ORCID

https://orcid.org/0009-0008-4844-9583

Date of Award

2026

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

English (Ph.D.)

Department

English

First Advisor

Steven R. Mentz

Second Advisor

Granville Ganter,

Third Advisor

Scott Combs

Abstract

This dissertation explores how Shakespeare’s plays and their film adaptations reflect and respond to the conditions of the Anthropocene, arguing that both forms of art can foster an environmental ethic attuned to the interconnectedness of human and nonhuman worlds. It proposes that the Anthropocene did not begin with industrialization but rather intensified a much older pattern of human ecological intervention, a process that becomes increasingly visible from the early modern period to the twentieth century. By situating Shakespeare within this expanded temporal framework, this dissertation reveals how his works anticipate and interrogate the very assumptions about anthropocentrism that underpin modern environmental crises. Through close readings of selected plays and their cinematic adaptations, the dissertation demonstrates how both mediums destabilize the boundaries between self and environment, exposing the fragility of the humanist subject and revealing the entanglements that define ecological existence. Bringing ecocriticism into dialogue with film theory, the project shows how aesthetic forms mediate human perception of the environment and how reading and viewing these works ecocritically can nurture a more reflective and ethically engaged ecological consciousness in an era of accelerating climate change.

Download

Share

COinS