For more than three centuries, critics and commentators debated whether The Two Noble Kinsmen was the work of an individual author or the result of a collaboration between two or more dramatists. Most scholars now believe that the play was written by William Shakespeare and John Fletcher. It is impossible to determine precisely which scenes were written by which playwright, but several late twentieth- century scholars attribute to Shakespeare all of Act I as well as II.i, III.i-ii, IV.iii, V.i, and V.iiiiv. The remaining scenes—II.ii-vi, III.iii-vi, IV.i ii, and V.ii—are attributed to Fletcher. Thus Shakespeare is credited with the basic design; with the introduction of all the central characters; several scenes in the middle of the play; and all of Act V except the scene in which the jailer's daughter makes her final appearance.