In this study the eminent Shakespearean Adrian Poole explains why this play is so different from the four widely regarded as Shakespeare's greatest: Hamlet, King Lear, Othello and Macbeth. Poole shows that while Shakespeare is dramatising the most famous love affair in the ancient world, his handlin...

In this study the eminent Shakespearean Adrian Poole explains why this play is so different from the four widely regarded as Shakespeare's greatest: Hamlet, King Lear, Othello and Macbeth. Poole shows that while Shakespeare is dramatising the most famous love affair in the ancient world, his handling of sex and politics is strikingly modern.