The Brunswick scholar and translator Johann Joachim Eschenburg (1743–1820) played a seminal role in the cultural transfer of English literature, and in particular the works of Shakespeare, to Germany in the age of enlightenment. His continuation and completion of Wieland’s pioneering translation of the dramatist Shakespeare set new standards of philological rigor, even though critics like Gabriel Eckert suggested numerous improvements to Eschenburg’s Shakespeare translation. The ensuing critical debates on translation principles and the necessary philological knowledge contributed to the aesthetic defense of Shakespeare and paved the way for later theatrical adaptations and translations, e. g. by Friedrich Ludwig Schröder, Gottfried August Bürger or August Wilhelm Schlegel.