SIR JOHN/JACK FALSTAFF APPEARS IN FOUR WS PLAYS - MORE THAN ANY OTHER OF THE BARD'S CREATIONS.
In both parts of Henry IV, Falstaff is Prince Hal's noisy sack-drinking companion. In The Merry Wives of Windsor he is the blustering buffoonish old knight who tries to woo the wives, Mistress Page and Mistress Ford, while in Henry V, he plays a passive role as we learn of his death but he doesn't actually say anything on stage.
He is a vain, fat (you'll never see a skinny Falstaff on the stage), cowardly braggart. These last two qualities are extremely well exemplified in Henry IV, pt. 1. Here he boasts how he and several of his lowlife cronies beat off eleven men (he starts off his story with two) during an ambush at Gadshill. Later in the same play when he has a chance to earn some real glory at the Battle of Shrewsbury, by killing Douglas, one of Prince Hal's enemies, he decides to play dead instead and later claim that it was he, Falstaff, who wounded Douglas.
In Henry IV pt.2 Falstaff and his disreputable bunch of cronies are disowned by Prince Hal when the latter learns that he is to be the future King Henry V.
Falstaff returns to play his opportunistic self in The Merry Wives of Windsor (see previous blog for more details) as the unsuccessful suitor of Mistress Page and Mistress Ford. One of the most famous scenes in this play is when the two wives after learning of Falstaff's amorous tricks, stuff the fat knight into a laundry basket.
Dr. Samuel Johnson (of Dictionary fame) described Falstaff thus:
Thou compound of sense and vice, of sense which may be admired, but not esteemed, of vice which may be despised, but hardly detested.
Orson Welles, some 250 years later said, "Falstaff is the greatest conception of a great man, the most complete man, in all drama.
I have played the role three times in the theatre and now in film, (in 'Chimes at Midnight') and I'm not convinced that I have realised it properly yet. It's the most difficult part I have ever played...I feel he is a wit rather than a clown, and I don't think much of the few moments in the film where I am simply funny, because I don't think that he is."
Falstaff is one of Shakespeare's most popular characters. His appetites for food, drink and women are legendary and yet despite some of his clowning, he is no unthinking fool. His soliloquy on honour the the middle of the Battle of Shrewsbury is one of the most memorable speeches in the play.
What is honour? A word. What is that word, honour? Air. A trim reckoning! Who hath it? He that died o' Wednesday. Doth he feel it?.... (Henry IV, pt.I - Act V, sc.i)
Did Da Vinci know Falstaff?
Finally, I will sum up this 'huge hill of flesh' by paraphrasing The Friendly Shakespeare by Norrie Epstein. He writes that Falstaff is not just a character; he's a phenomenon. He's been the inspiration for songs, paintings, beer and operas. Actors have made their careers playing him... he is so inimitable that his name has become an adjective - 'Falstaffian.'
Falstaff is an opportunistic schemer, a sad old clown, a corruptor of youth and a philosopher. Falstaff has seduced the greatest actors: it was Orson Welles, life's ambition to play it, and the role capped Ralph Richardson's career. Like Hamlet, Falstaff transcends gender. The actress Pat Carroll earned accolades for her performance in The Merry Wives of Windsor.
Perhaps her part was made easier by the fact that although Falstaff boasts of his sexual prowess, he's usually too drunk to consummate his lust.
Next time, how many Friars did WS write about?
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SIR JACK FALSTAFF is the greatest comic character created by William Shakespeare. However, that wasn't going to be his real name. Shakespeare's original intent was to call this 'fat knight,' 'this huge hill of flesh' and 'this sanguine coward,' after the real knight, Sir John Oldcastle, a 15th century martyred knight and Lollard. However, his descendants, the Cobham family, heard of this and protested. Fortunately for them, and perhaps unfortunately for our William, one of the Cobhams was the official censor. This meant that Shakespeare had to change the name of 'this horseback breaker,' 'that villainous abominable misleader of youth' and 'this bed-presser' or have his play banned.
However, Shakespeare had the last word. He inserted a few 'old castle' jokes into his plays, as when Prince Hal (of Henry IV Parts 1 & 2 and Henry V) refers to Falstaff as 'my old man of the castle.'
We first meet Falstaff in Henry IV, Part 1, where he is Prince Hal's best buddy. He is depicted as a father-figure to the young prince, a past knight who has gone to seed. He lives by his wits and earning a living is anathema to him. He reappears in Henry IV, Part 2 playing the same role, but by now, the growing prince is trying to distance himself from 'this fool and jester' who requires, 'two and twenty yards of satin' for a suit.
Falstaff in the centre of Stratford-upon-Avon. (Author's photo)
Finally, Hal does rid himself of his sack (white wine) swilling crony at the end of Henry IV, Part 2 saying:
I know thee not, old man: fall to thy prayers;
How ill white hairs become a fool and jester!
I have longed dreamed of such a kind of man,
So surfeit-swelled, so old, and so profane.
Hal has to be cruel here, because he must separate himself from Falstaff and their collective past and show that he is no longer the high-spirited and mischievous youth that he was. Now that his father, King Henry IV, has died, Hal is the country's next king and so he must behave accordingly. Nevertheless, his words do hurt in this tremendously pathetic scene.
