How Many Plays did Shakespeare Write?

"A tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing." - A line from William Shakespeare's Macbeth, from Act 5, Scene 5

William Shakespeare (1564 to 1616), the world's pre-eminent dramatist created an extensive source that has been strikingly popular in English Literature right from Queen Elizabeth I up to present Post modernism times. He not only wrote plays but also appeared as an actor on the stage called 'Globe Theatre' in the Southwark district of London. Shakespeare wrote thirty-seven plays including 10 historical plays, 17 comedies and 10 tragedies. His two plays collaborated with John Fletcher in the early nineteenth century were Cardenio and The Two Noble Kinsmen lost in theater fire. Some other plays Pericles and Prince of Tyre were not noticed in that era. Therefore it was not published by First Folio and was unavailable to readers. But some claim that still we have the original source of lost plays translated by Thomas Shelton in 1612.

Assumptions on the plays written by Shakespeare

Elizabethan era was the blooming period for writers like Shakespeare without any copyright or printing sources; eighteen of his plays were published during his lifetime.

John Hemminges and Henry Condell, his fellow actor recorded and published this Great Bard's work in First Folio in 1623.

The exact number of the plays written by Shakespeare is still debatable, some critics mention it to be more than 54 plays, most of the authoritative sources suggest 37 plays, 154 sonnets and 2 long poems.

Most Popular Plays by William Shakespeare

The most famous plays are considered to be Hamlet; which everyone fondly remembers on account of the quote, "To be or not to be? That is the question".; and Romeo and Juliet (1595) by Shakespeare based on the initial poem 'The Tragical Historye of Romeus and Juliet" by Arthur Brook in 1562. 'A pair of star-crossed lovers' is famous phrase from the play.

Julius Caesar (1599), is a play about a political conflict where Caesar is warned to "Beware the ides of March." This reflects on the idea of ancient Roman assassination of Julius in public on the fifteenth day of March. 'Antony and Cleopatra' (1623) unveils love and lust based on Thomas North's Plutarch's Life of Markus Antonius. Most of the critics blame him of creating hero from aristocratic families that seemed false as depicted in, 'The Merchant of Venice.'

Four Dark Tragedies

Othello (1603), displays the clear picture of jealousy of Iago which caused the sad demise of relationship between the couple Othello and Desdemona. The historical plays like Macbeth (1603-1606 ) is the tragedy of wrong judgment in the hands of Lady Macbeth while Hamlet (1599-1601) is the tragedy of the prince of Denmark who coined terms like Oedipus complex. King Lear (1603-1606) is the story of a king who divided his kingdom between his two daughters and left the loved youngest daughter Cordelia in straitened circumstances and victimized due to a tragic misapprehension.

Comedies by William Shakespeare (17)

• All's Well that Ends Well (1601-08), the title comes from the proverb means problems do not matter ao long as the outcome is good. It is called 'a problem play' neither comedy nor tragedy.
• As you like it (1599-1600), pastoral comedy based on Thomas Lodge's novel Rosalynde is famous for the oft-quoted monologue by Jacques,
  "All the world's a stage
  And all the men and women merely players;
  They have their exits and their entrances,
  And one man in his time plays many parts,
  His acts being seven ages."
• The comedy of Errors (1589-1594) is about mistaken identities between two sets of twins in Ephesus. It proved to be a classical play covering opera, musical theater and even stage.
• Much Ado About Nothing (1600) is the romantic comedy of two couples Hero- Claudio and Benedick and Beatrice. The title indicates that a great fuss about Hero's infidelity ("much ado") is ("nothing") but only a meaningless doubt.
• The Tempest (1610-11) Neoclassical play mingled with three unities of time, place and manner.
• Measure for Measure (1603-04) is based on the theme, "some rise by sin, and some by virtue fall." revolted with government, humiliation, truth and justice.
• Love's Labor Lost (1590's) means to do good to one's enemy.

Many of the critics called William Shakespeare as 'a crock' for stealing material from other sources. In reality his literary creations became the unique work amalgam and they truly have a mesmerizing effect on people even today!