A Talk recently given by Dr. V. Saraswati
We have gathered here today for a
birthday celebration - not of a political leader, not a superstar from
Bollywood or Kolywood, not a sports star advertising Pepsi and Cola but a Writer. This writer lived four and half centuries
ago. He lived in a far away land which
most of us have seen only in our School Atlas.
He hailed from a culture quite alien to ours. He wrote in a language which often sounds
incomprehensible ---- to the native speakers, leave alone non-native Indian
speakers of English as a second language.
But still, every Indian seems to cherish the memory of Shakespeare. How has it been possible?
Considering the global scenario, this
seems quite incredible! The million dollar question in the mind of every
Shakespeare devotee, is will he or won’t he? “Will he survive the test of time
or will he be forgotten like his contemporaries Ben Johnson and Kyd?” if you
would like to put it as a Hamletian dilemma.
Different professors give different
answers to this question. According to
Professor Douglas Brelis from the
University of Texas at Austin, “Shakespeare will always be with us of course,
but eventually, he will be what Geoffrey Chaucer has eventually become - a
brilliant author, whose works can be read intelligently in the original, only
by few people.”
Alan Craven, Professor Emeritus at
UTSA, however, offers a different perspective.
He says, “the enduring popularity of Shakespeare is a testimony to his
relevance,” additionally he has made major contribution not only to the English
language but to the way in which people think and behave. Shakespeare has quite literally shaped
society in many ways, making Shakespeare relevant in a very real way.
What makes Shakespeare relevant in a
real way in India? Why do we still rush
to buy tickets whenever a Shakespeare theatre group visits the country? Why do we have adaptations even in Tamil, of
Shakespeare plays the Romeo and Juliet or King Lear ? the answer is
simple. As Gull Stoker puts it,
Shakespeare addresses some of the burning issues today – for example, class division,
racism, sexuality, intolerance, the role and status of women, crime, war,
death, disease…
Intolerance is the word bandied
about, used and abused and misused in the political scenario today. We are branded as an intolerant nation. But Hindus throng the Muslim Shrine Nagore
Dargha, Muslims supply flowers regularly to Hindu temples. Many Hindus never miss the annual festival at
Velankanni Church. We celebrate Deepavali
or Pongal, Idd or Christmas with equal fervour.
But still we call ourselves intolerant because it pleased the powers
that be. The media blows up trivial
incidents out of proportion and creates an illusion.
Shakespeare depicts religious
intolerance through many of his characters – Malvolio the Puritan, Shylock the
Jew. In the Merchant of Venice, Antonio
and Bassnio are the so called ‘good’ characters and Shylock is the ‘villain’ so
to say an epitome of intolerance. But
look at his agonized self defence,
“If you prick us do we not bleed? If
you tickle us, do we not laugh? If you
poison us, do we not die? And if you wrong
us, shall we not revenge?
Intolerance in a different form is
rampant in our society today. Sons and
daughters cannot tolerate their old parents.
And old parents prefer to settle down in old age homes rather than be
tortured by their offspring. When
Cordelia says she has ‘nothing’ to say, King Lear shouts in anger, “Nothing
will come of nothing.” But later when
Goneril and Regan, his ‘beloved’ daughters, who praised him to the skies, chase
him out mercilessly into the raging storm, Lear realizes his folly and screams.
“How sharper than a Serpant’s tooth,
it’s to have a thankless child”.
Our heart goes out in sympathy to the
old man. How we wish there had been old
age homes in Shakespeare’s times’!
Yet another form of racism is raising
its ugly head in India today. Our
national anthem glorifies Bharat as the union of several states:
“Punjaba sindhu gujarata Maratha
Dravida Utkala Va
nga Vindhya Himachala Yamuna Ganga Vuchala
Jaladhitanenga. But today an Assamese
cannot tolerate a Behari; a UP wallah tortures a Manipuri.
Shakespeare’s “The Tempest” forewarns
us of this sentiment.
Prospero, the celebrated Duke of Milan,
the magician par excellence, is the colonizer, usurping the island where
Caliban, the colonized reigned supreme.
No wonder he cries in frustration,
“You
taught me to speak
And I
learnt to curse!”
Scholars still are unable to find an
explanation for Iago’s animosity towards Othello, the Moor – what is termed as
“motive hunting of motiveless malignity”.
Was it because Othello was a black ---?
In spite of the soul filling song of
American Negroes, “we shall overcome, some day, in spite of Obama’s thundering success
as American President for two terms, still, negroes suffer in many pockets in
the United States of America.
Above all, the ISIS is a classic
example of a small group of fanatics, determined to demolish the whole of
civilization to set up their own empire of horror – shooting thousands of
innocent people in public; bombing crowded places where thousands gather;
annihilating without rhyme or reason.
