- All's Well That Ends Well
- Antony and Cleopatra
- As You Like It
- The Comedy of Errors
- Coriolanus
- Cymbeline
- Hamlet
- Henry IV, Part 1
- Henry IV, Part 2
- Henry V
- Henry VI, Part 1
- Henry VI, Part 2
- Henry VI, Part 3
- Henry VIII
- Julius Caesar
- King John
- King Lear
- Love's Labor's Lost
- A Lover's Complaint
- Macbeth
- Measure for Measure
- The Merchant of Venice
- The Merry Wives of Windsor
- A Midsummer Night's Dream
- Much Ado About Nothing
- Othello
- Pericles
- The Rape of Lucrece
- Richard II
- Richard III
- Romeo and Juliet
- Shakespeare's Sonnets
- The Taming of the Shrew
- The Tempest
- Timon of Athens
- Titus Andronicus
- Troilus and Cressida
- Twelfth Night
- The Two Gentlemen of Verona
- Venus and Adonis
- The Winter's Tale
In the play’s opening scene, the Commander convinces the Master of Calatrava to conquer Ciudad Real in the name of King Alonso of Portugal, capturing it from King Fernando of Aragon and Queen Isabel of Castile. The Commander’s arguments for why the Master should attack Ciudad Real demonstrate that he is motivated less by Christian values than by self-interest and glory—to prove his worth as the Master of Calatrava. The statement that the Master should “crown the immortal temple” of his ancestors also demonstrates his self-interested motivation to use political power to cement his and his family’s legacy. This is…