The Story of Romeo and Juliet – Audiobook in English with Subtitles
Romeo and Juliet The story starts with a battle between the servants of the two rivals families, Montague and Capulet, put down by the Prince of Verona. Count Paris, a young nobleman, talks to Capulet asking to marry his daughter, Juliet. Capulet invites him to attract the attention of Juliet during a ball of that night. Meanwhile Juliet's mother tries to persuade her to accept to marry Paris, also if she don't like him. Romeo, Montague's son, is infatuated of a Capulet, Rosalind, and he goes to the ball to see her, with his friends Mercutio and Benvolio. But there he meet, instead of Rosalind, Juliet and they fall in love. Romeo remain in the Capulet garden after the party, to stay with Juliet, and in the famous balcony scene, they declare their love for each other. The next day, with the help of Juliet's Nurse and the Friar Lawrence, Romeo and Juliet get married in secret, hoping to bring peace between the two families. Tybalt invites Romeo, but he refuses to fight because they are now kinsmen because Romeo has married Juliet. Mercutio, who doesn't know this, is angered by Tybalt's insolence and decides to fight him. But Mercutio is wounded and dies, wishing "a plague on the two houses. Romeo, angered, kills Tybalt. The Prince punishes Romeo with the exile. So he sees Juliet one last time and he goes to Mantua. Juliet now has to marry Paris after 3 days, but the Friar Lawrence gives her a potion that put her to a "supposed-death" for forty-two hours. But unfortunately Romeo learns about Juliet's death from a servant, for this he buys a poison, he returns to Verona in secret, and goes to the Capulet's crypt and dies near Juliet. When Juliet awakes and sees Romeo dead, she kills herself with his dagger.
The Story of Othello (William Shakespeare) – Audiobook in English with Subtitles
Othello Sources It's, of Shakespeare's tragedies, the most powerful in emotional impact. He took inspiration from a tale contained in Giraldi Cinthio's Hecatommithi (The Hundred Fables), written in 1565 in which ten moral virtues or their opposite are illustrated by ten tales from contemporary life. He follow exactly the story, except for some things. In Cinthio's collection the only name mentioned is Desdemona, the others are called with their titles. Shakespeare added a new character, Roderigo, who want Othello's wife and is killed. In Cinthio the moor never complain about having killed his wife and him and Iago escape from Venice and are killed some time after. There's also a moral of the story, but Shakespeare remove it. (European ladies aren't adapt to marry stranger people). Plot Desdemona is a young and beautiful lady from one of the most important aristocratic families of Venice. She could have chosen everyone to become her husband, but she choose Othello, a Muslim general in the service of Venice; he's a very important person as he's a general, but he's also a stranger. The two lovers are totally different starting from races (as for example in The merchant of Venice it's very important the theme of racial discrimination; in representations the role of Othello is usually played by "black man", but from the title "The moor of Venice" we can think of him probably as a person from northern Africa) and he's also older than her. Desdemona and Othello has eloped and secretly got married and the play starts with her father Barbantio wondering why she has chosen him, he can't believe it and thinks he have bewitched her. The case is brought to the Duke of Venice, who called Desdemona and asked her what has happened and she resolves the dispute by acknowledging split loyalties to her father and to her new husband, making clear that now she belongs to Othello. She said that the things that charms her were the stories of his travels and battles. The beginning of the play is set in Venice, but then, because of the Turks who threaten to invade Cyprus, Othello is moved there to defend it and so the scene moved there. There are two soldiers under Othello who aspire to the promotion to lieutenant. Othello decides for Cassio, and Iago plans to avenge himself on both Cassio and Othello. He decides to break the happiness between Othello and Desdemona. He manage to make Othello promoting him lieutenant by making Cassio drunk and involve him in a brawl and convincing Othello he isn't the the right person to promote to lieutenant. Than Iago convinces Othello to keep an eye on Cassio, because he suspected his wife has been unfaithful to him with Cassio. He managed to give to Cassio a Desdemona's kerchief with his wife Emilia's help and when Othello sees it, Iago pretend to defend Cassio, but completely gone crazy for jealousy kills Desdemona in nuptial bed. Then Emilia confesses the truth, that Desdemona's betrayal wasn't true and Jago immediately kills her. Othello then kills himself because of what he has done, Iago is arrested and sentenced to be tortured and Cassio takes the title of general which has been of Othello. The figure of Iago During the play the figure of Othello changes, thanks to Iago, who manoeuvres him little by little in a position in which is fate is uncertain; his transformation is reflected in his way of speak; he starts see through Iago's eyes. We don't know why Iago do these things against Othello, it's one of tragedy's biggest mystery. At the end of the tragedy he says "From now on I speak no more". He's a different villain from the others: he do everything just because he's wicked, none other reasons. There are also some critics who find in a line spoken by Iago the reason for what he do, he says that Othello has done his business in his sheets. But it's only a suspect.
