Recently, Shakespeare’s Birthplace Trust announced that the birthplace of William Shakespeare will be decolonized since the playwright “benefits the ideology of white European supremacy”. Such a policy was put into place due to concerns that his ideas advanced white supremacy, and that some of the items at his birthplace were considered to be racist, sexist, or homophobic.
What a load of bulls**t. [Lid note: As a former actor featured in Shakespeare’s Richard II, Julius Caesar, and performed scenes from The Merchant of Venice as an audition piece, allow me to suggest that Wes’ characterization of the protest as bulls**t is not strong enough]
seriously doubt Shakespeare; his ideas or items can be considered offensive. Who exactly was raising concerns that his ideas advocated white supremacy? And what items are considered to be offensive, and why are they considered to be offensive?
Perhaps those who think Shakespeare was racist, sexist, or homophobic should examine the entire list of plays he wrote. When doing so, one will find some cultural diversity in some of his plays. Several fall into this category, but two in particular come to mind—Othello and Twelfth Night.
The play Othello tells the story of a Moor named Othello who is tricked by his subordinate Iago into thinking that his wife Desdemona has been unfaithful to him. As a result, Othello kills Desdemona. Two other characters in the play are also killed. Othello and Iago are eventually arrested for their actions. Othello commits suicide, while Iago is sent to prison.
Given the fact that Othello is Moorish, race has become one of the themes in this particular play. However, race was not what Shakespeare wanted this play to be about, especially since Shakespeare got the idea for this day from a story titled Gli Hecatommithi about a Moorish captain. The central themes were jealousy and infidelity.
Twelfth Night involves a woman named Viola and her twin brother Sebastian, who are separated during a shipwreck off the coast of Illyria. Thinking Sebastian has drowned, Viola disguises herself as a man named Cesario and becomes a page to the Duke Orsino. As it turns out, Sebastian survived and went to Orisno’s home. Sebastian and Viola are reunited, with Viola revealing her true identity to Orsino, Olivia (a countess who is in love with Sebastian), and everyone else. Sebastian winds up marrying Olivia, while Viola marries Orsino.
Although Twelfth Night involves crossdressing, transgender is not what Shakespeare had in mind when he wrote the play. Interestingly, because it was inappropriate at the time for women to have careers in acting, all female characters in Shakespeare’s play were portrayed by men.
The theme of Twelfth Night is gender, given that Viola has to disguise herself as a man since she is unable to be a servant to Olivia. Thus, she has to engage in crossdressing in order to survive.
Given the time period in which these plays were written, Shakespeare was not advocating any type of prejudice (one might argue he was ahead of his time). In fact, both of these plays had a touch of multiculturalism.
