Old video stores sorted films by mood: comedies that end in a wedding, tragedies that end in a grave, histories about real kings. Shakespeare's plays sort onto those same three shelves, each with its own rules for how things turn out.
Three shelves in the First Folio
Shakespeare's plays were grouped into comedies, tragedies, and histories. Comedies move toward marriage and resolution, often through mistaken identity and wit. Tragedies follow a noble protagonist whose flaw drives them to a fatal end. Histories dramatize the lives of English kings and questions of power and succession.
Weddings and disguises point to comedy; a tragic flaw and a pile of bodies point to tragedy; a crown and a war of succession point to history.
A Midsummer Night's Dream (comedy: lovers, fairies, marriages), Macbeth (tragedy: ambition, downfall), Henry V (history: kingship, war).
- A play ends with several weddings after a tangle of mistaken identities.
- Match those features to a genre.
- Name the genre.
What you should see: Multiple marriages resolving mistaken-identity confusion is the hallmark of Shakespearean comedy.