Shakespeare

Interesting. Received an email this morning saying that this thread received a reply . . . doesn't seem to be true. How odd.

It's not odd, I read that reply. The poster may have reconsidered and deleted his post within few minutes...

I am almost finished with Beauclerk's book . . . what a slog it's been.

He pulled off several convincing citations , including a passage from a DeVere letter that shares a word for word phrase from one of the plays. While the phrase may have been a common expression at the time . . . still . . . the word for word repetition gives the reader pause.

Reading the book, however, was a little like being tapped on the shoulder for hours on end by a pest.

I do not believe that Liz I had several children . . . considering that while women of the time could either be roaring successes at childbearing or could miscarry with regularity, as Liz's own mother did. That her own mother successfully bore one child as did two of her father's other wives makes me suspicious that Liz, the most widely known woman in England if not the world, could have had a string of secret pregnancies is ridiculous.

While the book reproduces the "Portrait of an Unknown Woman (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Gheeraerts_Unknown_Woman.jpg)," who is sometimes thought to Liz I, the book also includes portraits of several well known men of the time -- Robert Dudley, Robert Devereux and William Cecil -- in which the three men seem to be the same person, painted at different ages.

Am I sorry that I spent three weeks on this book? Not really, it inspired a creative venture for me. However, his 'scholarship' was irritating.

Thanks for the info . . . it helps clear up the mystery!

I recently picked up another book on Will o' Avon: The Shakespeare Wars by Ron Rosenbaum. The man is my soul mate. Well, at least when it comes to Shakespeare he is.

The book is like a conversation with a good friend.

I highly recommend it.

However, it is late and I am exhausted, so I will write more later.

I have a coworker with whom I have interesting and stimulating conversations. I mentioned to him that I picked up The Shakespeare Wars from the remaindered table at our local, INDEPENDENT bookstore.

He said that he reads Shakespeare on a fairly regular basis and that he likes reading about Shakespeare. He took three times to get through college, having hated the first school at which he matriculated. He took Shakespeare as an elective at his last school where he earned his degree. I did not recognize the name of his prof but my friend said he ran into his former prof a few years after graduation and brought up the matter of the Oxfordians, who, my friend thinks have a pretty reasonable set of arguments.

I agree that the Oxford camp and the Amelia Lanyer camps have better Anti-Avonian arguments than most.

Well, my friend said, his prof destroyed the Oxford arguments swiftly and deftly. My friend then mentioned that he basically dislikes some of the Anti-Avonian claims as they always posit an aristocrat. "Shakespeare was a middle class boy and the English had schools for boys at the time where they studied Greek, Latin and rhetoric. The idea that a middle class person without a university education can not have talent is wrong."

Rosenbaum makes exactly that point. He writes: "And the way so many of those who propound those theories suffer from aristocratic pretensions themselves. In a snobby way, they can't believe that a middle-class glover's boy without a university education (like theirs) could possibly write Shakespeare's witty and erudite verse. It's an affront somehow to their self-image, so they must imagine a hidden aristocratic progenitor, someone more like them."

I take a slightly different position: to argue against the Stratfordian man (as he is called by those who dis him) is to argue against the individual.

Initially, I went to graduate school in English for two reasons: I never seemed to find books that I enjoyed reading and began books only to be bored, and I wanted to discover what is the meaning of MacBeth's statement to the three weird sister, "I conjure thee."

I did not pursue the English Renaissance and, perhaps, I am glad to not have done so. It's the most crowded sub-field in English lit. It is also one of the nuttiest, according to some professors working in other areas.

Although I have continued to read and see the plays, as well as to read about Shakespeare and Marlowe, I never approached Shakespearean studies as an academic. So, when Rosenbaum discussed how some scholars are dissecting compositors . . . the typesetters who were responsible for the Good Quarto, the Bad Quarto and the Folio . . . I was amazed.

I am sure that if one is nitpicky enough, one can distinguish among the various compositors who worked in ink 400 years ago . . . or that one may convince oneself that there are distinctions to make.

Get a load of this: supposedly, Compositor E worked from previously typeset copy. Scholars have determined this from his punctuation and from this can claim that Compositor E gives a clue to the revision of Hamlet.

No, I really can't follow that either. I have worked with Medieval texts and secondary literature discussing such texts. It is one thing to talk about "hands" on a written set of pages but quite another to discuss typesetting. I just skimmed those parts because I am in no way able to discuss these things I can barely understand!

i decided to read about Amelia Lanier and found this from Wiki:

