How Many Plays did Shakespeare Write?

Well, this has been an age-old question, asked throughout the years.  But, no one will ever truly know the exact answer to how many plays did Shakespeare write, because there is always the following arguments:

• He plagiarized and never really did “write” the plays
• There are “lost” plays: i.e. “Love’s Labour’s Won”, Cardenio
• He co-wrote some plays with other authors: i.e. Two Noble Kinsmen
• Other plays that “experts” are considering written, or re-written by Shakespeare but not originally attributed to the Bard

But, for a number to answer the basic question of how many plays did Shakespeare write? For now, it’s 37. (and you’ll find plenty of arguments for and against this!).  I’ve listed them below, with a link to my melodramatic kids’ versions as well.

Comedies (17):

1. A Midsummer Night’s Dream
2. All’s Well That Ends Well
3. As You Like It
4. Cymbeline
5. Love’s Labour’s Lost
6. Measure for Measure
7. Much Ado About Nothing
8. Pericles
9. The Comedy of Errors
10. The Merchant of Venice
11. The Merry Wives of Windsor
12. The Taming of the Shrew
13. The Tempest
14. The Two Gentlemen of Verona
15. The Winter’s Tale
16. Troilus and Cressida
17. Twelfth Night

Tragedies (10):

1. Antony and Cleopatra
2. Coriolanus
3. Hamlet
4. Julius Caesar
5. King Lear
6. Macbeth
7. Othello
8. Romeo and Juliet
9. Timon of Athens
10. Titus Andronicus

Histories (10):

1. Henry IV, Part 1
2. Henry IV, Part 2
3. Henry V
4. Henry VI, Part 1
5. Henry VI, Part 2
6. Henry VI, Part 3
7. Henry VIII
8. King John
9. Richard II
10. Richard III