Shakespearean Character Fictions: Contemporary Re-presentations of Ophelia, Desdemona and Juliet

Abstract

Adaptation of Shakespeare?s plays is not new and occurred even in Shakespeare?s lifetime. What is new, however, is the increasing legitimisation of adaptation in the late twentieth century, a direct result of the rise of other forms of media, developments in academia, and the new social, political and cultural contexts that provided new material for adaptation to draw on. One particular area that has radically changed the way contemporary audiences approach Shakespeare is the rise of feminism. This thesis will study the adaptations, or hypertexts, of three of Shakespeare?s most prominent female characters; namely Ophelia, Desdemona and Juliet. The main concern of the thesis is what these texts say about the contemporary audience?s relationship to Shakespeare, and how they construct, think of, and reflect the position of women today in relation to Shakespeare. Though the main subject of the thesis is adaptation, the study requires that the academic, theoretical, and contextual debates that surround Shakespearean character fictions are adequately foregrounded. One of the main thematic concerns is, naturally, feminism in its various forms. Drawing attention to the different types of feminisms and the way they have developed, the thesis is also concerned with expanding the understanding of what the term ?feminist adaptation? means. While some of these texts might not possess, and in fact often do not aspire to, the status of ?literary texts?, as a body of work, however, they are important as cultural artefacts that bespeak the relationship that contemporary readers and writers have with Shakespeare. A study of these adaptations is an important part of the wider debates on Shakespeare, popular culture, and gender.