Talk:List of Shakespearean settings

Problems with this article

I see a few problems with this article:

1. Inclusion criteria. It appears that some places that are mentioned in plays, but are not actual settings for any scenes in the plays, are listed.
2. Most of the locations are not identified with the plays where they appear.
3. Most of the locations are not identified with the countries where they are located, and they ought to be.

-- Metropolitan90 (talk) 03:03, 25 October 2023 (UTC)

Merge

Since the AfD for Locations of Shakespeare's plays has closed with a suggestion that it be merged here, I thought I'd embark upon that exercise. In the hope that it can be done without hitting some of the serious misgivings I and others have expressed about that page - and also this page - I propose using the following principles:

• I will delete from this page everything that doesn't already comply with the following principles (pretty much everything) then rebuild from there.
• I will produce a prose list, but will try to stay aware while doing so of the possible advantage of subsequently turning it into a table.
• I will list only nations, towns and cities, but will try to stay alert to the possibility of a subsequent section of the page dealing with other more specific locations (particular buildings, for example).
• At a minimum, each entry will contain the location, it's nation (unless it is itself a nation), and the play which is partly located there. I will add a short commentary: typically no more than a short sentence.
• I will list alphabetically by location (being aware that one advantage of tabulating the list later will be that the user could instead sort geographically, or by play).
• A location doesn't earn an entry for being the place where an historical event depicted by Shakespeare happened, unless Shakespeare mentions that location in the text.
• Conversely, a location doesn't earn an entry for being mentioned by Shakespeare unless a scene is actually set there.
• Fictional or mythical locations are equally valid for inclusion as real geographical ones, although the entry should make their status clear.
• I'll try to adopt a two-source approach - i.e. for every entry both a primary source (i.e. a line reference to Shakespeare's text referring to it) and a secondary source which discusses it.

Let me know if anyone has misgivings about any aspect of this approach. AndyJones (talk) 13:39, 27 February 2025 (UTC)

Merge 2

I notice nobody's made any comment upon the section "Merge" above - although if anyone has any misgivings please let me know.

I have started to perform the merge. This will involve lots of wikidragoning so if anyone thinks I'm breaking anything, please let me know that, too. AndyJones (talk) 15:37, 26 April 2025 (UTC)

Progress

Here's a list of the 38 plays whose settings should, in my view, be on this page. (We can argue about Edward III etc. later!).

I suggest this only be used for ticking-off plays as they're done - or their interim progress - and that any discussion be put elsewhere on the talk page.

Progress

• The Tempest
  •  Done
• The Two Gentlemen of Verona
  •  Done
• The Merry Wives of Windsor
  •  Done
• Measure for Measure
  •  Done
• The Comedy of Errors
  •  Done
• Much Ado About Nothing
  •  Done
• Love's Labour's Lost
  •  Done
• A Midsummer Night's Dream
  •  Done
• The Merchant of Venice
  •  Done
• As You Like It
  •  Done
• The Taming of the Shrew
  •  Done
• All's Well That Ends Well
  •  Done
• Twelfth Night
  •  Done
• The Winter's Tale
  •  Done
• Pericles, Prince of Tyre
  •  Done
• The Two Noble Kinsmen
  •  Done
• King John
  •  Done
• Richard II
  •  Done
• Henry IV, Part 1
  •  Done
• Henry IV, Part 2
  •  Done
• Henry V
  •  Done
• Henry VI, Part 1
  •  Done
• Henry VI, Part 2
  •  Done
• Henry VI, Part 3
  •  Done
• Richard III
  •  Done
• Henry VIII
  •  Done
• Troilus and Cressida
  •  Done
• Coriolanus
  •  Done
• Titus Andronicus
  •  Done
• Romeo and Juliet
  •  Done
• Timon of Athens
  •  Done
• Julius Caesar
  •  Done
• Macbeth
  •  Done
• Hamlet
  •  Done
• King Lear
  •  Done
• Othello
  •  Done
• Antony and Cleopatra
  •  Done
• Cymbeline
  •  Done

• And some tasks:
  • Possibly wikilink all mentions of Hall and of Holinshed.
    •  Done
  • Once the above complete, cross-reference all nations to the towns and cities located in that nation.
    •  Done
  • Once above complete, cross-reference all "more specific settings" to their town or city.
    •  Done

Hope that'll be useful. AndyJones (talk) 15:14, 27 April 2025 (UTC)

Adding an update on an important milestone, which is that all the plays on this list are  Done, (or Done with some reservations) except for the English histories - although I expect they will be the most difficult. AndyJones (talk) 16:15, 22 June 2025 (UTC)

Further update. All now  Done!

Merge 3

I think this page might have scope to become a featured list, eventually.

Since the main list is now comprehensive by the standards I set for it above, I believe that the next step will be to create a new section called "Settings by Scene", in the form of a table, listing the plays alphabetically, then each scene in that play according to the Oxford Complete Works, for which it will give the City/Town, its modern-day nation, and its specific setting. Specific settings can include things I intentionally excluded from the main list, such as the home of a particular character or a generic "street".

I'd propose to source everything, but to abandon the "two-source approach" (explained in "Merge 1" above) which I doubt would be possible for the table.

