William Shakespeare
Spine number 01
Venus and Adonis
Venus pursues the young Adonis, who would rather hunt than listen to her declarations of love. This narrative poem turns a classical myth into an encounter between eloquent desire and stubborn refusal, with comedy giving way to grief. Published in 1593, it was Shakespeare’s first printed work.
1593 · poem · Fiction
Spine number 02
Titus Andronicus
Returning from war with Gothic prisoners, the Roman general Titus enters a struggle over succession, family loyalty and revenge. The tragedy makes public violence inseparable from the suffering of individual bodies. First printed in 1594, the whole play is represented here; George Peele is widely recognised as Shakespeare’s collaborator.
1594 · play · Fiction · Collaboration
Spine number 03
Henry VI, Part 2
An insecure king presides over a court where nobles compete for power and discontent spreads beyond the palace. The Duke of Gloucester’s enemies, Queen Margaret’s ambitions and Jack Cade’s rebellion draw England towards civil war. An early version appeared as The First Part of the Contention in 1594; the fuller text followed in 1623. This entry covers the whole play, whose collaborative authorship and division of shares remain debated.
1594 · play · Fiction · Collaboration
Spine number 04
The Rape of Lucrece
Tarquin’s desire for his host’s wife becomes an abuse of hospitality and royal power. Shakespeare’s narrative poem gives sustained attention to Lucrece’s response to sexual violence and to the pressures that make private suffering a public event. First published as Lucrece in 1594, it draws on the legendary origins of the Roman republic.
1594 · poem · Fiction
Spine number 05
Henry VI, Part 3
The houses of York and Lancaster fight for the crown as promises of loyalty give way to military advantage. Queen Margaret, the Earl of Warwick and the rising Richard of Gloucester help make the conflict a struggle among families as well as armies. An early version was printed as The True Tragedy of Richard Duke of York in 1595, before the fuller 1623 text. This entry represents the whole play; the extent and attribution of collaboration are disputed.
1595 · play · Fiction · Collaboration
Spine number 06
Edward III
King Edward’s pursuit of the married Countess of Salisbury places royal desire beside the claims of honour, before the action turns to war in France. Battles and persuasion expose different ways a ruler tests the people around him. Published anonymously in 1596, the play is now often included among Shakespeare’s collaborations; this entry covers the whole work, while the identities and shares of its other authors remain disputed.
1596 · play · Fiction · Collaboration
Spine number 07
Richard II
Richard’s treatment of his cousin Henry Bolingbroke turns a personal grievance into a challenge to royal authority. The king’s richly patterned speech confronts a world in which inherited status cannot guarantee obedience. First printed in 1597, the play explores the distance between possessing a crown and retaining the power it represents.
1597 · play · Fiction
Spine number 08
Richard III
Richard of Gloucester confides his ambitions to the audience while manipulating the relatives and rivals who stand between him and the throne. His wit gives the pursuit of power a disturbing intimacy, set against the voices of those his family has injured. The play was first published in 1597.
1597 · play · Fiction
Spine number 09
Romeo and Juliet
Two young people fall in love in Verona, where the feud between their families repeatedly erupts into violence. Private hopes meet public loyalties in a tragedy whose language moves from teasing conversation to urgent declarations. A shorter first quarto appeared in 1597, followed by a substantially fuller text in 1599.
1597 · play · Fiction
Spine number 10
Henry IV, Part 1
Prince Hal divides his time between the expectations of his royal father and the tavern company of Falstaff. As Hotspur and his allies challenge the crown, competing ideas of courage and honour connect the court, the battlefield and the drinking house. The play was first printed in 1598.
1598 · play · Fiction
Spine number 11
Love’s Labour’s Lost
The King of Navarre and three companions swear to devote themselves to study and avoid women, just before a French princess and her attendants arrive. Poems, overheard confessions and verbal contests test the men’s confidence in their own cleverness. The earliest surviving edition was published in 1598.
1598 · play · Fiction
Spine number 12
A Midsummer Night’s Dream
Four lovers flee into the woods outside Athens, where a quarrel among fairies disrupts their desires. Nearby, a group of tradesmen rehearses a play, bringing everyday practical concerns into a night of enchantment. First published in 1600, the comedy brings romantic confusion, theatrical ambition and unruly imagination together.
