ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the illustrations in two Bengali prose retellings of Shakespeare’s plays, one from the late nineteenth century, and the other from the mid-twentieth century. Shakespeare’s heroines obviously made a great impression on the Bengali imagination. The average Bengali would not have had access to the performances of Shakespeare staged by the English for the English in theatres like the Chowringhee or the Sans Souci where Indians were not admitted. Utpal Dutt, the famous twentieth-century Bengali stage and screen actor, commented on how rustic audiences in Bengal villages immediately related to the Witches when he performed Macbeth in the jatra style. Bengali readers must have been familiar with the Droeshout engraving in editions of Shakespeare’s Collected Works that were available at the time. The average Bengali would not have had access to the performances of Shakespeare staged by the English for the English in theatres like the Chowringhee or the Sans Souci where Indians were not admitted.
