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A (Rough) Chronology of Shakespeare's Plays
The chart below attempts to suggest the general course of Shakespeare's career as a playwright by listing all his plays (except the Additions to Sir Thomas More and Cardenio, a lost play) vertically according to genre and horizontally according to year of first performance. In a number of cases the years given are the result of conjecture and deduction and may be disputed by some scholars.
Date
Comedy History Tragedy Romance
1589-93
ErrorsHenry VITitus ShrewRichard III 1594-96
2 GentlemenKing JohnRomeoLove's LaborsRichard II Midsummer1596-98
MerchantHenry IV WivesMuch Ado1599
As You Like ItHenry VJulius Caesar1600
Hamlet1601
Twelfth Night1602
Troilus & Cressida*1603
All's Well*1604
Measure* Othello1605
King Lear1606
Macbeth1607
Antony Pericles1608
Coriolanus1609
TimonCymbeline1610
Winter's 1611-13
Henry VIIITempest
Kinsmen*Modern critics have often characterized these three plays separately as "problem plays."