WS ABC Part 11 - Beatrice and Benedick

BEATRICE & BENEDICK are two of the most popular characters created by my best friend, Mr. William Shakespeare in his well-loved play, Much Ado About Nothing.

An Elizabethan version of B & B

Strangely enough, even though their witty word play and oral sparring take up a major part of the play, their actual contribution to the main Hero-Claudio plot is very marginal. 
In fact, despite the above, it is very difficult to imagine this play without these two characters playing their witty parts. 
However, despite their (almost) marginally important parts within the main plot, their verbal attacks and poniards are considered to be a major part of the play. This was so much so, that King Charles II even wrote Benedick and Beatrice next to the play's title in his own copy of the Second Folio. 

One of the major aspects of the B & B male-female relationship is to act as a contrast to the more traditional one that is played out by Beatrice's cousin, Hero and her fiance, Claudio. This love affair is much more conventional in that the bridegroom assumes that his blushing bride will be as pure as the driven snow. When Claudio is led to believe that this is not so, his verbal attacks are so vicious that he causes Hero to faint away at their wedding ceremony after calling her a 'rotten orange' who 'knows the heat of a luxurious bed.'

Who says that B & B have to be very young? James Earl Jones                   and Vanessa Redgrave playing these parts.

John Gielguid and Peggy Ashcroft as the sparring lovers many                                                     years ago. 
Beatrice and Benedick are also an example of an equal sparring of wits, i.e. the man and woman are on the same level. Their use of language may be compared to some of the verbal battles that Katherine and Petruchio have in The Taming of the Shrew. 
B & B's parallel sparring is the central action in Act III when their friends cause them to believe that despite their non-stop repartee at each other's expense, they really do love one another. This can be seen very well in Kenneth Branagh's 1993 successful film adaption of this play.

In addition, Beatrice is yet another example of one of Shakespeare's strong female roles, together with Katherine, (The Taming of the Shrew), Lady Macbeth, Cleopatra and Portia in the Merchant of Venice. This is even more remarkable when one considers that when Shakespeare wrote the the lines for these major characters, they were played by young boys whose voices had not yet broken.

Next time I will write about Nick Bottom from "A Midsummer Night's Dream."

Comments will be appreciated  at: wsdavidyoung@gmail.com  or on my website:  dly-books.weebly.come



   

WS et al: the UK and the EU!

             With compliments to 'Israel Today' newspaper.

In my last blog I wrote that this one would be all about Beatrice and Benedick. I was wrong. Since then, during the past 24 hours, the Great British public have decided in their wisdom to cut the ties with the EU and go it alone. And if you think that our William and his literary friends didn't have anything to say about this, You are wrong! Very wrong in fact. 
So let's go.

I am absolutely convinced that the man who wrote:
O noble English, that could entertain
With half their forces the full pride of France... (Henry V, I.ii)
and
England is safe if true within itself.   (3Henry VI, IV.ii) 
and 
This England never did, nor ever shall,
Lie at the proud foot of a conqueror.  (King John, V.vii)

would, had be been alive today, would have kissed his wife goodbye last Thursaday, patted his three little kids on the head and taken himself off to the local polling booth at the junction of Henley St. and Rother Market. There he would have voted 'Brexit,' that England sever its connections with the "vasty fields of France" and the rest of those continental foreigners, now and forever!

And as he would have strolled past the half-timbered Tudor houses of Henley Street no doubt he would have thought "upon one pair of English legs Did march three Frenchmen. Yet forgive me, God, That I do brag thus" ((Henry V, III.vi) or " O England! model to thy inward greatness, Like little body with a great heart...' (Henry V. Prologue II).

Shakespeare's Birthplace, Henley Street, Stratford-upon-Avon

And as he was thinking about his England, his "precious stone set in the silver sea" (Richard II, II,i) perhaps he would have hoped that his thoughts would echo through the future and inspire others such as William Blake who was to write some 350 years later, "And did those feet in ancient time/ Walk upon England's mountains green?" while over one hundred years after that, Rudyard Kipling would write that "Our England is a garden."

Robert Browning, Blake's (almost ) contemporary would also probably have voted for 'Brexit.' After all, hadn't he written,
Oh, to be in England/ Now that April's there [?] (OK, he got the date wrong but his heart was in the right place.)  Fifty years later, Shakespeare and Browning's thoughts were repeated by Sir Arthur Quiller-Couch who in his 'Ode upon Ecklington Bridge' wrote, 

O pastoral heart of England! like a psalm
Of green days telling with a quiet beat.

But to be honest, not everyone in the world of words was pro-English. In 1633, George Herbert in 'The Church Porch' had castigated his country:

O England full of sin, but most of sloth;
Spit out thy phlegm, and fill thy breast with glory...

