SHAKESPEARE IN VIET NAM

3.1. Shakespeare in Brief

The word ‘Shakespeare’ has become a very popular name

in the world and also the most challenge word to give

definition in contemporary literature. The reason is

not from what we know about the man having this name

but roots in the fact that it is too vast and

profound knowledge we have learnt about him. Although

Shakespearean scholars have researched deeply into

the historical and personal life and writing of this

famous playwright, Shakespeare is still a promising

subject to have numerous studies even this name has

been varied in different layers of meaning from

person to person all around the world. Shakespeare is

the Bard of Avon naming a boy from Stratford village

in England in Elizabethan and Jacobean time, and then

promoted his life by acting and writing plays. It

took four hundred years for him to transfer from a

normal poet to an eternal figure of literature, which

is, according to Thomas Carlyle (1840), described as

‘the peasant who became a prophet’1. In Western

Literary Classics, the word ‘Shakespeare’ is

1 quoted in Harrison, G.B. (1966). Introducing Shakespeare. London: Pelican Book.

recognized in all levels of teaching from primary to

postgraduate whose schools’ curriculum always refer

‘Shakespeare’ as a subject of study. Stanley Well

(2002, p.169) states that the word indicates ‘an

impression of the constantly evolving mind and

imagination from which all the works emanated’2 . This

word also represents a business definition in

intercultural theatre of century 21st as a gimmick in

marketing. All in all, I borrow the words of Jonathan

Bate (2008, p.3)3 to define the word ‘Shakespeare’ as

follows:

Shakespeare means a body of words, characters, ideas,

and stage images that have remained alive for four

centuries because of their endless capacity for

renewal and adaptation through the work of succeeding

generations of actor and spectators, appreciative

readers, and creative artists in every conceivable

medium.

No matter how different people think of Shakespeare,

the famous playwright is all known as one of the

greatest writers in the world. His name is synonymous

with some knowledgeable scientists because the name

has been the most cited, analysed, and referenced. In2 Stanley, Well. (2002). Shakespeare for All Time. London: Macmillan.3 Jonathan, Bate. (2008). Soul of the Age: the Life, Mind, and World of William Shakespeare.London: Penguin Books.

the field of theatre, Shakespeare’s plays have been

the most performed (Crystal, 2008)4. Shakespeare is

not only a universal literary icon but also the

national pride of England in terms of culture and

language. Harrison (1966, p.11)5 confirms that ‘no

household in the English-speaking world is properly

furnished unless it contains copies of the Holy Bible

and of The Works of William Shakespeare… They must be

presented as symbols of Religion and Culture’. In

fact, Shakespeare is truly symbolized and

acknowledged English culture. From his writings,

numerous English expressions have been derived and

daily used as well as become the stimulus and

pleasure for generations of readers all over the

world (Wells, 2002, p.403). Shakespeare’s plays no

matter in his English origins or translations have

been performed in a countless number of global

dialects. Crystal (2008, p.8) reports that the 22-

day-Edinburgh Fringe Festival 2007 introduced more

than 30 productions taking Shakespeare’s plays as the

starting point. Crystal continues that in 2005,

sixteen films were produced based on Shakespeare’s

plays. Besides, his words are quoted in songs and 4 Ben, Crystal. (2008). Shakespeare on Toast: Getting a Taste for the Bard. London: IconBooks.5 Harrison, G.B. (1966). Introducing Shakespeare. London: Pelican Book.

movies, and the name Shakespeare still appears on

social media, such as television series, music, films

on the marketing purposes.

The most significant points that make Shakespeare

become the centre of the Western literary canon are,

according to Bloom (1994, p.46)6, his cognitive

acuity, linguistic energy, and power of invention. In

terms of cognitive acuity, this primary reason for

the Bard to be the centre of literary canon means the

understanding of Shakespeare about human nature,

which John Dryden calls Shakespeare is the poet who

‘had the largest and most comprehensive soul’ (Wells,

2002, p.206), and Samuel Johnson calls him ‘the poet

of nature the poet that holds up to his readers a

faithful mirror of manners and of life’ (Bloom, 1994,

p.63). Wells (2002, p.172) summarizes that

Shakespeare often writes about ‘things that matter to

most people in most places at most times, they give

classic dramatic and poetic expression to great

commonplaces of human existence – love and

friendship, hatred and malice, family relationships,

parting and reunion, success and failure, loneliness

and community, joy and grief, aggression and fear,

6 Harold, B. (1994). The Western Canon: The Books and School of Ages. New York and London: Harcourt Brace.

good and bad government of both the self and the

commonwealth’. To widen this point of view, Maguire

(2006, p.194)7 supports that readers are able to see

themselves in their daily lives through Shakespeare’s

characters because sometime ‘we hear their expression

of our pain’, which confirms that Shakespeare’s

writings can be shared in human hearts crossing any

space, time, and language boundaries. Bloom (1994,

p.51) gives an example that his students and friends

all described Shakespeare as the same one who

‘represents them upon stage’ when they ‘have seen him

Japanese, Russian, Spanish, Indonesian, and Italian’.

In terms of linguistic power, Bloom (1994, pp.59-60)

confirms that Western writers have ‘no equal’

linguistic ability as Shakespeare who has influenced

greatly in the development of English language. To

support this idea, Francis Meres highly honours

Shakespearean language by which ‘the English tone is

mightily enriched and gorgeously invested in rare

ornaments and resplendent habiliments’ (quoted in

Wells, 2002, p.147). Wells (ibid) reveals that

Shakespeare used a very large number of vocabularies

from 20.000 to 30.000 words in which the Bard

7 Laurie, Maguire (2006). Where There’s a Will, There’s a Way. London: Penguin Group.

invented himself many new words that we still use

today. The way Shakespeare uses his figurative

language is so distinctive that Bloom (1994, p.60)

states that ‘no more awesome panoply of metaphor

exists’. Different from Elizabethan scholars and

writers who often used Latin images to draw in their

metaphors, Shakespeare has his own metaphorical style

with personal symbols, images and myths coming from

his individual characteristics and living experiences

to represent human characters (Harrison, 1966, p.24).

