Character and the Supernatural in Shakespeare and Achebe
Kenneth Usongo
ISBN 9780367710774
Routledge
162 Pages
£120.00
PRESENTATION
Through mainly a New Historicist critical approach, this book explores how Shakespeare and Achebe employ supernatural devices such as prophecies, dreams, gods/goddesses, beliefs, and divinations to create complex characters. Even though these features indicate the preponderance of the belief in the supernatural by some people of the Elizabethan, Jacobean, and traditional Igbo societies, Shakespeare and Achebe primarily use the supernatural to represent the states of mind of their protagonists. Both writers appropriate supernatural features to mirror tragic flaws such as ambition, arrogance, impulsiveness, and fear that contribute to the downfall of Macbeth, Lear, Okonkwo, and Ezeulu. We relate to some of these characters because they project our inner minds, principal drives that may be hidden within us. Therefore, Shakespeare and Achebe’s preoccupation with the supernatural adds subtlety to their characterization and enhances their readability by situating their art beyond time, place, or particularity.
Table of Contents:
Chapter One Contextualizing Shakespeare and Achebe
Chapter Two The Term Supernatural
Chapter Three Shakespeare and the Supernatural
Chapter Four Achebe and the Supernatural
Chapter Five Shakespeare’s and Achebe’s Use of the Supernatural