                                        George Herbert (1593-1633)

but then Herbert of course was a pessimistic clergyman on the verge of death as well as a poet and looked upon the reign and times of King Charles I with a somewhat jaundiced eye.

Naturally the two Frenchmen mentioned here (actually, one of them was born in Corsica) were anti-England and no doubt would have been very happy to see the back of Shakespeare's 'scepter'd isle.'  In 1816, Jacques-Benigne Bossuet somewhat not benignly described England as 'la perfide Angleterre' while his contemporary Napoleon described his enemy as une nation de boutiquiers (shopkeepers).

Napoleon pondering about WS and the EU

Bossuet (right) condemning 'peridious Albion'

And later on, during our lifetime, the novelist, Margaret Drabble in A Natural Curiosity, 1989, seemed to echo Bossuet and Napoleon's thoughts when she described England thus:

England's not a bad country...it's just a mean, cold, ugly divided, tired, clapped-out, post-imperial, post-industrial slag-heap covered in polystyrene hamburger cartons.

                                        Margaret Drabble

But maybe (I hope) she was just criticising 'this green and pleasant land' in a way to show how England could be improved. However, none of the anti-England sentiments recorded above were as threatening as the German theologian and journalist, Alfred Funke who, at the beginning of the First World War in 1914 called upon the Lord (and his country) "Gott strafe England! - God punish England!" This however did not happen, as to paraphrase the words of the English admiral, Horatio Nelson, every man in England did his duty.

The question now is, did all the millions who voted to sunder England's relations with the EU fulfill their duty correctly? Time will tell. Already there are reports of over 200,000 people who are regretting Brexit and are demanding yet another referendum. Will this happen and if so, what will be the results? I am sure that if there is a repeat performance, it will be noisier and be even more appealing to the emotions than the one that has just taken place.  And then, is England more of an idea, an abstract, rather than a real geographic entity?

But let us allow the Swan of Avon to have the last say. Because,  

if there is another referendum the RemaIN pro-EU side will have to recall the Bard's own words from Richard II. (above)

And as for me, despite our William being one of my best friends, I think that England should have remained IN the EU. However, as I have just said, time will tell.

For comments, write to me on Facebook or: wsdavidyoung@gmail.com or to my website: 
dly-books.weebly.com 

Nest time I plan to continue with Beatrice and Benedick

WS ABC Part 11: The real BANQUO revealed!

And now, to start with the letter B, we will introduce Macbeth's friend and sidekick, BANQUO, THANE OF LOCHABER.

First of all, if this isn't the first time that I've said that you cannot rely on the Bard for historical accuracy, then I'm saying it now. It is true that there really was a Scottish king called Macbeth. He ruled from 1040 - 1057 and that he was killed in battle after succeeding Duncan. However, whatever WS wrote about Macbeth's fellow general and buddy, Banquo IS ALL LIES! Banquo never existed even if Macbeth, Duncan, Malcolm and Donalbain really did.

Banquo first came onto the 'historic' scene in 1527 when he was first mentioned in Hector Boece's Scoturum Historiae. Boece was a philosopher, historian and the Principal of King's College, Aberdeen. His history book was the source for Raphael Holinshed's Chronicles, (1587 edition) which in turn became the source for WS's Scottish play, Macbeth.

      Macbeth and Banquo meeting the Witches by Fuseli

It has also been suggested that the Bard decided to keep Banquo in the play, either because he thought that he really existed and/or he wished to stroke the new king, King James I (VI of Scotland)'s ego. This was because it was this king who was was the patron of Shakespeare's new actors' company. (See previous blog.)  In fact, the king saw himself as one of the kings who the Three Witches, after stirring up their foul broth which included an eye of newt and toe of frog, promised would reign in the future.

Macbeth and Banquo meeting the Witches in Holinshed's                                                        Chronicles." (1587)

In terms of the play, Macbeth, Banquo is usually seen as a counterweight to Macbeth's ambitious scheming. At the beginning of the play he is shown as a victorious general who, together with Macbeth have just defeated the Norweyan (Norwegian) enemy. Then on their way home they come across the three Witches. In contrast to Macbeth being captivated by their promises, Banquo's feet stay firmly on the ground.

                  Macbeth and Banquo meeting the Witches.

If you can look into the seeds of time, he challenges the Witches,
And say which grain will grow and which will not,
Speak, then, to me, who neither beg nor fear
Your favours nor your hate.

As the play unfolds, he continues to remain sceptical of the Witches and their promises and even warns Macbeth of future evil actions. Apart from Macbeth, Banquo is the only other character in the play who knows of the Witches and he is not really sure if his fellow general became king through fair means or foul.

