A timeless masterpiece by Shakespeare, the great poet and philosopher with a universal heart, who deeply explores the problems of human suffering and the joyful and malevolent aspects of human society, transcending time and space to resonate with readers around the world!

Shakespeare's four major tragedies, Hamlet, Othello, King Lear, and Macbeth, and five major comedies, The Taming of the Shrew, A Midsummer Night's Dream, The Merchant of Venice, As You Like It, and Twelfth Night, which have had a great influence on writers and artists around the world, have been published in one volume so that not only students majoring in English education and English literature, but also those studying acting and directing can easily read them.
The fame and influence of Shakespeare, the greatest playwright in the history of world literature, explains why he is still so revered four hundred years after his death.

The more you try to dry it, the more it burns. That is love.

The more you block a gently flowing stream, the more forcefully it flows.

William Shakespeare, born in England, had a profound influence on writers and artists around the world and is considered the greatest writer in the history of English literature.
He is one of the greatest playwrights in the history of world literature, leaving behind masterpieces of skill and expression that offer insight into life and the universe. His works are praised as the best works written in the English language.


He is not only a great poet, the pride of the British people, but also a philosopher with a universal heart for all times, and his works contain elements that allow us to explore all areas of life that transcend time and space.
Hamlet's famous soliloquy, "To be or not to be, that is the question," from Shakespeare's immortal work, The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark, excites and ecstasies with his inimitable language and method.
His works, which are revered as a brilliant legacy of humanity and a great writer who has insight into the human mind, are still remembered today. British novelist Jane Austen said, "You come to know Shakespeare without knowing it."
It is part of the British Constitution, and its thoughts and beauty are spread all over the world, so that everywhere one touches it and is instinctively close to it.'
And Carlyle said, 'India will one day be lost, but Shakespeare will never disappear and will be with us forever,' and Elizabeth I also said, 'I would not give up Shakespeare even if I had to give up the whole country.'
Shakespeare's fame and influence explain why he is still so revered four hundred years after his death.


Shakespeare's works, which have had a profound influence on English literature, theater, and world culture, and contain profound reflections on human nature, transcend race and language and convey stories that anyone can relate to. They exquisitely portray the various elements of tragedy and comedy hidden within the human psyche, such as greed, conspiracy, and frustration, while expressing the English language more beautifully than anyone else.
His more than forty plays, translated into every language in the world, have inspired countless works of art and are still performed and widely read around the world, remaining world classics even after hundreds of years.


His representative works, the four major tragedies Hamlet, Othello, King Lear, and Macbeth, and the five major comedies The Taming of the Shrew, A Midsummer Night's Dream, The Merchant of Venice, As You Like It, and Twelfth Night, are extremely popular and have become must-reads not only for students majoring in English education and English literature, but also for those who dream of becoming actors and studying acting or directing.

--- From the "Header"

Hamlet is the earliest of Shakespeare's four major tragedies, written between 1599 and 1601, and is considered one of his most famous and popular works.
Hamlet is a work written during the period when Shakespeare had insight into life and the universe and his technique and expression were mature. It was first published in 1603 as a plagiarized version made with the audience's shorthand.
And the first performance of this play was also around this time.
Hamlet is set in the Danish royal family in the early 13th century. It is about Prince Hamlet, who was robbed of his throne and mother by his uncle who poisoned his father, and who seeks revenge on the orders of the ghost of his father. It was also adapted in England as the "original Hamlet."
It is said to have been attributed to Thomas Kyd, author of The Spanish Tragedy, but it has not survived.
Shakespeare seems to have made reference to this when he produced the play Hamlet.
Hamlet is a revenge tragedy, and the human nature of the protagonist, the prince, is presented as an eternal enigma, a character trying to transcend life in the gaps between thought and action, truth and falsehood, conscience and determination, belief and skepticism.
Hamlet must avenge his father and restore order to the country.
However, due to his indecisive personality, he is unable to make a decision and misses the right time.
Also, the soliloquy, 'To be or not to be, that is the question', well reveals Hamlet's personality.
This play, considered one of Shakespeare's most humane works, has raised many questions and controversies regarding the interpretation of the protagonist's personality.


