William Shakespeare’s birthplace will be de-colonised over fears that portraying his success as the ‘greatest’ playwright ‘benefits the ideology of white European supremacy’.
Shakespeare’s Birthplace Trust owns buildings in the playwright’s hometown of Stratford-upon-Avon.
It wants to create a ‘create a more inclusive museum experience’ and announced it will move away from Western perspectives after concerns were raised that Shakespeare’s ideas were used to advance ‘white supremacy’ ideas.
The trust also said that some of its items could contain language or depictions that are racist, sexist, or homophobic.
It comes amid an ongoing backlash against the writer. Some productions of his works have been slapped with trigger warnings for misogyny, racism and ‘problematic radicalised dynamics’ that link whiteness to beauty.
In 2022, a research project between the trust and Dr Helen Hopkins at the University of Birmingham postulated that the idea of Shakespeare’s ‘universal’ genius ‘benefits the ideology of white European supremacy’.
This is because European culture is portrayed as the standard for high art and the playwright as a symbol of British ‘superiority’, according to The Telegraph.
The project said this narrative has caused harm, and advised that the trust stop saying Shakespeare was the ‘greatest’ but part of a community of ‘equal and different’ writers globally.
Shakespeare’s Birthplace Trust later received funding from the Esmee Fairbairn Foundation, which finances projects that boost diversity and inclusion.
Some of its organised events celebrated Bengali poet Rabindranath Tagore, and a Romeo and Juliet-inspired Bollywood dance workshop.
The trust also promised to remove offensive language from its collections.
Some of the items at the trust include archived material, literary criticism, books linked to the writer and gifts from around the world offered in honour of him.
A statement from the trust said: ‘As part of our ongoing work, we’ve undertaken a project which explores our collections to ensure they are as accessible as possible.’
In 2021, The Globe Theatre launched a project to ‘decolonise’ Shakespeare’s famous plays, while experts claimed his work is ‘problematic’ for linking whiteness to beauty.
The London theatre, which is a reconstruction of the Elizabethan playhouse where William Shakespeare wrote his work, has begun ‘anti-racist’ seminars to discuss ‘decolonising’ Shakespeare’s esteemed plays.
Experts claimed that the bard’s plays are ‘problematic’ for linking whiteness to beauty, while an academic said all of Shakespeare’s plays are ‘race plays’ as they all contain ‘whiteness’.
Also in 2021, it was reported that a growing number of ‘woke’ academics are refusing to teach Shakespeare in U.S. schools, arguing that the Bard promotes racism, white supremacy and intolerance, and instead are pushing for the teaching of ‘modern’ alternatives.
Writing in School Library Journal, Amanda MacGregor, a Minnesota-based librarian, bookseller and freelance journalist, asked why teachers were continuing to include Shakespeare in their classrooms.
‘Shakespeare’s works are full of problematic, outdated ideas, with plenty of misogyny, racism, homophobia, classism, anti-Semitism and misogynoir,’ she wrote, with the last word referring to a hatred of black women.
But others contended the latest woke trend is short-sighted, not taking into account the lessons that Shakespeare still can teach for today – with one New York Times best-selling author accusing schools that jettison the writer as ‘flushing great literature down the drain.’
In 2023, The Globe gave Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream a ‘misogyny and racism’ warning.
The comedy, telling the tale of four rebellious lovers who get lost in a magical forest, is set to run from April as part of the venue’s summer programme.
The warning read: ‘Content guidance: The play contains language of violence, sexual references, misogyny and racism.’ The online guidance ends with a plea to those concerned about its themes to contact the ticketing team for further details on the play’s content.
The venue is a replica of the original Globe theatre, where Shakespeare’s plays were first seen, so is closely associated with the Bard.
A spokesman for the Globe said at the time: ‘Content guidance is written in advance of the creation of each production and based on what is present in the play. These will be updated as the production comes to life.’
The website’s warning came after education experts at the theatre who intend to ‘decolonise’ Shakespeare’s work also attacked the play for its misogyny.
A major comic plot line is King Oberon giving a love potion to Queen Titania so she falls for the ass-headed character Bottom.
But academics have claimed this is troubling because Titania is drugged, so she cannot consent.
Hailey Bachrach, the founder of the education project Shakespeare and Consent, said that this kind of plotline can ‘make Shakespeare problematic’.
Another ‘problematic’ plot line is Hermia fleeing Athens because she must choose between marrying against her will, or being executed or placed in a convent. Some academics say Shakespeare creates a ‘dark/light binary’ which casts dark or black as negative and white or fair as positive.
The Globe has sought to address the more troubling aspects of Shakespeare’s work with its Anti-Racist Shakespeare seminars.
In these seminars education experts have said the Bard’s language was ‘racialising’. For example, the first line of A Midsummer Night’s Dream is said to set out the racial divide clearly straight away: ‘Now, fair Hippolyta.’
Unlike Othello, which features a key non-white character, the play is not typically viewed as a ‘race play’ but experts believe racial slurs lie in the insults used by the play’s characters.