Literature in the eighteenth century was a commercial commodity and a costly one: The forgeries were dangerous because they proved that the boundaries between authentic and fake could easily be crossed. Shakespeare was not only the national poet; he was a national emblem of power and stability in a troubled decade of national upheaval and chaos French Revolution, Industrial Revolution, American Revolution. Forging the image of Shakespeare was perceived to be alarmingly subversive, threatening the national identity and the main values of the English nation.
In his Inquiry, Malone stood as both judge and guarantor of this republic, dedicating almost 90 pages to dismantling in detail each of the forged letters, and reinforcing his argument with a recurrent legalistic terminology. We might even envisage the forgeries as elaborate pastiches that self-consciously imitate, deconstruct and re-fashion their source model.
According to Genette, what distinguishes pastiche from forgery is that the latter are not identified as such by the reader: Briefly, forgeries cannot possess anything that might betray their fictional status; their style must be as close as possible to the original without repeating lines ad verbatim, and they must be totally devoid of anachronism. Above all, what was evidently anachronistic was orthography and spelling. This is, according to Genette, exactly the opposite of forgery: Mary Redcliffe in Bristol.
The Ireland forgeries have a distinctive and volatile metafictional quality. They mock the devices of representation of the real and the authentic even while they exploit these techniques to assert their own status. Perhaps William Henry was trying to get rid of a precocious anxiety of influence; this would explain why he felt the need to distance himself from the overpowering Shakespearian model and create his own line of continuity.
The deed was even matched by a lyric depicting the arms of Shakespeare and Ireland joined together. The rest of the treasure would go to G. So another problem was solved. Vortigern, a Historical Tragedy was performed at the Drury Lane in , after the forged letters had been exposed by Malone. Vortigern, a Saxon general, murders Constantius, king of Romanised Britain, in order to gain control of the crown and the kingdom.
After the murder, he intends to use Flavia, his daughter, to strengthen his political connections by offering her hand to a Saxon Baron. The allied troops of Romans and Scots attack the castle and Vortigern surrenders. The play presents a structure that adapts Shakespearian themes to the tastes of a genteel eighteenth- century audience. Hence Vortigern acquires significance precisely because it must be read as a forgery.
The interpolation of elements which do not belong solely to one play but to the entire Shakespearian macrotext eludes the standardization and avoids the limitations of neoclassical standards. Adaptations in the eighteenth century tended to reduce or even eliminate the parts of the dramatic plot that did not give the entire structure a thematic coherence; the comic scenes were cut out from tragedies and many comedies were exaggerated, even farcically, to highlight regularity of mood and tone.
Vortigern is a rather more ambiguous adaptation. It is rhapsodic and even carnivalesque, mixing fools and kings, grotesquerie and farcical elements, embodying everything that eighteenth century adaptations of Shakespeare tried to rule out or avoid. Therefore, the play acquires a special literary value only if we read it as pastiche. Instead of choosing one form or another, rationalizing the plot, Ireland mixes everything in a whimsical melting-pot with no concern of time, place or action — much like Shakespeare himself might have done.
He liberates the play from the restricting neoclassical unities, piecing together a variety of codes and forms from the Shakespearian imagery and inserting them in a structure which was recognizable to an eighteenth-century audience. Ireland was so severely and possibly disproportionately punished for his liberties because he was ahead of his time.
Ironically, he died on April, 23, just like Shakespeare, and he was buried in W. Ireland, Vortigern, A historical tragedy London: Adaptations of Shakespeare in the eighteenth century usually explained the cruelty of the villains, see Innocenti, p. But unlike the poet he died penniless and unknown. They showed that tradition is not untouchable or static and that, like any cultural artefact, it needs constant reworking to survive and proliferate. And perhaps Ireland anticipated this argument, substantially proving that the legacy of Shakespeare might reside in the very process of appropriation and forging of his image and his language.
His work shows a sort of affectionate companionship between what he presented as his ancestor and himself; it suggests that the creation of a literary identity relies on the questioning of the very notion of authenticity and originality. Waldron wrote some days before the performance of Vortigern: Bibliography Primary Texts S. Greenblatt, Will in the world London: Waldron, Free reflection on miscellaneous papers and legal instruments under the hand and seal of William Shakspeare in the possession of Samuel Ireland of Norfolk-Street , p. Longmans, , pp. Seuil, Greenblatt, Stephen, Will in the world London: Jonathan Cape, Innocenti, Loretta, La scena trasformata: Sansoni, Kahan, Jeffrey, Reforging Shakespeare: Pierce, Patricia, The great Shakespeare fraud Gloucestershire: Sutton, Rowe, Nicholas, Some accounts of the life etc.
