Readings of Shakespeare were both influenced by and influential in the rise of Gothic forms in literature and culture from the late eighteenth century onwards. Shakespeare's plays are full of ghosts, suspense, fear-inducing moments and cultural anxieties which many writers in the Gothic mode have since emulated, adapted and appropriated.

The contributors to this volume consider:

In Gothic Shakespeares, Shakespeare is considered alongside major Gothic texts and writers – from Horace Walpole, Ann Radcliffe, Matthew Lewis and Mary Shelley, up to and including contemporary Gothic fiction and horror film. This volume offers a highly original and truly provocative account of Gothic reformulations of Shakespeare, and Shakespeare's significance to the Gothic.

Contributors include: Fred Botting, Elizabeth Bronfen, Glennis Byron, Sue Chaplin, Steven Craig, John Drakakis, Michael Gamer, Jerrold Hogle, Peter Hutchings, Robert Miles, Dale Townshend, Scott Wilson and Angela Wright.