Likely written
| Title
| Scenes
| Line count
(Bevington)
| Mis-identity
| Disguise
| Rich wife
| Love and marital roles
| Death reprieve
| Act 5 revelations
| Other
|
1592-94
| The Comedy of Errors
| 11
| 1919
| Yes
| No
| Yes
| Important and discussed
| Yes
| Two sets of twins; a lost mother found.
| A farce (played for laughs rather than character).
|
1592-94
| The Two Gentlemen of Verona
| 20
| 2298
| Yes
| Yes
| Yes
| Yes; also friendship's loyalties.
| Banish-ment reprieve
| Julia's disguise as a boy. Rings.
Valentine hands off his would-be bride to Proteus.
| A romantic comedy with implausibilities of plot and character.
|
1593-94
| The Taming of the Shrew
| 11
| 2750
| Yes
| Yes
| Yes
| Crucial
| No
| Two masters and one servant.
| Often classed as a farce (played for laughs rather than character),
despite its pre-marital and marital abuse.
|
1594-95
| Love's Labor's Lost
| 9
| 2900
| Yes
| Yes
| Yes
| Important
| No
| Four Russians unmasked.
The ladies' not having taken seriously the young men's protestations. Death of a father.
| A beautiful romantic comedy with maturity and realism by the women
balancing the questionable steadfastness of the men.
|
1594-95
| A Midsummer Night's Dream
| 9
| 2222
| Yes
| Yes
| Yes
| Important
| No
| None.
| Puck (Robin Goodfellow) is careless and a bully.
|
1596-97
| The Merchant of Venice
| 20
| 2738
| Yes
| Yes
| Yes
| Important
| Yes
| Portia was the judge; and in disguise obtained her own ring from her betrothed Bessanio.
Similarly Nerissa was her clerk and likewise obtained her ring from Gratiano.
| While all Portia's property will go to profligate Bassanio on marriage,
still she has personality and wit that might serve to check him.
|
1597
| The Merry Wives of Windsor
| 23
| 2729
| Yes
| Yes
| Yes
| Crucial
| No
| John Falstaff learns of the wives' plots; Ford accepts his wife's faithfulness.
| -
|
1598-99
| Much Ado About Nothing
| 17
| 2687
| Yes
| Yes
| Yes
| Important
| Yes
| Finally Hero's father and her main accusers know that she was slandered by the
Iago-prototype Don John.
| Beatrice is one of the wittiest heroines.
Don John might be Shakespeare's first evil villain in a comedy.
|
1599
| As You Like It
| 22
| 2687
| Yes
| Yes
| ?
| Important
| ?
|
|
|