 Throughout his lectures and essays, A.W. Schlegel praised the plays of Shakespeare and Calderón to the detriment of French Neoclassical theatre. This criticism was not arbitrary, but was part of a systematic and organic comprehension of art and art history. However, his harsh attack on classical rules considered ‘sacred’ by French critics predisposed the latter to react with hostility (especially to the publication of the polemical Comparaison entre la Phèdre de Racine et celle d’Euripide, in 1807), whilst being favored by English reviewers. In fact, the rediscovery of Shakespeare’s greatness in the 19th century was due, not only to Schlegel’s translations, but most importantly to his special approach to Shakespearean theatre: instead of comparing Shakespeare to ancient Tragedy, as if it were a bad copy, Schlegel claimed it should be analyzed on the grounds of constituting a necessary and historical difference. This difference—the difference between the ancients and the modern—was the cornerstone of Schlegel’s critique and set the basis for his theoretical use of the concept Romantic, which became the key-concept in his comprehension and reevaluation of modernity.