Julius Caesar: Shakespeare's account of the Roman general Julius Caesar's murder by his friend Brutus is a meditation on duty. Hamlet: Set in Denmark, the play depicts Prince Hamlet and his revenge against his uncle, Claudius, who has murdered Hamlet's father in order to seize his throne and marry Hamlet's mother. Macbeth: Dramatises the damaging physical and psychological effects of political ambition on those who seek power for its own sake.