Last year I read everything Shakespeare wrote. Here now are my final notes on the plays. The grades only represent how much I enjoyed reading each work; they are not meant to be an objective measure of quality:
D
38. The Two Gentlemen of Verona
Almost a total loss. There are a few cute parts and clever lines, but this juvenile, obvious mess of a play is clearly the work of someone still getting the hang of playwriting. I’m not one to judge past works by present standards, but the casual misogyny of the conclusion is jaw-droppingly awful.
37. Pericles
Nearly as bad as Two Gentlemen. Yes, the last act has some very nice stuff, and I actually liked Act IV, but the first three acts are so wretched they almost seem purposely bad. At one point, a character remarks on how poor his speaking is. A meta joke?
36. The Two Noble Kinsmen
This late work is far more complexly plotted and artfully written than the two plays above, but while those areas are much more competent, this play suffers from an identity crisis. Too light to be tragic and too violent to be comedy, this one also has little to say about human nature, an unforgivable sin for Shakespeare.
35. The Merry Wives of Windsor
A star vehicle for a great but minor character from other plays—Sir John Falstaff—this play is no different from a thousand other vanity project spinoffs: it loses the original charm completely. Still, there are quite a few funny, if lowbrow, jokes here.
34. The Taming of the Shrew
Surprisingly disappointing. I didn’t see this as equally celebrating and lampooning everybody, but as harshly tormenting too many characters, including Katarina. The men vying for Bianca are no more than the pathetic fools that modern TV makes men out to be. Worst of all, the arbitrary framing device seemed just that to me: random. Sadly, that’s an apt example of what’s wrong with this play.
C
33. The Winter’s Tale
The blend of comedy and tragedy is not as haphazard as in The Two Gentlemen of Verona, but still uneven and prickly. However, the writing is excellent and the story is impressively unique in the Shakespearean canon. An interesting and often enjoyable oddity.
32. 2 Henry VI
Despite a thrilling plot (covering the same history that inspired Game of Thrones), this one left me a bit cold. Treacherous, incompetent nobles throughout are contrasted with the treacherous, incompetent populist rebels of Act IV: young Shakespeare is already wonderfully and wisely cynical about human nature. Deserves another read.
31. King Henry VIII
The last history—indeed, the last play—is surprisingly thin, thematically, stylistically, and otherwise. Not bad by any means, but still not nearly as powerful as it could and should have been. Still, the cardinal is a gripping tragic figure.
30. Henry IV pt. 2
The weakest of the Henriad is still worthwhile. Like Henry VIII, the work is too thin, too obvious. What’s here is good, but milked, instead of fleshed out.
29. Titus Andronicus
Wrongly maligned as a bad play, Titus is daring, brash, and challenging. Still written too early to be a great tragedy, it’s promising and offers much food for thought (no pun intended).
28. 3 Henry VI
Now this is a story of blood and guts! All-out war models the nature of chaos here, and we are swept up in the darkness. Not the highest art, but unrelentingly powerful.
27. The Comedy of Errors
A cute early comedy where the deck is stacked so much—two sets of identical twins where each set of brothers has the same name, for some reason—that hilarity couldn’t not ensue!
26. Timon of Athens
Underappreciated. A cautionary tale about trust and spendthrift abandon, this is easily Shakespeare’s most bitter work, an antisocial diatribe where nearly nobody comes out clean.
25. Cymbeline
Clever plotting saves what might otherwise be a leaden, plodding story. This late tragicomedy (actually, one of his better jobs of blending genres) uses nearly every clichéd trick in the book, but still comes out above average, if only barely.
B
24. King John
Actually, all I remember of this one is a scene where two noble factions, warring for the crown, meet outside a gated city and ask the peasants inside which of them should be king. A voice inside essentially replies, “We don’t care.” Good on you, Will.
23. A Midsummer Night’s Dream
Another disappointing surprise. Yes, it’s clever and light, but that’s also a problem: beyond fluffery like “the course of true love never did run smooth,” this play really has very little to say. Of course, I’m asking for something the author all but disavows in the title. Not every play has to tackle the meaning of life.
22. Twelfth Night
One of the best comedies, nearly perfect in execution. Fun and smart, it absolutely deserves its reputation as a classic.
21. Antony and Cleopatra
Unlike the history plays, the story here just doesn’t flow organically, I feel. Odd. A great work, admittedly, but I hated Cleopatra, every whiny, selfish, bratty, stereotypical moment of her…or maybe that was all just to set up her awesome final lines at the end.
20. Love’s Labours Lost
Linguistically, Shakespeare’s most brilliant play. The content is light stuff, even for a comedy, but the story here is an excuse for wit to run amok. Unfortunately, I felt that that smirking pedanticism often got in its own way. Too much of a good thing mars this nearly spotless gem.
19. Troilus and Cressida
Also underappreciated! This companion to Homer’s Iliad is powerful! Sadly, it doesn’t quite achieve its tragic ambition, but the scale and setting left me breathless. Ulysses is one of Shakespeare’s most perfectly realized characters. Read Homer first, then enjoy this treat for fans.
A
18. 1 Henry VI
Propaganda as art. I loved Talbot—though some see him as parody, I took him at face value—and how could anyone not be overwhelmed by the “villainous” Joan of Arc? Yes, you read that correctly. Weird and bracing.
