From Shakespearean Text to Cinema: a Study of Select Dramaturgic Adaptations
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FROM SHAKESPEAREAN TEXT TO CINEMA: A STUDY OF SELECT DRAMATURGIC ADAPTATIONS THESIS SUBMITTED FOR THE AWARD OF THE DEGREE OF Doctor of philosophy In English By FATIMAH JAVED UNDER THE SUPERVISION OF PROF. SAMINA KHAN DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH ALIGARH MUSLIM UNIVERSITY ALIGARH-202002 (U.P) INDIA 2017 Professor Samina Khan Department of English Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh Phone No: 09997398308 [email protected] Certificate Certified that the thesis entitled “From Shakespearean Text to Cinema: A Study of Select Dramaturgic Adaptations” submitted by Ms. Fatimah Javed for the award of the degree of the Doctor of Philosophy is an original work carried out under my supervision and has not been submitted, in part or full, to this University or any other University. Prof. Samina Khan Date: Supervisor Acknowledgements I am sincerely indebted to all those people who have helped, guided and encouraged me while I was working on my thesis. First and foremost, I thank my supervisor, Prof. Samina Khan who appreciated the idea and supported me at each and every phase of my research. I owe her my heartfelt gratitude for being there as my guide. This work would not have been possible without her able guidance and support. I would like to thank the Chairperson, Department of English, for her help and support. I would also like to extend a big thanks to Dr. Jawed S. Ahmad for his diligent proofreading of my various chapters. I am equally thankful to Dr. Akbar Joseph A. Syed and Dr. Rashmi Attri for their valuable suggestions and feedback. I also thank my friend Dr. Burhan Bashir for always being there as a true friend. He has been a great source of knowledge and help whenever I needed him. I am immensely indebted to my parents Prof. Javed Akhter and Mrs Sabiha Javed for always being there by my side as constant pillars of support. I am able to complete my thesis because of their love and blessings. Special thanks to my sister Zainab Javed for her morale-boosting words throughout the long writing process. She always cheered me up during the distressing times. Both my brothers Mohd Yousuf Javed and Hafiz Imran Javed have also helped me in every possible manner. Words are in no measure sufficient to express my heartfelt gratitude to my husband Faizan Ahmad for always believing in me and by standing by my side whenever I needed him. This work would not have been possible without his love and support. My gratitude to him is beyond language. I am highly grateful to my friends who have helped me in shaping my vision. Sara Nasir, Sana Khan, Aatika Hussain, Dr. Nazia Rahman, Fatima Aleeba, Abdul Mabood, Mohd Waheed Khan, Humam Salah and Danish Siddiqui- a big thanks to all of you for being so concerned and helpful. Last, but not the least, I take this opportunity to express my love and thanks to my bundle of joy, my son Rayyan Ahmad for being there in my life. At times I have ignored my maternal duties to concentrate on my thesis but he always smiled back. His cute smile has always worked as a catalyst in accelerating my work speed. Fatimah Javed Abstract Abstract The thesis studies William Shakespeare’s select tragedies in light of their recent cinematic adaptations. It deals with a detailed comparative analysis of Shakespeare’s famous tragedies Macbeth, Othello and Hamlet with Vishal Bhardwaj’s trilogy of adaptations consisting of Maqbool, Omkara and Haider. All the three adaptations have been examined at the levels of dramatic structure, thematic front, art of characterization, dramatic devices and techniques and the points of contact and departure between the source-text and its adaptation. The thesis has been divided into five chapters. The first chapter begins with the definition of Adaptation and Appropriation as given by Linda Hutcheon and Julie Sanders, the critics associated with the theories of Adaptation. According to Sanders, Adaptation is a “transpositional practice, casting a specific genre into another generic mood, an act of re-vision in itself” (Sanders 18). In order to adapt or revise the adapter indulges in the exercise of trimming and pruning but at the same time expansion and addition also takes place. The chapter carry forward the idea that the adaptation though inspired by the original source-text has something different and unique through which the adapter tries to “re-decorate” the original text, an argument with which Linda Hutcheon opens up her book A Theory of Adaptation. In the words of Linda Hutcheon, adaptation is “an acknowledged transposition of a recognizable other work or works, a creative and an interpretive act of appropriation or salvaging or an extended inter textual engagement with the adapted work” (Hutcheon 7-9). Other than adaptation, the chapter also defines the term appropriation. In this regard Julie Sanders makes an interesting distinction between adaptation