Falstaff being beaten by the wives in "The Merry Wives of Windsor"
But the irrepressible Falstaff doesn't really die. According to tradition, Queen Elizabeth I was was so enamoured of this character that Shakespeare was asked to resurrect him. He did so about eight years later. This old knightly rogue and lecher, 'well nigh worn to pieces with age' reappears taking centre-stage in The Merry Wives of Windsor. Here, Falstaff is conned by the two wives, Mrs. Ford and Mrs. Page, and ends up getting a terrible beating before being attacked in Windsor Park by a crowd dressed as fairies.
More about Falstaff next time.
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SOME OF SHAKESPEARE'S BEST LOVED CHARACTERS ARE THE FOOLS. This doesn't mean that these people were necessarily foolish, because often they were anything but.
In fact, many literary critics have quoted the following line spoken by Touchstone, the 'fool' in As You Like It. His words sum up the essence of being a Shakespearean fool - "A fool thinks himself to be wise, but a wise man knows himself to be a fool."
A modern Fool
In Shakespeare's time (and even beforehand) the fools and the court jesters were usually glib-tongued peasants who used their wits to outdo their 'elders and their betters.' Much of their humour was based on word-play and witticisms, an aspect of language that was very important to the Shakespearean playgoer.
However, in addition to this, the Fool's role in Shakespeare's theatre followed a long tradition, in fact, since Roman and then medieval times. Not only did they have to be witty, but they also had to know how to sing, dance, tell stories, juggle and perform acrobatics.
The three most famous actors who played Shakespearean fools were William Kempe, Robert Armin and Richard Tarlton. Our William must have known these actors well and it is said that he wrote many of his 'foolish' roles with these three well-loved actors in mind.
Robert Armin
Richard Tarlton
William Kempe
Note, some of the Fools were called as such or 'Clowns'. Others had specific names. Below is a list of Shakespearean fools and their plays:
'A Fool' in Timon of Athens
'Citizen' in Julius Caesar
'Costard' in Love's Labours Lost
'Autolycus' in The Winter's Tale
'Cloten' in Cymbeline
'Falstaff' in 1H4, 2H4 (Also appears in Henry V and The Merry Wives of Windsor but not as a Fool.)
'Clown' in Othello
'Dromio of Ephesus' in The Comedy of Errors
'Dromio of Syracuse' in The Comedy of Errors
'Clown' in Titus Andronicus
'Feste' in Twelfth Night
'Grumio' in The Taming of the Shrew
'Launce' in Two Gentlemen of Verona
'Launcelot Gobbo' in The Merchant of Venice
'Lavache' in All's Well That Ends Well
'Nick Bottom' in A Midsummer Night's Dream
'Speed' in Two Gentlemen of Verona
'Puck' in A Midsummer Night's Dream
'Pompey' in Measure for Measure
'The Fool' in King Lear
'The Gravediggers' in Hamlet
'Thersites' in Troilus and Cressida
'Touchstone' in As You Like It
'Trinculo' in The Tempest
Other roles such as Dogberry in Much Ado About Nothing were those of simple peasants trying to act above themselves or roles such as Malvolio in Twelfth Night where normally (over)serious and pedantic people behave foolishly. In Macbeth, the Porter, with his observations about people and liquor is not really a Fool as he does not warn anyone about their behaviour, he just comments on it. He also provides the only light moments in this 'murderous' play.
The function of the Fool was to be a servant of person of low social status who would not be scared at speaking his mind to his superiors. One of the most well-known Fools is the Fool in King Lear. He ridicules the king's actions and he can see Goneril and Regan for the rapacious daughters that they are. He also foretells the results of Lear's foolish actions. Despite his doing all this, the king accepts him as a friend even though in Act I. sc.4 the king warns him, "Take heed, sirrah, the whip."
The Fool and King Lear
Usually, the fools and clowns wore patchwork or ragged coats. In addition they wore bells and hoods and carried a short stick topped with a doll's head or something similar.
Next time: the greatest and most popular fool of them all: Falstaff
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In King Lear, the Earl of Gloucester has two sons: Edgar, the good and the legitimate one, and Edmund, his bad and illegitimate brother.
EDGAR: Although he is the son of an earl, WS has given him a much more important role than that of his father. Edgar is also one of the main connections between the main and the sub-plots. Despite all the chaos, confusion and storms, at the end of the play, as the loyal son, he is ready to assume the burden of rule in the wrecked kingdom of prehistoric Britain. Edgar also plays more parts than any other player in the whole of the Shakespeare canon.
He plays an aristocrat, a feigner of madness - Poor Tom - and a rustic. At the end of the play, he also plays the role of a noble knight who accepts the challenge that has been thrown at Edmund. Finally, in a way that imitates Lear's own behaviour, he become qualified to become the country's ruler where he confronts and defeats Edmund, his bastard brother.
Edgar as 'Poor Tom'
George Orwell called Edgar 'a superfluous character, ' but this isn't true. His roles in the play make him vital to its success.
