Introduction

This introduction presents an overview of key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book deals with the history of the tales that the dramatist employs, with the tissue of meanings that surrounds them, and the cultural tensions that are exhibited through the playwright's departures from expected stances or patterns of event. It illustrates the validity of Sidney's dictum with regard to the potency of tales and their enduring value as instruments for the exploration and promulgation of ideas, the procedures employed in the course of it are designed to emulate his strategy for sustaining the reader's interest. The contextualization of the plays is designed to exhibit the continuing interest and importance of the investigation of Shakespeare's sources, while the exploration of the process of adaptation in which the dramatist engages may be seen as an introduction to the dialogic nature of Renaissance drama as a whole.