Shakespeare's Plays (arranged by approximate date of composition)| Play | Approximate date of composition | Date of first publication | Sources | Major characters | Genre |
|---|
| Henry VI, Part II | 1590 | 1594 | Edward Hall, Union of the Two Noble and Illustre Families of Lancaster and York (1548);
Raphael Holinshed, Chronicles of England, Scotland, and Ireland (1587) | King Henry VI
Queen Margaret
Richard Plantagenet, Duke of York | History |
| Henry VI, Part III | 1590 | 1595 | Hall;
Holinshed | King Henry VI
Queen Margaret
Edward, Prince of Wales
Richard, Duke of Gloucester
Richard Nevil, Earl of Warwick | History |
| Henry VI, Part I | 1590 | 1623 | Hall;
Holinshed | King Henry VI
Lord Talbot
Joan of Arc
Richard Plantagenet, Duke of York | History |
| Richard III | 1592 | 1597 | Hall;
Holinshed;
Sir Thomas More, History of Richard III | King Richard III
Queen Elizabeth
Duke of Buckingham
Lady Anne
George, Duke of Clarence | History |
| The Comedy of Errors | 1592 | 1623 | Plautus, Menaechmi and Amphituo | Antipholus of Syracuse
Antipholus of Ephesus
Dromio of Syracuse
Dromio of Ephesus | Comedy |
| Titus Andronicus | 1593 | 1594 | History of Titus Andronicus (chapbook);
John Gower, Appolonius of Tyre | Titus of Andronicus
Tamora
Aaron the Moor | Tragedy |
| The Taming of the Shrew | 1593 | 1623 | George Gascoigne, Supposes (1566);
Earlier play The Taming of a Shaw | Petruchio
Katherine | Comedy |
| The Two Gentlemen of Verona | 1594 | 1623 | Jorge de Montemayor, Diana (1559?) | Valentine
Proteus
Julius
Silvia | Comedy |
| Love's Labour's Lost | 1594 | 1598 | Specific source not established | King of Navarre
Princess of France
Holofernes
Don Adriano de Armado | Comedy |
| Romeo and Juliet | 1594 | 1597 | Arthur Brooke, The Tragicall Historye of Romeus and Juliet (1562);
Matteo Bandello, Novelle (tr. by William Painter in Palace of Pleasure, 1566–67) | Romeo
Juliet
Mercutio
Tybalt
Friar Laurence
Nurse | Tragedy |
| Richard II | 1595 | 1597 | Holinshed, Chronicles (1587) | King Richard II
Henry Bolingbroke
Edmund of Langley, Duke of York | History |
| A Midsummer Night's Dream | 1595 | 1600 | Specific source not established | Hermia
Lysander
Theseus
Helena
Demetrius
Oberon
Titania
Puck
Bottom | Comedy |
| King John | 1596 | 1623 | Anon. play, The Troublesome Raigne of King John (1591) | King John
Philip the Bastard
Arthur, Duke of Britain
Constance | History |
| The Merchant of Venice | 1596 | 1600 | Giovanni Fiorentino, Il Pecarone (1558) | Bassanio
Shylock
Antonio
Portia | Comedy |
| Henry IV, Part I | 1597 | 1598 | Holinshed, Chronicles (1587) | King Henry IV
Falstaff
Henry, Prince of Wales (Prince Hal)
Henry Percy (“Hotspur”) | History |
| Henry IV, Part II | 1597 | 1600 | Holinshed | King Henry IV
Falstaff
Henry, Prince of Wales | History |
| Much Ado about Nothing | 1598 | 1600 | Ariosto, Orlando Furioso (1516) | Prince of Arragon
Beatrice
Benedick
Claudio
Hero | Comedy |
