The 1916 Shakespeare Tercentenary in Scotland: concepts of nation-ness and cultural prestige in anniversary tributes to the playwright

Abstract

During the 1916 tercentenary of Shakespeare's death, celebrants praised the playwright for an apparent ability to transcend national and cultural borders. At the same time, the First World War had created an atmosphere in which delineating national cultural “property” carried great importance, prompting Shakespeare enthusiasts in England and Germany to use the playwright to denigrate each other's cultures and to promote their own.It remains to be seen, however, how celebrants from the different nations of the United Kingdom negotiated the source of cultural prestige that is Shakespeare between themselves: how did people around the UK approach a poet so closely associated with English identity at a moment when all of Britain, and the British Empire, was engaged in a world war? As a starting point to addressing this question, I establish how Scottish Shakespeare enthusiasts answered the anniversary, drawing on non-canonical and previously unexplored tercentenary tributes.I demonstrate that there were several layers to Scottish commentators’ engagements with the tercentenary. They used, variously, Shakespeare as a vehicle for expressing senses of Scottish national identity, for promoting the renown of their local towns and cities, and for articulating support for the British war effort. Such responses contributed to the Anglocentricism of British culture, yet also made Shakespeare “more Scottish” and provided a means for Scots to claim the playwright as cultural capital.Critics should therefore be wary of over-emphasising the ways in which Shakespeare can be seen as a divisive figure within Britain, of imposing devolutionary politics on the history of his reception. During the tercentenary, the dramatist was a “resource”, a well of prestige and a means of expressing senses of belonging, from which Scottish celebrants naturally drew.