What plays by shakespeare do you know

What Types of Plays Did Shakespeare Write?

Shakespearean Tragedies, Comedies, Histories, and Problem Plays

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The English Medieval playwright William Shakespeare wrote 38 (or so) plays during the reigns of Queen Elizabeth I (ruled 1558–1603) and her successor, James I (ruled 1603–1625). The plays are important works still today, insightfully exploring the human condition in prose, poetry, and song. His understanding of human nature led him to blend elements of human behavior—great goodness and great evil—in the same play and sometimes even in the same character.

Shakespeare heavily influenced literature, theater, poetry, and even the English language. Many English words used in today’s lexicon are attributed to Shakespeare’s pen. For example, «swagger,» «bedroom,» «lackluster,» and «puppy dog» were all coined by the Bard of Avon.

Shakespeare’s Innovation

Shakespeare is known for using literary devices such as genre, plot, and characterization in revolutionary ways to expand on their dramatic potential. He used soliloquies—long speeches by characters spoken to the audience—not only to push along the plot of a play but also to display a character’s secret life, such as in «Hamlet» and «Othello.»

He also blended genres, which was not traditionally done at the time. For instance, «Romeo and Juliet» is both a romance and a tragedy, and «Much Ado About Nothing» can be called a tragi-comedy.

Shakespearean critics have broken the plays into four categories: tragedies, comedies, histories, and «problem plays.» This list contains some of the plays that fall into each category. However, you will find that different lists place some plays into different categories. For example, «The Merchant of Venice» has important elements of both tragedy and comedy, and it is up to the individual reader to decide which outweighs the other.

Tragedies

Shakespearean tragedies are plays with somber themes and dark endings. Tragic conventions used by Shakespeare feature the death and destruction of well-meaning people brought down by either their own fatal flaws or the political machinations of others. Flawed heroes, the fall of a noble person, and the triumph of external pressures such as fate, spirits, or other characters over the hero are featured.

Comedies

Shakespearean comedies are, on the whole, more light-hearted pieces. The point of these plays may not necessarily be to make the audience laugh, but to think. Comedies feature the clever use of language to create wordplay, metaphors, and smart insults. Love, mistaken identities, and convoluted plots with twisted outcomes are also integral aspects of a Shakespearean comedy.

Histories

Despite their category’s name, Shakespearean histories are not historically accurate. While the histories are set in Medieval England and explored class systems of that time, Shakespeare was not trying to depict the past authentically. He used historical events as a base but developed his own plot based on prejudices and social commentaries of his time.

Shakespeare’s histories are only about English monarchs. Four of his plays: «Richard II, the two plays of «Henry IV,» and «Henry V» are called the Henriad, a tetralogy that contains events during the 100 Years War (1377–1453). Meanwhile, «Richard III» and three plays of «Henry VI» explore events during the War of the Roses (1422–1485).

Problem Plays

Shakespeare’s so-called «problem plays» are plays that do not fit into any of these three categories. Although most of his tragedies contain comic elements, and most of his comedies have bits of tragedy, the problem plays shift rapidly between truly dark events and comic material.

A Complete List of Shakespeare’s Plays

Scholars of Elizabethan drama believe that William Shakespeare wrote at least 38 plays between 1590 and 1612. These dramatic works encompass a wide range of subjects and styles, from the playful «A Midsummer Night’s Dream» to the gloomy «Macbeth.» Shakespeare’s plays can be roughly divided into three genres—comedies, histories, and tragedies—though some works, such as «The Tempest» and «The Winter’s Tale,» straddle the boundaries between these categories.

Shakespeare’s first play is generally believed to be «Henry VI Part I,» a history play about English politics in the years leading up to the Wars of the Roses. The play was possibly a collaboration between Shakespeare and Christopher Marlowe, another Elizabethan dramatist who is best known for his tragedy «Doctor Faustus.» Shakespeare’s last play is believed to be «The Two Noble Kinsmen,» a tragicomedy co-written with John Fletcher in 1613, three years before Shakespeare’s death.

