THE ORIGINAL VERSION OF THIS BOOK WAS WRITTEN AS AN introduction to the study of Shakespeare's tragedies for German students, and I can only hope that these interpretations will be of some interest and use to English readers too. There is, of course, no lack of critical aids of similar scope and it is not surprising that many books on Shakespeare begin with an attempt to justify their existence. Yet it is simply in the nature of great works of art that they refuse to be tied down to any ‘definitive’ reading. Each generation has to discover its own approach and even the most brilliant criticism, while it can make the task a lot easier, tends to strike us as distinctly dated after some time.

It has not been my intention to offer a comprehensive guide to all aspects of Shakespeare criticism or a handbook of facts and problems, but to sharpen the reader' awareness of the undiminished vitality of these plays. I have neither suppressed my own personal preferences nor, I hope, presented an all too one-sided view of the texts. Above all I have tried to encourage the kind of active collaboration of readers (and spectators) that seems to me the chief end of good criticism. I have put rather more emphasis on the dramatic characters than has been usual or fashionable for some time because it is still through these characters that most readers and theatre-goers begin to get interested in the plays. I have, at the same time, tried to give a reasonably full account of previous scholarship, of traditional problems and the more interesting controversies.