The Shakespearian globe: geometry, optics, spectacle

One of the most significant events that swept through Europe during the Ren aissance was a renewed interest in oculocentrism, extending the power of vi sion, and disseminating it in more visually accessible ways. In this paper the concept of the globe is explored through the work of William Shakespear e by examining its links to geometry, optics, and spectacle in the context of the theatre and the world in which the poet lived. At the outset the glo be is examined in relation to Shakespeare's playhouse, which exhibited stro ng Vitruvian antecedents. The optical manipulation of space is then explore d through the use of globes in Shakespeare's literary landscape, illustrati ng that Elizabethans were not only familiar with these geographical models, but that Shakespeare reinforced these new ways of seeing the world on his audience. Finally, research illustrates that globes were not only in Shakes peare's dramaturgy, but the theatre was also in the world, and the paper ex plores in detail how spectacle was used by learned Elizabethans to represen t the globe to themselves.