As the author of the collection of poetry known as "Salve Deus Rex Judaeorum" (1611) Emelia was the first woman in England to publish a book of original poetry. Her volume centres on the title poem, a long narrative work of over 200 stanzas. It tells the story of Christ's passion satirically and almost entirely from the point of view of the women who surround him. The main poem is prefaced by ten shorter dedicatory works, all to aristocratic women, beginning with the queen. There is also a prose preface addressed to the reader, comprising a vindication of "virtuous women" against detractors of the sex. After the central poem there is a verse "Description of Cookham," dedicated to Margaret, Countess of Cumberland and her daughter Lady Anne Clifford. This last is the first published country house poem in English (Ben Jonson's more famous "To Penshurst" may have been written earlier but was first published in 1616). Her inspiration came from a visit to Cookham Dean, where Margaret Clifford, Countess of Cumberland, and her daughter Lady Anne Clifford lived. While visiting the residence she says to have received a spiritual awakening, inspired by the piety of Margaret. At the age of 42, in 1611, she published Salve Deus Rex Judaeorum (Hail, God, King of the Jews). At the time that she published her book, it was extremely unusual for an Englishwoman to publish work and to do so as a means of making a living was even more unusual. The book was radical for its time, although the topics of virtue and religion were considered to be suitable themes for women. It was viewed as radical because it addressed topics such as the maltreatment of women. Layner defends Eve, and womankind in general, arguing that Eve has been wrongly blamed for the original sin of eating the forbidden fruit, while no blame has been pointed at Adam. She argues that Adam shares most of the guilt by concluding that Adam was stronger than Eve, and thus, he should have been able to resist the temptation. She also defends women by pointing out the dedication of the female followers of Christ who stayed with Him throughout the Passion, and looked for him first after the burial and resurrection. She also draws attention to Pilate’s wife who attempted to intervene and prevent the unjust trial and crucifixion of Christ. Layner reproaches mankind by accusing them of crucifying Christ. She also notes the male apostles that forsook and even denied Christ during His crucifixion and Passion.

The Wiki article goes on to quote feminist literary scholar Barbara Keifer Lewalski on Lanier or Lanyer. I read Lewalski's book but, at the time, Amelia did not stand out.

Although no one knows what color Amelia's hair was, besides the suggestion that she wrote Shakespeare, there is a theory that she could have been The Dark Lady of the Sonnets, especially since she had been the mistress of Henry Carey, First Baron Hunsdon, who later was Shakespeare's patron through The Lord Chamberlain's MEn.

Both of SHakespeare's Venetian plays, The Merchant of Venice and Othello, have characters which reflect Lanyer's maiden name: Amelia Bassano. Her father, Baptiste Bassano, was born in Venice and served as a musician to the English court.

Surely, Amelia and Will crossed paths.

How and why did you decide that? Did you know her name before reading on Wiki?

I read Lewalski's book on women of the Renaissance when I was working on my thesis but I skimmed it. Lanier (Lanyer) was mentioned there. I knew she was one of the many who are offered as the "real" author of the plays of William Shakespeare.

Rosenbaum spoke with Hamlet editor Ann Thompson who wrote about Lanier. I thought I would investigate her a bit further. Truthfully, she is more interesting for herself and her own remarkable career than as a Shakespeare alternative.

Harold Bloom's massive head has reared over some of my recent readings on Shakespeare.

Bloom took it upon himself to make Falstaff the saint and Santa Claus of Shakespearean characters.

Not all academics respect Bloom and Ron Rosenbaum . . . in the book I am still reading, as my time has been cramped recently . . . notes that. Rosenbaum wrestles with Bloom throughout.

Found an old interview with Bloom in the annals of Charlie Rose's show. Not only did Bloom act like a blushing pre-teenaged girl, he had absolutely nothing to say.

I just finished watching two versions of A midsummer Night's Dream, one from 1935 and the other from 1999.

I like comparing two different versions of the same play, but, I like comparing things anyway.

The '35 version was directed by MAx Reinhardt and was an iconic production starring a 15 year old Mickey Rooney and a physically fit James Cagney. The revelation of this version was Joe E Brown, wonderful in the role of Flute the Bellows' Maker who plays Thisbee in the mechanicals' wedding present play.
Brown portrayed modesty, embarrassment and naivety with dignity.

This version was heavily cut, perhaps, to showcase Mendelssohn's music and the ballet sequences, which made some of the characters' motivations less than transparent.

The newer version featured some of my favorite actors, Kevin Kline and Stanley Tucci.

Kline, then 52, played Bottom. It was interesting to contrast Kline with Cagney who was in his middle 30s when he played the same role. The character could have been any age but the ages of these two men colored their interpretations. Kline's Bottom was also given a suggestion of a back story that made his character more sympathetic . . . for a philanderer.

I loved Roger Rees as Peter Quince. tHis is an actor who is not seen enough.

The surprises were Christian Bale (Demetrius) and Calista Flockhart (Helena) who spoke their lines naturally and with great ease. Michelle Pheiffer struggled with the Shakespearean diction and her close ups were something of an embarrassment because of she lost her fight with the language.

Frankly, I found Mickey Rooney annoying as Puck but i lay that at the feet of the director and not the youthful actor. His forced laugh throughout grated, although, perhaps, in 1935, it would have been considered charming. Stanley Tucci is the oldest Puck I have ever seen (I have seen four live productions in addition to these two films.). A greyed and balding Puck is fine but as Puck interacts most with Oberon, had Rupert Everett, then 40, played Oberon with a bit more age or with some of the menace Victor Jory invested in the role in the earlier film, Tucci would have been been better showcased. As it was, Everett left nothing for Tucci to work with. A scene in which Oberon stretches out on the ground and Puck imitates him was jarring with Tucci and Everett while similar bits of business between Jory and Rooney worked well.

