Aspects of Good and Evil Hamlet, Othello, Macbeth and King Lcar are bright particular stars in the poetic firmament. They have shown uncanny vitality in the theatre, with productions abundant even in periods when whole clusters of Shakespeare's comedies and histories were dropped from the repertory. Although king Lear was acceptable only in adapted form for a century and a half after 1680, at least its semblance was constantly staged; and its fellow masterpieces have been …showed first 75 words of 513 total…

…showed last 75 words of 513 total…first adjustment the modern reader must make in achieving rapport with our older literature is to accept death as a fitting subject for contemplation. We tend to think of death as something in rather poor taste, its traces to be genteelly disguised and its inevitability to be put out of the mind. The idea that the death of the protagonist must be shown, illogically, as deserved was not originally part of the concept of tragedy.