The first recorded performance of Othello is said to have been performed by the King's Company on November 1, 1604.
The production date is also estimated to be 1604.
The original title of Othello is The Tragedy of Othello, the Moor of Venice.
The first printed edition of the work, which consists of five acts, was published in 1623, after Shakespeare's death.
Othello, a black professional soldier, is a general employed by the Duchy of Venice.
Othello is a simple-minded, romantic idealist.
The heroine, Desdemona, was a naive and beautiful woman, but also strong-willed enough to abandon her father for the man she loved.
This play is a tragedy that depicts the process in which Othello's love for his wife is cruelly destroyed by the schemes of the villain Iago. It is a work that highlights human distrust and trust rather than psychological conflict.
In this work, Shakespeare lets the devilish evil of Ago fully unfold, making Othello a foolish and vulnerable character and destroying him.
Iago's pursuit of evil, called 'unmotivated evil', vividly portrays human evil.
This work is not based on any historical facts, but can be seen as a kind of domestic tragedy.
Yet, among Shakespeare's four major tragedies, it is the most realistic and tragically colored work, and its depiction of human love and jealousy and the consequences they bring about fully highlights Shakespeare's genius.

King Lear was written in 1606 and first published in 1608.
The earliest recorded performance of the play is at court on December 26, 1606.
King Lear is composed of five acts and is based on the legendary English King Lear.
It is a work based on the motif of the test of affection between the old King Lear and his three daughters, and depicts the figures of the subjects who are loyal to the king in their respective positions.
While Shakespeare's other tragedies deal with the conflicts and downfalls that arise from human relationships, King Lear is a tragedy with a very political and social perspective, depicting the process by which the destruction of ties between kin escalates into the collapse of the cosmic order.
King Lear's tragic story is about how, despite the need for clear wisdom, if one lacks discernment, one ends up bringing about tragedy.
Only after everything is taken away from him does King Lear realize that he is just a human being, a mere naked animal.
Also, along with the tragedy of King Lear, the tragedy of the Earl of Gloucester expresses the misery of people who have abandoned grace.
It is rare to find a work that addresses the question of good and evil in humanity at such a fundamental level, and it is also rare to find examples that highlight the inherent tragedy of life.
King Lear is considered to be the largest and most emotionally intense of Shakespeare's tragedies.

The date of writing of "Macbeth" is estimated to be 1606.
The first performance is also estimated to be around 1606.
In this story, Macbeth, a general, kills King Duncan and takes the crown, but is brutally killed by the rebellion of the barons and the rebellion of his own conscience.
This shows that when humans become excessively greedy beyond their means, it becomes the cause of destruction, blood begets blood, and retaliation for murder ends in more murder.
Shakespeare describes the personalities of his characters in very unique ways.
Macbeth is usually ambitious, but he lacks the ability to carry it out and is weak-hearted.
He is overcome with human anguish when he realizes that usurping the throne is treason.
However, his wife is a person with no conscience and great ambition.
When Macbeth succeeds to the throne through his wife's scheme, he still has a conscience and feels anxious about the future, so he kills the dangerous people predicted by the witches.
After that, Macbeth's wife suffers from guilt and ends up sleepwalking, and Macbeth, driven by power, usurps the throne and suffers the tragic consequences it brings.
Macbeth is a tragedy that teaches the lesson of karma and retribution, dealing with the proposition that while being a villain, the human conscience and the collapse of the soul are destroyed.
It deeply penetrates the universal phenomenon of human society, where evil excludes good and disorder destroys order, and arouses both fear and empathy in us.

The Taming of the Shrew is a highly regarded comedy written by Shakespeare between 1590 and 1594, a unique play that tells the story of a family in Padua, Italy.
Among Shakespeare's many other works, The Taming of the Shrew is a unique play-within-a-play structured as a play-within-a-play, with the prologue, which explains the play and outlines the work before the play begins, being an authentic induction play developed into a frame-based structure.
The Taming of the Shrew is an early work by Shakespeare, consisting of five acts, depicting the process by which Petruchio, a gentleman from Verona, tames the shrew Katharina into a docile wife. It is a work of study inspired by Italian comedy.
It is the story of Petruchio, a generous and cheerful gentleman, who proposes to the notorious tomboy Katharina and deliberately behaves recklessly to tame her into becoming a docile wife.
"The Taming of the Shrew" is a romantic comedy that combines the elements of a farce and romantic comedy, a play-within-a-play that has been the subject of various interpretations and controversies depending on the era, and is a work that reveals his genius in praising the misogyny of taming a wife and the submissive female image, or satirizing and criticizing the patriarchal society of the time.


