Shakespeare as Liberal Art Education Contents－Intertextuality and Reading Intertextually Reproduced Modern Hamlets

Abstract

Shakespeare is an icon of literature that transcends time and language and a cultural content that transcends genres. Especially Shakespeare which have been reproduced intertextuality is not a British speciality, but an essential content of liberal arts education in the flow of convergence culture in this global era. To have logical approach to the various representations of Shakespeare, the concept of intertextuality is closely examined at the beginning, from Kristeva to the present, which is theoretical link that connects the classics and the modern. Tom Stoppard’s Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead is a modern reproduction of Shakespeare’s Hamlet, clearly shows the absurdity of modern life by drawing insignificant characters around the main character, Hamlet. Ophelia, a novel intertextually rewritten Hamlet from a woman's point of view and produced as a movie presents a new defamiliarized perspective to modern readers/learners through genre transformation as well as ending transformation. Hamlet and Yeonsan, two plays directed by Lee in Korea, are the discernible examples of Korean intertextual representations which show regional and cultural characteristics of Korea, that is, an outside of the Anglo-American region. By representing Shakespeare's Hamlet using both Korean symbols, dances, and songs abd western acting style, it suggests the process of expanding intertextuality into interculturality. In addition, it can be said that readers/learners’ literacy to the classics should be preceded to secure the global value of Koreanization. Understanding modern adaptations of Shakespeare is an essential backup for leaders/learners to decipher the synthetic syndrome of global culture of the moment. Therefore, as liberal art education content, it seems necessary to recommend to readers/learners who need to develop critical literacy to understand the current cultural trend to read the intertextually reproduced Shakespeare.