1600 · play · Fiction
Spine number 13
Henry IV, Part 2
With the king ill and another rebellion threatening, Prince Hal’s future presses against his life among Falstaff and the tavern regulars. Falstaff’s journeys through the countryside give the play room for memories, bargains and jokes at other people’s expense. First published in 1600, this sequel sets the approach of responsibility beside the pleasures and evasions of growing older.
1600 · play · Fiction
Spine number 14
Henry V
The former Prince Hal leads an English army into France, asking his soldiers and subjects to believe in his claim to another crown. Stirring public speeches sit beside uneasy encounters that ask who pays for a king’s ambitions. A shortened text was first published in 1600; the First Folio of 1623 preserves a much longer version.
1600 · play · Fiction
Spine number 15
The Merchant of Venice
Antonio borrows from the Jewish moneylender Shylock to help Bassanio court Portia, accepting a bond with a dangerous penalty. The courtship story becomes entangled with debt, religious hostility and competing claims about justice and mercy. First printed in 1600, the play gives readers both romantic comedy and a troubling portrait of exclusion.
1600 · play · Fiction
Spine number 16
Much Ado About Nothing
Beatrice and Benedick trade insults while their friends try to turn antagonism into affection. Alongside them, Claudio and Hero’s courtship becomes vulnerable to rumour and deliberate deception. The comedy, first published in 1600, asks how confidently anyone can read another person’s words or appearances.
1600 · play · Fiction
Spine number 17
The Phoenix and the Turtle
Birds assemble for a ceremony mourning the phoenix and the turtledove, whose love seems to dissolve the boundary between two separate beings. This compressed allegorical elegy moves through ritual, paradox and lament. Shakespeare’s poem first appeared without a title in Robert Chester’s Love’s Martyr in 1601; this entry represents his contribution alone.
1601 · poem · Fiction
Spine number 18
The Merry Wives of Windsor
Falstaff sends amorous letters to two married women in Windsor, hoping to improve his finances. Mistress Ford and Mistress Page compare notes and devise their own response, while jealousy and rival marriage plans complicate the neighbourhood. A short first quarto appeared in 1602, before the substantially different and longer First Folio text of 1623.
1602 · play · Fiction
Spine number 19
Hamlet
A prince returns to a Danish court transformed by his father’s death and his mother’s remarriage. An encounter with a ghost sets him searching for proof, while his words and performances make it difficult for others to know what he intends. The first quarto appeared in 1603; the much longer second quarto followed in 1604–1605, and the 1623 Folio supplies another distinct text.
1603 · play · Fiction
Spine number 20
King Lear
Lear plans to divide his kingdom among his daughters according to their declarations of love, demanding certainty from words that can conceal as much as they reveal. His family’s struggle runs alongside Gloucester’s troubled relations with his sons, widening the tragedy’s questions about authority, dependence and care. The play was first printed in 1608; the 1623 Folio text differs substantially.
1608 · play · Fiction
Spine number 21
Pericles
A prince forced to flee a dangerous court travels between Mediterranean kingdoms, encountering riddles, shipwreck and a family repeatedly threatened by separation. The story ranges across years and places with the freedom of a tale told aloud. First published in 1609, the play is a collaboration with George Wilkins; this entry represents the whole work.
1609 · play · Fiction · Collaboration
Spine number 22
Shakespeare’s Sonnets
These 154 poems return to beauty, desire, jealousy and the pressure of passing time, often changing direction within a few lines. Their speakers argue with absent lovers and with their own expectations; they are treated here as literary voices, without assuming that they form a factual autobiography. The complete sequence was first published in 1609, although two sonnets had appeared in The Passionate Pilgrim in 1599. The original volume also included the separately titled A Lover’s Complaint, whose attribution is disputed; this entry represents the sonnet sequence.
1609 · collection · Fiction
Spine number 23
Troilus and Cressida
During the Trojan War, Troilus courts Cressida while Greek and Trojan leaders argue over reputation, strategy and the value of continuing the conflict. Private promises and public ideals both encounter bargaining and uncertainty. First printed in 1609, the play places a love story within an abrasive examination of heroic posturing.
