Shakespeare’s Vivid Presence in the Age of Postmodernity
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.18662/po/11.3/216Keywords:
Shakespeare, postmodernism, intertextuality, race, gender, sexuality, lawAbstract
This paper aims to address the complex interrelations between William Shakespeare’s theatrical work and Postmodernism, substantiating the idea that the Bard has not become obsolete in contemporary culture. The playwright’s timelessness and transcendence do not require acknowledgement as the postmodern world continues to embrace his aesthetics ardently. Many social issues of Shakespeare’s plays have determined ideas that we consider universally true: ideas about human character, ethics, leadership, love and betrayal, gender and race. These topics have been reimagined in postmodern literature, film and in the fields of psychology, sociology, business, political theory and law. In wrestling with the provocative questions and scenarios Shakespeare created, we question our own assumptions and beliefs, clarify our own thoughts, and become better thinkers. Although Shakespeare’s plays may not always anticipate postmodern ideologies, they definitely generate a wide array of discussions relevant to the age of Postmodernity due to the universality of the themes, tendencies and attitudes, ranging from history to politics, from tragedy to comedy. Considering Shakespeare’s popularity as the most quoted and appropriated author, it is hardly surprising to discover that contemporary critics have been concerned with re-examining his plays in order to strengthen or defy certain postmodern discourses. Far from exhausting all possibilities, the present article seeks to produce generalizable knowledge and encourage further transdisciplinary research.
References
Abbasi, P., & Saeedi, A. (2014). On The Postmodernist Elements in Shakespeare's The Tempest. Epiphany, 7(1). http://dx.doi.org/10.21533/epiphany.v7i1.95
Armstrong, P. (2006). Shakespeare in Psychoanalysis. Taylor &Francis e-Library.
Bickley, P., & Stevens, J. (2013). Essential Shakespeare. Bloomsbury Arden Shakespeare.
Brooke, A. (1875). Romeus and Juliet. P. A. Daniel (Ed.), The New Shakspere Society. London.
Brown, E. C. (2015). Shakespeare and psychoanalytic theory. Bloomsbury Arden Shakespeare.
Chaucer, G. (2001). Troilus and Criseyde. Global Language Resources, Inc. http://triggs.djvu.org/djvu-editions.com/CHAUCER/TROILUS/Download.pdf
Deleuze, G., & Guattari, F. (1987). A Thousand Plateaus: Capitalism and Schizophrenia. University of Minnesota Press.
Egan, G. (2007). Shakespeare. Edinburgh University Press.
Epson, W. (1966). Seven Types of Ambiguity. New Directions. USA.
Garber, M. (2005). Shakespeare After All. New York: Anchor Books.
Garber, M. (2008). Profiling Shakespeare. Taylor & Francis.
Gompertz, W. (2016, April 23). Why is Shakespeare more popular than ever? BBC News. https://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-36114485
Gordon, W. (1997). Shakespeare’s Sexual Language – A glossary. Biddies Ltd., King's Lynn.
Grady, H. (2001). Modernity, Modernism and Postmodernism in the Twentieth Century’s Shakespeare. New York: Routledge.
Hawkes, T. (1992). Meaning by Shakespeare. Routledge. London and New York.
Jonson, B. (1623). To the Memory of my beloved, the Author Mr. William Shakespeare: and what he hath left us. In Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies. Published according to the True Originall Copies, known as the First Folio, London.
Lanier, D. (2014). Shakespearean Rhizomatics: Adaptation, Ethics, Value. In: Huang A., Rivlin E. (eds) Shakespeare and the Ethics of Appropriation. Reproducing Shakespeare: New Studies in Adaptation and Appropriation. Palgrave Macmillan, New York. https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137375773_2
Lodge, T. (2005). Rosalynde Rosalynde or, Euphues' Golden Legacy. The Athenæum Press.
McHale, B. (2004). Postmodernist Fiction. Taylor & Francis e-Library.
Olsson, M. R. (2013). Making Sense of Shakespeare: a Cultural Icon for Contemporary Audiences. Cosmopolitan Civil Societies Journal, 5(3). http://dx.doi.org/10.5130/ccs.v5i3.3640
Partridge, E. (1968). Shakespeare’s Bawdy. Routledge & Kegan Paul.
Pearce, D. (2013). Shakespeare Remembers! Shakespeare Remembered! Actes des congrès de la Société française Shakespeare, 30, 225-237. https://doi.org/10.4000/shakespeare.1963
Plutarch, D., J. (2015). Plutarch’s Lives: Life of Mark Antony. Palatine Press.
