Tragedy
The House of Cobwebs
George Gissing was a prolific English writer of novels and short stories. Among his best known novels is The Odd Women, which was influenced…
The Winter's Tale
Mad with jealousy, King Leontes of Sicilia orders his best friend Polixenes killed, his child abandoned, and his wife put on trial for adult…
Futility, Or the Wreck of the Titan
This novel was published a full 14 years before the sinking of the Titanic, but listeners may be surprised at how many parallels this fictio…
A Dog of Flanders
"Nello and Patrasche were left all alone in the world." So begins the poignant story of the two orphans who were to become insepar…
Anna Karenina
Anna Karenina tells of the doomed love affair between the sensuous and rebellious Anna and the dashing officer, Count Vronsky. Tragedy unfol…
Antony and Cleopatra
Antony and Cleopatra is a tragedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written sometime between 1603 and 1607. It was first printed…
Oedipus at Colonus
This is the second installment in Sophocles's Theban Plays that chronicles the tragic fates of Oedipus and his family. After fulfilling the…
Medea
Euripides' tragedy focuses on the disintegration of the relationship between Jason, the hero who captured the Golden Fleece, and Medea, the …
Wuthering Heights
The story centers on the all-encompassing, passionate, but ultimately doomed love between Catherine Earnshaw and Heathcliff, and how this un…
L'Assommoir
Émile François Zola (French pronunciation: [emil zɔˈla]) (2 April 1840 – 29 September 1902) was an influential French writer, …
King Lear
The Tragedy of King Lear is a tragedy by William Shakespeare. The title character descends into madness after foolishly disposing of his est…
The Jew of Malta
Christopher “Kit” Marlowe (baptised 26 February 1564 – 30 May 1593) was an English dramatist, poet, and translator of the Elizabethan era. T…
Julius Caesar
When Julius Caesar returns to Rome from conquering the Gauls, Cassius and his friends are worried that he will try to seize power and make h…
A Fair Mystery
(Written by Charlotte M. Brame under the pen name Bertha M. Clay.)Honest Mark Brace is about to lose his farm, land of his ancestors, home t…
Samson Agonistes
“The Sun to me is darkAnd silent as the Moon,When she deserts the nightHid in her vacant interlunar cave.”Milton composes his last extended …
The Life and Death of King John
The Life and Death of King John, a history play by William Shakespeare, dramatises the reign of John, King of England (ruled 1199–1216), son…
Agamemnon
The Oresteia is a trilogy of Greek tragedies written by Aeschylus concerning the end of the curse on the House of Atreus. The name derives f…
The Bacchae
The Bacchae is a powerful tragedy by Euripides that delves into the conflict between reason and instinct, order and chaos. Set in Thebes, th…
Oedipus Rex
"Oedipus Rex" (Ancient Greek: Οἰδίπους Τύραννος, Oidipous Tyrannos), also known as "Oedipus the King" or "Oedipus t…
Venus and Adonis
Venus and Adonis is Shakespeare's narrative poem about the love of the goddess Venus for the mortal youth Adonis, dedicated partly to his pa…