REFLECTION

Thinking of Shakespeare in the context of a rap song (or vice versa) may seem like a stretch, but the realities of race and racial construction transcend genres; Jay-Z's analysis of the black reality in the context of white society speaks to me as much as it does to Aaron in Shakespeare's Titus Andronicus. The building of "blackness" and the consequences that derive from such constructions have continual ripple effects, meaning although Aaron's character was written in the 16th century (by a white male), and Jay-Z was born in 1969, and I was born in 2001, there is an understanding that we are black. Society tells us so, specifically white society, which has historically and continually made it clear that "whiteness" is the human standard. There is also an understanding, that because we are black, no force on Earth (other than perhaps a couple million dollars) can change the fact that we are seen as fundamentally "inferior" in the eyes of many of our white counterparts. These concepts are why talking about Shakespeare in a modern context are so important, because truly, things have not changed as much as one would think. The fact that Aaron is applicable to Jay-Z and Jay-Z applicable to me speaks volumes about the persistence of black oppression/white supremacy and that conversations on such  matters cannot stop.

The goal of my analysis is to show the persistence of issues Shakespeare has addressed and how the remnants take form today. High school students or college students who feel Shakespeare is only for white scholars may be on to something regarding the rampant racism in his plays, but that does not mean we cannot discuss the existence of black characters and how their realities are very real for black people today. We are no longer in the 16th century (thank god), and we do not have to talk about Shakespeare solely in the context of the 16th century either, especially not when there is so much to be applied to now.