1609 · play · Fiction
Spine number 24
Othello
Othello and Desdemona begin their marriage under the scrutiny of a society suspicious of their union. Iago exploits the general’s trust, turning ordinary gestures and objects into apparent evidence of betrayal. First published in 1622, the tragedy follows how insinuation can alter a person’s understanding of someone they love.
1622 · play · Fiction · Posthumous
Spine number 25
All’s Well That Ends Well
Helena hopes to marry Bertram, a young nobleman whose rank and wishes place him beyond her reach. Her medical knowledge opens an unexpected route towards him, but winning a husband proves different from winning his affection. First printed in the 1623 First Folio, the play gives its resourceful heroine a pursuit whose methods and rewards remain unsettling.
1623 · play · Fiction · Posthumous
Spine number 26
Antony and Cleopatra
Mark Antony’s relationship with Cleopatra draws him between the pleasures of the Egyptian court and the obligations of Roman power. Their exchanges move from intimacy to performance as political rivals turn personal choices into matters of empire. The tragedy first appeared in print in the First Folio of 1623.
1623 · play · Fiction · Posthumous
Spine number 27
As You Like It
Driven from court, Rosalind enters the Forest of Arden in disguise and finds a new freedom to test the language of love. Exiles, shepherds and would-be philosophers share a landscape where conversation can become both courtship and self-discovery. This pastoral comedy was first published in the 1623 First Folio.
1623 · play · Fiction · Posthumous
Spine number 28
The Comedy of Errors
A traveller and his servant arrive in Ephesus unaware that their identical twins live there. Misdelivered messages, unexpected claims of marriage and accusations of madness turn a search for family into a rapidly escalating farce. The play first appeared in print in the First Folio of 1623.
1623 · play · Fiction · Posthumous
Spine number 29
Coriolanus
A Roman soldier celebrated for his victories must seek the approval of citizens whose political power he despises. His mother’s expectations and his own refusal to flatter turn military distinction into a difficult qualification for public office. First printed in 1623, the tragedy explores the strain between personal pride and membership of a community.
1623 · play · Fiction · Posthumous
Spine number 30
Cymbeline
Imogen’s secret marriage angers her father, the British king, while a wager abroad places her husband’s trust in danger. Disguise, separation and mistaken appearances connect the court to the Welsh mountains and to a conflict with Rome. First published in the 1623 First Folio, the play combines family romance with political adventure.
1623 · play · Fiction · Posthumous
Spine number 31
Henry VI, Part 1
With Henry V dead, English commanders struggle to retain their conquests in France while rival nobles quarrel at home. Talbot’s campaigns and the rise of Joan of Arc unfold beside divisions that threaten the English cause from within. First published in 1623, the play is generally regarded as collaborative, though the identities and shares of its contributors remain disputed. This entry covers the whole drama.
1623 · play · Fiction · Posthumous · Collaboration
Spine number 32
Henry VIII
At Henry’s court, Cardinal Wolsey’s influence and the king’s doubts about his marriage expose courtiers to sudden changes of fortune. Katherine’s defence of her position brings a personal voice into a world of ceremony and political calculation. Written with John Fletcher and first printed in 1623, the whole collaborative play is represented here.
1623 · play · Fiction · Posthumous · Collaboration
Spine number 33
Julius Caesar
Brutus is drawn into a conspiracy against Caesar by arguments about Rome’s freedom and the danger of one man’s growing power. Private conviction must contend with persuasion, public performance and a crowd whose allegiance is uncertain. First published in the 1623 First Folio, the tragedy keeps the motives and consequences of political action under scrutiny.
1623 · play · Fiction · Posthumous
Spine number 34
King John
John’s claim to the English crown is challenged on behalf of his young nephew Arthur, bringing France, the papacy and England’s nobles into shifting alliances. The outspoken Bastard watches political principle repeatedly bend to expediency. First printed in 1623, this history play sets the language of legitimacy against the vulnerability of those used to support it.
1623 · play · Fiction · Posthumous
Spine number 35
Macbeth
After a battle, Macbeth hears a prophecy that he will become king, and he and his wife begin to imagine how the promise might be fulfilled. The tragedy moves through urgent choices and increasingly troubled perceptions, with ambition inseparable from fear. It was first published in the 1623 First Folio.
