ABSTRACT
This chapter outlines William Shakespeare's representations of the rapidly changing state of early modern natural history and its relationship to the development of modern ecology and environmental criticism. It examines a selection of environmental problems and responses in Shakespeare to illustrate the ways they are now being read ecocritically. The chapter argues that ecocritical Shakespeare uses the playwright's exceptional creativity and cultural reach to question practices and attitudes that have degraded organic life and environments, and to stimulate debate about sustainability, conservation, biodiversity, animal welfare, and other ecological goals in personal and public life. It considers some contemporary and future possibilities of Shakespearean ecocriticism. Shakespeare reflects these breakthroughs in allusions to the "new map with the augmentation of the Indies" and passing remarks such as "this ball of earth". The excessive depletion of regional English woodland noted earlier in this chapter is one of several major aspects of Shakespeare's environmental awareness.
