[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"detail-sidebar-cat-0-en-105":3,"doc-seo-319931-105":59,"doc-detail-319931-en":130},{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":6},0,"success",[7,13,18,23,28,33,38,43,48,51,55],{"id":8,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":10,"show_sort_weight":11,"slug":12},1,"Document","Story & Novel",90,"story-novel",{"id":14,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":15,"show_sort_weight":16,"slug":17},2,"Literature",80,"literature",{"id":19,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":20,"show_sort_weight":21,"slug":22},4,"Exam",70,"exam",{"id":24,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":25,"show_sort_weight":26,"slug":27},5,"Comic",60,"comic",{"id":29,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":30,"show_sort_weight":31,"slug":32},6,"Technology",50,"technology",{"id":34,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":35,"show_sort_weight":36,"slug":37},7,"Healthcare",40,"healthcare",{"id":39,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":40,"show_sort_weight":41,"slug":42},8,"Research & Report",30,"research-report",{"id":44,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":45,"show_sort_weight":46,"slug":47},9,"Religion & Spirituality",20,"religion-spirituality",{"id":46,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":49,"show_sort_weight":46,"slug":50},"World Cup","world-cup",{"id":52,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":53,"show_sort_weight":52,"slug":54},10,"Lifestyle","lifestyle",{"id":56,"doc_module":4,"doc_module_name":9,"category_name":57,"show_sort_weight":24,"slug":58},19,"General","general",{"code":4,"msg":60,"data":61},"ok",{"site_id":62,"language":63,"slug":64,"title":65,"keywords":66,"description":67,"schema_data":68,"social_meta":123,"head_meta":125,"extra_data":127,"updated_unix":129},105,"en","the-cambridge-introduction-to-shakespeares-comedies","The Cambridge Introduction to Shakespeare’s Comedies","","Why do theatre audiences laugh in Shakespeare’s day and still laugh now? This book examines how Shakespeare shaped inherited conventions of comedy—from early farce and courtly love stories to the romantic and genre-bending comedies of his later career. Organized thematically, it maps his comic styles across the full span of his career, exploring what the plays say about love, sex, gender, power, family, community, class, and the presence of pain, cruelty, puns, and death.",{"@graph":69,"@context":122},[70,84,105],{"@type":71,"itemListElement":72},"BreadcrumbList",[73,77,79,82],{"item":74,"name":75,"@type":76,"position":8},"https://docshare.wps.com","Home","ListItem",{"item":78,"name":9,"@type":76,"position":14},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/",{"item":80,"name":15,"@type":76,"position":81},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/literature/",3,{"item":83,"name":65,"@type":76,"position":19},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/the-cambridge-introduction-to-shakespeares-comedies/319931/",{"url":83,"name":65,"@type":85,"image":86,"author":91,"headline":65,"publisher":94,"fileFormat":97,"inLanguage":63,"description":67,"dateModified":98,"datePublished":99,"encodingFormat":97,"isAccessibleForFree":100,"interactionStatistic":101},"DigitalDocument",{"url":87,"@type":88,"width":89,"height":90},"https://docshare.wps.com/thumbnails/the-cambridge-introduction-to-shakespeares-comedies/319931.png","ImageObject",300,407,{"name":92,"@type":93},"Seraphina","Person",{"url":74,"name":95,"@type":96},"DocShare","Organization","application/pdf","2026-10-22","2026-09-20",true,{"@type":102,"interactionType":103,"userInteractionCount":39},"InteractionCounter",{"@type":104},"ViewAction",{"@type":106,"mainEntity":107},"FAQPage",[108,114,118],{"name":109,"@type":110,"acceptedAnswer":111},"How does the book explain why audiences laugh in Shakespeare’s comedies?","Question",{"text":112,"@type":113},"It asks what makes audiences laugh then and now, linking comedy to inherited stage conventions and the ways Shakespeare reworked them to move and amuse viewers.","Answer",{"name":115,"@type":110,"acceptedAnswer":116},"What Shakespeare’s comedies does the book cover?",{"text":117,"@type":113},"It covers all of Shakespeare’s comedies from the beginning to the end of his career, moving through categories such as farce, courtly lovers, romantic comedy, and later problematized plots.",{"name":119,"@type":110,"acceptedAnswer":120},"What themes does the book focus on in Shakespeare’s comedies?",{"text":121,"@type":113},"The book explores love, sex, gender, power, family, community, and class, and also considers the role of pain, cruelty, and even death within comedy.","https://schema.org",{"og:url":83,"og:type":124,"og:title":65,"og:site_name":95,"og:description":67},"article",{"robots":126,"canonical":83},"index,follow",{"doc_id":128,"site_id":62},319931,1790091956,{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":131},{"doc_id":128,"user_id":132,"nickname":92,"user_avatar":133,"doc_module":4,"category_id":14,"category_name":15,"doc_title":65,"doc_description":67,"doc_content":134,"file_id":135,"file_url":136,"file_type":137,"file_size":138,"view_count":39,"is_deleted":4,"is_public":8,"is_downloadable":8,"audit_status":8,"page_count":139,"language":140,"language_code":63,"site_id":62,"html_lang":63,"table_of_contents":141,"faqs":142,"seo_title":143,"seo_description":67,"update_tm":144,"read_time":145},962075114101,"https://ap-avatar.wpscdn.com/avatar/e000253a75eb197efd?x-image-process=image/resize,m_fixed,w_180,h_180&k=1780044092746381165","This page intentionally left