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Shakespeare, Race and Minstrelsy in Nineteenth Century America / OONA CRAWFORD
Swansea University Author: OONA CRAWFORD
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Copyright: The Author, Oona Crawford, 2023. Distributed under the terms of a Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial 4.0 License (CC BY-NC 4.0).
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DOI (Published version): 10.23889/SUthesis.64625
Abstract
This thesis explores the interface between Shakespeare and Blackface Minstrelsy in Nineteenth-Century America. Critics such as Eric Lott have noted the often mutually contradictory intentions and effects of blackface minstrelsy. For some it offered a racist lampooning of African Americans, while for...
| Published: |
Swansea, Wales, UK
2023
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| Institution: | Swansea University |
| Degree level: | Doctoral |
| Degree name: | Ph.D |
| Supervisor: | Williams, Daniel G. and Farebrother, Rachel. |
| URI: | https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa64625 |
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| Abstract: |
This thesis explores the interface between Shakespeare and Blackface Minstrelsy in Nineteenth-Century America. Critics such as Eric Lott have noted the often mutually contradictory intentions and effects of blackface minstrelsy. For some it offered a racist lampooning of African Americans, while for others it broke the boundaries between black and white and could even be embraced as part of the anti-slavery cause. The myriad minstrel performances of Shakespeare’s plays seem to intensify this tension. Some felt that Shakespeare - a symbol of ‘Anglo-Saxon’ superiority – was debased when performed in a ‘Black’ voice. Others welcomed the ways in which minstrel performances undermined English hegemony at a time when America was declaring its cultural independence. Thus, a ‘highbrow’ attempt to adopt and adapt Shakespeare as part of a project to define the parameters of a white American cultural identity in the antebellum era was countered on the minstrel stage by the blackface burlesques which were immensely popular across the whole social spectrum. Drawing on commentaries by an array of writers, from the anti-slavery orator Frederick Douglass to the author and essayist Ralph Ellison, this thesis argues that a common cultural nationalist patriotism was shared by both the minstrel stage and the literary elite. Beginning with an analysis of the legitimate stage and minstrel adaptations of Shakespeare in nineteenth century America, the thesis proceeds to explore the presence and influence of Shakespeare and blackface minstrelsy in the works of canonical American authors. A series of distinct, by thematically related chapters, discuss the ways in which Harriet Beecher Stowe, Herman Melville and Mark Twain can be read in terms of this tension between highbrow and lowbrow articulations of an ‘Americanness’ in formation. The thesis foregrounds the ways in which these authors drew on Shakespeare and on minstrel conventions of masking and subversion in their novels. It is suggested that a study of the clash of the disparate and disguised voices within Shakespeare’s plays and the melodramatic excess of the blackface minstrel shows allows us to explore the contested political forces at work in nineteenth century United States in new and revealing ways. |
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| Item Description: |
A selection of third party content is redacted or is partially redacted from this thesis due to copyright restrictions. |
| Keywords: |
Race, Minstrelsy, Shakespeare, Nineteenth Century American Literature |
| College: |
Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences |