Shakespearean history

Opening page of the First Folio King John

In the First Folio, the plays of William Shakespeare were grouped into three categories: comedies, histories, and tragedies. The histories help define the genre of history plays, along with other contemporary renaissance playwrights.^[1] The histories might be more accurately called the "English history plays" and include the outliers King John and Henry VIII as well as a continuous sequence of eight plays covering the Wars of the Roses. These last are considered to have been composed in two cycles. The so-called first tetralogy, apparently written in the early 1590s, deals with the later part of the struggle and includes Henry VI, parts one, two & three and Richard III. The second tetralogy, finished in 1599 and including Richard II, Henry IV, Part 1, Henry IV, Part 2 and Henry V, is frequently called the Henriad after its protagonist Prince Hal, the future Henry V.

The folio's classifications are not unproblematic. Besides proposing other categories such as romances and problem plays, many modern studies treat the histories together with those tragedies that feature historical characters. These include Macbeth, set in the mid-11th century during the reigns of Duncan I of Scotland and Edward the Confessor, and also the Roman plays Coriolanus, Julius Caesar, Antony and Cleopatra and the legendary King Lear.

List of Shakespeare's histories

English histories

As they are in the first folio, the plays are listed here in the sequence of their action, rather than the order of the plays' composition. Short forms of the full titles are used.

• King John
• Edward III (not included in folio but often attributed to Shakespeare)
• Richard II
• Henry IV, Part 1
• Henry IV, Part 2
• Henry V
• Henry VI, Part 1
• Henry VI, Part 2
• Henry VI, Part 3
• Richard III
• Henry VIII

Roman histories

As noted above, the first folio groups these with the tragedies.

• Coriolanus
• Julius Caesar
• Antony and Cleopatra

Other histories

As with the Roman plays, the first folio groups these with the tragedies. Although both are connected with British history, and based on similar sources, they are usually not considered part of Shakespeare's English histories.

• King Lear
• Macbeth

Sources

The source for most of the English history plays, as well as for Macbeth and King Lear, is the well known Raphael Holinshed's Chronicle of English history. The source for the Roman history plays is Plutarch's Lives of the Noble Grecians and Romans Compared Together, in the translation made by Sir Thomas North in 1579. Shakespeare's history plays focus on only a small part of the characters' lives, and also frequently omit significant events for dramatic purposes.

Politics

Shakespeare was living in the reign of Elizabeth I, the last monarch of the house of Tudor, and his history plays are often regarded as Tudor propaganda because they show the dangers of civil war and celebrate the founders of the Tudor dynasty. In particular, Richard III depicts the last member of the rival house of York as an evil monster ("that bottled spider, that foul bunchback'd toad"), a depiction disputed by many modern historians, while portraying the usurper, Henry VII in glowing terms. Political bias is also clear in Henry VIII, which ends with an effusive celebration of the birth of Elizabeth. However, Shakespeare's celebration of Tudor order is less important in these plays than his presentation of the spectacular decline of the medieval world. Some of Shakespeare's histories – and notably Richard III – point out that this medieval world came to its end when opportunism and Machiavellianism infiltrated its politics. By nostalgically evoking the late Middle Ages, these plays described the political and social evolution that had led to the actual methods of Tudor rule, so that it is possible to consider the English history plays as a biased criticism of their own country.

Lancaster, York, and Tudor myths

'Henry VII crowned at Bosworth', by Richard Caton Woodville, Jr. - a key moment in the 'Tudor myth'

Shakespeare made use of the Lancaster and York myths, as he found them in the chronicles, as well as the Tudor myth. The 'Lancaster myth' regarded Richard II's overthrow and Henry IV's reign as providentially sanctioned, and Henry V's achievements as a divine favour. The 'York myth' saw Edward IV's deposing of the ineffectual Henry VI as a providential restoration of the usurped throne to the lawful heirs of Richard II. The 'Tudor myth' formulated by the historians and poets who wrote after Henry VII's accession recognised Henry VI as a lawful king, condemned the York brothers for killing him and Prince Edward, and stressed the hand of divine providence in the Yorkist fall and in the rise of Henry Tudor, whose uniting of the houses of Lancaster and York had been prophesied by the 'saintly' Henry VI. Henry Tudor's deposing of Richard III "was justified on the principles of contemporary political theory, for Henry was not merely rebelling against a tyrant but putting down a tyrannous usurper, which The Mirror for Magistrates allowed".^[2] Because Henry Tudor prayed before Bosworth Field to be God's minister of punishment, won the battle and attributed victory to Providence, the Tudor myth asserted that his rise was sanctioned by divine authority.^[3]

The later chroniclers, especially Polydore Vergil, Edward Hall and Raphael Holinshed, were not interested in 'justifying' the Tudor regime by asserting the role of Providence; instead they stressed the lessons to be learned from the workings of Providence in the past, sometimes endorsing contradictory views of men and events for the sake of the different lessons these suggested, sometimes slanting their interpretations to draw a parallel with, or a moral for, their time. Consequently, though Hall in his Union of the Two Noble and Illustre Families of Lancastre and Yorke (1548) saw God's curse laid upon England for the deposing and murder of Richard II, God finally relenting and sending peace in the person and dynasty of Henry Tudor, and though Holinshed's final judgement was that Richard Duke of York and his line were divinely punished for violating his oath to let Henry VI live out his reign, the chroniclers tended to incorporate elements of all three myths in their treatment of the period from Richard II to Henry VII".^[4] For Shakespeare's use of the three myths, see Interpretations below.

Interpretations

Shakespeare's double tetralogy

H. A. Kelly in Divine Providence in the England of Shakespeare's Histories (1970)^[5] examines political bias and assertions of the workings of Providence in (a) the contemporary chronicles, (b) the Tudor historians, and (c) the Elizabethan poets, notably Shakespeare in his two tetralogies, (in composition-order) Henry VI to Richard III and Richard II to Henry V. According to Kelly, Shakespeare's great contribution, writing as a historiographer-dramatist, was to eliminate the supposedly objective providential judgements of his sources, and to distribute them to appropriate spokesmen in the plays, presenting them as mere opinion. Thus the sentiments of the Lancaster myth are spoken by Lancastrians, the opposing myth is voiced by Yorkists, and the Tudor myth is embodied in Henry Tudor. Shakespeare "thereby allows each play to create its own ethos and mythos and to offer its own hypotheses concerning the springs of action".^[6]

Where the chronicles sought to explain events in terms of divine justice, Shakespeare plays down this explanation. Richard Duke of York, for example, in his speech to Parliament about his claim, placed great stress, according to the chronicles, on providential justice; Shakespeare's failure to make use of this theme in the parliament scene at the start of 3 Henry VI, Kelly argues, "would seem to amount to an outright rejection of it".^[7] In the first tetralogy, Henry VI never views his troubles as a case of divine retribution; in the second tetralogy, evidence for an overarching theme of providential punishment of Henry IV "is completely lacking".^[8] Among the few allusions in the plays to hereditary providential punishment are Richard II's prediction, at his abdication, of civil war,^[9] Henry IV's fear of punishment through his wayward son,^[10] Henry V's fear of punishment for his father's sins,^[11] and Clarence's fear of divine retribution meted out on his children.^[12] Again, where the chronicles argue that God was displeased with Henry VI's marriage to Margaret and the broken vow to the Armagnac girl, Shakespeare has Duke Humphrey objects to Margaret because the match entails the loss of Anjou and Maine.^[13] (Kelly dismisses the view of E. M. W. Tillyard and A. S. Cairncross of Margaret as the diabolical successor to Joan of Arc in England's punishment by God.) As for suggestions of a benevolent Providence, Shakespeare does appear to adopt the chronicles' view that Talbot's victories were due to divine aid,^[14] where Joan of Arc's were down to devilish influence, but in reality he lets the audience see that "she has simply outfoxed [Talbot] by superior military strategy".^[15] (Talbot's eventual defeat and death are blamed in Shakespeare not on Joan but on dissention among the English.^[16]) In place of providential explanations, Shakespeare often presents events more in terms of poetic justice or Senecan dramaturgy.^[17] Dreams, prophecies and curses, for example, loom large in the earlier tetralogy and "are dramatized as taking effect", among them Henry VI's prophecy about the future Henry VII.^[18]

'Joan of Arc conjures demons in Shakespeare's Henry VI' (engraving by C. Warren, 1805, after J. Thurston). "Next to her, Talbot is a blundering oaf, who furiously attributes her success to sorcery, whereas the audience knows that she has simply outfoxed him by superior military strategy." - H. A. Kelly (1970)^[19]

