2018-07-12 When Shakespeare met Trump

ΠΟΛΙΤΙΚΗ 12.07.2018

In 2016, four hundred years after Shakespeare's death, Donald Trump was elected US President.

Shakespeare's greatest scholar, Harvard professor Stephen Greenblatt, attempts with his new book "Tyrant: Shakespeare on Power" to illuminate the similarities of the US president with tyrannical forms of the Shakespearean universe.

Stephen Greenblatt underlines that Shakespeare has focused almost exclusively on the following question in the last twenty years of his life:

1. How can a country fall into the hands of a tyrant? 

2. Why people strong, capable and proud to succumb to the will of a seemingly dangerous and inappropriate leader? 

3. Why do lies, toughness, insults and ignorance cease to be obstacles?

The Shakespearean tyrant, as outlined in Richard III, and also in Macbeth or Henry VI, has the psychopathology of man that sets the seemingly impossible goal of conquering the ultimate power in a vain attempt to wipe out the "black hole" formed in his soul from the lack of love in his childhood (Richard III). He is distinguished from pathological narcissism and insecurity, fear of failure, over-confidence and anxiety of sexual affirmation (Macbeth), murderous rage and lack of hesitation to cooperate even with his country's enemies to grab power (Henry VI).

The tyrant is is imposed in times when he can handle the indignation of the crowd and smell the dark motives of the people. Shakespeare explains that the tyrant conquers power with consensus, complicity, the citizens' vote. The powerful people of the society - everyone for its own sake - do not prevent the slide into totalitarianism. 

Some are complacent because they think that the existing institutions will be imposed on the tyrant. 

Some are leading the rationalization of every expression of irrationality. 

Some are afraid of the new regime. 

Some admit the manifestation of the anomaly, but they believe that they, due to privileged relations with the new power, will be gained and will remain protected from the coming wave of destruction that will envelop the kingdom.

Some draw a sick satisfaction from the spectacle of the public wording of the untold.

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Shakespeare had the ability to strip the phenomena and to formulate the most fundamental truths. His words and allegations come to our day and are surprising and embarrassing because, as human nature does not change, it looks as though they were written today. Like she traveled in the future and met Trump.

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