scholarly journals "The Bard and ‘the Other’: A Post-colonial Re-reading of Sir Thomas More, The Merchant of Venice and The Tempest"

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Damir Kahrić ◽  
Nađa Muhić
Keyword(s):  
William Shakespeare ◽  
The Other ◽  
Merchant Of Venice ◽  
Thomas More ◽  
Post Colonial ◽  
The Merchant Of Venice ◽  
The Tempest ◽  
Sir Thomas More ◽  
Binary Division ◽  
Shed Light

The purpose of this article is to shed light on the representation of ‘the Other’ in three Shakespearean dramas: Sir Thomas More, The Merchant of Venice and The Tempest. The article describes several Shakespearean characters through the prism of post-colonialism and, therefore, the paper is structured as the postcolonial re-reading of the aforementioned dramatic texts. William Shakespeare portrayed the sad fate of immigrants in Sir Thomas More, but the Bard also tackled the refugee issue which remains relevant for the contemporary period. Additionally, Shakespeare dramatized the position of the Jewish community in Venice through the portrayal of Shylock. The re-reading of The Tempest focuses on the process of colonisation and the Manichaean division within the conquered world. In conclusion, the article portrays experiences of those dramatic individuals stigmatised and subjugated by the colonial forces, thus allowing the readers to better understand the binary division within colonial systems.

scholarly journals Deconstruction of the Construction: Derridean Study of Selected Shakespeare’s Comedies

2020 ◽  
Vol 23 (4) ◽  
pp. 90-120
Author(s):  
Seyyedeh Zahra Nozen ◽  
Pegah Sheikhalipour
Keyword(s):  
William Shakespeare ◽  
The Other ◽  
Literary Texts ◽  
Cultural Norms ◽  
Merchant Of Venice ◽  
Twelfth Night ◽  
The Merchant Of Venice ◽  
As You Like It ◽  
Historical Figure ◽  
The One

Since it was first introduced by Jacques Derrida in the late 1960s, deconstruction, as a method of reading, has been applied to literary texts by critics to reveal the hidden messages of texts and provide opportunities to rethink textual and cultural norms and conventions. While the western tradition has always prioritized tragedy over comedy due to its elegance and graveness, this research tends to focus on comedy as an entity in itself. Tragedy, especially in the Shakespearean sense of the word, has been considered by critics as a “construction” that is well-wrought and perfect in nature. Comedy, on the other hand, is notable for laughing at the laughable and mocking the unfit. Put differently, there has always been a latent, freewheeling “deconstruction” within comedy, especially the Shakespearean. There is, thus, an attempt here to prove, on the one hand, how comedy can be put forth not as an inferior genre but as a supplement to tragedy and, on the other, how comedy moves toward deconstruction and how it tends to subvert or deconstruct the constructions. Investigating a selection of Shakespeare’s comedies including As You Like It, The Merchant of Venice, and Twelfth Night, this study compares and contrasts Shakespearean comedy in light of some Derridean concepts. Along with it, Shakespearean ideas and concepts which are interconnected with those of Derrida are introduced and are buttressed through some meticulously chosen excerpts. Bearing in mind that Derrida is in a habit of deconstructing the so-called established creeds, Shakespeare’s texts are exposed to a deconstructive reading to examine how deceptively simple ideas are dealt with in his selected comedies. Also, as numerous enigmas have for years revolved around the personality of William Shakespeare, this study also aims to take up certain critical idioms of the Derridean canon, elaborate on them and then relate them to the selected plays from the Shakespearean oeuvre in order to disclose some personal aspects of Shakespeare’s personality as a historical figure.

scholarly journals Religion and violence: Shutup Shylock!

2018 ◽  
Vol 74 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Jaco Beyers
Keyword(s):  
William Shakespeare ◽  
Human Nature ◽  
The Other ◽  
Human Response ◽  
Merchant Of Venice ◽  
The Merchant Of Venice ◽  
Unique Identity ◽  
Religious Differences

Violence is not only because of religious differences. Violence is part of human nature. While expressing and living a unique identity, people may experience animosity from ‘the other’ in society. The natural human response upon infliction is retaliation. To this effect, the play of William Shakespeare, The Merchant of Venice, is taken as an example of conflict in society because of social, financial and religious differences. From the plot in the play, it is deduced that violent actions beget violent responses. The Dutch philosopher, Hans Achterhuis, provides valuable information so as to provide perspectives on violence in society. Achterhuis suggests that instead of seeking the absence of violence in society, one should rather seek how to differ responsible and peaceful from one another. Violence cannot be ignored or eradicated. Violence can however be tamed by fighting with one another peacefully. Society is in need of volunteers who will act as powerful buffers between conflicting societies, thus preventing differences becoming reasons for violence.

