마크 트웨인의 셰익스피어 전유

Mark Twain’s Appropriation of Shakespeare.

This study examines how Mark Twain appropriates Shakespeare in his works including The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn , an unfinished burlesque play Hamlet , Is Shakespeare Dead? , and Date 1601, or Conversation, As It Was by the Social Fireside, in the Time of the Tudors . Twain’s The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn alludes to and parodies a lot of Shakespeare’s works including Romeo and J uliet , Hamlet , Macbeth , and King Lear . As we can see in the King and the Duke’s absurd versions of Shakespeare plays, the badly quoted Shakespeare might be one way for Twain to debunk or degrade Shakespeare’s works and literary authority. Jim’s costume of mad King Lear can be the best example of it. In the burlesque version of Hamlet Twain created a unique character breaking into the actions of the play, commenting on them, and making them farcical. Twain’s last work, Is Shakespeare Dead? seemingly explores the controversy over the authorship of the Shakespearean literary canon. But Twain never cast the slightest doubt about the playwright’s identity in his other works. Nor does Date 1601 , which includes both Shakespeare and Bacon in its cast of characters. Twain’s main concern in this writing rather appears to make a boast of himself and confirm his reputation. I think Mark Twain ultimately tried to position himself as an alternative to the “Americanized Shakespeare” trend in the 19th-century American society.