Research Article

Shakespeare and Intellectual Castration in the Arab World: Hamlet as a Detached Arab Intellectual in Jawad Al-Assadi's Forget Hamlet

Authors

  • Ziad Abushalha PhD Candidate at the Department of Comparative Literature, Szeged University, Hungary

Abstract

This study aims at investigating the crises of the Arab intellectuals under the policies of some Arab regimes. It analyses Jawad Al-Assadi's Forget Hamlet as an example of this political oppression that targeted Arab intellectuals in the Ba'athy Iraq, headed by Sadam Hussien. The study discusses the theme of the neutral Arab intellectual who kept a silent position in a time of political crisis. It traces how Hamlet in this adaptation was dramatized as a hapless and inactive intellectual to mock those Iraqi intellectuals, in particular, and Arab intellectuals, in general, who succumbed to power and avoided speaking truth to the oppressive regimes. After analyzing the scope of intellectualism in the play, the study discusses how Hamlet became a signifier to reflect the Arab intellectual crises in a time of political oppression.

Article information

Journal

International Journal of Linguistics, Literature and Translation

Volume (Issue)

5 (1)

Pages

238-246

Published

2022-01-31

How to Cite

Abushalha, Z. (2022). Shakespeare and Intellectual Castration in the Arab World: Hamlet as a Detached Arab Intellectual in Jawad Al-Assadi’s Forget Hamlet. International Journal of Linguistics, Literature and Translation, 5(1), 238–246. https://doi.org/10.32996/ijllt.2022.5.1.28

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Keywords:

Adaptation, Shakespeare's Hamlet, Arab Intellectuals, Crisis, Arab World