The Shakespeare Plays: A Synopsis

1. The Tempest

Setting: Somewhere in the Mediterranean

And in Bermuda

Antiquity(The Past): The Mysteries (Depositories of Ancient

Learning)

Anticipation(The Future): Form of Existing State of

The Advancement Of Learning

2. Two Gentlemen of Verona

Setting: Verona, Italy

Antiquity(The Past): Know Thyself

Anticipation(The Future): Form of Friendship

(another self)

3. The Merry Wives of Windsor

Setting: Windsor, England

Antiquity(The Past): Misrule

Anticipation(The Future): Form Of humor

4. Measure for Measure

Setting: Vienna, Austria

Antiquity(The Past): Legend in many lands which

dealt with how the angels,

far back before the dim beginnings

of recorded history, fell from

their high place through lusting

for the daughters of men.

Anticipation(The Future): Form of God

5. The Comedy of Errors

Setting: Ephesus, ancient Greek city in West Asia Minor

Famous as site of Artemis, Diana of Ephesus

Antiquity(The Past): ?

Anticipation(The Future): Form of Life

6. Much Ado About Nothing

Setting: Messina, Seaport in NE Sicily

Antiquity(The Past): Ancient concept of Nothing

Anticipation(The Future): Form of Nothingness

Of human concerns

7. Love's Labour Lost

Setting: France, the French court

Antiquity(The Past): The Academy

Anticipation(The Future): Form of Studies

8. Midsummer Night's Dream

Setting: Athens, Greece

Antiquity(The Past): Seasonal rituals relating to

The Spirit of Vegetation in

The Spring

Anticipation(The Future): Form of Vegetation

9. The Merchant of Venice

Setting: Venice, seaport in North Italy

Antiquity(The Past): The Kabbalah

Anticipation(The Future): Form of Value?

10. As You Like It

Setting: France

Antiquity(The Past): The Golden Age

Anticipation(The Future): Form of nature in man

11. The Taming of The Shrew

Setting: Padua, commune in N Italy

Antiquity(The Past): Eastern idea of Life as a Dream

Anticipation(The Future): Form of dreamlike state of

Consciousness Of incarnated Man

12. All's Well That Ends Well

Setting: Roussillon, France

Antiquity(The Past): ?

Anticipation(The Future): Form of Social Climbing

13. Twelth Night

Setting: Illyria, ancient region along E coast of Adriatic, Greece

Antiquity(The Past): ?

Anticipation(The Future): Form of Pleasure(love as siren)

14. The Winter's Tale

Setting: Mediterranean

Antiquity(The Past): Myth of Persephone

Anticipation(The Future): Form of history of

Natural Philosophy

15. The Life and Death of King John

Setting: England

Antiquity(The Past): ?

Anticipation(The Future): Form of True Greatness of

A Kingdom

16. The Life and Death of Richard the Second

Setting: England

Antiquity(The Past): ?

Anticipation(The Future): Of dealing with Nobility

17. The First Part of King Henry IVth

Setting: England

Antiquity(The Past): ?

Anticipation(The Future): Of a Prince

18. The Second Part of King Henry IVth

Setting: England

Antiquity(The Past): ?

Anticipation(The Future): Of a Prince

19. The Life Of King Henry the Fifth

Setting: England

Antiquity(The Past): ?

Anticipation(The Future): Of a King

20. The First Part of King Henry VIth

Setting: England

Antiquity(The Past): ?

Anticipation(The Future): Of Legitimacy

21. The 2nd Part of King Henry VIth

Setting: England

Antiquity(The Past): ?

Anticipation(The Future): Of Legitimacy

22. The 3rd Part of King Henry VIth

Setting: England

Antiquity(The Past): ?

Anticipation(The Future): Of Legitimacy

23. The Life And Death of Richard III

Setting: England

Antiquity(The Past): ?

Anticipation(The Future): The Form of Tyranny

24. The Life of King Henry VIIIth

Setting: England

Antiquity(The Past): ?

Anticipation(The Future): The Form of Nemesis

25. The Tragedy of Troilus & Cressida

Setting: Troy

Antiquity(The Past): ?

Anticipation(The Future): Form of Love (as fury)

26. The Tragedy of Coriolanus

Setting: Rome

Antiquity(The Past): ?

Anticipation(The Future): The form of Shame

27. Titus Andronicus

Setting: Rome

Antiquity(The Past): An Ancient Custom

Anticipation(The Future): Form of Custom

28. Romeo and Juliet

Setting: Verona

Antiquity(The Past): Astrology

Anticipation(The Future): Form of a Just Astrology

29. Timon of Athens

Setting: Athens

Antiquity(The Past): ?

Anticipation(The Future): Form of Misanthrophy

30. The Life and Death of Julius Caesar

Setting: Rome

Antiquity(The Past): The Ritual Death of the King

Anticipation(The Future): Form of Envy

31. The Tragedy of Macbeth

Setting: Scotland

Antiquity(The Past): Witchcraft

Anticipation(The Future): Form of Fear

32. The Tragedy of Hamlet

Setting: Denmark

Antiquity(The Past): The Macrocosm and the Microcosm

Anticipation(The Future): Form of Melancholy

33. King Lear

Setting: Ancient Britian

Antiquity(The Past): Alchemy

Anticipation(The Future): Form of Anger

34. Othello the Moor of Venice

Setting: Venice

Antiquity(The Past): Myth of how soul is smothered through

Contact with materiality

Anticipation(The Future): Form of Jealousy

35. Antony and Cleopatra

Setting: Ancient Egypt

Antiquity(The Past): Myth of Isis

Anticipation(The Future): Form of the mad degree

Of love

36. Cymbeline King of Britian

Setting: Ancient Britian

Antiquity(The Past): Myth from Vedantic lore which deals

With the story of the cycle of incarnation

Of the samsaric self

Anticipation(The Future): form of Samsaric Cycle

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