Shakespeare's Villains is a close reading of Shakespeare's plays to investigate the nature of evil. Charney closely considers the way that dramatic characters are developed in terms of language, imagery, and nonverbal stage effects. With chapters on Iago, Tarquin, Aaron, Richard Duke of Glaucester, Shylock, Claudius, Polonius, Macbeth, Edmund, Goneril, Regan, Angelo, Tybalt, Don John, Iachimo, Lucio, Julius Caesar, Leontes, and Duke Frederick, this book is the first comprehensive study of the villains in Shakespeare.

"How to Read Shakespeare" offers an approach to Shakespeare through reading and seeing his plays. The assumption is that Shakespeare's plays are fully comprehensible to modern readers and theater-goers and that they can be thoroughly enjoyed. The author approaches the plays creatively without the barriers of academic study. Some of the specific topics studied are Dramatic Conventions, The Poetry of the Theater, Shakespeare's Characters, Structure and Dramatic Scene, The Presented Text, and The World of the Play: Theatrical Significances. "How to Read Shakespeare" encourages readers to develop...