Shakespeare’s Plays in Chronological Order

The exact order of the composition and performances of Shakespeare’s plays is difficult to prove—and therefore often disputed. The dates listed below are approximate and based on the general consensus of when the plays were first performed:

Dating the Plays

The chronology of Shakespeare’s plays remains a matter of some scholarly debate. Current consensus is based on a constellation of different data points, including publication information (e.g. dates taken from title pages), known performance dates, and information from contemporary diaries and other records. Though each play can be assigned a narrow date range, it is impossible to know exactly in which year any one of Shakespeare’s plays was composed. Even when exact performance dates are known, nothing conclusive can be said about when each play was written.

Further complicating the matter is the fact that many of Shakespeare’s plays exist in multiple editions, making it even more difficult to determine when the authoritative versions were completed. For example, there are several surviving versions of «Hamlet,» three of which were printed in the First Quarto, Second Quarto, and First Folio. The version printed in the Second Quarto is the longest version of «Hamlet,» though it does not include over 50 lines that appear in the First Folio version. Modern scholarly editions of the play contain material from multiple sources.

Authorship Controversy

Another controversial question regarding Shakespeare’s bibliography is whether the Bard actually authored all of the plays assigned to his name. In the 19th century, a number of literary historians popularized the so-called «anti-Stratfordian theory,» which held that Shakespeare’s plays were actually the work of Francis Bacon, Christopher Marlowe, or possibly a group of playwrights. Subsequent scholars, however, have dismissed this theory, and the current consensus is that Shakespeare—the man born in Stratford-upon-Avon in 1564—did, in fact, write all of the plays that bear his name.

Nevertheless, there is strong evidence that some of Shakespeare’s plays were collaborations. In 2016, a group of scholars performed an analysis of all three parts of «Henry VI» and came to the conclusion that the play does include the work of Christopher Marlowe. Future editions of the play published by Oxford University Press will credit Marlowe as co-author.

Another play, «The Two Noble Kinsmen,» was co-written with John Fletcher, who also worked with Shakespeare on the lost play «Cardenio.» Some scholars believe that Shakespeare may have also collaborated with George Peele, an English dramatist and poet; George Wilkins, an English dramatist and inn-keeper; and Thomas Middleton, a successful author of numerous stage works, including comedies, tragedies, and pageants.

The Biography of Shakespeare (in short. easy reading). Plays and Sonnets by Shakespeare

How it all began in Stratford-upon-Avon… This English town is famous for the birthplace of William Shakespeare (1564—1616), one of the greatest writers in the world. He founded the Theatre in England.

It was the 16th century. When William was a young man, there were no theatres in Eng­land. Groups of actors travelled from town to town and played in different places, usually out-of-doors. Sometimes actors came to Stratford. Young Wil­liam went to see all their shows and liked them very much. He wanted to become an actor. Sometimes he wrote little plays himself and staged them with his friends.

William Shakespeare

The Contents:

1. The Biography of Shakespeare (in short, quiz)

William Shakespeare is the most well-known English writer as well as a poet and a dramatist. But how much do you know about him? Read the short biography of Shakespeare and answer the questions.

Questions about Shakespeare’s Life:

2. Plays by Shakespeare. Romeo and Juliet

Shakespeare’s greatness reveals in his plays, which are world-famous. Some of them have much in common, some are united with the same theme. Below you will find the list of his comedies and tragedies and the plot of his most loved play «Romeo and Juliet».

The Most Famous Plays by William Shakespeare

1.The Great (or Middle) Comedies (1596-1602):

2.The Great Tragedies:

3.The Dark Comedies:

4.The Late Plays (1608-1612):

The Plot of Romeo and Juliet (in short)

Romeo and Juliet is the most complex of all Shakespeare’s early plays. It is much about hatred as love. It is not only the death of lovers that conclude the play but also the public revelation of what has happened. Besides, the innocence of the lovers is contrasted to the sexual affairs of that time.

