The terminology and concepts used by Karl Marx in the field of political economy have entered virtually every intellectual field. In Shakespeare criticism there are numerous Marxist studies, there are Marxist critics such as Robert Weimann, Walter Cohen, Paul N. Seigel and Terry Eagleton. Behind such new movements as cultural materialism and new historicism the influence of Marx’s thought is clearly discernible. However, there does not seem available a study of Marx’s own views of Shakespeare, at least outside the Chinese language, where articles have appeared in publications which are inaccessible to this writer. S. S. Prawer’s splendid Karl Marx and World Literature, while giving much information, does not specifically focus on Shakespeare and does not provide the kind of commentary that a Shakespearian may want. Other commentaries which consider the Shakespearian link do so in the context of the apparently more immediate influence on Marx of Hegel, who was himself steeped in German idealism and classical literature.

This article is a modest attempt to begin filling the need which exists for a study of Marx's use of Shakespeare, suggesting how it illuminates Shakespeare, and how Shakespeare may have influenced Marx's thinking. It is not in itself guided by Marxist ideology, but is fuelled by interests in how Shakespeare has profoundly entered and influenced the work of socialist intellectuals and in the general field of reader-response criticism.