Postcolonial Shakespeare

Györke Ágnesgyorke.agnes@arts.unideb.hu

1. What is postcolonialism?2. Why do we need to rethink Shakespeare

from the perspective of postcolonial studies?

3. A postcolonial reading of Othello4. A postcolonial reading of The Tempest

Structure

A critical approach that takes ideological, political and economical implications into account

Its main assumption: literary works should not only be judged on the basis of their aesthetic value; their ideological implications should also be taken into account

Literature does not simply „reflect” reality, it also produces what we assume to be real

The term „postcolonial”: does not only refer to the period after colonialism, it is also a critical and theoretical framework postcolonial readings of Dante, Shakespeare, etc.

a theoretical approach that challenges the ideology of colonisation and the stereotypes produced by the colonial discourse

Postcolonial Studies

The idea of cultural superiortiy The colonised is imagined as an exotic and

dangerous „Other”; the European „Self” is seen as culturally superior

The idea of cultural superiority justified the „civilising mission” (the „Other” as barbarian, uneducated, etc. the antithesis of the Western „Self” )

The Tempest is one of the basic texts of postcolonial studies: Prospero makes the island his own the allegory of colonisation

Postcolonial Studies

Octave Mannoni: Prospero and Caliban: The Psychology of Colonization. (1950)

Key Texts

Key Texts

1952 1977

Emily Bartels (1997): postcolonial criticism emphasises the role of European domination and the exploitation to such an extent that we might assume that the very same inequalities existed in Shakespeare’s time

Criticism

The age of discovery (a period of global exploration between the 15th and the 18th centuries)

Colonisation of North America: Jameston, the first English colony, 14 May 1607. William Kelso (archeologist): „Jamestown is where the British Empire began”.

The Tempest: 1611.

„Postcolonial Shakespeare”

Othello (1603)

Shakespeare Theatre Company’, rendezte Michael Kahn, 2005

Setting? Historical background:

Ottoman-Venetian war (1570-73)

Source: Giraldi Cinthio, Gli Hecatommithi (1565)

Richard Knolles, The History of the Turks (published in England in 1603)

First performed: King’s Men, 1 November 1604

Cyprus

1952, dir. Orson Welles (Othello: Orson Welles)

1995, dir. Oliver Parker (Othello: Laurence Fishburne)

Opening scenes

Film versions

Othello

Laurence Fishburne, 1995

Why is he called the Moor of Venice?

Is his portrayal stereotypical?

What does Brabantio accuse him of in act 1?

How does the Duke of Venice relate to him? Is he also prejudiced?

In what sense is he an outsider in Venice? Do you see him as a selfish, irrational

character, or is his rage justified? How is his jealousy portrayed? Do you see him as Iago’s puppet? Can the reader/spectator forgive him the

way Desdemona does at the end?

Othello

Desdemona

Irene Jacob, 1995

Does she embody the conventions of the Renaissance?

Is she a submissive figure?

How does she address her father in act 1, scene 3?

How would you describe her relationship with Emilia?

Iago

Kenneth Branagh, 1995

What motivates him? Why does he hate Othello? How does he manage to

achieve his aim? How does he make Othello vulnerable?

Is he a stereotypical character?

Can you forgive him? A satanic figure; influenced

Salman Rushdie’s The Satanic Verses

The Tempest (1611)

John William Waterhouse, Miranda (1875)

Set on a nameless island Historical context:  draws on

travel literature, most notably the accounts of a tempest off the Bermudas that nearly wrecked a fleet of colonial ships sailing from Plymouth to Virginia. Yet the plot is original.

Possibly: influenced by Montaigne’s essay „Of the Cannibals” (translated to English in 1603)

Prospero

Christopher Plummer, 2010 Stratford Shakespeare Festival

Earlier readings: Prospero embodies the ideals of Renaissance humanism

Possesses a timeless, eternal truth

Postcolonial reading: the allegory of colonisation

Exercises power over Caliban and Ariel

Caliban

Stratford Festival, Dion Johnstone

„The Other”, the barbarian, vs. the European humanist ideal

Animalistic, sexually rapacious (tries to rape Miranda)

His name: cannibal Yet: the victim of

Prospero’s oppression

Ariel

John Everett Millais, „Ferdinand Lured by Ariel” 1852

Also serves Prospero Less often analysed The French writer Aimé

Césarie portrays Ariel as a mulatto (A Tempest, 1969; adaptation, relies on the postcolonial perspective)

Magic, exoticism often appear as traits of „The Other”

Comparative readings: while Caliban rebels Ariel seeks compromise

Postcolonial readings offer an insight into cultural stereotypes in literary works

They challenge the opposition between „pure” high literature and ideologically inspired literature

They make us reconsider our own position as readers/spectators

Conclusion

1. Loomba, Ania. Shakespeare, Race, and Colonialism. Oxford: Oxford UP, 2002.

2. Loomba, Ania and Martin Orkin. Post-Colonial Shakespeares. London: Routledge, 1998.

3. Roux, Daniel. „Hybridity, Othello and the Postcolonial Critics.” Shakespeare in Southern Africa 21. (2009): 23-29.

4. Skura, Meredith Anne. „Discourse and the Individual: The Case of Colonialism in The Tempest”. Shakespeare Quarterly 40.1 (1989): 42-69.

5. Willis, Deborah. „Shakespeare’s Tempest and the Discourse of Colonialism”. Studies in English Literature 1500-1900. 29.2 (1989): 277-289.

Recommended Readings