Explaining Character in Shakespeare

The Continued Relevancy of a Universal Shakespeare

In the wake of the proliferation of curricular responses to identity politics, the continued relevancy of teaching and studying Shakespeare has repeatedly been called into question. The continued curricular hegemony of white males writing in English is one worthy of consideration, especially in urban schools with predominately African-American student populations. However, as will be argued, there is real value in the study of the Bard, beyond the arguably valid assertions of E.D. Hirsch’s opinions concerning cultural literacy. William Shakespeare demonstrated an astute sense of personality and human experience that is so cogent that it retains an important place in the establishment of a worldwide canon. Harold Bloom, preeminent Shakespearean scholar, acknowledges: “Shakespeare teaches us how and what to perceive, and he also instructs us how and what to sense and then to experience as sensation”.² Bloom explains that Shakespeare is important universally, inherently because “no one gives us so much of the world most of us take be fact” ³ and that he is, in fact, an “international possession, transcending nations, languages, and professions”.⁴ In other words, the plays of Shakespeare embody an element of the human experience that all peoples and cultures can embrace, because he writes not just for the audiences of Elizabethan and Jacobean England but with an awareness and keen sensibility for the common psychologies, conflicts, and ethics of people at all moments and places in our world.

It is a legitimate consideration to call into question Bloom’s position as a white male reinforcing the authority of other white males’ work; however, scholarship by women and non-Eurocentric critics, as well as my own experiences, work toward this same thesis. A collection of essays from South Africa on the universality of Shakespeare provides a response to the legitimacy query, stating that in fact, Shakespeare “may have been particularly good at working with inherited form and pushing it, mutating it, making something new out of the existing constitutive possibilities”.⁵ Therefore, Shakespeare is in fact universality pertinent, because he demonstrates the triumph of human creativity and reworking and reimagining of form and content, which embodies the globalized and ongoing spirit of human ingenuity. In a recent response to an editorial in support of dropping Shakespeare from the curriculum, due to his lack of relevancy, an urban teacher school swiftly provided an eloquent response, worth quoting at length here, for effect:

So what Shakespeare wrote 450 years ago is not applicable to [the editorial  author’s] teaching today? Ethnically diverse students don’t foolishly fall in love and overdramatize every facet of that experience? Or feel jealousy or rage? Or fall victim to discrimination? Or act desperately out of passion? To dismiss Shakespeare on the grounds that life 450 years ago has no relation to life today is to dismiss every religious text, every piece of ancient mythology (Greek, African, Native American, etc.), and for that matter, everything that wasn’t written in whatever time defined as “NOW.” And yes– Shakespeare was in fact a white male. But look at the characters of Othello and Emilia (among others), and you’ll see a humane, progressive, and even diverse portrayal of the complexities of race and gender.⁶

Shakespeare is not racist, but he certainly is a racialist. He is interested in the interactions of the Other with their society, be it black/brown people, women, and/or Jews, to enumerate only a few. Under this consideration, the claims of Shakespeare not appealing to people outside of a white male Eurocentric tradition are invalidated. He takes up issues of race, class and gender, if you choose to look for them. These issues are complex, as Shakespeare demonstrates in his writing, and as we cannot deny in our own times.

I argue that the importance of reading and understanding the work of Shakespeare is not about dissecting and counting iambic pentameter or the work of making intelligible the sometimes (in our moment) archaic language of his plays, but rather, the cohesive and complex representation of the human through the characterization, built by the words his characters speak. The longevity and pervasiveness of the study of Shakespeare is because his stories provide universal themes and the precursors to our understanding of the modern human psyche are developed in the mind of the reader (or play attendee) with the careful crafting of his words.

Recently, I travelled to Russia to participate in a teachers’ exchange, sponsored by the American Friends of Russian Folklore in conjunction with the US State Department.⁷ Upon my arrival to Moscow, I was collected from the airport and quickly whisked away to my first school visitation. In the haze of jetlag, I sat in the auditorium to observe a recital put on especially for the arrival of my group. After listening to some traditional singing and instrumentation, typical fare for a student exposition, I was surprised to see the platform transformed into a staged production of selected scenes of Taming of the Shrew, performed rather well by Muscovite students in excellent English. Upon further investigation, I came to understand that this school was the recent winner of the annual nationwide Shakespearean festival. Even in Russia, a country with its own rich and proud literary tradition, and home to such famous dramatists as Chekhov, Gorky and Gogol, students engage and enjoy the works of Shakespeare. This experience helped to further cement my understanding that the Bard in fact has appeal and applicability to cultures and nations with vastly different ideologies.