Shakespeare's Plays
| 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 (may have been written in collaboration with George Peele) | 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 BelchViola 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 AngeloIsabella Claudio Mariana | Comedy |
| Othello | 1604 | 1622 | Giovanni Battista Giraldi (Cinthio), Ecatommiti (1565) | Othello DesdemonaIago 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 AgrippaVolumnia | Tragedy |
| Timon of Athens (may have been written in collaboration with Thomas Middleton) | 1607 | 1623 | Plutarch Lucian, Misanthropos (2d cent. A D) | Timon of Athens Apemantus Alcibiades Flavius | Tragedy |
| Pericles (may have been written in collaboration with George Wilkins) | 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) | CymbelineImogen PosthumusIachimo | 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 (probably written in collaboration with John Fletcher) | 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 (of doubtful authorship may have been written in collaboration with John Fletcher) | 1612 | 1634 | Geoffrey Chaucer, The Knight's Talein Canterbury Tales (c.1387) | Palamon Arcite | Comedy |
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