Shakespeare and Adaptation: Reading the Plague

Shakespeare and Adaptation: Reading the Plague

Authors

  • Dr. Rohal S. Raval

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.58213/vidhyayana.v9isi1.1588

Keywords:

Adaptation Studies, Plague, Shakespeare

Abstract

The present paper analyzes Shakespeare’s reading of the contemporary social reality of England, especially London, as a (source) text troubled with plague outbreaks, contagion, dissemination, and enforced quarantines. The numerous references to plague in the language and narrative of the plays reflect how the playwright adapts the traumatic experiences associated with it through allusion, dialogue, metaphor, plot device, and conflation with storytelling itself. From an Adaptation Studies perspective, these references and allusions reveal Shakespeare as a master adapter of not only prior written texts, but also of contemporary events that had a significant impact on the lives of the Elizabethan populace.

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

References

Bernard, J. F. “Hamlet’s Story/Stories of Hamlet: Shakespeare’s Theater, the Plague, and Contagious Storytelling.” Contagion and the Shakespearean Stage, edited by Darryl Chalk and Mary Floyd-Wilson, Palgrave Macmillan, 2019, pp. 213-32.

Dickson, Andrew. “Shakespeare in Lockdown: Did He Write King Lear in Plague Quarantine?” The Guardian, 22 Mar. 2020, www.theguardian.com/stage/2020/mar/-22/shakespeare-in-lockdown-did-he-write-king-lear-in-plague-quarantine. Accessed 09 May 2020.

Goarzin, Anne. “Articulating Trauma.” Études Irlandaises, no. 36-1, 2011, pp. 11–22., doi:10.4000/etudesirlandaises.2116

Greenblatt, Stephen. “What Shakespeare Actually Wrote About the Plague.” newyorker.com, 07 May 2020, www.newyorker.com/culture/cultural-comment/what-shakespeare-actually-wrote-about-the-plague. Accessed 09 May 2020.

Harding, Vanessa. “Burial of the Plague Dead in Early Modern London.” archives.history.ac.uk, n.d., archives.history.ac.uk/cmh/epiharding.html. Accessed 09 May 2020.

Maltby, Kate. “What Shakespeare Can -- and Can't -- Teach us about Covid-19.” edition.cnn.com, 08 Apr. 2020, edition.cnn.com/2020/04/08/opinions/covid-19-and-plague-literature-maltby/index.html. Accessed 10 May 2020.

Pribisic, Milan. “The Pleasures of “Theater Film”: Stage to Film Adaptation.” Redefining Adaptation Studies, edited by Dennis Cutchins et al., Scarecrow Press, Inc, 2010, pp. 147-59.

Shakespeare, William. “Not From the Stars Do I My Judgement Pluck (Sonnet 14).” The Sonnets: The Cambridge Dover Wilson Shakespeare, edited by John Dover Wilson, vol. 31, Cambridge UP, 2009, p. 9.

Shakespeare, William. The New Oxford Shakespeare. Edited by Gary Taylor et al., Oxford University Press, 2016.

Shapiro, James. “How Shakespeare’s Great Escape from the Plague Changed Theatre.” The Guardian, 24. Sep. 2015, www.theguardian.com/books/2015/sep/24/shakespeares-great-escape-plague-1606--james-shapiro. Accessed 09 May 2020.

Smith, Emma. “What Shakespeare Teaches Us About Living with Pandemics.” nytimes.com, 28 Mar. 2020, www.nytimes.com/2020/03/28/opinion/coronavirus-shakespeare.html. Accessed 10 May 2020.

Additional Files

Published

10-12-2023

How to Cite

Dr. Rohal S. Raval. (2023). Shakespeare and Adaptation: Reading the Plague. Vidhyayana - An International Multidisciplinary Peer-Reviewed E-Journal - ISSN 2454-8596, 9(si1), 134–143. https://doi.org/10.58213/vidhyayana.v9isi1.1588
Loading...