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Shakespeare's Plays Quiz

How many of William Shakespeare's plays can you name?
If a play has multiple parts, we only count it once
Quiz by Quizmaster
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Last updated: August 28, 2018
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First submittedDecember 30, 2012
Times taken274,230
Average score44.1%
Rating4.34
4:00
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Play
A Midsummer Night's Dream
All's Well That Ends Well
Antony and Cleopatra
As You Like It
Comedy of Errors
Coriolanus
Cymbeline
Hamlet
Henry IV
Henry V
Henry VI
Henry VIII
Play
Julius Caesar
King John
King Lear
Love's Labour's Lost
Macbeth
Measure for Measure
Much Ado about Nothing
Othello
Pericles
Richard II
Richard III
Play
Romeo and Juliet
Tempest
The Merchant of Venice
The Merry Wives of Windsor
The Taming of the Shrew
The Winter's Tale
Timon of Athens
Titus Andronicus
Troilus and Cressida
Twelfth Night
Two Gentlemen of Verona
+32
Level 23
Jan 2, 2013
To fail or not to fail, that is the question. I sadly forgotten about Hamlet D:!
+5
Level 60
Jan 2, 2013
I forgot Hamlet AND Macbeth. *derp*
+3
Level 36
Feb 18, 2015
my typing is so slow, so I type it over and over until it's fast enough--and I forget one or 2 or even 3 every time. Not the same ones either. Something about the human brain...it does not want to make quite this much room in our immediate memory. Leaves them in deeper long term memory until forced forward.
+4
Level 42
May 31, 2015
I agree there's not enough time.
+6
Level 84
Jan 18, 2018
Agreed. the time is very tight. You need to know them all without pausing to think, and be a decent typist...
+2
Level 82
Oct 22, 2015
I almost didn't get Romeo and Juliet, which was annoying.
+1
Level 38
Jan 14, 2013
Forgot about that other Henry VII and the Richards...
+31
Level 66
Feb 5, 2019
Apparently Shakespeare forgot about Henry VII too, since he didn't write a play about him.
+1
Level 15
Mar 28, 2013
got 29 :)
+2
Level 23
May 11, 2013
Only forgot Pericles, quite proud because I've never heard of it :D
+2
Level 77
Jul 12, 2013
HA! Got Henry 5,6 & 8, but missed Henry 4. D'OH!
+1
Level 40
May 2, 2017
I did the exact same thing. :P
+1
Level 9
Jul 21, 2013
what about marcus arealis
+3
Level 68
Jul 31, 2013
What about Love's Labor Won? Or are you counting only the ones that can be read today?
+4
Level 90
Oct 8, 2013
Well, first we'd have to be sure that Love's Labour Won is indeed another play, and not an alternate name to one of the plays already listed. I think the prevailing theory right now is that it could be Much Ado about Nothing.
+7
Level 43
Apr 4, 2014
I think that chasing 450 year old plays down is probably too much ado about nothing!
+17
Level 83
Dec 16, 2014
yeah and what about Never Say Never Again? Does that not count because it's not canon?
+5
Level 79
Sep 13, 2017
that comment may be three years old, but it just made me burst out laughing
+2
Level 49
Feb 25, 2022
its more than 7 now :P
+1
Level 61
Mar 2, 2014
Henry IV Part 1 and Part 2 are separate plays - as are Henry VI Parts 1, 2 and 3.
+8
Level 76
Apr 8, 2014
It says, at the top, that if a play has multiple parts, it is only counted once.
+19
Level 83
Dec 14, 2014
That was really the problem with Shakespeare, wasn't it? So many sequels, remakes and reboots. How about some originality?
+5
Level 84
Jan 18, 2018
Exactly! This guy sounds like a total hack!
+8
Level 75
Mar 16, 2018
Though this be madness, yet there is method in it.
+7
Level 74
May 6, 2020
It started with 2 Henry 2 IV (Henry IV 2: Electric Boogaloo?) and Henry IV 3: Tokyo Drift, but Shakespeare knew when he was onto a winner and only a few years later we had Henry IV 23: Trouble at the Bus Stop
+5
Level 76
Apr 8, 2014
Really, Two Noble Kinsman should be on this list. It is now an accepted part of the Shakespeare canon. A collaboration with Fletcher. As was Henry VIII
+2
Level 23
Apr 16, 2014
24--I'm happy
+1
Level 49
Mar 11, 2019
Same but I embarrassingly missed Tempest...
+1
Level 54
May 20, 2014
I knew there was one about Troy! Forgot it was Troilus and Cressida. And I can't believe I forgot about merchant of Venice ...
+2
Level 31
Sep 23, 2014
Not surprised I forgot KING JOHN, but am surprised that I forgot TAMING OF THE SHREW.
