| Play | Date | Key Facts & MCQ Points |
|---|---|---|
| The Comedy of Errors | 1594 | • Shortest play • Based on Plautus' Menaechmi • Two sets of twins • Set in Ephesus |
| The Taming of the Shrew | 1594 | • Katherina & Petruchio • Frame story: Christopher Sly • Padua setting |
| The Two Gentlemen of Verona | 1594 | • Valentine & Proteus • Verona & Milan • Dog: Crab |
| Love's Labour's Lost | 1595 | • King of Navarre & lords • Vow to avoid women • Open ending |
| A Midsummer Night's Dream | 1595 | • Setting: Athens & enchanted forest • Characters: Bottom (weaver), Puck, Oberon, Titania • Play-within-play: Pyramus & Thisbe • Famous Line: "Lord, what fools these mortals be!" • Four plot strands (lovers, fairies, mechanicals, Theseus) |
| The Merchant of Venice | 1596 | • Shylock: Moneylender (pound of flesh) • Portia: Cross-dresses as lawyer • Caskets: Gold, silver, lead • Famous Line: "The quality of mercy is not strained" • Venice & Belmont |
| The Merry Wives of Windsor | 1597 | • Falstaff appears • Only comedy set in England • Windsor setting • Written at Queen Elizabeth's request |
| Much Ado About Nothing | 1598 | • Beatrice & Benedick • Hero & Claudio • Dogberry (constable) • Messina setting |
| As You Like It | 1599 | • Setting: Forest of Arden • Rosalind (cross-dresses as Ganymede) • Jaques: "All the world's a stage" • Seven Ages of Man speech • Pastoral comedy |
| Twelfth Night | 1601 | • Subtitle: "What You Will" • Viola (cross-dresses as Cesario) • Illyria setting • Malvolio: Steward • Opening: "If music be the food of love" |
| Troilus and Cressida | 1602 | • Problem play • Trojan War • Cynical tone |
| All's Well That Ends Well | 1604 | • Problem play • Helena & Bertram • Bed trick |
| Measure for Measure | 1604 | • Problem play • Duke Vincentio • Vienna setting • Justice & mercy theme |
| Pericles | 1607 | • Romance • First romance play • Partly by George Wilkins (disputed) |
| Cymbeline | 1609 | • Romance • British legend • Imogen (heroine) |
| The Winter's Tale | 1610 | • Romance • Leontes & Hermione • Famous stage direction: "Exit, pursued by a bear" • 16-year time gap • Sicily & Bohemia |
| The Tempest | 1611 | • Last solo play (Romance) • Prospero: Duke of Milan, magician • Setting: Enchanted island • Characters: Ariel (spirit), Caliban (monster), Miranda • Famous Line: "We are such stuff as dreams are made on" • Prospero's epilogue: Farewell to magic • Observes classical unities |
| Play | Date | Key Facts & MCQ Points |
|---|---|---|
| Titus Andronicus | 1594 | • First tragedy • Revenge tragedy • Extremely violent |
| Romeo and Juliet | 1595 | • Setting: Verona • Families: Montagues & Capulets • Famous lines: "Romeo, Romeo, wherefore art thou Romeo?" • Friar Lawrence: Marries them • Mercutio: "A plague on both your houses" • Tragic love story |
| Julius Caesar | 1599 | • Opening: Rome, street scene • Ides of March: Caesar's assassination • Brutus: "The noblest Roman of them all" • Antony's speech: "Friends, Romans, countrymen" • Critical view: Rome is the "hero" (some critics) |
| Hamlet | 1600 | • Longest play • Setting: Elsinore, Denmark • Famous soliloquy: "To be or not to be" • Ghost: Hamlet's father • Ophelia: Drowns (madness) • Play-within-play: "The Mousetrap" • Last words: "The rest is silence" • Yorick's skull scene |
| Othello | 1604 | • Setting: Venice & Cyprus • Othello: Moorish general • Iago: Villain (motiveless malignity) • Desdemona: Murdered by Othello • Handkerchief: Central symbol • Famous line: "Put out the light" • Jealousy theme |
| King Lear | 1605 | • Classification: "Elemental and primeval" • Famous line: "I am a man more sinned against than sinning" • Subplot: Gloucester, Edgar, Edmund • Fool: Lear's companion • Cordelia: Hanged in prison • Storm scene: On the heath • Double plot structure |
