More-specific settings
Locations identified as being in or around the home of a specific character are not listed, including where that home is a "castle", "cave" or "cell". Similarly, the "court" of any character who is a ruler is not listed unless Shakespeare gives it a specific location. Also not listed are generic locations such as "abbey", "brothel", "mart", "palace", "prison", "seashore" or "street", nor buildings given fictional names such as "the Porpentine", "the Phoenix" and others in The Comedy of Errors or "the Elephant" in Twelfth Night.
Military camps are not listed separately, and where relevant are mentioned under the name of the city being besieged or the place after which the battle is named.
Many Shakespearean characters are named after places: usually because they are known by their noble title rather than their actual name. This list does not assume that the homes of those characters are in that place unless Shakespeare's text explicitly places them there: even where that was true of the historical person upon whom the character is based. For example, there is no listing on this page for Gloucester in England (although see "Gloucestershire" below) even though there are characters usually described as Gloucester in King Lear , Henry IV (Part 2) , Henry V , all three parts of Henry VI, and Richard III , and some scenes are set at their homes.
- Agincourt (i.e. Azincourt in France) the site of the Battle of Agincourt, and the camps of the French and English soldiers, are the settings of the main episode of Henry V including Henry's decisive victory. [280]
- ForArdenorArdennessee "Forest of Arden".
- Auvergne in France is the setting of the Countess of Auvergne's attempt to entrap Talbot, in Henry VI, Part 1 . [282]
- ForBarkloughly Castlein Richard II, see "Wales" under nations, cities and towns above.
- Baynard's Castle , then in London, England (not to be confused with Barnard Castle) is the setting of the Lord Mayor and citizens' plea to Richard to become king, in Richard III . [284]
- Berkeley Castle is the destination of a scene in which the Duke of York encounters Bolingbroke and his supporters, in Richard II . [286]
- Birnam Wood in Scotland is the rendezvous of the Scottish and English forces opposing Macbeth, in Macbeth . In a short scene set there, Malcolm fulfils the witches' prophecy that "Macbeth shall never vanquished be until great Birnam Wood to high Dunsinane Hill shall come against him" [288] by ordering his soldiers to each cut down a bough from the forest and carry it before them. [289] [290]
- Blackfriars in London, England, is the setting of the trial of Queen Katherine in Henry VIII , and of the subsequent scene (historically at the adjoining Bridewell Palace) in which Katherine and her women commune with Wolsey and Campeius. [292]
- ForBoar's Headsee "Eastcheap".
- Bristol Castle is the scene of the condemnation and deaths of Bushy and Green in Richard II . [294]
- Capitol:
- Cleopatra's Monument in Alexandria, Egypt, is the setting of the climax of Antony and Cleopatra , including the deaths of both title characters. [302] [303]
- Diana's Temple at Ephesus is the scene of the climax of Pericles , the reconciliation of Pericles and Thaisa. [306]
- Dunsinane Hill in Scotland is fortified by Macbeth, and is the site of his final battle and death, in Macbeth . [308]
- Eastcheap in London, England, is the location of a tavern frequented by Falstaff, Hal and their companions in Henry IV part 1 and part 2 . It is often labelled the "The Boar's Head" after a real inn in Eastcheap, although that name is never used by Shakespeare. [310] [311] The context suggests that the scenes surrounding Falstaff's death in Henry V happen in the same location.
- Ely House in Holborn, London, England, is the setting of John of Gaunt's "This sceptred isle" [317] speech, and his death, in Richard II. [318] [319]
- English Court. Many scenes in the English history plays are set at the English court, without the king's palace being named. The main seats of the court in Shakespeare's time (Greenwich, Hampton Court and Whitehall) had not been built at the time of the Wars of the Roses, so in most cases the court, historically, would have met at the Tower of London, although Richmond was favoured by Richard II. Windsor was a day's journey from London, and several events dramatized by Shakespeare happened at Westminster. [r]
- Flint Castle in Wales is the setting of Richard's surrender to Bolingbroke in Richard II . [345]
- The Forest of Arden is the setting of the whole play As You Like It , other than the court scenes and those set at Oliver's house. Since the play is set in France it may represent the Ardennes Forest, or equally for its original audiences, the Forest of Arden in Warwickshire, England, Shakespeare's home county. [348]
- French Court: Similarly to the English court, Shakespeare sometimes places scenes in the French court, without giving its location. [u]
- Gad's Hill , now part of Higham, near Rochester, in Kent, England, is the setting of a robbery committed by Falstaff and his followers, and then of another robbery committed upon them by Poins and Hal, in Henry IV, Part 1. [354] [355]
- The Garter Inn is the lodging of Sir John Falstaff, and as such the setting of many scenes in The Merry Wives of Windsor . [359]
- Gaultree Forest , England, is the setting of an episode separate from the main plot of Henry IV, Part 2 which takes up much of its fourth act. [361]
- Gloucestershire:
- ForHarlech Castlesee "Wales" under nations, cities and towns above.
