Reading Room - Tragedies

Stephen Booth, King Lear, Macbeth, Indefinition and Tragedy (1983) – not for beginners, but very penetrating

Graham Bradshaw, Shakespeare's Scepticism (1987) – particularly good on the radical scepticism of Hamlet and Troilus and Cressida, but valuable as an approach to all the plays, not just the tragedies

Stanley Cavell, Disowning Knowledge in Seven Plays of Shakespeare (1987) – still less for beginners, but full of philosophical insight; the essay on 'The Avoidance of Love' is among the best pieces ever written on Lear

Fintan O'Toole, Shakespeare is Hard, but so is Life: A Radical Guide to Shakespearian Tragedy (2002) – ideal for beginners, especially in exposing the uselessness of the idea of 'the tragic flaw' (on Hamlet, Othello, Macbeth, Lear; was originally published in 1990 with the title No More Heroes)

T. J. B. Spencer, Shakespeare's Plutarch (1968) – a key to understanding the Roman plays

There are hundreds more fine books on Shakespeare, but anyone who reads The RSC Shakespeare: Complete Works from cover to cover and then devours a reasonable proportion of the above will have earned the right to consider themselves an exceptionally highly informed Shakespearean.