Introduction : Shakespeare and modern culture
The merchant of Venice, or the question of intention
Hamlet, or the matter of character
King Lear, or the dream of sublimity
Othello, or the persistence of difference
Macbeth, or the necessity of interpretation
The tempest, or the conundrum of man
Henry V, or the quest for exemplarity
Richard III, or the problem of fact
Coriolanus, or the estrangement of self
Romeo and Juliet, or the untimeliness of youth
Coda : the rest is Shakespeare.