Thou hast it now, he wonders in Act III.i, king, Cawdor, Glamis, all
As the weird women promis'd, and, I fear,
Thou play'st most foully for 't...

                        Banquo is murdered as Fleance escapes

And of course, this is why Banquo has to die. He is the only one who has understood how Macbeth gained the throne. Later in the same Act he is murdered by Macbeth's henchmen, but then his ghost returns to haunt Macbeth at his celebration banquet.
Banquo's final appearance in the play is when his spirit rises after Macbeth insists that the Witches show him his future. There he sees the ghost of Banquo, 'the father of kings' taunt him as his (Banquo's) sons become the future kings of Scotland while Macbeth's possible dynasty will die with his own death.

However, even though Banquo is physically removed from the scene, his soul continues to exist. His son, Fleance, escapes the murderous scene and so becomes the forerunner of a line of kings, just as the Witches promised. 

Historical note: The eight kings the Witches refer to are Robert II, Robert III and the six Jameses. James I of England was the last King James, i.e. the sixth of Scotland.

Another occasion where Banquo's behaviour is severely contrasted with Macbeth's occurs at the beginning of Act II. During a foul night when all manner of supernatural events occur, Banquo, who is feeling restless, gives his sword and dagger to his son, Fleance. Some critics have said that this is because, as Macbeth's close friend, he though he would help Macbeth fulfill the Witches promise and kill the sleeping King Duncan. However, when Macbeth approaches him, he asks for Fleance to return his weapons because he is now afraid of Macbeth.

Robert Shaw as Banquo (1970) in Hugh Heffner's film                                                               "Macbeth."

Since Shakespeare wrote Macbeth, probably in 1606 to keep King James happy about having a Scottish play which also featured witches, one of the king's favourite topics, it has become one of the most staged WS play of all. Directors have loved to interpret Act III iv where the ghost of Banquo appears at the feast to unsettle the newly crowned King Macbeth and his ever-ambitious wife. The ghost has appeared through different technical effects or through the actor walking on stage or by being half-hidden by the banquet table until he is spotted by Macbeth. In a 1990 version, the play was transformed to take on a Mafia-style approach and Banquo was renamed Bankie Como and acted by Dennis Farina.

The next blog will deal with another B, or rather a pair of them: Beatrice & Benedick from "Much Ado About Nothing."

Note: For those who do not know of my non-Shakespearean writing, you are invited to look at my website:  
dly-books.weebly.com                                        Thank you. 























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WS ABC Part 10: Actors' Companies

After a traumatic month which included a bereavement, a stroke (followed by a fantastic recovery) and an attack of kidney stones, I'm now back on top and ready to go. So let's continue with our WS ABC and ACTORS' COMPANIES.

Since actors were equated a bit higher than vagabonds, doxies and prostitutes, during WS's time, they would band together to form actors' companies under the patronage of a lord or an important person in authority. The actors would invest in the company which then used this money to buy costumes and props as well as to pay the playwright. This meant that our Will received about six or seven pounds for each of his plays. (A pound then was worth at least 250 times of its current value.)

Shakespeare, who was a shareholder in the Globe theatre, noted this in Hamlet:

Hamlet: Would not this, sir, and a forest of feathers...get me a    
               fellowship in a cry of players, sir?
Horatio: Half a share.
Hamlet: A whole one, I.

Those actors, usually about ten, who invested in the company were called 'full adventurers' or 'sharers.' A well-known sharer was John Heminge who became the business manager in the Lord Chamberlain's company and in 1623 was one of the two compilers of the First Folio. These sharers would then employ non-sharing actors - 'hirers' who were paid about six shillings a week. The sharers would also employ boy actors (i.e. before their voices had broken) to play the female parts as women were not allowed to act on the stage until after the Restoration of Charles II in 1660. (Much of the plot of Shakespeare in Love is based on this last fact.)

                                             Leicester

One of the first actors' companies was the Earl of Leicester's Men. This company was established in 1572 and as the earl was Elizabeth I's favourite, she granted them a royal patent. James Burbage, the first real impresario, built the first purpose built theatre, called 'The Theatre' in Shoreditch, north of the City of London, in order to stage Leicester's productions. When the earl died in 1588, his company merged with Lord Strange's company.

                                           Lord Strange

Lord Strange (Earl of Derby)'s company tended to tour the provinces and it is known that they performed in Stratford-upon-Avon in 1578. Perhaps this is where the fourteen year old WS caught the 'theatre bug'? They also performed at Burbage's Theatre as well as at the Rose Theatre, a theatre deliberately sited on the south bank of the Thames beyond the authority of the City Fathers. This company may have performed some of WS's early plays. When Lord Strange died in 1594, (theories that he was poisoned as a Catholic),  the company left London for the provinces, although several of the actors may have remained behind to join the rival company, the Lord Chamberlain's Men.

