University of Baghdad/College of Education/IbnRushid

*Corresponding Author E-mail: alsadonasmaa@yahoo.com

Accepted 26th March, 2016

The cultural fame that Shakespeare gained world-wide in general, and in the Orient in particular has been due to the universality of events that reflect the common daily experience, and which can be contextually applied to all facets of life, across time and within diverse cultures. By delving into the cultural reception of Hamlet, the paper will investigate how and why Shakespeare has come to be a renowned cultural icon in the Orient and Arab homeland. Also, it will focus on literary reception by looking at the mechanism of the modern reception and reader-response theory and their effects upon the transplanting of literary works across linguistic, geographical, and individual boundaries. Every culture has been able to lay claim to Shakespeare by making him representative of their unique socio-cultural beliefs, and this has occurred so often that he has come to be looked upon as representing ‘universal’ man. It is the playfulness of this text that has allowed him to be appropriated by most nations. For the Arabs, the appropriation of Shakespeare’s texts has been colored by commercial, social and political considerations that have a close connection to their own specific culture.

Keywords: Cultural, oriental readings, linguistic, Shakespeare.

How To Cite This Article:

Lect. Asmaa Mukaram Saeed, Reader's Response Theory in Hamlet:Oriental Readings. Swift Journal of Social Science and Humanities 2(1), pp. 014-017.