Acknowledgements.- General Editors' Preface.- Introduction; S.Barker.- Shakespeare's Problem Plays: Concepts and Perspectives; V.Thomas.- All's Well That Ends Well and the Tale of the Chivalric Quest; L.Scragg.- The Political Effects of Gender and Class in All's Well That Ends Well; P.Erickson.- Subjectivity, Desire and Female Friendship in All's Well That Ends Well; C.Asp.- Transgression and Surveillance in Measure for Measure; J.Dollimore.- London in Measure for Measure; L.S.Marcus.- Love's Tyranny Inside-Out in the Problem Plays: Yours, Mine and Counter-Mine; R.Hillman.- 'Tricks we Play on the Dead': Making History in Troilus and Cressida; H.James.- Invading Bodies.- Bawdy Exchanges: Disease, Desire, and Representation; V.Traub.- Fragments of Nationalism in Troilus and Cressida; M.Greenfield.- Further Reading.- Notes on Contributors.- Index.

This New Casebook offers a wide-ranging selection of contemporary critical readings of Shakespeare's three 'problem plays': All's Well that Ends Well, Measure for Measure and Trolius and Cressida. Together, they reflect the diversity of late twentieth-century theory and the controversy that continues to be generated by the plays, and discuss a variety of key issues. These include the meaning of the term 'problem play', the historical context and political and cultural significance of the plays, as well as issues of staging and theatre history. The volume also provides a helpful introduction which guides the reader through the critical approaches, terms and debates, as well as explanatory notes for each essay and a useful section on further reading.

CAROLYN ASP Associate Professor in the English Department at Marquette University, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA JONATHAN DOLLIMORE Professor of English at the University of York, UK PETER ERICKSON Research librarian at Clark Art Institute, Williamstown, Massachusetts, USA MATTHEW GREENFIELD Assistant Professor of English at the College of Staten Island of the City University of New York, USA RICHARD HILLMAN Professor of English Renaissance literature at the Universite Francois-Rabelais, France HEATHER JAMES Associate Professor of English and Comparative Literature at the University of Southern California, USA LEAH S. MARCUS Edwin Mims Professor of English at Vanderbilt University, USA LEAH SCRAGG Senior Lecturer in the Department of English and American Studies at Manchester University, UK VALERIE TRAUB Professor of English and Women's Studies at the University of Michigan, USA VIVIAN THOMAS Formerly Lecturer in English Literature at the University of Birmingham, UK

Offers a lively collection of contemporary critical readings of the three plays Examines the meaning of the term 'Problem Play' and examines the plays in their historical, political and cultural contexts Provides a helpful introduction which guides the reader through the range of critical debates, and a useful section on further reading