This vintage book contains a fascinating treatise on the comic characters of Shakespeare’s plays. With textual analysis and an exploration of the concept of comedy, this is a volume that will appeal to fans of Shakespeare’s work and one that will be of considerable utility to students of literature. Contents include: William Shakespeare , Introduction , Touchstone , Shylock , Bottom , Beatrice and Benedick , Love’s Labour’s Lost , As You Like It , The Merchant of Venice , A Midsummer Night’s Dream , and Much Ado About Nothing . Many vintage books such as this are becoming increasingly scarce and expensive. We are republishing this volume now in an affordable, high-quality edition complete with a specially commissioned new biography of Shakespeare. This book was first published in 1956.