A Companion to Shakespeare’s Works - Volume III - Blackwell Companions to Literature and Culture - Editorial Material

Sep 18, 2026

A Companion to Shakespeare’s Works, Volume III provides newly written surveys and scholarly perspectives on key developments in English literary culture and history, with emphasis on canonical and post-canonical texts. The editorial framework positions readers for beginning study and supports more advanced undergraduates and new graduates. The contents outline contributors and a detailed chapter sequence addressing Shakespearean comedy traditions, humor, class, social relations, crossdressing, homoerotics, rhetoric, personation, and selected plays.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryLiterature

FormatPDF

Pages475

Reading Time12 h 12 min

AccessFree to download

Introduction

Notes on Contributors

Shakespeare and the Traditions of English Stage Comedy

Shakespeare’s Festive Comedies

The Humor of It: Bodies, Fluids, and Social Discipline in Shakespearean Comedy

Class X: Shakespeare, Class, and the Comedies

The Social Relations of Shakespeare’s Comic Households

Shakespeare’s Crossdressing Comedies

The Homoerotics of Shakespeare’s Elizabethan Comedies

Shakespearean Comedy and Material Life

Shakespeare’s Comic Geographies

Rhetoric and Comic Personation in Shakespeare’s Comedies

Fat Knight, or What You Will: Unimitable Falstaff

Wooing and Winning (Or Not): Film/Shakespeare/Comedy and the Syntax of Genre

The Two Gentlemen of Verona

"Fie, what a foolish duty call you this?" The Taming of the Shrew, Women’s Jest, and the Divided Audience

The Comedy of Errors and The Calumny of Apelles: An Exercise in Source Study

Love’s Labour’s Lost

A Midsummer Night’s Dream

Rubbing at Whitewash: Intolerance in The Merchant of Venice

The Merry Wives of Windsor: Unhusbanding Desires in Windsor

Much Ado About Nothing

As You Like It

Twelfth Night: “The Babbling Gossip of the Air”

A Companion to Shakespeare’s Works Volume III Blackwell Companions to Literature and Culture This series offers comprehensive, newly written surveys of key periods and movements and certain major authors, in English literary culture and history. Extensive volumes provide new perspectives and positions on contexts and on canonical and post-canonical texts, orientating the beginning student in new ﬁelds of study and providing the experienced undergraduate and new graduate with current and new directions, as pioneered and developed by leading scholars in the ﬁeld. 1 A Companion to Romanticism Edited by Duncan Wu 2 Companion to Victorian Literature and Culture Edited by Herbert F. Tucker 3 A Companion to Shakespeare Edited by David Scott Kastan 4 A Companion to the Gothic Edited by David Punter 5 A Feminist Companion to Shakespeare Edited by Dympna Callaghan 6 A Companion to Chaucer Edited by Peter Brown 7 A Companion to English Literature from Milton to Blake Edited by David Womersley 8 A Companion to English Renaissance Literature and Culture Edited by Michael Hattaway 9 A Companion to Milton Edited by Thomas N. Corns 10 A Companion to Twentieth-Century Poetry Edited by Neil Roberts 11 A Companion to Anglo-Saxon Literature Edited by Phillip Pulsiano and Elaine Treharne 12 A Companion to Restoration Drama Edited by Susan J. Owen 13 A Companion to Early Modern Women’s Writing Edited by Anita Pacheco 14 A Companion to English Renaissance Drama Edited by Arthur Kinney 15 A Companion to Victorian Poetry Edited by Richard Cronin, Alison Chapman and Anthony Harrison 16 A Companion to the Victorian Novel Edited by Patrick Brantlinger and William B. Thesing A Companion to Shakespeare’s Works 17 A Companion to Shakespeare’s Works, Volume I: Edited by Richard Dutton and The Tragedies Jean E. Howard 18 A Companion to Shakespeare’s Works, Volume II: Edited by Richard Dutton and The Histories Jean E. Howard 19 A Companion to Shakespeare’s Works, Volume III: Edited by Richard Dutton and The Comedies Jean E. Howard 20 A Companion to Shakespeare’s Works, Volume IV: Edited by Richard Dutton and The Poems, Problem Comedies, and Late Plays Jean E. Howard B L A C K W E L L C O M PA N I O N S T O LITERATURE AND CULTURE r A C O M PA N I O N T O SHAKESPEARE’S WORKS r Editorial material and organization copyright © 2003 by Blackwell Publishing Ltd 350 Main Street, Malden, MA 02148-5018, USA 108 Cowley Road, Oxford OX4 1JF, UK 550 Swanston Street, Carlton South, Victoria 3053, Australia Kurfürstendamm 57, 10707 Berlin, Germany The right of Richard Dutton and Jean E. Howard to be identiﬁed as the Authors of the Editorial Material in this Work has been asserted in accordance with the UK Copyright, Designs, and Patents Act 1988. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, except as permitted by the UK Copyright, Designs, and Patents Act 1988, without the prior permission of the publisher. First published 2003 by Blackwell Publishing Ltd Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data A companion to Shakespeare’s works / edited by Richard Dutton and Jean E. Howard. [p. cm](p. cm).–(Blackwell companions to literature and culture; 17–20) Includes bibliographical references and index. Contents: v. 1. The tragedies – v. 2. The histories – v. 3. The comedies – v. 4. Poems, problem comedies, late plays. ISBN 0-631-22634-6 (v. 3 : alk. paper) 1. Shakespeare, William, 1564–1616 – Criticism and interpretation – Handbooks, manuals, etc. I. Dutton, Richard, 1948– II. Howard, Jean E. (Jean Elizabeth), 1948– III. Series. PR2976 .C572 2003 822.3¢3–dc21 2002074602 ISBN 1-405-10730-8 (four-volume set) A catalogue record for this title is available from the British Library. Set in 11 on 13 pt Garamond 3 by SNP Bes

FAQs

What kind of scholarly coverage does this volume provide?

It offers newly written surveys of key periods and movements and addresses major authors within English literary culture and history, using perspectives on canonical and post-canonical texts.

How is the reader positioned within the editorial approach?

The work orients beginning students in new fields of study while also providing current and new directions for experienced undergraduates and new graduate readers.

Which overall topic area does Volume III focus on?

The volume’s chapter list concentrates on Shakespearean comedy—its traditions, humor, social relations, themes such as crossdressing and homoerotics, and analyses of specific comedies and related texts.

Sep 18, 2026

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