17. Richard II
A grand tragedy–very well structured and delivered. I’ve read this one twice, and each time, the deposed Richard seems to devolve more and more into a petty, thwarted child. It’s a punishing but powerful character arc.
16. Much Ado About Nothing
Great in every sense: cleanly complex plot whose threads intersect in all the right places, interesting characters whose sparring is linguistically and thematically satisfying, and a whole lot of implied profundity about the human condition.
15. All’s Well That Ends Well
I liked this more than most people seem to. One of the more serious comedies, the hero(ine) is a bastion of reader sympathy, and the villain is truly spiteful. Like Much Ado, the thoughts are genuinely deep, delivered in the most memorable of language, and the resolution has a verisimilitude that challenges as much as exults. I realize that last bit separates me from most readers, but that’s how I felt.
14. Henry V
The only flaw here is Act V: each time I’ve read this, I’ve felt that this fundamentally unserious act–full of pettiness and prettiness–is a poor match for the rest of the play. It’s anticlimactic. Other than that, it’s a juggernaut of everything anyone could ever want from Shakespeare.
13. Coriolanus
Perhaps the most underrated of Shakespeare’s plays. Certainly his most political and, to my mind, the one most relevant to the world scene today. Coriolanus is an effective leader whose success alienates him from the people, whom he serves but doesn’t really love, while his enemies are selfish schemers who take advantage of the people’s emotions to antagonize him and forward their own hidden agendas. Get it?
A+
12. Richard III
Yes, this is a shallow cartoon of a tragedy, just as much as Titus, but how do you not love Richard? He’s the Hannibal Lecter of the Shakespearean canon: a one-dimensional James Bond villain of undiluted evil. Watching him ruin the whole world around him is a special sort of pleasure, and Shakespeare knows it: we identify with this fantasy monster from the first line of the play through to the end. The scene where his past victims show up to taunt his unconscious is even better than the similar scene in Julius Caesar.
11. Measure for Measure
Shakespeare’s most overtly moralistic play. This one takes the great conflicts and insights of the other tragicomic “problem plays” and focuses them into a brilliant fusion of penetrating, illuminative social criticism. Also, it contradicts the old dictum I’d been taught that Shakespeare has no positive leaders.
10. The Merchant of Venice
All the virtues of the last several plays I’ve ranked here are now rolled into one.
9. Henry IV pt. 1
Great story of character contrasts in a coming-of-age setting. More young people should read this one.
8. Romeo and Juliet
I hate Romeo, but that doesn’t change the fact that this play constantly displays some of Shakespeare’s very best writing–each time I read it, I’m increasingly impressed by the sheer perfection of its poetry.
7. Julius Caesar
Like R&J, I’ve read this many, many times, thanks to being a high school teacher. It gets even better each time. Truly, a deep well. All at once, an ode, an elegy, and a cautionary tale at several levels. Absolutely immortal.
6. Othello
Maybe the most perfectly realized of the tragedies, Othello captivated me. I couldn’t believe I hadn’t read it before. Pared down to the bone even more than Macbeth, it goes surprisingly deep under into its characters’ heads for such a short, simple play. An amazing achievement.
5. Macbeth
The most thorough and detailed study of the voluntary ruination of a man’s soul ever attempted. The equal of any Biblical tragedy.
4. The Tempest
The ultimate tragicomic “problem play,” I actually think of this one as something new and forever unique–a whole genre unto itself. Surprisingly simple (though not as much as Othello) and pure in an elemental sparseness, it has an almost scary power to it. Remember in Fellowship, when Galadriel almost took the ring from Frodo? Like that.
3. King Lear
I actually thought this was only “very good” the first time I read it. This time, the staggering majesty of it leaped off the page. Never has random human folly been laid so bare. The biggest revelation for me this time was the daughters: they don’t know they’re villains. Not at all. They truly think they’re justified, even doing the right thing. But they are just peripheral: Lear is a story about men (even the famed Cordelia is absent for all but the beginning and end)–these men all hurt and suffer and soldier on the way men really do. You’d think such a narrative would be more universal, then, but there’s nothing else out there like it.
2. As You Like It
Shakespeare’s most perfect comedy by far. Every word is golden: the humor succeeds at every level it attempts (and those are many), the language is equal to that in any other play, and the characters are all divine in their utter humanity. The climactic battle of wits is between secondary characters–perhaps the greatest of the many humanist touches in Shakespeare–and it is marvelous. Any modern movie would be lucky to have a final confrontation of supporting iconoclasts half so impressive.
A++
1. Hamlet
There’s no way to oversell this or to do it justice, either, so here it is: Hamlet is clearly the greatest work of fiction ever produced. Most everyone accepts that, but even then I think we don’t appreciate it. This was my third time reading it, and the thought ever at the front of my mind was that one could easily find great new stores of value in it no matter how many times they read it.
I’ll put it this way: you know how devotees of various faiths around the world spend their lives in the disciplined study of their various sacred texts? One could do that with Hamlet. It is that profound and that rewarding. Trying to place it on a list like this and grade it is pointless: its worth is orders of magnitude beyond its peers. In the solar system of Shakespeare, my other “A” plays all add up to Jupiter, but Hamlet alone is the Sun.
There are those few artifacts whose nature permanently boggles the greatest of human minds, those very few things that eclipse even the other great masterpieces of human history: Mozart’s Symphony 41, Leonardo’s Mona Lisa, the Bible, the Constitution, the pyramids.
