Plays

Written: c. 1605-04; Text: First Folio 1623 (Comedy); no quarto editions
Source: Boccaccio’s Decameron, “Beltrame de Rossiglione and Giglietta di Nerone,” as translated into English by William Painter in The Palace of Pleasure, c. 1566
Characters: Helena, Bertram, Countess of Rossillion, Fool, King of France, Parolles, Lafew, First and Second Lords
Setting: Rossillion, France – also Paris, Marseilles and Florence
Time: c. 14th century

Some critics argue that the title is ironic because, while the play seems to end happily with a marriage, audiences might wonder whether the marriage did end well. Other critics argue that by Elizabethan standards Helena made a good catch, even if not a good match. So Elizabethan audiences would see no irony.

Written: c. 1606; Text: First Folio 1623 (Tragedy), no quarto editions
Source: Plutarch’s Life of Antony from Sir Thomas North’s translations of Plutarch’s Lives in 1579 with later editions
Characters: Cleopatra, Mark Antony, Octavius Caesar, Domitius Enobarbus, Sextus Pompeius
Setting: Alexandria, Rome, Messina, Syria and the sea
Time: c. 40-30 BC

Shakespeare drew from North’s translations of Plutarch for his other Roman plays, Julius Caesar and Coriolanus.

Written: c. 1599-1600; Text: First Folio 1623 (Comedy), no quarto editions
Sources: Thomas Lodge’s Rosalynde. Euphues golden legacy: found after his death in his Cell at Silexedra (1590). Lodge drew on the Tale of Gamelyn (anonymous, fourteenth century) for his source.
Main Characters: Rosalind, Orlando, Celia, Jaques, Duke Senor, Oliver, Touchstone
Settings: Forest of Arden and the French Court. The Forest of Arden may be a reference to the Ardennes region in France, or the Forest of Arden near Shakespeare’s mother’s home. Some scholars have even suggested it may be an allusion to the Garden of Eden.
Time: Undetermined

This is Shakespeare’s only play to end with a female character delivering the epilogue. That is fitting since Rosalind is one of Shakespeare’s strongest female characters. Early in the play, she and Celia discuss the roles and perceptions of the sexes and express strong feminist attitudes. It is also the only play to end with marriages performed onstage, but since Christian sacraments were forbidden onstage during Shakespeare’s time, these wedding ceremonies are performed by Hymen, the Greek god of marriages. Finally, the plot structure is worthy of note. Plot is relatively dense in acts one and five, but it is very spare in acts two through four while the story moves in the Forest of Arden.

Written: c. 1594; Text: First Folio 1623 (Comedy), no quarto editions
Source: Menaechmi and Amphitruo by Plautus.
Characters: Antipholus of Syracuse, Adriana, Antipholus of Ephesus, Dromio of Syracuse, Egeon, Dromio of Ephesus, Luciana, Solinus
Setting: Ephesus
Time: Undetermined

Since translations of Plautus’s plays do not appear until after the writing of Comedy of Errors, it is assumed that Shakespeare worked from the original Latin, which he probably read while at school. This play is diverse in its metrical styles, which is notable in Plautus’s plays. Shakespeare heightened the farcical qualities of the Plautus plays by using two sets of twins. He also elevated its serious quality by adding the Aegeon subplot, which opens the play with tragedy and ends it happily. Shakespeare wrote a variation of this ending for Pericles Prince of Tyre.

Written: c. 1608; Text: First Folio 1623 (Tragedy); no quarto editions
Sources: Holinshed, Raphael (c. 1528-c. 1580). The Chronicles of England, Scotland and Ireland. (2nd ed., 1587): William Baldwin ed). The Mirror for Magistrates (1559 ed.); Anonymous. Frederyke of Jennen 3rd ed., (1560); Anonymous. The Rare Triumphs of Love and Fortune (performed 158, printed 1589); Boccaccio, Giovanni (1313-75). Decameron 2nd Day, 9th story
Characters: Coriolanus (Caius Martius), Menenius Agrippa, Sicinius Velutus, Cominius, Volumnia, Tullus Aufidius, Junius Brutus, Firgilia
Setting: Rome, Corioles, Atrium
Time: 494-490 BC

Populism, Fascism and Machiavelli all appear as themes in this political drama. Even the “trickle-down” theory of economics gets its moment, but Shakespeare uses the digestive and cardiovascular systems as analogies for the distribution of wealth. The patricians are compared to the stomach that hordes the food while the plebeians are the body’s extremities, which in time will get what they need. Coriolanus is perhaps Shakespeare’s least subtle or internally conflicted tragic character.

Written: c. 1610; Text: First Folio 1623 (Tragedy); no quarto editions
Sources: Holinshed, Raphael (c. 1528-c. 1580). The Chronicles of England, Scotland and Ireland. (2nd ed., 1587); William Baldwin ed). The Mirror for Magistrates (1559 ed.); Frederyke of Jennen 3rd ed., (1560); The Rare Triumphs of Love and Fortune (performed 158, printed 1589); Boccaccio, Giovanni (1313-75). Decameron 2nd Day, 9th story
Characters: Cymbeline, Queen, Imogen, Posthumus Leonatus, Cloten, Pisano, Cornelius, Iachimo, Caius Lucius, Belarius, Guiderius, Arviragus, Jupiter
Setting: Mythic Pre-Christian Britain and Italy
Time: AD 16

