List of Shakespeare's works

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William Shakespeare (1564 – 1616)^[1] was an English poet and playwright. He wrote approximately^[I] 38 plays and 154 sonnets, as well as a variety of other poems.

Contents 1 Plays 1.1 Tragedies 1.2 Comedies 1.3 Histories 2 Poems 3 Apocrypha 4 Notes 5 References

[edit] Plays

[edit] Tragedies

Shakespeare's plays

Title	Year written	First publications	Performances	Authorship notes
Antony and Cleopatra	1601 - 1608	First published in the First Folio	Believed to have been between 1606 and 1608.
	Summary	In a setting soon after Julius Caesar, Marc Antony is in love with Cleopatra, an Egyptian queen. What used to be a friendship between Emperor Octavius and Antony develops into a hatred as Antony rejects the Emperor's sister, his wife, in favor of Cleopatra. Antony attempts to take the throne from Octavius and fails, while Cleopatra commits suicide.
Coriolanus		First published in the First Folio	No recorded performances prior to the Restoration; the first recorded performance involved Nahum Tate's bloody 1682 adaptation at Drury Lane.
	Summary	The Roman military leader Caius Martius, after leading Rome to several victories against the Volscans, returns home as a war hero with a new last name, Coriolanus, given for the city of Coriolanus which he conquered. However, after an attempt at political office turns sour, he is banished from Rome as a traitor. Hungry for revenge, Coriolanus becomes leader of the Volscan army and marches to the gates of Rome. His mother, his wife, and his son, however, beg him to stop his attack. He agrees and makes peace between Romans and Volscans, but is assassinated by enemy Volscans.
Hamlet	Likely early 1600s	First published in the so-called "bad" First Quarto, 1603	Earliest recorded performance of Hamlet was in June 1602, with Richard Burbage in the title role.
	Summary	Prince Hamlet is visited by his father's ghost and ordered to avenge his father's murder by killing King Claudius, his uncle. After struggling with several questions, including whether what the ghost said is true and whether it is right for him to take revenge, Hamlet, along with almost all the other major characters, is killed.
Julius Caesar	1599[2]	First published in the First Folio	Thomas Patter, a Swiss traveller, saw a tragedy about Julius Caesar at a Bankside theatre on September 21, 1599. This was most likely Shakespeare's play. There is no immediately obvious alternative candidate. (While the story of Julius Caesar was dramatized repeatedly in the Elizabethan/Jacobean period, none of the other plays known are as good a match with Patter's description as Shakespeare's play.)[3]
	Summary	Cassius persuades his friend Brutus to join a conspiracy to kill Julius Caesar, whose power seems to be growing too great for Rome's good. After killing Caesar, however, Brutus fails to convince the people that his cause was just. He and Cassius eventually commit suicide as their hope for Rome becomes a lost cause.
King Lear	1603 - 1606[4][5]		First recorded performance: December 26, 1606
	Summary	An aged king divides his kingdom among two of his daughters, Regan and Goneril, and casts the youngest, Cordelia, out of his Kingdom for disloyalty. Eventually he comes to understand that it is Regan and Goneril who are disloyal, but he has already given them the kingdom. He wanders the countryside as a poor man until Cordelia comes with her husband, the King of France, to reclaim her father's lands. Regan and Goneril are defeated, but only after Cordelia has been captured and murdered. King Lear then dies of grief.
Macbeth	1603-1606[6]	First published in the First Folio	There are "fairly clear allusions to the play in 1607."[7] The earliest account of a performance of the play is April 1611, when Simon Forman recorded seeing it at the Globe Theatre.[8]	The text of Macbeth which survives has plainly been altered by later hands. Most notable is the inclusion of two songs from Thomas Middleton's play The Witch (1615)[9]
	Summary	Macbeth, a Scottish noble, is urged by his wife to kill King Duncan in order to take the throne for himself. He covers the king's guards in blood to frame them for the deed, and is appointed King of Scotland. However, people suspect his sudden power, and he finds it necessary to commit more and more murders to maintain power, believing himself invincible so long as he is bloody. Finally, the old king's son Malcolm besieges Macbeth's castle, and Macduff slays Macbeth in armed combat.
Othello
	Summary	Othello, a Moor and military general living in Venice, elopes with Desdemona, the daughter of a senator. Later, on Cyprus, he is persuaded by his servant Iago that his wife (Desdemona) is having an affair with Michael Cassio, his lieutenant. Iago's story, however, is a lie. Desdemona and Cassio try to convince Othello of their honesty but are rejected. Pursuing a plan suggested by Iago, Othello sends assassins to attack Cassio, who is wounded, while Othello himself smothers Desdomona in her bed. Iago's plot is revealed too late, and Othello commits suicide.
Romeo and Juliet	1595-1596, with a possible early draft written in 1591[10][11]	First published in 1597 in Q1[12]	First performed sometime between 1591 and March 1597[13]
	Summary	In Verona, Italy, two families, the Montagues and the Capulets, are in the midst of a bloody feud. Romeo, a Montague, and Juliet, a Capulet, fall in love and struggle to maintain their relationship in the face of familial hatred. After Romeo kills Juliet's cousin Tybalt in a fit of passion, things fall apart. Both lovers eventually commit suicide within minutes of each other, and the feuding families make peace over their recent grief.
Timon of Athens				Brian Vickers and others argue that Timon of Athens was co-written with Thomas Middleton, though some commentators disagree.[14]
	Summary	Timon of Athens is an apparently wealthy man in his community who freely gives of his abundance to those around him. Eventually, it becomes apparent that he is living on credit, when all of his creditors ask for payment on the same day. Timon asks for his friends to help, but is refused. Angry at mankind's double nature, he leaves the city for the wilderness, and lives in a cave. Despite the efforts of several men to cheer his spirits, he dies full of hatred for humanity.
Titus Andronicus				Brian Vickers argues that Titus Andronicus was co-written with George Peele, though Jonathan Bate, the play's most recent editor for the Arden Shakespeare, believes it to be wholly the work of Shakespeare.[15]
	Summary	Roman war hero Titus Andronicus returns victorious in his wars against the Goths. He kills one of the sons of the Queens of the Goths in a revenge ritual, despite her pleadings. When the queen becomes the Empress of Rome, she takes revenge on the house of Andronici for her son's blood. She has her sons rape and mutilate Titus' daughter, Lavinia, over her husband's murdered corpse, then frames Titus' own sons for the murder. Lavinia, however, manages to communicate to her father who the true murderers were, and Andronicus takes revenge, killing the queen and her two sons, but being killed in the act.
Troilus and Cressida
	Summary	The Trojans are under siege by the Grecian army of Agamemnon. Troilus, a Trojan, falls in love with Cressida, a Greek captive. When Cressida is given back to the Greeks as part of a prisoner exchange, Troilus fears that she will fall in love with one of them. His fears prove to be true when he crosses enemy lines during a truce and sees her and a Greek man together.

