Yet not to do so may obscure something that might have been the case. It could have been his last play and it might have reflected his own feelings about his art and the theatre. I chose a different path simply to make the point that other paths are there. Similarly, when I’ve deliberately discussed plays out of their usually accepted chronological order – as with Pericles, for example, or possibly in discussing All’s Well That Ends Well (the date of which is uncertain) before Measure for Measure or Timon of Athens before Troilus and Cressida, or discussing Julius Caesar within the chapter on Greeks and Romans rather than as a play chronologically written almost in tandem with Henry V – I have inevitably downplayed some possibilities in favour of my overall interpretative approach. Shakespeare, as we have seen, was mercurial and interpretation should follow suit in registering that fact.
What is important in criticism, as in performance, is the discussion, the debate that is found in and through the plays, and that the plays and their interpretations prompt according to our predilections and ideologies. If this is so, then, within certain parameters, there is no right or wrong. Important, too, is the quality of the argument and the judgement through interpretation and contemporary performance, and through subsequent performances. Samuel Johnson’s views in the eighteenth century, Coleridge’s views in the age of the Romantics, Bradley’s views influenced by realism – all laid claim to truth in their time, as, for example, is the case with C. L. Barber in the mid-twentieth century and Stephen Greenblatt in the late twentieth century.
Key idea
In an important sense, the views of the past have helped evolve a continuity of criticism that informs, in one way or another, our current thinking. Early twenty-first-century views will no doubt join with them in likewise informing the development of further different interpretations in the future.
The same is the case with performance. Although there are acting traditions and histories about how great actors have played particular parts, the modern actor of his or her time, while usually, but not always, consulting information relating to past performances, is influenced by the culture and ideologies of his or her particular time. However daunting the concept of the acting tradition might be, every individual interpretation is that of a particular actor, with a life of his/her own, within the time, age, decade, even the year of the performance, and also of the place, time (morning, afternoon, evening), theatre (large, small, open air, indoor), company (professional, amateur, establishment, fringe, experimental), and the audience of each performance. The critic considers and evaluates the plays with his or her own time and ideology but the actors interpret and perform before an audience that reacts within the process of the play as it unfolds before them. Once the performance is over it has gone, and when the actors take to the stage again the performance is necessarily new and the audience different. Shakespeare’s plays, however, endure through all of this because they remain open to interpretation and receptive to the changes of time.
Shakespeare the man
But what of Shakespeare the man? As previous chapters have shown, we know more about him now than we formerly did because of some meticulous academic research. My own feeling – and it is no more – is that he may have been a very private man, as some actors tend to be in contrast to their public personas on stage, and yet a ‘company man’. He knew his talents and steered a difficult course through the politics of his day. Unlike Marlowe or Kyd, he survived and, unlike Jonson, he was not threatened, as far as we know, with having his nose split or, like Marston, given no option but to abandon the theatre.
Outside of being a ‘company’ man with his fellow actors, musicians and influential patrons, he probably spent many hours on his own, creating and writing out his plays. In London, he may have led something of a solitary life, away from his family in Stratford-upon-Avon, but he appears to have felt love and loyalty towards his parents and siblings and to his wife and children. I, personally, don’t read into the matters of his will or his legal issues anything more than pragmatism to avoid disputes and concern to get matters right. He was right to think that enclosure of his Stratford lands would not occur in his lifetime. Who knows the real significance of leaving his ‘second best bed’ to his wife? Was that thoughtful – it may have been her bed – or not? It may have been the bed kept for visitors, indicating that the legacy might have been a compliment to her. Or was it done in a rush as he neared his end to protect her legally, especially since his daughter Judith had just married a rakish character, Thomas Quiney, who had apparently humiliated her and the family by his previous sexual misdemeanours. These statements are speculative, but let me risk another. The law in relation to inheritance was patriarchal. Perhaps a situation which previously he had taken for granted, that his wife would be looked after by his sons-in-law, had suddenly taken a different turn and Anne’s name had to be formally entered late into the will to make a general point for his sons-in-law to understand. They would be judged by history if they did not look after her properly. The ‘second best bed’, whether ‘her bed’ or a ‘visitor’s bed’, was perhaps a message to them about her home.
