The Englishness of Shakespeare
The Englishness of Shakespeare

Author(s): John Elsom
Subject(s): Theatre, Dance, Performing Arts, Cultural history, Theoretical Linguistics, Applied Linguistics, Studies of Literature, Philology, Theory of Literature, British Literature
Published by: Wydawnictwa Uniwersytetu Warszawskiego
Keywords: Shakespeare as an English dramatist; history of Britain; Shakespeare’s plays
Summary/Abstract: Shakespeare’s plays are celebrated for their ‘universality’. They have been translated into most of the world’s languages and they can be seen in cities as far apart as Tashkent, Valparaiso and Novosibirsk. It has been said that some translations are even better than the originals or closer to the circumstances of their society than Shakespeare is to modern Britain. In this essay, Dr. Elsom turns this argument inside out and reclaims Shakespeare as an English dramatist. Drawing on his childhood memories, where he grew up in a Cotswold village not far from Stratford-upon-Avon in the years just after the Second World War, he describes how Shakespeare evokes the landscape of middle England, its plants, village life and pastoral celebrations. He points out the way in which Shakespeare has dramatised the history of Britain, not only its kings and queens, but its regions and place names. As a student of history, he found the accounts of British history from academic historians less gripping and even less ‘real’ than the stories in Shakespeare’s plays. Finally, he argues that Shakespeare expresses the British attitude towards the monarchy and regal celebrations, respecting the crown as a symbol of national pride and identity, but not over-respecting the people who wear the crown. He can be highly critical of the people who were kings, but not critical of national sovereignty itself, a very British compromise.

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