1623 · play · Fiction · Posthumous
Spine number 36
Measure for Measure
Vienna’s duke leaves his deputy Angelo to enforce the city’s neglected laws, and a young man faces execution for a sexual offence. His sister Isabella’s appeal for mercy reveals how easily moral authority can become coercion. First printed in 1623, the play tests the relationship between justice, secrecy and the power to pardon.
1623 · play · Fiction · Posthumous
Spine number 37
The Taming of the Shrew
Bianca’s suitors need her older sister Katherine to marry before they can pursue their own plans. Petruchio accepts the challenge, making courtship a contest over money, language and control. Shakespeare’s play was first printed in 1623; the similarly titled A Shrew, published in 1594, is a distinct play whose relationship to it remains debated.
1623 · play · Fiction · Posthumous
Spine number 38
The Tempest
Prospero, an exiled duke living on an island with his daughter Miranda, uses magic to bring former enemies within his reach. Ariel’s service and Caliban’s resistance complicate the authority with which he arranges their encounters. First published in 1623, the play brings spectacle and romance to questions about freedom, possession and forgiveness.
1623 · play · Fiction · Posthumous
Spine number 39
Timon of Athens
Timon surrounds himself with guests and gives lavishly, confident that friendship will repay generosity when he needs it. The arrival of creditors exposes the distance between the affection he imagines and the obligations others accept. First printed in 1623, the play is a collaboration with Thomas Middleton; this entry covers their whole drama of disillusionment.
1623 · play · Fiction · Posthumous · Collaboration
Spine number 40
Twelfth Night
Shipwrecked Viola disguises herself as a young man and enters Orsino’s service, only to find herself caught within the courtship she is supposed to assist. Elsewhere, revelry and a practical joke expose less generous forms of desire. The comedy, first printed in 1623, lets longing and loneliness persist beneath its mistaken identities.
1623 · play · Fiction · Posthumous
Spine number 41
The Two Gentlemen of Verona
Friends Valentine and Proteus leave Verona for court, where new attractions put earlier promises under strain. Julia follows in disguise, becoming a witness to the gap between declarations of devotion and actual loyalty. First published in 1623, this early comedy makes friendship and courtship compete for the same allegiance.
1623 · play · Fiction · Posthumous
Spine number 42
The Winter’s Tale
King Leontes becomes convinced that his wife Hermione and his closest friend have betrayed him. The consequences of his suspicion reach beyond the court into another generation and a very different pastoral world. First printed in 1623, the play moves between tragedy and comedy to examine time, trust and the possibility of repair.
1623 · play · Fiction · Posthumous
Spine number 43
The Two Noble Kinsmen
Imprisoned cousins Palamon and Arcite become rivals after both see Emilia from their window and fall in love. Their chivalric contest unfolds beside the hopes of a jailer’s daughter, giving unequal social positions very different claims on happiness. Adapted from Chaucer’s Knight’s Tale, the play was first published in 1634 with Shakespeare and John Fletcher named as authors; this entry covers the whole collaboration.
1634 · play · Fiction · Posthumous · Collaboration
Start with a comedy whose different groups of characters are easy to follow, or choose the urgency of a tragedy or the small compass of a sonnet. Reading a few speeches aloud can help the arguments and changes of feeling become clearer.
Where to begin
Start here
A Midsummer Night’s Dream
The lovers, fairies and amateur actors give you three distinct groups to follow as their stories cross. Its movement between lyrical verse and practical comic talk offers an inviting introduction to Shakespeare’s range, with plenty of room to enjoy the sound of the language.
Not yet in our collection
For a concentrated tragedy
Macbeth
Choose this if you prefer a strong line of action and an atmosphere of mounting unease. Watch how images of darkness, blood and sleeplessness recur: they carry the characters’ fears from one scene into the next.
Not yet in our collection
For shorter reading sessions
Shakespeare’s Sonnets
Take a poem at a time and notice where its argument changes direction, especially near the closing lines. The sequence rewards rereading, but you need not solve the speakers’ identities or read it as a continuous personal confession.
