Final Post - Identity

At the beginning of the semester, I possessed only the vaguest notion of what identity truly is, with an equally vague OED definition to confirm my uncertainties about such a simultaneously vast and daunting word. Several blog posts and a good deal of meditative thought later, I am perhaps even more uncertain about what identity truly means – to me, or Shakespeare, or anyone.

While reflecting on the term and applying it to Shakespeare’s early works has in some ways left me grappling, it has lead me to better understand a few things about this concept that we use so often to describe ourselves. Time and time again this semester I have revisited and reaffirmed the notion that identity is not something that is constant and preexisting, but rather it is almost entirely fluid and malleable. It is also largely performative, not only in the theatrical context of Shakespeare’s works but in the way that individuals perform aspects of their identity such as gender and class on a daily basis. As a writer of dynamic characters experiencing larger-than-life situations and emotions, Shakespeare writes many characters that experience identity shifts and make conscious choices to perform themselves differently – whether by choice like Prince Hal having drinks with his friends, or by necessity like Kate being forced into the role of Petruchio’s submissive wife.

Much of what Shakespeare implies about the nature of identity is very much applicable to real-world folk outside of the theatre, both in Elizabethan England and today. That being said, because Shakespeare writes such high-stakes plots and strong characters, he comments on identity in a way that is both highly effective and perhaps somewhat exaggerated.  Excluding perhaps The Comedy of Errors, Shakespeare abandons the Aristotelean unities of time, place, and action in his works – this means that characters often age or experience significant life events over the course of a play, which provides a wider view of the shifting nature of identity while also being somewhat removed from the way these shifts work in real life. What particularly astounds me, though, is that though Shakespeare wrote in England in the 16^th Century, his thoughts on identity that emerge through his characterization are as relevant today as they were to his contemporary audiences. Though I am still uncertain of a concrete definition of identity, I do know that whether I want to or not I will continue to search for my own definition and clues about identity when I read the works of Shakespeare or simply go about my day to day life.