Why Shakespeare?

In this exciting new introduction to Shakespeare, Catherine Belsey takes traditional tales as a starting point to argue against the cultural materialists who claim Shakespeare's iconic status is no more than an accident of history. Each chapter shows how one of Shakespeare's best-known plays retells with a difference stories familiar both then and now. Belsey goes on to put forward new readings, teasing out the enigmas that constitute these texts and the interpretations they have inspired.

CATHERINE BELSEY is Research Professor of English at the University of Wales, Swansea.