NICOLAS TREDELL is Consultant Editor of the Palgrave Macmillan Readers' Guides series and has produced a number of Guides for the series. He has published widely on literary criticism and theory – his previous publications include: The Critical Decade (1993), Conversations with Critics (1994) and a history of film theory, Cinemas of the Mind (2002). For many years he has taught and convened Sussex University literature courses, most recently on Shakespeare.

'This is a helpful book: it identifies key critical accounts; it organises them effectively within a larger narrative that is not at all intrusive; it summarises them clearly and illustrates its summaries with well-chosen quotation. Its guidance is always helpful and balanced and the book provides overall a very good grounding in criticism of the play.' - Nick Potter, Swansea Metropolitan University, UK 'Tredell works through chronologically, summarising concisely and quoting effectively, giving a comprehensive account of the full range of criticism.' - John Haddon, The Use of English

• AcknowledgementsNotes on the TextIntroduction1662-1898: Labyrinth of Enchantment1900-49: Quest for ConstancyThe 1950s: Concord from DiscordThe 1960s: Order and OutrageThe 1970s: Tongs and BonesThe 1980s: Shattering the DreamThe 1990s: Sifting the FragmentsThe 2000s: Refiguring the MazeDream on ScreenConclusionNotesSelect BibliographySelect FilmographyIndex.