Besides that, Shakespeare suits his readers and

audiences’ dramatic tastes by his own way of adapting

Latin and Greek story plots which Sir Philip Sidney

confirms that ‘the stage should always represent but

one place, and the uttermost time presupposed in it

should be, both by Aristotle’s percept and common

reason, but one day’ (Quoted in O’Toole, 2002, p.18)8.

Differently, it seems that Shakespeare did not follow

that rules but sets his plays in a very diverse and

broad span of time ‘because they were not good enough

to deal with the complexities of the world he was

living’ (ibid). In fact, the characters in

Shakespeare’s stories are not the Latin classics but

8 Fintan, O’Toole. (2002). Shakespeare is Hard But so is Life: A Radical Guide of Shakespearean Tragedy. London and New York: Granta Books.

very close to each of us in real life because ‘those

characters ‘appear to be self-conscious – as if able

to overhear themselves’ (Todd, 1998)9. On each

particular character, Bloom (1994, p.64) describes

that ‘if you are a moralist, Falstaff outrages you;

if you are rancid, Rosalind exposes you; if you are

dogmatic, Hamlet evades you forever. And if you are

an explainer, the great Shakespearean villains will

cause you to despair’.

3.2 Shakespeare in Asian

Shakespeare is a special gift from God, not

only for English but all human kinds, not only for

England but also all the countries around the world,

not only for Elizabethan time but also for now and

future, and not only for Literature but also many

life’s aspects. The name of Shakespeare is like his

‘eternal summer’ which is so wonderful that nothing

could destroy. He is the ‘cultural bridge’ connecting

the world. His plays have been well-known out of

England since his time and performed all over the

five continents in the world up till now.

3.2.4.. Shakespeare in India10

9 London, Todd. (1998). Shakespeare in a Strange Land, IN American Theatre, 15(6). July-August 1998. pp.22-24.10 Sukanta Chaudhuri. Shakespeare in India. Jadavpur University, Kolkata, India. [http://internetshakespeare.uvic.ca/Library/Criticism/shakespearein/india1.html] <Accessed on 15/11/2013>.

The coming of Shakespeare to India seems to the

older and more complex than any other countries in

the West because of the long time as the colony of

England in the past. In 1977, the first Shakespeare’s

plays were performed in Mumbai (Bombay) by English

troupes. Ten years later, in the Christmas season in

1780, Othello – the earliest recorded performance was

staged at the Calcutta Theatre in Kolcatta – the

Capital of British India. On the same trend in eight

years next till the mid of nineteenth century, other

plays of Shakespeare were performed mostly at the

Chowringhee and Sans Souci Theatres, such as: Hamlet,

The Merchant of Venice, Romeo and Juliet, Richard III, and Henry IV.

In 1924, Shakespeare society was founded by the

cooperation of St Xavier's College, Kolkata; M.S.

University, Vadodara (Baroda); and most notably St

Stephen's College, Delhi. Shakespeare then came into

curriculum of students following Western-style

education, and affected the cultural mainstream of

the Indian Languages.

By 1920, more than 20 universities were

established in India following the Western-style. The

curriculum in the schools is very humanistic. They

ran Honors and Master’s courses in English

literature, in which Shakespeare was the staple fare.

These courses created many Shakespearean scholars for

India in the early twentieth century, such as:

Praphulla Chandra Ghosh, Subodh Chandra Sengupta,

Tarak Nath Sen, Sailendra Kumar Sen and Arun Kumar

Dasgupta in Kolkata; V.K. Ayyappan Pillai, R.

Krishnamurthy, K.D. Sethna, S. Nagarajan and S.

Viswanathan in southern India (chiefly Chennai and

Hyderabad); Phiroze Dustoor, Sarup Singh and A.N.

Kaul in Delhi; V.Y. Kantak in Vadodara; and M.V.

Rajadhyaksha, Homai Shroff and Kamal Wood in Mumbai,

whose studies on Shakespeare were collected in a

series of Shakespeare editions brought out by the

Chennai firm of Srinivasa Varadachari towards the end

of the 19thcentury. Later, another collection by

William Miller was introduced under the name:

Shakespeare’s Chart of Life in 1900. School and college

students were eager to work with Shakespeare as the

vehicle of acquiring the practicalities of the

English tongue.

Despite of changes through time, Shakespeare is

still a ‘staple diet’ at schools, and writings on him

have been going on. R.V. Subbarao introduced a

voluminous Othello Unveil (Chennai, 1906), and first

volume of Hamlet Unveil (Chennai, 1909). Mohinimohan

Bhattacharya presented his work Courtesy in Shakespeare

(Kolkata, 1940). S.C. Sengupta published three

volumes called inter alia, on Shakespeare under the OUP

imprint between 1951 and 1972. Especially, R.W. Desai

is the father of the world’s only journal devoted for

a single work, Hamlet Studies, in 1979. Indian criticism

of Shakespeare was blooming in next years with S.

Viswanathan's The Shakespeare Play as Poem in 1980, Sukanta

Chaudhuri's Infirm Glory: Shakespeare and the Renaissance Image

of Man in 1981, or Rajiva Verma's Myth, Ritual and

Shakespeare in 1990.

Indian literature has been affected since the

coming of Shakespeare in history. More than 670 items

of Shakespeare translations and adaptations in Idian

languages up to 1964: 128 items in Bengali, 97 items

in Marathi, 83 items in Tamil, 70 items in Hindi, 66

items in Kannada, and 62 items in Telugu. 16 tales

derived from Lam’s Tales from Shakespeare were adapted to

Indian context by Kandukuri Veeresalingam, a pioneer

of modern Telugu literature. Besides, Ishwar Chandra

Vidyasagar, a Bengala humanist, used Errors as his

prose narrative in 1869. In 1888, the prose Merchant

using plot of The Merchant of Venice was presented by the

founder of modern Hindi literature, Bharatendu

Harishchandra. In the 1950s, Macbeth and Hamlet were

translated into verse by the eminent Hindi poet

Harvansh Rai Bachchan. In 1892, the first Sanskrit

translation was published by R. Krishnamacharya, and

then the Sanskrit Merchant was staged in 1964. In fact,

Shakespeare was used pedagogically in many fields of

Indian life. Recently, the works of Shakespeare have

been studied in view of Linguistics, such as: Dream

of Nissar Ahmad, and Macbeth of Ramakrishna Pillai. In

terms of structure, theme, and other literary

aspects, early Indian drama was influenced by those

features of Shakespeare’s style.