Maritime Fantasies and Gender Space in Three Shakespearean Comedies

2012 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 23-37
Author(s):  
Wai Fong Cheang
Keyword(s):  
Female Characters ◽  
Merchant Of Venice ◽  
Twelfth Night ◽  
The Merchant Of Venice ◽  
The Tempest ◽  
Gender Space ◽  
And Gender ◽  
Gender And Space

Abstract Laden with sea images, Shakespeare‘s plays dramatise the maritime fantasies of his time. This paper discusses the representation of maritime elements in Twelfth Night, The Tempest and The Merchant of Venice by relating them to gender and space issues. It focuses on Shakespeare‘s creation of maritime space as space of liberty for his female characters.

The Image of Jews as Constructed by Lexical Items

2018 ◽  
Vol 51 (2) ◽  
pp. 205-212
Author(s):  
Xiu Gao
Keyword(s):  
Present Article ◽  
The Other ◽  
Western World ◽  
Merchant Of Venice ◽  
The Merchant Of Venice ◽  
The Face ◽  
Original Figure ◽  
Lexical Items ◽  
Target Culture ◽  
Social Backgrounds

In the Western world, Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice is controversial due to its stereotypical description of Jews as evil and greedy. In China, the work was not widely known until its translations came out. This article deals with two Chinese renderings of Shakespeare’s classic, by Laura White (1914–1915) and Shiqiu Liang (2001/1936) respectively, which reconstruct the image of Shylock and Jews on the basis of the translators’ perceptions of the original figure, combining their identities and social backgrounds. In imagology, based on the ideas of Pageaux (1989/1994), the image of the ‘other’ can be analysed on three levels: lexical items, larger textual units, and plot. On the face of it, the image of the ‘other’ in translation can originate in either the source or target culture. However, the present article, which focuses on the lexical level, shows that there is a third possibility – a lexicon that blends two or more cultures.

The Textile Black Body

2016 ◽  
pp. 169-185
Author(s):  
Ian Smith
Keyword(s):  
Early Modern ◽  
Black Body ◽  
The Other ◽  
Merchant Of Venice ◽  
Economic Interests ◽  
The Merchant Of Venice ◽  
Theatrical Representation ◽  
Black Man

In addition to cosmetic applications for early modern ‘blackface’ theatrical representation, the essay posits that performers used a variety of racial prostheses, most notably cloth and animal skins. In The Merchant of Venice, Morocco’s description of his own body as ‘shadowed livery’—that is, dyed cloth worn by a servant or apprentice—reveals a complex metatheatrical consciousness indebted to this prosthetic blackface tradition. Morocco’s identification with livery connects specifically to Lancelot, the other liveried character in the play whose servant uniform contextualizes Morocco’s corporal blackness as a sign of membership in a social underclass. The play’s mercantile ethos, reflecting John Wheeler’s assessment from A Treatise of Commerce that pervasive economic interests bring ‘all things into commerce’, creates the conditions for category violations: people are perceived as commodities, and none more insidiously than Morocco, the textile black man, read, in turn, as a powerful antecedent for post-Enlightenment constructions of race.

scholarly journals Postcolonial Resistance of Western Imperialist Ideology: Constructing Identities of Others as Violent Savages

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Menia Mohammad Almenia
Keyword(s):  
William Shakespeare ◽  
Charlotte Bronte ◽  
Postcolonial Theory ◽  
Daniel Defoe ◽  
Literary Texts ◽  
Jane Eyre ◽  
Hegemonic Discourse ◽  
The Tempest ◽  
Dominant Society ◽  
Binary Division

This paper examines how hegemonic discourse, or the ideology of a dominant society has essentialized, fixed, and divided identities through the construction of binary division of Western’s ideology as civilized and Others as savages. The development of postcolonial theory will be introduced with special consideration to Said’s (1995) theory of Orientalism and Spivak’s (1988) concept of “silencing the Others.” Sample Western literary texts will show a concerted expression of colonial ideology supporting the concept of binary divisions. These will include The Tempest by William Shakespeare (1990), Robinson Crouse by Daniel Defoe (1899), Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte (2001), and Passage to India by E. M. Foster (1985). In contrast, literary works by minority authors, mainly postcolonialists, will be examined and considered according to how effectively they resist Western imperialist ideology.

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