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.

          - 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

        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. 

        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

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