Eight Tragedies of Shakespeare

Victor Kiernan (1913-2009) ranks among Britain's most distinguished historians. After a fellowship at Trinity College, Cambridge, and a long period spent teaching in India, he joined the History Department at the University of Edinburgh, where he served as professor of modern history from 1970 until his retirement. Over the course of his life he authored such works as European Empires from Conquest to Collapse; The Duel in European History; The Lords of Human Kind and numerous others.Terry Eagleton is a literary critic, writer and chair in English literature in Lancaster University's department of English and creative writing. He is the author of Shakespeare and Society amongst many other works.

• Introduction by Terry EagletonForewordPart I: ProgrammaticPart II: Introductory1. The Condition of England2. The Theatre3. Shakespeare and Tragedy4. The Tragic Road5. The OthersPart III: The Plays1. Julius Caeser (1598-99)2. Hamlet (1600-01)3. Othello (1603-04)4. King Lear (1605-06)5. Macbeth (1606)6. Timon of Athens (1606-08)7. Anthony and Cleopatra (1606-08)8. Coriolanus (1608) Part IV: Tragic Themes1. The Hero2. Villains and Revengers3. Man and Superman4. War5. Political Shadows6. Women and Men7. Religion and Philosophy8. Endings and Beginnings

[A] splendid Marxist exploration of Shakespeare’s work... Victor Kiernan was a historian to rank with Eric Hobsbawm and Christopher Hill. His approach to Shakespeare is based on a deep historical understanding of the contradictions of the period, which makes him deeply sensitive to what the plays reveal.