Shakespeare : the invention of the human / Harold Bloom. [print]

Chronology -- To the reader -- Shakespeare's universalism -- The early comedies. The Comedy of Errors -- The Taming of The Shrew -- The Two Gentlemen of Verona -- The first histories. Henry VI -- King John -- Richard III -- The apprentice tragedies. Titus Andronicus -- Romeo and Juliet -- Julius Caesar -- The high comedies. Love's Labour's Lost -- A Midsummer Night's Dream -- The Merchant of Venice -- Much Ado About Nothing -- As You Like It -- Twelfth Night -- The major histories. Richard II -- Henry IV -- The Merry Wives of Windsor -- Henry V -- The "problem plays." Troilus and Cressida -- All's Well That Ends Well -- Measure for Measure -- The great tragedies. Hamlet -- Othello -- King Lear -- Macbeth -- Antony and Cleopatra -- Tragic epilogue. Coriolanus -- Timon of Athens -- The late romances. Pericles -- Cymbeline -- The Winter's Tale -- The Tempest -- Henry VIII -- The Two Noble Kinsmen -- Coda : the Shakespearean difference -- A word at the end : foregrounding.

The author offers an analysis of some of the central work of the Western canon, and of the playwright who not only invented the English language, but who also arguably created human nature as we know it today. Before Shakespeare there was characterization; after Shakespeare, there were characters, men and women capable of change, with highly individual personalities. In this book, the author outlines why Shakespeare has remained a popular and universal dramatist for more than four centuries.