David Strathairn was very attractive as Theseus. I was drooling over him which was not my reaction to him as Edward R. Murrow in Good Night, and Good Luck! The wonders of make up and lighting, although I am certain I would find him attractive in person.

Watching these several films over a short period of time has driven home the unity of plot and language in the works of Will o' Avon.

Found this today while looking for a Shakespeare blog. The writing is delightful!

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/lev-raphael/was-shakespeare-jewish_b_662765.html

Jews like to lay calim to just about any prominent historical figure where his/her bigraphical origins might be obscure .e.g. Christopher Columbus. Shakespeare was reviled for his Merchant of Venice and somehow now he is Jewish!

As my good friend and her sister would say, "Oy, vay!"

I am ready to talk about my attempt (ok, so there are tons of unfinished projects surrounding me) to write a play about Shakespeare's women. Hardly an original outing.

For years, I have been fascinated not by Hamlet but by his mother, Gertrude. Perhaps, it is because I have two aunts by that name, who were, thankfully, designated as Gert and Trudie, or the "aunt with the pool table" and the "aunt with the kids."

Anyway, I did my thesis on the Celtic Sovereignty Goddess, the woman who grants a king the right to rule. I recognized Gertrude as an SG and once wrote to Carolyn Heilbrun (academic and secret writer of mysteries) about an academic project involving Gertrude. She encouraged me.

When Glenn Close played Gertrude to Mel Drunkenness' Hamlet, there was a huge amount of ink spilled over the fact that she is only 11 years older than Mel (well, she played Robin Williams' mom in THe World According to Garp, a breakthrough for both of them, and she's only four years older than Robin!). Some critic (I think female) wrote that Gertrude might have "come to court as a 14 year old."

There have been suggestions made that she was a Slav, perhaps a Kashub (if Pat or Tom or Debi read this, the mention of Kashubs ought to bring back overheard conversations from our childhoods), by someone at one time in my long history of following Gertie. I toyed with the idea of Gertie as the daughter of a Kashub landholder who, through marriage, financially rescued the Danish prince, old Hamlet.

But, the fact that brother-in-law Claudius became king by marrying Gertie said Sovereignty Goddess to me, over and over.


So, Gertie was the source of power, at least according to Belleforest and the story of Hamlet -- under several names -- can be found, prior to falling into Will's hands, across northern Europe. It's in Irish Chronicles. One critic said stories that are not popular do not travel. I add stories that are not relevant do not travel.

This is a tale that has always meant something to people. If Gertie was the key to the kingship, then there is more to heaven and earth imagined in Shakespeare's philosophy. I thought of Gertie as a fictional character but not a character from a short story. Acted upon but not acting, Gertie needed her own play. When I realized that is when I 'heard' her voice. That's when I began watching various filmed versions of the Willy canon. . . and why I signed on to usher at Shakespeare and Co.

In the Belleforest story that Willie o' Avon supposedly derived his tale from, Gertie is the princess who subsequently married Hamlet Senior and Claudius, brothers with ambition.

I have to thank two actors and two directors for casting a light upon the play. The brilliant Richard Briers, directed by Branaugh, gave us a masculine Polonius, while Bill Murray, directed by Michael Almereyda, despite losing the battle to Shakespearean diction, gave us Polonius as yes man. I think Will would have approved of both Polonii.

Playing against the current fashion of portraying Polonius as fool, these other portrayals (that does not look right!), actually showed why Ophelia lost her mind. It wasn't the Prince's withdrawal of "tenders of affection" that pushed her over the edge but the manipulation of a sensitive young woman by an uncaring father . . . or rather . . . by a father who valued appearance over substance.

The Ophelias helped. Although Kate Winslet and Julia Styles were young, 21 and 19 respectively, they were clearly women, not ingenues. With a woman portraying Ophelia as a woman and not a girl, her plight becomes more poignant.

I never felt for Ophelia the ingenue. There were times when I thought she should be slapped. "Stand up, girl, and face the music. As they say today, 'He's just not that into you.'" However, pointing to Dad rather than spineless sweetheart as the cause of her demented state, makes her tragic. Polonius' control over both his children is their cross to bear. Laertes could escape to Paris but Ophelia was stuck at home without an avenue of escape, perhaps, not even marriage to her own charmless prince.

I had an insight into Hamlet as well. It came while I was washing dishes two or three weeks ago and I can not retrieve it. I have to wash some dishes to think of it, because it dealt with a possible theme.

An argument for a voice activated computer in the kitchen

I wonder if Shakespeare's wife, Hathaway, is related to Anne Hathaway, the actress in Princess Diaries.

Hmmm . . . probably not! Shakespeare's wife would have to have been an aunt on the family tree if related at all.

When Anne Hathaway first appeared with Princess Diaries I thought that name was familiar. Then I remembered Shakespeare's wife. They could be distant relatives as the Hathaway name is quite rare simialrly Shakespeare is too.

I remember a guy I knew whose last name was Naim. People used to ask him what his name was and he said: "Naim". People got confused just as I was when I first met him.