Written late in Shakespeare’s career, around 1610 or 1611, Cymbeline is included in the tragedies of the First Folio, and is titled The Tragedy of Cymbeline, which is odd. The play ends with no deaths, the lovers are happily reunited, and the only characters to die during the course of the play are far from tragic figures, let alone main characters. But the play does not neatly fit into the comedies either. There is only one love interest and the couple is married before the play begins. While there is some humor, there’s not much more than what might be found in a tragedy. Nor does it fit clearly among the histories. While there is some historical evidence of an English monarch named Cymbeline, he is not the major character in this play, he does not die in the play, and there is little or no historical evidence for the characters who do engage our interest. While Julius Caesar and Augustus Caesar are mentioned, neither appears in the play. The arch-villain of the story, Iachimo, seems to have stepped out of Renaissance Italy, not ancient Rome. So it does not fit neatly among Shakespeare’s Roman histories. It does, however, follow in chronological historical order after Anthony and Cleopatra, and that is where the compilers of the First Folio placed it. So some scholars label it a romance.

Written: c. 1600; Texts: Quartos 1603 (Q1 bad quarto), 1604 or 1605 (Q2 variously dated), First Folio 1623 (Tragedy)
Source: Thomas Kyd (1558-94). Ur-Hamlet (c. 1589); Francois de Belleforest (1530-83). Histories Tragiques Book 5 (1570)
Characters: Hamlet, Claudius, Polonius, Horatio, Laertes, Gertrude, Ophelia, Ghost of Hamlet’s Father; Rosencrantz and Guildenstern
Setting: Elsinor Castle, Denmark
Time: c. 9th Century

The soliloquy reaches a new level of importance within this play. In no other play by Shakespeare does the dramatic conflict become more central within a single character than it does in Hamlet himself. And so this part becomes an actor’s great challenge – acting against himself, alone on stage. The part is made more difficult since literary critics don’t agree on exactly what Hamlet’s problem is. Is he struggling to bring himself to avenge his father’s death out of fear or from genuine uncertainty about the veracity of what may or may not be his father’s ghost? Is spectral evidence enough to commit murder or does he need corroboration? Is he procrastinating or searching for genuine proof of his uncle’s purported crime?

Written: c. 1596-97; Texts: Quartos 1598, 1599, 1604, 1608, 1613, 1622; First Folio 1623 (History)
Sources: Holinshed, Raphael (c. 1528-c. 1580). The Chronicles of England, Scotland and Ireland. (2nd ed., 1587); Daniel, Samuel (c.1562-1619). The Civil Wars between the Two Houses of Lancaster and York (1595-1609); The Famous Victories of Henry the Fifth (c. 1594); William Baldwin ed. The Mirror for Magistrates (1559 ed.); Stow, John (1525-c.1605) The Chronicles of England (1580)
Characters: Hotspur (Henry Percy), Prince Hal (Henry Prince of Wales), Henry IV, Thomas Percy Earl of Worcester, Sir John Falstaff, Owen Glendower
Setting: London
Time: AD 1402-1403

Henry IV Part 1 begins what scholars refer to as the Henriad, an allusion to Virgil’s Aeneid. The Henriad, Shakespeare’s epic account of King Henry V, includes Henry IV Part 1, Henry IV Part 2, and Henry V. Those three plays combined with their prequel, Richard II, comprise what is now known as the Second Tetralogy, written between 1597 and 1598. The First Tetralogy, written earlier between 1591 and 1595, comprises Henry VI Part 1, Henry VI Part 2, Henry VI Part 3, and Richard III. Henry IV Part 1 is notable in part because it introduces one of Shakespeare’s most popular characters, Sir John Falstaff. In the first productions of this play the character was called Sir Jon Oldcastle but because descendants of the actual Jon Oldcastle objected censors demanded the character’s name be changed.

Written: c. 1597-98; Texts: Quarto 1600, First Folio 1623 (History)
Source: Holinshed, Raphael (c. 1528-c. 1580). The Chronicles of England, Scotland and Ireland. (2nd ed., 1587); The Famous Victories of Henry the Fifth (c. 1586); Hall, Edward (1498-1547). The Union of the Two Noble and Illustre Families of Lancaster and York (3rd. ed., 1550); Daniel, Samuel (c.1562-1619). The Civil Wars between the Two Houses of Lancaster and York (1595-1609); William Baldwin ed. The Mirror for Magistrates (1559 ed.)
Characters: Henry IV, Prince Henry, Sir John Falstaff, Richard Scroop Archbishop of York, Earl of Westmorland, Prince John of Lancaster, Henry Percy Earl of Northumberland, Lord Chief Justice, Lord Bardoph, Shallow, Morton, Earl of Warwick, Pistol
Setting: London
Time: AD 1403-1413

Henry IV Part 2 is the second play in what scholars refer to as the Henriad, an allusion to Virgil’s Aeneid. The Henriad, Shakespeare’s epic account of King Henry V, includes Henry IV Part 1, Henry IV Part 2, and Henry V. Those three plays combined with their prequel, Richard II, comprise what is now known as the Second Tetralogy, written between 1597 and 1598. The First Tetralogy, written earlier between 1591 and 1595, comprises Henry VI Part 1, Henry VI Part 2, Henry VI Part 3, and Richard III.

