This volume discusses how the picture of Spanish Shakespeare has been greatly conditioned by the culture in which he was misappropriated in particular forms. Shakespeare's reception has been a process of acculturation which includes assimilation, cultural fusion, and a new synthesis in cultural elements. Culture has become a clue to understanding the rise and growth of Shakespeare in Spain where he represented a literary otherness which threatned the essence of Spanish culture, as he "merely continues to signify Englishness".