Thésée entrant en triomphe dans Athènes
ShakespeareDrama

The Two Noble Kinsmen

William Shakespearec. 1613
Influence9th pct
Popularity15th pct

Read this if you…

  • like the canterbury tales and want to see Shakespeare adapt Chaucer
  • want to read shakespeare's final play

Skip this if you…

  • haven't already read ALL the classic shakespeare plays
  • aren't willing to go slow, read notes, look up analyses of famous passages (only way to "get" shakespeare)
  • foolishly think shakespeare is overrated

Why It Matters

Shakespeare's last collaboration, written with John Fletcher, is a romance about love, rivalry, and the random cruelty of fate, pulled from Chaucer's "Knight's Tale." It's one of the least-staged Shakespeare plays, but it has a surprisingly modern read on a friendship wrecked by desire. The play sits between Shakespeare's late style and the drama that came after him.

The Groblé Take

The scene when they were first in jail was funny but the play as a whole dragged on awhile without memorable characters.

Connections

The lineage through The Two Noble Kinsmen

Built Onwhat came beforeThe Two Noble Kinsm…The Canterbury…

  • The Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer. The Two Noble Kinsmen built on it. - This is Shakespeare's most direct and unquestionable use of a Chaucerian source — the plot is the *Knight's Tale*, dramatized - The Prologue tips its hand: "Chaucer, of all admir'd, the story gives" — the play knows exactly whose shoulders it stands on - Read the *Knight's Tale* first and you watch two writers, two centuries apart, hand the same story of rival cousins back and forth
See the full map
Gallery

Depicted in Art

The Knight, bearded and armored, rides a draped horse in profile, lance held upright; gold-and-blue marginal portrait from the manuscript.

1405

Theseus enthroned presides over the assembled knights and lords gathered for the tournament that will decide Emilia's marriage.

Barthélemy d'Eyck, 1460

Theseus rides in triumph into Athens with Hippolyta beside him after defeating the Amazons — the wedding-procession opening tableau of the play.

Barthélemy d'Eyck, 1460

Three black-veiled queens process in mourning behind the bier of their slain husbands, pleading with Theseus on his wedding morning to make war on Creon of Thebes.

Edwin Austin Abbey, 1895

Stipple engraving of the two cousins in heroic poses — a Pushkin Museum impression of Bartolozzi's neoclassical reading.

Francesco Bartolozzi, 1790

Arcite is released from prison and led out of Athens by guards, banished on pain of death — the act that splits the cousins' rivalry.

Barthélemy d'Eyck, 1460

Editions

Recommended Editions

#1Top Pick$9.99$9.31

Folger Shakespeare Library

2015

Folger's the readable one. Text on one page, notes on the facing page, written in plain English instead of textbook-speak. Catches every word and reference you'd otherwise google, without breaking the scene to do it.

Buy on Bookshop
#2

SparkNotes (No Fear Shakespeare)

2003

#3

Arden Shakespeare

2015

$18.95Buy

Please support us by purchasing through these links, at no extra cost to you!

Deep Dive

What It's About

Spoiler warning

This summary gives away plot details.

Notable Quotes

“This world's a city full of straying streets, / And death's the market-place where each one meets.”

— Third Queen, Act 1 Scene 5

“This world's a city full of straying streets, and death's the market-place where each one meets.”

