William Shakespeare's Collaborations
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Like most playwrights of his period,
William Shakespeare William Shakespeare ( 23 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's nation ...
did not always write alone. A number of his surviving plays are collaborative, or were revised by others after their original composition, although the exact number is open to debate. Some of the following attributions, such as '' The Two Noble Kinsmen'', have well-attested contemporary documentation; others, such as ''
Titus Andronicus ''The Lamentable Tragedy of Titus Andronicus'', often shortened to ''Titus Andronicus'', is a Shakespearean tragedy, tragedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written between 1588 and 1593. It is thought to be Shakespeare's first t ...
'', are dependent on linguistic analysis by modern scholars; recent work on computer analysis of textual style (word use, word and phrase patterns) has given reason to believe that parts of some of the plays ascribed to Shakespeare are actually by other writers. In some cases the identity of the collaborator is known; in other cases there is a scholarly consensus; in others it is unknown or disputed. These debates are the province of Shakespeare attribution studies. Most collaborations occurred at the very beginning and the very end of Shakespeare's career.


Elizabethan authorship

The
Elizabethan theatre The English Renaissance theatre or Elizabethan theatre was the theatre of England from 1558 to 1642. Its most prominent playwrights were William Shakespeare, Christopher Marlowe and Ben Jonson. Background The term ''English Renaissance theatr ...
was nothing like the modern theatre, but rather more like the modern
film industry The film industry or motion picture industry comprises the technological and commercial institutions of filmmaking, i.e., film production company, production companies, film studios, cinematography, animation, film production, screenwriting, pre- ...
. Scripts were often written quickly, older scripts were revised and many were the product of collaboration. The unscrupulous nature of the Elizabethan book printing trade complicates the attribution of plays further; for example,
William Jaggard William Jaggard ( – November 1623) was an Elizabethan era, Elizabethan and Jacobean era, Jacobean printer and publisher, best known for his connection with the texts of William Shakespeare, most notably the First Folio of Shakespeare's pl ...
, who published the
First Folio ''Mr. William Shakespeare's Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies'' is a collection of plays by William Shakespeare, commonly referred to by modern scholars as the First Folio, published in 1623, about seven years after Shakespeare's death. It is cons ...
, also published '' The Passionate Pilgrim by W. Shakespeare'', which is mostly the work of other writers.


Shakespeare's collaborations


Early works

* ''
Edward III Edward III (13 November 1312 – 21 June 1377), also known as Edward of Windsor before his accession, was King of England from January 1327 until his death in 1377. He is noted for his military success and for restoring royal authority after t ...
'' was published anonymously in 1596. It was first attributed to Shakespeare in a bookseller's catalogue published in 1656. Various scholars have suggested Shakespeare's possible authorship, since a number of passages appear to bear his stamp, among other sections that are remarkably uninspired. In 1996,
Yale University Press Yale University Press is the university press of Yale University. It was founded in 1908 by George Parmly Day and Clarence Day, grandsons of Benjamin Day, and became a department of Yale University in 1961, but it remains financially and ope ...
became the first major publisher to produce an edition of the play under Shakespeare's name. A consensus is emerging that the play was written by a team of dramatists including Shakespeare early in his career – but exactly who wrote what is still open to debate. The play is included in the Second Edition of the ''Complete Oxford Shakespeare'' (2005), where it is attributed to "William Shakespeare and Others", and in the ''Riverside Shakespeare''. In 2009, Brian Vickers published the results of a computer analysis using a program designed to detect plagiarism, which suggests that 40% of the play was written by Shakespeare with the other scenes written by Thomas Kyd (1558–1594). * '' Henry VI, Part 1'': possibly the work of a team of playwrights, whose identities are unknown. Some scholars argue that Shakespeare wrote less than 20% of the text. Gary Taylor argues that the first act was the work of Thomas Nashe. Paul J. Vincent concludes that, in light of recent research into the Elizabethan theatre, ''1 Henry VI'' is Shakespeare's partial revision of a play by Nashe (Act 1) and an unknown playwright (Acts 2–5), the original of which was performed in early 1592. Shakespeare's work in the play, which was most likely composed in 1594, can be found in Act 2 (scene 4) and Act 4 (scenes 2–5 and the first 32 lines of scene 7). Vincent's authorship findings, especially with regard to Nashe's authorship of Act 1, are supported overall by Brian Vickers, who agrees with the theory of co-authorship and differs only slightly over the extent of Shakespeare's contribution to the play, tentatively identifying Thomas Kyd as the author of the rest of the play. * ''
Titus Andronicus ''The Lamentable Tragedy of Titus Andronicus'', often shortened to ''Titus Andronicus'', is a Shakespearean tragedy, tragedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written between 1588 and 1593. It is thought to be Shakespeare's first t ...
'': seen as a collaboration with, or revision of, George Peele. See Authorship of ''Titus Andronicus''. * '' Sir Thomas More'': some pages of the manuscript of this play are in Shakespeare's handwriting, with the assembled text being a collaboration with Anthony Munday (the primary author) and others. * ''
The Spanish Tragedy ''The Spanish Tragedy'', or ''Hieronimo is Mad Again'' is an Elizabethan tragedy written by Thomas Kyd between 1582 and 1592. Highly popular and influential in its time, ''The Spanish Tragedy'' established a new genre in English theatre: the re ...
'': although definitely known to be by Thomas Kyd, Thomas Pavier's edition of 1602 added five new passages to the preexisting text, totaling 320 lines, with the most substantial addition being an entire scene, known as the ''"painter scene"'', since it is dominated by Hieronimo's conversation with a painter. Even before Pavier's quarto, however, the scene seems to have been in existence and known to audiences, since John Marston parodies the painter scene in his 1599 play '' Antonio and Mellida''. The five additions in the 1602 text may have been made for the 1597 revival by the Admiral's Men. In 2013, scholar Douglas Bruster, after comparing spellings in the additions with what we know of Shakespeare's handwriting, concluded that Shakespeare did indeed write the additions. Bruster attributed mistakes in the text of the additions to the illegibility of Shakespeare's handwriting; the resulting mistakes have led to the devaluing of the portions that Shakespeare presumably wrote.


