Shakespeare's Plays

A Midsummer Night's Dream is Shakespeare's best-loved comedy. Four young Athenians flee into a forest to escape arranged marriages, where mischievous fairies and a love potion turn their romances upside down overnight. Around them, a feuding fairy king and queen and a troupe of bumbling amateur actors get tangled in the same enchanted wood. It is a fast, funny, dreamlike play about how love makes fools of everyone, and the confusion sorts itself out by morning.

All's Well That Ends Well is one of Shakespeare's problem plays, hard to sort into comedy or something darker. Helena, a poor doctor's daughter, cures the King of France of a deadly illness, and as her reward she asks to marry the noble Bertram. He wants nothing to do with her and flees, saying he will only be her husband when she wears his ring and carries his child. Helena quietly sets out to meet both impossible conditions, on her own terms.

Antony and Cleopatra is one of Shakespeare's great tragedies, sweeping between Rome and Egypt. Mark Antony, one of the three rulers of Rome, has fallen for Cleopatra, the queen of Egypt, and keeps abandoning his duties to be with her. As the younger, colder Octavius Caesar tightens his grip on power, Antony is torn between love and the empire, and slowly loses both. When the two lovers are finally cornered, they choose to die on their own terms rather than live under Caesar.

As You Like It is one of Shakespeare's comedies, set mostly in the Forest of Arden. After her uncle banishes her from court, Rosalind escapes into the forest dressed as a boy named Ganymede, with her cousin Celia and the jester Touchstone. There she meets Orlando, who has been leaving love poems for her on the trees. Still disguised, she offers to cure his lovesickness by having him court Ganymede, who is really Rosalind herself. He never guesses he is already talking to her.

Coriolanus, one of Shakespeare's political tragedies, is set in the early Roman republic. Caius Martius is a brilliant soldier who wins glory in battle but openly despises ordinary people, and his contempt gets him driven out of the city he fought for. Furious, he joins Rome's enemies and marches back to destroy it. Only his mother, Volumnia, can stop him, talking him out of the attack in a way that saves Rome but seals his own fate.

Cymbeline is one of Shakespeare’s late romances, mixing fairy tale, history and disguise. Princess Imogen secretly marries a man her father the king has not approved, and is separated from him when he is banished. After a villain tricks her husband into believing she has been unfaithful, Imogen flees the court dressed as a boy named Fidele. Lost in the mountains of Wales, kidnapped princes and a Roman invasion all collide before the truth comes out and the family is reunited.

Hamlet is Shakespeare's longest and most famous tragedy. Prince Hamlet comes home to find his father dead, his uncle Claudius on the throne, and his mother married to that same uncle within the month. When his father's ghost names Claudius as the murderer, Hamlet is torn between the demand for revenge and his own circling doubt. It turns a simple revenge plot into the deepest study of grief and hesitation in English drama, and ends with a stage full of the dead.

Henry IV Part 1 is one of Shakespeare's best-loved history plays, as much comedy as history. King Henry's son, Prince Hal, would rather drink in taverns with the fat, funny old rogue Sir John Falstaff than act like a future king. Meanwhile a fierce young rebel nicknamed Hotspur is raising an army against the crown. As the country tips toward war, Hal has to decide who he really is, and proves himself at last on the battlefield at Shrewsbury.

Henry IV Part 2 is the darker, more reflective follow-up to Part 1. The rebellion rumbles on and old King Henry is dying, worn down by guilt and worry over the son who will replace him. Prince Hal drifts between the dying king and his old friend Falstaff, who is sure that once Hal is crowned, riches and favour will follow. But when Hal becomes King Henry V, he turns coldly away from Falstaff, choosing the crown over his old life.

Henry V ranks among Shakespeare's best-known history plays, following a young king at war. The wild prince of the earlier plays has grown into a serious ruler, and he presses a claim to the throne of France. Hugely outnumbered, his exhausted army faces the French at Agincourt, where Henry rallies them with one of the most famous speeches in English. Against the odds they win, though the play quietly questions the cost and glory of war throughout.

Henry VI Part 1 is the first of three plays about a disastrous reign, and the start of a long civil war. A child inherits the English throne after the death of his famous father, Henry V, and the country begins to unravel. Abroad, England is losing its grip on France, where Joan of Arc inspires the French to fight back. At home, two groups of nobles, marked by red and white roses, begin the bitter feud that will tear England apart.

Henry VI Part 2 is the middle play of the trilogy, where the feud turns deadly at home. Henry is a gentle, weak king, easily pushed around by his ambitious queen and scheming nobles. His one honest protector is framed and murdered, and order breaks down: a commoner named Jack Cade leads a violent uprising through the streets of London. Behind it all, the powerful Duke of York is quietly building his own claim to the crown, ready to seize it by force.