The year 1852 records the plays of Shakespeare

on stages. They were adapted in a very Indianized

style, such as: The Taming if the Shrew directed by Surat.

Then, 1903 Othello was directed by Gujarati. Between

1867 and 1915, 65 versions of Shakespeare’s plays in

Marathi language were introduced by Mahadevshastri

Kolhatkar, and acted by the Aryaddharak Natak

Mandali. After that, different plays like: Hamlet,

Othello, Much Ado and Macbeth were staged through the

country. Besides, there appeared some musical

versions of A Winter’s Tale, and Measure for Measure which

follow the local tradition of music drama. Zunzarrao,

adapted from Othello by G.F. Deval, became the most

lasting success in the 1950s. In Tamil language, more

than 30 adaptations of Shakespeare’s plays were

performed by 1900 in nearly 100 towns in Tamil Nadu,

a state to the southern of India. Among these, one of

the most popular versions is Romeo and Juliet by P.

Sambanda Mudaliar.

Post-Independence Indian drama is on much

influence of Shakespeare. Since then, many

Shakespeare’s plays have been performed, such as:

Othello in 1950 -1960-1990, Macbeth in 1954, Hamlet in

1957 and 1964, King Lear in 1974, A Midsummer’s Night Dream

in 1991, Julius Caesar in 1992, and The Merchant of Venice in

1997. Between June 1953 and December 1956, the

English-language theatre Shakespeareana had 876

performances of Shakespeare’s plays. The Little

Theatre Group performed at least 16 Shakespeare

productions in the 1950s to 1960s. Among them,

Macbeth was on stage in 1954, and performed at least

100 times in Bengal villages as well as Kolkata; The

Merchant of Venice was staged in 1955; Julius Caesar in

1957; Othello in 1958; Romeo and Juliet and A Midsummer-

Night's Dream in 1964. Shakespeare’s plays were formed

in dance-drama, introduced by Kathakali with Othello in

1997, and King Lear in 1999.

3.2.6. Shakespeare in China11

Lu Xun, one of the prominent figures in Chinese

modern literature, is the first person brought

storylines of Shakespeare to popularize this name

among Chinese readers and theatrical practitioners

through his free translation in semi-classic style

of Tales from Shakespeare by Charles and Mary Lamb. For

decades, Chinese people, depends on their

requirements, used the name Shakespeare in either

appropriation or dissimilation into Chinese culture.

Besides, the writers who had never known about

Shakespeare before started to mention his name to

legitimize their arguments.

In July 1913, followed more than twenty

Shakespearean adaptations over the ensuing decade,

the first play of Shakespeare The Merchant of Venice under

the name Rou Quan was performed by a professional

theatre in China based on the storyline summaries of

Lin Shu.

11 No Author, (nd). Shakespeare in China: Old Man Sha in the Middleof Kingdom. Available from: http://internetshakespeare.uvic.ca/Library/Criticism/shakespearein/china1.html http://internetshakespeare.uvic.ca/Library/Criticism/ shakespearein/china1.html [Accessed 20th November 2013].

1922 is the marked year when full translations in

Chinese language of Shakespeare were introduced, such

as Hamlet, Romeo and Juliet by Tian Han. Some other

Chinese, who had studied in England before,

introduced direct translations of different works of

Shakespeare from original English. When spoken drama,

huaju, came to popular, some more complete translated

writings of Shakespeare were used in performances,

such as: The Merchant of Venice (1930), Romeo and

Juliet (1937), Hamlet (1942), Romeo and Juliet (1944), as

well as Huang Zuolin's 1945 adaptation

of Macbeth entitled Luanshi yingxiong [The Hero of the

Turmoil]. During the years from 1935 to 1944 under

the invasion of Japan, the translations were

developed. One the most famous translators at that

time was Zhu Shenghao with his 31 translated

Shakespeare’s plays which were used officially for

stage performances, and set the core for a full

Chinese version of The Complete Works of Shakespeare in

2000.

By the mid-1920’s, the name Shakespeare was

transliterated into Chinese standard “Sha Weng” –

“Old Man Sha” under the great respect of Chinese

people, replacing the previous name “Shashibiya”

which was no longer suitable at that time.

The performance of the play Much Ado About Nothing

under the name Much Ado by a Russian director in 1979

is a successful production which opened a resurgence

of Shakespeare performance in China. Based on Marx’s

dialectical materialism, analysis in Chinese

Shakespeare studies concentrated on the social and

economic background of Renaissance and Elizabethan

time reflected in Shakespeare’s works. The

performance of Hamlet directed by Chen Mingzhen in

1984 emphasized the bright ending with the meaning of

the victory of humanism. Following this, there were

two other plays of Shakespeare: Merchant of Venice

directed by Zhang Qihong, which interpreted the

conflict between Shylock and Antonio in terms of the

class struggle between feudal exploitation and

bourgeois morality, but ignoring the issue of racism

in the confrontation of Jews and Christians; and

Macbeth directed by Xu Xiaozhong, which drew a

parallel between the socialist new China and the

Renaissance idealized by Engels. In addition, Romeo

and Juliet was performed in 1982 in the ball scene

directed by Xu Qiping to emphasize the priority of

expressing emotion over the representation of real

life. A Midsummer’s Night Dream directed by Xiong Yuanwei

in 1986 used 11 ropes for the set, but cleverly

blended them with a traditional Chinese scenographic

principle that "scenery derives from acting" to bring

audience to the image of forest. Hu Weimin directed

Antony and Cleopartra in 1984 by using the abstract set

and few cubes in different places to represent the

image of locations. He Bigzhu in his 1993 Twelfth Night

adopted the stylistic make-up and costuming, certain

components from the Stanislavski System in

rehearsals, by painting the face of his characters to

match the patterns or colors of costumes to create an

intriguing visual effect for the play. Lei Gouhua, a

female director, arranged audience around the stage

to bring the performance of her 1994 Othello closer to

the audience. Hamlet was performed in a new view by

the director Lin Zhaohua in 1989. He also directed

Richard III in 2000. In China, the important theatrical

form huaju – spoken drama is still the legitimate

vehicle for Shakespeare’s plays. Over twenty Chinese

operatic productions in fifteen local genres based on

eleven Shakespeare plays have been composed.

