Taki Taki

Is it time to cancel Sophocles?

Shakespeare has been denounced as a louse but what about those ghastly Greeks? [Photo by Carl Van Vechten Collection/Getty Images] 
issue 27 February 2021

Gstaad

The sun has returned, the snow is so-so, and exercise has replaced everything, including romance. What a way to go. After a wasted year that has done wonders for my health, the diet is about to kill the patient.

That is the good-bad news; the really great news is that Shakespeare has been cancelled by some woke American teachers because they think his classic works promote ‘misogyny, racism, homophobia, classism, anti-Semitism, and misogynoir’. That is a direct quote. All I can say is that, although I am perhaps overly attached to the past, it’s no wonder that so many people love Shakespeare.

‘He’s a rescue dog.’

In old Europe people can be arrested for saying mean things. But America is in a league of its own. If you comment, for example, on the size of a woman’s breasts, you aren’t just arrested; you’re cancelled. I’m not sure if Shakespeare ever dealt with women’s bosoms at length, but he’s been cancelled for his portrayal of Shylock (a bit money-minded) and Othello (dark and a bit jealous).

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