pstrongArgues that Shakespeare transforms philosophies of comedy and melancholy by revising them concomitantlystrongp pIconic as emHamletem is, Shakespearean comedy showcases an extraordinary reliance on melancholy that ultimately reminds us of the porous demarcation between laughter and sorrow. This richly contextualized study of Shakespeare's comic engagement with sadness contends that the playwright rethinks melancholy through comic theatre and conversely, re-theorizes comedy through melancholy. In fashioning his own comic interpretation of the humour, Shakespeare distils an impressive array of philosophical discourses on the matter, from Aristotle to Robert Burton and as a result, transforms the theoretical afterlife of both notions. The book suggests that the deceptively potent sorrow at the core of plays such as emThe Comedy of Errorsem, emTwelfth Nightem, or emThe Winter's Taleem influences modern accounts of melancholia elaborated by Sigmund Freud, Judith Butler, and others. Wh