Chinese culture has accorded Shakespeare as a

canonical status over the last hundred years. In the

early decades of twentieth century, the development

of new kind drama of China Huaju – spoken drama was

inspired by the works of Shakespeare. Moreover, in

the 1980’s, these works were considered as ‘new

blood’ vital to the future of the traditional Chinese

operatic genres.

In conclusion, Shakespeare has become the

prominent subject popularized in many countries of

different continents. The countries mentioned above

are the typical places where Shakespeare has a

powerful life through changes of time. 3.3. Shakespeare in Vietnam

3.2. Shakespeare in Vietnamese school’s curriculum

13 years ago, my 1984 generation had only one

chance to know Shakespeare at grade 10 in the twelve-

year-education system of common. Different turns of

life do not bring the luck to everyone among us other

opportunities for having deeper understanding about

the Bard and his writings. 13 years later, Viet Nam

has been changing a lot in all aspects of life. The

education system benefits from the developing

economics and international exchanges with more new

schools, teaching aids, and teaching methods, etc.

New textbooks with updated knowledge of all subjects

have replaced former ones. Opposite to the greatly

upward changes of education, however, foreign

literature in general and Shakespeare in particular

seem to be ignored or backward developed. The

followings will show this sad problem.

3.2.1. Vlookup(x, ‘grade1:grade9’, ‘Shakespeare’, False) = 0

Vlookup or Hlookup is used in Excel to search for

value which belongs to a certain table-array. In this

case, if calling:

+ ‘x’ is the variant fitting ‘Shakespeare’: x=

Shakespeare;

+ ‘grade1:grade9’ is the limited table-array of

data

There is no value named Shakespeare when searching in

the national school’s curriculum from grade 1 to

grade 9 (from Primary to Secondary) in Viet Nam.

Within the same formula, found value of ‘x’ could be

‘unlimited solutions’ when seeking in the United

Kingdom.

The formula is just the shortest way of

expression to describe the absence of Shakespeare in

teaching at schools in Viet Nam. Simply understand

that the education program mainly focus on bringing

general knowledge of sciences and humanities to

students without paying attention to training soft

skills or artistic talents. As a result,

Shakespeare’s plays with lessons about human

behavior, love, and ambition, etc. have never been

considered. Besides, teaching English language at

schools in Viet Nam normally base on introducing how

to use English grammatically. On the main stream,

tenses, sentence structures, vocabulary and parts of

speech are the key points in teaching. Therefore,

theatrical performances have never been used as a

method to develop English language competence such

as: communication, pronunciation, or intonation for

students who, in young ages at primary and secondary

schools, easily deal with and to be well-trained.

In UK, Shakespeare at lower school levels is the

golden treasure to educate social skills, poetic soul

besides the honor to this greatest writer of country.

Foreign language (here is English) cannot be ‘lovely’

and loved within non-sense, draught lessons on

grammar. Teaching English should take this point as

the key figure to remember by applying theatrical

performances of short scenes cited from Shakespeare’s

plays in which so many good lessons can be introduced

to students (more discussion at Chapter IV).

In general, the absence of Shakespeare in both

teaching English and foreign literature at these two

school levels (primary and secondary) is the sad fact

caused by the view of approaching to teaching methods

in Viet Nam.

3.2.2. Vlookup(x,‘grade10:grade12’,‘Shakespeare’,False) = 1

The Vietnamese education system at high school

consists of three years with three levels: 10-11-12

in which, by using the same formula as in section

3.2.1., Shakespeare appears only one time in semester

II of grade 11 for both standard and advanced

programs. Within two periods lasting ninety minutes,

Shakespeare and Romeo and Juliet are introduced briefly

through a summary named Love and Hatred.

[Period 61-62: Love and hatre (cited from Romeo and

Juliet of Shakespeare)] – Grade 11 – Advanced program.

[Period 69-70: Love and hatre (cited from Romeo and

Juliet of Shakespeare)] – Grade 11 – Standard program.

Once again, English subject of three grades have

never used anything related to Shakespeare in

textbooks designed and written by experienced

professors in English language and published by

Ministry of Education and Training. The benefits from

applying Shakespeare and theatrical performance into

language teaching have been ignored. The only slight

shine reflecting Shakespeare in students’ mind at

high school comes from Literature subject.

Nevertheless, how can students have clear overview,

not a deep one, on Shakespeare and his huge works

through the explanations of literature teachers who

surely have never had chance to read original text,

understand scenes in Romeo and Juliet by their

consciousness without any scientific clues from

credible researches? Sinking in this ‘phatic’

introduction, Shakespeare at Vietnamese high school

fades away and is easy to forget.

In contrast to UK where, at high school level,

Shakespeare and his works are studied and taught with

deeper tasks into his language, figures of speech,

metaphor, puns, and irony, etc.; his writing style as

well as his characters is the source for students to

study within original texts, not the rewritten ones

as in lower school levels, Vietnamese students can

only know about this famous playwright through a

short summary of Romeo and Juliet. For example, they (the

students) are not introduced deep analyses on love at

the age 13 of Juliet which is the taboo in Vietnamese

law and culture, the death of two lovers, or social

background in the play, etc. The ‘flirting’

introduction can lead to wrong perception in terms of

the understanding and attitude to Shakespeare in

particular and English literature in general. The

thinking of unimportant and nonsense Shakespeare

raised up in mind during twelve years at compulsory

school levels goes along with students after

graduation. Many Vietnamese students see learning

Shakespeare as a torture because they have to cope

with ancient words, difficult puns, and unfamiliar

context to their daily experiences. Some others show

contempt to the one who is studying Shakespeare whose

bibliography and writings are useless to learning and

teaching in Viet Nam. These conservative, pessimistic

and opposite thoughts were the ‘embryos’ right in the

early school days.

Overall, Vietnamese students are the victims who

lack of chances to develop their language abilities

by teaching Shakespeare in English subject and to

have deep understanding about this writer and his

work in Literature subject as well. Poetically

talking, they have never been supported ‘vitamin

Shakespeare’.

