History of Western Theatre: Greeks to Elizabethans/Elizabethan tragedies

The dominant figure in Elizabethan theatre is the almost hallowed name of William Shakespeare (1564-1616). In the Elizabethan period, "Hamlet" (1600) and "Othello" (1603) are enduring tragedies.

Hamlet text at http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Hamlet

Othello text at http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Othello

Also of great influence in this and subsequent periods are Christopher Marlowe (1564-1593) with "Doctor Faustus" (1593), Thomas Heywood (1570-1641) with "A woman killed with kindness" (1603), and Thomas Kyd (1558-1594) with "The Spanish tragedy" (1584), as well as the anonymous writer of "Arden of Faversham" (1592).

"Doctor Faustus" text at http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/The_Tragedy_of_Doctor_Faustus

"A woman killed with kindness" text at http://www.luminarium.org/editions/womankilled.htm

"The Spanish tragedy" text at http://www.elizabethanauthors.org/span1.htm

"Arden of Faversham" text at http://community.middlebury.edu/~harris/arden.html