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@article{203638,
author = {Sanskruti Pujari},
title = {Introduction to Ovid through Shakespeare- A Bridge between Classical European Literature and 21st century Indian Readers},
journal = {International Journal of Innovative Research in Technology},
year = {2026},
volume = {12},
number = {12},
pages = {11305-11310},
issn = {2349-6002},
url = {https://ijirt.org/article?manuscript=203638},
abstract = {This paper aims at presenting the works of William Shakespeare as a medium through which most of the Indian readers of the present century get acquainted with the Latin poet Ovid. It starts with a comprehensive analysis of the influence of Ovid on Shakespeare. The various Ovidian allusions used in the plays of the Bard, the direct and indirect references of the poet, as well as his works, made in the latter's creations, specifically his plays, and the skillful amalgamation of the aforementioned features in the already intricate plots are discussed in detail. Ovidian hues are highlighted in three of the most popular plays of Shakespeare in India, Romeo and Juliet, A Midsummer Night's Dream and The Merchant of Venice. Ovid and his Metamorphoses are an integral part of most of Shakespeare's works and hold unparalleled importance in the same.
The paper further attempts to analyse the popularity of Shakespeare in the world of literature, specifically for the Indian readers (including but not limited to the students of literature). India has a distinct and rich classical literature of its own and in some ways or the other, Indian readers are mostly unaware, and therefore stay deprived, of the vibrancy of specifically classical Latin Literature and in a more general sense classical European Literature. Apart from the colonial connotations, Shakespeare has had a deep influence on the minds of Indian readers. A trial to establish a proposition that Willaim Shakespeare is the perfect medium to make a young, modern audience of a developing country aware of Ovid has been made. A brief description of how this can be, and is presently being, achieved by taking the approach of comparative mythology into consideration, is also included in the paper.
The proposition that Shakespeare can inspire an entire generation of readers to explore the beauty and grandeur of Ovidian works is pondered upon. The idea that, in the recent terminology, Shakespearean plays represent Ovid through beautifully crafted ‘trailers’ which further drive a person to traverse through the magnanimous ‘movie’ of the grandiloquent works of Ovid is also analysed. The paper concludes by establishing the relevance of the argument that Shakespeare is indeed the link that connects the 21st-century Indian readers to classical European Literature, and precisely to Ovid.},
keywords = {Aesthetics, Comparative Mythology, Classical Literature, Decolonisation, Deconstruction, Elizabethan plays, Indian Theatre, Ovid, Ovidian Allusions, Popular Culture, Shakespeare.},
month = {May},
}
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