Tragedy Books

A Florentine Tragedy; La Sainte Courtisane

Oscar Wilde

Two short fragments: an unfinished and a lost play. A Florentine Tragedy, left in a taxi (not a handbag), is Wilde’s most successful attempt at tragedy – intense and domestic, with surprising depth of..

The Jew of Malta

Christopher Marlowe

The Jew of Malta (1589) is an original story of religious conflict, intrigue, and revenge, set against a backdrop of the struggle for supremacy between Spain and the Ottoman Empire in the Mediterranea..

Tamburlaine the Great — Part 1

Christopher Marlowe

Tamburlaine the Great is a play in two parts by Christopher Marlowe. It is loosely based on the life of the Central Asian emperor, Timur (Tamerlane/Timur the Lame, d. 1405). Written in 1587 or 1588, t..

Iphigenie auf Tauris

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Iphigenia in Tauris is a reworking by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe of the ancient Greek tragedy Ἰφιγένεια ἐν Ταύροις by Euripides. Euripides' title means "Iphigenia among the Taurians", whereas Goethe's..

Philaster

Francis Beaumont & John Fletcher

Philaster, or Love Lies a-Bleeding is an early Jacobean era stage play, a tragicomedy written by Francis Beaumont and John Fletcher. One of the duo's earliest successes, the play helped to establish t..

Helen Vardon's Confession

R Austin Freeman

Helen Vardon's Confessionby R. Austin FreemanThrough the open door of a library, Helen Vardon hears an argument that changes her life forever. Helen's father and a man called Otway argue over missing ..

Richard II

William Shakespeare

The Life and Death of King Richard the Second, commonly called Richard II, is a history play by William Shakespeare believed to have been written in approximately 1595. The play spans only the la..

The Two Noble Kinsmen

William Shakespeare

The Two Noble Kinsmen is a Jacobean tragicomedy co-written by William Shakespeare and John Fletcher, first published in 1634. Set in ancient Greece during a war between Athens and Thebes, the narrativ..