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The tragedy “Romeo and Juliet”, written by William Shakespeare, is set in Verona, Italy, in the 16th century and was first published in 1597. It tells the story of two young people who are in love with each other, but are not allowed to be because of their families who are enemies to death.
Due to the ongoing feud between the Capulets (Juliet´s family) and the Montagues (Romeo´s family), Romeo and Juliet keep their love a secret and get married by Friar Laurence who hopes to conciliate the families with that marriage.
In a fight Romeo kills Tybalt, a cousin of Juliet, and gets banished from Verona. Juliet, whose parents want her to marry Paris, asks Friar Laurence for help again. He suggests that Juliet fakes her death by drinking potion that puts her into a deathlike coma.
The plan was supposed to reach Romeo through a letter, but he does not get the message so that he returns to Verona thinking his loved Juliet is dead and kills himself with poison next to her tomb.
At this very moment, Juliet awakens and can not help Romeo anymore. She stabs herself to death with his dagger to be reunited with him.
Due to the death of their children, the families reconciliate.

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Hamlet, Prince of Denmark, receives the news of the sudden death of the King, his father, at high school in Wittenberg. He rushes home and arrives just in time for his mother's wedding to his uncle Claudius. This sudden change makes him think. At night, his father's ghost appears to him, accuses his uncle of murder and asks Hamlet to advance him. To explore whether the ghost is not misleading him, Hamlet decides to pretend to be mentally ill. Following Hamlet lets newly-appointed actors rehearse a play with which he wants to set a trap for the king, because it is as the ghost tells him about the murder. Hamlet believes he has gained certainty by the Kings sudden departure from the most obscure spot. However, Hamlet cannot encourage himself to take revenge on his uncle. True, if words were daggers, he would kill him. In vain he tries to deceive himself by philosophical questions about being or not being and about his weakness. He rages more against himself and against the one who is dearest to him, Ophelia, daughter of the chamberlain Polonius. Even when he finds the king alone at prayer, he misses the opportunity of revenge to kill, in a rapid change of mood,  the eavesdropper in the mothers chamber, who, however, is not the right one, he killed Polonius the father of Ophelia. About Hamlets madness and the fathers death Ophelia becomes really mad and drowns in the brook. Her brother Laertes, just returned from a trip to France, raises a Rebellin to advance his father and sister, but is provoked ageists Hamlet by the king. The prince has been sent as dangerous, because of his acting, to England, which ist depended on Denmark. Already on the way Hamlet discovered that death is waiting for him in England. He sends the overzealous courtiers Rosenkranz and Güldenstern instead and returns to Elsinore. Hamlet meets Laertes at the tomb of Ophelias. The King settles the dispute, but asks Laertes to fight Hamlet with the weapon ant to poison the top of his weapon and kill the prince. Hamlet is wounded, and snatches the sword, pierces Laertes and the king and dies like the latter along with his mother, who mistakes drank aroma cup of wine poisoned by the king for Hamlet. The young Fortinbras of Norway, who marches through the country, asserts his rights to the throne and Hamlet buried with royal honors.

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Hamlet has a tragic flaw in his personality and behavior. His flaw is that he is overly concerned with each and tragedy. This leads him to the death of several people including his mother and the new King. If Hamid did not have this fascination with death and tragedy, the death of several people would not have occurred including his own death.

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Othello, the protagonist of the play, is a dark-skinned general of Venice. He secretly marries Desdemona, who comes from a respectable family. Her father Brabantio never finds out about the relationship, because he discriminates against dark-skinned people. Jago is an officer and subordinate of Othello. He is married to the chambermaid Emilia. Cassio is an other officer in the service of Othello. Roderigo has always had an interest in Desdemona, however, she rejected him at the time. The play begins with Othello promoting his officer Cassio instead of the general Jago. The general vows to take revenge on the commander. Othello is sent to Cyprus to fight, whereupon his wife, his two generals and the chambermaid Emilia, follow him. A great celebration follow as they are victorious against Turkey. At the same time the wedding of Othello and Desdemona is made up. Roderigo continues to have feelings for Desdemona and allies himself with Jagos. Jagos then persuades him that Cassio is having an affair with Desdemona. Othello also overhears this rumor and fires his general. Iago advises Cassio to talk to Desdemona so that she will talk to her husband and Cassio will be reinstated. She critically discusses the matter with Othello, whereupon Iago persuades him that his wife's intercession was actually to hide an affair. Othello's jealousy turns into pure hate, which is reinforced by Iago. Iago is then ordered to kill Cassio and Othello wants to strangle his wife. Roderigo relies that he will never get Othello's wife. Cassio survives the attempted murder, whereupon Iago murders Roderigo. Othello then kills his own wife despite begging, invoking Jagos statements. Jagos wife Emilia manages to uncover the intrigue, but is stabbed to death by her husband (Iago) shortly thereafter, when Othello learns the truth through Emilia, he kills himself, whereupon Cassio becomes commander in Cyprus and Iago ends up in prison.

