This book contends that Shakespeare's so-called "problem plays" can be viewed as experiments in the Mannerist style. The plays reappraised here are Julius Caesar, Hamlet, Troilus and Cressida, All's Well That Ends Well and Measure for Measure. Maquerlot reveals intriguing analogies between Shakespeare's plays and the structural ambiguity of certain Italian Mannerist paintings, establishing the relevance to drama of a concept imported from the field of visual art.