The title of this book means what it says: it is an exploration of Shakespeare’s language, not a comprehensive survey. It is an introduction from a particular point of view. Books and anthologies with the words Shakespeare and Language in the title are numerous, and they represent a coming together of several traditions in theatre, literary criticism, philology, and linguistics. Mine is basically a nutsand- bolts approach, governed by one basic principle – that one should never examine a linguistic nut or bolt without asking ‘what does it do?’ And ‘what does it do?’ means two things: how does it help us understand the meaning of what is said (a semantic explanation), and how does it help us appreciate the dramatic or poetic effect of what is said (a pragmatic explanation