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GCSE English Literature · key term
The collection of Shakespeare’s plays published in 1623, which grouped them as comedies, histories and tragedies.
Used by AQA, Edexcel and Eduqas
Paper 1
The collection of Shakespeare's plays published in 1623, arranged into comedies, histories and tragedies.
Revise: ContextThe Tempest was first printed in 1623, as the first play among the comedies in the First Folio. It is now commonly grouped with Shakespeare's late romances. Here, “romance” means a dramatic pattern involving suffering, wonder, reunion and recovery, not simply romantic love.
Paper 1
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The collected volume of Shakespeare’s plays published in 1623, which grouped them as comedies, histories and tragedies.
The First Folio of 1623 classified The Merchant of Venice as a comedy. In Shakespearean drama, comedy does not mean that everything is funny. Courtship, disguise, obstacles overcome and the restoration of relationships are familiar comic features.
Component 1
The collection of Shakespeare’s plays first published in 1623, which included the first printing of Twelfth Night.
Revise: ContextThe play first appeared in print in the 1623 First Folio. Its full title is Twelfth Night, or What You Will: it is the only Shakespeare play first published with a subtitle. The alternative title has a playful openness that suits a comedy in which people’s desires repeatedly disturb their plans.