Not yet in our collection
Read next
Twelfth Night
After the woodland confusions of A Midsummer Night’s Dream, try a comedy whose disguises are more closely bound to loneliness and longing. Listen for the differences between what characters say about love and what their conversations reveal about them.
Not yet in our collection
Published 1593
Venus and Adonis
poem
Venus pursues the young Adonis, who would rather hunt than listen to her declarations of love. This narrative poem turns a classical myth into an encounter between eloquent desire and stubborn refusal, with comedy giving way to grief. Published in 1593, it was Shakespeare’s first printed work.
Not yet in our collection
Published 1594
Henry VI, Part 2
play · Collaboration
An insecure king presides over a court where nobles compete for power and discontent spreads beyond the palace. The Duke of Gloucester’s enemies, Queen Margaret’s ambitions and Jack Cade’s rebellion draw England towards civil war. An early version appeared as The First Part of the Contention in 1594; the fuller text followed in 1623. This entry covers the whole play, whose collaborative authorship and division of shares remain debated.
Not yet in our collection
Published 1594
The Rape of Lucrece
poem
Tarquin’s desire for his host’s wife becomes an abuse of hospitality and royal power. Shakespeare’s narrative poem gives sustained attention to Lucrece’s response to sexual violence and to the pressures that make private suffering a public event. First published as Lucrece in 1594, it draws on the legendary origins of the Roman republic.
Not yet in our collection
Published 1594
Titus Andronicus
play · Collaboration
Returning from war with Gothic prisoners, the Roman general Titus enters a struggle over succession, family loyalty and revenge. The tragedy makes public violence inseparable from the suffering of individual bodies. First printed in 1594, the whole play is represented here; George Peele is widely recognised as Shakespeare’s collaborator.
Not yet in our collection
Published 1595
Henry VI, Part 3
play · Collaboration
The houses of York and Lancaster fight for the crown as promises of loyalty give way to military advantage. Queen Margaret, the Earl of Warwick and the rising Richard of Gloucester help make the conflict a struggle among families as well as armies. An early version was printed as The True Tragedy of Richard Duke of York in 1595, before the fuller 1623 text. This entry represents the whole play; the extent and attribution of collaboration are disputed.
Not yet in our collection
Published 1596
Edward III
play · Collaboration
King Edward’s pursuit of the married Countess of Salisbury places royal desire beside the claims of honour, before the action turns to war in France. Battles and persuasion expose different ways a ruler tests the people around him. Published anonymously in 1596, the play is now often included among Shakespeare’s collaborations; this entry covers the whole work, while the identities and shares of its other authors remain disputed.
Not yet in our collection
Published 1597
Richard II
play
Richard’s treatment of his cousin Henry Bolingbroke turns a personal grievance into a challenge to royal authority. The king’s richly patterned speech confronts a world in which inherited status cannot guarantee obedience. First printed in 1597, the play explores the distance between possessing a crown and retaining the power it represents.
Not yet in our collection
Published 1597
Richard III
play
Richard of Gloucester confides his ambitions to the audience while manipulating the relatives and rivals who stand between him and the throne. His wit gives the pursuit of power a disturbing intimacy, set against the voices of those his family has injured. The play was first published in 1597.
Not yet in our collection
Published 1597
Romeo and Juliet
play
Two young people fall in love in Verona, where the feud between their families repeatedly erupts into violence. Private hopes meet public loyalties in a tragedy whose language moves from teasing conversation to urgent declarations. A shorter first quarto appeared in 1597, followed by a substantially fuller text in 1599.
Not yet in our collection
Published 1598
Henry IV, Part 1
play
Prince Hal divides his time between the expectations of his royal father and the tavern company of Falstaff. As Hotspur and his allies challenge the crown, competing ideas of courage and honour connect the court, the battlefield and the drinking house. The play was first printed in 1598.
Not yet in our collection
Published 1598
Love’s Labour’s Lost
play
The King of Navarre and three companions swear to devote themselves to study and avoid women, just before a French princess and her attendants arrive. Poems, overheard confessions and verbal contests test the men’s confidence in their own cleverness. The earliest surviving edition was published in 1598.
Not yet in our collection
Published 1600
A Midsummer Night’s Dream
play
Four lovers flee into the woods outside Athens, where a quarrel among fairies disrupts their desires. Nearby, a group of tradesmen rehearses a play, bringing everyday practical concerns into a night of enchantment. First published in 1600, the comedy brings romantic confusion, theatrical ambition and unruly imagination together.
