Buddhist Catholic Contemplative Evangelical General Christian Hindu Jewish Latter-day Saint Muslim New Visions Progressive Christian

Beliefs

Topics

Columnists

Resource Library

Research Tools

Video

Podcasts

Thought Readers

Faith In Media Tracker

Newsletters

Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In Subscription Support

Follow Patheos

Home
Evangelical
Politics and Religion
Canceling Shakespeare

Canceling Shakespeare

Last updated on: March 28, 2025 at 6:00 am by Gene Veith

0 Comments

Canceling Shakespeare 2025-03-23T17:31:27-04:00 Gene Veith

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

Woke is not dead, we might think. Look at how the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust is planning to cancel Shakespeare! But actually, before an ideology, artistic movement, or fashion trend dies, it reaches its decadent phase, when it has been taken so far that it reduces itself to absurdity, becoming a self-parody, to the point that even former proponents are embarrassed by it.

This is what we are seeing at Stratford-upon-Avon: the low point of what the academic world calls critical theory and the laity call woke progressivism that heralds its end.

The Shakespeare Birthplace Trust is in charge of the vast array of the Shakespeare sites in Stratford-upon-Avon–the playwright’s home, that of his future wife Anne Hathaway, and numerous houses and farms owned by his family members; plus museums, archives, and programming galore. According to its mission statement on its website, the Trust “promotes the enjoyment and understanding of his works, life and times all over the world.”

But now, thanks to an academic consultant, it will “decolonize” Shakespeare. From a news story on the subject:

The process of decolonizing Shakespeare’s work reportedly includes researching “the continued impact of colonialism” on world history and the ways in which “Shakespeare’s work has played a part in this.” The effort, which roughly means distancing work from western perspectives, reportedly began after concerns were raised that celebration of Shakespeare enables “White supremacy.”

The trust has also warned that some items in its collections and archives relating to the iconic 16th century playwright may contain “language or depictions that are racist, sexist, homophobic, or otherwise harmful.”

Shakespeare’s Birthplace Trust reportedly worked on a research project with the University of Birmingham’s Dr. Helen Hopkins, and concluded that praise of Shakespeare as a “universal” genius “benefits the ideology of White European supremacy.” Their research concluded further that “colonial inculcation” spread European ideas about art and used Shakespeare as a symbol of “British cultural superiority” and “Anglo-cultural supremacy.”

Celebrating Shakespeare’s work, the research argued, was part of a “White Anglo-centric, Eurocentric, and increasingly ‘West-centric’ worldviews that continue to do harm in the world today.”

One of the solutions proposed by the project is for the trust to “present Shakespeare not as the ‘greatest,’ but as ‘part of a community of equal and different writers and artists from around the world.’”

Homophobic? But what about all the queer theory claiming the bard as part of the LGBTQ community? What about all of those male actors playing female characters? It sounds like the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust is becoming not only homophobic but transphobic!

Anti-Feminist? But what about the vast amount of the feminist scholarship praising the bard’s strong female characters? Lady Macbeth is surely the alpha feminist, pushing her husband around and pursuing her own truth.

Racist? But what about all of the scholarship that exalts Othello, about a noble black man in a loving inter-racial marriage with a white woman, for its anti-racism? The Merchant of Venice is sometimes accused of being anti-semitic for its villain Shylock the Jew. But given the sentiments in today’s academy, maybe Shakespeare is just being pro-Palestinian! (Kidding! I’ll talk about Shylock below.)

As for the Colonialist charge, though the plays were written long before England launched its Empire and established its colonies, critical critics fixate on The Tempest. But Prospero and the shipwrecked Europeans don’t colonize the magical island. At the end, he sets the indigenous monster and fairy free and shipwreck victims all go back to Europe. Isn’t that what the anti-colonialists want to happen? These critics don’t seem to approve of shipwrecked refugees finding asylum in the island. Do we detect some anti-immigration sentiment?

Excuse the mockery, but critical literary theory seems to be up against its own contradictions.

The “interrogations” of Shakespeare, charging him with today’s political crimes, are familiar to anyone in academia. Now the public can see what is being taught in today’s universities. What’s especially comical, though, is that the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust, which operates the great Shakespeare theme park for tourists that is Stratford-upon-Avon and which has been advocating for all things Shakespeare is accepting this negative interpretation of their hero so uncritically, so supinely.

The charges aren’t even valid. Shakespeare humanizes women and minorities, and indeed all his characters. Yes, Shylock is a stereotype of the Jew as a grasping money-lender. But look what Shakespeare does with him. Shylock’s most famous lines remind us that Jews, like other are human beings:

I am a Jew. Hath not a Jew eyes? hath not a Jew hands, organs, dimensions, senses, affections, passions? fed with the same food, hurt with the same weapons, subject to the same diseases, healed by the same means,warmed and cooled by the same winter and summer, as a Christian is? 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? If we are like you in the rest, we will resemble you in that. (Merchant of Venice, Act 3, scene 1, lines 1292-1302)

One of the keys to Shakespeare’s artistry is that he presents the point of view of all of his characters, which is why they come so alive. You can’t just say “Shakespeare says. . .” based on what one of his characters says. You need to look at the meaning and the effect of the plays.