Great figures are lauded and praised but are invariably subject to attempts to knock them off their pedestals. As you may have perceived from Chapter 3, I don’t have much time for those who contest the authorship issues, and neither do most serious academics. The authorship question is reminiscent of a mindset that likes to indulge in conspiracy theories. Many who have promulgated these are content to subscribe to a cultural or class-oriented elitism. Some of the argument, as we have seen, is based on fraudulent documentation. There were people who continued to believe that the world was square even after it had been circumnavigated!
The 1580s are sometimes termed ‘the lost years’ because no definitive document has been unearthed to show where Shakespeare was or what he was doing. It is, as a result, a decade of his life prone to theory. Was he in Lancashire working as a teacher in a Catholic household? Did he stay for a while, at least, not far from St Asaph in north-east Wales? Or was he in London working as an actor with the Queen’s Men (established in 1583)? A number of scholars currently think the last of these is the most likely scenario but, as noted in Chapter 24, Critical perspectives 6, there is no firm evidence to support this claim.
Whether he was a Catholic, a Protestant or an agnostic is something that can be argued about, but what is clear is that he was well versed in the religious disputes of his time. His parents appear to have been loyal to the old faith, and the region of the Midland counties, in which Stratford is situated, was known to have Catholic sympathizers. But the Borromeo letter, found some time in the eighteenth century in the eaves of the house at Stratford, and used to support the claim that Shakespeare’s father harboured Catholic sympathies, is thought to be of doubtful provenance. Whereas Ben Jonson was known to be a Catholic, there is no clear indication concerning Shakespeare one way or the other.
An enigmatic, company man, undertaking, most likely, much solitary work writing for the public stage, he certainly wanted recognition for his family and his father, at least through obtaining a coat of arms, and for himself through acquiring significant properties in Stratford-upon-Avon and London. Shakespeare appears also to have been intimate with friends and family but possibly a ‘little distant’ with others, as often many great artists tend to be. His public voice was his art. Throughout this book I have tried to come to an understanding of Shakespeare in both a historical and a contemporary context, by considering how the plays work as drama, which is one means of interpretation. I trust, however, that it has provided you with a complete enough introduction to Shakespeare to serve your purpose, and, like me, you will continue your journey in the exploration, appreciation, enjoyment and excitement of his work.
Appendices
1 Dates of Shakespeare’s works
1589–92? The Taming of the Shrew
1591 2 Henry VI
1591 3 Henry VI
1591–2 The Two Gentlemen of Ve
rona
1591–2 Titus Andronicus
1592 1 Henry VI (with Thomas Nashe and others?)
