Shakespeare's plays

The dramatic works attributed to William Shakespeare, written mainly for performance by London theater companies around the turn of the seventeenth century. They include tragedies, comedies, histories, and romances.

Connect

Shakespearean tragedy: A tragic play by Shakespeare, typically centered on a protagonist whose choices and circumstances lead to catastrophe. Hamlet, Macbeth, and King Lear exemplify the tragic form across the canon.
Hamlet: A tragedy in which the Danish prince Hamlet seeks to avenge his father’s murder. Its delay, performance, and uncertainty make it a central example of Shakespearean tragedy.
William Shakespeare: An English playwright, poet, and actor who lived from 1564 to 1616. He is the playwright to whom the dramatic works are attributed.
Globe Theatre: An open-air London playhouse associated with Shakespeare’s company, built in 1599 and reconstructed in 1614 after a fire. Its thrust stage and daylight performances suited many plays in the repertory.
Shakespearean authorship question: A debate over whether William Shakespeare wrote the works published under his name. The plays’ authorship has prompted enduring speculation, although documentary evidence supports Shakespeare’s attribution.
Shakespearean comedy: A Shakespeare play that typically uses mistaken identity, romantic complications, and a resolution involving marriage or reunion. Its festive endings and transformations distinguish plays such as Twelfth Night from the tragedies.
Macbeth: A tragedy about a Scottish nobleman whose ambition leads him to murder a king and seize the throne. Its compressed plot and supernatural prophecy show Shakespeare’s tragic writing at high intensity.
Elizabethan theatre: English professional theater during the reign of Elizabeth I, from 1558 to 1603. The early plays were written for the stages, audiences, and companies of this theatrical world.
Early modern playhouse: A purpose-built public or private theater used for professional drama in England from the late sixteenth century onward. Stage architecture and audience proximity affected entrances, spectacle, and the handling of scenes.
Shakespeare in performance: The history and practice of staging Shakespeare’s works across different periods, cultures, and media. Productions continually alter the plays’ meanings through casting, setting, cuts, and interpretation.