Collaboration with Wilkins

* '' Pericles, Prince of Tyre'': includes the work of George Wilkins. Most scholars take the view that Wilkins wrote the first two acts, and Shakespeare the last three.


Collaborations with Middleton

* ''
Macbeth ''The Tragedy of Macbeth'', often shortened to ''Macbeth'' (), is a tragedy by William Shakespeare, estimated to have been first performed in 1606. It dramatises the physically violent and damaging psychological effects of political ambiti ...
'': Thomas Middleton may have adapted Shakespeare's tragedy by introducing act 3 scene 5 – featuring Hecate and the three witches, and a song which also features in Middleton's '' The Witch'' – and the Hecate passages in act 4 scene 1. * ''
Measure for Measure ''Measure for Measure'' is a play by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written in 1603 or 1604 and first performed in 1604. It was published in the First Folio of 1623. The play centers on the despotic and puritan Angelo (Measure for ...
'': may have undergone a light revision by Middleton at some point after its original composition. As with ''Macbeth'', the only source is that of the
First Folio ''Mr. William Shakespeare's Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies'' is a collection of plays by William Shakespeare, commonly referred to by modern scholars as the First Folio, published in 1623, about seven years after Shakespeare's death. It is cons ...
. * '' Timon of Athens'': may result from collaboration between Shakespeare and Middleton which might explain its incoherent plot and unusually cynical tone. * '' All's Well That Ends Well'': research published in 2012 by Emma Smith and Laurie Maguire of
Oxford University The University of Oxford is a collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the second-oldest continuously operating u ...
suggests a collaboration between Shakespeare and Middleton.


Collaborations with Fletcher

* '' Cardenio'', a lost play; contemporary reports say that Shakespeare collaborated on it with John Fletcher. * ''
Henry VIII Henry VIII (28 June 149128 January 1547) was King of England from 22 April 1509 until his death in 1547. Henry is known for his Wives of Henry VIII, six marriages and his efforts to have his first marriage (to Catherine of Aragon) annulled. ...
'': generally considered a collaboration between Shakespeare and Fletcher. * '' The Two Noble Kinsmen'', published in quarto in 1634 and attributed to John Fletcher and William Shakespeare on the title page; each playwright appears to have written about half of the text. It is excluded from the First Folio.


See also

* Shakespeare apocrypha


References

{{Authority control Collaborations Shakespeare, William Shakespearean scholarship