius and Silla" by Barnabe Rich, based on a story by Matteo Bandello. The first recorded performance was on 2 February 1602, at Candlemas, the formal end of Christmastide in the year's calendar. The play was not published until its inclusion in the 1623 First Folio.
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Snug (A Midsummer Night's Dream) Snug is a minor character from William Shakespeare's play "A Midsummer Night's Dream". He is a joiner who comes from Athens who is hired by Peter Quince to play the part of the lion in Pyramus and Thisbe. When he is first assigned the part, he is afraid it may take him a while to finally remember his lines (even though the lion's role was nothing but roaring originally). Bottom offers to play the part of the lion (as he offers to play all other parts), but he is rejected by Quince, who worries (as do the other characters) that his loud and ferocious roar in the play will frighten the ladies of power in the audience and get Quince and all his actors hanged. In the end, the lion's part is revised to explain that he is in fact not a lion and means the audience no harm. This is a subtle reminder by Shakespeare that the mechanicals are not learned men.
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Cymbeline Cymbeline , also known as Cymbeline, King of Britain, is a play by William Shakespeare set in Ancient Britain and based on legends that formed part of the Matter of Britain concerning the early Celtic British King Cunobeline. Although listed as a tragedy in the First Folio, modern critics often classify "Cymbeline" as a romance or even a comedy. Like "Othello" and "The Winter's Tale", it deals with the themes of innocence and jealousy. While the precise date of composition remains unknown, the play was certainly produced as early as 1611.
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Oresteia The Oresteia (Ancient Greek: Ὀρέστεια ) is a trilogy of Greek tragedies written by Aeschylus concerning the murder of Agamemnon by Clytaemnestra, the murder of Clytaemnestra by Orestes, the trial of Orestes, the end of the curse on the House of Atreus and pacification of the Erinyes. The trilogy—consisting of "Agamemnon" (Ἀγαμέμνων ), "The Libation Bearers" (Χοηφóρoι ), and "The Eumenides" (Εὐμενίδες )—also shows how the Greek gods interacted with the characters and influenced their decisions pertaining to events and disputes. The only extant example of an ancient Greek theatre trilogy, the "Oresteia" won first prize at the Dionysia festival in 458 BC. Many consider the "Oresteia" to be Aeschylus' finest work. The principal themes of the trilogy include the contrast between revenge and justice, as well as the transition from personal vendetta to organized litigation. "Orestia" originally included a satyr play, "Proteus" (Πρωτεύς ), following the tragic trilogy, but all except a single line of "Proteus" has been lost.
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Medea (play) Medea (Ancient Greek: Μήδεια , "Mēdeia") is an ancient Greek tragedy written by Euripides, based upon the myth of Jason and Medea and first produced in 431 BC. The plot centers on the actions of Medea, a former princess of the "barbarian" kingdom of Colchis, and the wife of Jason; she finds her position in the Greek world threatened as Jason leaves her for a Greek princess of Corinth. Medea takes vengeance on Jason by killing Jason's new wife as well as her own children, after which she escapes to Athens to start a new life.
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The Scottish Play The Scottish Play and The Bard's Play are euphemisms for William Shakespeare's "Macbeth". The first is a reference to the play's Scottish setting, the second a reference to Shakespeare's popular nickname. According to a theatrical superstition, called the "Scottish curse", speaking the name "Macbeth" inside a theatre will cause disaster. A variation of the superstition also forbids quoting it within a theatre except as part of an actual rehearsal or performance of the play.
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The Covent-Garden Tragedy The Covent-Garden Tragedy is a play by Henry Fielding that first appeared on 1 June 1732 at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane alongside "The Old Debauchees". It is about a love triangle in a brothel involving two prostitutes. While they are portrayed satirically, they are imbued with sympathy as their relationship develops.
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Epitasis In classical drama, the epitasis (Ancient Greek: ἐπίτασις ) is the main action of a play, in which the trials and tribulations of the main character increase and build toward a climax and dénouement. It is the third and central part when a play is analyzed into five separate parts: prelude, protasis, epitasis, catastasis and catastrophe.
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Volumnia Volumnia is a character in William Shakespeare's play "Coriolanus", the mother of Caius Martius Coriolanus. She plays a large role in Coriolanus' life, encouraging him in his military success and urging him to seek political office. When the people of Rome put her son in exile and he joins their military enemies, she manages to persuade him not to besiege Rome and becomes a heroine to the city.