Introduction. Part I: Shakespeare, Hamlet, Selfhood. 1. Hamlet and failure
2. 'A room ... at the back of the shop'
3. Egyptianism (our fascist future)
4. 'Become who you are!'
5. Hamlet and self-love
6. 'To thine own self be true'
7. Listening to ghosts
8. Shakespeare's self
Part II. Shakespeare and Evil. 9. 'Old lad, I am thine own: authenticity and Titus Andronicus
10. Evil and self-creation
11. Libertarian Shakespeare: Mill, Bradley
12. Shakespearean immoral individualism: Gide
13. Strange Shakespeare: Symons and others
14. Eliot's rejection of Shakespeare
15. Shakespearean immoralism: Antony and Cleopatra
16. Making oneself known: Montaigne and the Sonnets
Part III. Shakespeare and Self-Government. 17. Freedom and self-government: The Tempest
18. Calibanism
Conclusion: Shakespeare's 'beauteous freedom'.