Shakespeare's Plays
Here is a list of the plays of Shakespeare. Some have summaries and clicking those that appear as links will take you to the summary. These are supposedly the 10 Favourite Plays, but are certainly about the best known. From what I have heard, these 10 are also regularly included for studies in English Literature examinations. I hope you enjoy. Following on from the plays is a list of characters from various Shakespeare plays.
Time Period	Plays	Class
1592 to 1594	King Henry VI parts 1, 2 and 3	History
	King Richard III	History
	The Comedy of Errors	Comedy
	Two Gentlemen of Verona	Comedy
	The Taming of the Shrew	Comedy
	Titus Andronicus	Tragedy
	Love's Labour's Lost	Comedy
1594 to 1597	Romeo and Juliet	Tragedy
	King Richard II	History
	A Midsummer Night's Dream	Comedy
	King John	History
	The Merchant of Venice	Comedy
1597 to 1600	King Henry IV parts 1 and 2	History
	King Henry V	History
	Much Ado about Nothing	Comedy
	The Merry Wives of Windsor	Comedy
	As You Like It	Comedy
	Julius Caesar	Tragedy
	Troilus and Cressida	Comedy/Tragedy
1600 to 1608	Hamlet	Tragedy
	Twelfth Night	Comedy
	Measure for Measure	Comedy
	All's Well that Ends Well	Comedy
	Othello	Tragedy
	King Lear	Tragedy
	Macbeth	Tragedy
	Timon of Athens	Tragedy
	Anthony and Cleopatra	Tragedy
	Coriolanus	Tragedy
After 1608	Pericles	Comedy
	Cymbeline	Comedy
	The Winter's Tale	Comedy
	The Tempest	Comedy
	King Henry VIII	History
	The Two Noble Kinsmen	Comedy
The exact chronology of Shakespeare's plays cannot be determined, but most scholars would agree that they could be roughly grouped as in the above table.
William Shakespeare

The Favourite Plays

1. Romeo and Juliet     Written in 1594 or 1595, this tragedy was immediately popular as shown by its appearance in Quarto editions in 1597, 1599 and 1609 (when two were published). The background to the play is the enmity between the Montague and Capulet families. Romeo, a Montague, falls in love with Juliet, a Capulet, and secretly marries her. Through a series of tragic happenings and misunderstandings, Romeo, who thinks the drugged Juliet is dead, poisons himself. Consequently, she stabs herself. But the feuding families are reconciled over the dead bodies of the young lovers. A notable feature of the play is Shakespeare's use of a Chorus, who at the outset tells us that the "pair of star-crossed lovers" will meet their deaths and that this event, originating in the family feud,"is now the two hours traffic of our stage." The lyrical speeches of love and Mercutio's description of the Queen Mab are celebrated passages of poetry. The nurse is a vivid flesh-and-blood character who provides a down-to-earth contrast to the idealistic young lovers.

2. A Midsummer Night's Dream     This play was written at about the same time as Romeo and Juliet and printed as a Quarto in 1600. It is a comedy of love and misunderstanding set in a wood near Athens. Three plots are blended; the confusions experienced by four young lovers (Lysander, Hermia, Demetrius and Helena); the comic doings of Bottom, the weaver, and his fellowworkmen; and the quarrel between Oberon and Titania, the Fairy King and Queen. These plots are framed by the nuptial ceremonies of Theseus and Hippolyta. Puck, the mischievous sprite, is an important agent in the action and speaks the Epilogue, which delicately indicates the dreamlike qualities of the play. As in Romeo and Juliet, musical, romantic poetry abounds (e.g. Oberon's"I know a bank where the wild thyme blows" and the Fairies song, "You spotted snakes with double tongue").

3. The Merchant of Venice     Probably written in 1596 or 1597, the play had "been diverse times acted by the Lord Chamberlain his servants" before its publication as a Quarto in 1600. In order to lend money to his friend Bassanio, Antonio, the Merchant of Venice, borrows 3,000 ducats from Shylock, the Jew, agreeing to sacrifice a pound of his flesh if he cannot repay the loan. Bassanio needs the money to go to Belmont to try to win the hand of Portia. His mission is successful and subsequently Portia, disguised as a male lawyer defeats Shylock's attempt to claim his "pound of flesh" from Antonio. Shakespeare's characterisation of Shylock is complex, since he is seen as both a cruel usurer and a man whose humanity transcends a racial stereotype ("If you prick us, do we not bleed?" as he himself asks). Portia has the independence and teasing wit that typify several Shakespearean heroines. The device of her man's disguise reminds us that only men and boys were allowed to act at that time (and also see the use of this device in Twelfth Night)  .