Not yet in our collection
Published 1600
Henry IV, Part 2
play
With the king ill and another rebellion threatening, Prince Hal’s future presses against his life among Falstaff and the tavern regulars. Falstaff’s journeys through the countryside give the play room for memories, bargains and jokes at other people’s expense. First published in 1600, this sequel sets the approach of responsibility beside the pleasures and evasions of growing older.
Not yet in our collection
Published 1600
Henry V
play
The former Prince Hal leads an English army into France, asking his soldiers and subjects to believe in his claim to another crown. Stirring public speeches sit beside uneasy encounters that ask who pays for a king’s ambitions. A shortened text was first published in 1600; the First Folio of 1623 preserves a much longer version.
Not yet in our collection
Published 1600
Much Ado About Nothing
play
Beatrice and Benedick trade insults while their friends try to turn antagonism into affection. Alongside them, Claudio and Hero’s courtship becomes vulnerable to rumour and deliberate deception. The comedy, first published in 1600, asks how confidently anyone can read another person’s words or appearances.
Not yet in our collection
Published 1600
The Merchant of Venice
play
Antonio borrows from the Jewish moneylender Shylock to help Bassanio court Portia, accepting a bond with a dangerous penalty. The courtship story becomes entangled with debt, religious hostility and competing claims about justice and mercy. First printed in 1600, the play gives readers both romantic comedy and a troubling portrait of exclusion.
Not yet in our collection
Published 1601
The Phoenix and the Turtle
poem
Birds assemble for a ceremony mourning the phoenix and the turtledove, whose love seems to dissolve the boundary between two separate beings. This compressed allegorical elegy moves through ritual, paradox and lament. Shakespeare’s poem first appeared without a title in Robert Chester’s Love’s Martyr in 1601; this entry represents his contribution alone.
Not yet in our collection
Published 1602
The Merry Wives of Windsor
play
Falstaff sends amorous letters to two married women in Windsor, hoping to improve his finances. Mistress Ford and Mistress Page compare notes and devise their own response, while jealousy and rival marriage plans complicate the neighbourhood. A short first quarto appeared in 1602, before the substantially different and longer First Folio text of 1623.
Not yet in our collection
Published 1603
Hamlet
play
A prince returns to a Danish court transformed by his father’s death and his mother’s remarriage. An encounter with a ghost sets him searching for proof, while his words and performances make it difficult for others to know what he intends. The first quarto appeared in 1603; the much longer second quarto followed in 1604–1605, and the 1623 Folio supplies another distinct text.
Not yet in our collection
Published 1608
King Lear
play
Lear plans to divide his kingdom among his daughters according to their declarations of love, demanding certainty from words that can conceal as much as they reveal. His family’s struggle runs alongside Gloucester’s troubled relations with his sons, widening the tragedy’s questions about authority, dependence and care. The play was first printed in 1608; the 1623 Folio text differs substantially.
Not yet in our collection
Published 1609
Pericles
play · Collaboration
A prince forced to flee a dangerous court travels between Mediterranean kingdoms, encountering riddles, shipwreck and a family repeatedly threatened by separation. The story ranges across years and places with the freedom of a tale told aloud. First published in 1609, the play is a collaboration with George Wilkins; this entry represents the whole work.
Not yet in our collection
Published 1609
Shakespeare’s Sonnets
collection
These 154 poems return to beauty, desire, jealousy and the pressure of passing time, often changing direction within a few lines. Their speakers argue with absent lovers and with their own expectations; they are treated here as literary voices, without assuming that they form a factual autobiography. The complete sequence was first published in 1609, although two sonnets had appeared in The Passionate Pilgrim in 1599. The original volume also included the separately titled A Lover’s Complaint, whose attribution is disputed; this entry represents the sonnet sequence.
Not yet in our collection
Published 1609
Troilus and Cressida
play
During the Trojan War, Troilus courts Cressida while Greek and Trojan leaders argue over reputation, strategy and the value of continuing the conflict. Private promises and public ideals both encounter bargaining and uncertainty. First printed in 1609, the play places a love story within an abrasive examination of heroic posturing.
