This study investigates how twentieth-century literary criticism has continuously reconstructed Shakespeare to serve contemporary ideological needs. Hugh Grady, a scholar of Shakespearean studies, utilizes a framework rooted in new historicism to examine the social and institutional pressures shaping academic discourse. He argues that the pursuit of an authentic Shakespeare is a persistent myth, revealing instead how critics have consistently refashioned the playwright to preserve cultural values against the encroachment of professional positivism in the modern university system.

Scholars recognize this work as a significant contribution to the meta-critical study of Shakespearean interpretation. Readers frequently note the academic density of the prose, which is intended for advanced students and researchers in the field of literary theory.