Abstract
Shakespearean comedy is about getting the girl or the boy, but it is also about love, and one ingredient that makes this possible is the sonnet. ‘Love’ argues that love is not only a consistent concern in Shakespeare’s comedy, but also an original one. Shakespeare provides sustained, two-way courtship in which the affection of women is taken seriously despite the ludicrous confusion that inevitably occurs. This confused courtship lies at the heart of romantic comedy, a modern genre that Shakespeare could be said to invent. Some successful films based on Shakespeare’s comedies are described, including 10 Things I Hate About You (1999), based on The Taming of the Shrew.