Thus, while the vile villain Iago says cruel things about Othello’s race, the audience’s sympathy is always on the side of Othello. This works against racism.

What really bothers Dr. Hopkins, which the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust is now eager to stamp out, is the “universality” of Shakespeare, the claim that his work appeals to this common “universal” humanity that we all share, so that his plays speak to all cultures and all times. This sense of universality, she says, “benefits the ideology of White European supremacy.”

This is brilliantly answered by Kenan Malik, a leftist British immigrant from the former colony of India, as published in the leftwing periodical The Guardian. Malik points out how the black authors W. E. B. DuBois, Ralph Ellison, and James Baldwin all credited Shakespeare as part of their intellectual awakening. He then takes up Dr. Hopkins’ complaint about Shakespeare’s universality. He shows that a belief in universalism is actually necessary for social justice [my bolds]:

The argument draws on a longstanding critique of ideas emerging from the Enlightenment as being “Eurocentric” and “white”. In so doing, it conflates ideas and identity, the value of a claim being indexed by the group to which the claimant belongs, a perspective that ironically mirrors colonial approaches to race and knowledge.

The argument also conflates the imposition of western power with ideas that might have emerged from within the western tradition but which are essential to challenging such power. It was universalism – the belief that equality, democracy and self-determination belonged to all rather than the property of a privileged few – that fuelled the great radical movements that have shaped the modern world, from anti-colonial struggles to battles for women’s rights.

Troubling, too, is the insistence that claims of universalism harm “native culture”. It veers dangerously close to a perception of cultures – of “native” cultures at least – as “mummified” objects, in Frantz Fanon’s words, “put into capsules” and embraced as “authentic”, rather than as living entities continually “grasped anew” through interaction with the wider world.

Here is a leftist writing for a leftist publication recognizing that evaluating ideas according to the group identity of the person who holds them is racist, that stereotyping and condescending to “native cultures” is also racist, and that universalism rather than relativism is necessary for social justice. This is the surest sign that woke is dead.

Illustration: Shakespeare mural by Jimmy.C. via Flickr, CC BY 2.0.

Shakespeare Birthplace Trust

Universalism

William Shakespeare

woke ideology

Previous Post

March 28, 2025

DISCUSS: The Seal of Confession

Next Post

March 31, 2025 Monday Miscellany, 3/31/25

Recent Comments

0 | Leave a Comment

"I know wired earbuds are making a comeback (I never stopped using them as I ..."

reg

Luther on Tools

"VCRs, tape decks, and cassette players are all having a revival among a segment of ..."

Tom Hering

Luther on Tools

"As a (retired) lawyer I see potential liability from sharing things like power or sharp ..."

reg

Luther on Tools

"I am not sure the items you mentioned, though disused, discontinued, discarded, could be considered ..."

reg

Luther on Tools

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category America Apologetics Art baseball Bible Blog Christ Church crime Culture Economics Education Ethics Family Food Football Government History Holidays Holy Week Humor International Islam Language Law Life Issues Literature Media Medicine Movies Music Nature News Personal Philosophy Politics psychology Reformation Religions Sacraments Science sex Social Science Sports technology television terrorism Theology Uncategorized Vocation war

Select a Month October 2026 September 2026 August 2026 July 2026 June 2026 May 2026 April 2026 March 2026 February 2026 January 2026 December 2025 November 2025 October 2025 September 2025 August 2025 July 2025 June 2025 May 2025 April 2025 March 2025 February 2025 January 2025 December 2024 November 2024 October 2024 September 2024 August 2024 July 2024 June 2024 May 2024 April 2024 March 2024 February 2024 January 2024 December 2023 November 2023 October 2023 September 2023 August 2023 July 2023 June 2023 May 2023 April 2023 March 2023 February 2023 January 2023 December 2022 November 2022 October 2022 September 2022 August 2022 July 2022 June 2022 May 2022 April 2022 March 2022 February 2022 January 2022 December 2021 November 2021 October 2021 September 2021 August 2021 July 2021 June 2021 May 2021 April 2021 March 2021 February 2021 January 2021 December 2020 November 2020 October 2020 September 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012 April 2012 March 2012 February 2012 January 2012 December 2011 November 2011 October 2011 September 2011 August 2011 July 2011 June 2011 May 2011 April 2011 March 2011 February 2011 January 2011 December 2010 November 2010 October 2010 September 2010 August 2010 July 2010 June 2010 May 2010 April 2010 March 2010 February 2010 January 2010 December 2009 November 2009 October 2009 September 2009 August 2009 July 2009 June 2009 May 2009 April 2009 March 2009 February 2009 January 2009 December 2008 November 2008 October 2008 September 2008 August 2008 July 2008 June 2008 May 2008 April 2008 March 2008 February 2008 January 2008 December 2007 November 2007 October 2007

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

Who was Mary's cousin?

Select your answer to see how you score.

Rachel Sarah Leah Elizabeth

Books by This Author Books by Gene Veith

See All Titles »