Accordingly, Shakespeare's moral characterisation and political bias, Kelly argues, change from play to play, "which indicates that he is not concerned with the absolute fixing of praise or blame", though he does achieve general consistency within each play:

Many of his changes in characterisation must be blamed upon the inconsistencies of the chroniclers before him. For this reason, the moral conflicts of each play must be taken in terms of that play, and not supplemented from the other plays.^[20]

Shakespeare meant each play primarily to be self-contained. Thus in Richard II the murder of Thomas of Woodstock, Duke of Gloucester, inaugurates the action – John of Gaunt places the guilt on Richard II – but Woodstock is forgotten in the later plays. Again, Henry IV, at the end of Richard II, speaks of a crusade as reparation for Richard's death: but in the next two plays he does not show remorse for his treatment of Richard. As for the Henry VI plays, the Yorkist view of history in 1 Henry VI differs from that in 2 Henry VI: in Part 1 the conspiracy of the Yorkist Richard Earl of Cambridge against Henry V is admitted; in Part 2 it is passed silently over.^[21] Henry VI's attitude to his own claim undergoes changes. Richard III does not refer to any events prior to Henry VI's reign.^[22]

Kelly finds evidence of Yorkist bias in the earlier tetralogy. 1 Henry VI has a Yorkist slant in the dying Mortimer's narration to Richard Plantagenet (later Duke of York).^[23] Henry VI is weak and vacillating and overburdened by piety; neither Yorkists nor Queen Margaret think him fit to be king.^[24] The Yorkist claim is put so clearly that Henry admits, aside, that his claim is weak^[25] – "the first time," notes Kelly, "that such an admission is conjectured in the historical treatment of the period". Shakespeare is suggestively silent in Part 3 on the Yorkist Earl of Cambridge's treachery in Henry V's reign. Even loyal Exeter admits to Henry VI that Richard II could not have resigned the crown legitimately to anyone but the heir, Mortimer.^[26] Edward (later IV) tells his father York that his oath to Henry was invalid because Henry had no authority to act as magistrate.

As for Lancastrian bias, York is presented as unrighteous and hypocritical in 2 Henry VI,^[27] and while Part 2 ends with Yorkist victories and the capture of Henry, Henry still appears "the upholder of right in the play".^[28] In Richard III in the long exchange between Clarence and the assassins we learn that not only Clarence but also implicitly the murderers and Edward IV himself consider Henry VI to have been their lawful sovereign. The Duchess of York's lament that her family "make war upon themselves, brother to brother, blood to blood, self against self"^[29] derives from Vergil and Hall's judgment that the York brothers paid the penalty for murdering King Henry and Prince Edward. Shakespeare clearly inclines towards the Lancaster myth in the later tetralogy. He makes no mention of Edmund Mortimer, Richard's heir, in Richard II, an omission which strengthens the Lancastrian claim. The plan in Henry IV to divide the kingdom in three undermines Mortimer's credibility. The omission of Mortimer from Henry V was again quite deliberate: Shakespeare's Henry V has no doubt about his own claim.^[30] Rebellion is presented as unlawful and wasteful in the second tetralogy: as Blunt says to Hotspur, "out of limit and true rule / You stand against anointed majesty".^[31]

Shakespeare's retrospective verdict, however, on the reign of Henry VI, given in the epilogue to Henry V, is politically neutral: "so many had the managing" of the state that "they lost France and made his England bleed".^[32] In short, though Shakespeare "often accepts the moral portraitures of the chronicles which were originally produced by political bias, and has his characters commit or confess to crimes which their enemies falsely accused them of" (Richard III being perhaps a case in point),^[33] his distribution of the moral and spiritual judgements of the chronicles to various spokesmen creates, Kelly believes, a more impartial presentation of history.

Shakespearean history in the wider sense

John F. Danby in Shakespeare’s Doctrine of Nature (1949) examines the response of Shakespeare’s history plays (in the widest sense) to the vexed question: ‘When is it right to rebel?’, and concludes that Shakespeare’s thought ran through three stages: (1) In the Wars of the Roses plays, Henry VI to Richard III, Shakespeare shows a new thrustful godlessness attacking the pious medieval structure represented by Henry VI. He implies that rebellion against a legitimate and pious king is wrong, and that only a monster such as Richard of Gloucester would have attempted it. (2) In King John and the Richard II to Henry V cycle, Shakespeare comes to terms with the Machiavellianism of the times as he saw them under Elizabeth. In these plays he adopts the official Tudor ideology, by which rebellion, even against a wrongful usurper, is never justifiable. (3) From Julius Caesar onwards, Shakespeare justifies tyrannicide, but in order to do so moves away from English history to the camouflage of Roman, Danish, Scottish or Ancient British history.

'Falstaff', (Adolfo Hohenstein) – according to Danby, "in every sense, the bigger man" than Hal

Danby argues that Shakespeare’s study of the Machiavel is key to his study of history. Richard III, the Bastard in King John, Hal and Falstaff are all Machiavels, characterised in varying degrees of frankness by the pursuit of "Commodity" (i.e. advantage, profit, expediency).^[34][35] Shakespeare at this point in his career pretends that the Hal-type Machiavellian prince is admirable and the society he represents historically inevitable. Hotspur and Hal are joint heirs, one medieval, the other modern, of a split Falconbridge. Danby argues, however, that when Hal rejects Falstaff he is not reforming, as is the common view,^[36] but merely turning from one social level to another, from Appetite to Authority, both of which are equally part of the corrupt society of the time. Of the two, Danby argues, Falstaff is the preferable, being, in every sense, the bigger man.^[37] In Julius Caesar there is a similar conflict between rival Machiavellian princes: the noble Brutus is a dupe of his Machiavellian associates, while Antony’s victorious “order”, like Hal's, is a negative thing. In Hamlet king-killing becomes a matter of private rather than public morality—the individual’s struggles with his own conscience and fallibility take centre stage. Hamlet, like Edgar in King Lear later, has to become a “machiavel of goodness”.^[38] In Macbeth the interest is again public, but the public evil flows from Macbeth’s primary rebellion against his own nature. “The root of the machiavelism lies in a wrong choice. Macbeth is clearly aware of the great frame of Nature he is violating.”^[39]

King Lear, in Danby's view, is Shakespeare’s finest historical allegory. The older medieval society, with its doting king, falls into error, and is threatened by the new Machiavellianism; it is regenerated and saved by a vision of a new order, embodied in the king’s rejected daughter. By the time he reaches Edmund, Shakespeare no longer pretends that the Hal-type Machiavellian prince is admirable; and in Lear he condemns the society we think historically inevitable. Against this he holds up the ideal of a transcendent community and reminds us of the “true needs” of a humanity to which the operations of a Commodity-driven society perpetually do violence. This “new” thing that Shakespeare discovers is embodied in Cordelia. The play thus offers an alternative to the feudal-Machiavellian polarity, an alternative foreshadowed in France’s speech (I.1.245–256), in Lear and Gloucester’s prayers (III.4. 28–36; IV.1.61–66), and in the figure of Cordelia. Cordelia, in the allegorical scheme, is threefold: a person; an ethical principle (love); and a community. Until that decent society is achieved, we are meant to take as role-model Edgar, the Machiavellian prince of patience, of courage and of "ripeness". After King Lear Shakespeare’s view seems to be that private goodness can be permanent only in a decent society.^[40]

The chronicle play genre

Dates and themes

Chronicle plays – history-plays based on the chronicles of Polydore Vergil, Edward Hall, Raphael Holinshed and others – enjoyed great popularity from the late 1580s to c.1606. John Bale's morality play Kynge Johan (:King John), c.1547, is sometimes considered a forerunner of the genre. King John was of interest to 16th century audiences because he had opposed the Pope; two further plays were written about him in the late 16th century, including Shakespeare's Life and Death of King John. Patriotic feeling at the time of the Spanish Armada contributed to the appeal of chronicle plays on the Hundred Years' War, notably Shakespeare's Henry VI trilogy, while unease over the succession at the close of Elizabeth's reign made plays based on earlier dynastic struggles from the reign of Richard II to the Wars of the Roses topical. Plays about the deposing and killing of kings met with much interest in the 1590s; but the chronicle play always came under close scrutiny by the Elizabethan and Jacobean authorities and so ultimately endorsed the principles of 'Degree' and order and legitimate royal prerogative.^[41][42]

