Cultural Studies in Practice

 Cultural Studies in Practice

This blog is written in response to the thinking activity assigned by Dr. Dilip Barad sir, Department of English, MKBU. In this blog we will delve into the practice of cultural studies applied in reading a play 'Hamlet', Novel 'Frankenstein' and poem 'To His Coy Mistress'.

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Click here to visit my blog on New Historicism- one of the five types of cultural studies

What is Cultural Studies?

The word Culture is derived from the Latin word 'Colere' which means 'To cultivate', 'to honour' or 'to protect'. Culture is the mode of generating meaning and ideas which are valid within the culture. These meanings are governed by power, which means the culture is controlled by the elite class whereas non-elite's views are rejected. It denotes that in society, certain components of culture get more significant than others.(Nayar 4) As Patrick Brantlinger has pointed out, Cultural studies is not "a tightly coherent, unified movement with a fixed agenda," but a "loosely coherent group of tendencies, issues, and questions." Cultural studies read between these gaps of the culture. As Derrida points out binary oppositions in the theory of Deconstruction. Similarly cultural studies do the same. It looks at the mass culture. 

        Due to the social turmoil of 1960s, Cultural studies composed of various elements like Marxism, Poststructuralism, Postmodernism, feminism, Gender Studies, Anthropology, Sociology, race and ethnic studies, film theory, urban studies, public policy, culture studies and postcolonial studies., which focuses on social cultural forces that has created communities or caused the division and alienation.

Cultural Studies in Practice:

           Cultural studies can be practiced in literary works through the application of various theoretical and analytical frameworks. Cultural studies, as an interdisciplinary field, explores how culture shapes and is shaped by various social, political, economic, and historical factors. When applied to literary works, cultural studies can provide insights into the ways in which literature reflects and influences culture. Here are some approaches to practicing cultural studies in literary analysis:

1. Historical Context:

2. Social Class Analysis:

3. Gender Studies:

4. Race and Ethnicity Studies:

5. Postcolonial Theory:

6. Cultural Identity and Hybridity:

7. Reader Response Theory:

8. Cultural Materialism:

9. Language and Discourse Analysis:

10. Globalisation Studies:

  

By applying these approaches, scholars and critics can engage in nuanced analyses of literary works that go beyond plot and character to reveal deeper insights into the cultural, social, and political dimensions of the text. Keep in mind that these approaches are not mutually exclusive, and a combination of them can provide a more comprehensive understanding of the cultural implications of a literary work. (This answer is generated from ChatGPT. Prompt: How can the approaches of cultural studies be applied to the analysis of literary works?)

In the “Handbook of Critical Approaches to Literature, various approaches to cultural studies are discussed. It explores four goals of cultural studies including,

1. Cultural Studies transcends the confines of a particular discipline such as literary criticism or history.

2. Cultural Studies is politically engaged.

3. Cultural Studies denies the separation of 'high' and 'low' or elite and popular culture.

4. Cultural Studies analyses not only the cultural work, but also the means of production.

And Five Types of Cultural Studies including,

1. British Cultural Materialism

2. New Historicism

3. American Multiculturalism

4. Postmodernism & Popular Culture

5. Postcolonial Studies

Now let's apply these approaches to literary works. 

1. Hamlet: Two Characters in Hamlet: Marginalization with a Vengeance

Cultural critics assume "oppositional" roles in terms of power structures, wherever they might be found. New historicists dealt with "questions of politics, power, indeed on all matters that deeply affect people's daily lives'.

The play 'Hamlet' deals with power structures. In this play, there are two characters who are very important though they are marginalised in terms of power structures, who are Rosencrantz and Guildenstern.

The meaning of both of their names are also quite interesting which are derived from Dutch-German:

Rosencrantz: Garland of Roses

Guildenstern: Golden Star

But their names remain opposite to themselves. They are quite opposite to this meaning.

When Claudius plans to send Hamlet to England, Rosencrantz delivers a speech which is about the role and power of kinship. Despite delivering a speech about power and kingship, their significance is diminished in the larger context of the play. Both are driven from the plot, both the characters are marginalised. This speech or dialogue is more important, but is not well known like others. The focus is on power dynamics and how these characters are used by King Claudius.

Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are former students of Hamlet from Wittenberg. They return to Denmark at Claudius's request. They attempt to gather information from Hamlet for the king, they spy on Hamlet's inner thoughts and his ambitions and frustrations, but fail. Ultimately, they are sent to England with Hamlet carrying a letter that would lead to Hamlet's execution. Hamlet, realising their betrayal, manipulates the situation, and they meet their demise. After that they go with Hamlet on a mission to England. They carry a letter which would lead Hamlet's Execution. Hamlet doesn't trust them either.

