This book investigates the reciprocal relationship between Shakespearean drama and the development of psychoanalytic theory. Philip Armstrong, a scholar of early modern literature, argues that psychoanalysis is not merely a tool for interpreting Shakespeare, but that the foundational texts of psychoanalysis were themselves shaped by the reading of Shakespearean plays. By examining the history of this intellectual exchange, Armstrong demonstrates how the two fields have co-evolved to define modern understandings of the human subject.

Experts recognize this work as a significant contribution to the history of literary theory and the reception of Shakespeare. Readers frequently note the academic density of the prose, which provides a rigorous framework for understanding how psychoanalysis and literature inform one another.