The play «Romeo and Juliet» was first published in 1597. It tells us about tragic love of the two lovers Romeo and Juliet. These characters are world-known and have been depicted in literature, music, dance and theatre. The names of the Montagues and the Capulets, who are the families of the young lovers, are well-known too.

The plot of the tragedy was based on a long narrative poem «The Tragical Historye Of Romeus and Juliet (1562) composed by the English poet Arthur Broke. In his turn he had based his poem on a French translation of an Itallian tale.

The scene of the play is set in Verona, an Italian town in the middle of summer. Romeo and Juliet meet at a masked ball of the Capulets and instantly fall in love with each other. The two noble families are enemies and they have to marry secretly with the help of a Friar Laurence.

At the same time there is a quarrel between Romeo’s friend Mercutio and Tybalt, and a Capulet, the Mercutio being killed. Romeo takes revenge and kills Tybalt in a fight. Then he is banished to Matua.

Juliet’s father, not knowing about his daughter’s marriage, insists on her marrying Count Paris, and she turns to Friar for help. He gives her a potion that will make her appear to be dead. According to his plan Romeo must resque her from a vault, but the messenger is late and Romeo on hearing on Juliet apparent death returns to Verona in grief. He kills Count Paris and finds his Juliet in the family vault. Not knowing that she is only sleeping he gives her a last kiss and takes a poison. The last kiss awakens Juliet, but when she sees dead Romeo, she kills herself.

The both families grieve and decide to end the feud.

3. Sonnets by Shakespeare

William Shakespeare wrote 154 sonnets. These are verses about love. Below you will find three sonnets by Shakespeare and their translations into Russian by S.Y. Marshak.

В. Шекспир. Сонет 27. Sonnet 27.

The dear repose for limbs with travel tired;
But then begins a journey in my head
To work my mind, when body’s work’s expired.

For then my thoughts from far where I abide-
Intend a zealous pilgrimage to thee,
And keep my drooping eyelids open wide,
Looking on darkness which the blind do see:

Save that my soul’s imaginary sight
Presents thy shadow to my sightless view,
Which, like a jewel hung in ghastly night,
Makes black night beauteous, and her old face new.

Lo! thus, by day my limbs, by night my mind,
For thee, and for myself, no quiet find.

Вильям Шекспир. Сонет 48. Sonnet 48.

How careful was I when I took my way,
Each trifle under truest bars to thrust,
That to my use it might unused stay
From hands of falsehood, in sure wards of trust!

But thou, to whom my jewels trifles are,
Most worthy comfort, now my greatest grief,
Thou best of dearest, and mine only care,
Art left the prey of every vulgar thief.

Thee have I not lock’d up in any chest,
Save where thou art not, though I feel thou art,
Within the gentle closure of my breast,
From whence at pleasure thou mayst come and part;

And even thence thou wilt be stolen I fear,

Вильям Шекспир. Сонет 48. Sonnet 91.

Some glory in their birth, some in their skill,
Some in their wealth, some in their body’s force,
Some in their garments though new-fangled ill;
Some in their hawks and hounds, some in their horse;

And every humour hath his adjunct pleasure,
Wherein it finds a joy above the rest:
But these particulars are not my measure,
All these I better in one general best.

Thy love is better than high birth to me,
Richer than wealth, prouder than garments’ cost,
Of more delight than hawks and horses be;
And having thee, of all men’s pride I boast:

Wretched in this alone, that thou mayst take
All this away, and me most wretched make.

4. О жанре сонета

Дорогие друзья! Эти короткие стихотворения написаны три с лишним века назад, но живут до сих пор. Автор написал их от первого лица, в них его живая душа, которая страдает и тоскует, ждет и радуется. Шекспир не является родоначальником этого лирического жанра, хотя многие связывают жанр сонета с именем Шекспира.