3.2.3. Vlookup(x,‘university’s curriculum’,‘Shakespeare’,False) = 1

If setting a hope on the appearance of

Shakespeare in university’s curriculum, English

language departments of foreign languages colleges

and Literature departments of universities of

pedagogy might bring the most hopeful signals. The

truth, however, is completely different and seems to

be so pessimistic.

It is the curriculum at compulsory levels

(primary to high schools) regulate the content of

teaching programs at university level, especially

universities of education where mainly trains future

teachers working in common educational system.

Literature at both common schools and universities

focuses on domestic literary works through different

historical periods. Foreign literature is introduced

briefly about famous writers and their writings that

belong to Chinese and Russian. English and American

literature (if being mentioned) is emphasized on

modern time of century 19th and 20th. In Viet Nam,

American literature is preferred than the English

one, which explains the reason why very rare English

literary works are used in textbooks. Shakespeare

with difficulties in approaching method in terms of

language, stylistics, and genres, etc. has never been

taught for students of literature departments, let

alone other ones of other ones.

Only students of English language departments at

colleges of foreign languages have chance to study

Shakespeare in Viet Nam. English literature (in the

curriculum of these schools) is divided into two

periods: Renaissance and Modern. Within two or three

credits (equally around 30 to 45 45-minute-periods in

Viet Nam) covering all the typical writers and

writings of Renaissance in England and Europe,

Shakespeare is only mentioned with short excerpts of

Macbeth, Hamlet, and Romeo and Juliet. This limited time

cannot bring students deep understanding about the

Bard and his works. Moreover, unhappily, some

departments omit Shakespeare in their teaching

programs because of the challenges that lecturers

cannot overcome by themselves. Another fact causing

the missing of Shakespeare at universities in Viet

Nam is the function of sub-disciplines in English

departments where clearly assign the English language

teaching with methodology (teaching methods); English

translation & interpretation with translation

theories as well as techniques in translating and

interpreting; Linguistics with basic theories on

semantics, syntax, functional grammar, and phonetics,

etc. There is no separated English literature

discipline in those departments.

As for students of English departments, the

inexistence of Shakespeare in learning programs is

really a big disadvantage and a wide blank space

among the knowledge of English language and culture.

3.2.4. Vlookup(x,‘postgraduate’s curriculum’,‘Shakespeare’,False) = 0

The last hope of ‘enjoying’ Shakespeare in

Vietnamese educational system is postgraduate

programs in which Master and Ph.D levels could

introduce deep and critical evaluations on this

famous writer. Disappointingly, it is unbelievable

that no course (both M.A and Ph.D) mentions

Shakespeare in its curriculum.

The same as Bachelor degree, Master of English

language teaching only focuses on teaching methods,

lession design, and develops techniques of language

skills. Shakespeare does not exist in this two-year-

program. Master of Linguistics (the degree I got in

2011) has two credits lecturing about modern English

and American literature of century 19th and 20th.

Seem to be a better place to have researches

about Shakespeare in the Master of Foreign Literature

program of Sciences & Humanities University (Ho Chi

Minh City), English literature is combined with

American one among the optional subjects studying

about Poetry in the 20th century. Besides, Western

stage is also another optional mini course but only

focusing on century 20th.

The most disappointed program is the Doctor of

Philosophy in English Literature of Ha Noi National

University. This degree with 56 compulsory credits

requires researchers to finish Master of Foreign

Literature before upgrading to Ph.D level. What needs

to be discussed here is the content of this Ph.D

course which adds four professional themes: English

novels in century 20th; Modern English short stories; English poem in

century 20th; and Literature written in English language century 19th-

20th into the Ph.D level without any of them related

to Shakespeare besides the two-year course of M.A.

Running along the Ph.D of English Literature in Viet

Nam, Ph.D candidates mainly focus on Vietnamese

literature (in M.A course) and modern English

literature at Ph.D while Shakespeare, a significant,

bright, and typical milestone, the pride of England

is not honored with even a little chapter, let alone

a separated theme.

3.2.5. Summary

Teaching Shakespeare in Viet Nam is a big

question to Shakespearean followers including

specialists and language teachers as well. In all

levels of Vietnamese educational system, Shakespeare

is reminded randomly at high school and English

departments. Two times appearing in school’s

curriculum is truly an extremely small number in

comparing to the same program in England or other

countries. Right at the highest level, Ph.D of

English Literature does not cover Shakespeare in its

research topics. Consequently, the absence of

Shakespeare in other levels and programs is not

difficult to explain.

Shakespeare and his works is still a secret cave

that needs to be discovered. The values from applying

Shakespeare into teaching English language and

literature has not been concerned. Only Love and

Harte in Romeo and Juliet taught at high school and short

excerpts of Macbeth and Hamlet introduced at

universities cannot be deserved to the fame of

Shakespeare. It seems that the difficulties in

learning and teaching Shakespeare prevent textbook

designers and lecturers from helping their students

approach the values of language, humanities in his

writings. This fear needs to be changed as soon as

possible.

3.3. Shakespeare on Vietnamese stage

3.3.1. The coming of Shakespeare to Vietnamese stage

Stage in Viet Nam is still a luxurious art for

upper classes that are rich but just the minority in

the society of common labors. Vietnamese stages in

the North mainly focus on Kịch nói = oral play, Tuồng, and

Chèo, while Cải Lương is the typical genre on the

Southern stages. In those four types, Kịch nói exists

as an easy way to approach form in the developing era

of country; Tuồng, Chèo, and Cải Lương are only the

favorites of old people who love national musical

theatre and folklore which are no longer the up-to-

date tastes among young generations. The scarcity of

interesting Vietnamese play scripts that are usually

lacking of climax functioning as the background of

conflicts encourages domestic stages to choose

foreign plays as safer solutions (rarely be broken

down in the mid-way) with literary features,

philosophy, and bold content, etc. to verify their

performances and attract more audience. In terms of

conflict, Western play scripts do not describe small

conflicts, or repeated quarrels between characters.

In contrast, Vietnamese ones (play scripts) often

narrow in surface and daily living conflicts, not the

oppose of era.

The above reasons have supported conditions for

the import of famous foreign plays to Vietnamese

stages in which Shakespeare is a typical one whose

Hamlet, Othello, King Lear are performed and edited into

Tuồng and Chèo. Another reason why Shakespeare’s plays

are chosen is the wide and deep conflict scale.

