Issues of Death offers a fresh approach to the tragic drama of Shakespeare and his contemporaries. Starting from the premise that death is a historical construct that is differently experienced in every culture, it treats Renaissance tragedy as an instrument for re-imagining the human encounter with death. Analyses of major plays by Marlowe, Kyd, Shakespeare, Webster, Middleton, and Ford explore the relation of tragedy to the macabre tradition, to the apocalyptic displays of the anatomy theatre, and to the spectacular arts of funeral.