+3
Level 58
Jun 21, 2022
THAT must be ANNOYING!
+2
Level 53
Oct 24, 2014
missed romeo and Juliet *facepalm*
+3
Level 79
Dec 14, 2014
I can't believe you didn't include Hamlet 2.
+1
Level 88
May 1, 2017
I'm disappointed about the exclusion of Romeo and Juliet 2.
+1
Level 83
Dec 14, 2014
Considering I took three years of this stuff I missed quite a few. Also could have sworn I typed in some that didn't come up but then they showed up as wrong answers... must have made a typo.
+2
Level 68
Dec 14, 2014
I always miss Othello and Twelfth Night. It's just a tradition for me now.
+1
Level 34
Dec 15, 2014
Great quiz. Love Shakespeare. Could definitely use at least one or two more minutes though.
+1
Level 21
Dec 15, 2014
Quizmaster why isn't the two noble kinsmen there?
+3
Level 36
Dec 17, 2014
I love this but I could never type this fast. It's a shame that several quizzes here end way before we can get all our knowledge out because we are poor typists--they become essentially a secretarial quiz instead of a knowledge one. If these quizzes were timed but we clicked when done, it would be a race, but not one that ends before we all are done. The braggarts could brag, and the rest would not have to opt out to "untimed" each time we have 30% to go and 12 seconds!
+4
Level 90
Jul 2, 2015
You do know about the stop timer function on the top bar, right?
+1
Level 25
Mar 16, 2018
Evidently not.
+3
Level 66
Jan 13, 2020
But it does not give you the points when you click it
+2
Level 21
Jan 6, 2015
got all in two minutes left
+1
Level 42
May 31, 2015
I really admire your typing speed! I know them all but was about short of about a third of them.
+1
Level 44
Jan 13, 2015
I wasted time on the Richards and the Henrys, I forgot they didn't have 'King' in the titles. I took me a minute to get that straightened out in my head :P
+1
Level 44
Feb 1, 2015
got 15 but how did I miss a few that I missed lol
+1
Level 22
May 27, 2021
I GOT 30 :D
+1
Level 49
May 29, 2015
What about Idem?
+4
Level 22
Sep 25, 2015
I hate to be THAT person, but Hamlet's official title is "The Tragedy of Hamlet: Prince of Denmark"
+10
Level 82
Oct 22, 2015
I think most of the plays have longer titles than they are known by.
+21
Level 67
May 1, 2017
If you hated to be that person, you wouldn't be that person.
+10
Level 75
Aug 16, 2018
Yes, and it's The Tragedy of Macbeth; The Tragedy of Julius Caesar; The Tragedy of Othello: the Moor of Venice; The Life and Death of King John; Twelfth Night, or What You Will; The Lamentable Tragedy of Titus Andronicus; Cymbeline, King of Britain; The Most Excellent History of the Merchant of Venice; Pericles, Prince of Tyre; etc., and there's absolutely no need to type all that out when everyone knows perfectly well what Hamlet means.
+6
Level 70
Oct 2, 2015
I like the fact that typing in "What You Will" brings up Twelfth Night. Pleasing attention to detail.
+2
Level 32
Apr 26, 2016
Doctor who led me to try Love's Labour's Won...
+3
Level 54
Sep 27, 2016
I don't even LIKE Shakespeare and I still can't believe I forgot Macbeth....
+11
Level 65
Apr 20, 2019
he doesnt like you either
+1
Level 57
Jan 22, 2017
I forgot The Merry Wives of Windsor
+2
Level 42
Mar 23, 2017
I have no trouble remembering them, I just can't type quickly enough, nor without typos!
+3
Level 56
Mar 31, 2017
These plays remind me of the woman who didn't want to see Henry V because she said she didn't like sequels.
+3
Level 94
May 1, 2017
who's here only answered romeo and juliet?
+2
Level 64
May 1, 2017
Shakespeare didn't write Shakespeare. Francis Bacon did!
+2
Level 60
May 1, 2017
Nah
+7
Level 71
May 1, 2017
That's a 'rash' statement.
+1
Level 64
May 28, 2017
Wow.
+1
Level 88
Jul 27, 2019
Over here we consider your Bacon to just be a ham though.
+3
Level 64
May 1, 2017
Every time I take it, I forget about a different set.
+1
Level 41
Oct 20, 2022
Exactly my point. It is learning. Improving the mind. Not cheating.
+1
Level 71
May 1, 2017
If you had asked me the 'Shakespeare Plays' at home, sat in my armchair, I could have given you most of them, but start the timer and all of a sudden my brain empties and after 14 of 34 I'm staring at the clock watching it unwind...... dear me.
+2
Level 65
Apr 20, 2019
so you arent at home?? and does an armchair or seat or sofa or chair or couch matter?

