The Plays

Shakespeare wrote at least 37 plays over the course of about 23 years. Some scholars believe he wrote more. The plays are categorized most simply as comedies, tragedies, or histories. Comedies are usually funny and have happy endings. Tragedies are dramatic and end sadly. Histories are fiction based on actual events. Sixteen of Shakespeare's plays are comedies, 11 are tragedies, and 10 are histories.

Below is a list of Shakespeare's plays and the approximate year they were written. The happy- and sad-faced masks indicate comedy or tragedy. A shield designates a history.

	King Henry VI, Part 1	1589
	King Henry VI, Part 2	1590
	King Henry VI, Part 3	1591
	Richard III	1592
	The Comedy of Errors	1592
	Titus Andronicus	1593
	The Taming of the Shrew	1593
	Two Gentlemen of Verona	1594
	Love’s Labour’s Lost	1594
	Romeo and Juliet	1595
	King Richard II	1595
	A Midsummer-Night’s Dream	1595
	King John	1596
	The Merchant of Venice	1596
	King Henry IV, Part 1	1596
	King Henry IV, Part 2	1597
	Much Ado About Nothing	1598
	King Henry V	1599
	Julius Caesar	1599
	As You Like It	1599
	Hamlet	1600
	The Merry Wives of Windsor	1601
	Twelfth Night	1601
	Troilus and Cressida	1601
	All’s Well that Ends Well	1602
	Measure for Measure	1604
	Othello	1604
	King Lear	1605
	Macbeth	1606
	Antony and Cleopatra	1606
	Coriolanus	1607
	The Life of Timon of Athens	1607
	Pericles, Prince of Tyre	1608
	Cymbeline	1609
	The Winter’s Tale	1610
	The Tempest	1611
	King Henry VIII	1612

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