‘Whom shall I serve?’: History, myth, and dramaturgy in representing the *other in Aeschylus, Shakespeare, and Sam Shepard
Abstract
This dissertation presents a comparative reading of the problem of staging ethnic alterity in three distinct and extremely different periods. It explores the issue of staging Otherness, namely those instances where playwrights have looked beyond their own perceived ethnic and gender identities in their work for the purpose of investigating issues of self and national identity. The plays of ethnic appropriation chosen for this study are Aeschylus's Persians (472 BCE), Shakespeare's Macbeth (c.1606), and Sam Shepard's Silent Tongue (1992). The first chapter provides an introduction to the problem and its inherent ethical concerns along with definitions of terms and plot synopses of the primary texts. The remaining three chapters examine the staging of alterity in terms of recurring thematic issues. Chapter Two approaches the various political dynamics at work in each host culture, while Chapter Three treats each text's religious and theological themes. Chapter Four explores issues of the metaphysical and supernatural in the staging of ethnic alterity.
Degree
Ph.D.
Advisors
White, Purdue University.
Subject Area
Comparative literature|Classical studies|British and Irish literature|American literature|Theater
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