For the World is Broad and Wide

Globalisation is not a modern phenomenon, but as old as humanity itself. Encounters with other cultures play a central role in this: the way individuals and societies react to them not only gives us deep insights into how other cultures are perceived, but also into our own self-image. This dissertation examines precisely these intercultural encounters in a period that is considered one of the most influential epochs of globalisation in the modern sense: the early modern period in England. Using six selected plays by William Shakespeare (Titus Andronicus, A Midsummer Night's Dream, The Merchant of Venice, Othello, Cymbeline and The Tempest) as examples, the development of the representation of these encounters is traced in three phases, defined by the orientation of the central border crossing (transgression, presence and inversion). This development reflects, according to the thesis, the socio-cultural discourses of the period in which the plays were written, which help to understand how processes of early modern globalisation were taken up, continued, rewritten and shaped.