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- Full title: The Tragedy of Othello, the Moor of Venice
- Type of work: Play
- Genre: Tragedy in five acts
- Themes: racism, love, betrayal, revenge, jealousy
- The play is one of the major tragedies of Shakespeare
- Adaptation: The most famous adaptation of the work is Guiseppe Verdi's opera Otello
- Nearly any other work of Shakespeare enjoyed such a great popularity during the period of his creation and was so continuously performed on stage as Othello -> Othello belonged in the 17th and 18th century in England to Shakespeare's most popular plays
- The history of origin cannot be precisely identified these days, but most researcher assume an emergence of the work around 1603/4
- Shakespeare based Othello on a short story called Gli Hecatommithi, which was published in 1565 by Geraldi Cinthio
- The tragic hero of the play is Othello and his tragic flaw is jealousy. After Iago suggest to him that Desdemona might be cheating on him, he believe that she has been unfaithful and is having an affair. This results in Othello desiring to kill Desdemona.

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King Lear by William Shakespeare is considered to be the cruellest and hardest to act tragedy.
The play was written between 1603 and 1605 and premiered in 1606 by King Jakob I.. The content is based on an very old english legend. One of the main motives is the ambiguity of the insanity: In the mania of the king he is blended on the one side and sees everything clearly on the other side. There was a time when the original text wasn't played because it considered to be too cruel. Today the direction often focuses on the absurdity of the human being.
King Lear is divided in five acts which is the typical amount of acts for a tragedy like this.

Content:
Lear, the aging king of Britain, decides to step down from the throne and divide his kingdom evenly among his three daughters. First he puts his daughters through a test, asking each to tell him how much she loves him. Goneril and Regan, Lear’s older daughters, give their father flattering answers. But Cordelia, Lear’s youngest and favorite daughter, remains silent, saying that she has no words to describe how much she loves her father. Lear flies into a rage and disowns Cordelia. The king of France, who has courted Cordelia, says that he still wants to marry her even without her land, and she accompanies him to France without her father’s blessing.

Lear quickly learns that he made a bad decision. Goneril and Regan swiftly begin to undermine the little authority that Lear still holds. Unable to believe that his beloved daughters are betraying him, Lear slowly goes insane. He flees his daughters’ houses to wander on a heath during a great thunderstorm, accompanied by his Fool and by Kent, a loyal nobleman in disguise.

Meanwhile, an elderly nobleman named Gloucester also experiences family problems. His illegitimate son, Edmund, tricks him into believing that his legitimate son, Edgar, is trying to kill him. Fleeing the manhunt that his father has set for him, Edgar disguises himself as a crazy beggar and calls himself “Poor Tom.” Like Lear, he heads out onto the heath.

When the loyal Gloucester realizes that Lear’s daughters have turned against their father, he decides to help Lear in spite of the danger. Regan and her husband, Cornwall, discover him helping Lear, accuse him of treason, blind him, and turn him out to wander the countryside. He ends up being led by his disguised son, Edgar, toward the city of Dover, where Lear has also been brought.

In Dover, a French army lands as part of an invasion led by Cordelia in an effort to save her father. Edmund apparently becomes romantically entangled with both Regan and Goneril, whose husband, Albany, is increasingly sympathetic to Lear’s cause. Goneril and Edmund conspire to kill Albany.

The despairing Gloucester tries to commit suicide, but Edgar saves him by pulling the strange trick of leading him off an imaginary cliff. Meanwhile, the English troops reach Dover, and defeat the Cordelia-led French. Lear and Cordelia are captured. In the climactic scene, Edgar duels with and kills Edmund; we learn of the death of Gloucester; Goneril poisons Regan out of jealousy over Edmund and then kills herself when her treachery is revealed to Albany; Edmund’s betrayal of Cordelia leads to her needless execution in prison; and Lear finally dies out of grief at Cordelia’s passing. Albany, Edgar, and the elderly Kent are left to take care of the country under a cloud of sorrow and regret.