and appropriation. She states that while an adaptation “signals a relationship with an informing source-text or original, an appropriation has a more decisive journey away from the informing source-text into a totally new cultural product and domain” (Sanders 26). The chapter further presents in a tabular form the examples of adaptation first in general and then with a focus on Shakespeare’s 1 Abstract adaptations, in India and as well as across the different continents. The last section of the chapter deals with the literature review, focusing on Vishal Bhardwaj’s adaptations namely, Maqbool, Omkara and Haider. The second chapter is a comparative analysis between Shakespeare’s Macbeth and Vishal Bhardwaj’s Maqbool. It opens with a brief background to the comparative literature in light of Susan Bassnett’s book Comparative Literature: A Critical Introduction and moves on with the comparative analysis between Macbeth and Maqbool considering the opening scenes, the motives of the crime, the art of characterization and the dramatic devices such as imagery, irony, soliloquies and asides, music, setting and ending. The chapter ends with the discussion on points of contact and departure between the text and its adaptation followed by the conclusion. The third chapter follows a similar pattern and is a comparative analysis between Shakespeare’s Othello and Vishal Bhardwaj’s Omkara. It begins with an introduction to Shakespeare’s Othello and the history of its various adaptations coming to the adaptation by Bhardwaj. The chapter probes into the motives of crime in the source text and its adaptation. It further discusses the various characters and the dramatic devices with a special focus on language and music, along with the points of contact and departure in the adaptation. The fourth chapter follows a similar graph and is a comparative analysis of Shakespeare’s Hamlet and Vishal Bhardwaj’s Haider. Other than discussing the art of characterization and the different dramatic devices, the chapter has an important section dealing with the political aspects of Kashmir, as Kashmir plays an extremely important role in the adaptation. In fact it is Kashmir around which the entire plot and all the characters revolve. The chapter presents an amalgamation of Shakespeare’s famous revenge tragedy with the Kashmir conflict. Following a similar pattern, the chapter ends with the points of contact and departure between the original source-text and the adapted version. 2 Abstract The fifth and concluding chapter assimilates the observations of the preceding chapters and binds them into a comprehensive whole in order to arrive at a definite conclusion. After examining the different source-texts and their respective adaptations through a detailed comparative analysis, the chapter concludes that Vishal Bhardwaj has actually appropriated the famous tragedies of Shakespeare. They cannot be termed as the examples of strict adaptations. Though he has drawn strong parallels with the major themes, important characters and famous scenes of the original texts but the deviations are more prominent. The chapter further discusses and elaborates upon the various tools such as theoretical, theatrical and cultural paradigms that have been used in the thesis for comparative analysis. 3 CONTENTS CHAPTER 1 Introduction and Literature Review 01 CHAPTER 2 34 A Comparative Analysis of Shakespeare’s Macbeth and Vishal Bhardwaj’s Maqbool CHAPTER 3 58 A Comparative Analysis of Shakespeare’s Othello and Vishal Bhardwaj’s Omkara CHAPTER 4 80 A Comparative Analysis of Shakespeare’s Hamlet and Vishal Bhardwaj’s Haider CHAPTER 5 107 Conclusion APPENDIX 115 BIBLIOGRAPHY 116 Chapter – 1 INTRODUCTION AND LITERATURE REVIEW 1.1 Defining Adaptation: After all, the work of other writer’s is one of a writer’s main source of input, so don’t hesitate to use it; just because somebody else has an idea doesn’t mean you can’t take that idea and develop a new twist for it. Adaptations may become quite legitimate adoptions. - William S. Burroughs1 According to its dictionary meaning, ‘to adapt’ is to adjust, to alter, to make suitable. (Hutcheon 7). But in literature, adaptation is a specific process which involves the transition of one literary genre to another, such as novels and plays (classic texts) into films or musicals (media) (Singh 760). However, this transition from one genre to another can be defined as an act of revision. As explained by Julie Sanders, adaptation is a “… transpositional practice, casting a specific genre into another generic mood, an act of re-vision in itself” (Sanders 18). In order to adapt or revise, the adapter indulges in the exercise of trimming and pruning. But at the same time, addition and expansion also takes place. The adapter, though inspired by the original source text, tries hard to paint from his colors too. In order to bring something different and unique, out of the source – text, the adapter tries to ‘re-decorate’ it, an argument with which Linda Hutcheon opens up her book.