Iffat Sharmin

Reading Shakespeare's Plays in the Light of Edward Said's Orientalism: the Merchant of Venice, Othello, and the Tempest Iffat Sharmin

William Shakespeare's plays reflect Elizabethan society. By manipulating our senses of what constitutes reality, plays/texts evoke people and culture for us. By telling us tales of the Orient and the Orientals, Shakespeare actually represents them. He speaks ?for' Orientals rather than letting Orientals speak for themselves. In the process he 2orientalizes" them in the sense indicated by Edward Said in Orientalism. The Merchant of Venice, Othello, and The Tempest show how Orientals are portrayed as the "Other" by Shakespeare and throw light on the sixteenth century's hegemonic representations of Orientals. The Merchant of Venice demonstrates how Shylock and the Prince of Morocco are considered and treated as the "Other" and are alienated from the mainstream society because one is a Jew and the other is a Moor. Othello presents Othello trapped in a cultural stereotype of the black and seen by many Englishmen as ugly, cruel, lustful, and dangerous, a near cousin to the devil himself. And The Tempest represents Caliban as the "Other" because of his ignoble birth. These characters represent the oppressed minority in different corners of the world.