Development

The early chronicle plays such as The Famous Victories of Henry the Fifth were, like the chronicles themselves, loosely structured and episodic; battles and pageantry, spirits, dreams and curses, added to their appeal. The scholar H. B. Charlton gave some idea of their shortcomings when he spoke of "the wooden patriotism of The Famous Victories, the crude and vulgar Life and Death of Jack Straw, the flatness of The Troublesome Reign of King John, and the clumsy and libellous Edward I ".^[43] Under the influence of Marlowe's Tamburlaine, however, c.1587, with its lofty poetry and its focus on a single unifying figure, of Shakespeare's Contention plays, c.1589-90, and of the machiavels of revenge tragedy, chronicle-plays rapidly became more sophisticated in characterisation, structure, and style. Marlowe himself turned to English history as a result of the success of Shakespeare's Contention.^[44][45] In Edward II, c.1591, he moved from the rhetoric and spectacle of Tamburlaine to "the interplay of human character",^[46] showing how bare hints in the chronicles could be turned to dramatic effect.^[47] Shakespeare then took the genre further, bringing deeper insights to bear on the nature of politics, kingship, war and society. His chronicle plays, taken together in historical order, have been described as constituting a "great national epic".^[48] Argument for possible Shakespearean authorship or part-authorship of Edward III and Thomas of Woodstock has in recent years sometimes led to the inclusion of these plays in the Shakespeare cycle.^[49]

Uncertainty about composition-dates and authorship of the early chronicle plays makes it difficult to attribute influence or give credit for initiating the genre. Some critics believe that Shakespeare has a fair claim to have been the innovator. In 1944 E. M. W. Tillyard argued that The Famous Victories of Henry the Fifth, c.1586-7, could have been a work of Shakespeare's apprenticeship,^[50] a claim developed by Seymour Pitcher in 1961. Pitcher argued that annotations to a copy Edward Hall's Union of the Two Noble and Illustre Families of Lancastre and Yorke that was discovered in 1940 (the volume is now in the British Library) were probably written by Shakespeare and that these are very close to passages in the play.^[51][52] Again, E. B. Everitt (1965) and Eric Sams (1995) argued that The Troublesome Reign of King John, c.1588-9, was Shakespeare's early version of the play later rewritten as The Life and Death of King John (the Second Quarto, 1611, had attributed The Troublesome Reign to "W.Sh.").^[53][54] Sams called The Troublesome Reign "the first modern history play".^[55] Everitt and Sams also believed that two early chronicle plays based on Holinshed and dramatizing 11th century English history, Edmund Ironside, or War Hath Made All Friends, written c.1588-9 (?), and its lost sequel Hardicanute, performed in the 1590s, were by Shakespeare.^[56] A rival claimant to be the first English chronicle play is The True Tragedie of Richard the Third, of unknown authorship from the same period. In practice, however, playwrights were both 'influencers' and influenced: Shakespeare's two Contention plays (1589-90), influenced by Marlowe's Tamburlaine (1587), in turn influenced Marlowe's Edward II, which itself influenced Shakespeare's Richard II.^[57][58]

Of later chronicle plays, T. S. Eliot considered John Ford's Chronicle History of Perkin Warbeck "unquestionably Ford's highest achievement" and "one of the very best historical plays outside of the works of Shakespeare in the whole of Elizabethan and Jacobean drama."^[59] Chronicle plays based on the history of other countries were also written during this period, among them Marlowe's The Massacre at Paris, John Webster's lost Guise, and Shakespeare's Macbeth. In some of the chronicle-based plays, as the various contemporary title-pages show, the genres of 'chronicle history' and 'tragedy' overlap.

• The above tables include both the Quarto and the Folio versions of Henry V and Henry VI Parts 2 and 3, because the Quartos may preserve early versions of these three plays (as opposed to 'corrupted' texts).^[86] They exclude chronicle-type plays now lost, like Hardicanute, the probable sequel to Edmund Ironside, or War Hath Made All Friends, and plays based on legend, such as the anonymous True Chronicle History of King Leir and his three daughters, c.1587,^[87] and Anthony Munday's two plays on Robin Hood, The Downfall of Robert Earl of Huntington and The Death of Robert Earl of Huntington.

The "Wars of the Roses" cycle

Henry VI (Jeffrey T. Heyer) and a young Richmond (Ashley Rose Miller) in the West Coast premiere of The Plantagenets: The Rise of Edward IV, staged by Pacific Repertory Theatre in 1993.

"The War(s) of the Roses" is a phrase used to describe the civil wars in England between the Lancastrian and Yorkist dynasties. Some of the events of these wars were dramatised by Shakespeare in the history plays: Richard II; Henry IV, Part 1; Henry IV, Part 2; Henry V; Henry VI, Part 1; Henry VI, Part 2; Henry VI, Part 3; and Richard III. In the twentieth and twenty-first centuries there have been numerous stage performances, including:

1. The first tetralogy (Henry VI parts 1 to 3 and Richard III) as a cycle;
2. The second tetralogy (Richard II, Henry IV parts 1 and 2 and Henry V) as a cycle (which has also been referred to as the Henriad); and
3. The entire eight plays in historical order (the second tetralogy followed by the first tetralogy) as a cycle. Where this full cycle is performed, as by the Royal Shakespeare Company in 1964, the name The War(s) of the Roses has often been used for the cycle as a whole.
4. A 10-play history cycle, which began with the newly attributed Edward III, the anonymous Thomas of Woodstock, and then the eight plays from Richard II to Richard III, was performed by Pacific Repertory Theatre under the title, Royal Blood, a phrase used throughout the works. The entire series, staged over four consecutive seasons from 2001 to 2004, was directed by PacRep founder and Artistic Director Stephen Moorer.^[88]
5. A conflation of the eight plays by Tom Wright and Benedict Andrews, under the title The War of the Roses, was performed by the Sydney Theatre Company in 2009.^[89]

The tetralogies have been filmed for television five times, twice as the entire cycle:

1. for the 1960 UK serial An Age of Kings directed by Michael Hayes. Featuring David William as Richard II, Tom Fleming as Henry IV, Robert Hardy as Henry V, Terry Scully as Henry VI, Paul Daneman as Richard III, Julian Glover as Edward IV, Mary Morris as Queen Margaret, Judi Dench as Princess Catherine, Eileen Atkins as Joan la Pucelle, Frank Pettingell as Falstaff, William Squire as The Chorus and Justice Shallow, and, shortly before he gained fame as James Bond, Sean Connery as Hotspur.
2. for the 1965 UK serial The Wars of the Roses, based on the RSC's 1964 staging of the Second Tetralogy, which condensed the Henry VI plays into two plays called Henry VI and Edward IV. adapted by John Barton and Peter Hall; and directed by Hall. Featuring Ian Holm as Richard III, David Warner as Henry VI, Peggy Ashcroft as Margaret, Donald Sinden as York, Roy Dotrice as Edward and Jack Cade, Janet Suzman as Joan and Lady Anne and William Squire as Buckingham and Suffolk.
3. Second Tetralogy filmed for the BBC Television Shakespeare in 1978/1979 directed by David Giles. Richard II was filmed as a stand-alone piece for the first season of the series, with the Henry IV plays and Henry V filmed as a trilogy for the second season. Featuring Derek Jacobi as Richard II, John Gielgud as John of Gaunt, Jon Finch as Henry IV, Anthony Quayle as Falstaff, David Gwillim as Henry V, Tim Pigott-Smith as Hotspur, Charles Gray as York, Wendy Hiller as the Duchess of Gloucester, Brenda Bruce as Mistress Quickly, and Michele Dotrice as Lady Percy.
4. First Tetralogy filmed for the BBC Television Shakespeare in 1981 directed by Jane Howell, although the episodes didn't air until 1983. In the First Tetralogy, the plays are performed as if by a repertory theater company, with the same actors appearing in different parts in each play. Featuring Ron Cook as Richard III, Peter Benson as Henry VI, Brenda Blethyn as Joan, Bernard Hill as York, Julia Foster as Margaret, Brian Protheroe as Edward, Paul Jesson as Clarence, Mark Wing-Davey as Warwick, Frank Middlemass as Cardinal Beaufort, Trevor Peacock as Talbot and Jack Cade, Paul Chapman as Suffolk and Rivers, David Burke as Gloucester and Zoe Wanamaker as Lady Anne.
5. for a straight-to-video filming, directly from the stage, of the English Shakespeare Company's 1987 production of "The Wars of the Roses" directed by Michael Bogdanov and Michael Pennington. Featuring Pennington as Richard II, Henry V, Buckingham, Jack Cade and Suffolk, Andrew Jarvis as Richard III, Hotspur and the Dauphin, Barry Stanton as Falstaff, The Duke of York and the Chorus in Henry V, Michael Cronin as Henry IV and the Earl of Warwick, Paul Brennan as Henry VI and Pistol, and June Watson as Queen Margaret and Mistress Quickly. The three Henry VI plays are condensed into two plays, bearing the subtitles Henry VI: House of Lancaster and Henry VI: House of York.
6. Second Tetralogy filmed as The Hollow Crown for BBC2 in 2012 directed by Rupert Goold (Richard II), Richard Eyre (Henry IV, Parts 1 & 2) and Thea Sharrock (Henry V). Featuring Ben Whishaw as Richard II, Patrick Stewart as John of Gaunt, Rory Kinnear as Henry Bolingbroke (in Richard II) and Jeremy Irons as Henry IV, Tom Hiddleston as Henry V, Simon Russell Beale as Falstaff, Joe Armstrong as Hotspur, and Julie Walters as Mistress Quickly. The first tetralogy is set to be adapted in 2016.