4. King Henry IV, Parts 1 and 2     These plays were written in 1597 and 1598 and were published as Quartos in 1598 and 1600. In both, the King (who himself was seen leading a rebellion in King Richard III) is contending with rebellion from dissident noblemen and is ultimately successful through the battle in maintaining his regal authority. His son, Prince Hal (later King Henry V), consorts with disreputable companions, the chief of whom is Sir John Falstaff, the fat and cowardly knight, who is one of the most famous of all Shakespeare's characters (he reappears in The Merry Wives of Windsor). The Prince has resolved, however, to reform and to renounce his friends. Loyalty (of subject to monarch and son to father) and honour, considered in various aspects, are the underlying themes. The plays combine serious history, humorous and sardonic comments and events, and occasional poignancy. Besides Falstaff, the Prince and the King, the striking characters are Hotspur (in Part 1), Mistress Quickly )in Parts 1 and 2), and Justice (in Part 2).

5. Hamlet     Three versions exist of this play, which was probably written in 1600; Quartos of 1603 and 1604 and the Folio text. It is basically a "revenue tragedy", but its profundity and ambiguities arise from Hamlet's prolonged hesitations and reflections concerning the revenge he has been urged to take by the Ghost of his father, crystallised in his soliloquy, "To be or not to be". Fascinating interpretive problems include Hamlet's "madness", his not killing the King (his father's murderer) when at prayer, his treatment of Ophelia, and the scene of the "play within a play". These issues, along with Shakespeare's prolific invention of varied incidents, speeches and characters (e.g. Claudius, the Queen, Ophelia, Polonius, Horatio and the First Gravedigger) have made the play perennially and universally popular. Above all, the character of Hamlet continues to intrigue us, perhaps because "it is we who are Hamlet." as William Hazlitt said.

6. Twelfth Night     It seems as if Shakespeare wrote the play in 1601, perhaps for a performance on twelfth night (6 January) that year. In this romantic comedy, which is tinged with sadness, Viola, disguised as a man falls in love with her employer, Orsino, the Duke of Illyria, who is in love with Olivia. Malvolio, Olivia's Puritan steward, is tricked into believing that she is in love with him. Throughout these and other misunderstandings, runs a vein of deeply-felt love (as in Viola's self-description of a woman who "sat like Patience on a monument, / Smiling at grief" and in one of Feste's sad songs, "O mistress mine" and the tensions between appearance and reality. Broader humour is supplied by Sir Toby Belch and Sir Andrew Aguecheek.

7. Othello     Performed on 1 November 1604 before King James I in the Banqueting House at Whithall, the play was probably written in the preceding twelve months. It is a tragedy based on the consuming power of jealousy and on the presence of apparently "motiveless malignity" (to use the words of Coleridge). Othello, a Moor, convinced by Iago that Desdemona, his wife, is guilty of infidelity with Cassio, smothers her in bed. On discovering her innocence, he kills himself with a sword. Shakespeare's use of a compressed time-scheme, his portrayal of a black man as a noble and yet susceptible human being, and his disturbingly vivid personification of evil in Iago are among the technical and ethical problems raised by this unforgettable drama.

8. King Lear     This play, the most intense and overwhelming of Shakespeare's tragedies, was written in 1606 and printed in Quartos of 1608 and 1619. A different version appears in the First Folio. The aged King Lear, who impetuously disinherits his virtuous daughter, Cordelia, divides his kingdom between his other daughters, Goneril and Regan, who benevolently cast him out. Broken hearted and accompanied by his Fool, he loses his reason on a storm-swept heat. Parallel to his evil treatment is that of the Duke of Gloucester, who is blinded by Cornwall, Regan's husband. By the end of the play, all the principal characters, except Edgar, Gloucester's son, have died. Lear's impassioned speeches, full of pity as well as bitterness, and Gloucester's expression of fatalism ("They kill us for their sport") represent the profoundly tragic nature of King Lear.

9. Macbeth     The shortest of Shakespeare's tragedies, this is usually dated 1606. Influenced by the Three Witches' prophesies and urged on by his wife, Macbeth embarks on a course of murder in order to gain the crown of Scotland and then to establish his power. He is eventually killed by Macduff, and Malcolm, one of the murdered King Duncan's sons, succeeds to the kingdom. This is a play of relentless pace (sometimes acted without a break) that dramatises issues of ambition, kingly qualities, self-deception, the influence of the supernatural, and the nature of evil and conscience (revealed, for example, in Macbeth's soliloquies and in Lady Macbeth's sleepwalking scene). Superstition causes the play to be called the 'Scottish Play' as it's real name is said to be unlucky.

