Shakespeare's Plays
(arranged by approximate date of composition) |
|
|
| Play
|
Approximate date of composition
|
Date of first publication
|
Sources
|
Major characters
|
Genre
|
|
|
| Henry VI, Part II
|
1590
|
1594
|
Edward Hall, Union of the Two Noble and Illustre Families of Lancaster and York (1548);
Raphael Holinshed, Chronicles of England, Scotland, and Ireland (1587)
|
King Henry VI
Queen Margaret
Richard Plantagenet, Duke of York
|
History
|
| Henry VI, Part III
|
1590
|
1595
|
Hall;
Holinshed
|
King Henry VI
Queen Margaret
Edward, Prince of Wales
Richard, Duke of Gloucester
Richard Nevil, Earl of Warwick
|
History
|
| Henry VI, Part I
|
1590
|
1623
|
Hall;
Holinshed
|
King Henry VI
Lord Talbot
Joan of Arc
Richard Plantagenet, Duke of York
|
History
|
| Richard III
|
1592
|
1597
|
Hall;
Holinshed;
Sir Thomas More, History of Richard III
|
King Richard III
Queen Elizabeth
Duke of Buckingham
Lady Anne
George, Duke of Clarence
|
History
|
| The Comedy of Errors
|
1592
|
1623
|
Plautus, Menaechmi and Amphituo
|
Antipholus of Syracuse
Antipholus of Ephesus
Dromio of Syracuse
Dromio of Ephesus
|
Comedy
|
| Titus Andronicus (may have been written in collaboration with George Peele)
|
1593
|
1594
|
History of Titus Andronicus (chapbook);
John Gower, Appolonius of Tyre
|
Titus of Andronicus
Tamora
Aaron the Moor
|
Tragedy
|
| The Taming of the Shrew
|
1593
|
1623
|
George Gascoigne, Supposes (1566);
Earlier play The Taming of a Shaw
|
Petruchio
Katherine
|
Comedy
|
| The Two Gentlemen of Verona
|
1594
|
1623
|
Jorge de Montemayor, Diana (1559?)
|
Valentine
Proteus
Julius
Silvia
|
Comedy
|
| Love's Labour's Lost
|
1594
|
1598
|
Specific source not established
|
King of Navarre
Princess of France
Holofernes
Don Adriano de Armado
|
Comedy
|
| Romeo and Juliet
|
1594
|
1597
|
Arthur Brooke, The Tragicall Historye of Romeus and Juliet (1562);
Matteo Bandello, Novelle (tr. by William Painter in Palace of Pleasure, 1566-67)
|
Romeo
Juliet
Mercutio
Tybalt
Friar Laurence
Nurse
|
Tragedy
|
| Richard II
|
1595
|
1597
|
Holinshed, Chronicles (1587)
|
King Richard II
Henry Bolingbroke
Edmund of Langley, Duke of York
|
History
|
| A Midsummer Night's Dream
|
1595
|
1600
|
Specific source not established
|
Hermia
Lysander
Theseus
Helena
Demetrius
Oberon
Titania
Puck
Bottom
|
Comedy
|
| King John
|
1596
|
1623
|
Anon. play, The Troublesome Raigne of King John (1591)
|
King John
Philip the Bastard
Arthur, Duke of Britain
Constance
|
History
|
| The Merchant of Venice
|
1596
|
1600
|
Giovanni Fiorentino, Il Pecarone (1558)
|
Bassanio
Shylock
Antonio
Portia
|
Comedy
|
| Henry IV, Part I
|
1597
|
1598
|
Holinshed, Chronicles (1587)
|
King Henry IV
Falstaff
Henry, Prince of Wales (Prince Hal)
Henry Percy ( "Hotspur" )
|
History
|
| Henry IV, Part II
|
1597
|
1600
|
Holinshed
|
King Henry IV
Falstaff
Henry, Prince of Wales
|
History
|
| Much Ado about Nothing
|
1598
|
1600
|
Ariosto, Orlando Furioso (1516)
|
Prince of Arragon
Beatrice
Benedick
Claudio
Hero
|
Comedy
|
| Henry V
|
1598
|
1600
|
Holinshed, Chronicles (1587)
|
King Henry V
Archbishop of Canterbury
Fluellen
Pistol