Not yet in our collection
Published 1622
Othello
play · Posthumous
Othello and Desdemona begin their marriage under the scrutiny of a society suspicious of their union. Iago exploits the general’s trust, turning ordinary gestures and objects into apparent evidence of betrayal. First published in 1622, the tragedy follows how insinuation can alter a person’s understanding of someone they love.
Not yet in our collection
Published 1623
All’s Well That Ends Well
play · Posthumous
Helena hopes to marry Bertram, a young nobleman whose rank and wishes place him beyond her reach. Her medical knowledge opens an unexpected route towards him, but winning a husband proves different from winning his affection. First printed in the 1623 First Folio, the play gives its resourceful heroine a pursuit whose methods and rewards remain unsettling.
Not yet in our collection
Published 1623
Antony and Cleopatra
play · Posthumous
Mark Antony’s relationship with Cleopatra draws him between the pleasures of the Egyptian court and the obligations of Roman power. Their exchanges move from intimacy to performance as political rivals turn personal choices into matters of empire. The tragedy first appeared in print in the First Folio of 1623.
Not yet in our collection
Published 1623
As You Like It
play · Posthumous
Driven from court, Rosalind enters the Forest of Arden in disguise and finds a new freedom to test the language of love. Exiles, shepherds and would-be philosophers share a landscape where conversation can become both courtship and self-discovery. This pastoral comedy was first published in the 1623 First Folio.
Not yet in our collection
Published 1623
Coriolanus
play · Posthumous
A Roman soldier celebrated for his victories must seek the approval of citizens whose political power he despises. His mother’s expectations and his own refusal to flatter turn military distinction into a difficult qualification for public office. First printed in 1623, the tragedy explores the strain between personal pride and membership of a community.
Not yet in our collection
Published 1623
Cymbeline
play · Posthumous
Imogen’s secret marriage angers her father, the British king, while a wager abroad places her husband’s trust in danger. Disguise, separation and mistaken appearances connect the court to the Welsh mountains and to a conflict with Rome. First published in the 1623 First Folio, the play combines family romance with political adventure.
Not yet in our collection
Published 1623
Henry VI, Part 1
play · Posthumous · Collaboration
With Henry V dead, English commanders struggle to retain their conquests in France while rival nobles quarrel at home. Talbot’s campaigns and the rise of Joan of Arc unfold beside divisions that threaten the English cause from within. First published in 1623, the play is generally regarded as collaborative, though the identities and shares of its contributors remain disputed. This entry covers the whole drama.
Not yet in our collection
Published 1623
Henry VIII
play · Posthumous · Collaboration
At Henry’s court, Cardinal Wolsey’s influence and the king’s doubts about his marriage expose courtiers to sudden changes of fortune. Katherine’s defence of her position brings a personal voice into a world of ceremony and political calculation. Written with John Fletcher and first printed in 1623, the whole collaborative play is represented here.
Not yet in our collection
Published 1623
Julius Caesar
play · Posthumous
Brutus is drawn into a conspiracy against Caesar by arguments about Rome’s freedom and the danger of one man’s growing power. Private conviction must contend with persuasion, public performance and a crowd whose allegiance is uncertain. First published in the 1623 First Folio, the tragedy keeps the motives and consequences of political action under scrutiny.
Not yet in our collection
Published 1623
King John
play · Posthumous
John’s claim to the English crown is challenged on behalf of his young nephew Arthur, bringing France, the papacy and England’s nobles into shifting alliances. The outspoken Bastard watches political principle repeatedly bend to expediency. First printed in 1623, this history play sets the language of legitimacy against the vulnerability of those used to support it.
Not yet in our collection
Published 1623
Macbeth
play · Posthumous
After a battle, Macbeth hears a prophecy that he will become king, and he and his wife begin to imagine how the promise might be fulfilled. The tragedy moves through urgent choices and increasingly troubled perceptions, with ambition inseparable from fear. It was first published in the 1623 First Folio.
Not yet in our collection
Published 1623
Measure for Measure
play · Posthumous
Vienna’s duke leaves his deputy Angelo to enforce the city’s neglected laws, and a young man faces execution for a sexual offence. His sister Isabella’s appeal for mercy reveals how easily moral authority can become coercion. First printed in 1623, the play tests the relationship between justice, secrecy and the power to pardon.