Faber, Taylor, Gary, Reinventing Shakespeare: Morfologicamente, Romeo e Giulietta si pone come una tragedia anomala in quanto costruita secondo gli schemi e le forme tipiche della convenzione poetica cortese. The complete works of William Shakespeare, Oxford, , pp. Genesi e struttura delle opere Milano: Giova, a questo proposito, ricordare come le fonti principali a partire dalle quali Shakespeare riscrive genialmente la storia degli amanti nati sotto contraria stella siano costituite dalle versioni in lingua inglese tratte delle Histoires Tragiques di Boaistuau, a sua volta traduttore e reinventore della IX novella di Bandello nella quale si narra la storia di Romeo e Giulietta riprendendo una antica tradizione italica che va da Masuccio Salernitano a Luigi da Porto.
Le versioni inglesi della Histoire tragique riproposta da Boiastuau sono quella di Arthur Brooke, con il suo poema in versi The Tragicall Historye of Romeus and Juliet , e quella in prosa di William Painter, raccolta in The Palace of Pleasure Questa anomalia avrebbe dunque una giustificazione interna e profonda, e non solo esterna e contingente. Risulta anzitutto indicativo che, come prologo al II Atto, Shakespeare ponga un ulteriore sonetto oltre a quello iniziale: O, she doth teach the torches to burn bright!
It seems she hangs upon the cheek of night Like a rich jewel in an Ethiope's ear; Beauty too rich for use, for earth too dear! So shows a snowy dove trooping with crows, As yonder lady o'er her fellows shows. The measure done, I'll watch her place of stand, And, touching hers, make blessed my rude hand. Did my heart love till now? For I ne'er saw true beauty till this night. Ci troviamo nel fulcro di Romeo and Juliet, la cui morfologia retorica viene dunque caratterizzata in modo decisivo da tale utilizzo di un registro neoplatonico.
Wherefore art thou Romeo? Giulietta fa cenno a una trascendenza non materica. Risulta interessante comparare il sonetto di Romeo con un sonetto tratto dal canzoniere shakespeariano e con un testo delle Rime michelangiolesche, al fine di comprenderne meglio la funzione drammaturgica e il retroterra neoplatonico: When I consider every thing that grows Holds in perfection but a little moment, That this huge stage presenteth nought but shows Whereon the stars in secret influence comment; When I perceive that men as plants increase, Cheered and check'd even by the self-same sky, Vaunt in their youthful sap, at height decrease, And wear their brave state out of memory; Then the conceit of this inconstant stay Sets you most rich in youth before my sight, Where wasteful Time debateth with Decay, To change your day of youth to sullied night; And all in war with Time for love of you, As he takes from you, I engraft you new..
Naturalmente, si tratta di una tematica dominante nei Sonetti di Shakespeare, e i cui legami con la tradizione cortese sono stati adeguatamente messi in luce dalla critica. If I profane with my unworthiest hand This holy shrine, the gentle sin is this: My lips, two blushing pilgrims, ready stand To smooth that rough touch with a tender kiss. Good pilgrim, you do wrong your hand too much, Which mannerly devotion shows in this; For saints have hands that pilgrims' hands do touch, And palm to palm is holy palmers' kiss. Have not saints lips, and holy palmers too? Ay, pilgrim, lips that they must use in prayer.
O, then, dear saint, let lips do what hands do; They pray — grant thou, lest faith turn to despair. Saints do not move, though grant for prayers' sake. Then move not, while my prayer's effect I take. Then have my lips the sin that they have took. Sin from thy lips? O trespass sweetly urged! Give me my sin again. You kiss by th' book. Platonicamente, la Bellezza di Giulietta risveglia, giungendo attraverso gli occhi di Romeo, la nostalgia di Dio nella sua anima.
Tuttavia, nella prima parte oltre un terzo dei versi pronunciati sono in rima; nella seconda, la rima interessa meno del sette per cento della versificazione. A livello ermeneutico, questo cambio di registri linguistici dopo la morte di Mercuzio significa qualcosa di ben preciso: La morte di Mercuzio segna dunque la vera cesura tragica del dramma: Egli guarda Giulietta non diversamente da come il poeta del Canzoniere guarda Laura: Si noti come Romeo si ponga, in questo senso, tra i personaggi di Otello e Amleto: Il Luteranesimo teoretico di Amleto che ha studiato a Wittemberg diviene in Romeo la base per il compimento del proprio martirio.
