Complete Works (Modern Library)

by William Shakespeare

So long as we have wars, rape, codes of honor, and violent acts of revenge, Shakespeare’s tragic vision will go on being contemporary. So long as we continue to be fascinated by human relationships—children rebelling against parents, mothers struggling to let their sons grow up and break free, best friends falling for the same girl, servants and counselors who are wiser than their masters, ordinary people using jokes as a way of deflating those in authority—his comic vision will also remain alive.