10. The Tempest     Traditionally regarded as Shakesreare's farewell to the stage, the play was probably written in 1611. Unusually, it observes the unities of time and place. The exiled Prospero lives on an island with his daughter Miranda, the airy spirit, Ariel, and the beast-like Caliban. Through his magical powers, he contrives the shipwreck of Alonso, the King of Naples, and others who belonged to his former courtly world and who were implicated in his banishment. After various complications and machinations, forgiveness and reconcilliation ensue. Miranda will marry Ferdinand, the King's son, and Prospero renounces his magic. This is a romantic, supernatural and endlessly fascinating play, which blends coarse and delicate humour, resentment and love, and which finally instils feelings of satisfaction and happiness (as expressed in Miranda's exclamation, "O brave new world, / That has such people in it!").

Who's Who in Shakespeare

The following list is only a brief selection of the characters in the plays. Many of them are roles, however, that have much potential for varied interpretation by actors.

Angelo (Measure for Measure) A "man of structure and firm abstinence," whom the Duke, who is about to leave Vienna, has appointed his deputy. He condemns Claudio to death because of sexual immorality. But he tells Claudio's sister, Isabella, that he will reprieve him if she will yield to his desires: "Fit thy consent to my sharp appetite." Through the Duke's contrivance, Angelo sleeps with Mariana, thinking that it is Isabella. His misdeeds are exposed, but the Duke eventually pardons him.

Autolycus (The Winter's Tale) A Pedlar and pick-pocket in Bohemia, who describes himself as "a snapper-up of unconsidered trifles." He sings two songs, "When daffodils begin to peer" and "Lawn as white as driven snow." Camilio, a Sicilian courtier, makes Autolycus exchange clothes with Florizel so that the latter can escape Bohemia. In the guise of a gentleman, he frightens the Shepherd and his son into giving him gold, but after various turns in the plot he beseeches them to pardon his faults and to commend him to Florizel.

Beatrice (Much Ado About Nothing) Leonato's niece, who is in love with Benedick, but continually teases and disparages him with witty railery in many a "skirmish of wit." She tells Don Pedro: "there was a star danced and under that I was born." In the end she agrees to marry Benedick: "I yield upon great persuasion."

Bottom (A Midsummer Night's Dream) A weaver who with other workmen in the forest is preparing a performance of "Pyramus and Thisbe," an absurd and unintentionally comic production, which they act at the end of the play in front of Theseus and Hyppolita to celebrate their wedding. Although Bottom is given the part of Pyramus, he would have liked to be the lion, promising to roar "as gently as any sucking dove," if necessary. Through Puck's mischievous contrivance, his head is transformed into an ass's head and Titania, the Fairy Queen, falls in love with him, until Puck removes the spell.

Brutus (Julius Cæsar) One of the conspirators against Julius Cæsar. Although he has no "personal cause" to oppose him and is tortured by anxiety, he thinks that Cæsar must be killed before he becomes too powerful. He stirkes the last blow when the conspiritors stab Cæsar to death, causing Cæsar to exclaim "Et tu, Bruté?" When the conspirators are defeated by the forces of Antony and Octavius at the Battle of Philippi, Brutus kills himself upon his sword. Antony recognises Brutus's idealistic motives for his actions: "This was the noblest Roman of them all."

Cleopatra (Antony and Cleopatra) The Queen of Egypt, no longer young, between whom and Mark Antony there exists mutual passionate love. Enobarbus, one of Antony's friends, testifies to her attractions: "Age cannot with her, nor custom stall / Her infinite variety." After Antony's forces are defeated, he accuses her of betraying him in battle. She sends word that she has committed suicide and he therefore attempts to kill himself. Badly wounded, he dies in her presence, leading her to declare: "The crown o' th' earth doth melt." Soon afterwards, Cleopatra commits suicide by applying two poisonous snakes to her body.

Cordelia (King Lear) The youngest daughter of King Lear, whom he disinherits when she is unable to make a public profession of her love for him. But unlike her two sisters, Goneril and Regan, Cordelia sincerely and deeply loves her father. She marries the King of France. After her father has been cast out and then brought to the French camp in England, she kisses him as he lies asleep and expresses her pity and distress. On waking, King Lear addresses her as "a soul in bliss." Cordelia and Lear are imprisoned, and Edmund orders her to be hanged. His reprieve comes too late. Lear appears with Cordelia dead in his arms, desperately hoping she is still alive.

