Post colonial discourses in Shakespearean plays

 Plays of Shakespeare are related to the idea post colonialism even before post colonialism. Post colonial theory examines the effects of colonialism had on literature and literature studies within the context of region and politics. Shakespearean plays are mouthpieces against the colonizers. We can look into the plays of Shakespeare in four aspects of post colonialism: nation, gender, race and class. Four plays of Shakespeare deal with the post colonial theory; The Tempest, Othello, Antony and Cleopatra and The Merchant of Venice. The first three plays portray non-white characters and The Merchant of Venice deals with non-Christian characters. Othello, Caliban, Othello‘s mother, Prince of Morocco and Caliban‘s mother represent the non- white characters and Shylock, his daughter Jessica and his friend Tubal are the non- Christian characters in The Merchant of Venice.

The Tempest by Shakespeare is a post colonial text because it represent the struggle of colonized people and their desire to resist the colonizers. Prospero, the protagonist of the play reached an island with his daughter Miranda. After knowing all the information about the island through Caliban, a native of the island, Prospero started ruling the island and he made the natives of the island his slaves with his power and knowledge. This act of Prospero reflects the act of colonizers and Caliban represents the colonized people. Prospero highlights how he is important on the island and treats Caliban as a slave which indicate the dominant nature of colonizers.

Race discrimination is evident in the play through the act of Prospero that how he treats Caliban and Ariel. He treats Caliban in such a bad way because he is black whereas he treats Ariel in a good way as compared to Caliban because he is white even though both are slavers under him. Prospero considers Caliban as uncivilized and uneducated and thus he forcefully taught him English which Caliban uses to abuse him. This act also reflects the colonizers how the colonizers taught English to the colonized natives not with the aim of educating but to make the colonized as interpreters between the colonizers and local people to run their huge empire. They want the colonizers as slaves not as masters. Later, the colonizers used the same language to resist the colonial power. Caliban tries to resist the colonial powers and he tried to rape Miranda to show that still he is the owner of the island. Gender discrimination, another concept of post colonialism is also visible in the play because there is only one female character, Miranda.

In the play Othello Shakespeare portrays the post colonial issue identity crisis. Othello, the protagonist of the play is a African based general in Venice but he considers himself as a citizen of Venice but the other characters consider him as an outsider so his identity is always a question. The Duke of Venice addresses him as “fair as black” which shows the dominance of colonizers and how they treat others so inferior due to the color of their skin. He has to be extra good to fit in the white society. He is often referred as black in the play by others as well as by himself. The term black denotes Negros and Arabs. Moreover he is a moor, the word moor is used by the Christian Europeans to indicate the Muslim people who came to Europe for trade. The moors were treated very badly, they treated them as enemies of Christians. He is a converted Christian to fit in the white society and this also indicate the act of the colonizers how they converted the native people into Christians.

In the play Antony and Cleopatra, Cleopatra is portrayed as a woman who is African based. She is portrayed as a lustful woman by the men of Rome because she is a foreign woman and it is repeated throughout the play by the chorus. During that time Rome purely had English culture where they see others inferior to them. There is always a identity crisis between the European and non European throughout the play.

In the play Merchant of Venice, the character of Shylock is a victim of colonizers. During Shakespeare’s time it was all Christian nation and the Christians are the colonizers and non Christians are treated as colonized. Shylock had to give up everything, his religion, wealth and all due to the betrayal of his daughter. He was harassed by Christians especially by Antonio and hence he is the victim of Christians which represent the colonizers. He is a Jewish so that he is being insulted by others throughout the play and they even treated him as a dog.

We can see post colonial discourses in the plays of Shakespeare. In the play Titus Andronicus also Shakespeare is dealing with the post colonial discourses. Indian boy in the play A Midsummer Night’s Dream is another non-white character of Shakespeare. The Tempest and Othello are the two most important plays which deal with the post colonial ideas.

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                                                 Anju A 

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