Posner, E. A. (2011, April 14). The Court of Literature. The New Republic. https://newrepublic.com/article/86238/thousand-times-more-fair-kenji-yoshino
Shakespeare, W. (1997a). The Merchant of Venice. In The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Wordsworth Special Edition) (pp. 388 - 415). Wordsworth Editions Ltd.
Shakespeare, W. (1997b). The Tempest. In The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Wordsworth Special Edition) (pp. 1135 - 1159). Wordsworth Editions Ltd.
Shakespeare, W. (1997c). Othello, The Moor of Venice. In The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Wordsworth Special Edition) (pp. 818 - 857). Wordsworth Editions Ltd.
Shakespeare, W. (1997d). The Comedy of Errors. In The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Wordsworth Special Edition) (pp. 166 - 186). Wordsworth Editions Ltd.
Shakespeare, W. (1997e). Macbeth. In The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Wordsworth Special Edition) (pp. 858 - 884). Wordsworth Editions Ltd.
Shakespeare, W. (1997f). Titus Andronicus. In The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Wordsworth Special Edition) (pp. 139 - 165). Wordsworth Editions Ltd.
Shakespeare, W. (1997g). Measure for Measure. In The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Wordsworth Special Edition) (pp. 786 - 817). Wordsworth Editions Ltd.
Shakespeare, W. (1997h). Hamlet, Price of Denmark. In The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Wordsworth Special Edition) (pp. 670 -713). Wordsworth Editions Ltd.
Shakespeare, W. (1997i). As You Like It. In The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Wordsworth Special Edition) (pp. 611 - 640). Wordsworth Editions Ltd.
Shakespeare, W. (1997j). A Midsummer Night’s Dream. In The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Wordsworth Special Edition) (pp. 279 - 301). Wordsworth Editions Ltd.
Shakespeare, W. (1997k). Twelfth Night; Or, What You Will. In The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Wordsworth Special Edition) (pp. 641 - 669). Wordsworth Editions Ltd.
Shakespeare, W. (1997l). Troilus and Cressida. In The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Wordsworth Special Edition) (pp. 714 to 752). Wordsworth Editions Ltd.
Shakespeare, W. (1997m). All’s Well That Ends Well. In The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Wordsworth Special Edition) (pp. 753 - 785). Wordsworth Editions Ltd.
Shakespeare, W. (1997n). Cymbeline. In The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Wordsworth Special Edition) (pp. 1061 -1101). Wordsworth Editions Ltd.
Shakespeare, W. (1998o). The Winter’s Tale. In The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Wordsworth Special Edition) (pp. 1102 -1134). Wordsworth Editions Ltd.
Shakespeare, W. (1998p). King Lear. In The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Wordsworth Special Edition) (pp. 885 - 923). Wordsworth Editions Ltd.
Shakespeare, W. (1998q). Antony and Cleopatra. In The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Wordsworth Special Edition) (pp. 924 - 964). Wordsworth Editions Ltd.
Shakespeare, W. (1998r). Romeo and Juliet. In The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Wordsworth Special Edition) (pp. 245 - 278). Wordsworth Editions Ltd.
Shakespeare, W. (1998s). King Richard the Second. In The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Wordsworth Special Edition) (pp. 359 - 387). Wordsworth Editions Ltd.
Snyder, S. (2001). The genres of Shakespeare’s plays. De Grazia, M., & Wells, S. (Eds.), The Cambridge Companion to Shakespeare Studies. Cambridge University Press.
Stone, W. J. (2010). Crossing Gender in Shakespeare: Feminist Psychoanalysis and the Difference Within. Routledge.
Traub, V. (2001). Gender and Sexuality in Shakespeare. De Grazia, M., & Wells, S. (Eds.), The Cambridge Companion to Shakespeare Studies. Cambridge University Press.
Zhu, L. (2019). Supernatural Elements in Shakespeare’s Plays. Journal of Language Teaching and Research, 10(2), 391-395. http://dx.doi.org/10.17507/jltr.1002.22
Yoshino, K. (2011). A thousand Times More Fair: What Shakespeare’s Plays Teach Us About Justice. Harper Collins Publishers.
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2020 The Authors & LUMEN Publishing House
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
Authors who publish with this journal agree to the following terms:
- Authors retain copyright and grant this journal right of first publication, with the work simultaneously licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License that allows others to share the work, with an acknowledgement of the work's authorship and initial publication in this journal.
- Authors are able to enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the non-exclusive distribution of the journal's published version of the work (e.g. post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), with an acknowledgement of its initial publication in this journal.
- Authors are permitted and encouraged to post their work online (e.g. in institutional repositories or on their website) prior to and during the submission process, as it can lead to productive exchanges, as well as an earlier and greater citation of published work (See The Effect of Open Access).
Postmodern Openings Journal has an Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs
CC BY-NC-ND