Revolutionary America and Shakespeare: Late Eighteenth-Century American Identity and the British Playwright

In the eighteenth century Shakespeare was strongly associated with British culture and theatre style. However, during this time, Americans began an obsession with the Bard that lasted at least a century. While the American Revolution may have started as a direct response to certain parliamentary actions surrounding issues of taxation, it quickly took on an anti-British sentiment. As the American people rejected all things British during this period, Shakespeare is an anomaly. The powerful, yet perplexing, position Shakespeare held in American society can be seen as an indicative component of how Americans viewed their new Republic. This thesis uses Shakespeare to explore how Revolutionary era politicians and civilians understood the relationship between their nation and the nation from which they came. Divided into chapters, the first chapter highlights Shakespeare's position as the symbol of British greatness. The second and third chapters explore Americans' understanding of the Bard through newspaper articles, letters, and political documents which reference the playwright. The final two chapters delve into the social and political ideologies during the American Revolutionary period that complicate and explain Americans' paradoxical relationship with Shakespeare. Despite the strong convictions otherwise, America in the late eighteenth century still relied, culturally and literarily, on Britain.