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Analyzes Daniel Chodowiecki's illustrations of Tempest that appeared in a 1787 German almanac. Shows how Chodowiecki's etchings reflect actions and themes in the plays. Suggests that these etchings display both "a visual engagement with the plays and an intellectual and visual embellishment of a highly practical, popular printed form."

By examining Shakespeare's punning pedants in Loves's Labor's Lost and jesters in Twelfth Night, argues that the two show opposite punning; while Feste "proves a virtuoso punster trading witty repartees whenever opportunity offers," Holofernes's wordplay "appear[s] highly impenetrable and flat in effect." English summary, 7.

Shows how Friedrich Gotter's Die Geisterinsel [The Haunted Island], a libretto that adapts Tempest, continues a Shakespearean aesthetic by including the spectacular and the wonderful in a literary way.

Considers representations of the natural world, role of history, and place of the individual in Shakespeare and Johann Gottfried Herder's Shakespearean criticism.

Argues that character-centered study in Shakespearean works is important for undergraduate students, as characters provide "important ideas about ourselves and our social dynamics."

Attempts to find and unravel allusions to Venetian carnival in Merchant of Venice: for instance, "the masking celebrations around Bassanio's plan to woo Portia and Lorenzo's abduction of Jessica." Contends that the play "suggests how carnival functions . . . as a continuous dissembling of a having and renouncing of the flesh." Relates carnival ideas of flesh to questions of gender, race, and sexuality. English summary, 427.

Demonstrates that Ludwig Tieck's often-overlooked edition of Tempest captured Shakespeare's mix of reality and fantasy, excited emotions in readers, and used comedy and music effectively.

Examines Christoph Wieland's translation of Macbeth in order to show how he "translated anew," that is, did not follow established rules and traditions for translating literary classics into German.

Applies theories of Greek and modern tragedy and Noh drama to Throne of Blood, Akira Kurosawa's reworking of Macbeth. Argues that Kurosawa uses Noh aesthetics to create the film's metaphysical ground.

Draws on Hamlet to explores how early modern writers used metadramatic tropes to respond to discoveries in astronomy and cosmology.