Labelling Shakespeare's ‘Last Plays’

Abstract

Written near the end of the playwright's career and generically and stylistically distinct, Shakespeare's ‘last plays’ have often been considered as a separate group. There is, however, no academic agreement on which plays are the ‘last plays’ nor how, as a category, they should be termed. By briefly examining four of the most popular ways of classifying them (‘last plays’, ‘romances’, ‘late plays’ and ‘tragicomedies’), this article reviews difficulties of grouping and labelling the plays and examines the limitations of current critical approaches to late Shakespeare. It also functions as an overview of the distinctive features of these ‘last plays’.