Unlike other introductions to literary theory, this book offers a sustained discussion of a specific period of English Literature. Avoiding the danger of employing theories as templates, the book uses Renaissance drama and literary theory to question and illuminate each other. Love, money, alienation and exotic death are amongst the various topics discussed. The book also provides a distinctive and comprehensive account of literary theory's complex relationship with its main predecessor, humanism. In all, seventeen plays are discussed including well-known texts, such as A Midsummer Night's Dream and The Duchess of Malfi, as well as less-studied plays such as The Knight of the Burning Pestle and The Shoemakers' Holiday.