The process of writing this book began at least as early as the mid-1970s, when, as a young assistant professor, I was given the opportunity to teach the Shakespeare lecture course at Yale. I taught a version of that course at Haverford College, and, in 1981, when I came to Harvard, I began lecturing in Emerson Hall, Paine Hall, and, ultimately, Sanders Theater, teaching undergraduates, graduate students, and—to my great pleasure—many alumni and members of the general public who began to attend these open lectures regularly and to share with me their own love of Shakespeare.