Henry VI Part 3 is the last and bloodiest play of the trilogy, full civil war between the houses of York and Lancaster. The crown is won and lost again and again as both sides take savage revenge on each other, and even children are killed. Weak King Henry can only watch his country tear itself apart. By the end, the House of York has triumphed, but one of its own, the twisted, ambitious Richard, is already plotting his own path to the throne.

Henry VIII is one of the last plays Shakespeare wrote, a history staged near the end of his career. It follows the powerful King Henry as he tires of his first wife, Katherine of Aragon, and sets his heart on Anne Boleyn. To marry her, Henry must break with his own loyal advisers and the Church itself. Around him, once-mighty figures rise and fall, and the play ends by looking ahead to the birth of the baby who will become Queen Elizabeth I.

Julius Caesar is Shakespeare's tragedy of politics and betrayal. As Caesar returns to Rome in triumph, a group of senators led by Brutus and Cassius fear he means to make himself king, and conspire to assassinate him. The murder is only the midpoint. What follows is the chaos it unleashes, as Mark Antony turns the crowd and Rome collapses into civil war. It is a tense, fast play about power, conscience, and how good intentions can pave the way to disaster.

King John is one of Shakespeare's lesser-known history plays, set long before his other English histories. John sits on the throne, but his young nephew Arthur has a stronger claim, and France backs the boy. Caught between war abroad and rebellion at home, John orders Arthur killed, a decision that turns his own nobles against him. As enemies close in from every side, John is finally poisoned by a monk, and his son inherits a shaken kingdom.

King Lear is Shakespeare's bleakest tragedy. An ageing king decides to divide his kingdom between his three daughters based on who can flatter him best, banishes the one who loves him honestly, and is slowly cast out by the two who lied. As Lear loses his power, his family, and his mind, a second family tears itself apart alongside him. It is a vast, unsparing play about old age, ingratitude, and what is left of a person when everything is stripped away.

Love's Labour's Lost is an early comedy bursting with puns and verbal fireworks, and one of Shakespeare's wordiest plays. The young King of Navarre and three of his lords swear an oath to give up women and study hard for three years. The vow collapses almost at once, when the Princess of France and her three ladies arrive and the men fall for them one by one. Unusually for a comedy, it ends not with weddings but with the women asking the men to wait.

Macbeth is Shakespeare's shortest and darkest tragedy. A victorious soldier meets three witches who promise him the throne, and the prophecy lights a hunger he cannot control. Pushed on by his wife, Lady Macbeth, he murders the king and seizes the crown, then kills again and again to keep it as guilt destroys them both. It is a play about ambition, and about how the thing you want most can rot you from the inside.

Measure for Measure is one of Shakespeare’s darkest comedies, often called a problem play. The Duke of Vienna pretends to leave the city and hands power to his strict deputy, Angelo, then secretly stays behind disguised as a friar to watch what he does. Angelo quickly abuses that power, telling a young nun, Isabella, he will spare her condemned brother only if she sleeps with him. The disguised Duke watches it all unfold and steps in to turn the trap back on Angelo.

Much Ado About Nothing is one of Shakespeare's wittiest comedies, famous for two characters who insist they will never fall in love. Beatrice and Benedick trade brilliant insults at every turn, while their friends quietly scheme to trick them into admitting they actually adore each other. A second, darker plot sees the young Hero cruelly shamed at her own wedding by a jealous lie. In the end the lie is exposed, and not one but two couples find their way to marriage.

Othello is Shakespeare's tragedy of jealousy. Othello, a respected Black general in the Venetian army, secretly marries Desdemona, and his trusted ensign Iago sets out to destroy him for it. Iago drips poison into Othello's ear, convincing him without a shred of real proof that Desdemona has been unfaithful. It is a play about how easily love turns to suspicion, and how a single manipulative voice can unmake a good man. The ending is one of the most painful Shakespeare ever wrote.

Pericles, Prince of Tyre is a late adventure play that sprawls across the ancient Mediterranean. Prince Pericles is driven from his home and spends years at sea, surviving storms and shipwrecks. Along the way he marries Thaisa, who seems to die giving birth during a tempest, and he leaves their baby daughter Marina to be raised by others. Years of loss follow, until a string of almost miraculous reunions brings the scattered family back together at last.

Richard II is one of Shakespeare's history plays, and one of his most poetic. Richard is a king who believes God has placed him on the throne, so no one can touch him. But he rules carelessly, and when he seizes the lands of his banished cousin Henry Bolingbroke, he goes too far. Bolingbroke returns with an army, and the unthinkable happens: a sitting king is forced to give up his crown. The play asks whether a bad king can ever be rightfully removed.

Richard III is one of Shakespeare's most gripping history plays, built around one of his greatest villains. Richard, Duke of Gloucester, wants the crown, and he murders, lies and charms his way toward it, telling the audience exactly what he is doing at every step. He kills his own brother, his rivals, and finally the two young princes who stand in his way. Once he is king, his support collapses, and he is hunted down and killed at the Battle of Bosworth.

