A “nation of such barbarous temper”: Beyond the White Savior of Sir Thomas More

Shakespeare’s social capital positions him as a touchstone for those attentive to social justice issues, and as such, his works are often thought to offer understandings or answers to the manifold social ills we encounter. When it comes to the plight of refugees, Shakespeare is frequently deployed to lend his authority to those who champion an ethics of hospitality. Shakespeare’s Globe, for example, collaborated with The International Rescue Committee to produce the speech from Sir Thomas More, “The Stranger’s Case,” for World Refugee Day 2018. The speech, thought to be written in Shakespeare’s own hand (Hand D), argues for the humane treatment of immigrants. This performance followed a widely circulated reading of this speech by Ian McKellen. Such performances have become somewhat commonplace when considering anti-immigrant sentiments, but beyond working on our pathos, they offer very little in regard to the lived experiences of refugees/immigrants. This essay considers the energies and the pitfalls behind such performances as a means of scrutinizing how the actual, horrific policies for family separation that are in place on the US-Mexico border need much more than Shakespeare. Without doubt, the theater has the power to influence its audiences, but when it comes to attention to the oppression of Black and brown individuals, the efficacy of the theater is left in doubt. While calls for humane treatment of immigrants are certainly necessary, a pointed interrogation of the structures and architects of white supremacy is where we need to focus the collective energies of our academy.