Yes, if you were to talk to British author Preti Taneja, a Shakespeare expert who believes the bard belongs to all cultures. In fact, her debut novel ‘We That Are Young’ is a vivid re-telling of Shakespeare’s ‘King Lear’ set in contemporary India.
Read on to find out why the Bard inspired her, then participate test your knowledge on all things Shakespearan
As a 17-year-old, Preti Taneja studied ‘King Lear’ as a part of her A-levels, in English Literature. The experience of being provoked, enthralled and inspired never left her. Perhaps that’s why the author and academician used the Shakespeare classic to tell the story of a domineering father, Devraj, who is willing to hand his wealth over to the daughter (he has three) who loves/obeys him most.
A desi Lear, not
What prevents ‘We That Are Young’ from being a simple adaptation is how Taneja uses it to comment on the status of Indian women as (almost) second-rate citizens who have to accede to patriarchy, misogyny. The story is set against the background of the anti-corruption riots in India in 2011, and begins when the youngest daughter refuses to pander to her business magnate dad’s ego. She rejects the match he has arranged for her and leaves home. Her elder sisters struggle to manage the family company...
Old, but gold
Despite being 401 years old, Shakespeare’s plays and themes have stood the test of time.
A reason why the Bard’s work has endured is because over time, different cultures adapted his work to their local and cultural context and settings.
For example, ‘Othello’ was adapted to an Indian context ‘Omkara’ by film maker Vishal Bharadwaj.
Explaining the Bard’s global appeal in a video on www.literature.britishcouncil.org, Taneja said that Shakespeare’s plays provide people with a means of saying what they are feeling and what they are experiencing to the rest of the world. There’s something very political about the way people in different countries and cultures adapt Shakespeare. But how it started was less than glamourous.
In pre-independent India, Shakespeare’s plays were used as tools by the British to introduce India to their culture. The plays were taught in schools to create ‘a class of persons Indian in blood and colour, but English in tastes, in opinions, in morals and in intellect,’ as British historian Thomas Macaulay had explained in his speech ‘Minute on Indian Education of 1835.’ With time though these plays adapted to local culture and tradition.
Avoiding mimicry
Taneja said in an interview that she had to be careful to avoid mimicking ‘King Lear ’ since Shakespeare’s phrases, syntax exist in every day life, to the point people quote him without even knowing it. (For example, the phrase ‘green-eyed monster’ comes from the play ‘Othello’, when Iago utters “O, beware, my lord, of jealousy! It is the green-eyed monster, which doth mock the meat it feeds on.”)
Format-wise Taneja’s story has retained Lear’s template. ‘We That Are Young’ is told from the perspective of five young people locked in an intense inheritance tussle involving land and money. However, the change from a play form to novel meant Taneja used flashbacks to narrate the backstory of the characters.
Q: Now that you've read this... tell us in the comment section if Shakespeare belongs to us all? Or will he always remain an import from the our colonised past?
Which Shakespeare play famously features three witches?
Which Shakespeare play famously features three witches?