Besides, the structure of five chapters and

monologues make the difference and interest for

audience.

3.3.2. Shakespeare in Tuồng and Chèo

Tuồng and Chèo, the two traditional musical

theatres of Viet Nam were created in the 11th-12th

century with no relation to the Western theatres in

terms of genre, performance, and origin. Happily,

researches of European scholars12 show that they have

the seeds of modernity (not the old fashion as many

young Vietnamese often think about) which are much

closed to the content in the writings of modern

playwright Shakespeare.

12 http://www.baomoi.com/Shakespeare-va-Brecht-trong-tuong-va-cheo-I/132/7819794.epi and http://suckhoedoisong.vn/20120212081630336p0c15/shakespeare-va-brecht-trong-tuong-va-cheo-ii.htm

The conventional style in Vietnamese traditional

theatre with the encouragement of audience’s

imagination and knowledge is also the modern acting

features on European stages and similar to what

Shakespeare intended in his works. Shakespearean

characters seem to be the clones, for example the

clown with conventional cloth, make-up, gestures, and

facial expressions in Vietnamese folklore stages. The

same in Shakespeare’s plays, those characters are

used to describe the contrast or oppose between human

situation and social background. Not only language

could bring the play to audience, the acts of

characters with body gestures and facial expressions

contribute a great part in conveying the content.

Shakespeare’s plays exist in human hearts by those

factors which are reflected in traditional folklore

theatre where honors the values of poetry, soft and

flexible body language of characters in the melody of

traditional musical instruments.

3.2.3. TNT (Terrific New Theatre) and the

introduction of Shakespeare to Vietnamese stage

Macbeth is the first Shakespeare’s play of TNT

edition and performance which have been on stages

through more than thirty nations in the world in

which Viet Nam is also a lucky destination.

Eleven years ago (2001) Macbeth of Viet Nam

(performed by Vietnamese actors) was on stage of The

Youth Theatre under the hand of magic director Le

Hung who brought Shakespeare to Vietnamese audience

by the Vietnamese version with the excellent

performance of actor Anh Tu and actress Lan Huong

crazily rolling in the blind ambition, in deepest

despair through their dialogues, gestures, facial

language, steps and music. Along with the simply

designed stage but containing wither and stuffy

atmosphere of ancient society, the combination of

drums and líu, nhị13 and lights brought the scene of

Macbeth and his wife’s death closer to Vietnamese

audience. Despite being the same play, Macbeth of TNT

was warmly welcome in Viet Nam because the

differences in designing, the way of choosing

climaxes, and the impressions in audience’s hearts.

Domestic play directors also have chance to review

their work as well as the methods of how to introduce

Vietnamese plays to the world.

On the purpose of confirming that Shakespeare’s

plays can suit this modern life, TNT used to13 Vietnamese traditional musical instruments.

introduce King Lear along Viet Nam from the North in Ha

Noi city, to the Middle land: Da Nang city, and the

South: Ho Chi Minh city. Not only ‘stage-like’

dialogues, director Paul Stebbing of TNT changed

music in this play to be movie-like, rather than

traditional stage. The environment around the stage

was designed with Stonehenge picture adding the

Celtic music as background, which illustrated the

full of sunny and windy island where the tragedy of

King Lear happened.

3.4. Romeo and Juliet in Viet Nam

3.4.1. Romeo and Juliet in Sai Gon14

Still in the same motif of the original text of

Shakespeare about the tragedy of two lovers, Romeo and

Juliet in Sai Gon, a play of IDECAF stage on 15th of July

2011, brought relaxing but interesting and friendly

laughs by adding very Vietnamese social features with

bicycle, motor, sạp dance15, and hò16, etc.

14 Sai Gon is the former name of Ho Chi Minh city15 a traditional dance of ethnic minority groups in the North-West area 16 a popular folklore in the Middle land and the South of Viet Nam

This famous love story is combined flexibly between

the Western art of physical theatre and Vietnamese

opera (hát bội). By mixing Western play’s atmosphere

and Vietnamese living styles, audience were directed

to different surprises besides the conflict between

the two families whose the quarrel opens with the

music of songs: Chuyện nhỏ17, Sáu mươi năm cuộc đời18. Romeo

and Juliet date on the Y Bridge19, and then dance Sạp

in their wedding party. On the stage, Romeo rides his

bike and Juliet comes on her motorbike in a

background of hò and music with traditional

Vietnamese clothes, dialogues, which receives

encouraging long applauses of audience.

17 a song of musician: Lê Minh18 a song of musician: Y Vân19 Y Bridge is a famous bridge in form of letter Y, located to the East of District 8, Ho Chi Minh city.

In addition, Vietnamese opera was mixed skillfully

demonstrating conventional steps, gestures and

emotion of characters. Audience extremely loved the

image of the balcony where Juliet was enjoying the

Moon and Romeo was expressing his love, which was

replaced by the standing on perform-mate of

characters.

Director Cliff Moustache and Doctor of Art Nguyen

Nghieu Khai Thu were very proud of this Vietnamese

version of Romeo and Juliet which is the contribution of

ideas from all participated characters.

Mark Woollett and Candace Clift, the two members

of Shakespeare & Company based in Massachusetts of

America, directed students of Ho Chi Minh College of

Stage Performance and Cinematics to perform Romeo and

Juliet in April of 2006. On the hope of bringing

Shakespeare to Viet Nam, this couple added many

Vietnamese characteristics into the play, for

example: Juliet wears Ao Dai; the kungfu is performed

with hand, not sword; there is no gun in the play

(because using gun is illegal in Viet Nam); and

especially, at the beginning of play, the quarrel of

two families happens outside the front door of the

theatre where audience standing around to enjoy then

following the characters into the theatre.

In summary, despite of the distance between

language and culture, Shakespeare has been introduced

to Vietnamese audience on stages. To overcome

difficulties, his famous plays are edited with

additions of Eastern culture and Vietnamese style.

Shakespeare in Viet Nam is a friendly playwright

whose works are directed by domestic and foreign

directors as well as international theatres by

combining modern stage’s arts and Vietnamese living

aspects, for instance, Hamlet is performed through

physical theatre added Vietnamese traditional opera

directed by the artist of common Lan Huong.

