What has been the role played by principles, patterns and situations of conflict in the construction of Shakespeare's myth, and in its European and then global spread? The fascinatingly complex picture that emerges from this collection provides new insight into Shakespeare's unique position in world literature and culture.

What are Shakespeare's uses of the conceptual space of conflict? And what has been the role played by principles, patterns and situations of conflict in the construction of the Shakespeare myth, and in its European and then global spread? This collection looks, from a truly pan-European vantage point, at the variety of conflictive and conflicting dimensions embedded in Shakespeare's texts (Part I); at the way Shakespeare's universe of discourse has been enlisted to address and dramatize conflicts of a socio-political, cultural or aesthetic nature (Part II); and at how Shakespearean meanings have been renegotiated through reception and reproduction in actual historical contexts of strife or outright belligerence (Part III). The fascinatingly complex picture that emerges from the original studies gathered here provides new insight into Shakespeare's unique position in world literature and culture.