《皆大歡喜》通常與《無事生非》及《第十二夜》并列為莎翁的三大歡慶喜劇(festive comedy)。本劇有若干常見的莎劇主題，例如：由宮廷城都進入原始森林、善惡對比的兩兄弟、女扮男裝等等。
本劇的獨特點之一是亞登森林，它有些類似俠盜羅賓漢的雪梧森林、圣經(jīng)里的伊甸園，或是文學(xué)傳統(tǒng)的田野雅卡迪(Acardia)，象征著理想世界的憧憬及向往。女主角羅莎琳是莎劇中最生動迷人的角色之一，而她女扮男裝后和奧蘭多所發(fā)展的情誼，則引發(fā)了同性戀議題。
本劇在莎士比亞逝世后一直到1740年才開始有演出記錄，之后逐漸成為莎劇的常備劇目。到了20世紀，本劇因為同時呈現(xiàn)純真與嘲諷、浪漫與寫實，而同時吸引了喜好知識與夢想的觀眾。
This edition of Othello provides:
A clear and authoritative text,edited to the highest standards of scholarship.
Detailed notes and commentary on the same page as the text.
A full,illustrated introduction to the play's historical,cultural and performance contexts.
An in -depth survey of critical approaches to the play.
A full index to the introduction and notes.
A select bibliography of references and further reading.
With a wealth of helpful and incisive commentary,The Arden Shakespeare is the finest edition of Shakespeare you can find.
戴維•貝文頓(David Bevington)(著名莎士比亞專家、美國莎士比亞協(xié)會前任會長)
阿登版莎士比亞(今版已經(jīng)是三次修訂)一如既往地是莎士比亞諸多版本中金科玉律式的版本，其編注者均系國際著名莎士比亞專家；其所收原著文本具有性和性：其有關(guān)莎士比亞作品的評介頗為新穎，有令人茅塞頓開之效。(The Arden Shakespeate. now in its third series.continues to be the gold standard of Shakespeare editions. Its editors are Internationally known: the texts are authoritative：the commentary is illuminating and up to date.)
方平(著名莎士比亞專家、中國原莎士比亞學(xué)會會長)
阿登版莎士比亞是國際聞名的莎士比亞版本，質(zhì)量。現(xiàn)在能夠引入中國出版界，這是一件值得慶賀的盛事。
陸谷孫(著名莎士比亞專家、復(fù)量大學(xué)著名教授)
功不盡善則易器。用過幾種莎劇版本，效果都差強人意。我從上世紀80年代起采用New Arden Shakespeare(新阿登版莎士比亞)作為研究生莎劇的精讀教本至今，雖非無疑不解、無曲不察，但由此即可掌握細讀莎劇的基本技能。
裘克安(著名莎士比亞專家、商務(wù)印書館莎士比亞注釋叢書主編)
阿登版莎士比亞歷經(jīng)了自1891年以來幾代英國學(xué)者的精心編輯和修訂。它以核定莎士比亞文本為主，一劇一冊，直到1998年才合成全集一大冊出版。現(xiàn)在引進這套性和實用性均高的阿登版莎士比亞，必對中國莎學(xué)有很大裨益。
辜正坤(著名莎士比亞專家、北京大學(xué)教授、中國原莎士比亞學(xué)會副會長)
阿登版莎士比亞注釋宏富、評論精到，對莎士比亞文本考核嚴謹、且相關(guān)附錄文獻亦甚豐富，大世界眾多的莎士比亞版本中頗具性。
List of illustrations
General editors` preface
Preface
Introduction
A brief view of the play
Fictions of gender
Rosalind and the boy actor
Later Rosalinds
Celia
Orlando
Phoebe and Audrey
Date
The Forest of Arden
Well, this is the Forest of Arden`
The hunt
Robin Hood and his merry men
Staging the Forest of Arden
Early foresters
The Earl of Essex
Thomas Morley
Realms of gold
Shakespeare and Thomas Lodge
Shakespeare and Sidney
Harington, Ariosto and Rabelais
Golden worlds
Pastoral
Genre: entertainments for Elizabeth
Corin and Touchstone
Borderlands: love and politics
A wise man and a fool: Jaques and Touchstone
`A speaking picture`: readers and painters
Text
The staying order
The Folio text: provenance and editorial practices
Text and performance
Epilogue: `All the world`s a stage`
AS YOU LIKE IT
Appendix 1: A court epilogue, Shrovetide 1599
Appendix 2: Casting and doubling
Appendix 3: Ben Jonson, As You Like It and the `War of the Theatres`
Appendix 4: The Douai manuscript
Appendix 5: Political after-lives: Veracini`s opera Rosalinda(1744)and Charles Johnson`s Love in a Forest(1723)
Abbreviations and references
Abbreviations used in notes
Works by and partly by Shakespeare
Editions of Shakespeare collated
Other works cited
Manuscripts
Other works
Stage and film productions cited
Eighteenth-century productions
Nineteenth-century productions
Twentieth-century productions
Twenty-first-century productions
Index
