Chronology of Shakespeare's plays

This article presents a possible chronological listing of the composition of the plays of William Shakespeare.

Shakespearean scholars, beginning with Edmond Malone in 1778, have attempted to reconstruct the relative chronology of Shakespeare's oeuvre by various means, using external evidence (such as references to the plays by Shakespeare's contemporaries in both critical material and private documents, allusions in other plays, entries in the Stationers' Register, and records of performance and publication), and internal evidence (allusions within the plays to contemporary events, composition and publication dates of sources used by Shakespeare, stylistic analysis looking at the development of his style and diction over time, and the plays' context in the contemporary theatrical and literary milieu). Most modern chronologies are based on the work of E.K. Chambers in "The Problem of Chronology" (1930), published in his book William Shakespeare: A Study of Facts and Problems, Vol. I.

Due to the fragmentary nature of the surviving evidence, there is no such thing as a definitive or precise chronology, nor can there be. Dates of performance are often of limited use, as in many cases the first recorded performance of a given play does not represent the first actual performance of that play. For example, the first recorded performance of Romeo and Juliet was not until 1662, but it is known that the play was definitely performed during Shakespeare's lifetime. In cases such as this, performance history reveals nothing about the date of composition.

Similarly, dates of first publication are often relatively useless in determining a chronology, as roughly half of the plays were not published until seven years after Shakespeare's death, in the First Folio (1623), prepared by John Heminges and Henry Condell, and published by Edward Blount, William Jaggard and Isaac Jaggard. Performance dates and publication dates are also problematic insofar as many of the plays were performed several years before they were published. For example, Titus Andronicus was performed in 1592, but not published until 1594, Othello was performed in 1604 but not published until 1622, King Lear was performed in 1606 but not published until 1608. Performance and publication dates can thus be used only to determine terminal dates of composition, with the initial dates often remaining much more speculative.

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