This collection of essays reassesses a range of Shakespeare's plays in relation to carnivalesque theory. The plays discussed include: "Henry IV"; "Romeo and Juliet"; "A Midsummer Night's Dream"; "The Merry Wives of Windsor"; "Hamlet"; "Measure For Measure"; "The Winter's Tale"; and "Henry VIII". Contributors re-historicize the carnivalesque in different ways, offering both a developed application, or critique of, Bakhtin's thought.