36 plays in all -- see this post for settings of plays.
- ten set in Italy
- ten set in countries outside of England, Italy
Timeline:
- 1592: made his mark as a playwright by 1592;
- The Tragedy of Titus Andronicus, Shakespeare's first tragedy;
- first appeared, 1594 in printed form but without the author's name
- 1590s
- Henry VI, the wars with France: the three-part play,
- The Comedy of Errors, structured the plot according to a popular school text, Plautus's Menaechmi;
- Richard III: one star play, a callous villain, anticipates Macbeth
- the plague, ~ 1592 - ~1593
- theaters closed
- wrote poetry
- 1593
- Venus and Adonis
- 1594
- The Rape of Lucrece
- a series of sonnets: 154
- Turning point in Shakespeare's career:
- 1594: turned from sonnets to establishing himself with an acting company
- end of plague, theaters re-opened;
- 1594, summer: under the patronage of Henry Lord Hunsdon -- Lord Chamberlain's Men,
- various theaters: the Theatre, the Curtain, and the Swan
- permanent members included: Henry Condell, John Heminge, Shakespeare, Richard Burbage (famous tragedian), William Sly, and Will Kempe (famous comedian)
- Major successes, betwween 1595 and 1598
- 1598: Love's Labour's Lost, perhaps the only play withouut a borrowed plot; portrays current social and political life; the first published play with his name; (one of two lyrical plays)
- The Two Gentlemen from Verona (one of two lyrical plays)
- A Midsummer Night's Ddream; even move inventive; more inventive plot, more interesting characters from the fairy world;
- The Taming of the Shrew
- The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet
- history plays:
- Richard II; Henry IV, Part I, Part 2; the fat knight Falstaff)
- Henry V
- King John;
- Then
- The Merry Wives of Windsor, QE's request for more Falstaff
- Much Ado About Nothing;
- The Merchant of Venice.
- Outpouring of comedies and tragedies
- after 1598, the plays appeared quickly
- 1599: The Tragedy of Julius Caesar
- for Kempe (along with The Merry Wives of Windsor):
- As You Like It
- Twelfth Night (during the Twelfth Night of 1599 - 1600)
- after 1600, his greatest tragedies:
- Hamlet (most interesting play ever written?)
- Othello
- opening of the Globe marked a new phase in Shakespeare's reputation
- March 13, 1603: QE dies; James I succeeds her; renames the company the King's Men
- 1603 - 1608: Shakespeare's plays changed again
- two transitional comedies
- All Wells That Ends Well (an uneven play; seldom performed)
- Measure for Measure
- after 1604: plays probe deeply into the minds of their heroes:
- 1606:
- The Tragedy of King Lear, Christmas holidays in court of King James I,
- most consider this his greatest play
- 1606: Macbeth
- a tribute to James I on the occasion of a state visit from the king of Denmark
- takes place in Scotland, James's ancestral home
- after those four great tragedies, returns to Plutarch's Lives as a source for three more:
- The Tragedy of Antony and Cleopatra, part II of Julius Caesar
- The Tragedy of Coriolanus, a political play, the weakness of politicians
- Timon off Athens; an unfinished play about an ancient Greek mentioned briefly in Plutach's Lives
- final period:
- four plays in a new format -- romances or maybe, tragicomedies
- Pericles, a transitional play, portions appear to have been written by a second playwright
- 1610: Cymbeline, a melodrama; woman flees her abusive husband; returns;
- 1610 or 1611: The Winter's Tale
- The Tempest: written for James 1 to celebrate a court wedding; Shakespeare's farewell to the theater
- final play; only play after this farewell: Henry VIII
- the Globe burned down during the staging of this play; spark from a cannon
- many of Shakespeare's papers were probably lost in this fire
- 1614 - 1615: retired in Stratford
- died april 23, 1616, suddenly, short illness;
- the First Folio
- 1623: plays collected and published them as the First Folio
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From Another Source, Perhaps W.H. Auden
Written First performed
1590-91 Henry VI, Part II 1594?
1590-91 Henry VI, Part III 1594?
1591-92 Henry VI, Part I 1623
1592-1593 Richard III 1597
1592-93 Comedy of Errors 1623
1593-94 Titus Andronicus 1594
1593-94 Taming of the Shrew 1623
1594-95 Two Gentlemen of Verona 1623
1594-95 Love’s Labour’s Lost 1598?
1594-95 Romeo and Juliet 1597
1595-96 Richard II 1597
1595-96 A Midsummer Night’s Dream 1600
1596-97 King John 1623
1596-97 The Merchant of Venice 1600
1597-98 Henry IV, Part I 1598 Falstaff
1597-98 Henry IV, Part II 1600 Falstaff
1598-99 Much Ado About Nothing 1600
1598-99 Henry V 1600
1599-1600 Julius Caesar 1600
1599-1600 As You Like It 1623
1599-1600 Twelfth Night 1623
1600-01 Hamlet 1603
1600-01 The Merry Wives of Windsor 1602 Falstaff
1601-02 Troilus and Cressida 1609
1602-03 All’s Well That Ends Well 1623
1604-05 Measure for Measure 1623
1604-05 Othello 1622
1605-06 King Lear 1608
1605-06 Macbeth 1623
1606-07 Antony and Cleopatra 1623 [Part of Julius Caesar]
1607-08 Coriolanus 1623
1607-08 Timon of Athens 1623
1608-09 Pericles 1609
1609-10 Cymbeline 1623
1610-11 The Winter’s Tale 1623 (The Queen's Tale)
1611-12 The Tempest 1623
1612-13 Henry VIII 1623
1612-13 The Two Noble Kinsmen* 1634
*The Two Noble Kinsmen is listed as one of Shakespeare’s plays although it must be noted that all but a few scholars believe it to be an original work of Shakespeare. The majority of the play was probably written by John Fletcher, who was a prominent actor and Shakespeare’s close friend. Fletch succeeded Shakespeare as foremost dramatist for the King’s Men (the successor to the Chamberlain’s Men.
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