Ideological Shoehorning

Shakespeare's birthplace (Brooks/AP/WSJ)

In yet another example of the ideological capture of a venerable institution, the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust (SBT), founded 1847, is "decolonizing" its extensive Shakespeare properties in Stratford-on-Avon: [bold added]

In 2022, the SBT asked Helen Hopkins, a postgraduate researcher at Birmingham City University who had inspected the trust’s archives for her doctoral thesis, to draw up the indictment. Ms. Hopkins advised that the trust “recognise the role Shakespeare has been forced to play in establishing and upholding imperialistic narratives of cultural supremacy.” The Telegraph cites a research project undertaken by Ms. Hopkins and the trust as saying that to venerate Shakespeare is to support “white, Anglo-centric, Eurocentric, and increasingly ‘West-centric’ views that continue to do harm in the world today.” The idea of Shakespeare’s “universal” genius benefits “the ideology of white European supremacy.” The “racist, sexist, homophobic or otherwise harmful” material in the SBT’s collections commits “epistemic violence,” which is academic-speak for rude words. Wait till they read Shakespeare’s!

Ms. Hopkins recommended the cure: to “purge” the SBT of “Anglocentric and colonialist thought,” so that the SBT’s programming can fix “societal inequities that are embedded in imperialism and associated with Shakespeare’s global cultural status.”

When asked for a copy of the plans, a spokesman for the trust sent us a statement responding to the recent press coverage that read in part, “The collections of the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust are a window into what Shakespeare has meant to diverse people across the centuries and around the globe.” But he declined to provide a copy of the report. In a similarly retiring vein Ms. Hopkins has requested that her university library not make her doctoral thesis available to outsiders. This is how “public-facing” institutions react when they are caught betraying the public’s trust.

During the life of William Shakespeare (1564-1616) England was hardly the dominant European power that it would become two centuries later. In his time many states jockeyed for position, including France, Spain, the Holy Roman Empire, Russia, the Dutch Republic, and Prussia.

Of course, Shakespeare wrote from his Englishman's perspective, but to say that he was, intentionally or not, a white supremacist colonizer is the worst kind of shoehorning the 17th-century world into 21st-century ideology.

In honor of the Bard I hope they limit Ms. Hopkins and SBT's output to written reports and don't cause permanent damage to Stratford land and buildings.

The Ides of March

The Ides of March (March 15) was marked on the calendar centuries before Pi Day (March 14). According to Grok:

The Ides of

(Image from Getty.edu)

March is a date on the Roman calendar that corresponds to March 15th. In the Roman system, the "Ides" marked the middle of the month and were originally tied to the full moon. For March, May, July, and October, the Ides fell on the 15th; for other months, it was the 13th.

Historically, the Ides of March is most famous for the assassination of Julius Caesar in 44 BC. A group of Roman senators, led by Brutus and Cassius, stabbed Caesar to death at a Senate meeting, fearing his growing power threatened the Republic. The event was later dramatized by Shakespeare in Julius Caesar, where a soothsayer warns, "Beware the Ides of March."

Today, it’s often referenced as a symbol of betrayal or a turning point. Since it’s March 15, 2025, right now, you’re living through it—hopefully with less drama than Caesar! Anything specific you’re curious about regarding it?

Julius Caesar was the first Shakespeare play I read. At first I was disappointed that the play was really about Brutus, who was one of the assassins of the famous conqueror. Then we delved into the play, stewarded by our very capable 7th-grade English teacher. To this day I remember "et tu, Brute", "the evil that men do lives after them, the good is oft interred with their bones" and of course "beware the Ides of March."

Were it not for Shakespeare, I doubt anyone would know--or care--about "Ides" (the middle of a month).