Not yet in our collection
Published 1623
The Comedy of Errors
play · Posthumous
A traveller and his servant arrive in Ephesus unaware that their identical twins live there. Misdelivered messages, unexpected claims of marriage and accusations of madness turn a search for family into a rapidly escalating farce. The play first appeared in print in the First Folio of 1623.
Not yet in our collection
Published 1623
The Taming of the Shrew
play · Posthumous
Bianca’s suitors need her older sister Katherine to marry before they can pursue their own plans. Petruchio accepts the challenge, making courtship a contest over money, language and control. Shakespeare’s play was first printed in 1623; the similarly titled A Shrew, published in 1594, is a distinct play whose relationship to it remains debated.
Not yet in our collection
Published 1623
The Tempest
play · Posthumous
Prospero, an exiled duke living on an island with his daughter Miranda, uses magic to bring former enemies within his reach. Ariel’s service and Caliban’s resistance complicate the authority with which he arranges their encounters. First published in 1623, the play brings spectacle and romance to questions about freedom, possession and forgiveness.
Not yet in our collection
Published 1623
The Two Gentlemen of Verona
play · Posthumous
Friends Valentine and Proteus leave Verona for court, where new attractions put earlier promises under strain. Julia follows in disguise, becoming a witness to the gap between declarations of devotion and actual loyalty. First published in 1623, this early comedy makes friendship and courtship compete for the same allegiance.
Not yet in our collection
Published 1623
The Winter’s Tale
play · Posthumous
King Leontes becomes convinced that his wife Hermione and his closest friend have betrayed him. The consequences of his suspicion reach beyond the court into another generation and a very different pastoral world. First printed in 1623, the play moves between tragedy and comedy to examine time, trust and the possibility of repair.
Not yet in our collection
Published 1623
Timon of Athens
play · Posthumous · Collaboration
Timon surrounds himself with guests and gives lavishly, confident that friendship will repay generosity when he needs it. The arrival of creditors exposes the distance between the affection he imagines and the obligations others accept. First printed in 1623, the play is a collaboration with Thomas Middleton; this entry covers their whole drama of disillusionment.
Not yet in our collection
Published 1623
Twelfth Night
play · Posthumous
Shipwrecked Viola disguises herself as a young man and enters Orsino’s service, only to find herself caught within the courtship she is supposed to assist. Elsewhere, revelry and a practical joke expose less generous forms of desire. The comedy, first printed in 1623, lets longing and loneliness persist beneath its mistaken identities.
Not yet in our collection
Published 1634
The Two Noble Kinsmen
play · Posthumous · Collaboration
Imprisoned cousins Palamon and Arcite become rivals after both see Emilia from their window and fall in love. Their chivalric contest unfolds beside the hopes of a jailer’s daughter, giving unequal social positions very different claims on happiness. Adapted from Chaucer’s Knight’s Tale, the play was first published in 1634 with Shakespeare and John Fletcher named as authors; this entry covers the whole collaboration.
Not yet in our collection
William Shakespeare was an English playwright, poet and actor whose comedies, histories and tragedies place private desires within the pressures of family, rank and political power. His characters think aloud, disguise their intentions and discover how words can alter the lives of others. The lovers and amateur actors of A Midsummer Night’s Dream, the questioning prince of Hamlet and the divided families of King Lear offer very different encounters with that dramatic imagination.
Born in Stratford-upon-Avon in 1564, Shakespeare was baptised on 26 April; his exact birth date is unknown. By 1592 he was established in London’s theatrical world, and he became an actor and shareholder in the Lord Chamberlain’s Men, later the King’s Men. Writing for a working company gave his plays a life in performance, while Venus and Adonis, The Rape of Lucrece and his sonnets reached readers in print.
Shakespeare died in Stratford on 23 April 1616. In 1623, his fellow actors John Heminges and Henry Condell brought together thirty-six plays in the volume now called the First Folio, preserving eighteen that had not previously been printed. His surviving work includes collaborations as well as plays and poems written independently; the boundaries of some early collaborations remain subjects of scholarship.