i know the things a timer can do to you, especially when it is down to the last minute. I dotn have the issue as much with subjects like these. but with elements for instance or, countries with(out) a certain letter in them.

I think it was on a quiz with countries and capitals with an n (makes sense, but it think since then it allways pops in my mind even with unrelated subjects like animals or whatever) and narnia kept coming to mind,,,

+1
Level 27
May 3, 2017
Should accept 'King Henry V' etc. Kept typing it in wondering how in the world I could be misspelling it.
+2
Level 79
Jul 14, 2017
Oddly fitting that the one I never remember is 'Comedy of Errors'
+14
Level 58
Aug 6, 2017
Fun fact: William Shakespeare lived in Stratford von Avon apartment 2-b

... or was it not 2-b? I don't remember

+1
Level 47
Oct 23, 2018
thank you this made my day
+1
Level 67
Aug 24, 2017
English is my native language, and I am ashamed for my parents that I got about half of these.
+1
Level 64
Sep 8, 2017
Not enough time if one is old and typing on a lap top.
+4
Level 83
Sep 13, 2017
You forgot Pumbaa of Sparta
+2
Level 53
Sep 14, 2017
When you try the Henrys and realise Henry VII isnt one, so stop and dont try Henry VIII... dammit Shakespeare.

Also missed Romeo and Juliet (facepalm)

+1
Level 54
Sep 16, 2017
Took me more tries than I'd like to admit, but I finally got there. I kept forgetting Titus Andronicus...
+2
Level 69
Oct 27, 2017
I kept trying "The Comedy of Errors" but it seems that's not accepted. Can you accept that as well?
+1
Level 66
Oct 28, 2017
I was pretty sure that I typed in Merchant of Venice but it didn't work.
+1
Level 66
Oct 28, 2017
Maybe I accidentally typed in "from" instead of "of."
+1
Level 81
Nov 2, 2017
I got Troilus and Cressida. Ha Ha, I bet you didn't.
+1
Level 20
Dec 25, 2017
i did. the only four i didn't get are Henry IV, All's that end well, two gentlemen of verona, and comedy of errors
+3
Level 68
Nov 28, 2017
This needs more time!!!!!!!!!!!
+2
Level 20
Dec 25, 2017
agree
+1
Level 20
Dec 25, 2017
yes! earned the history badge
+2
Level 68
Jan 19, 2018
Me too after doing this quiz seven times!
+9
Level 85
Jun 21, 2018
I don't even try to get that badge because of this. Shakespeare is literature not history...
+1
Level 65
Apr 20, 2019
that ll teach em !
+4
Level 88
Jul 27, 2019
I was pretty perplexed that of all the 100s of great history quizzes here a literature quiz was substituted.

I come to bury this badge, not to praise it.