Many of the plays have also been filmed stand-alone, outside of the cycle at large. Famous examples include Henry V, directed and starring both Laurence Olivier and Kenneth Branagh, Richard III by Olivier and Richard Loncraine (starring Ian McKellen), and Henry IV, Part I and Part II combined into Chimes at Midnight (with some scenes from Henry V, also known as Falstaff) directed by and starring Orson Welles.

Notes

William Shakespeare Plays Tragedies Antony and Cleopatra Coriolanus Hamlet Julius Caesar King Lear Macbeth Othello Romeo and Juliet Sir Thomas More* Timon of Athens Titus Andronicus Troilus and Cressida Comedies All's Well That Ends Well As You Like It The Comedy of Errors Cymbeline Love's Labour's Lost Measure for Measure The Merchant of Venice The Merry Wives of Windsor A Midsummer Night's Dream Much Ado About Nothing Pericles, Prince of Tyre* The Taming of the Shrew The Tempest Twelfth Night The Two Gentlemen of Verona The Two Noble Kinsmen* The Winter's Tale Cardenio* Love's Labour's Won Histories King John Edward III* Richard II 1 Henry IV 2 Henry IV Henry V 1 Henry VI 2 Henry VI 3 Henry VI Richard III Henry VIII* See also Problem plays Late romances Characters A–K L–Z Chronology Performances Quarto publications First Folio Second Folio Poems Shakespeare's sonnets comparison Venus and Adonis The Rape of Lucrece The Phoenix and the Turtle The Passionate Pilgrim* A Lover's Complaint Life and works Birthplace and childhood home Apocrypha Bibliography Complete Works of William Shakespeare Translations Early editions Editors English Renaissance theatre Family Globe Theatre Handwriting Lord Chamberlain's Men/King's Men The Theatre Curtain Theatre New Place home Portraits Religious views Sexuality Spelling of his name Stratford-upon-Avon Style Legacy Attribution studies Authorship question Influence Memorials Screen adaptations Shakespeare Birthplace Trust Folger Shakespeare Library Shakespeare Quarterly Shakespeare's Globe (replica) Bardolatry Titles of works taken from Shakespeare * Shakespeare and other authors Lost

