[In “The Great White Bard,” Farah Karim-Cooper maintains that
close attention to race, and racism, will only deepen engagement with
the playwright’s canon. ]
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GIVING SHAKESPEARE THE TOUGH LOVE HE DESERVES  
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John Douglas Thompson
August 18, 2023
New York Times
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_ In “The Great White Bard,” Farah Karim-Cooper maintains that
close attention to race, and racism, will only deepen engagement with
the playwright’s canon. _

John Douglas Thompson as Claudius (with Lorraine Toussaint as
Gertrude) in the 2023 Shakespeare in the Park production of
“Hamlet.”Credit..., Sara Krulwich/The New York Times

 

THE GREAT WHITE BARD: HOW TO LOVE SHAKESPEARE WHILE TALKING ABOUT
RACE, by Farah Karim-Cooper

Was my relationship to Shakespeare and race in need of a reality
check?

I asked myself that question as I did the 50-yard dash to catch the G
train for a rehearsal of “Hamlet,” clutching in my hand a copy of
“The Great White Bard: How to Love Shakespeare While Talking About
Race,” by Farah Karim-Cooper. The book takes a necessary look under
the hood of the plays, delving into the Elizabethan and Renaissance
ideals of race and how Shakespeare helped shape and define them.
“Instead of worshiping his words,” Karim-Cooper writes,
interrogating them “allows us to confront crucial questions of our
day.”

As a Black actor who has had the chance to play many of the plum
Shakespearean roles, had I been looking at his work through
rose-colored glasses? Of course I knew there was racism in
Shakespeare, but to what extent? This question is top of mind in drama
schools and theaters of late, with Shakespeare’s relevance at stake.
I know because I’ve been brought to campuses to discuss it.

So this summer I made “The Great White Bard” my trusted, troubling
and fascinating companion on train rides, during rehearsal breaks, in
dressing rooms and backstage, while working on Shakespeare’s
greatest play
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arguably New York’s greatest stage, the Delacorte Theater in Central
Park.

Karim-Cooper, a director of education at Shakespeare’s Globe
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King’s College London,
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analyzing from a distance; she’s an eyewitness on the front lines.
Since 2018 she has helped put together festivals
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“Shakespeare and Race” at the Globe — facing social-media
blowback as a result. And she’s drawing on a growing body of
important research by prominent scholars, including Ayanna Thompson,
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F. Hall [[link removed]] and Margo
Hendricks
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In a sweeping yet forensic 336 pages, “The Great White Bard”
argues that “Shakespeare’s texts are a reservoir of what is known
as _race-making_” — how language can define racial identity and
establish hierarchy.

The book details how racism plagues Shakespeare’s plays and
Shakespeare scholarship. Both, Karim-Cooper contends, overtly and
subtly elevate whiteness and denigrate Blackness, rendering true
inclusion practically impossible. (Sexism and misogyny play a big
part, too.)

The result: Shakespeare for the few and not for the many.

Yet Karim-Cooper is by no means offering up a luminary for
cancellation. “To love Shakespeare means to know him,” she writes.
“At some point love demands that we reconcile ourselves with flaws
and limitations. Only then can there be a deeper understanding and
affinity with another.”

The book illuminates the numerous instances of racialized language in
“Othello” (that “barbarous Moor”); “The Merchant of
Venice” (Shylock described as “devil,” “wolf,” “dog” and
“cur”); and “Titus Andronicus” (Aaron the Moor, also
“barbarous_”_). Descriptions of interracial relationships in
“Titus” and “Antony and Cleopatra,” Karim-Cooper argues,
dehumanize Blackness and establish white supremacy.

Her insights also reach into unexpected places, as when she finds
sexual stereotyping of Black and dark women in the comedies “Much
Ado About Nothing,” “Love’s Labour’s Lost” and “As You
Like It.”

The author’s analysis is both dizzying and impressive, yet at times
overzealous. Some parsing of the texts feels narrow and binary,
diminishing the scope and scale of their multiple meanings. Her
carefully reasoned claim that words like “kindness” and “fair”
are inherently connected only with whiteness runs the risk of
hyperbole, in Shakespeare’s time or now. Surely the boogeyman
can’t be everywhere.

I have always found myself in Shakespeare, as if these works were
written for me. I feel seen, heard and recreated by them. In playing
many of his leading roles, I have found pure joy and pain,
surrendering to the better and darker angels in myself. In some cosmic
way, I believe these characters are as much drawn to me as I am to
them.

This is not to say that I haven’t had to come to terms with racism
in the texts, from my first “Othello” in 1992 to my most recent
turn as Shylock in 2022,
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stints as Macbeth,
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III
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between.

Where I found racism, I also found complex characters who took my
breath away with their great depth and astonishing humanity. _Words,
words, words_: Shakespeare’s words contain multitudes of meaning,
ideas and emotions that in my Black body become mutable and ancestral
— shifting with time, intention, context, perception and culture.

Every night after a “Hamlet” performance, as I headed home from
the Delacorte, my grappling with “The Great White Bard” would
resume. It has indeed exposed me to flaws and limitations, while also
affirming Shakespeare’s power and abundance. Perhaps Karim-Cooper
and I are after the same thing. I challenge some of her findings, but
I respect her book and the alarm she sounds.

“The Great White Bard” contributes to an essential discussion on
Shakespeare and race, one that must include literary scholars,
historians, etymologists, audiences and, yes, even actors. Let us all
debate and think critically about the issues Karim-Cooper raises. At
the end of the day, such tough love can guide us to truly love
Shakespeare.

_JOHN DOUGLAS THOMPSON is a New York City actor who most recently
played Claudius in “Hamlet” for Shakespeare in the Park._

* William Shakespeare
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* Racism
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* language
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