Coriolanus (Coriolanus) A Roman general, whose name is given to him in honour of his capture of the Volscian town of Corioli. Always contemptuous of the plebeians of Rome, he is banished from the city by the Tribunes, who think that he seeks "tyrannical power." In revenge, he leads the Volscians against Rome, but spares the city after yielding to the pleas of his mother, Voluminia, and his wife, Virgilia. Aufidius, the Volscian leader accuses him of treachery, and he is stabbed to death by conspirators. Just before his death, he proudly recalls that: "like an eagle in a dove-cote, I / Fluttered you Volscians in Corioli."

Dogberry (Much Ado About Nothing) A constable, who has Verges as his second-in-command, both of whom are inept. Their arrest of Borachio and Comrade helps, however, to reveal Don John's plot against Claudio and Hero. Dogberry is notable for his comic verbosity, especially for the malapropism "Comparisons are oderous."

Falstaff, Sir John (King Henry IV Parts 1 and 2; King Henry V; and The Merry Wives of Windsor) A fat knight given to drinking and boasting, who is a close friend of Prince Hal, the heir to the throne. But when the latter becomes King (as Henry V), he casts Falstaff off. In King Henry V, Mistress Quickly movingly reports the death of Falstaff: "his nose was as sharp as a pen, and a babbled of green fields." Shakespeare makes Falstaff the hero of The Merry Wives of Windsor, in which he is the victim of a number of tricks and escapades.

Faulconbridge (King John) King Richard I's illegitimate son, who is known as the Bastard. He plays an active part in most of the principle events in the play, but at the same time is an ironical commentator on proceedings, with the function of a Chorus, as in his reflections on "Commodity, the bias of the world."

Fool (King Lear) King Lear's court jester, whose joking and witty remarks indicate the King's own foolishness in trusting Goneril and Regan. At the same time, the Fool expresses his pity and love for his master, as in his words when the King, on the heath, bitterly apostrophises the storm: "Good nuncle, in; ask thy daughters' blessing. Here's a night pities neither wise men nor fools." He abruptly leaves the action in Act 3, Scene 6, saying "And I'll go to bed at noon," and is heard of no more. King Lear's "And my poor fool is hanged!" which occurs in his final speech, may refer to him or to Cordelia.

Hal, Prince (King Henry IV Parts 1 and 2) See King Hernry IV parts 1 and 2 in Favourite Plays above and Henry V, below.

Hamlet (Hamlet) See Hamlet in Favourite Plays, above.

Henry V (King Henry V) Having put off his "madcap" way of life on succeeding to the throne, the King is praised at the opening of the play by the Archbishop of Canterbury as someone "full of grace and fair regard." He leads his army against the French and on the eve of the Battle of Agincourt, wanders in disguise among his men. His stirring speeches at the siege of Harfleur and at Agincourt are among the most famous in Shakespeare's works: "Once more unto the breach dear friends" and "This day is called the Feast of Crispian." To contrast, there is his courtship of the French Princess Katherine.

Hotspur (King Richard III and King Henry IV Part 1) Henry Percy, a son of the Earl of Northumberland, is a fiery opponent of King Henry IV and hence his son, Prince Hal. To Hotspur, honour and fighting are all unimportant, an attitude mocked by Hal. But it is the Prince who kills him at the Battle of Shrewsbury and pays him tribute: "This earth that bears thee dead / Bears not alive so stout a gentleman."

Iago (Othello) See Othello in the Favourite Plays above.

Imogen (Cymbeline) The beautiful and virtuous daughter of King Cymbeline and the wife of Posthumus, who when he is banished for secretly marrying her boasts that Iachimo will be unable to seduce her. Although she remains virtuous, Iachimo convinces Posthumos that he was successful. Posthumus then plans to have her murdered, but after her various wanderings and ordeals, all is happily resolved in a final scene of revelation and reconciliation.

Jaques (As You Like It) A lord attending the banished Duke in the Forest of Arden. He is called 'the melancholy Jaques,' and is given to moralising. He weeps over the death of a deer killed by the hunters and (in his own words) 'can suck melancholy out of a song, as a weasel sucks eggs.' His best known reflections are on the 'seven ages' of man: "All the world's a stage. / And all the men and women merely players."

Katherina (The Taming of the Shrew) Baptista's eldest daughter, 'renowned in Padua for her scolding tongue.' But Petruchio, who is determined to marry her, eloquently woos her. After their marriage, he takes various actions to subdue her. In her final speech, she lengthily discourses on the need for women to 'serve, love and obey.'

