Tracing Dickens' interest in Shakespeare through his own reading and performance and through numerous theatrical, literary, and artistic sources, Shakespeare and Dickens argues that imaginative transformations of Shakespeare's words and ideas enrich all aspects of Dickens' writing, including aesthetic principles, language, imagery, plot, theme, tone, structure, and characterization. The book proceeds to examine theoretical ideas about influence and allusion as aspects of style, and analyzes ways in which Dickens typically employs references to Shakespeare. The final section catalogues approximately one thousand references to Shakespeare's plays and poems drawn from Dickens' fiction, essays, letters, and speeches.