| Macbeth | 1606 | • Shortest tragedy • Setting: Scotland • Lady Macbeth: "Unsex me here" / sleepwalking scene • Three Witches: "Double, double toil and trouble" • Banquo's ghost • Famous soliloquy: "Tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow" • Birnam Wood: Comes to Dunsinane • Macduff: "Not of woman born" • Written for James I (Banquo's descendant) |
| Antony and Cleopatra | 1606 | • Classical trilogy (Rome = hero) • Egypt vs. Rome • Cleopatra: "Infinite variety" • Death: Asp (snake) • Enobarbus: "The barge she sat in" |
| Coriolanus | 1608 | • Last tragedy • Classical trilogy (Rome = hero) • Coriolanus: Proud general • Volumnia: His mother • Political tragedy |
| Timon of Athens | 1608 | • Problem tragedy • Misanthropy theme • Possibly unfinished • Co-written with Thomas Middleton (disputed) |
| Play | Reign | Key Facts |
|---|---|---|
| King John | John | • 1199-1216 • Magna Carta period • Arthur's death |
| Richard II | Richard II | • 1377-1399 • Deposition of king • Bolingbroke becomes Henry IV • Lyrical poetry |
| Henry IV, Part 1 | Henry IV | • Falstaff introduced • Prince Hal (future Henry V) • Hotspur (Henry Percy) • Battle of Shrewsbury |
| Henry IV, Part 2 | Henry IV | • Falstaff continues • Hal becomes king • "I know thee not, old man" (Hal rejects Falstaff) |
| Henry V | Henry V | • 1413-1422 • Battle of Agincourt (1415) • "Once more unto the breach" • Chorus introduces acts • Marriage to Katherine of France • Patriotic play |
| Henry VI, Part 1 | Henry VI | • Joan of Arc • Wars of Roses begin • Early work |
| Henry VI, Part 2 | Henry VI | • Jack Cade's rebellion • York vs. Lancaster |
| Henry VI, Part 3 | Henry VI | • Continued Wars of Roses • Edward IV proclaimed king |
| Richard III | Richard III | • 1483-1485 • "Now is the winter of our discontent" • "A horse, a horse, my kingdom for a horse" • Princes in the Tower murdered • Villainous protagonist • Ends Wars of Roses • Richmond (Henry VII) defeats Richard |
| Henry VIII | Henry VIII | • Last history play • Co-written with John Fletcher • Katherine of Aragon • Cardinal Wolsey |
| Work | Date | Key Facts |
|---|---|---|
| Sonnets | 1609 | • 154 sonnets • Dedicated to "Mr. W.H." (identity unknown) • Two sequences: - Sonnets 1-126: Young man - Sonnets 127-152: Dark Lady • Sonnet 18: "Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?" • Sonnet 29: "When in disgrace with fortune and men's eyes" • Sonnet 116: "Let me not to the marriage of true minds" • Sonnet 130: "My mistress' eyes are nothing like the sun" • Structure: 3 quatrains + couplet (abab cdcd efef gg) |
| Venus and Adonis | 1593 | • First published work • Narrative poem (1194 lines) • Dedicated to Earl of Southampton • Erotic poem • Based on Ovid's Metamorphoses |
| The Rape of Lucrece | 1594 | • Narrative poem (1855 lines) • Dedicated to Earl of Southampton • Source: Ovid's Fasti & Livy • Roman legend |
| The Phoenix and the Turtle | 1601 | • Short allegorical poem • Published in Robert Chester's Love's Martyr |
| A Lover's Complaint | 1609 | • Published with Sonnets • Authorship disputed |
| Quotation | Play | Speaker/Context |
|---|---|---|
| "To be or not to be, that is the question" | Hamlet | Hamlet (Act 3, Scene 1) |
| "All the world's a stage" | As You Like It | Jaques (Seven Ages speech) |
| "Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears" | Julius Caesar | Mark Antony (funeral speech) |
| "Now is the winter of our discontent" | Richard III | Richard (opening) |
| "If music be the food of love, play on" | Twelfth Night | Duke Orsino (opening) |
| "Romeo, Romeo, wherefore art thou Romeo?" | Romeo & Juliet | Juliet (balcony scene) |
| "Tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow" | Macbeth | Macbeth (Act 5) |
| "I am a man more sinned against than sinning" | King Lear | Lear (Act 3, storm) |
| "The quality of mercy is not strained" | Merchant of Venice | Portia (trial scene) |
| "Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?" | Sonnet 18 | Opening line |
| "Once more unto the breach, dear friends" | Henry V | Henry (Battle of Harfleur) |
| "Out, out, brief candle!" | Macbeth | Macbeth (Life's a walking shadow) |
