Courteous exchanges

<i>Courteous Exchanges</i> explores the significant overlap between Edmund Spenser's <i>Faerie Queene</i> and Shakespeare's plays showing how both facilitate the critique of Renaissance aristocratic identity. Moving from a consideration of Castiglione's <i>Book of the Courtier</i> as a text that encouraged reader engagement the book offers new readings of Shakespeare's plays in conjunction with Spenser. It pairs <i>Love's Labour's Lost</i> <i>Much Ado About Nothing</i> <i>The Merchant of Venice</i> and <i>The Winter's Tale</i> with <i>The Faerie Queene</i> in order to explore how topics such as education gender religion race and aristocratic identity are offered up to reader and audience interpretation.