Editing Problem play (section)

==Shakespeare==
{{main|Shakespearean problem play}} 
Boas used the term to refer to a group of Shakespeare's plays which seem to contain both comic and tragic elements: ''[[Measure for Measure]]'', ''[[All's Well That Ends Well]]'', and ''[[Troilus and Cressida]]''. He wrote that "throughout these plays we move along dim untrodden paths, and at the close our feeling is neither of simple joy nor pain; we are excited, fascinated, perplexed, for the issues raised preclude a completely satisfactory outcome."<ref>F. S. Boas, ''Shakespeare and his Predecessors'', John Murray, Third Impression, 1910, pp. 344–408.</ref> Later critics have used the term for other plays, including ''[[Timon of Athens]]'' and ''[[The Merchant of Venice]]''.