| "We are such stuff as dreams are made on" | The Tempest | Prospero |
| "Lord, what fools these mortals be!" | Midsummer Night's Dream | Puck |
| "Cowards die many times before their deaths" | Julius Caesar | Caesar |
| "The course of true love never did run smooth" | Midsummer Night's Dream | Lysander |
| "Parting is such sweet sorrow" | Romeo & Juliet | Juliet |
| "To thine own self be true" | Hamlet | Polonius (to Laertes) |
| "A horse, a horse, my kingdom for a horse!" | Richard III | Richard (Battle of Bosworth) |
| "The lady doth protest too much, methinks" | Hamlet | Gertrude |
| Critic | Comment/Observation |
|---|---|
| Ben Jonson | "He was not of an age, but for all time" "Sweet Swan of Avon" |
| Samuel Johnson | Defended Shakespeare's disregard of unities "Shakespeare is above all writers" |
| Dryden | "He was the man who of all modern, and perhaps ancient poets, had the largest and most comprehensive soul" |
| Coleridge | Praised Shakespeare's judgment equal to genius "Myriad-minded Shakespeare" |
| A.C. Bradley | Shakespearean Tragedy (1904) - classic study of 4 tragedies |
| T.S. Eliot | Coined "objective correlative" in essay on Hamlet Called Hamlet "artistic failure" |
| Harold Bloom | "Shakespeare invented the human" |
| G. Wilson Knight | Spatial vs. temporal approaches |
| Play | Date | Key Facts & MCQ Points |
|---|---|---|
| Tamburlaine the Great (Part 1) | 1587 | • First major tragedy • Introduced "mighty line" (blank verse) • Scythian shepherd becomes conqueror • Famous line: "Is it not passing brave to be a king?" • Established Marlowe's reputation |
| Tamburlaine Part 2 | 1588 | • Continues Tamburlaine's conquests • Death of Tamburlaine • Burning of Quran scene |
| Doctor Faustus | 1592 | • Most famous play • Famous line: "Was this the face that launch'd a thousand ships / And burnt the topless towers of Ilium?" (Helen of Troy) • Faustus: Sells soul to Mephistopheles for 24 years • Limitations: Weak comic scenes (written by collaborator) • Seven Deadly Sins appear • Last speech: "See, see, where Christ's blood streams in the firmament!" • Based on German Faustbook |
| The Jew of Malta | 1590 | • Barabas: Jewish merchant (Machiavellian villain) • Prologue: Spoken by Machiavelli • Malta setting • Influenced Merchant of Venice |
| Edward II | 1592 | • Historical tragedy • English king Edward II • Gaveston: King's favorite • Homosexual themes • Murder in Berkeley Castle • More realistic than earlier plays |
| The Massacre at Paris | 1593 | • St. Bartholomew's Day Massacre (1572) • Protestant persecution • Fragmentary text survives |
| Dido, Queen of Carthage | 1594 (pub.) | • Co-written with Thomas Nashe • Based on Virgil's Aeneid • Dido & Aeneas |
| Poem | Key Facts |
|---|---|
| Hero and Leander | • Unfinished narrative poem (completed by George Chapman) • Based on Greek legend • Erotic tone |
| "The Passionate Shepherd to His Love" | • Pastoral lyric • Opening: "Come live with me and be my love" • Replied to by Raleigh ("The Nymph's Reply") |
| Feature | Description |
|---|---|
| "Mighty Line" | Powerful blank verse (unrhymed iambic pentameter) |
| Overreachers | Protagonists who aspire beyond human limits (Tamburlaine, Faustus) |
| Machiavellian | Ruthless, amoral characters (Barabas) |
| Atheistic themes | Questioning religious orthodoxy |
| Renaissance individualism | Emphasis on individual will & ambition |
| Writer | University | Major Works | Key Facts |
|---|---|---|---|
| Christopher Marlowe | Cambridge | See above | Most talented of the group |
| Robert Greene | Cambridge | • Friar Bacon and Friar Bungay (1589) • James IV (1590) • Pandosto (prose, source for Winter's Tale) | • Attacked Shakespeare: "upstart crow" • Died in poverty (1592) • Groatsworth of Wit (autobiographical) |
| Thomas Nashe | Cambridge | • Summer's Last Will and Testament (play) • The Unfortunate Traveller (picaresque novel, 1594) • Pierce Penniless (satire) | • Pamphleteer • Satirist • Co-wrote Dido with Marlowe |