The Merchant of Venice – Kupec benátský
THE MERCHANT OF VENICE THE PLOT The plot is organized on two levels: the main plot is the dispute over money matters between the Venetian Antonio and the Jewish money-lender Shylock; the subplot regards the choice of a husband for the rich lady Portia, who lives in Belmont. FIRST ACT: in a street of Venice Antonio is telling two of his friend, Salerio and Solano, that he has invested all his money in foreign trade. Three other friends are introduced: Bassanio, Gratiano and Lorenzo, who will later elope with Shylock's daughter, Jessica. Bassanio will travel to Belmont to woo Portia. Meanwhile, in Portia's estate at Belmont, she speaks with her servant, Nerissa, about the marriage plan that her recently dead father has arranged. According to her father's will Portia's suitors must undergo a test which involves choosing among three caskets or chests, one of gold, one of silver, and one of lead. Bassanio needs to obtain a loan from Shylock, but Antonio expresses his contempt for the greedy usurer. Shylock arrives, and conveys his hatred for Antonio as a Christian who despises Jews, denounces usury, and upsets the money-lending trade by not changing interest. Shylock agrees to supply Bassanio with three thousand ducats for three months: if Bassanio fails to repay him, then Antonio must give a ‘pound of flesh' to Shylock. Antonio agrees to this condition. SECOND ACT: in Belmont two of Portia's suitors choose a casket: the Prince of Morocco chooses the golden one but finds am image of Death in it, the Prince of Arragon selects the silver chest which contains a picture of a blinking idiot. Then the fair Bassanio comes on his quest for Portia's hand. At Shylock's house in Venice Jessica gives the servant-clown Launcelot a letter for her secret lover, Lorenzo, in which she promises to elope with him. THIRD ACT: in Venice Shylock is furious because Jessica has fled his house with his ducats and jewels. In Belmont Bassanio selects the leaden chest and, when he unlocks it, he finds a portrait of Portia. She agrees to marry him while Nerissa and Gratiano announce their plans to wed in a double ceremony. Antonio's ships have been shipwrecked, so he cannot repay Shylock, and the usurer claims his flesh. While Antonio is in jail in Venice, Portia plans to disguise herself as a lawyer and plead Antonio's case against Shylock's suit at the court of the Duke of Venice FOURTH ACT: the trial takes place at the court of the Duke of Venice. Disguised as a lawyer, Portia offers Shylock a huge sum of money and tries to persuade him to drop the charge against Antonio, but Shylock refuses. Therefore she says that if Shylock sheds a single drop of Antonio's blood while exacting his revenge, he will be committing a capital crime. Portia then points out that Shylock has committed another crime; he is a non-citizen of Venice who has threatened the life of the citizen Antonio and is therefore subject to the death penalty unless the Duke says otherwise. The Duke of Venice spares Shylock's life and allows him to keep half of his remaining wealth if he converts to Christianity and gives the other half to Jessica and Lorenzo. FIFTH ACT: all of the positive characters are in front of Portia's Belmont mansion and comment upon some of the themes raised in the play. The play ends with musical accompaniment and a happy note. The Merchant of Venice is one of Shakespeare's plays which defies easy classification because it analyses serious themes and leaves some issues unresolved.