[edit] Comedies

Shakespeare's plays

Title	Year written	First publications	Performances	Authorship notes
All's Well That Ends Well	1601 - 1608	First published in the First Folio	Believed to have been between 1606 and 1608.	No recorded performances before The Restoration. The earliest recorded performance was in 1741 at Goodman's Fields, with another the following year at Drury Lane.
	Summary	Helena, a ward of the Countess of Rousillion, falls in love with the Countess's son, Bertram. Daughter of a famous doctor, and a skilled physician in her own right, Helena cures the King of France - who feared he was dying - and he grants her Bertram's hand as a reward. Bertram, however, offended by the inequality of the marriage, sets off for war, swearing he will not live with his wife until she can present him with a son, and with his own ring - two tasks which he believes impossible. However with the aid of a bed trick, Helena fulfils his tasks, Bertram realises the error of his ways, and they are reconciled.
As You Like It	1599 - 1600	First published in the First Folio	No recorded performances prior to the Restoration; the first recorded performance involved Nahum Tate's bloody 1682 adaptation at Drury Lane.	No recorded performances before The Restoration, though there was a possible performance at Wilton House in Wiltshire; the King's Men were paid £30 to come to Wilton House and perform for the King and Court (remaining there due to an outburst of the bubonic plague) on December 2, 1603. A Herbert family tradition states the play was As You Like It.[16] The King's Company was assigned the play by royal warrant in 1669, and it was acted at Drury Lane in 1723 in an adapted form called Love in a Forest.[17]
	Summary
The Comedy of Errors	1592 - 1594	First published in the First Folio	The first recorded performance was by "a company of base and common fellows," mentioned in the Gesta Grayorum ("The Deeds of Gray") as having occurred in Gray's Inn Hall on Dec. 28, 1594. The second also took place on "Innocents' Day" but ten years later - in 1604, at Court.[II]
	Summary	Egeon, about to be executed for unlawfully entering Ephesus, tells the sad tale of his search for his twin sons and wife. The Duke agrees to spare him if his family is found. Meanwhile, his twin sons, both of whom are named Antipholus, are actually in Ephesus, each unaware that he even has a twin. After a series of hilarious events involving mistaken identity almost ending in catastrophe, the twins are reunited with their mother and father, and realize their relation to each other.
Cymbeline	This play is hard to date, though a relationship with a tragicomedy that Beaumont and Fletcher wrote ca. 1609-10 tends to support this dating around 1609; though it is not clear which play preceded the other.[18]	First published in the First Folio	Only one early performance is recorded with certainty,[III] which occurred on Wednesday night of Jan. 1, 1634, at Court.	Possible collaboration[IV]
	Summary	The princess Imogen loves the commoner Posthumus, and marries him, but her father, king Cymbeline, disapproves of the match and exiles Posthumus. In exile, he meets the rogue Jachimo - who, to win a wager, persuades Posthumus, wrongly, that he (Jachimo) has slept with Imogen. Enraged, Posthumus orders a servant, Pisanio, to murder Imogen, but he cannot go through with his orders, and instead she finds herself befriended by the wild-living Polydore and Cadwal - who turn out to be her own brothers: Cymbeline's princes who had been stolen from his palace in their infancy. The repentant Posthumus fights alongside Polydore and Cadwal in a battle against the Romans, and following the intervention of the god Jupiter, the various truths are revealed, and everyone is reconciled.
Love's Labour's Lost
	Summary
Measure for Measure
	Summary
Merchant of Venice
	Summary	Antonio borrows money from Shylock, a Jewish moneylender, in order to lend money to his friend Bassanio. Bassanio uses the money to successfully woo Portia, a wealthy and intelligent woman with a large inheritance. Unfortunately, a tragic accident makes Antonio unable to repay his debt to Shylock, and he must be punished as agreed by giving a pound of his flesh to the moneylender. Portia travels in disguise to the court and saves Antonio by pointing out that Shylock may only take flesh, and not any blood. Shylock is foiled, Portia reveals her identity, and Antonio's wealth is restored.
