Shakespeare's gentle melancholy, enlivened by a comic sub-plot of considerable accomplishment, has long made Twelfth Night a favourite with Shakespearian audiences.
Betrayal and Honor-- Fearing that Caesar means to end the Roman republic and make himself the emperor, Brutus, Caesar's closest friend, allows himself to be caught up in a plot to kill Caesar.
Magic and Intrigue-- Prospero, a wizard, is the rightful Duke of Milan, but his brother, in league with the King, had deposed him and set him adrift with his 3-year-old daughter Miranda 12 years earlier.
Love and Obligations-- The King of Navarre, Ferdinand, and three of his friends, the lords Berowne, Dumaine, and Longaville, take an oath to foreswear the company of women for three years.
A fun read for Alcott fans, 'Comic Tragedies' is five plays written and performed by the Alcott sisters, collected for publication by Anna Alcott Pratt after the death of her sister, Louisa May Alcott.
Fortune's Fool Here is William Shakespeare's brilliant play the Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet, set in Verona during a feud between the Capulets and the Montagues.
Francois-Marie Arouet wrote under the nom de plume of Voltaire, and produced works in almost every literary form, including plays, poems, novels, essays, and historical and scientific works.