| Henry V | 1598 | 1600 | Holinshed, Chronicles (1587) | King Henry V
Archbishop of Canterbury
Fluellen
Pistol | History |
| Julius Caesar | 1599 | 1623 | Plutarch, Lives (tr. by Sir Thomas North, 1579) | Brutus
Cassius
Marc Antony
Caesar | Tragedy |
| As You Like It | 1599 | 1623 | Thomas Lodge, Rosalynde (1590) | Rosalind
Orlando
Touchstone | Comedy |
| Twelfth Night | 1599 | 1623 | Barnabe Riche, Riche his Farewell to Militarie Profession (1581) | Sir Toby Belch
Viola
Sebastian
Duke Orsino
Olivia | Comedy |
| Hamlet | 1600 | 1603 | François de Belleforest, Histoires Tragiques (1576) | Hamlet
Horatio
Ophelia
Laertes
Claudius
Polonius
Gertrude | Tragedy |
| The Merry Wives of Windsor | 1600 | 1602 | Specific source not established | Falstaff
Mrs. Page
Mr. Ford | Comedy |
| Troilus and Cressida | 1601 | 1609 | Geoffrey Chaucer, Troilus and Criseyde (c.1386);
William Caxton, Recuyell of the Historyes of Troye (1474) | Troilus
Ulysses
Pandarus
Cressida | Comedy |
| All's Well That Ends Well | 1602 | 1623 | William Painter, Palace of Pleasure (1566–67) | Bertram
Helena
Parolles
King of France | Comedy |
| Measure for Measure | 1604 | 1623 | George Whetstone, Promos and Cassandra (1578) | Vincentio
Angelo
Isabella
Claudio
Mariana | Comedy |
| Othello | 1604 | 1622 | Giovanni Battista Giraldi (“Cinthio”), Ecatommiti (1565) | Othello
Desdemona
Iago
Cassio | Tragedy |
| King Lear | 1605 | 1608 | Holinshed, Chronicles (1587);
Anon., The True Chronicle History of King Leir (before 1594) | King Lear
Cordelia
Earl of Gloucester
Edgar
Earl of Kent
Edmund
Goneril
Regan
Duke of Albany
Lear's Fool | Tragedy |
| Macbeth | 1605 | 1623 | Holinshed | Duncan
Macbeth
Lady Macbeth
Malcolm
Macduff | Tragedy |
| Antony and Cleopatra | 1606 | 1623 | Plutarch, Lives (tr. 1579) | Mark Antony
Cleopatra
Octavius Caesar | Tragedy |
| Coriolanus | 1607 | 1623 | Plutarch | Coriolanus
Tullus Aufidius
Caius Marcius
Menenius Agrippa
Volumnia | Tragedy |
| Timon of Athens | 1607 | 1623 | Plutarch;
Lucian, Misanthropos (2d cent. A.D.) | Timon of Athens
Apemantus
Alcibiades
Flavius | Tragedy |
| Pericles | 1608 | 1609 | John Gower, Confessio Amantis (c.1390) | Pericles
Thaisa
Marina
Simonides
Lysimachus | Tragicomedy |
| Cymbeline | 1609 | 1623 | Holinshed, Chronicles (1587);
Giovanni Boccaccio, Decameron (1348–53) | Cymbeline
Imogen
Posthumus
Iachimo | Tragicomedy |
| The Winter's Tale | 1610 | 1623 | Robert Greene, Pandosto (1588) | Leontes
Hermione
Paulina
Autolycus
Perdita
Florizel
Polixenes | Tragicomedy |
| The Tempest | 1611 | 1623 | Specific source not established | Prospero
Miranda
Ferdinand
Ariel
Caliban | Tragicomedy |
| Henry VIII | 1612 | 1623 | Holinshed, Chronicles (1587);
John Foxe, Book of Martyrs (1563) | King Henry VIII
Queen Katherine
Cardinal Wolsey
Duke of Buckingham
Anne Boleyn | History |
| Two Noble Kinsmen | 1612 | 1634 | Geoffrey Chaucer, “The Knight's Tale” in Canterbury Tales (c.1387) | Palamon
Arcite | Comedy |
