Monograf Journal Edebiyat ve İktidar (2014 / 1) | Page 34

ODAK 34 • Anthony P. Pennino she dismisses the later evaluation of him as a writer for the bourgeoisie – is exactly the same discreet space the Chartists hoped to occupy and failed ultimately to do so during their brief time on Britain’s political stage. It is worth remembering that though their organization may have come to an untimely end, their ideological agenda did not; here we return to the notion that for the Chartists ideology encompassed all human knowledge as so that agenda includes both political and cultural aspects. Shakespeare occupies a critical place in the promulgation of that agenda. First, his works served as a means by which the Chartist leadership could more easily communicate with the masses and in so doing a common radical lexicon evolved. Second, the Chartist persistence in bringing the works of Shakespeare (whose works could be found on bookshelves in both Birmingham and Belgravia) and other canonical authors to the people allowed these works to