Unveiling Orientalism: The Veil in Shakespeare's Plays

Unveiling Orientalism: The Veil in Shakespeare’s Plays Aysha Taryam Abstract: The veil or scarf is known today as being predominantly linked to the Eastern culture yet we witness its appearance in many of England’s most famous playwrights’ work. The veil’s recurring appearance in Shakespeare’s plays, used not only by Eastern characters but by English ones as well, allows for an in-depth look into its hidden meanings and messages. This project aims to trace the appearance of the veil and explain both its symbolic and literal meanings in an effort to highlight the important role that material culture played in the shaping of Shakespeare’s plays. I will be examining the visor effect that the veil allows Shakespeare’s characters as well as its connection to both religion and orientalism. This paper aims to better understand through Shakespeare, Europe’s views of the ‘other’ and its attitudes towards racial and cultural differences. This paper will investigate both the metaphorical and literal interpretations of the veil focusing on two Shakespeare plays; Twelfth Night, and The Merchant of Venice. *** Material culture speaks of the people living at a certain point in time, their connection to certain objects and the values they attributed to them all come together to give an in depth perception into their lives. Historians study material objects remnant of a certain age in order to better understand their significance and nowhere is this more potent than in literature where writers give importance and prominence to some objects over others. In Early Modern England theatre material objects took center stage and it is to these objects that audiences related and reacted. This material communication is defined as “the intimate conversations which objects effected between host and guest, lover and beloved…”. Catherine Richardson, Shakespeare & Material Culture (New York: Oxford University Press, 2011), p.5. As a master playwright Shakespeare knew how to communicate with objects as well as he did with words and therefore in order to fully understand his plays we must decipher how he negotiated the meaning between words and things. Historically “the Orient” was a term used to describe the Eastern part of the world, its meaning evolving and expanding as explorers travelled farther and discovered more of what lay to the East. At its conception “the Orient” meant only Egypt and the Levant including only those worlds that were a part of the Eastern Roman Empire yet throughout time it has become known to predominantly mean Asia, but for the sake of this paper I will be using the historical meaning of the term. The use of the term “the Orient” shows the Western perception of this massive region with its diverse languages, religions and cultures as one generalised image of the ‘other’. The “Oriental” was the term referring to any person hailing from “the Orient” and was used by writers like Chaucer, Dryden, Pope, Byron and Shakespeare who solidified the term’s presence in English literature. Imperialist England viewed itself as politically and culturally dominant and therefore “the Orient” and its people were to be dominated. In his book Orientalism Edward Said dissects a chapter in The Earl of Cromer’s book Modern Egypt in an extensive effort to understand the Western view of ‘the Oriental’ and concludes: “Orientals or Arabs are thereafter shown to be gullible, “devoid of energy and initiative,” much given to “fulsome flattery,” intrigue, cunning, and unkindness to animals; Orientals cannot walk on either a road or pavement; Orientals are inveterate liars, they are “lethargic and suspicious,” and in everything oppose the clarity, directness, and nobility of the Anglo-Saxon race”. Edward W. Said, Orientalism (New York: Vintage Books, 1979), p. 38. Said did not coin the term ‘Orientalism’ yet for the sake of this paper’s argument I will be using his definition. Said believed Orientalism to be a “field of learned study” that aids both artistic and academic contributions based prejudiced outsider interpretations of the East shaped by the views of an Imperialistic Europe of the 18th and 19th centuries. Said defined Orientalism as “a very large mass of writers, among whom are poets, novelists, philosophers, political theorists, economists, and imperial administrators, have accepted the basic distinction between East and West as the starting point for elaborate theories, epics, novels, social descriptions and political accounts concerning the Orient, its people, customs, “mind,” destiny and so on.” Said, p. 3. It is therefore with this definition as a guide we can infer that material culture hailing from ‘the Orient’ used in art and literature will always hold within it different interpretations and reveal a glimpse into the West’s idea of the ‘other’. Said emphasises that 18th century writers like Milton, Marlowe and Shakespeare “drew on the Orient’s riches for their productions, in ways that sharpened the outlines of imagery, ideas, and figures populating it”. Ibid., p. 68. The veil or scarf is known today as being predominantly linked to the Eastern culture and specifically to the Islamic one. We witness it being shown as a sign of oppression and used by politicians to discriminate against different beliefs. During the French colonisation of Algeria the veil was instrumental in the enforcing of political and social control. Algerian men were made to feel guilty for having veiled wives and the