How to use this handbook -- The life of William Shakespeare -- Shakespeare in his time -- Elizabethan and Jacobean theatre -- Shakespeare's canon -- Shakespeare's language -- The works of Shakespeare -- The history plays: Henry VI, part I -- Henry VI, part II -- Henry VI, part III -- Richard III -- King John -- Edward III -- Richard II -- Henry IV, part I -- Henry IV, part II -- Henry V -- Henry VIII -- The comedies: The comedy of errors -- The taming of the shrew -- The two gentlemen of Verona -- Love's labour's lost -- A midsummer night's dream -- The merchant of Venice -- The merry wives of Windsor -- Much ado about nothing -- As you like it -- Twelfth night -- Troilus and Cressida -- All's well that ends well -- Measure for measure -- The tragedies: Titus Andronicus -- Romeo and Juliet -- Julius Caesar -- Hamlet -- Othello -- King Lear -- Macbeth -- Antony and Cleopatra -- Coriolanus -- Timon of Athens -- The romances: Pericles -- Cymbeline -- The winter's tale -- The tempest -- The two noble kinsmen -- Non-dramatic poetry: The narrative poems: Venus and Adonis -- The rape of Lucrece -- The phoenix and the turtle -- A lover's complaint -- The lyric poems: The sonnets -- Shall I die? -- Epitaphs -- Global Shakespeare -- Index -- Picture credits & acknowledgements.