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main roles:

- Hamlet, prince of Denmark, son to the late king
- Claudius, king of Denmark

- Gertrude, queen of Denmark, Hamlet's mother, widow of the late king, married to Claudius
- Polonius, adviser of the king
- Ghost of Hamlet's father, the late king
- Ophelia, daughter of Polonius, love-interest of Hamlet
- Laertes, son of Polonius, brother of Ophelia
- Rosencrantz & Guildenstern, close friends of Hamlet
- Horatio, friend of Hamlet

Summary:

The tragedy "Hamlet The Prince Of Denmark" by William Shakespeare premiered in 1609 and tells the story of Hamlet who wishes to avenge the death of his father, the late king of Denmark, after he was murdered by his brother Claudius, the present king.
The play starts when two guards see the ghost of the late king and figure that he visits the castle every night. Soon Hamlet goes to see his father, after Horatio tells him about his visits. The late king says, that Claudius killed him and that Hamlet should seek revenge.
The audience also finds out that Hamlet is courting Ophelia, but her father Polonius and her brother Laertes want her to turn him down.
In the second act, Claudius wants Rosencrantz and Guildenstern to spy on Hamlet. The latter immediately is able to see through their scheme and invites Claudius to a play.
In the meantime, everyone starts to the believe that Hamlet is losing his mind. Polonius believes this is due to Ophelia rejecting him and - to prove his theory - he arranges for them to meet up.
In the next act, Hamlet indeed does act a little strangely around her, but Claudius has his doubts that Ophelia is the reason why.
The play Hamlet invited the king to shows a murder taking place similar to the way Claudius killed the late king, because the prince changed the original play to fit his plan. Deeply disturbed by the similarities to the actual events, Claudius plays into Hamlet's hands by storming out in the middle of the performance. This seems to prove that he is indeed guilty for murdering the king.
Because he is afraid of revenge, he prepares for Hamlet to go to England.
The prince witnesses Claudius confessing his guilt in prayer, but decides not to kill him immediately, because of the current situation.
Then Hamlet gets in a heated argument with his mother, about wether or not she is also guilty. In frustration she cries for help, making Polonius who is hiding behind a curtain move. The prince sees the movement and stabs him to death hrough the curtain with out looking to see who it is.
In act four, Claudius' fear has increased so much that he arranges for Hamlet to be killed when he arives in England.
In the meantime, Ophelia has lost her mind due to her fathers death and all of the chaos going on.
Afterwards, Laertes returns from a trip and seeks revenge from Hamlet for his father's death and his sister's condition.
Meanwhile Hamlet returns home early from his trip to England, after finding out that the king had arranged for him to be killed upon his arrival in England.
Now that the prince is home again, Claudius demands Laertes to duel Hamlet. To make sure the prince dies, Laertes' blade is dunked in poison and Hamlet is suposed to drink poisoned wine during a break in the duel. Gertrude interrupts them  in their planing to tell them that Ophelia has died. This causes Laertes to flip out.
The last act begins with a priest refusing to give Ophelia a christian burial as long as the circumstances of her death are unclear. Outraged, Laertes jumps into Ophelias grave. Hamlet follows suit and the two begin to fight. Then, Claudius demands for them to be separated.
Later, the prince recieves the request to duel from Laertes and accepts.
At the duel, the queen accidentally drinks the poisoned wine. In the heat of battle, both Hamlet and Laertes are wounded by the poisonous blade.
Hamlet uses his last moments to live to expose that Claudius killed the late king and was trying to kill Hamlet, to stab the king to death and to make up with Laertes.

The Tragic Flaw:

Hamlet's tragic flaw seems to be in his personality, actions and behaviour. The most fatal example of this is that he hesitates to kill the murderer of his father for too long. His indecisiveness gave Claudius time to doubt him and make plans to murder Hamlet, before he could get revenge. Because of this, he could only go through with the murder whilst dying himself.

Dinah Schlöter und Magdalena Soleil Lyon

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“Sonnet 18” is one of the best known of all 154 sonnets of Shakespeare and it may be even the most famous poem in English literature. Especially the opening line “Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day” is a very common line in the romantic world.

The sonnet has the focus on the loveliness of an unknown lover; summer tends to unpleasant extremes of windiness and heat, but the beloved is always mild and temperate. The poem’s subject is compared to both an idyllic summer’s day and the less-welcome dim sun and rough autumn winds.

At the end of the poem it is insinuated that this very poem will keep the lover alive forever and death will be silent. The sonnet itself serves as a guarantee that this person's beauty will be sustained.

