UVM Theses and Dissertations
Format:
Print
Author:
Beasley, Lionel
Dept./Program:
English
Year:
2010
Degree:
MA
Abstract:
This paper examines two Shakespeare plays, Othello and The Tempest, through the lens of postcolonial theory. It further notes the relationship between these plays and three adaptations, Aim6 Cesaire'sA Tempest, Phillip Osment's This Island's Mine, and Djanet Sear's Harlem Duet; each engages the postcolonial project of ab!Qgating and appropriating its source text to establish the subjectivity of primary characters-and through them a larger out-group-·against the objectification of a dominant culture. Before analyzing Othello and The Tempest, a historical overview is presented to establish the contextual framework in which the plays may have been received by Jacobean audiences at the time ofthe initial stagings.
This overview reveals the era as one marked by dynamic shifts in the English economy and widespread social upheaval driven by factors, both international and domestic in origin, so that Shakespeare's audiences were witness to the emergence of a new order from the continuing destruction of the old. The historical factors presented are: an increased access to new markets abroad resulting from the northward shift of Europe's balance of power; changes in land usage as arable land, which had been used to grow cereal crops, was enclosed for the exclusive use of landowners, leading to the creation of a new landless underclass adrift on the roads; the criminalization of poverty and the institution of wage labor; incompetition with other European powers, England's seaborne pursuit of colonial exploitation following an established pattern of land seizure and forced labor.
A close reading of Othello and The Tempest notes elements of the plays which may be seen as reflective of their historical context at the time of initial staging. The possible ethnic origins for Caliban and Othello are discussed; ifrace is a relatively recent social construction then the historical analysis the paper presents reveals its antecedents in the social changes observed in the Tudor, Elizabethan and Jacobean eras. Commonalities are be noted between characterizations of Caliban and Othello and those ethnic groups subject to harsh restrictions inside the nascent empire and at its colonial periphery; parallels are further noted between the social barriers both plays may be seen as advocating and the historical creation of social barriers enacted by legal decree to lessen the danger of a widescale class revolt in the face of increasing deprivation and economic exploitation.
The relationship between the plays and the adaptations is then examined, noting how those works take up the possibilities presented in their source texts to express a relationship with them, the dominant culture, and their own respective social contexts at the time of creation. From this basis I present my own adaptation and further authorial choices I would make with respect to my source text, and in light of postcolonial theory and its application.
This overview reveals the era as one marked by dynamic shifts in the English economy and widespread social upheaval driven by factors, both international and domestic in origin, so that Shakespeare's audiences were witness to the emergence of a new order from the continuing destruction of the old. The historical factors presented are: an increased access to new markets abroad resulting from the northward shift of Europe's balance of power; changes in land usage as arable land, which had been used to grow cereal crops, was enclosed for the exclusive use of landowners, leading to the creation of a new landless underclass adrift on the roads; the criminalization of poverty and the institution of wage labor; incompetition with other European powers, England's seaborne pursuit of colonial exploitation following an established pattern of land seizure and forced labor.
A close reading of Othello and The Tempest notes elements of the plays which may be seen as reflective of their historical context at the time of initial staging. The possible ethnic origins for Caliban and Othello are discussed; ifrace is a relatively recent social construction then the historical analysis the paper presents reveals its antecedents in the social changes observed in the Tudor, Elizabethan and Jacobean eras. Commonalities are be noted between characterizations of Caliban and Othello and those ethnic groups subject to harsh restrictions inside the nascent empire and at its colonial periphery; parallels are further noted between the social barriers both plays may be seen as advocating and the historical creation of social barriers enacted by legal decree to lessen the danger of a widescale class revolt in the face of increasing deprivation and economic exploitation.
The relationship between the plays and the adaptations is then examined, noting how those works take up the possibilities presented in their source texts to express a relationship with them, the dominant culture, and their own respective social contexts at the time of creation. From this basis I present my own adaptation and further authorial choices I would make with respect to my source text, and in light of postcolonial theory and its application.