This volume approaches Shakespeare's play from four declared positions within literary criticism: Girard (on mimesis); Spivak (on postcolonialism); Irigaray (on feminist otherness); and Frye (on genre). It aims to illustrate how complex critical theories might affect critical practice and to illuminate both the play and the theories themselves. The spread of perspectives has been chosen with modern cultural and critical concerns in mind. The bibliography and essay introductions are intended to help those new to theory to assimilate and apply it in reading or seeing the play.