blank  \nThe Cambridge Introduction to Shakespeare’s Comedies  \nWhy did theatre audiences laugh in Shakespeare’s day and why do they still laugh now? What did Shakespeare do with the conventions of comedy that he inherited, so that his plays continue to amuse and move audiences? What do his comedies have to say about love, sex, gender, power, family, community, and class? What place have pain, cruelty, and even death in a comedy? Why all those puns? In a survey that travels from Shakespeare’s earliest experiments in farce and courtly love-stories to the great romantic comedies of his middle years and the  \nmould-breaking experiments of his last decade’s work, this book addresses these vital questions. Organised thematically, and covering all Shakespeare’s comedies from the beginning to the end of his career, it provides readers with a map of the playwright’s comic styles, showing how he built on comedic conventions as he further enriched the possibilities of the genre.  \npenny gay is Professor of English and Drama at the University of  \nSydney.  \nCambridge Introductions to Literature  \nThis series is designed to introduce students to key topics and authors. Accessible and lively, these introductions will also appeal to readers who want to broaden their understanding of the books and authors they enjoy.  \n􀀂 Ideal for students, teachers, and lecturers  \n􀀂 Concise, yet packed with essential information  \n􀀂 Key suggestions for further reading Titles in this series  \nH. Porter Abbott The Cambridge Introduction to Narrative (second edition) Eric Bulson The Cambridge Introduction to James Joyce  \nWarren Chernaik The Cambridge Introduction to Shakespeare’s History Plays John Xiros Cooper The Cambridge Introduction to T. S. Eliot  \nPatrick Corcoran The Cambridge Introduction to Francophone Literature Gregg Crane The Cambridge Introduction to the Nineteenth-Century American  \nNovel  \nKirk Curnutt The Cambridge Introduction to F. Scott Fitzgerald Janette Dillon The Cambridge Introduction to Early English Theatre  \nJanette Dillon The Cambridge Introduction to Shakespeare’s Tragedies  \nPenny Gay The Cambridge Introduction to Shakespeare’s Comedies Jane Goldman The Cambridge Introduction to Virginia Woolf Kevin J. Hayes The Cambridge Introduction to Herman Melville Nancy Henry The Cambridge Introduction to George Eliot Leslie Hill The Cambridge Introduction to Jacques Derrida David Holdeman The Cambridge Introduction to W. B. Yeats  \nAdrian Hunter The Cambridge Introduction to the Short Story in English  \nC. L. Innes The Cambridge Introduction to Postcolonial Literatures  \nM. Jimmie Killingsworth The Cambridge Introduction to Walt Whitman Pericles Lewis The Cambridge Introduction to Modernism  \nRonan McDonald The Cambridge Introduction to Samuel Beckett  \nWendy Martin Peter Messent David Morley  \nThe Cambridge Introduction to Emily Dickinson  \nThe Cambridge Introduction to Mark Twain  \nThe Cambridge Introduction to Creative Writing  \nIra Nadel The Cambridge Introduction to Ezra Pound  \nLeland S. Person The Cambridge Introduction to Nathaniel Hawthorne John Peters The Cambridge Introduction to Joseph Conrad  \nJustin Quinn The Cambridge Introduction to Modern Irish Poetry  \nSarah Robbins The Cambridge Introduction to Harriet Beecher Stowe Martin Scofield The Cambridge Introduction to the American Short Story Emma Smith The Cambridge Introduction to Shakespeare  \nPeter Thomson The Cambridge Introduction to English Theatre, 1660 –1900 Janet Todd The Cambridge Introduction to Jane Austen  \nTheresa M. Towner The Cambridge Introduction to William Faulkner Jennifer Wallace The Cambridge Introduction to Tragedy  \nThe Cambridge Introduction to  \nShakespeare’s Comedies  \nPENNY GAY  \nCAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS  \nCambridge, New York, Melbourne, Madrid, Cape Town, Singapore, São Paulo  \nCambridge University Press  \nThe Edinburgh Building, Cambridge CB2 8RU, UK  \nPublished in the United States of America by Cambridge University ","cbCaiu3rMP7OFgt9","https://ap.wps.com/l/cbCaiu3rMP7OFgt9","pdf",856529,165,"English","# Contents\n## Preface\n## Introduction: comedy as idea and practice\n## Farce: The Comedy of Errors, The Taming of the Shrew, The Merry Wives of Windsor\n## Courtly lovers and the real world: Two Gentlemen of Verona, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, The Merchant of Venice\n## Comedy and language: Love’s Labour’s Lost\n## Romantic comedy: Much Ado About Nothing, As You Like It, Twelfth Night\n## Problematic plots and endings: clowning and comedy post-Hamlet: Measure for Measure, All’s Well That Ends Well, The Winter’s Tale, Cymbeline, The Tempest\n## The afterlives of Shakespeare’s comedies\n## Conclusion\n## Further reading\n## Notes\n## Index","[{\"question\":\"How does the book explain why audiences laugh in Shakespeare’s comedies?\",\"answer\":\"It asks what makes audiences laugh then and now, linking comedy to inherited stage conventions and the ways Shakespeare reworked them to move and amuse viewers.\"},{\"question\":\"What Shakespeare’s comedies does the book cover?\",\"answer\":\"It covers all of Shakespeare’s comedies from the beginning to the end of his career, moving through categories such as farce, courtly lovers, romantic comedy, and later problematized plots.\"},{\"question\":\"What themes does the book focus on in Shakespeare’s comedies?\",\"answer\":\"The book explores love, sex, gender, power, family, community, and class, and also considers the role of pain, cruelty, and even death within comedy.\"}]","The Cambridge Introduction to Shakespeare’s Comedies | PDF",1789947957,254]