Includes bibliographical references (p. [391]-407) and index.

Primal scenes -- The dream of restoration -- The great fear -- Wooing, wedding, and repenting -- Crossing the bridge -- Life in the suburbs -- Shakescene -- Master-mistress -- Laughter at the scaffold -- Speaking with the dead -- Bewitching the king -- The triumph of the everyday.

A young man from the provinces a man without wealth, connections, or university education--moves to London. In a remarkably short time he becomes the greatest playwright not just of his age but of all time. His works appeal to urban sophisticates and first-time theatergoers; he turns politics into poetry; he recklessly mingles vulgar clowning and philosophical subtlety. How is such an achievement to be explained? How did Shakespeare become Shakespeare? [In this volume, the author] enables us to see, hear, and feel how an acutely sensitive and talented boy, surrounded by the rich tapestry of Elizabethan life - full of drama and pageantry, and also cruelty and danger - could have become the world's greatest playwright ... In every case, [the author] brings a flash of illumination to the work, enabling us to experience these great plays again as if for the first time, and with greater understanding and appreciation of their extraordinary depth and humanity.-Dust jacket.