+1
Level 65
Oct 6, 2021
Agree. This and the Greek alphabet (where you need to know every letter) feels kind of misplaced. I understand that a lot of people see them as relevant to history, but they are kind of extreme in that regard if you ask me.
+3
Level 71
Nov 28, 2021
How is this not history? Shakespeare is often seen as the embodiment of not just Elizabethan England but all of Europe in the late 1500s and early 1600s. His writings tell us a lot about European society at the time, when it still wasn't the norm for commoners to be literate and write books. Beyond that, he wrote plenty of plays about Greco-Roman civilization and medieval Europe, as can be clearly seen.

I agree the Greek alphabet one is kinda out of place, but I think this quiz is totally warranted for a history badge.

+2
Level 70
Feb 4, 2018
How did I remember "Antony and Cleopatra" and forget "Julius Caesar"? *facepalm*
+1
Level 53
Feb 10, 2018
Shouldn't have to type entire name, for example it is clear once a quiz taker types Julius that they are mean Julius Caesar
+6
Level 52
Feb 12, 2018
Please accept Hamilton
+4
Level 34
Mar 16, 2018
this is a typing test
+1
Level 73
Apr 17, 2018
It's amazing how many wonderful plays one man wrote.

I've seen many of these plays, perhaps the majority, at some point in my life, and the quality of the language and the wit is astounding. Even in the more dreary of the histories, the language is still so sharp and well-chosen.

I really do kind of wish life was lived in iambic pentameter, we'd all sound so portentous all the time. :-)

+1
Level 23
May 15, 2018
where is 'the two noble kinsmen'?
+2
Level 61
Jul 1, 2018
Far too little time for so many titles
+1
Level 84
Aug 29, 2018
Interesting how changing the order got my brain all twisted up!
+5
Level 43
Sep 18, 2018
34/34! ;D *closes Wikipedia page*
+6
Level 75
Sep 20, 2018
Your should accept "The Scottish Play" for all the actors out there ;)
+2
Level 71
Nov 25, 2019
Is it unlucky to type the name as well?
+2
Level 79
Oct 8, 2021
it's probably better not to chance it :-P
+2
Level 41
Feb 27, 2019
“Brush up your Shakespeare” reminded of a few I forgot! Very funny song from the musical “Kiss me Kate”.
+2
Level 49
Apr 18, 2019
Got them all in 57 seconds! I'm 13!
+1
Level 88
Jul 27, 2019
Shakespeare would've been beyond screwed trying to write all these long answers in the time given with a quill pen.
+1
Level 67
Nov 25, 2019
He probably only pushed the idea that brevity is the soul of wit because all quill work made his hand hurt.
+1
Level 20
Sep 5, 2019
1:03 left. I need to do better.
+1
Level 52
Dec 16, 2019
I did it but I’m sad that I didn’t end with All's Well That Ends Well.
+1
Level 81
Dec 29, 2019
Always good to forget the one you studied for 2 years...
+1
Level 55
Feb 18, 2020
If you’re counting King John, you should probably include the two noble kinsmen, written with John Fletcher, a contemporaneous playwright.
+1
Level 58
Mar 7, 2020
I kept typing "THE Comedy of Errors" and I didn't get it
+2
Level 51
May 23, 2020
great quiz! Just enough time to make it challenging. Took me about 15 tries, but I'm finally getting all of them with less than a minute to go.
+1
Level 34
Jun 18, 2020
I am an actor and I did Romeo and Juliet once
+1
Level 56
Jul 10, 2020
I got KING JOHN but missed A Midsummer Night's Dream... WHHYYYYYYYYYY!!!!!!!!!!!!!
+1
Level 56
Aug 9, 2020
I guess Shakespeare found Henry VII boring, considering he did Henry IV, V, VI, and then skipped right to VIII
+1
Level 48
Aug 23, 2020
I didnt know what title means LMAO
+1
Level 73
Oct 11, 2020
Please consider updating the sorting to ignore the articles "A" and "The" (e.g. A Midsummer Night's Dream belongs with the M's). This is how all libraries sort Shakespeare's titles in their catalogs.
+1
Level 84
Nov 18, 2020
The quiz used to be sorted that way (note my comment above about changing the order) - but one day, inexplicably, it was changed to the rather odd way it is now.
+1
Level 45
Nov 27, 2020
I got exactly 15; just enough to get the badge lol.
+1
Level 24
Feb 4, 2021
Sadly i only know romeo and juliet
+2
Level 66
Feb 10, 2021
This website is to much concentrate on the English language. Why does someone need to know 30/34 of his plays?
+1
Level 44
Mar 8, 2021
The quiz are made by users, and there are other language options.
+1
Level 80
Sep 7, 2023
I think that that's a comment regarding the history badge which also entails knowing 44/45 of the US presidents, every single English monarch in history, and the names of medieval English professions. They've got a point, and badges aren't available in other languages.
+1
Level 44
Mar 8, 2021
17/34. I should have tried beyond Henry IV.
+1
Level 49
May 6, 2021
24/34. Not too bad, but embarrassed I forgot As You Like It, which I've read, and Tempest, which I have and plan to read.
+1
Level 57
Jun 21, 2021
I got As You Like It but missed Romeo and Juliet :/
+2
Level 63
Aug 25, 2021
This is a ridiculously short time to type in answers. Especially when the person setting the quiz doesn't realize that Henry IV and Henry VI constitute 5 separate plays altogether. Brush up your Shakespeare, quizmaster
+1
Level 67
Oct 8, 2021
He knows. There is a note at the top that plays with multiple parts are each listed as one work.
+4
Level 74
Sep 18, 2021
Quizmaster on other quizzes: It's not a race