And Hamlet.
Gently Hew Stone 
1.King Lear
2.Hamlet
3.The Tempest
4.Henry IV, part 1
5.Macbeth
6.Othello
7.Midsummer Night Dream
8.Merchant of Venice
9.Antony and Cleopatra
10.Romeo and Juliet
11.Henry IV, part 2
12.Twelfth Night
13.Julius Caesar
14.Winter Tale
15.Henry V
16.As You Like It
17.Richard III
18.Much Ado About Nothing
19.Measure for Measure
20.Troilus and Cressida
21.Coriolanus
22.Richard II
23.Taming of The Shrew
24.All Well That Ends Well
25.Cymbeline
26.King John
27.Timon of Athens
28.Henry VIII
29.Loves Labour Lost
30.Comedy of Errors
31.Titus Andronicus
32.Merry Wives of Wyndsor
33.Henry VI, part 2
34.Two Gentleman of Verona
35.Henry VI, part 3
36.Two Noble Kinsmen
37.Péricles
38.Henry VI, part 1
How can you say that “King Lear” is better than “Hamlet?” Hamlet at least has a somewhat likeable hero with whom one can sympathize. And “Hamlet” has so many things going on: the play within the play, madness, regicide, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, and Christianity to name some things. King Lear just bemoans his knightless state. We know from the beginning that he is a terrible king and the rest of the play just confirms that opinion. Cordelia is a bit much, don’t you think? The parallel plot with Gloucester is unnecessary. The ending of “King Lear” is not nearly as striking as that of “Hamlet,” where the Norwegians arrive to find the whole court dead.
The Original Post’s grading of the plays has some flaws. I do not agree regarding Romeo and Juliet. Granted there are some well-written passages, but you can find those in almost all of the plays. I don’t think they end up making for what I feel to be a rather two-dimensional, highly cliched romance. RJ had its antecedents and cousins all over the world (Vis and Ramin, Tristan and Isolde, Bayad and Rayad, Layla and Majnun, etc.)
I would boost Coriolanus into the A+ category and demote Romeo and Juliet to the B or C category.
I think the original post is outright wrong to rank Winter’s Tale and Cymbeline so lowly. These are both well-written, psychologically penetrating “Problem Plays” that show the Bard at his best. Winter’s Tale, in many ways, prefigures developments in modernist and avant garde writing. It should be in the A or A+ categories.
Richard III is NOT cartoonish. The character is notorious and stands out but I think he does so in a way that makes him also believable and real. Richard II, I think, should be given equal ranking though. It has some of Shakespeare’s best speeches and its protagonist is equally interesting (I refer to Bolingbroke). It is written entirely in verse and has some of Shakespeare’s best verse too.
King John is also given far too low of a ranking. Shakespeare’s best female speeches are here.
Last but not least, I think we should get rid of the A++ category. Although some Shakespeare plays may be more influential and artistically superior to others, you can’t really pinpoint one as his greatest. Hamlet is certainly among his crowning gems but it does not necessarily outrank classics like Macbeth, Othello or King Lear. King Lear, in particular, ought to give Hamlet a run for its money as one of Shakespeare’s most complex, finely wrought and culturally significant works. Its meditation on madness and paranoia have inspired many a work of art in western literature and world culture. It even inspired Japanese director Akira Kurosawa, who adapted it for his film Ran. Really let’s get rid of this category.
My Favorite Shakespeare plays:
1.) Macbeth
2.) Coriolanus
3.) Richard III
4.) Richard II
5.) The Merchant of Venice
6.) The Tempest
7.) Troilus and Cressida
8.) King John
9.) The Winter’s Tale
10.) King Lear
11.) Cymbeline
12.) Julius Caesar
13.) As You Like It
14.) Othello
15.) Henry V
16.) Henry IV – Part 1
Thank you for taking the time to write up your opinions. I enjoyed reading them very much. I also enjoyed the alternate views expressed in the other comments, I wish the tone was, perhaps, a bit less harsh, but the various opinions are enlightening.
After reading Hamlet, I feel it is far from the greatest work by Hamlet because of an inconsistent objective correlative and the fact that it is a stratification. MacBeth, on the other hand, nails the objective correlative.
Getting back in to reading through the “complete works” and looking for a place to start. This looks to serve well a quick guideline as I agree with the sentiments on R+J and especially Coriolanus.
I’ve always held Macbeth over Hamlet, so a re-read may be in order for those. I’m very light on the comedies other than MSN’sD. Thanks for this post.
Awesome write-up, hopefully it will help me take a point or two from my fiancé in our nightly Jeopardy! games going forward…
Where’s the Merchant of Venice?!
It’s #10
I notice the original ranked list found nothing to say about Hamlet except that the ranker liked it a lot. It’s difficult to know exactly how Shakespeare’s plays were actually presented and there are some refreshing new thoughts, for example, about audience participation and that the to-be-or-not-to-be speech was mostly a comic joke, with Hamlet perhaps clinging to sanity. That must hurt those who exalt it, or they may like it more for this interpretation. Hamlet has many of those tricks common in Shakespeare and a little annoying: a play within a play and comic relief like gravediggers that has little to do with the story – although I love it too. People forget to mention that Shakespeare gets away with some of this stuff because of his awesome poetry.
