Can we talk about race in hamlet?

Peter Erickson*

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingChapter

9 Scopus citations

Abstract

My title question presupposes a prior question: How do we define race for the purposes of this inquiry? Is there a historically valid concept of race that can be applied to Hamlet? The essays by P. E. H. Hair and Robin Law and by David Richardson from the first two volumes of the Oxford History of the British Empire offer a useful starting point because together they provide a sufficiently long time span to document England’s comparatively late entry into the Atlantic slave trade. Massive British involvement begins only in the 1640s (Hair and Law 247,255; Richardson 454), a historical marker that any discussion of race in the early modem period must acknowledge.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Title of host publicationHamlet
Subtitle of host publicationCritical Essays
PublisherTaylor and Francis
Pages207-213
Number of pages7
ISBN (Electronic)9781136017261
ISBN (Print)0815338767, 9780815338765
DOIs
StatePublished - Jan 1 2013

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • General Arts and Humanities

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