Abstract/Description
Literary accounts of exile can be traced back to biblical and ancient times, from Adam and Eve being cast out of Eden as a punishment for disobeying God, to Homer’s The Odyssey composed in the 8th century BCE, which relates a storyabout Odysseus’s journey home after the Trojan War and his exile from his homeland, Ithaca. In ancient Rome, Ovid wrote Tristia and Epistulae ex Ponto, detailing his despair during his exile to Tomis. The 14th-century Divine Comedy explores Dante’s journey from Hell, to Purgatory, then to Paradise in search of a spiritual home during his exile from his beloved Florence. The theme of exile, along with its sibling banishment, has been a recurring motif in literature, reflecting the human experience of dispossession and the quest for belonging and identity. Like many writers, Shakespeare handles this matter in his plays; exile and banishment ultimately lead to a deeper understanding of human relationships and the universal desire for redemption and inclusivity. Before examining these treatments, though, we need to shape a working understanding of exile.
Recommended Citation
Bureau, Patricia
(2024).
Varieties of Exile and Estrangement: Banishment in Shakespeare’s Plays.
Undergraduate Review, 18, 142-155.
Available at: https://vc.bridgew.edu/undergrad_rev/vol18/iss1/16
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