Shakespeare's Problem Plays
Oct. 17th, 2017 04:07 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
chris_gerribThis weekend I attended the Chicago Shakespeare Theater (CST). They presented The Taming of the Shrew, one of what I call Shakespeare's "problem plays." Shrew is a problem for modern audiences in that the basic plot is "abusing your wife can be fun and profitable." The other problem play is A Merchant of Venice AKA "let's all pick on the Jew" which has obvious issues.
Now, I don't know what Shakespeare's views were on women and Jews. I'm not sure anybody knows. The man didn't keep a journal and he wasn't in his life important enough for somebody to ask him. I also know that as a writer, just because your character says something doesn't mean you agree with it. Having said all of that, there's no particular reason to think Shakespeare was any more enlightened on these matters than the average dude in the cheap seats. We modern audiences may want him to be more enlightened, but wants are not equal to reality.
Despite this problematic play, Shrew has been performed twice by CST in my career attending their plays. Both times they used a "framing device" - a play within a play. This last time, it was a woman's club putting on Shrew during the battle for suffrage, so all the parts were played by women. This allowed the cast to make a statement on the play. Perhaps un-ironically, Shakespeare's version had a framing device, that of a beggar being tricked into thinking he was a noble and the play being performed for his amusement.
In any event, its a case of the frame putting the picture in a different light.
Now, I don't know what Shakespeare's views were on women and Jews. I'm not sure anybody knows. The man didn't keep a journal and he wasn't in his life important enough for somebody to ask him. I also know that as a writer, just because your character says something doesn't mean you agree with it. Having said all of that, there's no particular reason to think Shakespeare was any more enlightened on these matters than the average dude in the cheap seats. We modern audiences may want him to be more enlightened, but wants are not equal to reality.
Despite this problematic play, Shrew has been performed twice by CST in my career attending their plays. Both times they used a "framing device" - a play within a play. This last time, it was a woman's club putting on Shrew during the battle for suffrage, so all the parts were played by women. This allowed the cast to make a statement on the play. Perhaps un-ironically, Shakespeare's version had a framing device, that of a beggar being tricked into thinking he was a noble and the play being performed for his amusement.
In any event, its a case of the frame putting the picture in a different light.
no subject
Date: 2017-10-18 02:06 pm (UTC)English society in the Elizabethan era has been described as
"judeophobic".[7] English Jews had been expelled under Edward I in 1290
and were not permitted to return until 1656 under the rule of Oliver
Cromwell… - Wikipedia
This is an element of the debate often overlooked: Shakespeare had never encountered or even seen any actual Jews in his whole life. He knew nothing more of them than he did Algonquian Indians. He wasn't being antisemitic, he was working from a medieval bestiary's description of a fabulous, near-mythical creature.
As to That
Date: 2017-10-20 09:26 am (UTC)https://www.amazon.com/William-Shakespeares-Star-Wars-Doescher/dp/1594746370
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