Shakespeare and Camp

September 17, 2008

Jim Schulz

I never really read much Shakespeare in my lifetime, nor do I remember studying it in high school. This is not to say I never heard of his work. I did hear of his tragedies and the bloody consequences that occurred in many of them. What I never realized was the fact that many of Shakespeare's tragedies could be viewed as parody, pastiche, or camp. I mainly just viewed them as violent and bloody plays. Viewing "camp" (bad taste or ironic value) in Shakespeare's work isn't hard to find. In Act I of "Titus Andronicus" we see Titus kill his son. Without even a thought, he just kills his son one of his own without thinking twice. Later we see Titus argue as to how the son should be buried. This was Titus' son someone who should mean a lot to him and he is treated so indifferently. "Camp" is seen throughout the play. Toward the end Shakespeare has Titus kill off Tamora's sons and has his daughter collect the blood, only to have Titus kill his own daughter later. Somewhat of an ironic twist, seeing he killed the sons because of what they done to his daughter.