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Written about the same time as Hamlet, Twelfth Night could be regarded as the last of Shakespeare's truly "comic" comedies. Though the later plays Measure for Measure and All's Well That Ends Well are technically comedies, Shakespeare approaches them and many other plays with a sense of bitterness and loss. Most critics now call them "problem plays" (along with Troilus and Cressida) because they don't fit easily into any genre.

• Other Shakespeare plays of this period.
• Polonius on the different dramatic genres of the time.

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