Quizmaster on this quiz: 4 minutes is plenty for all the works of Shakespeare!

+2
Level 80
Aug 29, 2022
We've been complaining about the lack of time on this quiz for almost eight years. I wonder if there's any logic behind the decision not to increase it.
+1
Level 80
Sep 7, 2023
Is there any chance of revisiting this question? I don't understand the resistance to increasing the time. A recent quiz gives five minutes to name twenty Star Wars characters from their photographs.
+1
Level 61
Oct 9, 2021
I coulda been a contender!!! (with more time)
+1
Level 25
Dec 23, 2021
Another 30 sec. to 1 minute more would be great 😅

Nice quiz though!

+1
Level 48
Dec 29, 2021
Romeo & Juliet,Temprest,Hamlet,and Merchant of Venice are my Favorites!
+1
Level 48
Dec 29, 2021
A similiar one to Romeo & Juliet is Antony & Cleopatra about Roman Soldier,Mark Antony and Egyptian Queen,Cleopatra VII (7)
+1
Level 50
Feb 4, 2022
1 second left OOOF
+1
Level 75
Feb 8, 2022
No Timon of Athens?
+4
Level 24
Jun 15, 2022
I got everything except:

A Midsummer Night's Dream

All's Well That Ends Well

Antony and Cleopatra

As You Like It

Comedy of Errors

Coriolanus

Cymbeline

Hamlet

Henry IV

Henry V

Henry VI

Henry VIII

Play

Julius Caesar

King John

King Lear

Love's Labour's Lost

Macbeth

Measure for Measure

Much Ado about Nothing

Othello

Pericles

Richard II

Richard III

Play

Romeo and Juliet

Tempest

The Merchant of Venice

The Merry Wives of Windsor

The Taming of the Shrew

The Winter's Tale

Timon of Athens

Titus Andronicus

Troilus and Cressida

Twelfth Night

Two Gentlemen of Verona

+1
Level 24
Jun 15, 2022
oof you were so close to full marks
+1
Level 24
Jun 15, 2022
yeah :(
+1
Level 24
Jun 15, 2022
u can do better next time :D
+1
Level 24
Jun 15, 2022
ok :D
+2
Level 47
Dec 5, 2022
I wrote "The Two Gentlemen of Verona", plus variants with from /of. But it seems the quizz only accepts without "the". Could you change that, please?
+1
Level 20
Mar 31, 2023
This is really hard. It makes you type 'the' or it wont accept the answer and i think you dont get enough time. I knew more than 20 but i ran out of time so i got a lower score than i was supposed to. Please change this. Thank You.
+1
Level 47
Sep 8, 2023
they need more time
+1
Level 56
Sep 13, 2023
"The Scottish Play" should be accepted as an answer for "Macbeth."