Shakespeare's plays   Shakespearean tragedy William Shakespeare's Antony and Cleopatra Characters Mark Antony Octavius Caesar Lepidus Cleopatra Sextus Pompey Domitius Enobarbus Ventidius Canidius Scarus Octavia Maecenas Agrippa Taurus Dolabella Gallus Menas Charmian Sources Parallel Lives Stage adaptations The False One (c.1620) All for Love (1677) Opera Antony and Cleopatra (1966) On screen 1908 1913 1972 1974 (TV) 1981 (TV) Related Cultural depictions of Cleopatra Cultural depictions of Augustus Salad days Asp Thomas North Cleopatra (1912) Cleopatra (1917) Roman Tragedies (2007) William Shakespeare's Coriolanus Characters Historical Caius Martius Coriolanus Menenius Agrippa Cominius Titus Lartius Sicinius Velutus Junius Brutus Tullus Aufidius Fictional Volumnia Virgilia Sources Parallel Lives Adaptations Coriolanus (1953) The Tragedy of Coriolanus (1984; TV) Coriolanus (2011) Related Show and tell Veturia Thomas North Roman Tragedies (2007) William Shakespeare's Cymbeline Characters Cymbeline Queen Imogen Posthumus Leonatus Cloten Belarius Guiderius Arvirargus Jupiter Sources The Decameron (c. 1353) Holinshed's Chronicles (1577) Adaptations Cymbeline (1982) Cymbeline (2014) Related Shakespeare's late romances Philaster (c.1609) Deus ex machina Milford Haven William Shakespeare's Hamlet Characters Hamlet Claudius Gertrude Ghost Polonius Laertes Ophelia Horatio Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Fortinbras The Gravediggers Yorick Soliloquies "To be, or not to be" "Mortal coil" "What a piece of work is a man" "Speak the speech" Words and phrases "The lady doth protest too much, methinks" "Thy name is" "Primrose path" Terminology Dumbshow Induction Quiddity Substitution Sources Criticism Legend of Hamlet The Spanish Tragedy Ur-Hamlet Critical approaches Bibliographies Horwendill Saxo Grammaticus House of Gonzaga Damon and Pythias Influence Common phrases from Hamlet Hamlet in popular culture References to Ophelia Language of flowers Human skull symbolism Performances Moscow Art Theatre (1911–1912) Richard Burton (1964) On screen 1900 1907 1908 1912 1913 1917 1921 1935 1948 1954 1961 1964 1969 1974 1990 1996 2000 Adaptations Films The Rest Is Silence (1959) The Bad Sleep Well (1960) Ophelia (1963) Johnny Hamlet (1968) One Hamlet Less (1973) Acting Hamlet in the Village of Mrdusa Donja (1974) The Angel of Vengeance – The Female Hamlet (1977) Strange Brew (1983) Hamlet Goes Business (1987) The Lion King (1994) Let the Devil Wear Black (1999) Dating Hamlet (2002) The Banquet (2006) Karmayogi (2012) Haider (2014) Hamlet A.D.D. (2014) Novels Gertrude and Claudius (2000) Ophelia's Revenge (2003) The Dead Fathers Club (2006) Something Rotten (2007) Hamlet's Father (2008) The Story of Edgar Sawtelle (2008) Plays Hamletmachine (1977) Dogg's Hamlet (1979) Fortinbras (1991) Hamlet (2005) Musicals Rockabye Hamlet (1973) The Lion King (1997) Television Hamlet at Elsinore (1964) Hamlet, Prince of Denmark (1980) Hamlet (1992) Sons of Anarchy (2008) Hamlet (2009) Parody 15-Minute Hamlet The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Abridged) Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Io, Amleto The Klingon Hamlet "Lyle the Kindly Viking" To Be or Not to Be: That is the Adventure Songs "My Robin is to the Greenwood Gone" (16th century) "Pull Me Under" (1992) "Song for Athene" (1997) Opera/Classical Hamlet (Thomas) Amleto (Faccio) Hamlet (Tchaikovsky) Tristia (Berlioz) Die Hamletmaschine (Rihm) Story within a story Films To Be or Not to Be (1942) To Be or Not to Be (1983) Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead (1990) Renaissance Man (1994) In the Bleak Midwinter (1995) Hamlet 2 (2008) Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Undead (2009) Three Days (2012) Plays Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead (1966) Stage Blood (1974) I Hate Hamlet (1991) To Be or Not to Be (2008) Novels Hamlet, Revenge! (1937) Theatre of War (1994) "The Undiscovered" (1997) The Shakespeare Stealer (1998) Interred with Their Bones (2007) Television "The Producer" (1966) Slings & Arrows (2003) Art Ophelia Affe mit Schädel Video game Last Action Hero (1993) Hamlet (2010) Intertextuality Asterix and the Great Crossing The Seagull Sharpe's Havoc Related Hamlet and Oedipus Hamlet Had an Uncle Hamlet and His Problems Hebenon Hamlet Q1 Ostalo je ćutanje The Chronicles of Amber "Symphony No. 65" (Haydn) War Highlander II: The Quickening The Hobart Shakespeareans Gertrude – The Cry Poor Murderer Something Rotten! "The Conscience of the King" "Born to Be King" William Shakespeare's Julius Caesar Characters Julius Caesar Mark Antony Octavius Lepidus Flavius Marullus Cicero Calpurnia Portia Cinna Titinius Messala Young Cato Volumnius Conspirators Marcus Brutus Cassius Casca Decius Brutus Cinna Metellus Cimber Trebonius Caius Ligarius Sources Parallel Lives On screen 1950 1953 1970 1979 (TV) 1994 (TV) Adaptations La morte di Cesare (1788) Shakespeare Writing "Julius Caesar" (1907) Die Ermordung Cäsars (1959) Dead Caesar (2007) The Karaoke King (2007) Roman Tragedies (2007) Quotes "The dogs of war" "Et tu, Brute?" "Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears" "Greek to me" Related Cultural depictions of Julius Caesar Assassination of Julius Caesar Caesar's Comet Ides of March Battle of Philippi Me and Orson Welles (2008) Caesar Must Die (2012) William Shakespeare's King Lear Characters King Lear Cordelia Goneril Regan Edmund Sources Holinshed's Chronicles (1577) The Mirror for Magistrates (1555) King Leir (1594) Cordelia of Britain Leir of Britain Llŷr "Water and Salt" Adaptations Plays The History of King Lear (1681) The Yiddish King Lear (1892) Safed Khoon (1907) Lear (1971) Novels La Terre (1887) A Thousand Acres (1991) Fool (2009) Opera Re Lear (Libretto only) (1896) Lear (1978) Kuningas Lear (2000) Films Gunasundari Katha (1949) King Lear (1971 USSR) King Lear (1971 UK) Ran (1985) King Lear (1987) A Thousand Acres (1997) King Lear (1999) My Kingdom (2001) King of Texas (2002) Baghban (2003) Second Generation (2003) Life Goes On (2009) Television King Lear (1953) BBC Television Shakespeare (1982) King Lear (1983) King Lear (2008) Other Tiriel (1789, poem) The Prince of the Pagodas (1957, ballet) The Tragedy of King Lear (screenplay) William Shakespeare's Macbeth Characters Macbeth Lady Macbeth Banquo Macduff King Duncan Malcolm Donalbain Three Witches Fleance Lady Macduff Macduff's son Young Siward Inspirations Macbeth, King of Scotland Gruoch of Scotland Duncan I of Scotland Malcolm III of Scotland Donald III of Scotland Siward, Earl of Northumbria Sources The Witch Holinshed's Chronicles Darraðarljóð Film 1908 1909 (French) 1909 (Italian) 1911 1913 1915 1916 1922 1948 1971 2006 2015 Cancelled (Olivier) Television 1954 1960 1961 1978 1983 1992 2005 2010 Television and film adaptations The Real Thing at Last (1916) Joe MacBeth (1955) Throne of Blood (1957) Macbeth (Verdi opera) (1987) Men of Respect (1990) Scotland, PA (2001) Maqbool (2003) Shakespeare Must Die (2012) Plays Voodoo Macbeth (1936) MacBird! (1967) uMabatha (1970) Macbett (1972) Cahoot's Macbeth (1979) MacHomer (1995) Sleep No More (2003) Sleep No More (2009) Dunsinane (2010) Sleep No More (2011) Just Macbeth! Operas Macbeth (1847, Verdi) discography Macbeth (1910, Bloch) Literary adaptations Wyrd Sisters (1988) The Last King of Scotland (1998) The Tragedy of Macbeth Part II (2008) Albums Music from Macbeth (1972) Macbeth (1990) Thane to the Throne (2000) Shakespeare's Macbeth – A Tragedy in Steel (2003) Lady Macbeth (2005) Art Pity (1795) The Night of Enitharmon's Joy (1795) Ellen Terry as Lady Macbeth (1889) Scenes and speeches "On the Knocking at the Gate in Macbeth" (1823) Sleepwalking Scene (5.1) "Tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow" Words and phrases "What's done is done" "Crack of doom" "The good doctor" "Strange but true" The Scottish Play Thane of Cawdor Story within a story We Work Again Light Thickens The Deadly Affair "The Movies" "Sleeping with the Enemy" "The Shower Principle" Mécanisme de la physionomie humaine The Scottish Play Burke & Hare Episodes "A Witch's Tangled Hare" (1959, Looney Tunes) "The Bellero Shield" (1964, The Outer Limits) "Sense and Senility" (1987, Blackadder the Third) "The Coup" (2006, The Office) "Dial "N" for Nerder" (2008, The Simpsons) "The Understudy" (2014, Inside No. 9) Other Macbeth (Strauss) The Scottish Play Piano Trios, Op. 70 (Beethoven) The Ruins of Cawdor House of Cards (UK, 1990) House of Cards (US, 