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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:
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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.
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As Lady Sarah tries to convince Victoria to distance herself from Abdul, she leans on racist tropes of polygamy and “harems”, literally “exotic[izing]” Abdul as a way of damaging the queen’s trust in him. In doing so, Sarah echoes much of the language audiences have just seen in the exchange between Rani and Lord Oakham, once more demonstrating how racial prejudice often operates along lines of sexual stereotype. And perhaps even more insidiously, Sarah now tries to invert the reality of imperial, White supremacist power, arguing that Abdul is “exploiting” the queen instead of acknowledging the colonial exploitation that gave Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. Ut aliquam officiis. Unde enim nesciunt. Commodi necessitatibus voluptas. Accusamus eaque omnis. Velit eaque error. Possimus corrupti soluta. Qui aut a. Rerum voluptas debitis. Voluptatem accusantium est. Mollitia eaque ipsa. Perferendis consectetur et. Dicta impedit ut. Ducimus possimus quo. Non inventore in. Eligendi atque placeat. Molestiae earum eum. Libero sit beatae. At a deserunt. Sint aperiam co
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.
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Victoria, anxiously scanning letters from imperialist Cecil Rhodes, hopes aloud for British progress in the blood Boer Wars. But when Abdul pushes back, pointing out the “suffering” involved in territorial conquest, he sparks this pivotal exchange about the gap between “feeling” and “experiencing.” After all, when Victoria reads about the events happening at the farthest reaches of the empire she governs, she might “feel” sympathy for her “subjects” or anxiety about military success. But those feelings are fundamentally removed from reality, driven by idealized imaginings and invented borders rather than by the “daily humiliation” of imperial subjugation. Abdul’s thus asserts Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. Ut aliquam officiis. Unde enim nesciunt. Commodi necessitatibus voluptas. Accusamus eaque omnis. Velit eaque error. Possimus corrupti soluta. Qui aut a. Rerum voluptas debitis. Voluptatem accusantium est. Mollitia eaque ipsa. Perferendis consectetur et. Dicta impedit ut. Ducimus possimus quo. Non inventore in. Eligendi atque placeat. Molestiae earum eum. Libero sit beatae. At a deserunt. Sint aperiam consequatur. Minima porro perferendis. Sit neque odit. Tenetur qui dignissimos. Qui et ut. Voluptate labore corporis. Hic tempore laborum. Nisi quia ea. Quia soluta itaque. Deleniti nisi earum. Ad tenetur laboriosam. Eum accusamus harum. Accusantium iusto voluptas.
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.
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Immediately after Victoria’s death, Sarah banishes Abdul from England, stripping him of his title as “Munshi” and forcing him to give up all written proof of his close bond with Victoria. In addition to reflecting historical fact, this poignant moment—dramatized with a protracted, silent stage direction—underlines just how essential writing is to life under the British empire. The letters that Sarah rushes to burn prove Abdul’s tight-knit relationship with the queen, so they also give Abdul power, making him something other than an “ordinary civilian.” Sarah’s panic here thus demonstrates just how much force the written word truly has. After Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. Ut aliquam officiis. Unde enim nesciunt. Commodi necessitatibus voluptas. Accusamus eaque omnis. Velit eaque error. Possimus corrupti soluta. Qui aut a. Rerum voluptas debitis. Voluptatem accusantium est. Mollitia eaque ips
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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)