Hamlet, in a cunning move, tricks his old friends, Guildenstern and Rosencrantz, by replacing his own name with theirs in a letter that leads to their deaths. When Horatio comments on their fate, Hamlet doesn't seem bothered, and Shakespeare concludes their story.

Why doesn't Hamlet feel guilty about their deaths? One reason could be that he sees himself as doing justice rather than committing murder. However, there's another aspect to consider—the power play. Hamlet talks about the significant differences between himself and King Claudius. Guildenstern and Rosencrantz, merely followed Claudius' orders and became like pawns in this power struggle. Earlier, Hamlet hinted that they were not important.

In essence, they don't matter much in the g power dynamics. Hamlet doesn't feel regret because they were tools for Claudius first and for Hamlet second. Even if they might have initially meant well for their old friend Hamlet, their primary goal was to please the powerful king who got them involved. Ultimately, they end up disappointing Hamlet.

Both these characters are powerless in the struggle between powerful figures like Hamlet and Claudius. Their names and backgrounds don't align with their roles in the play, and they serve as mere tools for those in power. The discussion then goes to how similar power dynamics have played out historically and in the modern world, using examples from literature and contemporary corporate downsizing to illustrate the theme of marginalisation in the face of power.

If we see England's political history, we can observe that power played the same role, like getting rid of King Richard II or executing Thomas More and others. The struggle for power was real, and Shakespeare has incorporated all these aspects of his time into his work.

Claudius, the character in Hamlet, knew the importance of power when he said, "Madness in great ones must not be unwatched."

In simpler terms, powerful people need to be carefully watched. Even Rosencrantz and Guildenstern also have similar ideas of power.

While reading the play 'Hamlet' in terms of Cultural studies, our concern is not only with prince or princess or of Shakespeare's portrayal of power dynamics, but is about the lesser persons caught up in the massive oppositions. The almost dead characters of Shakespeare, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are revived by Tom Stoppard in the twentieth century.  In Shakespeare's era, power had a certain meaning, but in a different time or culture, it might mean something totally different.

Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead

To understand Hamlet better, let's look at a play from the 1900s by Tom Stoppard called "Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead." In this play, these characters, who were basically non-existent in Hamlet, are portrayed as insignificant. They are constantly questioning who they are, why they exist, and where they're headed. It talks about existential Questions that might not have any meaning. As it also described in the 'Handbook of critical approaches to Literature that, "Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are archetypal human beings caught up on a ship-spaceship Earth for the twentieth or the twenty-first century-that leads nowhere, except to death, a death for persons who are already dead."

If they were marginalised in Hamlet, Stoppard takes a step further. While Shakespeare has marginalised the powerless, Stoppard makes it relatable to all of us in a time where some believe we're caught up in forces beyond our control.

Moving a step forward to Tom Stoppard, it can be thought about people who are caught up in the corporate world. They are caught in big companies, just like pawns on the chessboard. Louis XIV who said, "I am the state," but more like "Power: it is capital."

Whether it's in Shakespeare's version or Stoppard's, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are portrayed as minor, almost insignificant figures in the grand scheme of kings and their power struggles.

Reading To His Coy Mistress"

Implied Culture versus Historical Facts:

"To His Coy Mistress" is a poem written by Andrew Marvell. It gives us insight into the speaker's character. He appears well-versed in classic Greek and Roman literature, other conventions of love poetry like mediaeval Europe, and Biblical passages. He is knowledgeable about various literary traditions and philosophical concepts.

The speaker is aware of different literary styles and traditions and he uses them in a way. It suggests that he might be making fun of them. He knows he's not being entirely serious with his proposals to the coy lady and he expects her to understand that as she is from the same culture. The speaker is highly educated, well-read, and has a natural flow of thoughts and images which reflect his background.

Well, while reading the poem in terms of cultural studies there's a notable absence in what the speaker considers. He doesn't think about issues like poverty or the harsh realities of his society, as a significant portion of the European population was struggling financially, Nor does he think about Disease that was a prevalent concern of that time. Both the aspects are absent from his considerations.

