Introduction

This introduction provides an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book argues that Shakespeare has an evolving aesthetic self-consciousness which culminates in the plays he writes – both as a sole author and collaboratively with Fletcher – after 1608. It considers some of the main conduits through which Aristotelian theory was available to Shakespeare and we will explore ways in which Aristotle's Poetics was shaping contemporary attitudes to dramatic genre. The book discusses the catalogue of plays in Shakespeare's First Folio, from which the category of tragicomedy is notably absent. It also considers the dissemination of Guarinian theory in England by Daniel, Marston and most importantly, Fletcher. In examining Shakespeare's collaborations with Fletcher, the book explores the two key ideas of verisimilitude and pastoral which are integral to the conceptual framework of Guarinian tragicomedy.