2013–present) Four Great Women and a Manicure William Shakespeare's Othello Characters Othello Desdemona Iago Cassio Emilia Bianca Roderigo Brabantio Other characters Source "Un Capitano Moro" from Gli Hecatommithi (1565) by Giovanni Battista Giraldi Description of Africa Sampiero Corso Opera and ballet adaptations Otello (1816; opera) Otello (1887; opera) Othello (1892; overture) The Moor's Pavane (1949; ballet) Othello (1998; ballet score) Bandanna (1999; opera) Films 1922 1952 1955 1965 1995 TV 1981 1990 1994 2001 Stage adaptations Masquerade (1835) Othello (1951) Catch My Soul (US; 1969) Catch My Soul (UK; 1970) Film adaptations Jubal (1956) All Night Long (1962) Catch My Soul (1974) Kaliyattam (1997) O (2001) Eloise (2002) Souli (2004) Omkara (2006) Jarum Halus (2008) From Verdi Otello (1906; film) Othello Ballet Suite/Electronic Organ Sonata No. 1 (1967; ballet suite) Otello (1986; film) The Othello Syndrome (2008; album) Art Othello Phrases "Beast with two backs" Related Othello error Filming Othello Red Velvet The Duke of Milan Love's Sacrifice Desdemona Goodnight Desdemona Story within a story Carnival (1921 film) Carnival (1931 film) The Deceiver (1931) Men Are Not Gods (1936) A Double Life (1947) Saptapadi (1961) So Fine (1981) An Imaginary Tale (1990) William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet Characters Romeo Juliet Mercutio Tybalt Benvolio Friar Laurence Nurse Paris Rosaline Atomy Sources The Tragical History of Romeus and Juliet Pyramus and Thisbe Palace of Pleasure Troilus and Criseyde Ballets Romeo and Juliet (1938, Prokofiev) Romeo and Juliet (1955, Arnshtam) Romeo and Juliet (1962, Cranko) Romeo and Juliet (1965, MacMillan) Romeo and Juliet (1965, Lavery) Radio and Juliet (2005) Romeo + Juliet (2007, Martins) Romeo and Juliet (2008, Pastor) Operas Romeo und Julie (1776, Benda) Giulietta e Romeo (1796, Zingarelli) Giulietta e Romeo (1825, Vaccai) I Capuleti e i Montecchi (1830, Bellini) Gloria (1874, Cilea) Roméo et Juliette (1867, Gounod) A Village Romeo and Juliet (1907, Delius) Romeo und Julia (1940, Sutermeister) Musicals The Belle of Mayfair (1906) West Side Story (1957) Once on This Island (1990) Roméo et Juliette, de la Haine à l'Amour (2001) Giulietta e Romeo (2007) Classical Beethoven's String Quartet No. 1 (c. 1800) Roméo et Juliette (1839, Berlioz) Romeo and Juliet (1870, Tchaikovsky) On screen 1900 1908 1916 Metro Pictures 1916 Fox 1936 1953 1954 1968 1978 (TV) 1992 (TV) 1996 2006 2007 2013 Film adaptations English The Magic Flame (1927) Kentucky (1938) Beneath the 12-Mile Reef (1953) Romanoff and Juliet (1961) West Side Story (1961) Gonks Go Beat (1965) Lonesome Cowboys (1968) The Secret Sex Lives of Romeo and Juliet (1969) Romie-0 and Julie-8 (TV; 1979) The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet (1982) Valley Girl (1983) Bullies (1986) China Girl (1987) Romeo.Juliet (1990) Tromeo and Juliet (1996) Love Is All There Is (1996) Rose by Any Other Name... (1997) The Lion King II: Simba's Pride (1998) Shakespeare in Love (1998) The Magical Legend of the Leprechauns (1999) Romeo Must Die (2000) Brooklyn Babylon (2001) Pizza My Heart (TV; 2005) West Bank Story (2005) Life and Lyrics (2006) Romeo & Juliet: Sealed with a Kiss (2006) Rome & Jewel (2008) David & Fatima (2008) The Cross Road (2008) Vicious Circle (2008) The Twilight Saga: New Moon (2009) Gnomeo & Juliet (2011) Private Romeo (2011) Warm Bodies (2013) Make Your Move (2013) Romeo and Juliet (2013) Foreign Ambikapathy (Tamil 1937) Romeo and Juliet (Spanish 1940) Les amants de Vérone (French 1949) Romeo, Juliet and Darkness (Czech 1960) Los Tarantos (Spanish 1963) Fury of Johnny Kid (Italian 1967) Ma che musica maestro (Italian 1971) Mônica e Cebolinha: No Mundo de Romeu e Julieta (Portuguese 1979) The Sea Prince and the Fire Child (Japanese 1981) Saudagar (Hindi 1991) The Phantom Lover (Mandarin 1995) 30:e november (Swedish/Spanish 1995) Chicken Rice War (Cantonese/English 2000) Kalisundam Raa (Telugu 2000) Kuch Tum Kaho Kuch Hum Kahein (Hindi 2002) Bollywood Queen (English/Hindi 2002) Amar te duele (Spanish 2002) Ondagona Baa (Kannada 2003) Mamay (Ukrainian 2003) The District! (Hungarian 2004) O Casamento de Romeu e Julieta (Portuguese 2005) In Fair Palestine: A Story of Romeo and Juliet (2006) The Bubble (Hebrew/Arabic 2006) Goliyon Ki Raasleela: Ram-Leela (Hindi 2013) Issaq (Hindi 2013) Priyatama (Marathi 2014) Arshinagar (Bengali, 2015) TV series Sons and Daughters (1982) Family and Friends (1990) Villa Quintana (1995) Yo amo a Paquita Gallego (1998) Skin (2003) A Touch Away (2006) Dangerous (2007) Romeo × Juliet (2007) Romeo y Julieta (2007) Saints & Sinners (2007) Harina de Otro Costal (2010) Villa Quintana (2013) Westside (2013 pilot) Star-Crossed (2014) Plays Romanoff and Juliet (1956) Romeo and Juliet (2013) Songs Lan và Điệp (1930s) "Montagues and Capulets" (1935) "Fever" (1956) Love Theme from Romeo and Juliet (1968) "(Don't Fear) The Reaper" (1976) "Angelo" (1978) "Romeo and Juliet" (1978) "Romeo and Juliet" (1981) "Cherish" (1989) "Amor Prohibido" (1994) "Kissing You" (1996) "Exit Music" (1997) "Romeo and Juliet" (1998) "Starcrossed" (2004) "Peut-être toi" (2006) "Mademoiselle Juliette" (2007) "Love Story" (2008) "Love Me Again" (2013) Albums Romeo and Juliet (1968) Romeo + Juliet (1996) Romeo & Julia (2006) Tragic Lovers (2008) Literature Les Chouans The Wandering Jew (1844) The Stolen Dormouse (1941) The Faraway Lurs (1963) Romiette and Julio (2001) New Moon (2006) Warm Bodies (2010) Art Romeo and Juliet: the Tomb Scene (1790) Romeo and Juliet (1978) Phrases "Star-crossed" "A rose by any other name would smell as sweet" Story within a story Nicholas Nickleby 1912 film 1947 film 1980 play 2001 film 2002 film The Picture of Dorian Gray 1910 film 1913 film 1915 film 1916 film 1917 film 1918 film 1945 film 1976 TV special 2009 film Harlequinade W Juliet "Nothing Broken but My Heart" Panic Button Bare: A Pop Opera ""Into the Light" Bolji život The Sky Is Everywhere Pay as You Exit The White Mercedes She Died a Lady "Moonshine River" Rendez-vous Fame "I Am Unicorn" The Frog Prince Molly Smart Girls Get What They Want Tumbleweeds "The Thief of Baghead" The Songs of a Sentimental Bloke Prince Charming Km. 0 Phileine Says Sorry Hamateur Night "Say You'll Be Mine" Into the Gauntlet Wandering Son K-On! Foreign stories Adam Khan and Durkhanai Tum Teav Yusuf Khan and Sherbano Solomon & Gaenor Ramlila Ek Duuje Ke Liye Maro Charitra (1978) Maro Charitra (2010) Butterfly Lovers Hani and Sheh Mureed Lục Vân Tiên film Teav Aek Layla and Majnun Lovers of Teruel film Lord Saltoun and Auchanachie Other Such Tweet Sorrow Romeo and Juliet effect After Juliet "Upper West Side Story" (2012) Millennium Dome Show Inge Sylten and Heinz Drosihn Boys Don't Cry My Wedding and Other Secrets Donkey in Lahore Upside Down Letters to Juliet Book:Romeo and Juliet William Shakespeare's Timon of Athens Characters Timon Alcibiades Apemantus Sources Palace of Pleasure (1566) Adaptations Timon (1973) Timon of Athens (1981) Revisions The History of Timon of Athens the Man-hater (1677) William Shakespeare's Titus Andronicus Characters Titus Andronicus Tamora Aaron Lavinia Emperor Saturninus Marcus Lucius Sources Ab Urbe Condita (c26 BC) Metamorphoses (cAD 8) Gesta Romanorum (late third century AD) Adaptations Titus Andronicus (1985; TV) Titus (1999) "Scott Tenorman Must Die" (2001; TV) Related The Peacham drawing Authorship question Themes "Titus Andronicus' Complaint" George Peele Philomela Thyestes Revenge play Grand Guignol Gorboduc (1561) Edmund Ironside (1590) Jan Vos Titus (soundtrack) William Shakespeare's Troilus and Cressida Characters Trojans Priam Hector Deiphobus Helenus Paris Troilus Cassandra Andromache Aeneas Pandarus Cressida Calchas Helen Greeks Agamemnon Menelaus Nestor Ulysses Achilles Patroclus Diomedes Ajax Thersites Myrmidons Sources Troilus and Criseyde Troy Book Recuyell of the Historyes of Troye Adaptations Troilus and Cressida (1981; TV) Related Trojan War Trojan War in popular culture Achilles and Patroclus Shakespearean problem play "Bitch"   Shakespearean comedy William Shakespeare's All's Well That Ends Well Characters Bertram Countess of Roussillon Helen Rinaldo Lavatch Paroles King of France Lafeu Duke of Florence Widow Diana Mariana Sources The Decameron (c.1353) Palace of Pleasure (1566) Adaptations All's Well That Ends Well (1981; TV) Related Shakespearean problem play Diana Alazôn Bed trick William Shakespeare's As You Like It Characters Rosalind Orlando