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xv Introduction THE HISTORICAL PERIOD The comedies Shakespeare wrote during the late 16th and early 17th centu- ries performed two remarkable but seemingly oppositional acts: they har- kened back to a classical tradition and in many ways remained remarkably conservative in their form and content, while simultaneously they were contemporary and relevant to Shakespeare’s theater audience. One reason for this adaptability is that comedy as a genre is rooted in classical tradi- tion, but this tradition remained timely and fl exible enough to be adapt- able to the entertainment needs of late 16th-century theater audiences. For Renaissance audiences, comedy functioned in much the same way it had for Greek and Roman audiences between the fi fth- and second-century BCE. The Greek roots of the word “comedy” suggest the universal nature of comedy: “komo” referenced the god of revelry. London theatergoers were, like their classical predecessors, eager for revelry and the release afforded by comedy. More specifi cally, the word “comedy” is etymolog- ically derived from komoidia , a combination of “komos” and “ode,” or