1592–4 Richard III
1593 Narrative poem: Venus and Adonis
1593–4 Narrative poem: The Rape of Lucrece
1593–1608 Sonnets
1594 The Comedy of Errors
1595 Love’s Labour’s Lost
1595–6 A Midsummer Night’s Dream
1595–6 King Richard II
1595–6 Romeo and Juliet
1595–7 King John
1596–8 The Merchant of Venice
1596–7 1 Henry IV
1597–8 2 Henry IV
1597–1601 The Merry Wives of Windsor
1598–9 Much Ado About Nothing
1599 Henry V
1599 Julius Caesar
1599 Poem To the Queen
1599–1600 As You Like It
1600–1601 Hamlet
1601 Poem Let the Bird of Loudest Lay (The Phoenix and Turtle)
1601 Twelfth Night; or, What You Will
1601–2 Troilus and Cressida
1604 Othello
1604 Measure for Measure
1605 All’s Well that Ends Well
1605 Timon of Athens (with Thomas Middleton?)
1605–6 King Lear
1606 Macbeth
1606–7 Antony and Cleopatra
1608 Coriolanus
1608 Pericles (with George Wilkins)
1609–10 Cymbeline
1610–11 The Winter’s Tale
1611 The Tempest
1613 Henry VIII or All is True (with John Fletcher)
1613–14 The Two Noble Kinsmen (with John Fletcher)
Lost plays: Love’s Labour’s Won 1595–7; Cardenio (with John Fletcher) 1612–13
2 Some key dates, 1485–1633
1485 Battle of Bosworth, death of Richard III, accession of Henry VII
1509 Accession of Henry VIII
1532 Divorce of Catherine of Aragon
1533 Marriage of Anne Boleyn and birth of Elizabeth
1534 Formal breach with the Church of Rome
1535 Execution of Thomas More, Chancellor of England
1536 Execution of Anne Boleyn
1547 Death of Henry VIII, accession of Edward VI
1553 Death of Edward VI, accession of Mary I
1554 Marriage of Mary and Philip of Spain
1556 Burning of Thomas Cranmer
1558 Death of Mary I, accession of Elizabeth I
1559 Elizabethan Church Settlement Acts of Uniformity and Supremacy
1563 John Foxe’s Acts and Monuments (‘Book of Martyrs’) published
1564 Death of Michelangelo, birth of Galileo, birth of Christopher Marlowe. Birth of William Shakespeare, 23 April (?); christened at Holy Trinity Church, Stratford-upon-Avon, 26 April
