"Comedies," as one of Shakespeare's contemporaries wrote, 'begin in trouble and end in peace." This is certainly true of the four masterworks selected for this collection--The Taming of the Shrew, A Midsummer Night's Dream, Twelfth Night, and The Tempest--each of which represents a significant stage in the development of the world's greatest dramatist. Reading these plays, we sample the whole comic spectrum of the Elizabethan world--from the satiric comes that portrays a world of people whose unreasonable behavior is ludicrous and in need of reform to the romantic comedy that takes us into a dreamlike holiday world whose inhabitants, for all their folly, are still endearing characters. And to give these plays more meaning for the modern reader, this edition includes the following special features: An Introduction by Sylvan Barnet, general editor of the Signet Classic Shakespeare series Reliable texts by noted Shakespeare scholars Texts printed in the clearest, most readable type Name of each speaker given in full Detailed footnotes at the bottom of each page keyed to the numbered lines of the text Textual notes Updated bibliography --back cover