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I would personally rank Romeo and Juliet lower (probably in the B range), but I was quite happy to see my favourite Shakespearean play, Henry IV Part 1, given an A+
Awesome, very fun to read! I disagree with some of your rankings, of course, but agree with the majority.
My top five would be:
1. Hamlet
2. Twelfth Night
3. The Tempest
4. Henry V
5. Much Ado About Nothing
I’m glad to find someone agrees with me on Two Gentlemen of Verona. I actually did not know that was pretty universally hated until recently.
You definitely undersell The Winter’s Tale. I would almost copy and paste your description of The Tempest to describe my feelings towards it. Then again, The Tempest is bottom five for me, so who knows?
My personal top 10:
1. Richard III
2. Hamlet
3. Othello
4. Henry V
5. Henry IV, Part 1
6. Macbeth
7. A Midsummer Night’s Dream
8. Coriolanus
9. Richard II
10. Julius Caesar
My opinions are a bit weird, to be honest, because I’m probably the one person on earth who prefers Tate’s Lear to Shakespeare’s.
Best work of fiction ever is DON QUIXOTE!!! https://www.theguardian.com/world/2002/may/08/humanities.books
Shakespeare’s plays are really the best work of fiction, Hamlet being his masterpiece, maybe the greatest work of fiction.
Pls, do not compare the deepless and wordy Quixote with Shakespeare plays.
Please don´t compare the overrated Shakespeare with the likes of Dante and Cervantes. More than 100 of the greatest writers in the world (some of them had the Nobel prize) ranked Don Quixote the best literary work ever. Period. Who the heck are you?
Shakespeare, Cervantes, Dante, Homer and Goethe et al are complementary not in competition for 21st century readers and viewers (I think and hope).
David Ronald, totally agree with you, but people is sick if they are not “number one” at everything….
Do not bring Nobel to make objective opinions, what is nobel near the likes of Goethe, Hugo, Dickens and Coleridge who have considered Hamlet a perfect work, not counting 400 years of critics, directors and actors who widely consider Shakespeare the Greatest poet and playwright of all time.Cervantes is just a hack.
Cervantes is also 400 years old, Dante is 700 years old and Homer is 2,800 years old. Shakespeare is no special in that department. I´m talking about WRITERS who know what they are talking about, not directors or actors who do as they are told. Look at my link please. Cervantes wrote the best work of fiction ever, Don Quixote. Period.
Yeah. And Gilgamesh is 6000 years old, what is the point? but it is really better than Shakespeare? What is the criterion for declaring DQ as the best work of fiction? What do a group of authors say? the same who say that Shakespeare is the greatest poet and playwright of the West and that Hamlet is an unsurpassed perfect work for Western dramaturgy. Again what is nobel writers near Goethe, Voltaire and Hugo? they all declared Shakespeare the greatest author. The difference between Shakespeare and Cervantes is that Shakespeare simply made more houses, from which you can rank which ones are bests or your most preferred, Cervantes made only one house.
You seem very confused. The criterion is nothing but a bunch of Shakespeare anglo fans, of course Shakespeare will be number one for them… Cervantes was declared the best all time author by some prestigious writers such as Faulkner, Garcia Marquez, Balzac and Lev Tolstoi. I guess every author has the right to have his favorite. When you say Cervantes built only one house you just prove your ignorance: Cervantes wrote many long novels, short stories, poems and also many plays. Saying that Shakespeare wrote many houses is like saying that all Shakespeare plays were as great as Hamlet or Macbeth and that is a gross lie and you know it. Look man, I´m NOT saying that Shakespeare is one of the greatest, he is and Hamlet is along with Oedipus King the best plays ever written but there are also other great heavy weight authors that were totally outstanding; Dante, Tolsoi, Cervantes, Homer, Dostoievsky…. You anglos just ignore that out of pure pride and arrogance.
Horacioanell – Look, I’m not arguing with you about the greatness of the writers or works you are citing, but based solely on your argument, it seems you’re the one who is a bit confused. A.) You argue that Shakespeare is “overrated” because people base their assessment on how frequently he’s celebrated by others, but then you use the very same yardstick (what others have said) to ‘prove’ the merits of the writers you mention. B.) You argue that the opinions you’re citing are different because they’re the opinions of Nobel winners, whereas the testaments to Shakespeare’s genius can be chalked up to an Anglo bias. But that’s a facile argument to make as it fails to account for and acknowledge the prize-winning/celebrated minds (Nobel winners, and all) who hold Shakespeare in the highest esteem nor the opinions of numerous non-Anglos. C.) You also cite the fact that Shakespeare hardly has the longest legacy, but in the next breath you argue that his legacy is celebrated in large part due to Anglos being more preoccupied with being “first” than they should be. Again, I’m in no way arguing the legitimacy or brilliance of the writers you cited. But you contradict your own logic in the same breath.
LOL! Who the heck are *you* to be in the position to judge Shakespeare as “overrated”?!? And your proof is based on the number of people who herald Don Quixote? That seems…like the very definition of “rated”, so how is it any different of a yardstick to judge true talent than what you’re accusing Shakespeare of (i.e. being more celebrated than actually deserving)?
My proof is the number of WORLD RENOWNED WRITERS (not a bunch or anglo fans) who happen to know what they talk about. Just look at this other link where AGAIN Don Quixote is recognized as the best work of fiction ever: http://thegreatestbooks.org/items/190 An where Shakespeare´s Hamlet ranks 8th:http://thegreatestbooks.org/ The problem with the anglos is that they are so obssesed as being first in anything that they lost all proportion, your pride blinds you…. LOL….
