| Title |
Date Written |
Date Range |
First Published |
Further Notes |
| The Comedy of Errors |
1590 |
1588-1594 |
1623 |
Performed in 1594. |
| Titus Andronicus |
1590 |
1592-1594 |
1594 |
Recorded as new by Henslowe, 1594. |
| The Taming of the
Shrew |
1591 |
1593-1595 |
1623 |
First published in the First Folio
(1623); The Taming of a Shrew published in 1594. |
| Henry VI Part II |
1591 |
1589-1592 |
1594 |
"Bad" quarto published in
1594. |
| Henry VI Part III |
1591 |
1589-1592 |
1595 |
Parodied by Greene in 1592; "bad"
quarto published in 1595. |
| Henry VI Part I |
1592 |
1588-1592 |
1623 |
May have been revised later, 1594-5.
Contemporary references, 1592 |
| Venus
and Adonis |
1592 |
1588-1593 |
1592 |
Probably written during
the plague year, 1592. |
| Richard III |
1592 |
1590-1593 |
1597 |
Quarto published in 1597 differs markedly
from the Folio text. |
| Love's Labor's Lost |
1593 |
1594-1597 |
1598 |
Performed at Court in 1597. |
| Two Gentlemen of Verona |
1593 |
1594-1595 |
1623 |
Mentioned by Meres in 1598. |
| The Rape Of Lucrece |
|
1593-1594 |
1594 |
|
| [Part of Sir Thomas
More] |
|
1594-1596 |
|
Shakespeare may have been one of six
contributors to this play. |
| A Midsummer Night's
Dream |
1594 |
1594-1598 |
1600 |
Mentioned by Meres. |
| Romeo and Juliet |
1595 |
1594-1597 |
1597 |
Bad quarto 1597, mentioned by Meres |
| Richard II |
1595 |
1595-1597 |
1597 |
Mentioned by Meres; may have been
performed in 1595. |
| King John |
1596 |
1596-1598 |
1623 |
Mentioned by Meres. |
| The Merchant of Venice |
1596 |
1596-1598 |
1600 |
Mentioned by Meres. A possible topical
reference suggests 1596-1597. |
| Henry IV Part 1 |
1597 |
1595-1598 |
1598 |
Meres mentions "Henry the 4."
|
| The Merry Wives of
Windsor |
1597 |
1597-1602 |
1602 |
May have been performed at Court in
1597; not mentioned by Meres (1598). Bad quarto 1602. |
| Henry IV Part 2 |
1598 |
1596-1598 |
1600 |
(May be included in the reference
by Meres.) |
| As You Like It |
1598 |
1598-1600 |
1623 |
Not mentioned by Meres; Stationers'
Register entry 1600. |
| Henry V |
1599 |
1598-1599 |
1600 |
Not mentioned by Meres. Referred to
in a play published in 1599. |
| Much Ado About Nothing |
1599 |
1598/1600 |
1600 |
Not mentioned by Meres. |
| Julius Caesar |
1599 |
1598-1600 |
1623 |
Not mentioned by Meres; seen by a
traveller,Thomas Platter, in 1599. |
| Sonnets |
|
1585-1608 |
1609 |
Mentioned by Meres in 1598 as circulating
"among his private friends;" two published in 1599. |
| Twelfth Night |
1600 |
1600-1602 |
1623 |
A performance described, 1602. |
| Hamlet |
1601 |
1599-1601 |
1603 |
Stationers' Register entry, 1602.
"Bad" quarto 1603. |
| Troilus and Cressida |
1602 |
1601-163 |
1609 |
the Stationers' Register entry, 1603;
topical reference to a play of 1601. Folio version (1623) substantially
different from the Quarto. |
| All's Well That Ends
Well |
1603 |
1598-1603 |
1623 |
No direct evidence. May have been
written earlier and revised in about 1602-1603. |
| Measure For Measure |
1604 |
1598-1605 |
1623 |
Performed at Court, 1604. |
| Othello |
1604 |
1598-1605 |
1622 |
Performed at Court, 1604. Folio text
(1623) differs substantially from the quarto. |
| King Lear |
1605 |
1605-1606 |
1608 |
Performed at Court, 1606; Folio text
(1623) differs in major ways from the quarto. |
| Macbeth |
1605 |
1603-1611 |
1623 |
May have been performed at Court,
1607. Simon Forman saw a performance in 1611. |
| Antony and Cleopatra |
1606 |
1598-1608 |
1623 |
Stationers' Register entry, 1608. |
| Timon of Athens |
1606 |
1598-1608 |
1623 |
No clear evidence. May have been left
unfinished. |
| Pericles Prince of
Tyre |
1607 |
1598-1609 |
1609 |
Stationers' Register entry 1608. Bad
(?) quarto 1609; not published in the First Folio (1623) |
| Coriolanus |
1608 |
1598-1608 |
1623 |
No clear evidence. |
| Cymbeline |
1609 |
1598-1611 |
1623 |
No clear evidence. Simon Forman saw
a performance in 1611. |
| A Winter's Tale |
1610 |
1598-1611 |
1623 |
Simon Forman saw a performance in
May, 1611; performed at Court in November, 1611. |
| The Tempest |
1611 |
1610-1611 |
1623 |
Performed at Court in November, 1611;
uses sources not available until 1610. |
| [Cardenio] |
1613 |
1612-1613 |
lost |
A lost play, perhaps by Fletcher and
Shakespeare, acted at Court in 1612. |
| The Two Noble Kinsmen |
1613 |
1612-1613 |
??? |
Written with Fletcher; uses a source
of the year 1613. Not published in the First Folio (1623) |
| Henry VIII |
1613 |
1612-1613 |
1623 |
The Globe burned down at a performance
in 1613. Probably written in collaboration with John Fletcher. |