                                                  Hunsdon

This last named company was the most important one during the late Elizabethan-Jacobin period. This company was founded by Henry Carey, Lord Hunsdon (patron of Emilia Bassano-Lanier, 'the Dark Lady' of the Sonnets?) in 1564-7 and when he became the Lord Chamberlain, the company known as Hunsdon's Men acquired its new name, the Lord Chamber-lain's Men. 

                                                James I

When Elizabeth I was succeeded by James I in 1603, this company became the King's Men and continued to be the most important actors' company. It is recorded that WS was a shareholder in the company from at least 1595 and he continued to write (and act?) for them until he retired in about 1613. This company at first acted at Burbage's Theatre and then after 1599 it occupied the newly constructed Globe theatre on the south bank. 

     Site and plaque for Curtain Theatre, Shoreditch London

Its most famous actor was Richard Burbage, the son of the impresario. The King's Men performed one play a month at court on average and in 1608 bought the Blackfriars Theatre, a building with a roof (unlike the Globe) which enabled the actors to perform all year round. The King's Men continued to stage plays until they were forced to close down by Cromwell after the Civil War in 1649.  

                                               Howard

Another major actors' company was the Admiral's Men. This was founded in 1576-9 by Lord Howard who became the Lord High Admiral in 1585. Their most famous actor was Edward Alleyn (see previous blog) and the manager was Philip Henslowe (famous for the detailed theatre records he kept of this period.) The Admiral's Men went into decline when Alleyn retired in 1604 and was finally disbanded in 1631.

Next blog will start on the B's of this WS ABC and will be about Macbeth's buddy, Banquo.

Personal note: Thank you to all the readers who sent me messages of condolence or wishing me well (healthwise) during this last somewhat traumatic month.

wsdavidyoung@gmail.com 

Back to WS ABC Part 9 - Edward Alleyn

After the past tragic fortnight, I am pleased to continue with compiling my WS ABC and talk about EDWARD ALLEYN, one of the great Elizabethan actors.

Alleyn was born in London in 1566, the son of an inn-holder and porter to Queen Elizabeth I. By the age of 17 he appeared as an actor with the Earl of Worcester's Company and then moved on to act with the Lord Admiral's Company and Lord Strange's Men. He acted at the Rose Theatre (nr. the Globe) on the South Bank under the management of Philip Henslow, the late 16th century theatre manager and impresario. (As I couldn't find a picture of the original Henslowe, the one played by Geoffrey Rush in Shakespeare in Love will have to suffice!)

The last time Alleyn acted was in 1604 soon after Prince Henry, the son of James I, took over the Admiral's Men acting company. Alleyn's last public appearance, (though maybe not as an actor) was in the coronation procession of the newly crowned King James I in 1604. After he left the world of drama, Alleyn kept up his financial interest in the Fortune Theatre and he also inherited Henslowe's share in the Hope theatre.  

Alleyn's major acting roles included: Tamburlaine, The Jew of Malta, Barabas and Doctor Faustus, all from Marlowe's plays. He also acted the role of Orlando in Robert Green's play as well as acting the part of Hieronimo in the Spanish Tragedy by Thomas Kyd as well as acting in plays by Nashe and Dekker.  
He was considered one of the leading actors of his day and was famous for his "tragic style." In addition he was also an accomplished musician.

On his retirement he bought the manor of Dulwich in south-east London for nearly 10,000 pounds  (well over a quarter of a million pounds in today's money) and here he settled down in 1613 - the same year that WS probably returned to his wife and family in Stratford for the last time. Alleyn founded Dulwich College - 'the college of God's gift - an educational institute that still exists today (see Google). In order to help his college financially, he endowed it with the freehold of the Fortune Theatre.

                                    Dulwich College today

He continued with his philanthropic acts and patronage of the arts and in 1623 (the year Hemminges and Condell published WS First Folio, ) he married Constance, his second wife. She was the daughter of the poet and Dean of St Paul's, John Donne. (Donne was famous for his sermons and the two quotes: "No man is an island, entire of itself" and "...for whom the bell tolls.") Alleyn's first wife, Joan, was Henslowe's step-daughter. he had married her in  October 1592 but she had died in the meanwhile. 

Alleyn's first wife, Joan











                                                                                                                                                 Alleyn's gravestone

Alleyn's Memorial Window

                                                                    

Next time I will deal with Elizabethan Acting Companies.
Incidentally, you can also read of a clash between Edward Alleyn and Shakepspeare in my novel, Welcome to London, Mr. Shakespeare.

For reactions, please email: wsdavidyoung@gmail.com









same name.