Shakespeare will be more popular in Viet Nam because

most of his famous plays are on process of performing

100 international classical plays of the Youth

Theatre.

3.4.2 Romeo&Juliet vs Lan&Diep

3.4.2.1. Romeo and Juliet – The suicide for love of a

young couple

The suicide of Romeo and Juliet has become the

legend for the faithfulness of love, the romantic

model for young couples, and the target to compare

any other suicides in the same motif. In love, losing

a half is equal to losing all, and living without

lover in this life is really nonsense. Romeo killed

himself with the purpose of following his lover to

the heaven when seeing lifeless Juliet. Juliet, in

the same stream of thought, seeing a bloody

breathless Romeo, also wanted to end her life for the

eternal world where they could be peacefully together

forever. Their death is the confirmation of a strong

love that cannot be separated by any force, let alone

prohibition of family, distance, or death. Their love

is the timeless evidence for the faithfulness which

is made of the calling from heart. Love without any

boundary, following the joyful rhythm at the first

sight in the romantic and long lasting melody, in the

moonlight, under the balcony seeing the garden with

leaves and winds, etc, becomes the ideal model for

young couples in wish of having such the same tune of

love. Not only staging in the same romantic love,

young couples are ready to choose Romeo and Juliet-

like suicide as the solution to confirm their love

and faithfulness against the arrangement or

prohibition of family.

3.4.2.2. The tragic love story of Viet Nam: LAN AND

DIEP

There are, around the world, some Romeo and

Juliet-like love stories which all end in tragic.

China has 梁梁梁梁梁梁梁 – The Butterfly Lovers telling about a

girl cross-dressing to go to school and falling in

love with her schoolmate. She tried to escape from

the arranged marriage of her parents by killing

herself, and the schoolmate killed himself. After

that, they become butterflies. Viet Nam also has a

similar one written by writer Nguyen Cong Hoan who

introduced the tragic love story Lan And Diep in his

novel Tắt Lửa Lòng in 1933. Different from Romeo and

Juliet of Shakespeare, the Vietnamese version ends with

the death of Lan (the girl) and the painful rest of

life for Diep (the boy). This story reflected

Vietnamese feudalist society where young couples have

no right to decide their love although they are

already engaged in secret with each other. The story

tells that:

Lan was a young maid living in a small poor village where had

Diep, her beloved man trying to study for the graduation examination.

Swears of a faithful love encouraged Lan to wait for Diep when he went

to the town revising lessons. New life in strange place made Diep sad

and he missed his lover so much. He often visited his father’s friend, a

rich landlord living with his naughty daughter, to reduce his loneliness.

The uncontrolled living style made that rich girl pregnant with a strange

man. To avoid gossips, a big party was celebrated with many guests,

among them Diep was a special one because of his close relationship to

the family. Drinking too much wine, Diep was drunk and put on bed

sleeping beside the landlord’s daughter. This trap along with the news of

being pregnant, Diep was asked to prepare a hurried marriage. Despite

having no love and being mixed in confused, guilty feeling, he had to

follow the arrangement of that girl’s family.

The news of Diep’s marriage was like a thunder on ear spreading

to Lan who was still on the hope of a successful day when her lover

would come back after the exam. Extremely shocked and carrying a

broken heart, she left away to a far temple to become a Buddhist nun.

However, love, sadness, and loneliness always stayed in her mind, which

day by day weakened her to a terrible sickness.

After recognizing that the child was not his son and the trap of

that day in his father’s friend’s house, Diep tried to go to many places to

look for Lan. Sadly, right at the time he found that temple where Lan

was living, Lan spent her last breath in Diep’s hands. Since burying Lan

in village’s burial ground, Diep had lived his rest lonely, single, and

humble life until his death.

Both Romeo and Juliet and Lan và Điệp appreciate the

faithfulness in love but the ending of these tragic

love occurs in different ways. While Romeo and Juliet

ends in blood and death, Lan và Điệp burns a murmuring

sadness and tears in readers’ heart.

This tragic love story is also edited into play,

songs, and films. In 1936, the playwright Tran Huu

Trang20 edited this story into a Vietnamese

traditional play performance – Cai Luong – with the

name Lan và Điệp. In 1948, the Asia Music Company

recorded this play and then it was so popular to Lao

and Cambodia that people forgot the original name,

but “Chuyện tình Lan và Điệp – The love story Lan and Diep”. In

1970, when drama was highly developed, the Kim Cuong

(Diamond) Drama Group performed this story in oral 20 Tran Huu Trang (1906-1966) is one of the Vietnamese greatest playwrights of Cai Luong. His famous works are: To Anh Nguyet, Lan va Diep, and Doi Co Luu, etc.

play. In the same time, this story in form of Cai

Luong was recorded to broadcast on television. In

2006 and 2008, this play was staged many times with

little changes.

Right the beginning 1940’s, musicians composed

songs based on this love story. The composer Vien

Chau21 wrote into Vọng cổ rhythm. In 1965, the

musicians Le Dinh, Minh Ky, and Anh Bang22 cooperated

to composed four songs named “Chuyện tình Lan và Điệp – The

love story Lan and Diep”, in which the first song is very

famous.

In 1972, this tragic love story was edited to

film named "Tình Lan và Điệp" directed by Le Dan.

This black and white film is a production of Da Ly

Huong Film Company lasting 1 hour and 30 minutes.

Late 1980’s, the film was produced in color named

“Lan và Điệp” directed by Tran Vu and Nguyen Huu

Luyen. This colored film was on cinema in 1990.

3.4.3. The variants of Romeo and Juliet in Viet Nam

The fact that young Vietnamese couples decide to

get suicide is real, but, is Romeo and Juliet the typical21 The Artist of Common Vien Chau (1924) is a famous Dan Tranh (traditional musical instrument of Viet Nam) player and Cai Luong composer. He is honored as the father of Tan Co Giao Duyen (a modern kind of Cai Luong).22 These three musicians formed a music band in 1966 taking their first nameto call the band’s name Le Minh Bang.

model for them to follow? The question has not been

answered yet, however, while Romeo killed himself and

Juliet did the same for their faithful love,

Vietnamese couples experiment in various ways.