История сонета началась в Италии в XIII веке, но имя его создателя, адвоката и поэта Якопо да Лентини, вам скорее всего ни о чем не говорит. Однако вам, наверное, известны сонеты итальянского поэта Франческо Петрарки (16 век).

Жанр «английского сонета» создал малоизвестный поет Г. Сарри, а прославил эту лирическую форму Вильям Шекспир.

Тема сонета: ЛЮБОВЬ, и все связанные с ней чувства: тоска, ожидание, радость, страдание, ревность.

Размер английского сонета — пятистопный ямб (строки рифмуются: ab ab dd)

Композиция сонета следующая:

При этом автор в конце как бы подводит итог, строки звучат тише, не так выразительно, напряжение чувств спадает.

Это самое основное, что нужно запомнить о жанре — сонеты. Вы прочитали три сонета Шекспира на английском языке и в переводе Маршака.

Заканчиваем этот краткий обзор творчества английского драматурга Вильяма Шекспира, из которого вы узнали краткую биографию Шекспира на английском языке (The short biography of Shakespeare), полный список его пьес (The list of plays by Shakespeare), краткое содержание его самой известной трагедии «Ромео и Джульетта» (The plot of Romeo and Juliet»), а также познакомились с жанром сонета. Далее мы продолжаем изучать творчество Шекспира, оставайтесь с нами!

Writing Plays

An English traveller of the time wrote,

“…there be more Playes in London than in all the partes of the worlde I have seene.”

A modern historian estimates that, between about 1560 and 1640, some 3000 new plays were written and performed in London.

Who wrote the plays?
William Shakespeare has become the most famous playwright of his time. He wrote or co-wrote almost 40 plays. But he was one of many writers producing plays in London at that time. The best known of the others are Christopher Marlowe and Ben Jonson. The grammar schools which boys like Shakespeare attended taught useful skills for playwrights. They memorised the history and myths of Ancient Greece and Rome; they wrote their own stories and recited these to classmates. Many playwrights also went to university. For example, Marlowe went to Cambridge. But some playwrights did not – like Shakespeare and Jonson for example. They probably learned the skills of writing plays whilst working as young actors.

What were the plays about?
Playwrights at this time were not too bothered about being original. They were content to re-work old stories or even use other people’s plots. Shakespeare’s The Taming of the Shrew was a re-write of an earlier play and The Comedy of Errors was based on a plot from an ancient Roman writer named Plautus.

Part of the manuscript for the play ‘Sir Thomas More’. There are six different writers on this manuscript, the original playwrights and
others who have made edits and notes. It is believed some of these notes were written by Shakespeare. Apart from his signature, this is
the only surviving example of Shakespeare’s writing. © The British Library Board. (Harley 7368, f.9)

Did you know?

Like today, playwrights in Shakespeare’s time sometimes used blood and horror to entertain
the crowds.

In Shakespeare’s Titus Andronicus, two characters, Chiron and Demetrius
• have their throats cut onstage;
• they are then cut up and baked in a meat pie;
• and then their mother is tricked into eating the pie!

Plays usually fell into three types

Histories were stories about England’s past. Marlowe wrote Edward II, while Shakespeare wrote plays about King John, Henry IV, Henry V, Henry VI, Richard III, and Henry VIII. His first play about Henry VI was so popular that he wrote a sequel and then a prequel.

Tragedies told unhappy tales which often ended in deaths, like Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet. John Webster had a big hit with The Duchess of Malfi and Shakespeare is famous for Othello and Hamlet. The tragedies often contained lots of blood and gore to entertain the crowds.

Comedies, on the other hand, could be relied upon for happy endings, often weddings. Shakespeare’s Two Gentlemen of Verona is especially happy; it ends with two weddings! Other comedies were more satirical. Ben Jonson wrote The Alchemist to make fun of London society.

