ABSTRACT
Recent postcolonial criticism has revealed the interrelation of Shakespeare’s global presence and colonialism. It has shown that both Shakespeare and colonialism have left their imprint on cultures across the globe, and that the meanings of Shakespeare’s plays were both derived from and used to establish colonial authority.1 In Asia and Africa, especially, the encounter with Shakespeare cannot be separated from questions relating to cultural imperialism, for in these regions, as Dennis Kennedy puts it, Shakespeare arrived “in the baggage of empire.”2