Don Quixote is vastly overrated and not on the level of Shakespeare. Period. LOL.
Go tell that to over four dozens of the most repected writers in the world, many Nobel prize recipients included….
Oh do me a favor, the link organizes a ranking based on how many lists a work appears, however most lists are best novels, when Hamlet is a play, this type of list is simply horrible to decide which work is better, it would be like quoting Jesus in a list of greatests Chinese. I prefer to say that Hamlet, despite being a play, is better than Don Quixote because he is a better writer, has a theatrical power which novels he does not have and is an inexhaustible source of critical studies, Don Quixote is wordy and redundant, he has a bad poetry (accepted by many critics), which is still a great work given its importance, but which has aesthetic flaws.
You lie, little Marky…. here is the list and it contains plays, poetry and short stories, not only novels: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bokklubben_World_Library And novels have an extensive narrative that plays don´t have, isn´t that obvious? Wordy? Then also Hugo, Tolstoi, Dante and Homer are wordy and redundant!
Hello Andy… you are right in most of what you write. Frankly speaking I just wanted to break some balls of those people in the anglo sphere considering Shakespeare the “one and only” and the rest of writers behind him. That BARDOLATRY is just plain ridiculous. I know from experience how so many people in the anglo sphere just get sick if they are not number one at everything, so cooling down some of them it was just fun. What I think in all honesty is that Shakespeare is, no doubt about it, one of the six or seven top writers in history, but trying to pick one and only one is impossible due to the greatness of other writers through history. It was just fun to bug some of you showing some very valid arguments favoring other authors.
1. Hamlet
2. Henry IV Part 1
3. King Lear
4. The Tempest
5. Macbeth
6. As You Like It
7. Othello
8. The Winter’s Tale
9. The Merchant of Venice
10. A Midsummer Night’s Dream
Thank you so much for this terrific list, which for you was obviously a labor of love. I am an avid admirer of Shakespeare who is aspiring to a higher level of expertise. I ran across your list looking for guidance on what to read next, and you delivered precisely what I was hoping to find! Paradoxically, I agree with you regarding Hamlet but my favorite is King Lear 😀
I just read Lear again a few weeks ago, and I noticed that I’m connecting to it more. Hamlet’s ideas are those of a younger man, whose meditations on mortality are romantic and melodramatic, with an affected nihilism. Lear, on the other hand, exudes experience. That play’s ideas are rooted in memory, regret, and genuine dread. Basically, Hamlet is a young man’s story and Lear is an older man’s story. As I keep aging, I think I’ll find myself continuing to draw closer to Lear.
First, thanks for creating this interesting ranking. You offer a variety of unique insights that will, certainly, encourage me re-examine a few of Shakespeare’s plays. Great, too, to see a teacher going to this effort—it’s important that Shakespeare’s work continues to be canonical (particularly for the Internet Generation) in a time where it is not as en vogue to study the Old Masters (as it were!).
So essentially: respect and gratitude for your efforts here.
Rather than re-ranking them, just one impassioned argument. In my opinion, Henry V is Shakespeare’s greatest work. I don’t mind that you rank it below several others. But I do take exception to your belief that the fifth act is superfluous. A few quick observations:
1. You (rightly) observe that both Much Ado and As You Like It are hidden gems and, arguably, display Shakespeare at the height of his poetic powers. He sandwiched the composition of two other plays in between those two: Henry V, then Julius Caesar. Supreme poets—basically at the apex of their powers—are not in the habit of attaching irrelevances to their masterpieces.
2. Act 5 of Henry V is essentially a play-within-the-play; here it is a subtle replay of the previous four acts. Anytime Shakespeare is using the p-w-t-p trick, we should pay close attention. The Player King in Hamlet, in its p-w-t-p, gifts us one of the most profound lines in the entire canon: “Our wills and fates do so contrary run / That our devices still are overthrown; / Our thoughts are ours, their ends none of their own.” So I encourage you to wade through the prettiness and artifice of Act 5’s language to see what S. is up to here.
3. Henry forces the French King to eat a leak! Burgundy speaks one of the most beautiful speeches in Shakespeare! For Burgundy, a garden represents peace; for Henry, it is a commodity to be bought and sold.
4. No surprise then, the astonishing scene between Hal and Kate. The result of their exchange is a foregone conclusion, yet that doesn’t stop the “mirror of all Christian kings” from acting as though his acquisition of her represents a supreme achievement. Call it his ‘second Agincourt.’ Both ‘battles’ are crushing victories, achieved through brute force (nothing more sinister than Hal’s “It shall please him, Kate.”), in the face of odds not quite so daunting as they in fact proved to be.
Henry is a supreme and gifted politician fit for the Machievellian political times we are cursed to inhabit.
I could say more, but I will leave it at that! Thanks again for creating this opportunity for friendly debate.
A+ on the reviews and rankings. Very respectable job. As far as comments stating which is better based on fact – nonsense. All contributions are opinion whether coming from the common man, academia, tenured professors or even accomplished writers who themselves often disagree.
If a thousand people of various backgrounds meet and all agree what is best or worst it nonetheless remains opinion.
I have this same discussion in sports forums. Who’s the greatest QB of all time? Joe Montana of course….lol.
