"My mouth shall be the parliament of England": Uncanny politics in selected Shakespearean plays and their modern rewritings

In his tribute to Shakespeare, Ben Jonson presciently claimed that his contemporary was "not of an age, but for all time." Indeed, the plays unveil borders between ages and bond experiences; they continue to address their contemporary politics within themselves, as well as via their modern rewritings. In this respect, the Hogarth Shakespeare collection helps to bring Shakespeare's words into the contemporary realm by reimagining the world of the plays. This thesis will discuss the political aspects of identity, body, and fiction in a selection of Shakespearean plays and their modern rewritings. Although the political dimensions in the plays are usually inspected within his histories, this thesis will argue for and investigate the significance of politics to other genres than the histories as well as in some of their most recent rewritings. This approach aims to illustrate the uncanny similarities of political experience in Shakespeare's and our eras.