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Theatrical conditions in Shakespeare's time
The previous post on Drama Literature, Classicism, was dedicated to the life of William Shakespeare. We will now look at his works. In the Elizabethan period, the Globe and Theatre theaters, run by the Chamberlain's Men, attracted various social classes, except for Puritans. During the plague, the actors traveled throughout the provinces. In 1613, the popularity of the theater generated demand for new plays, and the company, renamed King's Men, also began to perform at Blackfriars, a more expensive indoor theater. Initially as an actor, Shakespeare acquired a deep knowledge of theater, which was reflected in his plays. Rehearsals were minimal, female roles were played by young actors, and clowns had to balance humor with the plot.
Dating and publication of Shakespeare's plays
Even based on style, themes and evidence, the dating of Shakespeare's plays is uncertain, but there is consensus that works were written from 1588 to 1601, 1605 to 1607 and from 1609 onwards. His poems Venus and Adonis and The Rape of Lucrece were written during the plague of 1592 to 1594, while the sonnets are dated from 1593 to 1600. The Phoenix and Turtle dates from 1600 to 1601. His first play, Henry VI, Part One, is believed to have been written between 1589 and 1590, when Shakespeare was about 25 years old.
During the Renaissance, theatre companies paid freelance writers for new plays, but Shakespeare wrote exclusively for his own company, the Lord Chamberlain's Men, and the King's Men. Half of his plays were published during his lifetime, often in unauthorized editions, which led to revisions, such as Romeo and Juliet (1599) and Hamlet (1604–05). Reconstructions by actors provide a historical, if controversial, insight into the play.
After Shakespeare's death, Heminge and Condell published the Folio of 1623, collecting thirty-six plays. Differences between quarto and folio editions continue to be debated in critical editions such as The Oxford Shakespeare and The Arden Shakespeare. Quarto and folio editions of Shakespeare's plays refer to different printing formats used to publish his works in the 17th century:
Quarto editions – refers to the format in which a sheet of paper is folded twice, creating four sheets or eight pages (four on the front and four on the back). These editions were smaller and cheaper to produce. Many of Shakespeare's plays were first published in quarto during his lifetime, but not all these editions were official. Some were based on unauthorized versions, with significant errors or variations from the original text.
Folio editions – a larger format in which a sheet of paper is folded once, creating two sheets or four pages. The first Folio edition of Shakespeare, known as The First Folio, was published in 1623, seven years after his death, by friends and colleagues John Heminges and Henry Condell. The First Folio contains thirty-six plays, including eighteen that had not been published before. It is one of the most important editions because it preserved several works that might otherwise have been lost, such as Macbeth and The Tempest.
It is difficult to determine the chronology of Shakespeare’s plays, but it is known that between 1590 and 1613, he wrote thirty-seven works that spanned history, tragedy, and comedy. Many plays defy these categories, and their interpretation has evolved over time. Early works follow the conventional style of the time, with elaborate metaphors and rhetorical phrases that do not always fit the plot. However, Shakespeare innovated, adapting the traditional style to create a more natural flow. He primarily used unrhymed iambic pentameter, but he also included simple prose passages and different forms of poetry.
Iambic pentameter is a type of meter that is used in poetry and drama. It describes a certain rhythm that the words establish in each line. This rhythm is measured in small groups of syllables; these small groups are called “foot.” The word “iambic” describes the type of foot that is used.
Collaborations and lost play
Shakespeare is also known for having written plays with other writers, such as John Fletcher (1579–1625), an English playwright of the Jacobite period. Following William Shakespeare as the writer of the King's Men, Fletcher was among the most prolific and influential playwrights of his time. His fame rivaled that of Shakespeare. They co-wrote The Two Noble Kinsmen between 1613 and 1614, making it Shakespeare's last known dramatic work. They also collaborated on Cardenio; a play that has been lost. Other plays written together by Shakespeare include Sir Thomas More and The Reign of King Edward the Third.
Beginnings in the theatre in London
In the early days of his career, Shakespeare played supporting roles, quickly revealing his talent for creating and rewriting dramatic texts. He became the main contributor to works such as Titus Andronicus, a revenge tragedy inspired by Seneca, and Henry VI, which became a tetralogy with Richard III. He also participated in the comedy The Taming of the Shrew and the unfinished drama Sir Thomas More, of which only three pages of his autograph survive.
During the plague, Shakespeare probably completed The Comedy of Errors and The Two Gentlemen of Verona, as well as the magnificent Richard III. Works such as Love’s Labour’s Lost and A Midsummer Night’s Dream may have been initially written for more discerning audiences but were rewritten for less sophisticated audiences after the public theatres reopened. Love’s Labour’s Lost was the first printed play to include Shakespeare’s name on the cover, giving it literary dignity. These experiences shaped his evolution as a playwright and his ability to appeal to diverse audiences.
