The relevance of Shakespeare’s treatment of children to contemporary Uganda

Abstract

This dissertation set out to examine the view that Shakespeare is relevant to our contemporary Uganda. In this respect, the dissertation examined the treatment of children during Shakespeare’s time in areas of family relationship, political status and society. In order to underscore Shakespeare’s relevance to Uganda, the dissertation compares and contrasts Shakespeare’s children and Uganda children in the various areas in which children are affected positively or negatively, directly and indirectly. The researcher discovered that Shakespeare is not only an expert in social and political issues alone, but is also a great father with great ideas on parenting and child upbringing and welfare. The plays under study have child characters that have been affected by family relationship, politics and society. In the same way children in Uganda have been affected by family relationships whereby some children have been neglected, have suffered abuse or even lost their lives. The more books we read, the better our understanding of issues that affect people and not just leave it at that, but we can adopt and change for the better in various aspects of life.