A History of English Literature

Histories

The Folio classification by kinds is rough,counting classical history plays as
tr agedies, and has caused trouble, for Shakespeare ignored the classical division of
dramatic experience into comedy and tragedy.The Comedy of Errors is classical, and
the early tragedies have elements found in Seneca, but his usual way was to write in
the tra dition of what the English had always called ‘plays’, taking stories from old
romances. He observed genre only when it suited him, which upset some literary
theorists.
The history play, perfected and defined by Shakespeare’s example, is not a pure or
classical kind. He wrote ten English Histories in all, listed in the Folio in the order of
the reigns of the kings in their titles. But the order of reigns was not the order of
co mposition. The first tetralogy – the three parts ofHenry VIand Richard III– was
written in 1590–3. We shall look at the set of four works known as the second tetra-
logy – Richard II,Henry IV parts 1 and 2, and Henry V – composed in 1595–9.
The three Henry VIplays are loosely constructed pageant-like epic drama –
patriotic, military and spectacular. In contrast to these dramatized chronicles,
Richard IIIis a drama. The Quarto title was The Tragedy of Richard of York, and it
has tragic form. Compared with what followed, it is relatively crude, as are The
Comedy of Errors,The Taming of the Shrewand Titus Andronicus, early plays based

WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE 117

Plays by approximate order of composition; poems with publication dates

Compiled from The Oxford Shakespeare, ed. S. Wells and G. Taylor (1988). The dates of the early
plays are conjectural.

1590–1 Two Gentlemen of Verona
1590–1 The Taming of the Shrew
1591 2 Henry VI
1592 3 Henry VI
1592 1 Henry VI
1592 Titus Andronicus
1592–3 Richard III
1593 Venus and Adonis
1594 [The Rape of] Lucrece
1594 The Comedy of Errors
1594–5 Love’s Labour’s Lost
1595 Richard II
1595 Romeo and Juliet
1595 A Midsummer Night’s Dream
1596 King John
1596–7 The Merchant of Venice
1596–7 1 Henry IV
1597–8 The Merry Wives of Windsor
1597–8 2 Henry IV
1598 Much Ado About Nothing
1598–9 Henry V
1599 Julius Caesar

1599–1600 As You Like It

1600–1 Hamlet

1601 Twelfth Night

1602 Troilus and Cressida

1603 Measure for Measure

1603–4 Othello

1604–5 All’s Well That Ends Well

1605 Timon of Athens

1605–6 King Lear

1606 Macbeth(with scenes by Thomas

Middleton)

1606 Antony and Cleopatra

1607 Pericles, Prince of Tyre(with

George Wilkins)

1608 Coriolanus

1609 The Winter’s Tale

1609 Sonnets

1610 Cymbeline

1611 The Tempest

1613 Henry VIII(with John Fletcher)

1613–14 Two Noble Kinsmen(with

Fletcher)