Merry Wives of Windsor
	Summary
A Midsummer Night's Dream	Approximately 1595	Registered in the 1600 quarto by Thomas Fisher on October 8, 1600[19]	The title page assures it was "sundry times publicly acted by the Right Honorable the Lord Chamberlain and his Servants" prior to 1600 publication.
	Summary
Much Ado about Nothing
	Summary
Pericles, Prince of Tyre	Either 1607 - 1608, or written at an earlier date and revised at that time[20]	1609 quarto[20]	The Venetian ambassador to England, Zorzi Giustinian, saw a play titled Pericles during his time in London, which ran from Jan. 5, 1606 to Nov. 23, 1608. As far as is known, there was no other play with the same title that was acted in this era; the logical assumption is that this must have been Shakespeare's play.[21]	Shakespeare is thought to be responsible for the main portion of the play after scene 9.[22] The first two acts were likely written by a relatively untalented reviser or collaborator, possibly George Wilkins.[23]
	Summary	This episodic story, covering many years, charts the history of Pericles, who believes he has lost both his daughter and his wife, but is ultimately reunited with both. His daughter Marina, sold into prostitution, proves to be a paragon of virtue; and his wife Thaisa, recovered by a skilled doctor having been buried at sea, becomes a priestess of the goddess Diana.
The Taming of the Shrew
	Summary
The Tempest
	Summary
Twelfth Night	1600-1601[24]	First Folio	Earliest known performance 2 February 1602[25]
	Summary	Viola finds herself shipwrecked in Illyria and, assuming that her brother Sebastian has died in the wreck, disguises herself as a man in order to gain a position in Duke Orsino's court. Orsino sends Viola (whom he knows as Cesario) to deliver a message to his love, Olivia. Olivia, however, dislikes the Duke. She falls in love with Viola, who she thinks is a man. Eventually, Viola's brother Sebastian, who in fact was unharmed in the wreck, reappears. At a critical moment, Viola's true identity is revealed when members of the court notice the similarities between her and Sebastian. Olivia quickly falls in love with Sebastian, and Viola confesses her love for the Duke.
The Two Gentlemen of Verona
	Summary	Two close fiends, Proteus and Valentine, are divided when Valentine is sent to the Duke's court in Milan. Proteus later follows, leaving behind his loyal beloved, Julia, and he and Valentine both fall in love with the Duke's daughter, Silvia. Valentine proves himself brave and honourable, while Proteus is underhand and deceitful - and eventually attempts to rape Silvia. Julia follows her betrothed to Milan, disguised as a boy, Sebastian, who becomes Proteus' page. Eventually Proteus sees the error of his ways and returns to Julia, while Valentine marries Silvia.
The Two Noble Kinsmen	1613-1614[26]	Published as a quarto in 1635[26]		Thought to be a collaboration with John Fletcher. Shakespeare is thought to have written the following parts of this play: Act I, scenes 1-3; Act II, scene 1; Act III, scene 1; Act V, scene 1, lines 34-173, and scenes 3 and 4.[27]
	Summary	Two close friends, Palamon and Arcite, are divided by their love of the same woman: Duke Theseus' sister-in-law Emelia. They are eventually forced to compete publicly for her hand, but once the bout is over, the victor dies tragically and the other marries their love.
The Winter's Tale	Estimates vary widely, from 1594-1611[28]	First published in the First Folio.
	Summary	In Sicilia, King Leontes becomes convinced that his wife, Hermione, is having an affair with his friend Polixenes, King of Bohemia. He has her imprisoned and sends delegates to ask an oracle if his suspicions are true. While in prison, Hermione gives birth to a girl and Leontes has it sent to Bohemia to be placed alone in the wild. When the delegates return and state that the oracle has exonerated Hermione, Leontes remains stubborn and his wife and son die. Sixteen years later, a repentant Leontes is reunited with his daughter, who is in love with the Prince of Bohemia. His wife is also later reunited with him by extraordinary means.

