Shakespeare’s plays are not gardens but a jungle.

William Shakespeare produced most of his known works between 1589 and 1613. He wrote most of his plays as ‘quarto texts’. A few of his plays were printed in his lifetime, though they appeared more voluminously after his death. His first collection of works as printed in 1623. We can say Shakespeare’s plays are not gardens but jungle in many senses such as in a variety of genres and themes and characters.

Romantic Comedies

His most comedies are the romantic type. The main theme of his comedies is love. In his comedies, a lover usually experiences a set of obstacles before they united. All conflicts get resolved at the end. His romantic comedies are all set in an imaginative world far away from the dull and dreary world of everyday life. There is a cardinal characteristic of Shakespeare’s romantic world of the union of realism, fantasy, and philosophy.” With humor, Shakespeare deals with serious issues.   

•     All’s  Well That Ends Well
•     The Comedy Of Errors
•     Love’s Labour Lost
•     The Merchant Of Venice  
•     The Merry Wives Of Windsor

Tragedies

Shakespearean tragedy is primarily concerned with one person the tragic hero. A tragic hero is a person of the high social estate, raised above the rest. He undergoes suffering because of his tragic flaw or the error of judgment.

•     Romeo and Juliet
•     King Lear
•     Othello
•     Macbeth
•     Hamlet
•     Cymbeline

Roman plays

All these plays are set in Rome deal with similar subjects and make use of the same source- North’s translation of Plutarch’s lives. Dominika Klenova states that Shakespeare uses his source material as a framework, which helps him develop his own conception of treating drama out of biography. He also develops his idea of the Roman character and elaborates on him at both the ‘national ‘and individual level.

•     Julius Caesar
•     Antony and Cleopatra
•     Coriolanus

Problem plays

While most of his plays fall into the above-cited categories of tragedies, comedies, or histories, there are some plays of Shakespeare do not neatly fit into any of these categories.

•     All is well that ends well
•     Measure for measures
•     Troilus and Cressida

Historical plays

According to Michael Hattaway, Shakespeare’s history plays are related to history mainly by offering representations of historical figures and the creation of theater out of historical events. Shakespeare’s primary source for his history plays was Raphael Holinshed Chronicle of England, Scotland, and Ireland.

•     Richard II
•     Richard III
•     Henry IV
•     Henry V