Shakespeare's plays

The Two Gentlemen of Verona is an early comedy about two friends, Valentine and Proteus, whose loyalty is tested when they fall for the same woman.

The Taming of the Shrew is an early comedy in which the fortune-hunter Petruchio marries the sharp-tongued Katherina and sets out to 'tame' her, while suitors in disguise compete for her sister Bianca..

The Comedy of Errors is Shakespeare's shortest play: a fast-moving farce in which two sets of identical twins, separated at birth, end up in the same city on the same day..

Love's Labour's Lost is a witty comedy about four young noblemen who swear off women to devote themselves to study, only to fall in love the moment four ladies arrive..

A Midsummer Night's Dream is a comedy in which four young Athenian lovers, a quarrelling fairy king and queen, and a troupe of amateur actors collide in an enchanted wood over one bewildering night..

The Merchant of Venice is a comedy in which the merchant Antonio borrows money from the Jewish moneylender Shylock, pledging a pound of his own flesh as security.

The Merry Wives of Windsor is a comedy in which Sir John Falstaff tries to seduce two married women for their money, and they turn the tables on him.

Much Ado About Nothing is a comedy of two couples: the sparring wits Beatrice and Benedick, who are tricked into love, and the young Hero and Claudio, whose wedding is wrecked by a malicious lie..

As You Like It is a pastoral comedy in which Rosalind, banished from court, disguises herself as a young man in the Forest of Arden and coaches the man she loves, Orlando, in how to woo her..

Twelfth Night is a romantic comedy in which Viola, shipwrecked in Illyria and disguised as a young man, falls in love with Duke Orsino while the Countess Olivia falls in love with her..

Troilus and Cressida is a bitter, genre-defying play set in the seventh year of the Trojan War, in which a love affair and the heroic legends of Troy are both shown to be hollow..

Measure for Measure is a dark comedy in which a hypocritical deputy, Angelo, sentences a young man to death for fornication and then offers to spare him if his sister, the novice nun Isabella, sleeps with him..

All's Well That Ends Well is a 'problem comedy' in which Helena, a physician's orphaned daughter, cures the King of France and claims as her reward a husband, Bertram, who wants nothing to do with her..

Henry VI, Part 1 dramatises England's loss of its French territories after the death of Henry V, and the first quarrels between the houses of York and Lancaster that grew into the Wars of the Roses..

Henry VI, Part 2 shows the weak, pious Henry VI losing control of his court as his nobles destroy the loyal Duke of Gloucester, a popular rebellion led by Jack Cade sweeps London, and the Duke of York makes his move for the crown..

Henry VI, Part 3 is the bloodiest of the trilogy: full civil war between York and Lancaster, ending with the murder of Henry VI and the rise of the future Richard III..

Richard III follows the ruthless Duke of Gloucester as he schemes and murders his way to the throne of England, and his downfall at the Battle of Bosworth in 1485..

King John is a history play about the reign of England's King John, whose right to the throne is challenged on behalf of his young nephew Arthur, and whose reign is observed with sharp wit by Philip the Bastard..

Richard II, written entirely in verse, shows an eloquent but irresponsible king losing his crown to his banished cousin Henry Bolingbroke, who becomes Henry IV.

Henry IV, Part 1 contrasts the troubled King Henry IV, facing rebellion, with his son Prince Hal, who spends his time in Eastcheap taverns with the fat, witty knight Sir John Falstaff before proving himself at the Battle of Shrewsbury..

Henry IV, Part 2 follows the ailing King Henry IV through the last of the rebellions against him, while Falstaff grows older and Prince Hal prepares to become king and leave his old companions behind..

Henry V follows the young king's invasion of France and his victory against the odds at the Battle of Agincourt in 1415, introduced by a Chorus who asks the audience to imagine the battlefields on the bare stage..

Henry VIII, also known as All Is True, is a late history play written with John Fletcher about the fall of Cardinal Wolsey, the divorce of Katherine of Aragon and the birth of the future Elizabeth I..

Titus Andronicus is Shakespeare's earliest tragedy and his most violent: a Roman revenge play in which a victorious general's family is destroyed by the Gothic queen Tamora and her lover Aaron..

Romeo and Juliet is a tragedy about two young lovers from feuding families in Verona, whose secret marriage and desperate plans end in both their deaths over the course of a few days..

Julius Caesar is a Roman tragedy about the conspiracy to assassinate Caesar in 44 BC, and the civil war that follows as Brutus and Cassius face Mark Antony and Octavius..

Hamlet is a tragedy about a Danish prince who is told by his father's ghost that he was murdered by his brother Claudius, now king and married to Hamlet's mother.

Othello is a tragedy about a Moorish general in the service of Venice whose trusted ensign, Iago, poisons his mind with false evidence that his wife Desdemona is unfaithful, until Othello kills her..

King Lear is a tragedy about an old king who divides his kingdom among his daughters according to how much they say they love him, banishes the one who loves him most, and is driven into madness and the storm..

Timon of Athens, written with Thomas Middleton, is a tragedy about a wealthy Athenian who gives away his fortune to flatterers and, when they abandon him in debt, turns into a raging hater of humanity..

Macbeth is Shakespeare's shortest tragedy: a Scottish general, spurred by three witches' prophecy and his wife's ambition, murders King Duncan to take the crown and is destroyed by guilt, paranoia and further killing..

Antony and Cleopatra is a Roman tragedy about the love affair between Mark Antony, one of the three rulers of the Roman world, and Cleopatra, Queen of Egypt, which ends in defeat and both their suicides..

Coriolanus is a Roman tragedy about a great soldier whose contempt for ordinary citizens destroys his political career, drives him to join his city's enemies, and leads to his death..

Pericles is a romance, written with George Wilkins, that follows a prince through shipwrecks, loss and wandering across the Mediterranean until he is reunited with the wife and daughter he believed dead..

Cymbeline is a late romance set in ancient Britain, in which the king's daughter Imogen is slandered by a scheming Italian, disguises herself as a boy and survives poison, war and mistaken death before a spectacular series of revelations..

The Winter's Tale is a late romance in two halves: a tragedy of sudden, destructive jealousy in the court of Sicilia, followed sixteen years later by a pastoral comedy in Bohemia and a final scene of apparent resurrection..

The Tempest is a late romance about Prospero, the exiled Duke of Milan and a magician, who uses a storm to bring his enemies to his island, then chooses forgiveness over revenge.

Edward III is a history play, published anonymously in 1596, about Edward III's wars in France.

The Two Noble Kinsmen, written with John Fletcher, is a late tragicomedy about two cousins and close friends, Palamon and Arcite, who both fall in love with the same woman while in prison..