The focus is on wealth, leisure, and sexual activity. He doesn't acknowledge the very real issues of poverty or the widespread diseases of his time. It overlooks historical realities, like the chronic morbidity of the population and the recurrence of the Black Death, a severe plague that hit London in the mid-1600s. The poem was written in 1681, in the later half of the seventeenth century. During this time, the plague was spread across London. In the Great Plague of London, which lasted from July to October, about 68,000 people died, and the total death toll reached 75,000 during the epidemic. This information can be found in Daniel Defoe's "Journal of the Plague Year" (1722), a vivid account of the experience.

In a nutshell, the speaker seems to be ignoring the darker aspects of reality of his time and choses a fantasy world of wealth and pleasure, possibly to escape or avoid confronting the harsh realities of the world he lives in. It is about that Creamy Layer of the life that he talks about the well to do families or cultures.

From Paradise Lost to Frank-N-Furter: The Creature Lives

Mary Shelley's novel 'Frankentein' is spread everywhere, not just in books but in many other things like in visual art, stories, plays, movies, TV, ads, clothes, jewelry, toys, and even on things like mugs and keychains, in games, Halloween costumes, comics, jokes, cartoons, and even in academic studies, fan clubs and websites about it, and it's even shown up in food, like the cereals "Frankenberry" and "Count Chocula." So, Shelley's creation teaches us not to underestimate the power of youth culture.

      While reading Frankenstein in terms of Cultural studies, we can find that this work is being talked a lot in prevailing culture. 

Mary Shelley's Frankenstein was born during a time of big changes. It challenged the ideas that people had back then. But as it became more popular in today's consumer culture, some wonder if its original revolutionary spirit and critiques of science, philosophy, politics, and gender have been forgotten. 

       As George Levine says, nowadays Frankenstein is like a symbol, especially in a culture obsessed with technology and figuring out who we really are. We can see references to Frankenstein everywhere, from news describing someone as a "created monster" to articles warning about genetically modified foods, test-tube babies, and cloning.

         In this work, the creature is portrayed somewhat as proletarian. The fear of a revolution and sympathy for the suffering poor reflects Shelley's own mixed feelings about radical ideas. The Creature in the story is a political and moral puzzle - both innocent and a cold-blooded killer.

    Monsters like the Creature are tricky. They go against the established order which had created them, and if they survive, they represent defying death, even if they look strange. On the other hand, society is happy when it catches and destroys monsters. The Creature's rebellious nature is rooted in the past. When he reads books in the story, it includes works like Paradise Lost, a book that inspired many in Shelley's time. But despite his education, the Creature can't fit into society, even though he understands its ideas about freedom.

         Frankenstein can be analyzed in terms of how it portrays different "races." Even though the Creature's skin is only described as yellow, it fits into a tradition of portraying the 'Other' as something to fear and hate. In Shelley's time, discussions about ending slavery influenced how Africans were portrayed. Victor, the creator of the Creature, could be seen as a guilty slave master.

        In today's world of genetic engineering, biotechnology, and cloning, Frankenstein is more relevant than ever. During the Romantic period, science shifted from natural philosophy to biology, and this shift is crucial in Frankenstein. Mary Shelley saw public demonstrations of electricity's effects on living and dead bodies. Today, with advancements in fertility science, genetic engineering, and the prolongation of life through artificial means, Frankenstein's warnings about the dangers of science still resonate.

In simpler terms, Frankenstein's story is like a mirror reflecting on important issues in society, and it continues to be relevant as science progresses and raises new questions about life and ethics.

The Frankenpheme in popular culture:

         In the Routledge Literary Sourcebook on Frankenstein, Timothy Morton uses the Term Frankenphemes, drawn from phoneme (sonic elements of language, as used in structural linguistics) and graphemes (visual elements), as 'elements of culture that are derived from Frankenstein." Either a separate work of art is inspired, or some kernel is derived from Shelley's novel and repeated in another medium. This word demonstrates the prevalence of novel's presence in world cultures. Thousands of retellings, parodies, other works have appeared in popular fiction, drama, film and television. 

Conclusion: 

To sum up, applying the approaches of cultural studies brings forth a greater insights into the cultural, social, and political dimensions of a text. It offers a more complete understanding of the cultural implications woven into a literary work. As we delved into the marginalization of characters like Rosencrantz and Guildenstern in Hamlet and examined the influence of power structures, it became evident how cultural studies enrich our comprehension of the intricate layers within a narrative.

In To His Coy Mistress, we can find how the speaker or writer is unaware of the time in which he is living. This insight adds depth to our interpretation of the poem and underscores the significance of considering broader cultural and historical elements when analyzing literature. Frankenstein stands as a timeless novel, continually finding expression in various forms of art.

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