| George Peele | Oxford | • The Old Wives' Tale (1590s) • The Arraignment of Paris (1584) • David and Bethsabe (1587) | • Romantic comedies • Pastoral elements • Lyrical style |
| Thomas Lodge | Oxford | • Rosalynde (1590, prose romance) • A Looking Glass for London (with Greene) | • Rosalynde = source for As You Like It • Later became physician |
| John Lyly | Oxford | • Euphues: The Anatomy of Wit (1578) • Euphues and His England (1580) • Plays: Endymion, Campaspe, Gallathea | • Euphuism: Elaborate prose style • Court comedies • For boy actors |
| Work | Date | Key Facts |
|---|---|---|
| The Spanish Tragedy | c. 1587 | • First Revenge Tragedy • Hieronimo: Protagonist (father seeking revenge) • "Ghost of Andrea" & Revenge (chorus figures) • Play-within-play (influenced Hamlet) • Senecan elements: Ghost, revenge, blood, madness • Famous quote: "What outcries pluck me from my naked bed?" • Immensely popular (revived frequently) • Mad scene: Hieronimo bites out his tongue |
| Ur-Hamlet | c. 1589 | • Lost play (attributed to Kyd) • Possible source for Shakespeare's Hamlet • Never discovered |
| Element | Description |
|---|---|
| Ghost | Supernatural figure demanding revenge |
| Revenge motif | Central to plot |
| Blood & violence | On stage or reported |
| Madness | Real or feigned |
| Play-within-play | Meta-theatrical device |
| Hesitation | Delayed revenge |
| Theater | Built | Key Facts |
|---|---|---|
| The Theatre | 1576 | • First permanent playhouse in London • Built by James Burbage • Shoreditch • Dismantled 1598, timbers used for Globe |
| The Curtain | 1577 | • Near The Theatre • Romeo & Juliet possibly premiered here |
| The Rose | 1587 | • Bankside, Southwark • Marlowe's plays performed here • Henslowe's theater |
| The Swan | 1595 | • Famous drawing by Johannes de Witt (1596) • Shows theater structure |
| The Globe | 1599 | • Shakespeare's theater • Built from The Theatre's timbers • Bankside, Southwark • Burned: 1613 (during Henry VIII, cannon misfired) • Rebuilt: 1614 • Closed: 1642 (Puritan government) • Capacity: ~3000 • Open-air, circular ("wooden O") |
| The Fortune | 1600 | • Square theater (unusual) • Competed with Globe |
| Blackfriars | 1596 | • Indoor theater • King's Men (1608) • Wealthier audience • Artificial lighting |
| Feature | Details |
|---|---|
| Stage | • Thrust stage (projects into yard) • No scenery • Trapdoor (for ghosts) • Upper stage (balcony scenes) |
| Audience | • Groundlings (standing, 1 penny) • Seated in galleries (2-3 pence) • Mixed social classes |
| Actors | • All male (boys played women) • Apprentice system • Company shareholders |
| Performance | • Afternoon (natural light) • No intermissions • Continuous action • Elaborate costumes |
| Playwright | Works | Significance |
|---|---|---|
| Thomas Dekker | • The Shoemaker's Holiday (1599) • The Honest Whore (with Middleton) | • Called "Dickens of Elizabethan stage" • Depicted London life • Citizen comedy |
| Thomas Heywood | • A Woman Killed with Kindness (1603) | • Claimed to have written 220 plays • Domestic tragedy |
| George Chapman | • Bussy D'Ambois (1604) • Homer translation | • Completed Marlowe's Hero & Leander • Philosophical plays |
| Category | Item | Details |
|---|---|---|
| Shakespeare Firsts | First Published Work | Venus & Adonis (1593) |
| First Tragedy | Titus Andronicus (1594) | |
| First Comedy | Comedy of Errors (1594) | |
| Last Solo Play | The Tempest (1611) | |
| First Folio | 1623 (36 plays) | |
| Theater Dates | First Permanent Theater | The Theatre (1576) |
| The Globe Built | 1599 | |
| The Globe Burned | 1613 | |
| Marlowe | Life Span | 1564-1593 (age 29) |
| First Major Play | Tamburlaine (1587) | |
| Most Famous | Doctor Faustus (1592) | |
| Kyd | Major Work | The Spanish Tragedy (c. 1587) |
| Genre Created | Revenge Tragedy | |
| Numbers | Shakespeare's Plays | 37 (17 comedies, 10 tragedies, 10 histories) |
| Shakespeare's Sonnets | 154 (published 1609) |