List of William Shakespeare’s Complete Plays

Here are William Shakespeare’s complete plays, grouped by the traditional genres. I’m using the conventional First Folio groupings (Comedies, Histories, Tragedies) and including the late “romances” often taught as a distinct subgroup.

Comedies

  1. All’s Well That Ends Well
  2. As You Like It
  3. The Comedy of Errors
  4. Love’s Labour’s Lost
  5. Measure for Measure
  6. The Merchant of Venice
  7. The Merry Wives of Windsor
  8. Much Ado About Nothing
  9. The Taming of the Shrew
  10. Twelfth Night
  11. The Two Gentlemen of Verona
  12. A Midsummer Night’s Dream
  13. The Winter’s Tale (often classed as a romance)
  14. Cymbeline (often classed as a romance)
  15. Pericles, Prince of Tyre (often classed as a romance)
  16. The Tempest (often classed as a romance)

Histories

  1. King John
  2. Richard II
  3. Henry IV, Part 1
  4. Henry IV, Part 2
  5. Henry V
  6. Henry VI, Part 1
  7. Henry VI, Part 2
  8. Henry VI, Part 3
  9. Richard III
  10. Henry VIII

Tragedies

  1. Romeo and Juliet
  2. Julius Caesar
  3. Hamlet
  4. Othello
  5. King Lear
  6. Macbeth
  7. Antony and Cleopatra
  8. Coriolanus
  9. Timon of Athens
  10. Titus Andronicus
  11. Troilus and Cressida

Late romances (problem plays/romances often taught as a distinct group)

  1. Pericles, Prince of Tyre
  2. Cymbeline
  3. The Winter’s Tale
  4. The Tempest

Below are concise, spoiler-aware summaries of Shakespeare’s plays, grouped by genre. Each focuses on premise, key conflict, and stakes.

Comedies

  • All’s Well That Ends Well
    A resourceful physician’s daughter, Helena, cures the King of France and claims the aloof Count Bertram as her husband. Bertram flees to war and sets impossible conditions for accepting the marriage. Through wit and the “bed trick,” Helena fulfills them, forcing a reckoning about consent, class, and earned love.
  • As You Like It
    Fleeing courtly danger, Rosalind disguises herself as “Ganymede” in the Forest of Arden, where she tutors her crush Orlando in how to love. Multiple couples pair off amid rustic satire, wrestling matches, and songs. Identity games explore gender, performance, and pastoral freedom.
  • The Comedy of Errors
    Two sets of identical twins (masters and servants) separated in childhood wind up in the same city, triggering cascades of mistaken identity. Marital strife, legal peril, and slapstick culminate in recognition and reunion. A brisk farce about family and chaos.
  • Love’s Labour’s Lost
    A king and his friends swear off women to pursue study, but the Princess of France and her ladies arrive, overturning vows with wordplay-rich courtship. A late-arriving death interrupts the expected weddings, postponing merriment and puncturing airy rhetoric.
  • Measure for Measure
    In Vienna, puritanical Angelo enforces strict morality laws, condemning Claudio for premarital sex. Claudio’s sister Isabella pleads for mercy; Angelo propositions her. A disguised Duke engineers “bed” and “head” tricks to expose hypocrisy. A dark comedy about justice, consent, and governance.
  • The Merchant of Venice
    Antonio secures a risky loan from Shylock for his friend Bassanio’s courtship. When the bond comes due, Shylock demands a pound of flesh. Portia, in disguise, argues the “quality of mercy,” averting bloodshed while raising fraught questions about prejudice, law, and mercy.
  • The Merry Wives of Windsor
    The braggart Falstaff tries to seduce two married women for money. The wives collaborate to humiliate him through pranks, while young lovers outmaneuver parental plans. A suburban romp celebrating communal wit over swaggering vanity.
  • Much Ado About Nothing
    Soldiers return to Messina; Beatrice and Benedick spar their way into love as villains slander Hero on the eve of her wedding to Claudio. Fake deaths, eavesdropping, and malaprop detectives lead to restoration. A comedy balancing sharp banter with reputational peril.
  • The Taming of the Shrew
    Fortune-hunting Petruchio woos fierce Katherina and tries to “tame” her through deprivation and paradox, while suitors court her mild sister Bianca in disguise. Endings vary in tone across productions, inviting debate on gender, performance, and power.
  • Twelfth Night
    After a shipwreck, Viola disguises herself as “Cesario” and serves Duke Orsino, who sends her to woo Olivia—who falls for Cesario. Twins, forged letters, and festive pranks culminate in reveals and marriages. A bittersweet comedy about desire and identity.
  • The Two Gentlemen of Verona
    Best friends Valentine and Proteus fall for the same woman, Silvia. Proteus betrays both friends and his betrothed Julia (who follows in disguise). Repentance and forgiveness arrive swiftly, raising pointed questions about loyalty and constancy.
  • A Midsummer Night’s Dream
    Four lovers flee into a forest where feuding fairies deploy a love-juice that scrambles affections. A craftsman-actor is transformed with an ass’s head. Misrule resolves into proper pairings and a hilariously bad play-within-the-play. Love is chaos, then choreography.
  • The Winter’s Tale (often classed as a romance)
    King Leontes’s baseless jealousy destroys his family; years later, a lost princess, a pastoral interlude, and a miraculous “statue” scene offer restoration. A tale that moves from tragedy to forgiveness, famous for “Exit, pursued by a bear.”
  • Cymbeline (often classed as a romance)
    Imogen’s clandestine marriage angers her father, King Cymbeline. A wager on her chastity triggers deception, disguise, kidnappings, and a battle with Rome. Wild coincidences yield recognition and reconciliation. A late-career collage of Shakespearean motifs.
  • Pericles, Prince of Tyre (often classed as a romance)
    Pericles flees a corrupt court, marries and loses his wife at sea, and later loses and finds his daughter Marina. Shipwrecks, pirates, and divine guidance shape a journey from suffering to reunion and renewal.
  • The Tempest (often classed as a romance)
    Exiled magician Prospero conjures a storm to shipwreck his enemies and orchestrate reconciliation on his island, where his daughter Miranda meets Ferdinand. Spirits, songs, and plots of revolt give way to forgiveness and Prospero’s renunciation of magic.