Some couples get no prohibition from family,

unluckily, one of them died by suicide, accident or

something else, the other one cannot live without

lover then decides to get suicide by drinking poison

or jumping into river, etc. One of this Vietnamese

modern Romeo and Juliet happened in Da Lat city in

2005, online published on the website:

http://dantri.com.vn/c36/s20-65743/chuyen-tinh-kieu-

romeo-va-uliet-o-da-lat.htm. The girl was 20 years

old and died 1 year ago (2004) by drinking too many

sleeping drugs. Her lover, one-year living alone and

always coming to her grave to talk till midnight,

decided to suicide by jumping into the river. They

used to be happy together, but people around that

girl were too strict when mentioning her as a kind of

willing money person who followed another man. She

died of overpressure.

Death for love has become model of young couples

nowadays. On the website Phu Nu Today, the article

NHỮNG DỊ BẢN KINH HOÀNG ROMEO VÀ JULIET VIỆT NAM (My

translation: The Frightening Variants Of Romeo And Juliet In Viet

Nam) published online on 07/03/201123 wonders the

suicides of young Vietnamese couples in a very

dangerous way. The first story happened in an early

morning of 2011, people were doing morning exercise,

a car stopped, a girl was thrown out of the car,

shouting crazily, and a man in the car got off with a

knife, killed the girl then killed himself before

jumping into the lake. The second story happened on

the first day of 2011, in a motel in Ha Dong

district, Ha Noi city. The couple was found in the

room where the girl was lying in blood, and the boy

was killing himself right the time police came. The

reason was that the boy did not agree to the saying

goodbye of the girl. In the same motif of killing

lover for possessing forever, the tragedy was that

the boy was refused when expressing love to the girl.

He decided to kill that girl then himself. A more

suffered tragedy happened to the couple who are

relatives of each other. Vietnamese tradition does

not allow relatives get married with each other even

how far the generations they belong to. They decided

to suicide by the way that the boy killed the girl 23 http://phunutoday.vn/xahoiol/201103/Nhung-di-ban-kinh-hoang-Romeo-va-Juliet-Viet-Nam-1981488/

then himself. On the Valentine’s Day of the year

2012, a male student jumped from the seventh floor of

a building in Tay Bac University after killing his

girlfriend because this girl had a new man.

If having no prohibition from family, theselfishness in love makes Vietnamese couples,especially the boys (some cases the girls) becomemonsters killing their lovers. Vietnamese Romeo andJuliet are very violent. Many Vietnamesepsychologists agree that those suicides are no longerthe phenomenon of ‘self-confirm’ among young couples,but belong to ‘behavior in love’. Some of the coupleswant to be the same like Rome and Juliet. They do notcare about their selfishness to family, relatives,and lovers. Just wanting to be beside each otherforever, the affects after their suicides on familyand people around are too much painful. Five days ago(10/10/2012: http//vietnamnet.vn/vn/xa-hoi/92060/bi-cam-yeu--2-hoc-sinh-thue-nha-nghi-tu-tu.html),Vietnamnet.vn wrote in an article about the suicideof a 15/16-year-old and high-school couple who hadrented a room at a hotel to drink insecticidesbecause of the prohibition of families.

The causes of these painful suicides could be the

prohibition of family, jealous quarrels, or ignored

loves, etc. Going with the trend of violence in the

youth, these selfish behaviors must be alarmed in

society. Romeo and Juliet go to death by having no

chance or solution because their lover already died.

Differently, Vietnamese Romeo and Juliet nowadays

kill themselves with very stupid reasons.

Psychological education in schools of any levels,

especially from secondary schools to colleges needs

to be implemented immediately and widely. Students at

these ages are having changes in psychology, they are

not experienced enough to pass conflicts or

difficulties in life and love.

The latest love story in form of Romeo and Juliet

was published online on vnexpress.com 26/09/201224

with the article ‘Chuyện tình Romeo và Juliet xứ

Việt’ (My translation: The Vietnamese love story

Romeo and Juliet) which tells about a young couple

falling in love with each other but facing the strict

prohibition of two families. The strength of love

encouraged these two lovers to leave home to settle

down in a remote area at the border between Viet Nam

and China. At hometown, two families are still in

serious conflicts. Up till now, despite of having a

baby who can go to visit both his grandparents, the

couple has not been accepted. Different from the

original text of Shakespeare, these Vietnamese Romeo

and Juliet did not find the death as their solution.

Believing that their love one day could release their

24 http//vnexpress.net/gl/suc-khoe/gioi-tinh/2012/09/chuyen-tinh-romeo-va-juliet-xu-viet/

families’ hatred, they still live happily and often

come back to visit their parents even though the

conflict between two families has not been passed by.

4.5. Summary

By detail discussions on three main aspects:

education, stage and social phenomenon, Shakespeare

and his works, in an overall comment, are too small

in Viet Nam and not deserved to the reputation of

this famous writer.

In school’s curriculum, if taking a formula

looking for the number of existing Shakespeare from

Primary to Postgraduate levels, the result is equal

to 3, such an amazing number. Right in English

departments of colleges of foreign languages as well

as Ph.D degree of English Literature, Shakespeare is

a strange and being hated name because of

difficulties in approaching to his writings.

Vietnamese educationalists have not foreseen the

values that Shakespeare could bring to students at

significant teaching and learning levels.

On stage, some plays of Shakespeare have been

performed in both English and Vietnamese. Some

foreign theatres from England and America come and

cooperate with domestic theatres with editions of the

original play scripts suiting Vietnamese culture and

life style. Nevertheless, only Macbeth, Hamlet, Othello, A

Midsummer Night’s Dream, and Romeo and Juliet have been on

stages. Many other Shakespeare’s plays have never

been introduced to Vietnamese audience.

The most popular and enjoyed work of Shakespeare

in Viet Nam is Romeo and Juliet. The faithful love of

this couple effects on many Vietnamese ones who are

ready to jump into death if facing the prohibition of

family. Actually, the humane values of this play are

not understood correctly among Vietnamese young

people. Besides the prohibition of family, the

refusal of lover could be the reason leading to

murders because of the selfishness in love.

In conclusion, Shakespeare in Viet Nam is till so

fade in comparing to the values and reputation of

this playwright and his works. English language

learners, researchers, translators, play directors

and educationalists need to set a campaign on the

purpose of bringing a friendlier Shakespeare to

Vietnamese people.