Written: 1598-99; Texts: Quarto 1600, First Folio 1623 (History)

Source: Holinshed, Raphael (c. 1528-c. 1580). The Chronicles of England, Scotland and Ireland. (2nd ed., 1587); The Famous Victories of Henry the Fifth (c. 1586); Robert Fabyan (?-1513). New Chronicles of England and France (1516); Samuel Daniel (c.1562-1619). The Civil Wars between the Two Houses of Lancaster and York (1595-1609)

Characters: The English — Chorus, Henry V King of England, Thomas Duke of Exeter and uncle to the King, Humphrey Duke of Gloucester and brother to the King, John Duke of Bedford and brother to the King, Thomas Duke of Clarence, Duke of York and cousin to the King, Earl of Westmoreland and cousin to the King, Earl of Cambridge and cousin to the King, Earl of Warwick, Earl of Salisbury, Earl of Huntington, Lord Scroop of Masham, Sir Thomas Grey, Hostess Quickly, Pistol, Nym, Bardolph, Boy their servant, Sir Thomas Erpingham, Captain Fluellen, Captain Gower, Captain Macmorris, Captain Jamy, officers in Henry’s army, John Bates, Alexander Court, Michael Williams, soldiers in Henry’s army, Bishop of Canterbury, Bishop Of Ely
The French — King of France, Queen Isabel of France, Katherine Princess of France, Alice gentlewoman attending on Katherine, Dauphin (i.e., Prince) of France, Duke of Berri, Duke of Brittany, Duke of Orléans, Duke of Bourbon, Duke of Burgundy, Constable of France, Lord Grandpré, Lord Rambures, Lord Beaumont, French nobles, Montjoy a French herald, Monsieur Le Fer a French soldier, Governor of Harfleur

Setting: London, Other English locations, France; Time: AD 1414-1420

Henry V is the third play in what scholars refer to as the Henriad, an allusion to Virgil’s Aeneid. The Henriad, Shakespeare’s epic account of King Henry V, includes Henry IV Part 1, Henry IV Part 2, and Henry V. Those three plays combined with their prequel, Richard II, comprise what is now known as the Second Tetralogy, written between 1597 and 1598. The First Tetralogy, written earlier between 1591 and 1595, comprises Henry VI Part 1, Henry VI Part 2, Henry VI Part 3, and Richard III.

Richard Devereux, Earl of Essex, (1565-1601), a favorite of Queen Elizabeth I, has interesting political connections with two of these history plays — Richard II and Henry V. In Henry V, Shakespeare directly alludes to Essex’s future return to London from Ireland and compares it with Henry V’s return from France after his victory at Agincourt. Essex, however, did not return victorious and was not greeted gloriously. In fact, his fortunes went so sour that in 1601 he attempted a coup on Elizabeth. His supporters paid Shakespeare’s company to perform Richard II the night before the attempted coup in hopes its abdication scene would incite the audience to support the coup. He also failed at that, and his failure very nearly brought Shakespeare down with him. However, the Chorus’s reference in Act 5 to “the general of our gracious Empress,”  may not have been to Essex at all. Some scholars suggest that since Elizabeth also sent Charles Blount, 8th Baron Mountjoy to Ireland, and he was successful, the reference may have been to Mountjoy, which would change the generally accepted dating of the play.

Written: c. 1592; Texts: First Folio 1623 (History), no quarto editions
Source: Hall, Edward (1498-1547). The Union of the Two Noble and Illustre Families of Lancaster and York (3rd. ed., 1550); Holinshed, Raphael (c. 1528-c. 1580). The Chronicles of England, Scotland and Ireland. (2nd ed., 1587)
Characters: King Henry VI, Lord Talbot, Duke of Gloucester, Duke of Bedford, Duke of Exeter, Cardinal, Bishop of Winchester, Duke of Somerset, Richard Plantagenet, Earl of Warwick, Earl of Salisbury, Earl of Suffolk, Edmund Mortimer, Charles, Joan La Pucelle, (also Joan of Arc), Reignier, Duke of Anjou and Maine, King of Naples, Margaret, Duke of Alanson, Bastard of Orleance, Duke of Burgundy
Setting: London and France
Time: c. AD 1422-1431

Henry VI Part 1 is considered one of Shakespeare’s earliest plays. Scholars continue to debate how much of it he actually wrote. Since the play was not printed until the publication of the First Folio, there is little evidence on which to make conclusive judgments. Philip Henslowe mentions a performance of what is believed to be Henry VI Pt 1 in his diary in March, 1592. Thomas Nash also mentions its popularity in August, 1592, in his Piers Penniless his Supplication to the Devil. But Francis Meres does not include it in his list of Shakespeare’s plays in Palladis Tamia, 1598, perhaps because it was collaboratively written. Modern consensus includes the play in Shakespeare’s First Tetralogy, which was written between 1591 and 1595, and comprises, in historical not authorship order, Henry VI Part 1, Henry VI Part 2, Henry VI Part 3, and Richard III.

Written: c. 1591; Texts: First Folio 1623 (History), quarto editions 1594, 1619, 1620
Source: Hall, Edward (1498-1547). The Union of the Two Noble and Illustre Families of Lancaster and York (3rd. ed., 1550); Holinshed, Raphael (c. 1528-c. 1580). The Chronicles of England, Scotland and Ireland. (2nd ed., 1587)
Characters: King Henry VI, Duke of Gloucester, Cardinal Beauford, Richard Plantagenet Duke of York, Richard Plantagenet (his third son), Duke of Somerset, Edward Earl of March, Duke of Suffolk, Duke of Buckingham, Lord Clifford, Earl of Warwick, Earl of Salisbury, Jack Cade, Sir Humphrey Stafford
Setting: London and France
Time: c. AD 1431-40

The 1594 quarto edition of what we now call Henry VI Part 2, was originally titled The First Part of the Contention of the Two Famous Houses of Lancaster and York, with the Death of the Good Duke Humphrey. This title anticipates a second part that would, in the First Folio, be titled Henry VI Part 3. Henry VI Part 2 and Henry VI Part 3 are the second and third plays in the First Tetralogy. The First Tetralogy, which was written between 1591 and 1595, comprises, in historical, not authorship order, Henry VI Part 1, Henry VI Part 2, Henry VI Part 3, and Richard III.