As before, this will involve quite a bit of wikidragoning, so please shout if anyone has any misgivings about this approach, or thinks that I'm breaking anything. AndyJones (talk) 12:33, 27 August 2025 (UTC)

Progress, again

Here's a list of the same 38 plays mentioned in the previous progress section, except this time in alphabetical order (treating roman numerals as numbers, not letters, to keep the Henries in chronological sequence). Articles (i.e. "a" and "the") at the start of a title are ignored.

As before, I suggest this only be used for ticking-off plays as they're done in the new table - or their interim progress - and that any discussion be put elsewhere on the talk page.

Progress - Settlings by Scene

• All's Well That Ends Well
  •  Done
• Antony and Cleopatra
  •  Done
• As You Like It
  •  Done
• The Comedy of Errors
  •  Done
• Coriolanus
  •  Done
• Cymbeline
  •  Done
• Hamlet
  •  Done
• Henry IV, Part 1
  •  Done
• Henry IV, Part 2
  •  Done
• Henry V
  •  Done
• Henry VI, Part 1
  •  Done
• Henry VI, Part 2
  •  Done
• Henry VI, Part 3
  •  Done
• Henry VIII
  •  Done
• Julius Caesar
  •  Done
• King John
  •  Done
• King Lear
  •  Done
• Love's Labour's Lost
  •  Done
• Macbeth
  •  Done
• Measure for Measure
  •  Done
• The Merchant of Venice
  •  Done
• The Merry Wives of Windsor
  •  Done
• A Midsummer Night's Dream
  •  Done
• Much Ado About Nothing
  •  Done
• Othello
  •  Done
• Pericles, Prince of Tyre
  •  Done
• Richard II
  •  Done
• Richard III
  •  Done
• Romeo and Juliet
  •  Done
• The Taming of the Shrew
  •  Done
• The Tempest
  •  Done
• Timon of Athens
  •  Done
• Titus Andronicus
  •  Done
• Troilus and Cressida
  •  Done
• Twelfth Night
  •  Done
• The Two Gentlemen of Verona
  •  Done
• The Two Noble Kinsmen
  •  Done
• The Winter's Tale
  •  Done

Hope that'll be useful. AndyJones (talk) 13:31, 27 September 2025 (UTC)

• This doesn't tick anything off, above, but another important milestone reached which is that I've put in a "shape" for every play, in the table.

And here is that same list again, this time for ticking-off the Wars and Battles table. In this case I suggest using  Done as before for those which are completed, and  Not done for those that do not contain any historical battle to list, leaving no template on those which still need looking at:

Progress - Wars and Battles

• All's Well That Ends Well
  •  Done
• Antony and Cleopatra
  •  Done with a few reservations which I expect I'll iron-out:
    • Undecided how best to present battles which are not explicitly settings. In the rest of the page I've left them out and just mentioned them in the footnotes. I don't think that'll be adequate in this table.
      • My solution to this is to prefix with a "‡" and to use italics, explained in the opening words to the section and always supported by an {efn}. That seems to work quite well so I consider this resolved.
    • Better sources needed - I'm using Wikipedia to join-the-dots (and especially to insert wikilinks). In this regard see the discussion I started at Wikiproject Military History.
    • Better sources needed for the dates of battles.
• As You Like It
  •  Not done
• The Comedy of Errors
  •  Not done
• Coriolanus
  •  Done although with the same reservations to those listed at Antony and Cleopatra above.
• Cymbeline
  •  Done
• Hamlet
  •  Not done
• Henry IV, Part 1
  •  Done
• Henry IV, Part 2
  •  Done
• Henry V
  •  Done
• Henry VI, Part 1
  •  Done but with some reservations - in particular there's one {better source needed} tag
  • This marks a useful milestone, which is that by getting up to Henry VI Part 1, this progress list has caught-up with the one above: hopefully meaning that from this point onwards I can do the two together.
• Henry VI, Part 2
  •  Done with a reservation, which is whether Jack Cade's Rebellion should have been listed. I decided not to, but there needs to be a rule by which the line is drawn.
    • I think a good solution to this was to mention it in the text above the table. That would be a good tactic if we encounter any comparable problem: so considering this resolved.
• Henry VI, Part 3
  •  Done
• Henry VIII
  •  Not done
• Julius Caesar
  •  Done
• King John
  •  Done
• King Lear
  •  Done
• Love's Labour's Lost
  •  Not done
• Macbeth
  •  Done
• Measure for Measure
  •  Not done
• The Merchant of Venice
  •  Not done
• The Merry Wives of Windsor
  •  Not done
• A Midsummer Night's Dream
  •  Not done
• Much Ado About Nothing
  •  Not done
• Othello
  •  Done
• Pericles, Prince of Tyre
  •  Not done
• Richard II
  •  Not done
• Richard III
  •  Done
• Romeo and Juliet
  •  Not done
• The Taming of the Shrew
  •  Not done
• The Tempest
  •  Not done
• Timon of Athens
  •  Not done
• Titus Andronicus
  •  Done
• Troilus and Cressida
  •  Done
• Twelfth Night
  •  Not done
• The Two Gentlemen of Verona
  •  Not done
• The Two Noble Kinsmen
  •  Done
• The Winter's Tale
  •  Not done

Complete!

This list and its table are now complete. My thoughts are:

1. Yay!
2. Not sure where to go next, for this page. I suppose Peer Review would be the next step, would it?

Anyone have any thoughts? Not doing any more today, anyway. AndyJones (talk) 08:37, 31 May 2026 (UTC)