《皆大欢喜》通常与《无事生非》及《第十二夜》并列为莎翁的三大欢庆喜剧(festive comedy)。本剧有若干常见的莎剧主题，例如：由宫廷城都进入原始森林、善恶对比的两兄弟、女扮男装等等。
本剧的独特点之一是亚登森林，它有些类似侠盗罗宾汉的雪梧森林、圣经里的伊甸园，或是文学传统的田野雅卡迪(Acardia)，象征着理想世界的憧憬及向往。女主角罗莎琳是莎剧中最生动迷人的角色之一，而她女扮男装后和奥兰多所发展的情谊，则引发了同性恋议题。
本剧在莎士比亚逝世后一直到1740年才开始有演出记录，之后逐渐成为莎剧的常备剧目。到了20世纪，本剧因为同时呈现纯真与嘲讽、浪漫与写实，而同时吸引了喜好知识与梦想的观众。
This edition of Othello provides:
A clear and authoritative text,edited to the highest standards of scholarship.
Detailed notes and commentary on the same page as the text.
A full,illustrated introduction to the play's historical,cultural and performance contexts.
An in -depth survey of critical approaches to the play.
A full index to the introduction and notes.
A select bibliography of references and further reading.
With a wealth of helpful and incisive commentary,The Arden Shakespeare is the finest edition of Shakespeare you can find.
戴维•贝文顿(David Bevington)(著名莎士比亚专家、美国莎士比亚协会前任会长)
阿登版莎士比亚(今版已经是三次修订)一如既往地是莎士比亚诸多版本中金科玉律式的版本，其编注者均系国际著名莎士比亚专家；其所收原著文本具有性和性：其有关莎士比亚作品的评介颇为新颖，有令人茅塞顿开之效。(The Arden Shakespeate. now in its third series.continues to be the gold standard of Shakespeare editions. Its editors are Internationally known: the texts are authoritative：the commentary is illuminating and up to date.)
方平(著名莎士比亚专家、中国原莎士比亚学会会长)
阿登版莎士比亚是国际闻名的莎士比亚版本，质量。现在能够引入中国出版界，这是一件值得庆贺的盛事。
陆谷孙(著名莎士比亚专家、复量大学著名教授)
功不尽善则易器。用过几种莎剧版本，效果都差强人意。我从上世纪80年代起采用New Arden Shakespeare(新阿登版莎士比亚)作为研究生莎剧的精读教本至今，虽非无疑不解、无曲不察，但由此即可掌握细读莎剧的基本技能。
裘克安(著名莎士比亚专家、商务印书馆莎士比亚注释丛书主编)
阿登版莎士比亚历经了自1891年以来几代英国学者的精心编辑和修订。它以核定莎士比亚文本为主，一剧一册，直到1998年才合成全集一大册出版。现在引进这套性和实用性均高的阿登版莎士比亚，必对中国莎学有很大裨益。
辜正坤(著名莎士比亚专家、北京大学教授、中国原莎士比亚学会副会长)
阿登版莎士比亚注释宏富、评论精到，对莎士比亚文本考核严谨、且相关附录文献亦甚丰富，大世界众多的莎士比亚版本中颇具性。
List of illustrations
General editors` preface
Preface
Introduction
A brief view of the play
Fictions of gender
Rosalind and the boy actor
Later Rosalinds
Celia
Orlando
Phoebe and Audrey
Date
The Forest of Arden
Well, this is the Forest of Arden`
The hunt
Robin Hood and his merry men
Staging the Forest of Arden
Early foresters
The Earl of Essex
Thomas Morley
Realms of gold
Shakespeare and Thomas Lodge
Shakespeare and Sidney
Harington, Ariosto and Rabelais
Golden worlds
Pastoral
Genre: entertainments for Elizabeth
Corin and Touchstone
Borderlands: love and politics
A wise man and a fool: Jaques and Touchstone
`A speaking picture`: readers and painters
Text
The staying order
The Folio text: provenance and editorial practices
Text and performance
Epilogue: `All the world`s a stage`
AS YOU LIKE IT
Appendix 1: A court epilogue, Shrovetide 1599
Appendix 2: Casting and doubling
Appendix 3: Ben Jonson, As You Like It and the `War of the Theatres`
Appendix 4: The Douai manuscript
Appendix 5: Political after-lives: Veracini`s opera Rosalinda(1744)and Charles Johnson`s Love in a Forest(1723)
Abbreviations and references
Abbreviations used in notes
Works by and partly by Shakespeare
Editions of Shakespeare collated
Other works cited
Manuscripts
Other works
Stage and film productions cited
Eighteenth-century productions
Nineteenth-century productions
Twentieth-century productions
Twenty-first-century productions
Index