[edit] Histories

Shakespearean histories

Title	Year written	First publications	Performances	Authorship notes
Henry IV, Part 1	Likely early - mid 1590s	First published in a 1598 quarto by Andrew Wise	Though 1 Henry IV was almost certainly in performance by 1597, the earliest recorded performance was on March 6, 1600, when it was acted at Court before the Flemish Ambassador. Other Court performances followed in 1612 and 1625.
Henry IV, Part II	1597 - 1599	First published in a quarto in 1600 by Valentine Simms	The quarto's title-page states that the play had been "sundry times publicly acted" before publication. Extant records suggest that both parts of Henry IV were acted at Court in 1612—the records rather cryptically refer to the plays as Sir John Falstaff and Hotspur.
Henry V	1599	Published in a "bad quarto"[V] in 1600 by Thomas Millington and John Busby; reprinted in "bad" form in 1603 and 1619, it was published fully for the first time in the First Folio.	A tradition, impossible to verify, holds that Henry V was the first play performed at the new Globe Theatre in the spring of 1599; the Globe would have been the "wooden O" mentioned in the Prologue. In 1600 the first printed text states that the play had been performed "sundry times", though the first recorded performance was on January 7 1605, at Court.
Henry VI, Part I	1588 - 1592	First published in the First Folio	Philip Henslowe's diary records a performance of a Henry VI on March 3, 1592, by the Lord Strange's Men. Thomas Nashe refers in 1592 to a popular play about Lord Talbot, seen by "ten thousand spectators at least" at separate times.[29] [VI]	There is stylistic evidence that Part 1 is not by Shakespeare alone, but co-written by a team with three or more unknown playwrights (though Thomas Nashe is a possibility[30]).
Henry VI, Part II	1590 - 1591	A version was published in 1594, and again in 1600 (Q2) and 1619 (Q3); the last as part of William Jaggrd's False Folio.	See notes for Henry VI, Part I above. Parts I and III of Henry VI are known to have been playing in 1592, and it is assumed (but not reliably known) part 2 was presented at the same times.	Probably a collaboration, as above
Henry VI, Part III	1590 - 1591	A version was published in 1594, and again in 1600 (Q2) and 1619 (Q3); the last as part of William Jaggrd's False Folio.	Performed before 1592, when Robert Greene parodied one of the play's lines in his pamphlet A Groatsworth of Wit. See notes for Part II and I above.	Probably collaboration, see notes for Henry VI, Part I above
Henry VIII			A fire destroyed the Globe Theatre during a performance of this play on June 29, 1613, as recorded in several contemporary documents.[31] While some modern scholars believe the play was relatively new (one contemporary report states that it "had been acted not passing 2 or 3 times before"),[32] the value of this has been questioned, since London diarist Samuel Pepys also referred to Henry VIII as "new" in 1663, when the play was at least 50 years old.[33]	Thought to be a collaboration between Shakespeare and John Fletcher, due to the style of the verse. Shakespeare is thought to have written Act I, scenes i and ii; II,ii and iv; III,ii, lines 1-203 (to exit of King); V,i.
King John
Richard II
Richard III

