This new student text provides an accessible nuts and bolts approach to language and structure, focusing on the ways Shakespeare puts phrases, lines, speeches and scenes together. Emphasis is placed on detailed close readings of 'Henry IV,King Lear, Richard II, Romeo and Juliet, Hamlet, Antony and Cleopatra, The Winter's Tale, Macbeth and Coriolanus. However, commentaries also introduce ideas both from traditional criticism and from recent linguistic and post-structuralist theory. Students are encouraged to develop their knowledge of plays in chronological order, side-by-side with analytic skills in steadily broadening focus (from how a line hangs together to gender issues and genre distinctions). Prominent in the commentaries are comparisons with alternative texts, later adaptations, or excerpts on the same subjects from literary genres other than drama. In chapter appendices, the author provides raw materials for other comparative exercises. A full, annotated guide to further reading is also provided.