Lear, King (King Lear) See King Lear in the Favourite Plays above.

Leontes (The Winter's Tale) The King of Sicilia, who irrationally and falsely accuses his wife, Hermione, of infidelity with his friend, Polixenes. When a baby daughter is born to her, he has the child (later named Perdita) cast into the wilderness and Hermione brought to trial for adultery. After the death of Mamilius, his son, and the reported death of Hermione, which seem to confirm the judgement of the oracle, Leontes is repentant. Sixteen years afterwards, Hermione and Perdita are both restored to him.

Macbeth (Macbeth) See Macbeth in Favourite Plays above.

Malvolio (Twelfth Night) Olivia's puritanical steward, who (in her words) is 'sick of self-love' and tastes 'with a distempered appetite.' He rebukes Sir Toby Belch, Sir Andrew Aguecheek and Feste, the clown, for their boisterous merrymaking. With Maria, the waiting woman, they trick him with a forged letter into believing that Olivia is in love with him, and contrive to have him locked up for apparently mad behaviour. When he is released, he declares that he will be revenged on 'the whole pack' of them.

Nurse (Romeo and Juliet) Juliet's garrulous and down-to-earth nurse who fondly reminisces about the heroine's early childhood: "Thou wast the prettiest babe that e'er I nursed." She acts as a messenger between Romeo and Juliet, but when Romeo is banished she urges Juliet to marry Paris. When she finds Juliet unconscious after drinking Friar Laurence's potion, she is distraught and announces her apparent death to her parents.

Ophelia (Hamlet) The daughter of Polonius and sister of Laertes, both of whom warn her against Hamlet's professions of love. Hamlet frightens her with his strange actions and bitter words. After her father is killed by Hamlet, she becomes mad – 'divided from herself and her fair judgement,' in the words of Claudius. She sings strange, poignant songs and distributes flowers: "There's rosemary, that's for remembrance." She falls into the "the weeping brook," where she drowns.

Pandarus (Troilus and Cressida) Cressida's uncle, who is her and Troilus's go-between in their love affair. He is commentator on the action of the play. Troilus twice contemptuously calls him a 'broker-lackey.'

Polonius (Hamlet) The Lord Chamberlain at the court of King Claudius and the father of Laertes and Ophelia. He gives sententious advice to Laertes when the latter is about to leave Denmark, including "Neither a borrower nor a lender be." He watches and reports on Hamlet's actions. When hidden in the Queen's closet in order to overhear Hamlet's conversation with his mother, he is killed by Hamlet, who thrusts his sword through the arras.

Prospero (The Tempest) See The Tempest in the Favourite Plays above.

Richard II (King Richard II) Because of the King's arbitrary and unjust actions, Henry Bolingbroke, whom he had banished from England, returns at the head of a rebellion against him. Richard is deposed and Bolingbroke becomes King Henry IV. He is imprisoned in Pomfret Castle, where he is killed by Sir Pierce of Exton and servants. Richard indulges in self-pity and imaginative soliloquies, as when he hears of the calamities that have befallen his cause:"For God's sake let us sit upon the ground / And tell sad stories of the death of kings."

Richard III (King Richard III) As the Duke of Gloucester at the beginning of the play, he bitterly refers to his physical deformity and is "determined to prove a villain." He has the Duke of Clarence killed. He is declared King after the death of King Edward IV and the murder of the two Princes in the Tower (one of whom is Edward V). On the eve of the Battle of Bosworth Field, the ghosts of the many he has killed and of his wife, Anne, appear to him. In the battle, Richard desperately cries "A horse! A horse! my kingdom for a horse!" He is killed by Richmond, who becomes King Henry VII.

Rosalind (As You Like It) Having been ordered by Duke Frederick to leave the court, she goes, with Celia, to seek her banished father in the Forest of Arden. Both girls are disguised as men. Orlando, who is with the exiled Duke in the forest, is in love with Rosalind. Various misunderstandings and deceits occur because of her disguise, but all these are eventually resolved. She is high-spirited, witty and teasing: "men have died from time to time and worms have eaten them, but not for love."

Shylock (The Merchant of Venice) See The Merchant of Venice in Favourite Plays above.

Timon (Timon of Athens) An excessively generous citizen of Athens, surrounded by flatterers, who take advantage of him. When he loses his money, nobody will help him. He becomes a bitter misanthrope, railing upon all humanity and cursing the destructive power of gold. The epitaph on his gravestone describes him as one "who alive all living men did hate."

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