A Midsummer Night's Dream is Shakespeare's representative romantic comedy, written around 1594-1595 and first published in 1600. It is a story about two couples caught in a love quadrangle based on characters from Greek mythology, and the friction and discord of their entangled love eventually harmonize into reconciliation and marriage through supernatural powers.
"A Midsummer Night's Dream" is a five-act comedy similar to the story of "Romeo and Juliet," containing tragic content such as the difficulties of love between a young man and woman due to their parents' opposition and the suicide that occurs due to misunderstandings caused by the time difference.
This play was created to celebrate the wedding of a nobleman, and is a work composed of three different groups, inspired by folklore related to the May and Summer ceremonies.
First, the Athenians; second, Bottom and his colleagues preparing the play; and third, the nymphs.
And the tragedy Romeo and Juliet, written around the same time, also has the same subject matter as the story of Pyramus and Thisbe, which is performed as a play in the middle of this comedy.
He appears to have written two works, a comedy and a tragedy, on the same subject.
This play, a collection of diverse materials, is a romantic comedy that organically connects three different groups, borrowing the form of A Midsummer Night's Dream to depict the true love of young people and the commotion caused by fairies who cast a spell on them, creating a fantastic and romantic atmosphere, and enhancing the perfection of Shakespeare's comedic creations during his youth.

The Merchant of Venice, based on a short story by the Italian writer Giovanni, was written around 1596–1598 and first published in 1600. It is the story of a Venetian merchant who owes a large sum of money to a vicious Jew and is tried for cannibalism.
The Merchant of Venice is a five-act comedy that depicts the romantic love between a young man and a young woman who borrow money from the moneylender Shylock in order for the poor merchant Bassanio to propose to his beloved Portia, and the triumph of virtue over evil. It is a comedy that compares and judges the thoughts and attitudes toward life of the protagonist and the antagonist in the European society of the time through a trial format.
The reason this work became his most famous comedy may be because of the character of Shylock, the Jewish moneylender who appears in the play.
Set in the bustling streets of Venice, this is a delightful and enigmatic tale of absurd trials where a woman is asked to pay a pound of flesh instead of money, and a man choosing a marriage partner according to his father's will.
It is a story about a love affair between a Jew and a Christian, and the embarrassment she suffered because of a ring she gave to a judge disguised as a man.
Rather than being a triumph of virtue over vice, this comedy teaches us not to confuse appearances with reality, as shown in the box-picking game of finding a marriage partner.
Whatever the motive, Shylock ends up becoming a tragic figure, and Portia's line about the 'nature of mercy' in the trial scene is also a famous line.
The Merchant of Venice interestingly weaves together the conflict between Judaism and Christianity, with religious conflicts emphasized and the entire work reflecting the circumstances of the time.
The Merchant of Venice is a representative work of Shakespeare's that is classified as a comedy, but also has a tragic aspect.

As You Like It is a romantic comedy composed of 22 scenes in 5 acts, written around 1598-1599 and first published in 1623. It is set in a pastoral countryside and depicts the story of the Duke of No, who has lost his lands to his younger brother Frederick; Orlando, who is threatened with assassination by his brother; Oliver, who pursues him; Rosalind, who is hated and driven out by her uncle; and Celia, the uncle's daughter who runs away with her. They come to the Forest of Arden to escape the reality they face, and there, a young man and woman fall in love and get married.
"As You Like It" is a comedy that belongs to the pastoral genre and deals with love between men and women, sibling conflict over land, usurpation of power, jealousy, animosity, a woman disguised as a man, and elements of a play within a play, based on the novel "Rosalind" by contemporary writer Thomas Losey. It vividly depicts conflicts such as a younger brother expelling his older brother to usurp the position of duke, and an older brother expelling his younger brother without giving him his inheritance, and from the very beginning, a tense and dangerous palace atmosphere is unfolding.
As You Like It is a typical romantic comedy that shines with Shakespeare's idea that good and evil, black and white, cannot be distinguished and that the standards for them are meaningless, with the ideal pastoral life of the Forest of Arden, which is the central setting of this play, contrasting with the corrupt society of the palace, and the romance that takes place within it, and the tragic aspect that criticizes human society, also being highlighted as issues.

Twelfth Night, written around 1601-1602 and first published in 1623, is the story of twins who are separated by a shipwreck during a voyage and fall in love.
This work is about the series of events that unfold after the twins Viola and Sebastian are shipwrecked in Illyria, due to the misunderstandings and delusions of those around them due to their identical appearances.
Twelfth Night refers to the twelfth night from Christmas Day, January 6th, the Feast of the Epiphany, which was a festival as big as Christmas in Shakespeare's time.
It is believed that he wrote this play with the intention of performing it on the first day of the festival.
In this play, Shakespeare used various devices to hide the complex and tangled story of the events unfolding between the twin brothers.
An absurd situation occurs where a young lady disguised as a servant runs an errand for a duke to propose to him, but ends up receiving his love instead.
Then, the plot and confusion reach their peak when the twin brother who was thought to be dead appears.
But then the two siblings face each other and all the complicated events are resolved.
Twelfth Night is a cliche about twin brothers who fall in love with each other, but it is a perfect example of Shakespeare's delightful romantic comedy, showcasing all the humor, wit, and humor in the amusingly complex situations hidden in every corner.

--- From the "Commentary"