Censorship

The Master of the Revels was an official of the royal court. His job was to grant licenses to theatres, theatre companies and plays. He would not license a play (give it permission to be performed) if it had political or religious views he didn’t like. Playwrights could not risk offending him. So they often set their plays in imaginary countries to make sure that nothing in the plot seemed critical of the royal court or the government.

What were the playwrights paid?

Playwrights were not usually wealthy. They got no royalties or repeat fees if their plays were performed many times. They just got a one-off fee for selling their play to an acting company. Often they had to share the money, because it was common to write as pairs or in groups. For example, Shakespeare co-wrote Henry VI Part 1 with someone else. We don’t know who. Philip Henslowe was a theatre owner who hired four writers called Chettle, Wilson, Dekker and Drayton. He usually paid them in instalments and they were sometimes writing several plays for him at the same time. But the fee for a play was worth having; in the 1590’s it was about £5. This may not sound much today, but it was about a year’s income to an average craftsman or shopkeeper at that time.

William Shakespeare’s Most Famous Plays

The idea of picking the top five plays by William Shakespeare is sure to spark a quarrel among literary critics and theatergoers. Though many consider «Hamlet» the Bard’s best work, others prefer «King Lear» or «The Winter’s Tale.» Tastes vary, but there is some critical consensus about which plays have the most enduring literary value.

‘Hamlet’

Considered by many literary critics to be Shakespeare’s greatest play, this deeply moving story follows Hamlet, Prince of Denmark, as he grieves for his father and avenges his death. Possibly based on Shakespeare’s personal experience of losing his own son, Hamnet, in 1596, this tragedy manages to explore the complex psychology of its young hero hundreds of years before the emergence of psychology as a concept. For this alone, «Hamlet» deserves the number one spot.

‘Romeo and Juliet’

Shakespeare is perhaps most famous for «Romeo and Juliet,» the classic story of two “star-crossed lovers.” This play has seeped into the consciousness of popular culture: if we describe someone as romantic, we might describe him as “a Romeo,” and the balcony scene is possibly the world’s most iconic (and quoted) dramatic text. The tragic love story unfolds against the backdrop of the Montague-Capulet feud—a subplot that provides several memorable action scenes. Shakespeare gets straight down to business at the start of the play and stages a fight between the Montagues’ and the Capulets’ serving men. The key reason for «Romeo and Juliet»’s popularity is its timeless themes; anyone of any age today can relate to a story about two people from very different backgrounds falling head-over-heels in love.

‘Macbeth’

«Macbeth»—a short, punchy, intense piece of drama that charts the rise and fall of Macbeth from soldier to king to tyrant—features some of Shakespeare’s finest writing. Although all of the characters are well-drawn and the plot is perfectly formulated, it is Lady Macbeth who steals the show. She is one of Shakespeare’s most enduring villains, and it is her intense ambition that drives the play. This crime drama is so popular with audiences that it has inspired over 10 film adaptations.

‘Julius Caesar’

Beloved by many, this play focuses on Roman senator Marcus Brutus and his involvement in the assassination of Roman emperor Julius Caesar. Those who have not read the play are often surprised to learn that Caesar only appears in a handful of scenes. Instead, the tragedy centers on Brutus’ conflicting morals and his psychological turmoil as he weaves a conspiracy that will transform history. Critic Harold Bloom has said that the play could have been called «The Tragedy of Marcus Brutus.»

‘Much Ado About Nothing’

«Much Ado About Nothing» is Shakespeare’s best-loved comedy. The play mixes humor and tragedy and is one of the Bard’s most interesting texts from a stylistic point of view. The key to the play’s popularity rests on the turbulent love-hate relationship between Benedick and Beatrice. Throughout the play, the two are locked in a battle of wits—and although we know they really love each other, they just can’t admit it to themselves. Some critics consider «Much Ado About Nothing» a comedy of manners because it pokes fun at aristocratic behavior and language.