Written: c. 1591; Texts: First Folio 1623 (History), octavo edition 1595
Source: Hall, Edward (1498-1547). The Union of the Two Noble and Illustre Families of Lancaster and York (3rd. ed., 1550); Holinshed, Raphael (c. 1528-c. 1580). The Chronicles of England, Scotland and Ireland. (2nd ed., 1587); William Baldwin ed. The Mirror for Magistrates (1559 ed.); Edmund Spenser (c.1552-99). The Faerie Queene (1590) – descriptions of the sun at 2.1.; Brooke, Arthur (?-1563). The Tragical History of Romeus and Juliet (English translation in 1562) – Queen Margaret’s speech at 5.4.; Kyd, Thomas (1558-94) The Spanish Tragedy (1588-9) and Soliman and Perseda (1590)
Characters: Earl of Warwick, Edward Earl of March, Richard, King Henry VI, Queen Margaret, Richard Plantagenet Duke of York, Lord Clifford, George, Lady Grey, Lewis the Eleventh King of France
Setting: London and France
Time: AD 1455-1471

Henry VI Part 3 was originally published in octavo format in 1595 and was titled, The True Tragedy of Richard Duke of York, with the Death of Good King Henry the Sixth, with the Whole Contention between the Two Houses Lancaster and York. It is the third of the four plays that comprise the First Tetralogy, which was written between 1591 and 1595: Henry VI Part 1, Henry VI Part 2, Henry VI Part 3, and Richard III.

Written: 1613; Text: First Folio 1623 (History), no quarto editions
Source: Holinshed, Raphael (c. 1528-c. 1580). The Chronicles of England, Scotland and Ireland. (2nd ed., 1587); Foxe, John (1516-87). The Book of Martyrs (4th ed., 1583)
Characters: Henry VIII, Cardinal Wolsey, Queen Katherine, Duke of Norfolk, Duke of Buckingham, Lord Chamberlain, Cranmer Archbishop of Canterbury, First Gentleman, Duke of Suffolk, Gardiner
Setting: London
Time: AD 1521-1533

Believed by some to be among Shakespeare’s last plays, Henry VIII differed in form from his earlier histories. No single character dominates a coherent plot line. Instead, a series of characters fall from grace and power while others ascend. Some minor characters comment on the more major characters’ fortunes. In addition to appearing episodic, the play incorporates more pageantry and spectacle than earlier histories, It even includes a dream sequence noted for its spectacle. In some respects, Henry VIII is a toned-down, more dramatic version of masques, which were gaining popularity in James’s court. But in Shakespeare’s hands the themes of this masque are given dramatic coherence through the recurrent use of imagery, metaphors and vocabulary.

Written: c. 1599; Text: First Folio 1623 (Tragedy); no quarto editions
Source: Plutarch (c.46-120). Lives (Thomas North’s English translation in 1579)
Characters: Brutus, Mark Antony, Cassius, Julius Caesar, Portia, Calpurnia
Setting: Rome, and other locations in Italy
Time:  c. 44-42 BC

Xxx xxx

Written: 1596; Text: First Folio 1623 (History); no quarto editions
Source: The Troublesome Raigne of John King of England, 2 Vol. (1591)(?); Holinshed, Raphael (c. 1528-c. 1580). The Chronicles of England, Scotland and Ireland. (2nd ed., 1587); Foxe, John (1516-87). The Book of Martyrs (4th ed., 1583)
Characters: Philip the Bastard, King John, Constance, Philip King of France, Hubert de Burgh, Cardinal Pandulph, Earl of Salisbury, Lewis the Dauphin, Arthur
Setting: London and France
Time: AD 1199-1216

Xxx xxx

Written: 1605/06; Texts: Quartos 1608, 1619, First Folio 1623 (Tragedy)
Sources: The True Chronicle History of King Leir (c. 1590); Holinshed, Raphael (c. 1528-c. 1580). The Chronicles of England, Scotland and Ireland. (2nd ed., 1587); Sidney, Philip (1554-86). The Arcadia (1590); Spenser, Edmund (c.1552-99). The Faerie Queene (1590)
Characters: King Lear, Edgar, Earl of Kent, Earl of Gloucester, Edmund, Regan, Goneril, Fool, Cordelia, Duke of Albany
Setting: England
Time: c. Eighth Century

Like Hamlet and Romeo and Juliet, the texts of King Lear differ in the First Folio from what was written in the previous quartos. The first quarto of Lear contains about 300 lines not in the First Folio. And the Fool’s prophesy in Act 3, Scene 2 of the Folio does not appear in the quarto. Even the endings of the two editions are different.

Scholars point to a couple of bits of evidence to date Shakespeare’s authorship of the play. First, the play was recorded in the Stationers’ Register on November 26, 1607. The entry mentions, “…as yt was played before the Kinges maiestie at Whitehall vppon Sainct Stephens night at Christmas Last.” That would have been December 26, 1606. The first quarto edition was not published however until 1608. The latter part of 1606 then is the latest date it may have been written. Another piece of evidence scholars point to is the reference in Act 1, Scene 2, “…these late eclipses in the sun and moon.” Such eclipses actually occurred in September and October, 1605. Shakespeare occasionally inserted contemporary references into his plays. Henry V and Romeo and Juliet contain similar allusions. So the latter months of 1605 appear to be the earliest dates King Lear may have been written, especially when one of the sources is taken into account.

