An Orientalist Reading of Robert Baron's Mirza

Abstract

Edward Said’s Orientalism has revolutionized the history of literary criticism since its publication in 1978. It challenges and questions the old established norms of evaluating literary works by offering a new perspective for the readers and researchers. This article aims at the application of Said’s views to Robert Baron’s closet drama Mirza. The researchers contend that Baron, like his contemporary writers, has misrepresented and demonized Islam and Muslims due to his Eurocentric perspectives with a view to establishing and asserting the cultural superiority of the West. He did so because of the pervasive dominant ideology of the early modern English period which was to portray Islam as a fake and fraud religion and Muslims as sensual beasts. The findings of this study bear out the researchers’ contention that Baron has deliberately misrepresented and demonized the Muslim characters in Mirza which is in line with Said’s views in his work Orientalism.