BTW,
As a fellow who prefers comedy I’ll throw in a #1 vote for “As You Like It” (as others begin to cringe and squirm in their seat).
Does my contribution to this thread matter? Nope. Not in the least.
Why? > “All the world’s a stage, And all the men and women merely players”
I am seventy years old and have just finished my sixth consecutive year at the Utah Shakespeare Festival. I read the plays twice before attending the theater. My judgement for ranking the plays are muddied by the performance factor and I am curious if yours is too. Next year is Hamlet, Macbeth, Twelth Night and Henry VI part 2 and 3. I will value the opinions you have offered.
This is useful information. I’ve been thinking of reading some Shakespeare for the first time after seeing it referenced in Ulysses. Up until now I found Shakespeare to be intimidating. Based on your rave review, I’ll start with Hamlet.
Taking into consideration I have yet to read Pericles, The Two Noble Kinsmen, Coriolanus and Cymbeline, this is the way my rankings would go:
1. Hamlet
2. Macbeth
3. Measure for Measure
4. Romeo & Juliet
5. The Merchant of Venice
6. Titus Andronicus
7. Timon of Athens
8. Henry V
9. Henry VI: Part 1
10. Henry VI: Part 2
11. Julius Caesar
12. Othello
13. As You Like IT
14. Much Ado About Nothing
15. Loves Labour’s Lost
16. A Midsummer Night’s Dream
17. King John
18. The Tempest
19. Henry IV: Part 1
20. Henry IV: Part 2
21. King Lear
22. Anthony & Cleopatra
23. Richard II
24. The Comedy or Errors
25. The Merry Wives of Windsor
26. The Taming of the Shrew
27. Henry VI: Part 3
28. Twelfth Night, or What You Will
29. The Two Gentlemen of Verona
30. Henry VIII
31. Richard III
32. All’s Well That Ends Well
33. The Winter’s Tale
34. Troilus & Cressida
This is the way I would rank them now:
1. Hamlet
2. Macbeth
3. Measure for Measure
4. Merchant of Venice
5. Henry V
6. Henry VI: Part 1
7. Henry VI: Part 2
8. Romeo & Juliet
9. Titus Andronicus
10. Timon of Athens
11. Julius Caesar
12. Coriolanus
13. As You Like It
14. The Tempest
15. A Midsummer Night’s Dream
16. The Comedy of Errors
17. Love’s Labours Lost
18. Much Ado About Nothing
19. King John
20. Henry IV: Part 1
21. The Merry Wives of Windsor
22. The Taming of the Shrew
23. Richard II
24. Henry IV: Part 2
25. Othello
26. King Lear
27. Henry VIII
28. Anthony & Cleopatra
29. The Two Gentlemen of Verona
30. Twelfth Night, or What You Will
31. All’s Well That Ends Well
32. Richard III
33. Henry VI: Part 3
34. Troillus & Cressida
35. The Winter’s Tale
I’ve read the overrated Cymbeline and the surprisingly wonderful Pericles now, so yet again my rankings have changed somewhat, lol.
1. Hamlet
2. Macbeth
3. Measure for Measure
4. Merchant of Venice
5. Henry V
6. Titus Andronicus
7. Henry VI: Part 1
8. Henry VI: Part 2
9. Timon of Athens
10. Romeo & Juliet
11. Coriolanus
12. Julius Ceasar
13. The Tempest
14. As You Like It
15. Loves Labours Lost
16. Much Ado About Nothing
17. Pericles
18. King John
19. Henry IV: Part 1
20. A Midsummer Night’s Dream
21. Anthony & Cleopatra
22. Henry VIII
23. The Comedy of Errors
24. The Taming of the Shrew
25. Henry IV: Part 2
26. The Merry Wives of Windsor
27. Othello
28. King Lear
29. The Two Gentlemen of Verona
30. Twelfth Night, or What You Will
31. All’s Well That Ends Well
32. Richard II
33. Cymbeline
34. Troillus & Cressida
35. Richard III
36. Henry VI: Part 3
37. The Winter’s Tale
As you can see I really don’t like the character of Richard III though a lot of people seem to, so I’m probably one of the few people on the planet who rejoiced when good King Henry VII finally killed him ending his reign of terror.
And now with only The Two Noble Kinsmen left to read my personal ranking would go like this:
1. Hamlet
2. Macbeth
3. Measure for Measure
4. The Merchant of Venice
5. Henry V
6. Henry VI: Part 1
7. Henry VI: Part 2
8. Romeo & Juliet
9. Titus Andronicus
10. Timon of Athens
11. Coriolanus
12. Pericles
13. Julius Caesar
14. The Tempest
15. As You Like It
16. Love’s Labour’s Lost
17. Much Ado About Nothing
18. King John
19. Henry IV: Part 1
20. The Comedy or Errors
21. Henry VIII
22. Anthony & Cleopatra
23. King Lear
24. The Taming of the Shrew
25. The Merry Wives of Windsor
26. Othello
27. Henry IV: Part 2
28. The Two Gentlemen of Verona
29. A Midsummer Night’s Dream
30. Richard II
31. Twelfth Night, or What You Will
32. All’s Well That Ends Well
33. Cymbeline
34. Richard III
35. Troillus & Cressida
36. Henry VI: Part 3
37. The Winter’s Tale
By the way I’ve finally managed to read some of the poems now and this is how I rate them:
1. The Passionate Pilgrim
2. The Rape of Lucrece
3. Venus & Adonis
4. A Lover’s Complaint
5. The Sonnets
Last post I promise, now that I’ve finally at long last read all 38 of Shakespeare’s plays, and also read all 7 of his poems as well.