Histories

  • King John
    Dynastic claims, papal pressure, and shifting alliances embroil England’s King John. The Bastard Faulconbridge delivers sardonic commentary as honor and realpolitik collide. Ends in uneasy national consolidation after John’s downfall.
  • Richard II
    Poetic, introspective King Richard misgoverns and is deposed by Bolingbroke (Henry IV). The play contemplates sacred kingship, ceremony, and the shock of usurpation, culminating in Richard’s tragic self-awareness.
  • Henry IV, Part 1
    Prince Hal splits time between the rowdy taverns of Eastcheap and the battlefield, mentored by the witty rogue Falstaff. Rebellion led by Hotspur challenges the crown. Hal proves his mettle at Shrewsbury, foreshadowing kingship.
  • Henry IV, Part 2
    A slower, darker sequel: civil unrest lingers; Falstaff chases profit; King Henry IV sickens. Hal ascends as Henry V and coldly rejects Falstaff, choosing duty over riotous youth.
  • Henry V
    Now king, Hal leads a lean, charismatic campaign in France, winning Agincourt against odds and wooing Princess Katherine. Patriot speeches contrast with costs of war and uneasy conquest.
  • Henry VI, Part 1
    After Henry V’s death, England’s fortunes wane; Joan of Arc rises in France. Factional English nobles begin feuds that will ignite the Wars of the Roses.
  • Henry VI, Part 2
    Domestic strife deepens: Gloucester’s fall, Cade’s rebellion, and the rise of Yorkist ambition. The realm fractures toward civil war.
  • Henry VI, Part 3
    Brutal seesaw battles between Yorkists and Lancastrians deliver short, bloody reigns. Margaret of Anjou emerges formidable. The path clears for Richard, Duke of Gloucester.
  • Richard III
    Charismatic villain Richard manipulates, murders, and usurps the throne, haunted by curses and dreams. Defeated at Bosworth by Richmond (Henry VII), ending the Wars of the Roses.
  • Henry VIII
    Pageantry and politics: the fall of Cardinal Wolsey, Henry’s break with Rome, the rise and ruin of Anne Boleyn, and the christening of Elizabeth foreshadow a new era. A late, collaborative chronicle play.

Tragedies

  • Romeo and Juliet
    Two teens from feuding families fall in secret love and marry. A chain of impulsive acts and miscommunication leads to their deaths, which shock their houses toward peace.
  • Julius Caesar
    Conspirators assassinate Caesar to save the republic; Antony’s rhetoric turns Rome against them. Brutus’s stoic ideals clash with political realities, ending in civil war and his tragic fall.
  • Hamlet
    The prince is charged by his father’s ghost to avenge murder. Hamlet’s delay, feigned madness, and a play-within-the-play expose rot at court. Intrigue spirals to a fatal finale for the royal house.
  • Othello
    Iago poisons the mind of Othello, a celebrated general, against his wife Desdemona through insinuation and forged “evidence.” Jealousy, racism, and manipulation drive a devastating end.
  • King Lear
    Lear divides his kingdom based on flattery, disinheriting his truthful daughter. Betrayal, madness, and a parallel subplot with Gloucester and his sons trace the ruin of a king and a family. Cosmic and intimate tragedy.
  • Macbeth
    Urged by prophecy and ambition, Macbeth murders King Duncan and seizes the throne. Blood breeds blood as guilt and tyranny consume Macbeth and Lady Macbeth, ending in violent retribution.
  • Antony and Cleopatra
    Passion and politics collide as Roman triumvir Antony and Egyptian queen Cleopatra wage love and war. Strategic blunders and divided loyalties lead to a grand, self-fashioned tragic end.
  • Coriolanus
    A superb Roman warrior’s disdain for popular politics undoes his bid for consul. Exiled, he turns against Rome, only to be swayed by his mother to spare it—signing his own death warrant.
  • Timon of Athens
    A lavish Athenian patron is abandoned by fair-weather friends when his fortune fails. Turning misanthrope, he rails against ingratitude and corruption in a bitter, austere fable.
  • Titus Andronicus
    A general’s brutal revenge cycle with Queen Tamora escalates into mutilation, cannibalistic banquets, and theatrical horror. An early tragedy about violence begetting violence.
  • Troilus and Cressida
    A sardonic Trojan War play: love between Troilus and Cressida sours amid cynical generals and hollow heroism. Deconstructs epic glory with bawdy, bitter wit.

Notes

  1. Classification varies: Measure for Measure, All’s Well That Ends Well, and Troilus and Cressida are often called “problem plays.” The four late romances are sometimes counted among the comedies but are frequently taught separately.
  2. Collaborations: Some plays (e.g., Pericles; Henry VIII) likely involved collaborators such as George Wilkins and John Fletcher.
  3. Lost plays and apocrypha (not included above): Cardenio (lost), Love’s Labour’s Won (lost), Edward III and The Two Noble Kinsmen are sometimes discussed in authorship debates; The Two Noble Kinsmen (with Fletcher) is often included in modern editions. If you want those listed too, I can add them.
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