Does this not remind you of Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar? Caesar was stabbed, not once, but several times,
not by one, but several of his so called friends and he died moaning, “ You too Brutus then fall Caeser” when he
saw his trusted friend Brutus, stabbing him. Or take the case of Macbeth who
went murdering one after another because of his unbridled ambition – people who
had never harmed him, people who had never suspected him.” But just as a Mark Antony emerged to espouse
the cause of Caesar, let us hope, a great hero will arise to end this terrorism
of all terrorisms!
Feminism has been a dominant issue in
the twentieth century in India we are clamouring for 33% reservation for women, a significant
place in the Cabinet and Parliament. We
pride ourselves of having had a woman President, a woman Prime Minister, and
several women Chief Ministers. In a
society the tables are turned and girls today are more demanding than boys in
the matrimonial scenario. They do not
think twice about rejecting proposals from men; nor do they worry about seeking
divorce.
I wonder if you would agree with one
if I say that Shakespeare’ s heroines also displayed features of feminism
though the term ‘feminism’ was not used by him.
Consider Viola in Twelfth Night or Rosalind in As You Like It. Against all odds, they put on the disguise of
a man and woo their lovers and confidently march forward towards happy
marriage. They belong to the category of
feminists who live and let live. Lady
Macbeth is a feminist par excellence but she dominated her husband and goads
him on to commit murder after murder.
Ultimately she ends up, as a psychiatric wreek, wondering if all the
perfumes of Arabic would wash the blood off her hands.
Cleopatra, belongs to a class by
herself.
“Age cannot wither, nor custom stale
their infinite variety.”
She may be called the tragic flaw in Mark
Antony’s life. Like a sorceress, she
entices him back from the call of duty.
And ultimately their love is no poignant, so powerful, that it leads
them to their death. But what a
difference between Romeo and Juliet who also die for each other!
Cont..2..
-2-
This brings us to another theme of
shakespeare’s , which is as relevant today – the issue of love, there are
several kinds of love depicted in Shakespeare, which find their parallels in
today’s world. For instance, love that
fails as in the case of Ophelia – She dies because she lacks courage and
confidence. Juliet is forced to die due
to the enmity of the Montagues and Capulets.
Cleopatra chooses to die for the sake of love. We have already seen cases of love leading to
happy married life. Shakespeare also has
a ‘dig’ at the difference between love before marriage and love after
marriage. He says “Men are April when
they woo,
December when they wed!”
Quite a feminist sarcasm, don’t you
think?
Shakespeare, the philosopher, is as
relevant today as he was 450 years ago.
Consider Hamlet’s famous soliloquy , “To be, or not to be, that’s the
question”.
How often have you and I felt like
Hamlet? How often have we felt that life
is too much to bear?
Or
consider the famous lines from “As you like It”
All
the world’s a stage
And all the men mere players.
They
have their exists
And their entrances.
And
one man, in his time,
Plays many parts
His
acts being seven ages.
Contd..3..
-3-
You are a son to your parents, a
father to your children; a husband to your wife; a boss to your colleagues; a
master to your servants; a citizen in your country; a member of a club and so
on.
And in your life, you pass through
several stages, from an infant “making and perking in the mother’s arms” to a
decrepit old man “sans eyes, sans teeth, sans everything, walking on all fours.
Isn’t this all true of us today as it
was of men once in Shakespeare’s times?
Shakespeare will continue to live
forever because he is the most quoted of all English writers – in fact of all
world writers. The irony, in fact, is
that we keep quoting Shakespeare without knowing that we are quoting
Shakespeare! Here are some “quotable quotes” to shock you into awareness.
Polonius in Hamlet advises his son
Laertes:
“Neither a borrower, nor a lender
be.”
In the Merchant of Venice,
‘All that glitters is not gold’
In Hamlet,
“there is nothing either good or bad,
but thinking makes it so”.
From Henry IV Part II,
“Uneasy he is the head, that wears
the crown”.
In Midsummer Night’s Dream,
Contd..4..
-5-
“The course of true love never did
run smooth”.
From As You Like It,
“Sweet
are the uses of adversity,
Which,
like the toad, ugly and venomous,
Wears
yet a precious jewel in the head,
To get back to the question, “Will
Shakespeare survive the test of time?”, Is he a man for all seasons?” What is
your answer? I’m sure it is a resounding
”Yes; he will live forever!” We love Shakespeare because we find a “Hamlet”
procrastinating in ourselves. There is a
Macbeth with unbridled ambition in each one us.
There is lear in you and me, “more sinned against than seaming”. We quote repeatedly from Shakespeare because
he says things which are perennially true; because he brings before us a
panorama of people who are familiar with – Kings and clowns, heroes and
villains, philosophers and idiots, criminals and victims – a very colourful but
neat, real world; because he deals with themes like love, jealousy, ambition,
courage, confidence, impatience…” which will always continue to haunt us as long
as human beings live in this world!
Thank you Shakespeare, for being
there! We love you, we adore you, we worship you! We need you!
Long live Shakespeare!
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