colonial government had even gone so far as to organise public “unveiling” ceremonies, and to this day the veil is a subject of political debate. The veil also played a role in Turkish politics, when Mustafa Kemal Ataturk founded the Republic of Turkey he banned the veil in an effort to erase any remnants of the Ottoman Empire. In recent Turkish history the veil made its appearance donned by the current President of Turkey Mohammed Gul’s wife many secularists viewed it as a bad omen and a sign of darker political times. Saba Mahmood, Politics of Piety: The Islamic Revival and the Feminist Subject (New Jersey: Princeton University Press, 2005), p. 73. Due to historic and political events the veil has also been unfairly linked to terrorist ideologies and symbolism. Said believes that Orientalism is greatly shaped by history and politics and therefore it is constantly being reshaped according to the current political climate. The veil in essence is a piece of clothing intended to cover the head or face, commonly worn by women. It was historically used in the East as a symbol of honouring women, to show nobility and to differentiate between social classes. It was not affiliated to any specific religion, as the practice of covering the head with a veil was common practice in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. Although the veil was common in 15th century Christian Europe for the Bible clearly says: Any woman who prayeth or prophesieth with [her] head unveiled dishonoureth her head, it is the same as if her head was shaven… For a man indeed ought not to cover his head, for he is the image and glory of God; but a woman is the glory of man. I Corinthians 11.4-11.7. Yet despite the veil’s presence in the Bible by the 18th century it was no longer a part of European women’s dress code and having discarded of it the West now saw it as only indicative of the ‘exotic’ East. A Muslim woman of the East is exotic and mysterious because of this cover, the veil allows only for a glimpse of the woman but not the full image and that only fuelled the imagination of the Western traveller, artist and writer. The ‘Oriental’ makes an appearance in quite a few of Shakespeare’s plays as he tries to highlight the differences and expose the exotic to a Western audience. Shakespeare’s fascination with the Oriental’ character can be seen in manifestations such as Othello The Moore of Venice and Shylock in The Merchant of Venice. The female ‘Oriental’ character has also been portrayed in works such as Anthony and Cleopatra. ‘Oriental’ culture is embodied in the material objects that Shakespeare chooses to use in his plays, the inspiration and influences are evident in many of his work. The veil being one of such objects that has drifted into Shakespeare’s imagination and onto his stage through the curiosities of a time when the East was the ‘unknown’ and the Eastern person was the ‘other’. This paper will research the appearance of the veil in two of Shakespeare’s plays; Twelfth Night, and The Merchant of Venice. Shakespeare’s comedy Twelfth Night is about illusion, disguise and deception and in this play the veil makes a crucial appearance. Countess Olivia one of the main characters in the play decides to wear the veil and shield herself from any suitor for seven years as a result of her father and brother’s death. We first encounter the veil when Valentine explains: So please my lord, I might not be admitted, But from her handmaid do return this answer: The element itself, till seven years' heat, Shall not behold her face at ample view, But like a cloistress, she will veiled walk And water once a day her chamber round With eye-offending brine—all this to season A brother’s dead love, which she would keep fresh And lasting in her sad remembrance. William Shakespeare, The Oxford Shakespeare: Twelfth Night (New York: Oxford University Press, 2008), p. I.I.25. The veil is a sign of Olivia’s sadness and her seclusion, she mourns and therefore she is covered, hidden from the world. Shakespeare does not show the veil as a form of hindrance on the contrary through Olivia we see that the veil has given her certain control and power. Olivia is shown to the audience as taking over the male role in the household by managing her finances and the house servants. Shakespeare challenges the notion of the submissive Eastern woman showing the veiled woman who never leaves her house such as the princesses of the harem. Some early modern European narratives mention Muslim women’s power realising that in Ottoman history the seventeenth century was actually referred to as ‘the Sultanate of women’ because “in a polity such as that of the Ottomans, where the empire is considered the personal domain of the dynastic family… important women within the dynastic household would assume legitimate roles of authority”. Leslie Pierce, The Imperial Harem – Women and Sovereignty in the Ottoman Empire. (New York: Oxford University Press, 1993), p. 7. Another form of power that the veil bestowed on Olivia is of a sexual nature. The veil added to the mystery and fuelled the desire of her suitors. The exotic mysterious aura of the ‘Oriental’ woman was at once cast upon Olivia by Shakespeare’s veil. Yet it is not only the veil that is a part of material culture that adds to the play, it is in its unveiling that Shakespeare reaches the climax of his play. In her unveiling for Orsino, Olivia reveals her surrender to love, with her invisibility now gone she is rendered powerless to love