The sonnet has the regular rhyme scheme ABAB CDCD EFEF GG. It is mostly written in an iambic parameter, although it partially contains trochees and anapests.
- Isabel

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William Shakespeare's tragedy "Romeo and Juliet" is set in the northern Italian city of Verona and was first performed in London around 1597. The drama is set around the same time. "Romeo and Juliet" is one of the most famous love stories ever written.

In "Romeo and Juliet", the only children of the powerful Montague and Capulet families fall in love. However, both families are bitter enemies and constantly have fierce arguments with each other. Romeo and Juliet must therefore keep their love a secret from their parents. In order to take the first step towards reconciliation between the two families, they get married by Father Lorenzo, who is confident that this will bring the two families closer together. However, a bloody confrontation ensues between Juliet's cousin Tybalt and Romeo, in which Tybalt loses his life. This event eventually leads to a dramatic turn. Romeo is forced to flee Verona because of the danger of being tracked down and killed by members of the Capulet family. His family banishes him to Mantua. Meanwhile in Verona, Juliet is to be married against her will to Paris, a sympathiser of the Capulet parents. In order to avoid this marriage, she embarks on a risky plan with Father Lorenzo. She ingests a sleeping potion which renders her unconscious for 42 hours. Romeo is supposed to learn about this venture through a letter, which, however, does not reach him due to a mishap. A friend of Romeo's fatally informs him of Juliet's death, who is buried motionless in the Capulet family tomb. Incredulous and beside himself with worry, Romeo rushes to Verona to see for himself the misfortune. When Romeo sees Juliet lying motionless in the tomb, he can hardly believe his eyes. In order to be united with Juliet in death, he ingests poison and dies at her side. However, when Juliet awakens from her death-like sleep, she is shocked by the failed plan and the death of her lover and also takes her own life with Romeo's dagger. When both families witness this great misfortune, they decide to reconcile at the grave of their children and realise the terrible extent of their mutual hatred.

~ Luca & Nick

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Tragic Flaw is the failing of a character which leads to its downfall. Shakespeare added this tragic flaw to most of his works.
It leads to a catastrophe in the end, for example to the death of the characters.
In one of Shakespeare´s most famous plays, Romeo and Juliet, Romeo is very impulsive. He has already found the “love of his life” but fell in love with Juliet the first time he saw her. Because of the impulsive marriage, everything goes into another direction than it would be good for everyone who is involved. This leads to their death because Romeo thinks that Juliet died and kills himself even though he could have realized that she was alive if he had overthought the situation. Unfortunately, he dies just the moment Juliet awakens and then she kills herself as well. So, the impulsiveness leads to the tragic ending of the play.

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Romeo and Juliet meet at a party and fall in love. The problem is that their families are different gangs who hate each other. They know very well that they will never be allowed to marry. They get help from a mutual friend, Friar Laurence, who makes it possible for them to marry in secret. On the same day, the two gangs duel and Romeo kills Juliet's cousin. Therefore, he must leave the city so that he will not be killed.
Since Juliet's parents know nothing about her marriage, she must marry a man called Paris. Of course, she does not want to at first, but then Friar Laurence has a plan. They want to fake Juliet's death so that after she is dead, she can leave town and be with Romeo.
Romeo knows nothing of her plan and learns that she is dead. He visits her at her grave. He does not want to live without her, so he kills himself. Juliet then wakes up and sees that Romeo is dead. She does not want to live without him either, so she kills herself.
-Christina and Ewa

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Summary:
Antonio, an antisemitic merchant, takes a loan from the Jew Shylock to help his friend to court Portia. Antonio can't repay the loan, and without mercy, Shylock demands a pound of his flesh. The heiress Portia, now the wife of Antonio's friend, dresses as a lawyer and saves Antonio.
(It was seen as a kind of joke by Antonio, that he would then have to give Shylock a pound of flesh, which is why the latter agreed.)
Antonio's death is only prevented as Balthazar, who is Portia in disguise, explains the bond is for flesh but not for a single drop of blood. So Shylock cannot collect the pound of flesh and slowly everything solves itself.