The sources of Shakespeare’s Lear give clues to the dating of his writing. The legends and folk tales of an ancient king and three daughters go back centuries to Geoffrey of Monmouth’s Historia Regum Britanniae in the twelfth century and later to Holinshed’s Chronicles. But the most immediate source of Shakespeare’s Lear would have been the play The True Chronicle History of King Leir. This play whose author is unknown was entered in the Stationers’ Register in 1594 and performed by Philip Henslowe’s company that same year. It was not printed until 1605 when Shakespeare might have read it. Shakespeare, like his contemporaries, was not above stealing other authors’ materials but to his credit he always improved them.

For example, Shakespeare brilliantly interweaves into his Lear the story of Gloucester and his sons Edgar and Edmund, which did not appear in the former Leir. Instead, Shakespeare stole that piece from Philip Sidney’s The Arcadia. In addition, Shakespeare added the business about Lear’s madness, which Lear’s daughters attributed to his old age. Some scholars suggest that Lear’s condition may be a form of dementia. That interpretation suffers from the fact that in the play Lear is cured of his madness. Finally, Shakespeare gives his Lear a tragic, not a happy, ending, which adds depth and poignancy to the play. And of course the poetry of Shakespeare’s language and the complexity of his characters transcend the previous play.

Written: 1594-5; Texts: Quarto 1598, First Folio 1623 (Comedy)
Source: No written source for the plot has been found although the influence of Italian commedia dell’ arte is evident
Characters: Berowne, Princess of France, Ferdinand King of Navarre, Boyet, Rosaline, Don Adriano de Armado, Costard, Moth, Dumaine, Holofernes, Longaville, Katherine
Setting: Navarre
Time: Undetermined

Xxx xxx

Written: 1606; Text: First Folio 1623 (Tragedy), no quarto editions
Source: Holinshed, Raphael (c. 1528-c. 1580). The Chronicles of England, Scotland and Ireland. (2nd ed., 1587); Buchanan, George (1506-82) (1582); Seneca, Lucius Annaeus (4BC. – AD 65). Hercules Furens and Agamemnon (English translation in 1565)
Characters: Macbeth, Lady Macbeth, Duncan, Malcolm, Macduff, Rosse, Banquo, First Witch, Lennox, Second Witch, Third Witch, Lady Macduff, Hecate
Setting: Inverness
Time: c. AD 1039-57

Xxx xxx

Written: 1603 Text: First Folio 1623 (Comedy); no quarto editions
Source: Geroge Whetstone (c.1544-87). Promos and Cassandra (1578); Cinthio, Giovanni Battista Giraldi.1504-73). Hecatommithi (1565. No English translations found, therefore, Shakespeare probably read it either in Italian or French.); Cinthio, Giovanni Battista Giraldi.1504-73) Epitia (1583. No English translations found, therefore, Shakespeare probably read it either in Italian or French.); Barnabe Riche (c.1540-1617). The Adventures of Brusanus, prince of Hungaria (1592)–Lucio’s interactions with the disguised Duke.
Characters: Duke of Vienna, Isabella, Angelo, Lucio, Escalus, Provost, Claudio
Setting: Vienna
Time:  c. AD 1485

Xxx xxx

Written: 1596-1597; Texts: Quartos 1600, 1619, 1637; First Folio 1623 (Comedy)
Sources: The story of Giannetto in Il Pecorone by Ser Giovanni Fiorentino; Ludovico Ariosto (1474-1533). Orlando Furioso (1516)(The English translation by John Harington in 1591); Bandello, Matteo (1485-1561) Novelle (1554-73) 22th story.; Edmund Spenser (c.1552-99). The Faerie Queene (1590); Francois de Belleforest (1530-83). Histories Tragiques (1568) Book 3; Whetstone, George The Roke of Regard (1576) – Claudio’s rejection of Hero at her own wedding; Castiglione, Baldassare (1478-1529) The Book of the Courtier (1528)
Characters: Portia, Bassanio, Shylock, Antonio, Gratiano, Lorenzo, Salerio, Prince of Morocco, Jessica
Setting: Venice
Time: c. 1595

Shylock raises an ugly question. Was Shakespeare anti-semitic? Scholar George L. Kittredge wrote, “Shakespeare was not attacking the Jewish people when he gave Shylock the villain’s role. If so, he was attacking the Moors in Titus Andronicus, the Spaniards in Much Ado, the Italians in Cymbeline, the Viennese in Measure for Measure, the Danes in Hamlet, the Britons in King Lear, the Scots in Macbeth, and the English in Richard the Third.” Others would find that reasoning specious. Ron Rosenbaum, who sees Shylock as an anti-semitic creation, cuts Shakespeare a little slack by writing, “I think, in his defense, it can certainly be said Shakespeare wasn’t consumed by anti-Semitism; nothing like this shows up elsewhere in his other plays but that does not vitiate the ineradicable ugliness of its appearance in The Merchant of Venice.” Does it matter that Kittredge wrote his observation before the Holocaust and Rosenbaum wrote his after? Or does that question spur us to ask what the Elizabethan mindset was at the time Shakespeare wrote The Merchant of Venice? Whatever the answers to those questions, most scholars of Shakespeare know better than to conclude too much about Shakespeare’s biography or personal beliefs based on the characters he created in his plays or the topics he explored. For example, scholars of this play, which deals explicitly with conflicts of Christians and Jews – in fact, scholars of his entire corpus of works – still do not know whether Shakespeare was Catholic, Protestant, atheist or agnostic. Anti-semitism is unquestionably a topic of this play. Shakespeare addresses it head-on, and clearly, the Christian characters are not paragons of Christian virtues. The notes on the passages below explore some of the themes, including anti-semitism, that this play addresses.

