By this reading you will be prepared for the supreme tragedies--each a masterpiece without a superior in any literature. These are _Hamlet_, _Othello_, _King Lear_, _Julius Caesar_, _Macbeth_ and _Antony and Cleopatra_. In no other six works in any language can one find such range of thought, such splendor of verse, such soundings of the great sea of human passions--love, jealousy, ambition, hate, remorse, fear and shame. Each typifies some overmastering passion, but _Hamlet_ stands above all as a study of a splendid mind, swayed by every wind of impulse, noble in defeat and pathetic in the final ruin of hope and love, largely due to lack of courage and decision of character. Take it all in all, _Hamlet_ represents the finest creative work of any modern author. This play is packed with bitter experience of life, cast in verse that is immortal in its beauty and melody. [Illustration: 1. SHAKESPEARE'S BIRTHPLACE AT STRATFORD-ON-AVON BEFORE THE RESTORATION WHICH HAS SPOILED IT] [Illustration: 2. THE ANNE HATHAWAY COTTAGE] _Macbeth_ represents ambition, linked with superstition and weakness of will; the fruit is an evil brood--remorse struggles with desire for power, affection is torn by the malign influence of guilt, as seen in the unhinging of Lady Macbeth's mind. No one should miss the opportunity to see a great actor or a great actress in _Macbeth_--it is a revelation of the deeps of human tragedy. _King Lear_ is the tragedy of old age, the same tragedy that Balzac drew in _Le Pere Goriot_, save that Lear becomes bitter, and after weathering the storm of madness, wreaks vengeance on his unnatural daughters. Old Goriot, one of the most pathetic figures in all fiction, goes to his grave trying to convince the world that his heartless girls really love him. The real hero of _Julius Caesar_ is Brutus, done to death by men of lesser mold and coarser natures, who take advantage of his lack of practical sense and knowledge of human nature. This play is seldom put on the stage in recent years, but it is always a treat to follow it when depicted by good actors. _Othello_ is the tragedy of jealousy working upon the mind of a simple and noble nature, which is quick to accept the evil hints of Iago because of its very lack of knowledge of women. Iago is the greatest type of pure villainy in all literature, far more vicious than Goethe's Mephistopheles, because he wreaks his power over others largely from a satanic delight in showing his skill and resources in evil. As a play _Othello_ is the most perfectly constructed of Shakespeare's works. Finally in _Antony and Cleopatra_ Shakespeare shows the disintegrating force of guilty love, which does not revolt even when the Egyptian Queen ruins her lover's cause by unspeakable cowardice. Cleopatra is the great siren of literature, and the picture of her charms is fine verse.