[edit] Poems

Shakespeare's poems

Title	Year written	First publications	Performances	Authorship notes
A Lover's Complaint
Shakespeare's Sonnets
The Phoenix and the Turtle
The Rape of Lucrece	1594[34]
The Passionate Pilgrim
Venus and Adonis	1593[34]

[edit] Apocrypha

Main article: Shakespeare Apocrypha

Shakespeare Apocrypha

Title	Year written	First publications	Performances	Authorship notes
Cardenio (lost)				Cardenio was apparently co-written with John Fletcher.[35]
Love's Labour's Won (lost)	Before 1598[36]
The Birth of Merlin
Locrine	Unknown, estimates range from the early 1580s to 1594.[37][38]	1595 Quarto issued by the bookseller Thomas Creede[37]
The London Prodigal
The Second Maiden's Tragedy
The Puritan
Sir John Oldcastle
Thomas Lord Cromwell
A Yorkshire Tragedy
Edward III

[edit] Notes

1. ^  The exact figures cannot be known. See Shakespearean authorship, Shakespeare's collaborations and Shakespeare Apocrypha for further details.
2. ^  The identical dates may not be coincidental; the Pauline and Ephesian aspect of the play, noted under Sources, may have had the effect of linking The Comedy of Errors to the holiday season—much like Twelfth Night, another play secular on its surface but linked to the Christmas holidays.
3. ^  There is a performance mentioned in the Book of Plays of Simon Forman; even if it is genuine (not all commentators think it is), the Book of Plays reference is undated and lacks specific information.
4. ^  The Yale Shakespeare edition suggests this was a collaborative work; some scenes (Act III scene 7 and Act V scene 2) may seem less characteristic of Shakespeare than the rest of the play.
5. ^  A "bad quarto" was a version of a play that was not the official version from the playwright themselves; often these versions were written down during a performance and printed later, leading to great inaccuracies in the text.
6. ^  Since Henry VI, part 3 was also acted in 1592 — Robert Greene parodied one of its lines in his 1592 pamphlet A Groatsworth of Wit — the implication is that all three parts of the trilogy were being acted in 1592.

[edit] References

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	William Shakespeare and his works
General information	Biography · Style · Influence · Reputation · Religion · Sexuality · Shakespeare authorship question
Tragedies	Antony and Cleopatra · Coriolanus · Cymbeline · Hamlet · Julius Caesar · King Lear · Macbeth · Othello · Romeo and Juliet · Timon of Athens · Titus Andronicus · Troilus and Cressida
Comedies	All's Well That Ends Well · As You Like It · The Comedy of Errors · Love's Labour's Lost · Measure for Measure · The Merchant of Venice · The Merry Wives of Windsor · A Midsummer Night's Dream · Much Ado About Nothing · Pericles, Prince of Tyre · The Taming of the Shrew · The Tempest · Twelfth Night · The Two Gentlemen of Verona · The Two Noble Kinsmen · The Winter's Tale
Histories	King John · Richard II · Henry IV, Part 1 · Henry IV, Part 2 · Henry V · Henry VI, part 1 · Henry VI, part 2 · Henry VI, part 3 · Richard III · Henry VIII
Poems	Sonnets · Venus and Adonis · The Rape of Lucrece · The Passionate Pilgrim · The Phoenix and the Turtle · A Lover's Complaint
Apocrypha and lost plays	Edward III · Sir Thomas More · Cardenio (lost) · Love's Labour's Won (lost) · The Birth of Merlin · Locrine · The London Prodigal · The Puritan · The Second Maiden's Tragedy · Richard II, Part I: Thomas of Woodstock · Sir John Oldcastle · Thomas Lord Cromwell · A Yorkshire Tragedy · Fair Em · Mucedorus · The Merry Devil of Edmonton · Arden of Faversham · Edmund Ironside · Vortigern and Rowena
Other play information	Shakespeare's plays · Shakespeare in performance · Chronology of Shakespeare plays · Oxfordian chronology · Shakespeare on screen · BBC Television Shakespeare · Titles based on Shakespeare · Lists of characters A–K, L–Z · Problem plays · List of historical characters · Ghost characters