This book attempts to guide the reader through ten of Shakespeare's plays by gathering together and integrating the interpretations of some of the leading Shakespearean scholars into a single coherent discussion. The writings of Bloom, Bradley, Goddard, Greenblatt, Hazlitt and Van Doren, among others, have been consulted for this purpose. The discussion proceeds sequentially through each play, focusing on passages that are either particularly beautiful or that are important in bringing out Shakespeare's meaning. To do this efficiently, the book refers to passages using line numbers and hence is keyed to a particular edition of the plays. The Arden edition has been used for this purpose.