Scholar Ruben Espinosa explores all we gain when we build a bigger bookshelf—one that includes Shakespeare and the many different voices that have followed and those still to come. “Shakespeare’s literary voice endures because time and time again, our world allows for fresh perspectives that reimagine him,” he explains. “The key is for these voices, all voices, to be heard and respected.” He sees this work as one of the most important things that we can do to shape our world today and in the future.
IN 2016, STUDENTS AT THE UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA REMOVED A LARGE PORTRAIT OF SHAKESPEARE IN THE ENGLISH DEPARTMENT and replaced it with an image of the Black feminist author and activist Audre Lorde. In not-so-subtle ways, these students forced the English faculty and administration to recognize that the iconic image of Shakespeare did not represent the diversity of the authors they studied. Through this act, they sought to center people of color in a moment when people of color were being vilified in our nation. But the truth is, the United States has always existed in that moment, and those acts of vilification are unrelenting.
Despite immense and key contributions to the building of this nation, in the popular imagination, people of color are often situated on the periphery of such nation building. In so many ways, that image of Shakespeare hanging on the wall of an elite academic institution illustrates how whiteness is so often centered in what is taught, what is read, and what is consumed in popular culture. This is what we are invited to behold, to revere, to preserve. But the act of removing that image did not stem from a desire to cancel Shakespeare, as some would have us believe. Instead, it was a moment meant to signal the need for diverse voices within an academy—indeed, within a nation—that stands to benefit and grow from such varied perspectives. People of color are central to the success of this nation and to the shaping of Shakespeare over time.
The act of removing that image did not stem from a desire to cancel Shakespeare. It was a moment meant to signal the need for diverse voices within an academy—indeed, within a nation—that stands to benefit and grow from such varied perspectives.
The truth is, Shakespeare has been a facet of this nation from the onset. Scholars like Farah Karim-Cooper, James Shapiro, and Virginia Mason Vaughan have attended to that history with a careful and critical eye. There is much to glean from how embedded Shakespeare has been within the history of the United States for the last 250 years. But there is also much to glean from considering who has upheld his importance and why. Without doubt, Shakespeare’s stature and ubiquity make him an attractive figure for those looking to espouse the idea of white exceptionalism. However, such moves are both facile and dangerous. For those of us who have invested our careers in the study of Shakespeare, and for vital cultural institutions like the Folger Shakespeare Library who are committed to supporting the study of his works and the early modern world, it is clear that what has made Shakespeare so great, so enduring over time, is the many makers of Shakespeare and the manifold voices that have given life to his works.
It is clear that what has made Shakespeare so great, so enduring over time, is the many makers of Shakespeare and the manifold voices that have given life to his works.
After 250 years, the United States finds itself at a critical juncture where our democracy is concerned. The rise of fascism and attacks on higher education have certainly compromised the way we think about Shakespeare’s value in this moment. But from where I stand, I believe his value is more important than ever. Statistically, humanities majors vote in greater numbers than any other majors. It’s no coincidence, then, that the value of the humanities has been maligned by politicians and pundits alike—that its utility is so often questioned so as to suggest that a humanities degree is inconsequential. Shakespeare factors prominently therein, and I, for one, want my students and broader public audiences to find the value, the joy, the different sense of understanding our world through his works to be a prominent feature of the manner in which we find our way out of these dark times. The humanities must thrive if we want our democracy to thrive.
Like Cleopatra, there is infinite variety in our citizenry, and generation to generation, the ideas we bring to the table are endlessly expansive.
As I consider the next 250 years of this nation, my sincere hope is that Shakespeare’s works continue to be studied and to be used as a vehicle to understanding that the people—the diverse people of varied racial and cultural backgrounds—are the ones who keep his works alive. Shakespeare’s literary voice endures because time and time again, our world allows for fresh perspectives that reimagine him. Like Cleopatra, there is infinite variety in our citizenry, and generation to generation, the ideas we bring to the table are endlessly expansive. The key is for these voices, all voices, to be heard and respected. We, unfortunately, are not there yet as a nation. And it is not enough to live in mere hope. Instead, we must work deliberately to that end.
Shakespeare, like the varied voices of this nation, is capacious. But for him to matter, he must be in communion with the many other minds who give shape to the world we inhabit and the worlds to come. As such, there is room for Shakespeare to give way to Audre Lorde, Gloria Anzaldúa, James Baldwin, Tommy Orange, Jesmyn Ward, Percival Everett, Natalie Diaz, and the many, many authors and intellectuals who hold space with him in our nation, in our classrooms, in our minds. Those students at the University of Pennsylvania understood this, and they acted with an ethical and purposeful message. As an educator, it is students like this who consistently give me hope about the future of our nation. They speak what they feel and not what they ought to say. We must be brave enough to follow suit, because to envision the next 250 years is to believe we can survive the present turmoil. And to survive the current chaos, we need to come together, to listen to the varied voices, and to understand the collective power we have to shape Shakespeare and this nation for many generations to come.
About the author
Ruben Espinosa is Professor of English at Arizona State University and Director of the Arizona Center for Medieval and Renaissance Studies (ACMRS). He is the author of Shakespeare on the Shades of Racism (2021), Masculinity and Marian Efficacy in Shakespeare’s England (2011), editor of Shakespeare/Skin (2024), and co-editor of Shakespeare and Immigration (2014). His work has appeared in Shakespeare Quarterly, Shakespeare Studies, Shakespeare Bulletin, and New Literary History, among other journals and collections. He served as President of the Shakespeare Association of America from 2024–2026.
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