Addressing the continued timeliness of Shakespeare's work, a leading Shakespearean scholar reassesses ten key plays to explore the interconnection between the playwright and the modern world.

The tempest : the conundrum of man -- Romeo and Juliet : the untimeliness of youth -- Coriolanus : the estrangement of self -- Macbeth : the necessity of interpretation -- Richard III : the problem of fact -- The merchant of Venice : the question of intention -- Othello : the persistence of difference -- Henry V : the quest for exemplarity -- Hamlet : the matter of character -- King Lear : the dream of sublimity.