1568 Mary Queen of Scots escapes to England
1570 Excommunication of Elizabeth I by Pope Pius V
1576 James Burbage opens The Theatre in Shoreditch, North London
1577–80 Francis Drake circumnavigates the globe
1582 William Shakespeare marries Anne Hathaway
1583 Shakespeare’s daughter Susanna born
1584 John Lyly: Sappho and Phao
1583 Formation of the Queen’s Men
1585 Shakespeare’s twins, Hamnet and Judith, born
1587 Mary Queen of Scots executed
1587 Christopher Marlowe: Tamburlaine the Great
1588 Defeat of Spanish Armada
1588–92 Christopher Marlowe: Doctor Faustus; Edward II; The Jew of Malta
1589–92 Thomas Kyd: The Spanish Tragedy
1592 Plague in London: playhouses close for two years
1593 Christopher Marlowe killed in Deptford, 30 May
1594 Thomas Nashe: The Unfortunate Traveller – precursor of the novel form
1595 Shakespeare by now established as actor and writer; named as one of the players performing before Elizabeth I
1596 Shakespeare’s son Hamnet dies
1597 Shakespeare buys New Place, Stratford-upon-Avon
1599 Essex’s expedition to quell Ireland ends with truce made with Earl of Tyrone
1599 John Marston: Antonio and Mellida
1600–1601 John Marston: Antonio’s Revenge; Shakespeare: Hamlet
1601 Shakespeare’s father John Shakespeare dies. Earl of Essex rebellion and execution
1603 Death of Elizabeth. Accession of James I, son of Mary Queen of Scots
1603–4 John Marston: The Malcontent; The Dutch Courtesan
1605 Ben Jonson, George Chapman, John Marston: Eastward Ho!
1605 The Gunpowder Plot
1605–6 Ben Jonson: Volpone; Shakespeare: King Lear
1606 Shakespeare: Macbeth
1608 Shakespeare’s granddaughter Elizabeth Hall born; his mother Mary Arden dies
1609 Ben Jonson and Inigo Jones: Masque of Queens
1610 Ben Jonson: The Alchemist
1611 Authorized version of the Bible
1611 Thomas Middleton: A Chaste Maid in Cheapside
1611 Shakespeare’s The Winter’s Tale and The Tempest performed at Court
1612 Death of James I’s eldest son, Prince Henry
1612 John Webster: The White Devil
1613 Globe Theatre burns down; Shakespeare retires from theatre?
1613 John Webster: The Duchess of Malfi
1614 New Globe theatre opens
1616 Shakespeare dies (23 April?); Ben Jonson publishes his own Works in folio
1620 The Mayflower sails to New England, where the Pilgrim Fathers establish a colony
1621 The poet John Donne becomes Dean of St Paul’s
1622 Thomas Middleton and William Rowley: The Changeling
1623 First Folio of Shakespeare’s Complete Works published by John Heminges and Henry Condell
1625 James I dies; accession of Charles I (executed 1649)
1629–33 John Ford: ’Tis Pity She’s a Whore; Love’s Sacrifice
3 The English monarchs, 1154–1649
THE HOUSE OF PLANTAGENET
Henry II (1133–89) reigned 1154–89
Richard, Coeur de Lion (1157–99) reigned 1189–99
John (1166–1216) reigned 1199–1216
Henry III (1207–72) reigned 1216–72
Edward I (1239–1307) reigned 1272–1307
Edward II (1284–1327) reigned 1307–27
Edward III (1312–77) reigned 1327–77
Richard II (1367–1400) reigned 1377–99
The sons of Edward III were:
1 Edward, Prince of Wales, The Black Prince (1330–76)
2 Lionel, Duke of Clarence (1338–68)
3 John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster (1340–99)
4 Edmund of Langley, Duke of York (1341–1402)
5 Thomas of Woodstock, Duke of Gloucester (1354–97).
Richard II was the son of Edward the Black Prince, eldest son of Edward III, who predeceased his father, the throne thereby going to Richard. He was deposed by Bolingbroke, son of John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster, who became Henry IV.
THE HOUSE OF LANCASTER (EMBLEM THE RED ROSE)
Henry IV (1366–1413) reigned 1399–1413
Henry V (1386–1422) reigned 1413–22
Henry VI (1421–71) reigned 1422–61; 1470–71
THE HOUSE OF YORK (EMBLEM THE WHITE ROSE)
Edward IV (1422–83) reigned 1461–70; 1471–83
Edward V (1470–?83) reigned 1483
Richard III (1452–85) reigned 1483–85
1 King Edward IV, the son of Richard, Duke of York (1411–60), was killed by Queen Margaret (1429–82, wife of Henry VI) and the Lancastrians at the Battle of Wakefield. Edward IV’s brothers were Clarence and Richard of Gloucester. Edward IV’s claim to the throne came from the fourth son of Edward III, Edmund of Langley, first Duke of York.
2 Edward V, son of Edward IV, was one of the two princes, the other being his brother, Richard, reputedly murdered in the Tower of Lond
on by Richard III.
3 Richard III, Richard, Duke of Gloucester, was brother of Edward IV and George, Duke of Clarence. He was killed at the Battle of Bosworth, 1485, by Henry Tudor, son of Margaret Beaufort (1441–1509), who was descended from John of Gaunt, third son of Edward III. She had married Edmund Tudor, Earl of Richmond, son of Katherine of France by Katherine’s second husband, Owen Tudor. Katherine’s first husband was Henry V. For some, the Tudor’s claim to the throne was thereby somewhat doubtful.
THE HOUSE OF TUDOR (EMBLEM THE TUDOR ROSE, COMBINING WHITE AND RED)
Henry VII (1457–1509) reigned 1485–1509
Henry VIII (1491–1547) reigned 1509–47
Edward VI (1537–53) reigned 1547–53
Mary I (1516–58) reigned 1553–8
Elizabeth I (1533–1603) reigned 1558–1603
1 Henry VII attempted to strengthen his newly created dynasty, combining the red rose of Lancaster with the white rose of York, by marrying on 18 January 1486 Elizabeth of York (1466–1503). She was the eldest child of Edward IV, niece of Richard III and sister of Edward V and Richard, the princes ‘murdered’ in the Tower.
2 Henry VIII had six wives, the first being Catherine of Aragon (1485–1536), whom he married in 1509, following the death in 1502 of Catherine’s first husband, Henry’s elder brother Arthur Tudor, Prince of Wales (1486–1502).
3 Edward VI’s mother was Jane Seymour (1508?–37), Henry’s third wife, who died 12 days after the birth of Edward in 1537.
4 On the death of Edward VI in 1553, Lady Jane Grey (1536/7?–54), the great grand-daughter of Henry VII through his younger daughter Mary, was proclaimed queen in accordance with the Protestant Edward VI’s instructions. She ‘reigned’ for only nine days (10–19 July) before being deposed. She was subsequently executed in February 1554.
5 The Catholic Queen Mary I’s mother was Catherine of Aragon, Henry VIII’s first wife.
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