and open to emotional fulfillment, she is finally attainable. The Merchant of Venice is another Shakespearian comedy in which the audience is witness to the clash between the civilised West and unknown East. The Oxford World’s Classics edition of Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice comes with an introduction entitled Shakespeare and Semitism that clearly sets the tone of what’s to come from offensive generalisations about the East and Shakespeare’s portrayal of its people. In this play the veil as a material object makes an appearance in Bassanio’s speech about deception and the evil hidden beneath a beautiful façade. To a most dangerous sea, the beauteous scarf Veiling an Indian beauty—in a word, The seeming truth which cunning times put on To entrap the wisest. Therefore then, thou gaudy gold William Shakespeare, The Oxford Shakespeare: The Merchant of Venice (New York: Oxford University Press, 2008). p. III.ii-100. Shakespeare chose to use the word ‘scarf’ instead of veil in order to emphasise the process of veiling in an effort to portray the concealment of the true nature of the ‘other’. This verse shows the veil as an object of desire which comes with a warning label in which Bassanio defeats the temptation this veil induces by settling for lead or silver to its gold, “this reverse Epiphany seems to belong to an Orientalist tradition in which the Muslim hijab alternates between a symbol of either eroticism or violence”. Richard Wilson, ‘Veiling and Indian Beauty: Shakespeare and the hijab’, Actes des congress de la Societe francaise Shakespeare, 26 (2008), 177 -202 (p. 1). The woman behind this “beauteous scarf” comes across as a shady character that verifies Bassanio’s fear of the ‘other’ and its complicating presence. Throughout The Merchant of Venice the audience is aware of the far away lands and their people through Portia’s suitors coming “[F]rom the four corners of the earth”. William Shakespeare, The Oxford Shakespeare: The Merchant of Venice (New York: Oxford University Press, 2008). p. II.xii-39. The audience remains conflicted between the early ideas of globalisation and its forced engagement with the world and the fear and loathing that comes with a xenophobic imperial society. The Merchant of Venice emphasises the necessity of trade and the effects the nature of supply and demand had on the times. The audience is given a glimpse into the material culture that was imported from far away lands and in it is a hint to the material of that ‘beauteous scarf’. Should I go to church And see the holy edifice of stone And not bethink me straight of dangerous rocks Which, touching but my gentle vessel’s side, Would scatter all her spices on the stream, Enrobe the roaring waters with my silks… William Shakespeare, The Oxford Shakespeare: The Merchant of Venice (New York: Oxford University Press, 2008). p. I.i.29-34. 17th century England saw an inflated price of silk and with that came its rarity and high demand. Imported from the ‘Orient’ because of the crisis in the European textile production silk would most likely be what the scarf in Bassanio’s speech is made of. Silk was associated with the over-dressed ‘Oriental’ for its extravagance along with the exotic perfumes and spices. Pleasing to the touch it would be difficult to resist such a temptation to unveil the mysterious women draped in silk. In his paper Veiling an Indian Beauty: Shakespeare and the hijab Richard Wilson argues that “Shakespeare’s women shift from being producers or consumers of textiles to being identified with the cloth itself, a reification testifying how in early modern England it is the material of subjectivity itself.” Wilson, p. 3. There is no doubt that Shakespeare used material culture to weave tales of suspense and tragedy realising their lasting effect on an unsuspecting audience. At times objects are seen as more than just the sum of their contents and carry with them metaphorical symbolism that sheds light onto the mindset of ideologies and beliefs of people of Shakespeare’s time. Through this analysis of the use and portrayal of the veil in two of Shakespeare’s plays it is apparent that the fear of ‘other’ cultures and religions overpowered intrigue. Yet we also witness Shakespeare’s insistence on emphasising the ironies of his culture. Through his portrayal of the veil Shakespeare has shown his own people’s insecurities and in some ways even proved their social prejudices wrong. The veil has always been a loaded subject, which placed people at crossroads between being exotic or dangerous, being a religious choice or an infringement on women’s freedom. Shakespeare showed us his people’s views and issues with the veil, which to this day are still being debated. Bibliography Mahmood, Saba, Politics of Piety: The Islamic Revival and the Feminist Subject (New Jersey: Princeton University Press, 2005) Pierce, Leslie, The Imperial Harem – Women and Sovereignty in the Ottoman Empire. (New York: Oxford University Press, 1993) Richardson, Catherine, Shakespeare & Material Culture (New York: Oxford University Press, 2011) Said, W. Edward, Orientalism (New York: Vintage Books, 1979) Shakespeare, William, The Oxford Shakespeare: Twelfth Night (New York: Oxford University Press, 2008) Shakespeare, William, The Oxford Shakespeare: The Merchant of Venice (New York: Oxford University Press, 2008) Wilson, Richard, ‘Veiling and Indian Beauty: Shakespeare and the hijab’, Actes des congress de la Societe francaise Shakespeare, 26 (2008) 1