The undisputed virtuosity of William Shakespeare's theatrical works-and their perennial relationship to the experience of being human-assures their continued importance in the cultural life of the twenty-first century. But Shakespeare is a subject of interest not only in the theater; his life and work remain among the foremost themes of literary and historical scholarship. However, virtually every scholarly commentary on Shakespeare's dramas remains, on a deeper level, unsatisfying. This is because the profound depths of these plays are not, in fact, accessible to a strictly intellectual...