— The Two Noble Kinsmen

More by William Shakespeare

  1. 11A Midsummer Night’s Dream~1595William ShakespeareGrueling·Short·204 pagesInfluence24Popularity81ShakespeareComedyEnglish
  2. 13Hamlet~1600William ShakespeareGrueling·Medium·342 pagesInfluence97Popularity95ShakespeareTragedyEnglish
  3. 20Othello~1603William ShakespeareGrueling·Medium·314 pagesInfluence88Popularity75ShakespeareTragedyEnglish
  4. 23King Lear~1605William ShakespeareGrueling·Medium·384 pagesInfluence95Popularity72ShakespeareTragedyEnglish
  5. 26Macbeth~1606William ShakespeareGrueling·Short·223 pagesInfluence94Popularity87ShakespeareTragedyEnglish
  6. 40Richard II~1595William ShakespeareGrueling·Short·352 pagesInfluence22Popularity25ShakespeareHistory PlayEnglish
  7. 41Twelfth Night~1601William ShakespeareGrueling·Short·272 pagesInfluence20Popularity59ShakespeareComedyEnglish
  8. 49Romeo and Juliet~1595William ShakespeareGrueling·Short·287 pagesInfluence87Popularity99ShakespeareTragedyEnglish
  9. 51The Tempest~1611William ShakespeareGrueling·Short·259 pagesInfluence87Popularity61ShakespeareRomanceEnglish
  10. 56Love's Labour's Lost~1594William ShakespeareGrueling·Short·291 pagesInfluence8Popularity18ShakespeareComedyEnglish
  11. 67All's Well That Ends Well~1604William ShakespeareGrueling·Short·282 pagesInfluence15Popularity19ShakespeareComedyEnglish
  12. 69Much Ado About Nothing~1598William ShakespeareGrueling·Short·246 pagesInfluence19Popularity60ShakespeareComedyEnglish
  13. 75Julius Caesar~1599William ShakespeareGrueling·Short·288 pagesInfluence22Popularity61ShakespeareTragedyEnglish
  14. 76King Henry IV, Part 1~1596William ShakespeareGrueling·Short·274 pagesInfluence23Popularity24ShakespeareHistory PlayEnglish
  15. 78The Merchant of Venice~1596William ShakespeareGrueling·Short·288 pagesInfluence21Popularity60ShakespeareComedyEnglish
  16. 79Measure for Measure~1604William ShakespeareGrueling·Short·336 pagesInfluence19Popularity19ShakespeareComedyEnglish
  17. 90As You Like It~1599William ShakespeareGrueling·Short·320 pagesInfluence20Popularity58ShakespeareComedyEnglish
  18. 108Antony and Cleopatra~1606William ShakespeareGrueling·Short·400 pagesInfluence21Popularity33ShakespeareTragedyEnglish
  19. 116Richard III~1593William ShakespeareGrueling·Medium·369 pagesInfluence23Popularity58ShakespeareHistory PlayEnglish
  20. 125Henry V~1599William ShakespeareGrueling·Medium·292 pagesInfluence24Popularity51ShakespeareHistory PlayEnglish
  21. 133The Winter's Tale~1610William ShakespeareGrueling·Short·264 pagesInfluence17Popularity17ShakespeareRomanceEnglish
  22. 134The Taming of the Shrew~1591William ShakespeareGrueling·Short·304 pagesInfluence16Popularity59ShakespeareComedyEnglish
  23. 138Troilus and Cressida~1602William ShakespeareGrueling·Medium·416 pagesInfluence18Popularity18ShakespeareSatireEnglish
  24. 145The Comedy of Errors~1594William ShakespeareHard·Short·272 pagesInfluence16Popularity20ShakespeareComedyEnglish
  25. 147Coriolanus~1608William ShakespeareGrueling·Medium·342 pagesInfluence18Popularity32ShakespeareTragedyEnglish
  26. 151King John~1596William ShakespeareGrueling·Short·352 pagesInfluence14Popularity23ShakespeareHistory PlayEnglish
  27. 158Timon of Athens~1606William ShakespeareGrueling·Short·304 pagesInfluence10Popularity14ShakespeareTragedyEnglish
  28. 168The Two Gentlemen of Verona~1590William ShakespeareGrueling·Short·400 pagesInfluence9Popularity20ShakespeareComedyEnglish
  29. 169Henry IV, Part Two~1597William ShakespeareGrueling·Medium·338 pagesInfluence15Popularity23ShakespeareHistory PlayEnglish
  30. 171Titus Andronicus~1592William ShakespeareGrueling·Short·267 pagesInfluence12Popularity15ShakespeareTragedyEnglish
  31. 172The Merry Wives of Windsor~1597William ShakespeareGrueling·Short·263 pagesInfluence12Popularity21ShakespeareComedyEnglish
  32. 173Cymbeline~1610William ShakespeareGrueling·Medium·384 pagesInfluence11Popularity16ShakespeareRomanceEnglish
  33. 174Pericles~1607William ShakespeareGrueling·Short·456 pagesInfluence11Popularity16ShakespeareRomanceEnglish
  34. 175The Two Noble Kinsmen~1613William ShakespeareGrueling·Medium·384 pagesInfluence9Popularity15ShakespeareRomanceEnglish
  35. 182Henry VI, Part 1~1592William ShakespeareGrueling·Short·352 pagesInfluence14Popularity22ShakespeareHistory PlayEnglish
  36. 183King Henry VI, Part 2~1591William ShakespeareGrueling·Medium·512 pagesInfluence13Popularity22ShakespeareHistory PlayEnglish
  37. 184King Henry VI, Part 3~1591William ShakespeareGrueling·Short·384 pagesInfluence13Popularity21ShakespeareHistory PlayEnglish
  38. 193Henry VIII~1613William ShakespeareGrueling·Short·352 pagesInfluence10Popularity24ShakespeareHistory PlayEnglish
  39. Shakespeare's Sonnets1609William ShakespeareModerate·Short·512 pagesInfluence—Popularity—PoetsLyricEnglish