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Asks whether it is possible to talk sensibly about Shakespeare’s works, identifying two barriers to this action: problems of understanding utterances from different times and cultures and difficulty of reading others’ minds. Concludes that it is not impossible to understand early modern Englishman's utterances but cognitive science does not provide magic key to provide complete grasp of how mental decisions of characters may occur.

Contends that Ralph Fiennes’ Coriolanus (q.v.) makes performance choices that represent the citizens of Rome as factious rather than as fickle, as they are often portrayed. Notes that, in terms of democracy, fickleness is seen as negative trait, whereas factiousness is integral part of political system because it allows for diversity of opinions. Argues Fiennes emphasizes citizens' factiousness through “changes to dialogue, staging, and the race and ethnicity of the characters.”

Argues that Tempest anticipates late twentieth-century cyborg theory through its character Caliban. Observes that Caliban’s “creatureliness” extends human bounds in ways that resonate with the political focus in cyborg studies on intersection of feminism and colonialist discourse. Views Alex Garland’s film Ex Machina as idiosyncratic adaptation of Tempest that reveals posthuman implications of Shakespeare’s play.

Discusses how, in scenes between Romeo and Juliet in that play, Shakespeare transforms formal features of lyric poetry into dramatic poetry as well as theater. Demonstrates how Shakespeare creates passionate intimacy of lovers’ world through embodiment of lyric forms, especially sonnet, epithalamium, and aubade. Draws upon several of Shakespeare’s sources, including Sidney’s Astrophil and Stella, Marlowe’s Hero and Leander, and Arthur Brooke’s Romeus and Juliet, to explore how Shakespeare infuses quintessence of Elizabethan love poetry into play. English summary, 237.

Acknowledges key role that romantic love plays in Romeo and Juliet’s critique of feudal society, which allows antagonism between unlikely lovers’ noble households to undermine their chance at finding true love. Concludes that play endorses strong, centralized state as necessity to secure citizens' welfare. English summary, 447.

Briefly analyzes Act 4, scene 6 of King Lear to explore dominant ideas about representation of “feeling” in dramatic texts. Discovers that, in bodyworld dynamics, materiality of discourse back-forms felt perception and thereby not only reflects but conditions how one “feels.” English summary, 69.

Focuses on YouTube instantiations of composer Nino Rota’s “What Is a Youth” (also known as “A Time for Us”), theme from Franco Zeffirelli’s film Romeo and Juliet (1968, q.v.) in order to investigate process of “signposting,” defined as “the visual and auditory articulation of a carefully chosen set of commonplaces [to] stand successfully in lieu of Shakespeare’s words.” Illustrates how YouTube creators position their work culturally and build “Shakespearean-ness” through a range of direct and indirect visual cues, along with standard associations with plot of Romeo and Juliet.

Argues that blank documents became important signifiers in drama of Shakespeare’s time because of their ability to call signification into question, as well as to probe relationship between authorship and authority. Contends that permissiveness of blank documents proves dangerous in political dramas, both on and off stage. Draws examples from Troilus and Cressida, Twelfth Night, Merry Wives of Windsor, and Richard II. English summary, 259.

Uses Shakespeare’s Sonnet 73 as introduction to investigate question about whether Anglican Monasticism has run its course or whether it has a future.

Identifies the paradox that, although Othello loves Desdemona, on some level he wants to believe in her infidelity. Claims that this belief is provoked by deep-seated fears and anxieties inextricably connected with profound ontological dependence that one forms when one is in love. Maintains that Othello can only do away with this fear and anxiety by embracing jealousy, which liberates him from the unbearable ontological fear of loss of love. English summary, 149.