A Study Of The Oriental Imagination In Shakespeares’ Plays

The purpose of this paper is to study the Eastern imagination in Shakespeare’s plays,which,in general,is a relatively large and challenging subject.This can be said for three reasons:Firstly,from the perspective of Oriental imagination,some scholars have sorted out the evolution process of Oriental image and imagination from a diachronic longitudinal perspective,exploring the Western world’s imagination of the Eastern region from the ancient Greek period to modern times,or taking the image of a specific country such as China and India as the research basis.However,there are few relevant achievements in literary interpretation based on Shakespeare’s specific texts.Therefore,there is a certain vacancy in this research perspective.Secondly,from the perspective of the study of Shakespeare’s plays,Shakespeare’s literary works have always been the topic that the academic circles have been diligently seeking and constantly exploring,but the discussion voice of the Oriental imagination in Shakespeare’s plays is small.Finally,by comparing the previous two perspectives,it is found that the two lines of sight seem to coincide with each other,but there is still a gap at the boundary.Therefore,it is a new attempt to clarify the boundary between the national motive of the Middle East imagination and the global vision in the works,so as to explore the characteristics of the eastern imagination in Shakespeare’s plays.This thesis mainly uses the method of comparative literature imagology,in addition to the introduction and conclusion,the text is mainly composed of four chapters.The first chapter is the definition of the concept of the East.Through the investigation of the historical era,it explores the countries and regions contained in the East from three perspectives:the geographical sense,the religious and cultural sense and the ideological field.This also the premise and basis for the paper to better explain,in order to more clearly reveal the scope and boundary of the research of this subject.The second chapter introduces the generation path of Shakespeare’s Oriental imagination.Through the discussion of the two generation paths of Shakespeare’s Oriental imagination,it shows that the Oriental imagination is not only the creation of the collective imagination of the society,but also the individual crystallization of the artist himself.From the perspective of limitation and transcendence,this chapter mainly explores the dual characteristics of Shakespeare as a citizen of The Times and a great artist,clarifies the boundary between collective imagination and individual imagination,and highlights the epochal and universal nature of Shakespeare’s plays.The third chapter explores the Oriental image in Shakespeare’s plays,including three sections.First of all,it is about some regions that are actually related to the Western world,belonging to the border of the Eastern and Western world,such as Egypt,Turkey,etc.,listed in the article.These countries are closest to Britain and have long had a factual relationship with the Western world,especially the military friction.Therefore,the original appearance of this conflict is restored in the drama.Secondly,the orientals in the process of colonization.The colonization of the western world in this period included both the colonization of the New world and the expansion of the old world,indicating that Shakespeare himself had begun to reflect the world vision in his plays.The third section the high and low Orientals,selects two images of the other in the Eastern imagination as a comparative reference.Shakespeare himself was concerned with the Jewish character as a religious other,which created a pagan fear,and thus the Jew as the other is the lower being.The Chinese people embody the Western world’s imagination of material and spiritual wealth.According to Barrou’s theory,we can summarize them as the image of the friendly other,which is generally friendly.In this sense,we explore the portrayal of the Orientals in Shakespeare’s plays,which contains a dimension of Shakespeare’s imagination of the East,which is of great significance to the discussion of this topic.The fourth chapter explains Shakespeare’s imagination of the Eastern scene in Shakespeare’s plays from four perspectives.The depiction of mysterious and luxurious Oriental sentiment and the multiple depictions of pearls and gems everywhere contain the subjective choice of British colonial expansion in the Age of Great Voyages,which highlights the characteristics of Shakespeare’s plays actively observing the world and taking the world as a window;The creation of Oriental symbols discusses how the images embodied in Shakespeare’s plays further influence western political civilization and become typical political symbols,which shows the special historical background of Shakespeare and his concern for the images of the eastern world;The manifestation of the inner heterogeneity of the East,based on the secondary characteristics embodied in the Oriental imagination,showed the signs of Said’s "Orientalism"later;The fourth section explains the relationship between the nationality of Shakespeare’s Oriental imagination and The Times.The nationality is a true portrayal of The Times.The world reflects the author’s high consciousness and combines the world picture with a grand vision,which also reflects the research value of our subj ect today.In a word,Shakespeare’s Oriental imagination is an open and inclusive subject with profound implications.It not only shows Shakespeare’s historical consciousness and transcendence of The Times,but also embodies the characteristics of the eastern imagination in Shakespeare’s time.