Celia Jacques Touchstone Screen 1936 1978 (TV) 1994 (TV) 2006 Related "All the world's a stage" William Shakespeare's The Comedy of Errors Characters Antipholus of Syracuse Antipholus of Ephesus Dromio of Syracuse Dromio of Ephesus Adriana Luciana Egeon Emilia Solinus Sources Menaechmi Amphitryon Apollonius of Tyre Musicals Gli equivoci (1786) The Boys from Syracuse (1938) The Comedy of Errors (1976) The Bomb-itty of Errors (2000) Film/TV The Boys from Syracuse (1940) Bhrantibilas (1963) Do Dooni Char (1968) Angoor (1982) The Comedy of Errors (1983; TV) Big Business (1988) Ulta Palta (1997) Bade Miyan Chote Miyan (1998) Dam Dama Dam (1998) Heeralal Pannalal (1999) Double Di Trouble (2014) Related Comedy of errors Classical unities Gesta Grayorum (1688) The Flying Karamazov Brothers William Shakespeare's Love's Labour's Lost Characters King Ferdinand of Navarre Lord Berowne Lord Longaville Lord Dumaine Princess of France Lady Rosaline Lady Maria Lady Katharine Boyet Don Adriano de Armado Moth Sir Nathaniel Holofernes Dull Costard Jaquenetta Marcadé Adaptations Love's Labour's Lost (opera; 1973) Love's Labour's Lost (TV; 1985) Love's Labour's Lost (film; 2000) Related Love's Labour's Won Honorificabilitudinitatibus Nine Worthies The School of Night Robert Tofte The Princess (poem; 1847) William Shakespeare's Measure for Measure Characters Angelo Adaptations The Law Against Lovers (1662) Das Liebesverbot (1834) Round Heads and Pointed Heads (1936) Measure for Measure (1943) Measure for Measure (1979; TV) Desperate Measures (2004) Art Mariana (Millais) Related Mariana (Tennyson) Bletting Bed trick Shakespearean problem play William Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice Characters Shylock Antonio Portia Sources The Jew of Malta On screen 1916 1923 1980 (TV) 2004 unfinished One Man Band (unfinished) Adaptations Le marchand de Venise (1935, opera) Shylock (1987, musical) Derivative works Serenade to Music (1938) Shylock (1996) Yasser (2001) The Maori Merchant of Venice (2002) Related "All that glitters is not gold" "All the world's a stage" "Between you and I" Quibble Letter and spirit of the law "Ding Dong Bell" "The quality of mercy" William Shakespeare's The Merry Wives of Windsor Characters Falstaff Mistress Quickly Ancient Pistol Bardolph Robert Shallow Corporal Nym Film/Television The Merry Wives of Windsor (1950) Overture to The Merry Wives of Windsor (1953) The Merry Wives of Windsor (1982; TV) Opera/Musical Falstaff (1799) The Merry Wives of Windsor (1849) Falstaff (1893) Sir John in Love (1929) Lone Star Love (2004) William Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream Characters Lovers Oberon and Titania Hermia and Lysander Helena and Demetrius Mechanicals Nick Bottom Peter Quince Francis Flute Robin Starveling Tom Snout Snug Other characters Puck Egeus Philostrate Film 1909 1935 1959 1968 1999 Television 1980 1992 1994 Stage A Midsummer Night's Dream (1970, play) The Donkey Show (1999, musical) The Dreaming (2001, musical) Ballet A Midsummer Night's Dream (1962) The Dream (1964) Opera The Fairy-Queen (1692) Pyramus and Thisbe (1745) Puck (1949) A Midsummer Night's Dream (1960, opera) The Enchanted Island (2011) Film adaptations Wood Love (1925) Get Over It (2001) A Midsummer Night's Rave (2002) Midsummer Dream (2005) Were the World Mine (2008) Strange Magic (2015) Other adaptations The Triumph of Beauty (1646) St. John's Eve (1852) "Fascination" (1994) Literature A Midsummer Tempest (1974) A Midsummer Night's Gene (1997) A Midsummer's Nightmare (1997) Lords and Ladies (1992) The Great Night (2011) Comics Auberon Faerie Titania Music A Midsummer Night's Dream (1842, Mendelssohn) Wedding March (1842, Mendelssohn) Three Shakespeare Songs (1951) Symphony No. 8 (1992, Henze) Il Sogno (2004) Related The Sandman: Dream Country (1991) Pyramus and Thisbe Mechanical Love-in-idleness The Apartment (1996) Wicker Park (2004) William Shakespeare's Much Ado About Nothing Characters Don Pedro Dogberry Adaptations Screen 1984 (TV) 1993 2005 (TV) 2012 Opera Béatrice et Bénédict (1862) Much Ado About Nothing (opera) (1901) Musical Much Ado (1995) The Boys Are Coming Home (2005) Adaptations The Law Against Lovers (1662) Dil Chahta Hai (2001) Related Dogberryism "Curiosity killed the cat" Pleaching William Shakespeare's Pericles, Prince of Tyre Characters John Gower Diana Sources Confessio Amantis (1390) The Pattern of Painful Adventures (1576) Adaptations Pericles, Prince of Tyre (1984; TV) Related George Wilkins Shakespeare's late romances Shakespeare Apocrypha Apollonius of Tyre The Pattern of Painful Adventures (2008; radio) First water William Shakespeare's The Taming of the Shrew Characters Katherina Minola Petruchio Bianca Minola Baptista Minola Christopher Sly Stage adaptations The Woman's Prize (c1611) Catharine and Petruchio (1754) Las bravías (1896) Der Widerspänstigen Zähmung (1872) Sly, ovvero La leggenda del dormiente risvegliato (1927) Kiss Me, Kate (1948) The Taming of the Shrew (1953) Ukroshchenye Stroptivoy (1957) Christopher Sly (1963) Direct adaptations 1908 1929 1967 1980 (TV) 1994 (TV) Other adaptations Daring Youth (1924) You Made Me Love You (1933) Second Best Bed (1938) Kiss Me Kate (1953) McLintock! (1963) Il Bisbetico Domato (1980) 10 Things I Hate About You (1999) O Cravo e a Rosa (2000; TV) Deliver Us from Eva (2003) The Taming of the Shrew (2005; TV) Frivolous Wife (2008) 10 Things I Hate About You (2009; TV) Isi Life Mein (2010) Related The Taming of the Shrew in performance The Taming of the Shrew on screen Shrew (stock character) Induction Love-in-idleness William Shakespeare's The Tempest Characters Prospero Miranda Ariel Caliban Sycorax Ferdinand Gonzalo Stephano Sources A True Reportory of the Wracke and Redemption of Sir Thomas Gates, Knight Decades of the New World Montaigne's Essays Ovid's Metamorphoses Erasmus's Naufragium Commedia dell'arte Sea Venture Films 1911 1979 2010 Adaptations Music Three Shakespeare Songs (Vaughan Williams) The Tempest (Sullivan) The Tempest (Sibelius) The Tempest (Tchaikovsky) The Tempest (ballet) (Nordheim) Screen Yellow Sky (1948) Forbidden Planet (1956) Tempest (1982) The Journey to Melonia (1989) Prospero's Books (1991) Painting Scene from Shakespeare's The Tempest (Hogarth) Ferdinand Lured by Ariel (Millais) Stage The Tempest (Dryden) The Mock Tempest (Duffet) Une Tempête (Césaire) Return to the Forbidden Planet The Sea Voyage Amaluna Plays The Sea (play) (1973) I'll Be The Devil (2008) Opera Noises, Sounds & Sweet Airs (1991) The Tempest (2004 Adès) The Tempest (1756 Smith) Der Sturm (1955) The Enchanted Island (2011 Sams) Poetry and prose fiction Caliban upon Setebos (Browning) The Sea and the Mirror (Auden) Indigo (Warner) A Midsummer Tempest (Anderson) Island (Rogers) The Tempest (Tchaikovsky) Phrases "What's past is prologue" "Full fathom five" "Ariel's Song" "Ding Dong Bell" Related Caliban upon Setebos (1864) Forbidden Planet (1956) "Requiem for Methuselah" (1969) "Don't Pay the Ferryman" (1982) "The Sea and the Mirror: A Commentary on Shakespeare's The Tempest" (1982) William Shakespeare's Twelfth Night Characters Viola Orsino Olivia Sebastian Malvolio Maria Sir Toby Belch Sir Andrew Aguecheek Feste On screen 1933 1955 1966 1980 (TV) 1986 1988 (TV) 1992 (TV) 1996 Musical Your Own Thing (1968) Music Is (1976) Play On! (1997) Illyria (2004) All Shook Up (2004) Adaptations Just One of the Guys (1985) Motocrossed (2001) She's the Man (2006) Dil Bole Hadippa! (2009) Opera Viola (unfinished) Story within a story "Grace" (2011) William Shakespeare's The Two Gentlemen of Verona Characters Valentine Proteus Julia Silvia Launce Speed Crab Sources The Boke Named the Governour (1531) Los Siete Libros de la Diana (1559) Euphues, The Anatomy of Wit (1578) The Countess of Pembroke's Arcadia (1580) Theatrical adaptations Two Gentlemen of Verona (1971) Screen adaptations A Spray of Plum Blossoms (1931) The Two Gentlemen of Verona (TV; 1983) Related Proteus Jorge de Montemor Stuart Draper Shakespeare in Love (1998) The Goat, or Who Is Sylvia? (2002) William Shakespeare's The Two Noble Kinsmen Characters Theseus Hippolyta Emilia Pirithous Palamon Arcite Hymen Lafeu Artesius Valerius Jailer Doctor Gerald Nell Timothy Sources "The Knight's Tale" (The Canterbury Tales) Related Shakespeare Apocrypha Shakespeare's late romances John Fletcher Creon William Davenant Stoolball The Masque of the Inner Temple and Gray's Inn (1613) William Shakespeare's The Winter's Tale Characters Leontes Perdita Florizel