Written: c. 1597-98; Texts: Quarto 1602, First Folio 1623 (Comedy)
Source: Perhaps: Fiorentino, Ser Giovanni Il Pecorone (The Simpleton) (1558); Ovid (43 BC- AD18). Metamorphoses (Arthur Golding’s English translation in 1567); Lyly, John (c.1554-1606). Endimion (1588)
Characters: Mistress Margaret Page, Sir John Falstaff, Mistress Quickly, Francis Ford, Sir Hugh Evans, George Page, Mistress Alice Ford, Fenton
Setting: Windsor
Time: c. 1590

Xxx xxx

Written: 1595; Texts: Quartos 1600, 1619, First Folio 1623 (Comedy)
Source: Perhaps influenced by: Theseus and Hippolyta; Plutarch (c.46-120). Lives (Thomas North’s translation in 1579); Chaucer, Geoffrey (c.1340-1400). The Canterbury Tales “The Knight’s Tale” (1400); The story of “Pyramus and Thisbe” and the name of Titania; Ovid (43 BC- AD18). Metamorphoses (Arthur Golding’s English translation in 1567); Oberon; Huon of Bordeau, a 13th-century French adventure tale translated by Lord Berners (1534)
Characters: Helena, Oberon, Theseus Duke of Athens, Puck, Lysander, Hermia, Titania, Demetrius, Bottom, Quince, Flute, Egeus
Setting: Athens
Time: Undetermined

Xxx xxx

Written: 1598 Texts: Quarto 1600, First Folio 1623 (Comedy)
Source: Ludovico Ariosto (1474-1533). Orlando Furioso (1516)(The English translation by John Harington in 1591); Bandello, Matteo (1485-1561) Novelle (1554-73) 22th story; Edmund Spenser (c.1552-99). The Faerie Queene (1590); Francois de Belleforest (1530-83). Histories Tragiques (1568) Book 3; Whetstone, George The Roke of Regard (1576) – Clauido’s rejuction of Hero at her own wedding; Castiglione, Baldassare (1478-1529) The Book of the Courtier (1528)
Characters: Leonato, Claudio, Don Pedro, Benedick, Hero, Beatrice, Friar Francis, Dogberry, Don John, Borachio, Antonio, Ursala
Setting: Messina
Time: Undetermined

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Written: 1603-1604; Texts: Quarto 1622, First Folio 1623 (Tragedy)
Source: Cinthio (Giovanni Battista Giraldi.1504-73). Hecatommithi (1565. No English translations found, therefore, Shakespeare probably read it either in Italian or French.) Book 2, 7th story of “Disdemona and the Moor”; Pliny, the Elder (23-79). Naturalia Historia (Philemon Holland’s translation in 1601); Africanus, Leo. A Geographical History of Africa (English translation by John Pory, 1600)
Characters: Iago, Othello, Desdamona, Emilia, Cassio, Brabantio, Roderigo, Lodovico, Duke of Venice
Setting: Venice, Cypress
Time: AD 1570 (when Cyprus was invaded by the Turks)

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Written: c. 1607; Texts: Quarto 1609 (Romance), not in the First Folio but was included in the Third Folio
Source: Historia Apollonii Regis Tyri as translated by John Gower, a poet and contemporary of Chaucer, in his Confessio Amantis, c.1390, and The Patterne of Painful Adventures (1607) by Laurence Twine.
Characters: Pericles, Gower, Marina, Simonides, Helicanus, Cleon, Cerimon
Setting: Tyre, Antioch, Tharsus, Pentapolis, Mytilene
Time: Undetermined

Pericles may have been excluded from the First Folio because it was written in collaboration, or because ownership rights were disputed at the time of the First Folio’s printing. Shakespeare is believed to have written only acts III, IV & V. The author of acts I & II is believed by many scholars to be George Wilkens — a tapster, bawd and sometimes playwright. Shortly after the play’s first performances, Wilkens wrote a novelization of the play and some scholars question whether he then claimed ownership of the play. However, shortly after the novel’s publication, the 1609 quarto edition was  published and Shakespeare’s name appeared on the title page as the play’s sole author. But it is not clear whether Shakespeare or his company had anything to do with this printing. The quarto was replete with errors. Due to the play’s popularity, it was printed six times in quarto format from 1609 to 1635. Ownership disputes arose over the course of these printings, and some revisions were made to correct earlier errors. The play was eventually included in the Third Folio. 

Written: 1595 Texts: Quartos 1597, 1598 (two), 1608, 1615; First Folio 1623 (History)

Source: Hall, Edward (1498-1547). The Union of the Two Noble and Illustre Families of Lancaster and York (3rd. ed., 1550); Holinshed, Raphael (c. 1528-c. 1580). The Chronicles of England, Scotland and Ireland. (2nd ed., 1587); Anonymous. Thomas of Woodstock(c. 1592); Froissart, Jean(c.1337-1410). Chroniques (1495?)(John Bourchier’s English translation in 1523-5); William Baldwin ed. The Mirror for Magistrates (1559 ed.); Daniel, Samuel (c.1562-1619). The Civil Wars between the Two Houses of Lancaster and York (1595-1609)

Characters: King Richard II, Sir John Bushy, Sir John Bagot, Sir Henry Green, Richard’s Queen (her name was Isabella but Shakespeare never used her name), John of Gaunt the Duke of Lancaster, Henry Bolingbroke the Duke of Hereford and son to John of Gaunt and later King Henry IV, Duchess of Gloucester the widow to Thomas the Duke of Gloucester, Edmund the Duke of York, Duchess of York, Duke of Aumerle the Earl of Rutland and son to Duke and Duchess of York, Thomas Mowbray the Duke of Norfolk, Earl of Salisbury, Bishop of Carlisle, Sir Stephen Scroop, Lord Berkeley, Abbot of Westminster, Welsh Captain, Henry Percy the Earl of Northumberland, Lord Ross, Lord Willoughby, Harry Percy the son of Northumberland and later known as “Hotspur”, Lord Fitzwater, Duke of Surrey, Another Lord, Gardener, Gardener’s Servingmen, Sir Pierce of Exton, and others.