- It is believed to have been written between 1596 and 1599
- Although classified as a comedy in the First Folio and sharing certain aspects with Shakespeare's other romantic comedies, the play is most remembered for its dramatic scenes, and it is best known for Shylock and his famous "Hath not a Jew eyes?" speech on humanity. Also notable is Portia's speech about "the quality of mercy"
-  The play was mentioned by Francis Meres ( an English churchman and author) in 1598, so it must have been familiar on the stage by that date

- Alexandra

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Romeo
-around 16 years old
-intelligent, sensitive, handsome, impulsive, passionate
-is not interested in violence, but in love
-is first in love with Rosaline, but forgets her when he meets Juliet
-secretly marries Juliet
-would do everything for Juliet

Juliet
-13 years old
-beautiful, courageous
-first naive, grows up when she falls in love with Romeo
-trusts to Romeo her life
-is willing to exclude the nurse, her best friend, from her life for Romeo

Friar Lawrence
-friend of Romeo and Juliet
-kind, always has a plan, Catholic
-hopes that the marriage stops the war
-secretly marries Romeo and Juliet
-knows how to use potions and herbs

Mercutio
-Romeo's best friend
-imaginative, passionate, hotheaded
-loves wordplay and double entendres
-thinks that love is just sexual attraction

The Nurse
-knows Juliet since her birth
-vulgar, sentimental, loyal
-makes a lot of inappropriate remarks
-believes in love, but sees love as earthy and sexual and doesn't understand how someone could sacrifice himself for love

Setting
-Verona, Italy
-probably in the 14th century
-Italy stood for passion and romances
-Shakespeare thought that Italian women are more sexually passionate

Themes
Love, passion, danger, youth, violence, society, fate, sex

-Christina and Ewa

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-comedy written in 1598 and 1599
-included in First Folio
-published in 1623
- is about a marriage of the young soldier Claudio and the governor's daughter Hero
-brother from king tries to sabotage the wedding
-Benedick and Beatrice(cousin from Hero)  are tricked into confessing their love for each other
- Benedict wins Beatrice love
-Claudio is deceived by a malicious plot and denounces Hero as unchased before they marry
- Hero faints and is believed dead
-king Don Petro want to help both pairs
-marriage are arranged for both pairs

-Mira und Kathi

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The Merchant of Venice

Written 1596-1598

Premiere 10.February 1605 in front of king Jakob the first at the palace of whitehall

Comedy

Summary:
• Antonio, an antisemitic merchant, takes a loan from the Jew Shylock to help his friend, Bassanio, to pursue Portia. When Antonios ships get lost, he can’t repay the loan and Shylock goes to court. He demands ''a pound of Antonios flesh'' for the loan. The heiress Portia, the fiancee of Bassanio, tricks the court and saves Antonio life. At the end all of Antonio‘s friends marry and prepare to celebrate.
Beginning
• In Venice, the merchant Antonio waiters for his ships when his friends, Bassanio, Graziano and Lorenzo, arrive. Bassanio wants court Portia and needs Antonios money for it. Because of the overdue of Antonios ships he can’t help his friend and sends him to Shylock. With the security of Antonio’s soon to arrive shipments, Shylock offers him the money. Instead of charging interest he aks for a pound of Antonios flesh, if the loan will not be repaid in three months.
Portia‘s suitors have to pass a test, made by Portias dead father. The suitors have to choose the correct casket made from the three possible options: gold,silver and lead. None of the men passed the test, except for Bassanio.

Shylock shows no mercy to Antonio, because
• Shylock daughter wants to become a Christian, in order to marry Antonio’s friend Lorenzo. Jessica escapes and takes gold and jewels with her. Shylock rails bitterly against Christians and is sad over the loss of his daughter.
• Antonio is a antisemitic

The trick
• To save Antonios life, Portia resorts to a ruse. She and her friend dress up as lawyers and convince the judge to go easy on Antonio. In the end Portia, as Balthazar, wins and Shylock has to forfeits his goods and must be baptized.
Carla

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•Place: Athens and a forest
•Persons:
-Theseus (Duce of Athens)
-Hyppolyta (Queen of Amazon’s, engaged with Theseus)
-Egeus  (Hermia’s father)
-Lysander (amorous to Hermia)
-Demetrius (amorous to Hermia)
-few craftsmen
-Hermia (daughter to Dermetrius, Hermias friend)
-Oberon (King of fairies)
-Titania (Queen of fairies)
-Puck (king’s jesters)
-some fairies

Egeus asks Duke Theseus to uphold an old law that says he can choose his daughter’s husband. He chooses Demetrius to marry Hermia. Lysander and Hermia doesn’t have to marry Demetrius.

The title tells the audience right away that the play is going to deal in some way with a sort of dream on a summer night.

•It is humorous
•It has a happy ending

Cora