Shakespeare, Race, and Appropriation

Abstract

Abstract As three concepts all deeply intertwined with power, appropriation, Shakespeare, and race potently speak to and inform one another. This chapter considers appropriation as both a power move and a form of reimagined work to spotlight the complexity of this interrelationship. I begin by examining how race and appropriation shape one another across numerous citations from Shakespeare’s dramatic oeuvre. Moving across genres, I trace a dynamic in which racialized identities are appropriated for the purpose of denigration and marginalization, thereby upholding various forms of white superiority. I then turn to two contemporary appropriations—the comedy sketch ‘Rome and Julissa’ from The Black Lady Sketch Show and appropriative moments in the Public Theater’s Much Ado About Nothing—to demonstrate how modern works appropriate yet sideline Shakespeare by using his cultural capital to explore and expose contemporary racial issues. These appropriative moves thereby highlight the very identities frequently disregarded and repressed in Shakespeare’s plays.