Setting: London and Wales; Time: AD 1398-1400

Richard II, in historical chronological order, is the first play in what is now known as the Second Tetralogy, written between 1597 and 1598. Henry IV Part 1, Henry IV Part 2, and Henry V are the other three. The First Tetralogy, written earlier between 1591 and 1595, includes Henry VI Part 1, Henry VI Part 2, Henry VI Part 3, and Richard III.

Richard II, while lyrical in style, became, in Shakespeare’s lifetime, one of his most controversial and political plays. On February 7, 1601, supporters of Robert Devereux, Earl of Essex, paid the Lord Chamberlain’s Men to mount a performance of the play the day before Essex attempted a coup against Elizabeth I. Perhaps his partisans believed that the abdication scene, which was so provocative it did not even appear in print until the fourth quarto in 1608, would inspire playgoers to join Essex’s attempted coup the next day. It did not. But it did briefly cast a shadow on the Lord Chamberlain’s Men’s loyalty to the Queen. Shakespeare, unlike several of his contemporaries such as Ben Jonson, Christopher Marlowe and others, shrewdly avoided jail due to political overreach in his plays. This was his closest call. While a few members of the audience for that command performance were arrested and executed, the Lord Chamberlain’s Men were not. In fact, the night before Essex’s execution, the company again performed Richard II, this time at Whitehall at the Queen’s command. The play was not a comedy but the queen clearly had the last laugh.

Written: 1592-93; Texts: Quarto 1597, 1598; First Folio 1623 (History)
Source: Holinshed, Raphael (c. 1528-c. 1580). The Chronicles of England, Scotland and Ireland. (2nd ed., 1587); Hall, Edward (1498-1547). The Union of the Two Noble and Illustre Families of Lancaster and York (1587 edition); More, Thomas. History of King Richard the Thirde. (1543); William Baldwin ed. The Mirror for Magistrates (1559 ed.)
Characters: Richard Duke of Gloucester, Duke of Buckingham, Queen Elizabeth, Queen Margaret, George Duke of Clarence, Lady Anne, Duchess of York, Lord Hastings, Henry Earl of Richmond, Lord Stanley
Setting: London
Time: AD 1477-1485

Richard III is the fourth play in the First Tetralogy, which was written between 1591 and 1595, comprises, in historical, not authorship order, Henry VI Part 1, Henry VI Part 2, Henry VI Part 3, and Richard III. The second edition quarto of this play, printed in 1598, was the first Shakespeare play to bear his name on the title page.

Written: 1595; Texts: Quartos 1597, 1599, First Folio 1623 (Tragedy)
Source: Brooke, Arthur (?-1563). The Tragical History of Romeus and Juliet (English translation in 1562)
Characters: Romeo, Juliet, Friar Lawrence, Capulet, Nurse, Mercutio, Benvolio, Lady Capulet, Prince Escalus, Paris, Montague, Tybalt
Setting: Verona
Time: AD 1303

Romeo and Juliet is assumed to have been written in 1595 chiefly, but not exclusively, based on the Nurse’s ramblings in Act 1, Scene 3, in which she attempts to establish Juliet’s age in relation to an earthquake. “But, as I said, / On Lammas Eve at night shall she be fourteen. / That shall she. Marry, I remember it well. / ‘Tis since the earthquake now eleven years, / And she was weaned (I never shall forget it) / Of all the days of the year, upon that day.” Scholars assume the Nurse is referring to the London earthquake of April 6, 1580, which terrorized theater audiences. The fact that this play is set in Verona a few hundred years earlier is irrelevant.

The versions of this play that today’s audiences read or watch may be based on some combination of the bad quarto (1597), the good quarto (1599), the folios, and future editors’ and directors’ emendations to any or all of the above. There is no “authoritative” text.

Written: 1603-04
Source:
Characters: Sir Thomas More
Setting: London
Time: 1517

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Written: 1611; Texts: First Folio 1623 (Comedy), no quarto editions
Source: Strachey, William (c.1567-c.1634) (dated 15.Jul.1610, printed 1625); Jourdain, Sylvester (?-1650). A Discovery of the Bermudas (1610); Jourdain, Sylvester (?-1650) The True Declaration of the Estate of Colonie in Virginia (1610)
Characters: Prospero, Ariel, Caliban, Miranda, Ferdinand, Antonio, Gonzalo, Sebastian, Alonso, Stephano
Setting: An Island Perhaps Near America
Time: Undetermined

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Written: 1605-08 Text: First Folio 1623 (Tragedy), no quarto editions
Source: Plutarch’s Life of Antony; Lucian’s dialogue Timon misanthropus
Characters: Timon, Flavius, Apemantus, Alcibiades, Senators, Friends, Poet, Painter, Jeweler, Merchant, Banditti
Time: 5th century BC

This play is a mystery in a few respects. Because there is no quarto edition and no extant evidence of its existence (including performances) until its inclusion in the First Folio, dating its writing is difficult. Some scholars guess it was written about the time of King Lear because Timon shares some of Lear’s themes as well as unusual dialogue. Due to some of its unusual textual and plot problems, some scholars believe it is unfinished. Others believe it is a collaborative work, most notably with Thomas Middleton. One area of agreement among many scholars is that it is Shakespeare’s least popular play. But even an unpopular play by someone as intelligent as Shakespeare is worth study.

