In the interpretation of Shakespeare, wordplay has often been considered inconsequential, frequently reduced to a decorative quibble. But in this book, Patricia Parker argues that attention to Shakespearean wordplay reveals unexpected linkages, not only within and between plays but also between the plays and their contemporary culture. Combining feminist and historical approaches with attention to the matter of language as well as of race and gender, Parker's edification from the margins illuminates much that has been overlooked, both in Shakespeare and in early modern culture. This book, a re-examination of popular and less familiar texts, is intended for all students of Shakespeare and the early modern period. Patricia Parker is the author of Inescapable Romance and Literary Fat Ladies: Rhetoric, Gender, Property.