What is the author's tone in the biography, Will in the World?

There are three important elements of tone in this book. The first is based in its general use of language, in that it's written in an academic but relatively casual style. This gives the book the tone of being both easy to understand and accessible, in that complexity of many of the theories and connections the author proposes is made more comprehensible by the relative simplicity of his language. The second element of tone is the sense of certainty with which the author presents his theories. Even a not-too-close analysis of the book reveals that the evidence the author presents to support his theories is, for the most part, circumstantial - rarely, however, if ever, does present this as being the case. In other words, he presents his theories in a style both confident and exacting, lending the book a tone of accomplishment and certainty. This combines with the first quality of tone to create the sense that the author is sure the reader will buy into his theories - that they are undoubtedly viable. A critical reader, however, might find this sense of confidence off-putting, and perhaps even arrogant. In other words, the author is a far from fully objective writer - he seems, in fact, to be quite subjective, interested in developing and presenting his own perspective rather than placing it fully within a more broadly defined context. Yes he refers to other writers and other analyses of the relationship between Shakespeare's life and work - however, these other points of view seem to receive, for the most part, little more than glancing attention. On the other hand there is the third quality of tone, found in passages where the author technique includes precisely excised quotes of Shakespeare's plays to illustrate the relationship between Shakespeare's life and work.