ABSTRACT
The publication of the new Oxford Shakespeare is a chance to assess the current state of dramatis personae listings. The obvious comparisons are with the Riverside Shakespeare, the Bevington Shakespeare, and certain recent single-text editions in the New Arden, New Cambridge, and Oxford series. Since there are no 'Names of the Actors' in the quartos, the seven Folio plays so provided are the basis for a new listing of dramatis personae. The problem is present in other dramatis personae listings, where the editor is not constrained by the Folio. Social rank is the standard to which a dramatis personae must address itself, however much the issues may be finessed through such expedients as 'son of', 'wife to', 'friend of'. 'Braggart', which is found in the text and speech-prefixes of Love's Labour's Lost. The Merry Wives of Windsor is a play about people besotted with upward mobility, but an editor is not obliged to acquiesce in their aspirations.