Written: 1592
Source: Possibly Ovid’s Metamorphses (the tale of the rape of Philomel) and Seneca’s Thyestes
Characters: Titus Andronicus, Aaron, Marcus Andronicus, Tamora, Saturninus, Lucius, Demetrius, Bassianus, Lavinia, Chiron
Setting: Rome
Time: AD 250 – 450

Gore and classical allusions characterize this early work by the young William Shakespeare. It appears this “upstart crow” was trying to sell tickets to the plebeian masses by offering buckets of blood while simultaneously trying to impress the dons of Oxford and Cambridge ” “beautified with our feathers” ” with his knowledge of Greek and Roman history and mythology .

Written: 1602 Texts: Quartos (two editions) 1609; First Folio 1623 (Tragedy)
Sources: Homer (c. 900.BC). Iliad (English translation in 1598 by George Chapman); Chaucer, Geoffrey (c.1340-1400). Troilus and Criseyde (c. 1385); Caxton, William (c.1421-91). Recuyell of the Historyes of Troye) (1475, 5th ed. 1596); Lydgate, John (c.1370-1449). The Troy Book (1412-20, 1555 ed); de Malynes, Gerard (1601) The Canker of England’s Commonwealth.
Characters: Troilus, Ulysses, Cressida, Hector, Pandarus, Agamemnon, Achilles, Nestor, Aeneas, Diomedes, Thersites, Paris, Helen
Setting: Troy
Time: 1194“1184 BC (Trojan War)

Troilus and Cressida is assumed to be written in 1602 because it was entered into the the Stationers’ Register on February 7, 1603. In addition, the Prologue, which appears only in the Folio, includes these lines:

“And hither am I come,
A prologue armed, but not in confidence
Of author’s pen or actor’s voice, but suited
In like conditions as our argument…”

This seems to be an allusion to Ben Jonson’s 1601 Poetaster‘s “armed Prologue” which defends his author’s writing against “illiterate apes.”

Two quarto editions were printed in 1609. The second edition includes a preface that states the play was new and, “neuer stal’d with the Stage, neuer clapper-clawed with the palms of the Vulgar.” However, the Stationers’ Register of 1603 recorded it as, “‘Troilus and Cresseda’ as yt is acted by my lord Chamberlens Men,” and the first quarto edition states, “As it was acted by the Kings Maiefties feruents at the Globe.” Some scholars speculate that the play may have been performed for a private audience but not for the public. Others speculate that performances were planned but cancelled for political reasons.

Another curious question is whether the play is a comedy, history or tragedy. The first quarto titles it, “THE Hiftorie of Troylus and Creffeida.” The second quarto titles it, “THE Famous Hiftorie of Troylus and Creffeid.” The Folio titles it, “THE TRAGEDIE OF Troylus and Crefsida.” However, the play is omitted from the Folio’s Catalogue so it is not listed among the tragedies. In the body of most of the Folios, it is inserted between the histories and the tragedies. In a few Folios, it does not appear at all. The play has elements of comedies – humor, young lovers, a clown – but those elements are found in many of Shakespeare’s tragedies. Many modern scholars consider Troilus and Cressida a problem play. The problems this play explores is how affairs of heart and of state are treated in economic or, more specifically, mercantile figurative language.

Written:1600-1601; Text: First Folio 1623 (Comedy), no quarto editions
Source: Barnabe Riche (c.1540-1617). Farewell to Militarie Profession (1581) the story of Apolonius and Silla; Bandello, Matteo (1485-1561) Novelle (1554-73)
Characters: Viola, Olivia, Orsino, Sir Toby Belch, Feste, Malvolio, Antonio, Sebastian, Sir Andrew Aguecheek
Setting: Illyria
Time: Time of Shakespeare

Written: 1590-91 Text: First Folio 1623 (Comedy), no quarto editions
Source: Giovanni Boccaccio (1313-75). Decameron10th day, the story of “Titus and Gisippus”; Elyot, Thomas (c.1490-1546). The Boke named the Governour (1531); Montemayor, Jorge de (c.1521-61). Diana Enamorada (1542, English translation in 1582. publication in 1598) the story of “Felix and Felismena”; The History of Felix and Philiomena (the record of the performance in 1585); Brooke, Arthur (?-1563). The Tragical History of Romeus and Juliet (English translation in 1562); Lyly, John (c.1554-1606). Euphues (1578)
Characters: Proteus, Valentine, Julia, Duke of Milan, Silvia, Speed, Luceta, Launce
Setting: Verona
Time: Undetermined

Xxx xxx

Written: 1609 Text: First Folio 1623 (Comedy), no quarto editions
Source: Robert Greene (c.1558-92). Pandosto (1588); Ovid (43 BC- AD18). Metamorphoses (Arthur Golding’s English translation in 1567)
Characters: Leontes King of Sicilia, Paulina, Camillo, Polixenes King of Bohemia, Hermione, Florizel, Perdita, Autolycus, Antigonus
Setting: Sicily and Bohemia
Time: Undetermined

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