Previous
Lascar
Munshi, from the Persian word for “writer,” was a term used in India and throughout the British empire to denote a teacher (particularly a teacher who focuses on language-learning). Munshi was also the word used to describe the Indian secretaries to British colonial governors (or Viceroys) in India. In real life, as in The Empress, Queen Victoria decides to refer to her long-time attendant Abdul Karim as “the Munshi,” a title that Abdul (and the rest of the British court) see as an important badge of honor.
Munshi Quotes in The Empress
The The Empress quotes below are all either spoken by Munshi or refer to Munshi. For each quote, you can also see the other terms and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
).
Act 1, Scene 13 Quotes
LADY SARAH: But surely ma’am. It is not morally proper to encourage a servant to live in some kind of harem with an exotic menagerie?
VICTORIA: He is not a servant, please never refer to Abdul as such. He is our teacher. He will also teach us something about the religions and customs of India. It is of great interest to us for both the language and the people, we have never naturally come into real contact with before […]
LADY SARAH: Ma’am…the rumors and whisperings at court are not very tasteful. […] Members of the court say, you are showing undue favoritism towards the Indian. They fear…the Munshi is exploiting her Majesty. […] Perhaps it would be wise to distance yourself from anyone who has links to Indian Home Rule.
VICTORIA: Enough! We will have our Munshi.
Related Characters:
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
Act 2, Scene 4 Quotes
ABDUL: War brings terrible suffering, something you have never experienced, ma’am.
VICTORIA: We may we be Queen and Empress but we are not made of stone. We can still feel for the suffering of our subjects. They are all our children.
ABDUL: But feeling is not the same as experiencing, ma’am […] How is it that monarchs are able to remain human while their subjects suffer such great hardships?
VICTORIA is silent.
You have no fear, you do not have to subject yourself to the daily humiliation of abuse. You are subservient to no one. Every day, as we speak, in Africa your subjects are gaining more land in your name […]
LADY SARAH: Her Majesty’s duty is to bring light into darkness, the very essence of our country’s destiny is to bring civilization to the world […]
ABDUL: Forgive me if I have spoken out of turn.
Related Characters:
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
Act 2, Scene 14 Quotes
PAGES enter, when transcripts. One by one they strip ABDUL of his royal livery, his turban, jacket, etc. They redress him as an ordinary civilian. As the letters pile up around him we hear the sound of a huge crackling bonfire which intensifies and fills the stage with a red glow. All of the Munshi’s letters from Queen Victoria are burned.
Related Characters:
Related Themes:
Page Number and Citation:
Explanation and Analysis:
Get the entire The Empress LitChart as a printable PDF.
"My students can't get enough of your charts and their results have gone through the roof." -Graham S.
Munshi Term Timeline in The Empress
The timeline below shows where the term Munshi appears in The Empress. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Act 1, Scene 11
...trust him. Instead, the queen gives in, deciding to promote Abdul to be an official Munshi, or teacher. Overjoyed, Abdul asks Victoria to make sure that the pictures of him serving...
(full context)
Act 1, Scene 13
...with other women, but she squashes these feelings, insisting to Sarah that Abdul is their Munshi and they must treat him with respect.
(full context)
...“distance” herself from Abdul and his community, but Victoria stands firm: “we will have our Munshi.”
(full context)
Act 2, Scene 4
...a book and a quill pen, so as to better reflect his role as Victoria’s Munshi. Abdul’s requests annoy Lady Sarah, who continues reading Victoria’s letters aloud. When Sarah announces that...
(full context)
Act 2, Scene 15
...is still in Rani’s life. Rani asks Abdul about his time working as the queen’s Munshi, and Abdul muses on Victoria’s power. Even as “the lands she ruled gravitated around her,...
(full context)
