The Shakespeare death tercentenary celebrations in England and Scotland: How British was Shakespeare in 1916?

The tercentenary of Shakespeare’s death fell in 1916, during the Great War. Scholarship on the commemorations has so far focused on English attitudes to Shakespeare, with critics demonstrating how celebrants in England linked Shakespeare to notions of patriotism and national pride. This paper shows...

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Main Author: Emily Anderson
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: University of Edinburgh 2014-12-01
Series:Forum
Online Access:http://www.forumjournal.org/article/view/1152
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author Emily Anderson
author_facet Emily Anderson
author_sort Emily Anderson
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description The tercentenary of Shakespeare’s death fell in 1916, during the Great War. Scholarship on the commemorations has so far focused on English attitudes to Shakespeare, with critics demonstrating how celebrants in England linked Shakespeare to notions of patriotism and national pride. This paper shows that celebrants in both Scotland and England used Shakespeare to stress the importance of British unity in wartime, and associated him with a range of concerns unrelated to national identity. It concludes with the idea that the flexibility of Shakespeare’s figure mirrors the nature of “Britishness,” making the Shakespeare of 1916 a “British icon.”
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spelling doaj.art-27dff3e38e30403db4464907c6a123142022-12-21T17:45:52ZengUniversity of EdinburghForum1749-97712014-12-01191152The Shakespeare death tercentenary celebrations in England and Scotland: How British was Shakespeare in 1916?Emily Anderson0University of EdinburghThe tercentenary of Shakespeare’s death fell in 1916, during the Great War. Scholarship on the commemorations has so far focused on English attitudes to Shakespeare, with critics demonstrating how celebrants in England linked Shakespeare to notions of patriotism and national pride. This paper shows that celebrants in both Scotland and England used Shakespeare to stress the importance of British unity in wartime, and associated him with a range of concerns unrelated to national identity. It concludes with the idea that the flexibility of Shakespeare’s figure mirrors the nature of “Britishness,” making the Shakespeare of 1916 a “British icon.”http://www.forumjournal.org/article/view/1152
spellingShingle Emily Anderson
The Shakespeare death tercentenary celebrations in England and Scotland: How British was Shakespeare in 1916?
Forum
title The Shakespeare death tercentenary celebrations in England and Scotland: How British was Shakespeare in 1916?
title_full The Shakespeare death tercentenary celebrations in England and Scotland: How British was Shakespeare in 1916?
title_fullStr The Shakespeare death tercentenary celebrations in England and Scotland: How British was Shakespeare in 1916?
title_full_unstemmed The Shakespeare death tercentenary celebrations in England and Scotland: How British was Shakespeare in 1916?
title_short The Shakespeare death tercentenary celebrations in England and Scotland: How British was Shakespeare in 1916?
title_sort shakespeare death tercentenary celebrations in england and scotland how british was shakespeare in 1916
url http://www.forumjournal.org/article/view/1152
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