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Culture In Hamlet And Adorno's Shakespeare In The Bush

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From a sociological perspective, culture is a group of individuals with a common set of beliefs and practices that give meaning to different objects and things and have a common form of communication and language. Beliefs, ideas, language and symbols differ depending on the culture. The article Shakespeare in the Bush shows how cultures vary and what one culture might interpret one way, another culture may interpret in a different way. Both the author and the African tribe interpreted the play Hamlet in a different way, due to their differing cultures. For example, in the play Hamlet, the character Ophelia drowns herself after finding out her father was murdered by Hamlet. The author interprets this event as Ophelia committing suicide. The African tribe, however, interpreted this event as a result of witchcraft, as they believe only witches can make people drown themselves. This is just one example of the different beliefs the tribe had compared to the author. The African tribe also had different symbols from the author. For example, the African tribe had no symbolism for a ghost, like we do in American culture. The author also had to simplify certain words when translating the text into the African tribe’s native language, as their language didn’t include certain words. These differences show how beliefs, symbolism and communication can vary depending on the culture. The first theory discussed in the text was founded by Theodor Adorno. Adorno argued that pop culture creates

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