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