One of the greatest Shakespeare scholars of our time, Harold Bloom presents Othello's Iago, perhaps the Bard's most compelling villain, in his fourth in a series of five short books about the great playwright's most significant personalities. In all of literature, few antagonists display the ruthless cunning and unscrupulous deceit of Iago, the antagonist to Othello. Often described as Machiavellian, Iago is a fascinating psychological specimen: at...

Offers an in-depth exploration of Shakespeare's character Cleopatra, delving into the complexities of her personality as well as how the author's understanding of her has evolved over the years. A noted Shakespeare scholar presents a compelling portrait of one of the Bard?s most unforgettable female characters?and one of the most famous women in history, who has fascinated readers and audiences for centuries.

From the ambitious and mad titular character to his devilish wife Lady Macbeth to the moral and noble Banquo to the mysterious Three Witches, Macbeth is one of William Shakespeare's more brilliantly populated plays and remains among the most widely read, performed in innovative productions set in a vast array of times and locations, from Nazi Germany to Revolutionary Cuba. Macbeth is a distinguished warrior hero, who over the course of the play, transforms...