Romeo and Juliet is Shakespeare's tragedy of two teenagers from feuding families who fall in love, marry in secret, and are both dead within the week. Shakespeare gives away the ending in the opening lines, then makes you watch it happen anyway. Beneath the romance is a fast, sharp tragedy about how adult hatred destroys the young, driven by bad timing, hot tempers, and one undelivered letter. It gave English its most famous love story and its most famous balcony.

The Comedy of Errors is one of Shakespeare's earliest and shortest comedies, built around two sets of identical twins. A shipwreck once split their family apart, and years later Antipholus of Syracuse and his servant Dromio arrive in Ephesus, the very town where their long-lost twin brothers, who share the same names, now live. Nobody realises there are two of each. Friends, wives and merchants keep mistaking one twin for the other, and a single day spins into chaos before the family is reunited at last.

The Merchant of Venice is one of Shakespeare’s most uncomfortable comedies. To help his friend win a rich heiress, the merchant Antonio borrows money from Shylock, a Jewish moneylender, and agrees to a terrifying penalty if he cannot repay: a pound of his own flesh. When Antonio’s ships are lost and the debt falls due, the heiress Portia disguises herself as a male lawyer, walks into a court full of men, and out-argues every one of them to save his life.

The Merry Wives of Windsor is one of Shakespeare's broadest comedies, and the only one set in everyday English small-town life. The boastful, broke knight Sir John Falstaff sends identical love letters to two married women, Mistress Ford and Mistress Page, hoping to get at their husbands' money. The two women compare notes, realise what he is up to, and decide to have some fun with him. They string him along and humiliate him over and over, while he never suspects they planned it together.

The Taming of the Shrew is one of Shakespeare's most controversial comedies. In the town of Padua, no one may marry the gentle Bianca until her sharp-tongued older sister Katherina is married first. The confident Petruchio takes on the job, weds Katherina, and then uses a string of strange tactics to wear down her temper. At the end she gives a speech about obeying her husband, so straight-faced that people still argue about whether Shakespeare meant a word of it.

The Tempest is one of Shakespeare's last plays, and one of his strangest. Prospero, a sorcerer marooned on a remote island, conjures a storm to wreck the ship carrying the enemies who exiled him years before. With the help of an airy spirit, Ariel, and served by the resentful Caliban, he draws his enemies into his power and weighs revenge against forgiveness. It is a haunting play about magic, control, and letting go, often read as Shakespeare's own farewell to the stage.

The Two Gentlemen of Verona is one of Shakespeare's early comedies, about friendship tested by love. Two close friends, Valentine and Proteus, leave home for the city of Milan. Both fall for the same woman, Silvia, even though Proteus has already promised himself to Julia back in Verona. Proteus betrays his friend to get what he wants, while Julia follows him in secret, disguised as a boy. It all works out only after Proteus is shamed into seeing he loved Julia all along.

The Winter’s Tale is one of Shakespeare’s late plays, half tragedy and half fairy tale. King Leontes is suddenly gripped by jealousy, convinced with no real evidence that his wife Hermione has betrayed him. His rage tears the family apart and seems to kill her. Years later, the daughter he abandoned as a baby is found alive and grown. In the strange final scene, a statue of the dead queen is unveiled, and then it begins to move.

Timon of Athens is one of Shakespeare's darkest and least performed plays, often counted among the problem plays. Timon is a rich and generous Athenian who showers money and gifts on a crowd of admiring friends. When his fortune runs out and he asks those same friends for help, every one of them turns him away. Disgusted with humanity, Timon abandons the city to live alone in the wilderness, where he curses the world and everyone in it.

Titus Andronicus is Shakespeare's earliest and most violent tragedy, a brutal revenge story set in a declining Rome. The victorious general Titus makes a fatal enemy of Tamora, queen of the Goths, when he has her son killed. Once she becomes empress, she and her allies take a terrible revenge on Titus and his family, and he answers with horrors of his own. It is a shocking, bloody play that helped make revenge tragedy hugely popular on the Elizabethan stage.

Troilus and Cressida is one of Shakespeare's strangest and most bitter plays, set in the seventh year of the Trojan War. Inside besieged Troy, the prince Troilus falls in love with Cressida, and they swear to be true to each other, only for her to be handed over to the Greek camp days later. Around their doomed romance, famous heroes like Achilles and Hector behave like sulking, scheming men rather than legends. Nothing is resolved, and the play ends on a sour, mocking note.

Twelfth Night is one of Shakespeare's funniest comedies. Shipwrecked and believing her twin brother drowned, Viola disguises herself as a young man and falls into the service of Duke Orsino, whom she promptly falls for. He sends her to woo the countess Olivia on his behalf, and Olivia falls for the disguised Viola instead. It is a sharp, bittersweet comedy of mistaken identity and tangled love, with one of Shakespeare's cruellest and most memorable subplots running underneath.