Locations of Shakespeare's plays
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William Shakespeare is believed to have written 38 plays in his lifetime, set in several different places throughout Europe and the Mediterranean.[1] Primarily Shakespeare's plays were set in Italy and England, with most tragedies being set in Italy and most histories set in Shakespeare's home country: England. Two were set in fictional places, one of which is believed to be England. The locale is generally derived from Shakespeare's source for the story.
Background
[edit]Shakespeare was a poet and playwright who lived in England in the late 1500s and early 1600s. Editors, retrospectively, have organised his plays into three genres: tragedy, history and comedy.
Analysis
[edit]The reasoning behind the location and setting of Shakespeare's plays is a subject of plenty of scholarly debate - one academic has claimed that in some plays the setting is an actor in itself.[2] Many of the tragedies are believed to be set far off either physically or in King Lear's case: temporally, potentially to present a sense of distance and mystery.[3]
Many English locations are much more geographically precise, as specific as various neighbourhoods of London, whereas in France and Italy they are much less specific. Moreover all other locations are extremely vague, often only specifying the region.[4] This is possibly due to Shakespeares experience in these places, having lived in London and travelled England.
Tragedies
[edit]Most tragedies were set around the Mediterranean, primarily in Italy with another in Greece and one in Egypt. However some were set to the north with one in (past) England another in Scotland and one in Denmark.[5] The more northern settings seemed to be favoured on the later side of his bibliography however, with three of his last six tragedies being set there.[6]
| Play | Year Written[6] | City/Cities[4] | Modern Country[5] | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hamlet | 1600 | Elsinore Castle | Denmark | Anglicised name for Kronborg Castle |
| Antony and Cleopatra | 1606-07 | Alexandria | Egypt | Some scenes in Sicily and Syria as well |
| King Lear | 1605-06 | Unknown | "Britain" (UK) | Mythic pre-christian Britain |
| Timon of Athens | 1604-06 | Athens | Greece | |
| Coriolanus | 1608 | Rome | Italy | also Corioles and Antium (Italy) |
| Julius Caesar | 1599 | |||
| Titus Andronicus | 1591/92 | |||
| Othello | 1604 | Venice | Also large parts are set in Cyprus[7] | |
| Romeo and Juliet | 1595-96 | Verona | Also Mantua (Italy) | |
| Macbeth | 1606 | Inverness | Scotland (UK) | Some scenes in england and other Scottish castles |
Histories
[edit]All of Shakespeare's histories were set primarily in London, England as it was the seat of the British Monarchy and the histories were all about English Kings in the 13th, 14th, 15th and 16th centuries. Additionally large parts of Henry VI, Part 1 and King John are set in France and large parts of Henry IV Part I were set in Wales.[5]
The histories are unique in that their key plot point, the struggle for the English Crown, revolves around a single city, London and areas such as York, Windsor, Coventry and various castles .[5]
| Play | Year Written[6] | City/Cities[4] | Modern Country[5] | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Henry IV, Part 1 | 1596-97 | Rochester, Gadshill, Warkworth Castle, Eastcheap, Shrewsbury, Coventry and York[8] | England (UK) | Large parts in Wales |
| Henry IV, Part 2 | 1597-98 | Various London streets, York, Warkworth, Gloucestershire, Westminster Palace/Abbey, Eastcheap and Yorkshire [9] | Other locations in English countryside | |
| Henry V | 1599 | various London streets, Southampton, Harfleur (France), Picardy and Agincourt.[10] | Various other British & French locations | |
| Henry VI, Part 1 | 1592 | Westminster Abbey, Tower of London, Auvergne (France), Temple Garden (London), Rouen (France), Bordeaux (France), Gascony (France), Bordeaux (France) and Anjou (France).[11] | Large parts in (France) | |
| Henry VI, Part 2 | 1591 | London, Gloucester, St Albans, Bury St Edmunds, Coast of Kent, Blackheath, Tower of London, Cannon Street, Smithfield, Southwark, Kenilworth Castle, Kent and Dartford[12] | ||
| Henry VI, Part 3 | 1595 | Parliament, Sandal Castle, Wakefield, Mortimer's Cross (Hertfordshire), York, Towton, Saxton, Langeais (France), Warwickshire, Warwick, Middleham Castle (Yorkshire), Tower of London, Coventry, Barnet and Tewksbury.[13] | ||
| Henry VIII | 1613 | York Place, Westminster, Blackfriars and Kimbolton.[14] | Other locations in Britain | |
| King John | 1595-97 | Clipstone (Nottinghamshire), Angiers (France), Louvre Palace (Paris, France), St Edumndsbury and Swinstead Abbey.[15][16] | Large parts in France | |
| Richard II | 1595-96 | Westminster Palace, Lancashire Castle, Coventry, Ely House, Gloucestershire, Bristol, Flint Castle (Wales), Westminster Hall, Pomfret Castle, Windsor Castle and Tower of London.[17] | Some scenes in Wales | |
| Richard III | 1592/94 | Tower of London, various London streets, Pomfret Castle, Baynard's Castle, Salisbury, Bosworth Field and Tamworth.[18] |
Comedies
[edit]The comedies varied in location much more than the other two genres although they continued with the general shakespearean theme of setting plays around the mediterranean. Four are set in Italy, two in Greece, two in Turkey and a handful of others set in various other mediterranean locations such as Albania, Lebanon, Spain and France. The exceptions being one in Austria, 3 set in England with parts of one in Wales.
