Introduction
The Introduction claims the centrality of comedy as a Renaissance genre. It outlines the study’s thesis, that Shakespearean comedy contains an aura of enchantment that plays against its rationalist dimension and that enchantment effects can provoke thought, communalism, and ethical awareness. The Introduction locates the argument in various contexts: that of recent theories of comedy, including those emphasizing rationalism; that of modern disenchantment and countervailing defenses of wonder and enchantment; that of ideas of the comic surplus as demarcating a mysterious, even Utopian, aspect of comedy; that of recent critical interest in magic and medievalism; and, finally, that of present-day criticism of Shakespearean comedy. Studies of Shakespeare’s comedy sometimes avoid confronting its fantasy dimension, which can use experiences of enchantment to put the dominant narrative (along with its own claims) in doubt. In the comedies, enchantment can be revelatory—while remaining a little ridiculous and demanding continued thought.