Shakespeare e a estética alemã

The study of German aesthetics as Philosophie der Kunst – specifically the romantic and idealistic aesthetics – requires a thorough analysis of the reception of Shakespeare developed by authors such as lessing, Herder, Goethe, a. W. Schlegel, F. Schlegel and Hegel. Our paper is an attempt to set out the aesthetic relevance of the exalting and passionate German reception of Shakespeare and its implications within the process of defining aesthetics as Philosophie der Kunst. The elucidation of the German perspective on Shakespeare as a pre-eminent aesthetic object – a pre-eminent philosophical object – is the chief purpose of our essay.