1. Hamlet
2. Macbeth
3. Measure for Measure
4. The Merchant of Venice
5. Henry V
6. Henry VI: Part 1
7. Henry VI: Part 2
8. Romeo & Juliet
9. Titus Andronicus
10. Timon of Athens
11. Coriolanus
12. Pericles
13. Julius Caesar
14. The Tempest
15. As You Like It
16. Love’s Labour’s Lost
17. Much Ado About Nothing
18. The Two Noble Kinsmen
19. King John
20. Henry IV: Part 1
21. The Comedy or Errors
22. Henry VIII
23. Anthony & Cleopatra
24. King Lear
25. The Taming of the Shrew
26. The Merry Wives of Windsor
27. Othello
28. Henry IV: Part 2
29. The Two Gentlemen of Verona
30. A Midsummer Night’s Dream
31. Richard II
32. Twelfth Night, or What You Will
33. All’s Well That Ends Well
34. Cymbeline
35. Richard III
36. Troillus & Cressida
37. Henry VI: Part 3
38. The Winter’s Tale
Poems:
1. The Passionate Pilgrim
2. The Rape of Lucrece
3. Venus & Adonis
4. Sonnets to Sundry Notes of Music
5. A Lover’s Complaint
6. The regular 154 Sonnets
7. The Phoenix and the Turtle
I’ve read some of his apocrypha plays now and all I can say is that Edward III definitely seems Shakespearean, Arden, of Feversham sort of does, but alas The Merry Devil of Edmonton and A Yorkshire Tragedy do not.
I’ve started reading some of the Shakespeare Apocrypha now and all I can say is Edward III seems 100% positively Shakespearean, Arden, of Feversham seems sort of like a bloodier version of Merry Wives of Windsor or Two Gentlemen of Verona, The Merry Devil of Edmonton might be like an earlier version of Macbeth or Cymbeline possibly, A Yorkshire Tragedy is downright Titus Andronicus’ish, and Locrine is sort of like Troillus & Cressida. I haven’t finished reading all of his Apocrypha plays of course, but so far the ones I’ve read have been pretty decent and do have hints of Shakespeare’s previous works, especially in Locrine and Edward III.
Here is my complete final ranking:
Plays:
1. Hamlet
2. Macbeth
3. Measure for Measure
4. The Merchant of Venice
5. Henry V
6. Henry VI: Part 1
7. Henry VI: Part 2
8. Edward III
9. Romeo & Juliet
10. Titus Andronicus
11. Timon of Athens
12. Coriolanus
13. Pericles
14. Julius Caesar
15. The Tempest
16. As You Like It
17. The Two Noble Kinsmen
18. Love’s Labour’s Lost
19. Much Ado About Nothing
20. King John
21. Henry IV: Part 1
22. The Comedy or Errors
23. Anthony & Cleopatra
24. King Lear
25. Henry VIII
26. Othello
27. The Taming of the Shrew
28. The Merry Wives of Windsor
29. Henry IV: Part 2
30. The Two Gentlemen of Verona
31. A Midsummer Night’s Dream
32. Richard II
33. Twelfth Night, or What You Will
34. All’s Well That Ends Well
35. Cymbeline
36. Richard III
37. Troillus & Cressida
38. Henry VI: Part 3
39. The Winter’s Tale
Poems:
1. The Passionate Pilgrim
2. The Rape of Lucrece
3. Venus & Adonis
4. Sonnets to Sundry Notes of Music
5. A Lover’s Complaint
6. The regular 154 Sonnets
7. The Phoenix and the Turtle
Apocrypha:
1. The Birth of Merlin
2. Mucedorus
3. Locrine
4. Thomas Lord Cromwell
5. First Part of Sir John Oldcastle
6. The Puritan
7. The London Prodigal
8. The Merry Devil of Edmonton
9. Arden, of Feversham
10. A Yorkshire Tragedy
I’ve read Sir Thomas More now, so here’s where it would go:
Plays:
1. Hamlet
2. Macbeth
3. Measure for Measure
4. The Merchant of Venice
5. Henry V
6. Henry VI: Part 1
7. Henry VI: Part 2
8. Edward III
9. Romeo & Juliet
10. Titus Andronicus
11. Timon of Athens
12. Coriolanus
13. Julius Caesar
14. Pericles
15. Sir Thomas More
16. The Tempest
17. As You Like It
18. Love’s Labour’s Lost
19. Much Ado About Nothing
20. The Two Noble Kinsmen
21. The Comedy of Errors
22. King John
23. Henry IV: Part 1
24. Henry VIII
25. Anthony & Cleopatra
26. Othello
27. The Taming of the Shrew
28. The Merry Wives of Windsor
29. Henry IV: Part 2
30. The Two Gentlemen of Verona
31. A Midsummer Night’s Dream
32. King Lear
33. All’s Well That Ends Well
34. Twelfth Night, or What You Will
35. Richard II
36. Richard III
37. Troillus & Cressida
38. Cymbeline
39. Henry VI: Part 3
40. The Winter’s Tale
Poems:
1. The Passionate Pilgrim
2. The Rape of Lucrece
3. Venus & Adonis
4. Sonnets to Sundry Notes of Music
5. A Lover’s Complaint
6. The Phoenix and the Turtle
7. The regular 154 Sonnets
Apocrypha:
1. The Birth of Merlin
2. Mucedorus
3. Locrine
4. Thomas Lord Cromwell
5. First Part of Sir John Oldcastle
6. The Puritan
7. The London Prodigal
8. The Merry Devil of Edmonton
9. Arden, of Feversham
10. A Yorkshire Tragedy
This list was not very expressive and not so matchmaking as mine is. Ths two gentlemen of Verona is a very good one , and the Taming of the Shrew is realistic and comedy throughout and must have fun during the last scenes… And pericles is one of my favorites!! I though appreciate that Hamlet’s position is chosen correctly…thanks… (Provided, I have read 22 dramas of Shakespeare)
Plays:
1. Hamlet—The world’s greatest achievement besides the Bible. Has so many quotable lines and memorable scenes and characters that Hamlet truly is the greatest play Shakespeare ever wrote.
