Professor Schlueter approaches this early Shakespearean comedy as a parody of
two types of Renaissance educational fiction: the love-quest story and the
test-of-friendship story, which by their combination show the pitfalls of
high-flown human ideals. A thoroughly researched, illustrated stage history
reveals changing conceptions of the play, which has tempted many nineteenth- and
twentieth-century directors and actors, who often fail, nevertheless, to come to
terms with the plays subversive impetus.