Sources The Countess of Pembroke's Arcadia (c.1580) Pandosto (1588) Oberon, the Faery Prince (1611) Adaptations The Winter's Tale (1981) "The Winter's Tale" (1994)   Shakespearean history William Shakespeare's King John Characters King John Queen Eleanor Prince Henry Blanche of Castile Earl of Essex Earl of Salisbury Earl of Pembroke Lord Bigot Philip Faulconbridge King Philip of France Louis the Dauphin Lady Constance Arthur Cardinal Pandulf Hubert Sources Holinshed's Chronicles (1577) The Troublesome Reign of King John (c.1589) Adaptations King John (1899) The Life and Death of King John (1984; TV) Related King Johan Cultural depictions of John of England Anglo-French war of 1202–14 William Shakespeare's Edward III Characters English Edward III Queen Philippa Edward, the Black Prince Earl of Salisbury Countess of Salisbury Earl of Warwick Sir William Montague Earl of Derby Lord Audley Lord Percy Robert of Artois Lord Montfort French King John II of France Prince Charles Prince Philip Duke of Lorraine King of Bohemia Scottish King David of Scotland Sir William Douglas Sources Froissart's Chronicles (c.1370) Palace of Pleasure (1566) Holinshed's Chronicles (1577) Related Shakespeare Apocrypha Thomas Kyd George Peele Robert Greene Hundred Years' War Battle of Halidon Hill Siege of Calais Battle of Crécy Battle of Poitiers William Shakespeare's Henriad Richard II Henry IV, Part 1 Henry IV, Part 2 Henry V Characters Richard II Richard II Henry Bolingbroke Duke of York Earl of Northumberland Duke of Aumerle John of Gaunt Queen (unnamed composite of Anne of Bohemia and Isabella of Valois) Henry 'Hotspur' Percy Duchess of York (unnamed composite of Infanta Isabella of Castile and Joan Holland) Duchess of Gloucester Thomas Mowbray, Duke of Norfolk Bishop of Carlisle Duke of Surrey Bushy Bagot Green Lord Ross Earl of Salisbury Lord Berkeley 1 Henry IV Henry IV Prince Hal Henry 'Hotspur' Percy Sir John Falstaff Ned Poins Mistress Quickly Bardolph Thomas Percy, Earl of Worcester Earl of Douglas Sir Walter Blunt Henry Percy, Earl of Northumberland Lady Percy Earl of Westmorland Owen Glendower Edmund Mortimer Lady Mortimer Archbishop of York John, Duke of Bedford 2 Henry IV Henry IV Prince Hal Sir John Falstaff Ned Poins Ancient Pistol Bardolph Mistress Quickly Doll Tearsheet Robert Shallow Earl of Westmorland Archbishop of York John, Duke of Bedford Earl of Warwick Lord Chief Justice Lord Bardolf Earl of Northumberland Lord Mowbray Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester Thomas, Duke of Clarence Earl of Surrey Rumour Henry V Henry V King of France Louis the Dauphin Fluellen Ancient Pistol Mistress Quickly Bardolph Corporal Nym Katharine Constable of France Chorus Duke of Exeter John, Duke of Bedford Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester Thomas, Duke of Clarence Earl of Westmorland Duke of Orléans Duke of Burgundy Duke of York Earl of Salisbury Earl of Warwick Duke of Bourbon Archbishop of Canterbury Bishop of Ely Queen Isabel Earl of Cambridge Lord Scroop Sir Thomas Grey Michael Williams Sir Thomas Erpingham Duke of Berry On screen Richard II An Age of Kings (1960; TV) King Richard the Second (1978; TV) Richard the Second (2001) The Hollow Crown: Richard II (2012; TV) 1 Henry IV An Age of Kings (1960; TV) Chimes at Midnight (1966) The First Part of King Henry the Fourth, with the life and death of Henry surnamed Hotspur (1979; TV) The Hollow Crown: Henry IV, Part 1 (2012; TV) 2 Henry IV An Age of Kings (1960; TV) Chimes at Midnight (1966) The Second Part of King Henry the Fourth containing his Death: and the Coronation of King Henry the Fift (1979; TV) The Hollow Crown: Henry IV, Part 2 (2012) Henry V Henry V (1944) An Age of Kings (1960; TV) Chimes at Midnight (1966) The Life of Henry the Fift (1979; TV) Henry V (1989) The Hollow Crown: Henry V (2012) Related Holinshed's Chronicles Hundred Years' War Wars of the Roses Divine right of kings Robert Devereux, 2nd Earl of Essex Battle of Humbleton Hill Battle of Shrewsbury John Oldcastle Battle of Agincourt The Famous Victories of Henry V (c.1585) Thomas of Woodstock/Richard the Second, Part One (c.1593) Falstaff's Wedding (1760) Falstaff (opera; 1913) At the Boar's Head (1925) Suite from Henry V (1963) William Shakespeare's first historical tetralogy Henry VI, Part 1 Henry VI, Part 2 Henry VI, Part 3 Richard III Characters 1 Henry VI Henry VI Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester Duke of Exeter Lord Talbot Duke of Bedford Richard, Duke of York Bishop of Winchester Earl of Suffolk Duke of Somerset (conflation of John Beaufort, 1st Duke of Somerset and Edmund Beaufort, 2nd Duke of Somerset) Earl of Warwick Earl of Salisbury John Talbot Edmund Mortimer, Earl of March (conflation of Sir Edmund de Mortimer and Edmund Mortimer, 5th Earl of March) Sir John Fastolf Charles the Dauphin Joan la Pucelle Margaret of Anjou Reignier, Duke of Anjou Duke of Alençon Bastard of Orléans Duke of Burgundy Jacques d'Arc 2 Henry VI Henry VI Queen Margaret Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester Richard, Duke of York Earl of Salisbury Earl of Warwick Cardinal of Winchester Duke of Suffolk Duke of Buckingham Jack Cade Duke of Somerset (conflation of John Beaufort, 1st Duke of Somerset and Edmund Beaufort, 2nd Duke of Somerset) Duchess of Gloucester Edward Plantagenet Richard Plantagenet Lord Clifford Young Clifford Margery Jourdayne Lord Saye Lord Scales 3 Henry VI Henry VI Queen Margaret Richard, Duke of York Earl of Warwick Edward IV Richard, Duke of Gloucester George, Duke of Clarence Edward, Prince of Wales Lord Clifford Lady Grey Montague Earl of Oxford Duke of Somerset (conflation of Henry Beaufort, 3rd Duke of Somerset and Edmund Beaufort, 4th Duke of Somerset) Lord Hastings Sir William Stanley Earl of Northumberland Duke of Exeter Duke of Norfolk Earl of Westmorland Lord Rivers Edmund, Earl of Rutland Henry, Earl of Richmond Louis XI of France Bona of Savoy Prince Edward Earl of Pembroke Lord Stafford Lord Bourbon Richard III Richard III Duke of Buckingham Queen Elizabeth Duchess of York Queen Margaret Lady Neville George, Duke of Clarence Edward IV Lord Hastings Lord Stanley, Earl of Derby Henry Tudor, Earl of Richmond Sir William Catesby Sir Richard Ratcliffe Lord Rivers Marquis of Dorset Sir James Tyrrell Lord Richard Grey Prince Edward Richard, Duke of York Earl of Warwick Countess of Salisbury Duke of Norfolk Archbishop of Canterbury Archbishop of York Earl of Surrey Sir Thomas Vaughan Sir Christopher Robert Brackenbury Lord Lovel Ghost of Henry VI Ghost of Edward, Prince of Wales Lord Mayor of London Earl of Oxford Sir James Blunt Sir William Brandon Bishop of Ely Sheriff of Wiltshire On screen 1 Henry VI An Age of Kings (1960; TV) The Wars of the Roses (1965; TV) The First Part of Henry the Sixt (1983; TV) 2 Henry VI An Age of Kings (1960; TV) The Wars of the Roses (1965; TV) The Second Part of Henry the Sixt (1983; TV) 3 Henry VI An Age of Kings (1960; TV) The Wars of the Roses (1965; TV) The Third Part of Henry the Sixt (1983; TV) Richard III The Life and Death of King Richard III (1912) Richard III (1955) An Age of Kings (1960; TV) The Wars of the Roses (1965; TV) The Tragedy of Richard III (1983; TV) "The Foretelling" (1983; TV) "King Richard III" (1994; TV) Richard III (1995) Looking for Richard (1996) Richard III (2008) Related Holinshed's Chronicles Hundred Years' War Wars of the Roses House of Plantagenet House of York House of Lancaster Siege of Orléans Battle of Patay Peasants' Revolt (1381) First Battle of St Albans Battle of Wakefield Second Battle of St Albans Battle of Towton Battle of Barnet Battle of Tewkesbury Princes in the Tower Battle of Bosworth Field "Even a worm will turn" The True Tragedy of Richard III (c.1590) The Tragical History of King Richard the Third (1699) David Garrick as Richard III (1745) William Shakespeare's Henry VIII Characters Henry VIII Cardinal Wolsey Queen Katherine Anne Bullen Duke of Buckingham Thomas Cranmer Stephen Gardiner Lord Chamerlain Duke of Norfolk Duke of Suffolk Earl of Surrey Cardinal Campeius Capucius Thomas Cromwell Lord Sands Lord Abergavenny Lord Chancellor Bishop of Lincoln Thomas Lovell Henry Guildford Nicholas Vaux Anthony Denny Dr. Butts Garter King-of-Arms Sources Thomas Wolsey, Late Cardinall, his Lyffe and Deathe (1558) Holinshed's Chronicles (1577) Adaptations The Famous History of the Life of King Henry the Eight (1979; TV) Related John Fletcher Cultural depictions of Henry VIII of England Globe Theatre