2. Macbeth—Not quite as breathtaking to read as Hamlet, but still a magnificent wild ride through revenge and darkness.
3. Measure for Measure—Sexual harassment at its very best.
4. The Merchant of Venice—A masterpiece. Shylock steals the show.
5. Henry V—His greatest history play. Prince Hal is growing up to be quite the leader and the French dialogue adds to the story beautifully.
6. Henry VI: Part 2: A wild rollercoaster ride of a play.
7. Henry VI: Part 1: A bloody good time. Joan la Pucelle is quite excellent throughout.
8. Edward III: enormously entertaining, very thought-provoking.
9. Romeo & Juliet: the most glorious tragic love story ever written.
10. Titus Andronicus: deeper and more complex than people give it credit for. A real crowd-pleaser.
11. Timon of Athens: deep and though-provoking.
12. Coriolanus: wonderful message about who and who not to trust.
13. Julius Caesar: wonderfully written. Very suspenseful throughout.
14. Pericles: pirates, brothels, sweet family reunions, what’s not to love?
15. Sir Thomas More: an intriguing character study to be sure.
16. The Tempest: magic and intrigue at its very best.
17. As You Like It: wrestlers, shepherds, scheming brothers, mistaken identities. A wonderful read all around.
18. Love’s Labour’s Lost: freaking hilarious. Wonderfully wordy as well.
19. Much Ado About Nothing: hilarious from start to finish. Beatrice and Benedick steal the show away from Hero.
20. The Two Noble Kinsmen: vastly unappreciated. Quite Romeo and Juliet-esque at times.
21. The Comedy of Errors: comedic genius and very sweet as well.
22. King John: highly entertaining. Young Arthur breaks your heart.
23. Henry IV: Part 1: Hal, Poins, and Falstaff. Need I say more?
24. Henry VIII: Love the theatricality of it.
25. Anthony & Cleopatra: an intriguing on and off again love affair mixed in with political stuff. Brilliantly done.
26. Othello: teaches you to always trust your wife.
27. The Taming of the Shrew: marital strife at its funniest.
28. The Merry Wives of Windsor: Hilarious. Falstaff gets the rug pulled out from under him in extremely funny ways throughout.
29. Henry IV: Part 2: much more serious than Part 1, but still has some great speeches, especially at the end.
30. The Two Gentlemen of Verona: friends and lovers get thrown in a blender with hilarious results.
31. A Midsummer Night’s Dream: Puck and Bottom are two of Shakespeare’s most enduring characters.
32. King Lear: interesting family dynamics throughout. Heroes become villains and vice versa.
33. All’s Well That Ends Well: perfectly adequate, flies by while reading it, but surprisingly forgettable as well.
34. Twelfth Night, or What You Will: Sir Toby Belch and Sin Andrew Ague-Cheek are the most memorable characters here.
35. Richard II: very poetic.
36. Richard III: too bloodthirsty and revenge filled for my tastes. My least favorite Character ever. I literally applauded when Henry VII killed him.
37. Troillus & Cressida: sort of interesting, but very weird and confusing as well.
38. Cymbeline: same as above.
39. Henry VI: Part 3: too much Richard, not enough Henry.
40. The Winter’s Tale: long, boring, confusing, weird as heck. Except for Exit: Pursued by a bear, not much here is worthy of praise.
Poems:
1. The Passionate Pilgrim: best poetry he ever came up with, lyrically brilliant.
2. The Rape of Lucrece: thought-provoking challenging story.
3. Venus & Adonis: sweet but very tragic love tale.
4. Sonnets to Sundry Notes of Music: lots of fun to read.
5. A Lover’s Complaint: interesting.
6. The Phoenix and the Turtle: confusing, not that great to read.
7. The regular 154 Sonnets: overrated, more confusing than anything.
Apocrypha:
1. The Birth of Merlin: fascinating story, quite devilish at times.
2. Mucedorus: endlessly fascinating.
3. Locrine: same as above.
4. Thomas Lord Cromwell: very Henry VIII-like.
5. First Part of Sir John Oldcastle: fresh examination of a beloved character.
6. The Puritan: deeply moving.
7. The London Prodigal: same as above.
8. The Merry Devil of Edmonton: quite witty indeed.
9. Arden, of Feversham: a tad too much revenge for my taste.
10. A Yorkshire Tragedy: short, murderous, sort of interesting, but not his best either.