|
History
|
| Julius Caesar
|
1599
|
1623
|
Plutarch, Lives (tr. by Sir Thomas North, 1579)
|
Brutus
Cassius
Marc Antony
Caesar
|
Tragedy
|
| As You Like It
|
1599
|
1623
|
Thomas Lodge, Rosalynde (1590)
|
Rosalind
Orlando
Touchstone
|
Comedy
|
| Twelfth Night
|
1599
|
1623
|
Barnabe Riche, Riche his Farewell to Militarie Profession (1581)
|
Sir Toby Belch
Viola
Sebastian
Duke Orsino
Olivia
|
Comedy
|
| Hamlet
|
1600
|
1603
|
François de Belleforest, Histoires Tragiques (1576)
|
Hamlet
Horatio
Ophelia
Laertes
Claudius
Polonius
Gertrude
|
Tragedy
|
| The Merry Wives of Windsor
|
1600
|
1602
|
Specific source not established
|
Falstaff
Mrs. Page
Mr. Ford
|
Comedy
|
| Troilus and Cressida
|
1601
|
1609
|
Geoffrey Chaucer, Troilus and Criseyde (c.1386);
William Caxton, Recuyell of the Historyes of Troye (1474)
|
Troilus
Ulysses
Pandarus
Cressida
|
Comedy
|
| All's Well That Ends Well
|
1602
|
1623
|
William Painter, Palace of Pleasure (1566-67)
|
Bertram
Helena
Parolles
King of France
|
Comedy
|
| Measure for Measure
|
1604
|
1623
|
George Whetstone, Promos and Cassandra (1578)
|
Vincentio
Angelo
Isabella
Claudio
Mariana
|
Comedy
|
| Othello
|
1604
|
1622
|
Giovanni Battista Giraldi ( "Cinthio" ), Ecatommiti (1565)
|
Othello
Desdemona
Iago
Cassio
|
Tragedy
|
| King Lear
|
1605
|
1608
|
Holinshed, Chronicles (1587);
Anon., The True Chronicle History of King Leir (before 1594)
|
King Lear
Cordelia
Earl of Gloucester
Edgar
Earl of Kent
Edmund
Goneril
Regan
Duke of Albany
Lear's Fool
|
Tragedy
|
| Macbeth
|
1605
|
1623
|
Holinshed
|
Duncan
Macbeth
Lady Macbeth
Malcolm
Macduff
|
Tragedy
|
| Antony and Cleopatra
|
1606
|
1623
|
Plutarch, Lives (tr. 1579)
|
Mark Antony
Cleopatra
Octavius Caesar
|
Tragedy
|
| Coriolanus
|
1607
|
1623
|
Plutarch
|
Coriolanus
Tullus Aufidius
Caius Marcius
Menenius Agrippa
Volumnia
|
Tragedy
|
| Timon of Athens (may have been written in collaboration with Thomas Middleton)
|
1607
|
1623
|
Plutarch;
Lucian, Misanthropos (2d cent. AD)
|
Timon of Athens
Apemantus
Alcibiades
Flavius
|
Tragedy
|
| Pericles (may have been written in collaboration with George Wilkins)
|
1608
|
1609
|
John Gower, Confessio Amantis (c.1390)
|
Pericles
Thaisa
Marina
Simonides
Lysimachus
|
Tragicomedy
|
| Cymbeline
|
1609
|
1623
|
Holinshed, Chronicles (1587);
Giovanni Boccaccio, Decameron (1348-53)
|
Cymbeline
Imogen
Posthumus
Iachimo
|
Tragicomedy
|
| The Winter's Tale
|
1610
|
1623
|
Robert Greene, Pandosto (1588)
|
Leontes
Hermione
Paulina
Autolycus
Perdita
Florizel
Polixenes
|
Tragicomedy
|
| The Tempest
|
1611
|
1623
|
Specific source not established
|
Prospero
Miranda
Ferdinand
Ariel
Caliban
|
Tragicomedy
|
| Henry VIII (probably written in collaboration with John Fletcher)
|
1612
|
1623
|
Holinshed, Chronicles (1587);
John Foxe, Book of Martyrs (1563)
|
King Henry VIII
Queen Katherine
Cardinal Wolsey
Duke of Buckingham
Anne Boleyn
|
History
|
| Two Noble Kinsmen (of doubtful authorship; may have been written in collaboration with John Fletcher)
|
1612
|
1634
|
Geoffrey Chaucer, "The Knight's Tale" in Canterbury Tales (c.1387)
|
Palamon
Arcite
|
Comedy
|
