The Shakespeare Handbook is an accessible and comprehensive introduction to Shakespeare and early modern literature. It provides a one-stop resource for students with the essential information and guidance needed from the beginning of a course through to developing more advanced knowledge and skills. It includes: - introductions to key texts and contexts - guides to key critics, concepts and topics - an overview of major critical approaches, changes in the canon and directions of current and future research - case studies in reading literary and theoretical and critical texts - annotated further reading (including websites), timeline and aglossary of critical terms. Written in clear language by leading academics, it is an indispensable starting point for anyone beginning their study of Shakespeare.