Shakespeare's Early Plays
Shakespeare arrived in London in the late 1580s, when he was in his early twenties, and began his theatrical career by imitating London playwrights and classical examples. Interestingly, he used over eighty variations of his name and never signed himself as "William Shakespeare" in full. In addition to writing, he also acted in his own plays and those of other playwrights. His works were performed at the courts of Elizabeth I and James I. His early plays, such as Henry VI and Richard III, address the lack of leadership in England, influenced by medieval theater and Elizabethan playwrights such as Christopher Marlowe and the Roman Seneca.
Lucius Annaeus Seneca (4 BC – 65 AD) was a Stoic philosopher and one of the most famous lawyers, orators, writers, and thinkers of the Roman Empire. Also known as Seneca the Younger, the Philosopher, or even the Younger, his literary and philosophical work, considered a model for the Stoic thinker during the Renaissance, inspired the development of tragedy in European Renaissance drama.
Shakespeare's early plays, such as Titus Andronicus, show the influence of the revenge tragedy popularized by Thomas Kyd in The Spanish Tragedy. Thomas Kyd (1558–1594) was an English dramatist of the Elizabethan period. Evidence suggests that by the 1580s Kyd had become a prominent dramatist, but little is known about his activity. Francis Meres ranked him among "our best for tragedy", and Heywood elsewhere called him "Famous Kyd".
Francis Meres (1565–1647) was an English clergyman and author, educated at Pembroke College, Cambridge. His relative, John Meres, was High Sheriff of Lincolnshire in 1596, and apparently helped him in his early career. In 1602 Meres became rector of Wing, Rutland, where he also ran a school.
Inspired by Seneca, Kyd developed a genre marked by themes of revenge, madness, and justice. In Titus Andronicus, the plot follows this model, with a bloody story of revenge motivated by murder and rape. The protagonist faces ethical dilemmas and his own madness, culminating in a bloodbath. This model also appears in Hamlet and other works, consolidating the revenge tragedy as a powerful genre in Renaissance theater.
Romantic comedies
Shakespeare wrote several comedies throughout his career, including his first play The Taming of the Shrew. Apart from Titus Andronicus, Shakespeare initially did not develop formal tragedy, preferring romantic comedy, influenced by playwrights such as Robert Greene and John Lyly.
Robert Greene is an American author of books on strategy, power, and seduction. Greene wrote seven international bestsellers, including The Forty Eight Laws of Power, The Art of Seduction, The Thirty Three Strategies of War, The Fiftieth Law, Mastery, The Laws of Human Nature and The Three Hundred and Sixty-five laws Laws. John Lyly (1553 - 1606), was an English novelist and playwright. He became known with the publication of Eupheus or The Anatomy of the Spirit, in 1579, a novel in which he launched euphuism: exact combination of words, with cadence, alliterations, antitheses and, occasionally, the abusive use of figures of speech.
Early comedies, such as The Two Gentlemen of Verona (c. 1590–1594), establish the motif of the young woman disguised as a man, which he would use in several subsequent works, such as The Merchant of Venice and Twelfth Night. The Comedy of Errors (c. 1589–1594), inspired by Plautus, deals with mistaken identity and questions of self-knowledge, while Love's Labour's Lost (c. 1588–97), influenced by Lyly, focuses on male embarrassment and female self-confidence.
Titus Maccius Plautus was a Roman playwright who lived during the Republican period. The twenty-one plays of his that have survived to this day date from the period between 205 BC and 184 BC. Some other comedies written by Shakespeare before 1600 or later are:
A Midsummer Night’s Dream (circa 1595), a work full of fantasy in which several plot threads intertwine. The Merchant of Venice (ca. 1596), another subtle evocation of exotic atmospheres like the previous work. In the opinion of many critics, Much Ado About Nothing (circa 1599) is distorted by its insensitive treatment of female characters. The Comedy of Errors (circa 1592), a farce about the mistaken identity of two sets of twins and the misunderstandings that occur in relation to love and war.
In The Taming of the Shrew (c. 1590–94), Shakespeare develops a multi-layered plot characteristic of his romantic comedies, addressing the marital relationship with the plot of Kate's "taming" by Petruchio. Although drawing on anti-feminist traditions, Shakespeare transforms the story into a complex struggle for dominance. Kate, though seemingly subjugated, gains the wisdom to manipulate the situation to her advantage, resulting in a more balanced relationship.
