Reaction to “Shakespeare in the Bush”

“Shakespeare in the Bush” is an interesting article. When I saw the title and the first paragraph, I thought that the article is going to tell something that people do not commonly know about Shakespeare and his creations. But when I read to the middle of the article, I realized that it is something about the impact of culture on interpreting a story. At the beginning, the author argues that there should be a general understanding of typical tragedies despite of one’s cultural background. And was hoping to prove this by the West Africa’s Tiv’s interpretation of Hamlet – which he thought should be similar to his – when he tells it to them. However, those tribe people interpreted Hamlet in a totally different way because of their own culture, values, and belief. And it proved the author’s friend’s point that Americans have difficulty with Shakespeare, just like the Tiv.

It is a shame that I have not read any Shakespeare’s master piece. And it is natural for someone to relate everything to their own culture, as their culture is the only thing they came along with, and the only thing they can rely on when judging something. A culture is something deeply in any civilization, which will never be totally understood by foreigners even if they already live in that culture for many years. In fact, culture is never meant to be understood, it is just a natural thing that come along with everyone. So I do not think when I read Shakespeare’s plots, even if I am aware of the differences on culture and time between me and people in Shakespeare’s time, I will come with a full agreement on the interpretations of Shakespeare. However, I think there is no right or wrong interpretation on anything, as everyone is different, and has their own way to judge things. No matter how you interpret Shakespeare, his great stories will always have impact on