- Herne's Oak, a tree in Windsor Park, is the meeting place for the final humiliation of Falstaff, and the setting of the climax of The Merry Wives of Windsor . [367] [368]
- Ilium, the royal palace of Troy in present-day Turkey, is the setting of most scenes set within Troy's walls in Troilus and Cressida : Ilium, Ilion or Ilyion are also alternative names for the city of Troy, named after its founder Ilus.
- ForJerusalem Chambersee "Westminster Palace" below.
- Kenilworth Castle in England is where Henry learns of the defeat of Cade, and then of the threat from York, in Henry VI, Part 2 . [371]
- Kimbolton Castle in England is the home of the divorced queen Katherine in Henry VIII . [373]
- ForKentsee "London and Kent" under "London" above.
- Pomfret Castle:
- Pompey:
- Pompey's Court is a setting in Antony and Cleopatra . Its location (historically on Sicily in present-day Italy) is not specified in the text.
- Pompey's Galley is the setting of the central "What manner o'thing is your crocodile?" [383] scene of Antony and Cleopatra . [384] The prior scene on land (act 2 scene 6) is not given a location in the text. In Shakespeare's sources it occurs "by the mount of Misena", which is in the vicinity of Naples in modern-day Italy.
- ForRichmond Palacesee "English Court".
- Southwark in London, England, is one of the locations of Jack Cade's rebellion in Henry VI, Part 2 . [388] See also "London and Kent" under "London" above.
- Swinstead Abbey is an abbey in Lincolnshire, England, whose orchard is the setting of the death agonies of King John, supported by his Barons, in King John . In history, it is Swineshead Abbey that King John visited, and the confusion of Swinstead and Swineshead was common in the late-sixteenth century. [390] [391]
- The Temple Garden in London, England, is the setting of the debate between York and Somerset in Henry VI, Part 1 , in which the nobles each pluck a white or red rose, establishing their factions for the Wars of the Roses. [392]
- Tower of London:
- See also "English Court".
- See also "Road" under less-specific settings, above.
- The Tower of London is the setting of the conflict between Gloucester's men in blue coats, and Winchester's men in tawny coats, in Henry VI, Part 1 . [394]
- The Tower of London is the setting of a short scene in which Lord Scales promises to send Matthew Gough to fight Jack Cade, in Henry VI, Part 2 . [396]
- The Tower of London is the setting of two scenes in Henry VI, Part 3 . In the first, Henry is freed from captivity to join his new allies, Warwick and Clarence. [398] In the other, the recaptured Henry is murdered in his cell by Richard. [400]
- The Tower of London is the setting of several scenes in Richard III including:
- A scene in which Clarence recounts his feverish dream, and then is murdered. [402]
- The setting of the divided councils at which Hastings is condemned to death, and its aftermath. [404]
- An external scene in which Elizabeth and the other women are refused access to the princes in the Tower. [406]
- ForWestminster Abbeysee "Westminster Palace", and, under less-specific settings above, "Road".
- Westminster Palace in London, England, is the location of the court scenes of Henry IV, Part 2 , including the final confrontation and reconciliation of Henry and Hal, and the king's death. Inconsistently, the Jerusalem Chamber (where the king collapses and later dies) is in fact in Westminster Abbey. [408]
- ForWhitehallsee "York Place".
- ForWindsor Castlesee "English Court".
- ForWindsor Parksee "Herne's Oak".
- York Place in London, England, is renamed Whitehall during the course of the action of Henry VIII ("Sir, you must no more call it York Place ... 'tis now the King's, and called Whitehall."). [410] According to Shakespeare and Fletcher's source Holinshead, York Place was the venue of the feast dramatized in the first act, at which, unhistorically, the king first meets Anne Bullen.
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