The play showcases Shakespeare's talent for addressing themes of gender and power, highlighting Kate's intelligence in contrast to her sister Bianca's shallowness. These early comedies show Shakespeare developing his own unique style and exploring the dynamics of gender, love, and identity.
The farcical character is less evident in The Taming of Bravery (c. 1593), a comedy of characters. On the other hand, The Two Gentlemen of Verona (c. 1594) bases its appeal on the use of idyllic love, while Love's Labour's Lost (c. 1594) satirizes the loves of its male characters.
Some of his comedies can be described as tragicomedies. Among them are Pericles, Cymbeline, The Winter's Tale, and The Tempest. Although more serious in tone than comedies, they are not the dark tragedies of King Lear or Macbeth because they end with reconciliation and forgiveness.
Shakespeare's comedies such as As You Like It (c. 1600) and Twelfth Night are marked by lyricism, ambiguity, and captivating heroines. In As You Like It, he contrasts courtly customs with those of rural life and develops the relationship between reality and fiction. The Merry Wives of Windsor (c. 1599) is a farce about the middle class.
In tragedies such as King Lear (c. 1605), he addresses the consequences of irresponsibility, while in Antony and Cleopatra (c. 1606) he presents the passion of Mark Antony and Cleopatra. Macbeth (c. 1606) deals with ambition and moral decay, and Coriolanus (c. 1608) addresses the alienation of the masses. The romantic tragicomedies Pericles (c. 1608), Cymbeline (c. 1610), The Merry Wives of Windsor (c. 1599) and The Tempest (c. 1611) feature characters overcoming great suffering to achieve happiness. Henry VIII (c. 1613) and The Two Noble Kinsmen (c. 1613) were collaborative works, probably with John Fletcher.
Romantic Comedies
In the second half of the 1590s, Shakespeare refined the romantic comedy genre. A Midsummer Night’s Dream (1595–96) combines multiple plots and magical figures, such as Oberon and Titania, to explore the ambivalence of love and power struggles. In The Merchant of Venice (1596–97), the romance between Portia and Bassanio contrasts with the tragedy of Shylock and deals with tensions between Christians and Jews.
Much Ado About Nothing (1598–99) deals with unfair accusations and emotional barriers between couples. As You Like It (1598–1600) and Twelfth Night (1600–1602) feature disguises and emotional maturation, with strong female characters and healthy relationships. These comedies blend humor and tragedy and reveal the complexities of love, identity, and power.
The Merry Wives of Windsor (c. 1597–1601) is an atypical Shakespearean comedy set in the burgher village of Windsor, near Windsor Castle. Unlike his romantic comedies, the play focuses less on romance and more on social interactions. Queen Elizabeth is said to have asked to see Falstaff in love, but the romance between Anne Page and Fenton takes a back seat. The female characters, Mistress Ford, and Mistress Page are witty, loyal, and confident. They use their wit to humiliate Falstaff, who becomes the scapegoat by symbolically purging Windsor society of human frailties.
History Plays by William Shakespeare
Shakespeare wrote some of his most important works dealing with English history, as well as two of his finest tragedies. In the 1590s, in addition to romantic comedies, Shakespeare completed his exploration of English history with Richard II, Henry IV, and Henry V. After covering events up to 1485 in the tetralogy of Henry VI and Richard III, he addressed the decline of Richard II and the rise of Henry Bolingbroke. Henry IV focuses on the maturation of Hal, who renounces Falstaff to assume royal responsibility. In Henry V, Hal emerges as the hero. At the same time, Shakespeare examined sexual and social maturation in his comedies and contrasted these themes with Hal's growth as a leader and themes of power, morality, and maturity.
All three plays, Henry VI, Richard II, and Henry V, dramatize the destructive results of weak or corrupt rulers and have been interpreted by historians of drama as Shakespeare's way of justifying the origins of the Tudor Dynasty. Other plays include Richard III, King John, the two Henry IV plays, and Henry VIII. Except for Henry VIII, which was Shakespeare's last play, these works were probably written in 1599.
Shakespeare transformed the genre of English history plays, which did not follow the classical rules, into something unique. Inspired by The Famous Victories of Henry the Fifth, he studied the civil wars of the 15th century and the fall of Henry VI for works such as Henry VI (c. 1589–93) and Richard III (c. 1592–94). These plays dealt with themes of leadership, betrayal, and war, and reflected the anxieties of Elizabethan England after the victory over the Spanish Armada. Shakespeare adapted historical events to create captivating dramas and helped cement English national identity by exalting figures such as Henry VII, founder of the Tudor Dynasty.
