ENGU 104: Writing About Literature Library Research Guide

Shakespeare's comedy play Much Ado About Nothing pivots around the impediments to love for young betrothed Hero and Claudio when Hero is falsely accused of infidelity and the'lover's trap'set for the arrogant and assured Benedick who has sworn of marriage and his gentle adversary Beatrice.

Paul Edmondson presents Shakespeare afresh as a dramatist and poet, and encourages us to take ownership of the works for ourselves as words to be spoken as well as discussed. We get a wide sense of what his life was like, his rich language, and astonishing cultural legacy.

Ideal for students and theatre enthusiasts alike, this lively and authoritative guide presents key information, clearly set out, on all Shakespeare's dramatic and poetic works, covering plots and people, sources, context, performance history and major themes.

The Oxford Handbook to Shakespeare is edited by esteemed scholar Arthur Kinney and contains forty specially written essays. It provides fresh and imaginative readings of his plays and poems, reflects on the current state of Shakespeare Studies, and suggests the likely future directions it will take.