In contrast to multifaceted Edgar, Edmund is a traitorous evil son on whom both the plot and sub-plot intertwine. At the end of the play, Shakespeare makes an attempt to redeem him, showing that nobody can be completely evil or pure. In the end, partly motivated by shame, he informs Albany's party of the plot he has laid against King Lear and Cordelia and indeed attempts to rescue them. Unfortunately he is too late.
As with several of WS's other villains, he is witty and attractive, at least to King Lear's daughters, Goneril and Regan but he does try to make amends at the end trying to save Cordelia.
Edmund is aware of his own villainy and seems to delight in it (like Richard III) as this extract from his soliloquy in Act I sc.2 shows:
...Our father's love is to the bastard Edmund
As honest madam's issue? Why brand they thus
Well, my legitimate, if this letter speed,
And my intention thrive, Edmund the base
Shall top th' legitimate -: I grow, I prosper;
Now gods, stand up for bastards!
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Next time: Shakespearean Fools.
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Shakespeare was lucky. His acting company, the Lord Chamberlain's Men (later known as the King's Men after Elizabeth I died in 1603 and was succeeded by James I) used one of the best theatres in London. When the lease expired in 1598 and the landlord demanded more money to renew it, according to the story, the actors and their supporters had revenge. They dismantled the wooden building in the middle of a Christmas night and rowed the timbers over the Thames from the north bank to the south bank. There they rebuilt their new theatre and called it the Globe. It stayed there for the next 14 years until it was accidentally burnt down in June 1613 during a performance of Henry VIII. (More about the Globe in a later blog.)
At the same time, a new kind of theatre was being built in London, a smaller theatre which attracted the wealthier classes and kept the poor 'groundlings' out. They were called 'hall' theatres and gave the impression that the plays were being performed in private houses. One advantage of this new type of theatre was that they were completely closed against the elements, e.g. the rain, and that plays could be performed in them all year round including during the winter. Another advantage was that as these buildings were closed, the actors and audiences were not disturbed by the noises of the surrounding street. (I remember when I was at the Globe in 1997 and had to listen to an overhead helicopter or two as Henry V was praising 'this wooden O' and 'the vasty fields of France.') In addition, these 'hall' theatres also had to rely on inside artificial lighting.
As it may be supposed, the theatre experience then was very different to that of today. People talked of 'hearing' a play rather than seeing it. Perhaps this was because watching a play then was a very boisterous occasion. Cannonballs and firecrackers were used for background effects in the battle scenes in the History plays as Henry the Fifth and Richard the Third. Trumpets blared to announce the entrance of kings and soft string music was played to evoke a mystical atmosphere as in The Tempest. In addition, vendors walked about selling nuts, fruit and sweetmeats, while woe betide an actor who forgot his lines or acted badly. Then he would hear the groundlings et al.
And if all of this excitement wasn't enough, the theatres tended to attract the low-life of London as well. It was well known that cutpurses and prostitutes frequented the crowds applying their various skills.
A modern performance of 'Henry V' in the Globe today.
Author's photo.
The plays were often performed much quicker than today. The contemporary records speak of Romeo and Juliet using 'two hours traffic of our stage.' As soon as one scene was over, the actors would leave the stage as the actors for the next scene were already there waiting in the wings to make their entrance.
In addition, in order to cut down on wages, many of the actors had to 'double-up' and play several roles in the same play. An actor playing a soldier in Act 1 may have played a lord in Act 3 while a messenger in Act 2 could have played a prince in Act 4.
The play, Romeo and Juliet, which has forty parts was acted by a cast of sixteen.
In order to watch or hear a play, a groundling would pay a penny and drop this into a clay box as he entered the theatre. This box would be broken open later and the money counted in order to see how much that particular performance had made. This box gave rise to the term, 'the box office.' The groundlings would stand in the centre on three sides of the stage and the lords and merchants who paid more for the honour, would sit on benches which were situated around the inside perimeter of the circular or polygon building. Theatres like the Globe, Rose and Swan could accommodate over two thousand spectators.
Richard Burbage, the Elizabethan Kenneth Branagh
As for the actors, the more famous ones it seems, that some of them had their lines written especially for them. It is said that Shakespeare wrote much of Hamlet, King Lear and Othello with his friend, the popular actor Richard Burbage in mind. The same is probably true about the much loved comedian, William Kempe. This famous actor who played the part of the lugubrious constable Dogberry in Much Ado About Nothing could easily have had his lines written especially for him by the Bard.
Will Kempe, the popular comedian and dancer.
None of the actors were given a complete script of the play They were only given their own lines and the cues that came before. This was done in order to prevent the actors selling the whole play to a rival company. This also may explain why today, we do not have any complete plays written in Shakespeare's own hand.
Finally, to end on a sanguine note, when a murder took place on stage which involved the stabbing of an enemy (or perhaps the killing of an innocent person such as the son of Lady Macduff in Macbeth), then the actor to be 'killed' would conceal an animal's bladder full of pig's blood inside his coat or shirt. When his enemy stabbed him, then the bladder would burst, shooting blood all over the place. This was Elizabethan realism!
Next time: Edgar and Edmund from 'King Lear.'
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