Shakespeare's tragedies
Although Shakespeare wrote three tragedies before 1600, including Romeo and Juliet (c. 1595), which portrays the tragic fate of two lovers torn apart by family rivalry, his characters in plays such as Othello, King Lear, and Macbeth reveal timeless and universal human traits. King Lear addresses aging and generational conflict. Hamlet, perhaps the most famous, goes beyond revenge tragedies, which it examines the mixture of glory and sordidness in human nature. Written around 1599, Julius Caesar addresses Roman political upheaval and contemporary concerns about the succession of Queen Elizabeth I.
In Othello (c. 1604), the core story is the unjustified jealousy that corrupts the protagonist, a Moorish general in the Venetian army. Desdemona disobeys her father, which results in a tragedy caused by Othello's irrational jealousy. Shakespeare's tragedies go beyond the classical models because they reveal moral complexities and provoke a deep reflection on fate, responsibility, and human nature.
The play Romeo and Juliet stands out among Shakespeare's tragedies for its intense analysis of young love and the destructive influence of external factors. The protagonists are victims of family rivalry and misunderstandings, which hinder communication and push them toward a tragic fate. The play criticizes family enmity and personal responsibility, especially when Romeo, in an act of revenge, undermines the patience taught by Juliet. The tragedy not only evokes emotions of regret for the brevity of love, but also reflects on how the hostile environment shapes and eventually destroys this love.
Written between 1599 and 1600, Julius Caesar marks Shakespeare's transition to darker and more complex themes, such as Caesar's assassination and its various interpretations. While some believe in the wrath of the gods, the wise Cicero suggests that men act on their own, highlighting the cyclical nature of history. Brutus, a tragic character who seeks to protect the republic, ends up causing the destruction of the freedoms he values, assessing the tragic qualities that lead to his death.
With Hamlet (c. 1599–1601), Shakespeare adopts a more sophisticated tragic model. Although he includes elements of revenge, Hamlet is unique in his morality and hesitation, which reveals his internal struggle with guilt after the death of Polonius. His acceptance of his fate leads to a reflection on life, morality, and responsibility, while introducing themes of friendship, love, and corruption that enrich the complexity of the human experience. This evolution marks a significant step forward in Shakespeare's work.
William Shakespeare’s poems
During the plague of 1592–94, Shakespeare devoted himself to poetry, writing Venus and Adonis (1593) and The Rape of Lucrece (1594), both influenced by Ovid and overseen by him in printing. Dedicated to Henry Wriothesley, Earl of Southampton, possibly his patron, these poems cemented his poetic talent. In addition, Shakespeare may have written some of his sonnets for Southampton, with themes of friendship, jealousy, and the immortality of poetry. The sonnets tell a story of love, disappointment, and self-loathing, possibly autobiographical, highlighting Shakespeare’s power to treat emotional complexities with depth and drama.
The “Problem Plays"
Between 1599 and 1600, Shakespeare began to write dark themes such as revenge, jealousy, and death, which marked his own transition to more complex experiences. These problem plays reflect a significant shift in Shakespeare’s work, the challenge of genre conventions, and the complexity of human experience. This period produced plays that are difficult to classify, called “problem comedies,” such as All’s Well That Ends Well, Measure for Measure, and Troilus and Cressida.
All's Well That Ends Well presents ethical dilemmas, with Count Bertram rejecting Helena, who uses a morally ambiguous ploy to win his love. The play questions the solidity of marriage and the complexity of the hero.
Measure for Measure addresses the dilemma of Isabella, who faces Lord Angelo, who demands sex in exchange for her brother's life. The resolution involves a scheme by the disguised Duke, revealing Angelo's flawed morality and Isabella's capacity for forgiveness, while evaluating the true nature of marriage.
The play Troilus and Cressida is emblematic of the Shakespearean "problem play", which defies genre. Some of Shakespeare's contemporaries classified it as a history or a comedy, although the play's original title was The Tragedy of Troylus and Cressida. It is the most experimental of the play, as it focuses less on the Trojan War and more on the desolation of the human condition. Thersites's scathing critique of war and lust reflects the ambiguity of gender and sexuality and shows Shakespeare's openness to contemporary issues.
William Shakespeare’s Literary Legacy
Shakespeare was a respected playwright and actor in the late sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries, but until the nineteenth century, his reputation as a genius went unrecognized. His acclaim peaked during the Romantic and Victorian periods. In the twentieth century, new academic and performance movements rediscovered his plays.
Today, his works remain popular and are continually studied and reinterpreted in a variety of cultural and political contexts. Shakespeare’s genius lies in his ability to create characters and plots that reflect universal human emotions and conflicts, as well as his origins in Elizabethan England. The Folger Shakespeare Library website (link below) is an excellent way to learn about and study his vast body of work.
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