The Tempest and As You Like It are both believed to be fictional places. As You Like It may have been interpreted as Arden Forest in Northern England[19] or in Ardennes, France.[20]
| Play | Year Written[6] | City/Cities[4] | Modern Country[5] | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Twelfth Night | 1601 | None mentioned | Albania/Croatia/Montenegro/Bosnia & Herzegovnia/Slovenia | Referred to as Illyria, a historic region which stretches along the Balkan Coast. |
| Measure for Measure | 1604 | Vienna | Austria | |
| As You Like It | 1599 | Disputed | Disputed | Believed to be Arden Forest in England or in Ardennes, France[19][20] |
| The Merry Wives of Windsor | 1597-1601 | Windsor | England (UK) | |
| All's Well That Ends Well | 1603-06 | Rossillion [Roussillion] | France | Little evidence for date written, dated on stylistic grounds; other scenes in other parts of France or Italy (Paris, Marseille and Florence) |
| A Midsummer Night's Dream | 1595-96 | Athens | Greece | |
| Much Ado About Nothing | 1598 | Messina | Italy | |
| The Taming of the Shrew | pre-1592 | Padua | Shakespeares first written play | |
| The Merchant of Venice | 1596-97 | Venice | ||
| The Two Gentlemen of Verona | 1590s | Verona | Some scenes in Milan | |
| The Winter's Tale | 1611 | Sicily [Sicillia] | some is set in Bohemia (Czechia) | |
| Love's Labor's Lost | 1595-96 | Navarre | Spain | |
| The Comedy of Errors | 1594 | Ephesus | Turkey | |
| Troilus and Cressida | 1601-02 | Troy | Set in Troy, believed to be in Northwest Turkey[21] | |
| The Tempest | 1611 | Fictional Island | Fictional Country | |
| Cymbeline | 1610 | Unknown | "Britain"(UK) | mythic pre-Christian Britain |
| The Two Noble Kinsmen | 1613-14 | Athens | Greece | believed to be collaboratively written with John Fletcher[1] |
| Pericles | 1608 | Tyre | Lebanon | partially set in other Mediterranean locations including Antioch, Tarsus, Pentapolis, Mytilene and others; believed to only partially written by Shakespeare[1] |
See also
[edit]- Chronology of Shakespeare's plays
- Globe Theatre
- Shakespeare's plays
- Shakespeare's sonnets
- Jacobean era
- Elizabethan era
References
[edit]- ^ a b c "Shakespeare's plays | Royal Shakespeare Company". www.rsc.org.uk. Retrieved 2025-01-29.
- ^ Berry, Ralph (2016-03-15). Shakespeares Settings and a Sense of Place. University of Wales Press. ISBN 978-1-78316-809-5.
- ^ Howard, Jean E. (Jean Elizabeth) (2003). "Shakespeare, Geography, and the Work of Genre on the Early Modern Stage". MLQ: Modern Language Quarterly. 64 (3): 299–322. doi:10.1215/00267929-64-3-299. ISSN 1527-1943.
- ^ a b c d Torbarina, Josip (1964). "The Settings of Shakespeare's Plays". Studia Romanica et Anglica Zagrabiensia (17).
- ^ a b c d e f "List of settings for Shakespeare's plays - Folgerpedia". folgerpedia.folger.edu. Retrieved 2025-01-29.
- ^ a b c d "Timeline of Shakespeare's plays | Royal Shakespeare Company". www.rsc.org.uk. Retrieved 2025-01-29.
- ^ "Othello - Act 2, scene 1 | Folger Shakespeare Library". www.folger.edu. Retrieved 2025-01-29.
- ^ "Henry IV, part 1: List of Scenes". shakespeare.mit.edu. Retrieved 2025-01-29.
- ^ "Henry IV, part 2: List of Scenes". shakespeare.mit.edu. Retrieved 2025-01-29.
- ^ "Henry V: List of Scenes". shakespeare.mit.edu. Retrieved 2025-01-29.
- ^ "Henry VI, part 1: List of Scenes". shakespeare.mit.edu. Retrieved 2025-01-29.
- ^ "Henry VI, part 2: List of Scenes". shakespeare.mit.edu. Retrieved 2025-01-29.
- ^ "Henry VI, part 3: List of Scenes". shakespeare.mit.edu. Retrieved 2025-01-29.
- ^ "Henry VIII: List of Scenes". shakespeare.mit.edu. Retrieved 2025-01-29.
- ^ "King John: List of Scenes". shakespeare.mit.edu. Retrieved 2025-01-29.
- ^ "Paris à l'époque de Philippe Auguste, Le Louvre de Philippe Auguste". 2016-01-19. Archived from the original on 19 January 2016. Retrieved 2025-01-29.
- ^ "Richard II: List of Scenes". shakespeare.mit.edu. Retrieved 2025-01-29.
- ^ "Richard III: List of Scenes". shakespeare.mit.edu. Retrieved 2025-01-29.
- ^ a b "Welcome to the Forest of Arden | Blogs & features". Shakespeare's Globe. Retrieved 2025-01-29.
- ^ a b "What Is the Significance of the Forest and Court in As You Like It?". ThoughtCo. Retrieved 2025-01-29.
- ^ "The search for the lost city of Troy". The British Museum. Archived from the original on 2024-09-23. Retrieved 2025-01-29.