Olschki Editore, , pp. Scribner, Bloom, Harold, Shakespeare: Riverhead, Campell, Lily Bess, Shakespeare's tragic heroes: Harvester Press, Hawkes, Terence, Shakespeare and the reason: Routledge, Kott, Jan, Shakespeare, our contemporary London: Methuen, , pp. Ashgate, McGinn, Colin, Shakespeare's philosophy: Methuen, Levith, Murray J. Palgrave Macmillan, Olivier, T. Perini, Giovanna, Dialogo didattico e dialogo drammatico: John Florio e William Shakespeare Firenze: Olschki, Pettet, E. I, , pp. Nevertheless, the drama… is capable of greater variation and of expressing more varied types of society, than any other.
Faber and Faber, edn. His plays have been translated into many different languages over the centuries, bearing witness to their huge appeal to a variety of audiences while they address universal themes overriding space and time barriers. As this staging is mainly carried out through translation, the international performance of Shakespeare and Shakespeare in translation has become an area of academic study and research. Each literary translation involves a passage from one language — and therefore from one culture — to another.
What happens when this translation involves two languages as different as English a natural language and American Sign Language? Theatre, being based on spatiality, expressivity and gestuality, is a genre naturally suited to sign language. This paper will be therefore structured into three main parts, respectively focusing on: Now, theatricality does not imply orality alone.
By means of precise indications of gesture and movement, or through implicit suggestions of physical bearing, they have the capacity to set the body in motion. For a language has a body, and not only in the metaphorical sense.
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That it should be uttered is not enough; the entire body must participate in the act of speaking. As the translation process could not be documented on paper, it was videotaped thanks to a grant from Yale Digital Media Center. This project, called ASL Shakespeare, provided the newly founded Amaryllis Theatre - dedicated to employing actors with disabilities - with the script for its debut performance, staged at Philadelphia in In their introduction to Remaking Shakespeare: He also points to the fact that there is no great distance between Shakespeare and sign language.
This point is reinforced by the example of John Bulwer, physician, author of the seventeenth century Chirologia: Bulwer asserts that the hands and their gestures were better suited to communicate universally than spoken languages. However, he also acknowledges the limits of these representations: Interpreting allows the intersection of two spoken languages, whereas translation introduces various permutations of the two interacting elements: Moreover, in the case of interpreting sign language, one may be written and the other a sign language.
Interpreting skills inevitably require the necessary knowledge of both the source language and the target language. This occurs, for instance, when interpreting information based on sound for deaf audiences. Moreover, meter, rhyme and rhythm play a crucial role in his plays as in drama at large.
An obvious question arises here: Before trying to answer this, it is worth considering the basic linguistic features of ASL as compared to English. The latter involves four distinctive parameters: Facial expression can also contribute to the linguistic functions expressed by the sign, helping to express a certain syntactical feature such as relative or interrogative clauses or taking the function of a quantifier or an adverb. In addition, the tone of sentences and expressions, made possible by the vocal inflection in spoken languages, is already included in the formation of the word in signed languages and is conveyed through the energy and emphasis movement of the sign.
According to deaf linguist and poet Valli, while in English there are two fundamental types of rhyme — assonance and alliteration — ASL offers the possibility for four types of rhyme: Although deaf studies, performance studies and Shakespeare studies have been treated and studied so far as distinct and separate disciplines, they actually share some common ground. This is something to bear in mind when tackling the issue of translating Shakespeare in sign language.
What is the point of displaying such intersections? What contribution could they give to each area? The goal of this paper is to show how the overlapping of these fields can help to illuminate the extant key features of each, while also bringing forth new views on performance, language and culture. Indeed, interdisciplinary and intercultural discourses have the potential to fuel serious reconsideration of assumed and widely accepted notions, thus offering new constructive perspectives.
This is how Novak envisaged the whole process: Actor and translator Robert DeMayo also explains the difficulty of the translation process. The latter involved three steps: According to Novak, in addition to what has been said so far in relation to the act of translating, it is important to consider one more point when facing the issue of translating English into ASL.
While the deaf actors on stage signed the lines, hearing performers recited them. Very early in the play [Act I, Scene I, ll. So I conveyed the double meaning through the verb. In Act I, Scene V, Malvolio describes to the curious Olivia the young girl disguised as the boy Cesario who wishes to speak to her and waits at the gate to be let in. Of what personage and years is he?
Not yet old enough for a man, nor young enough for a boy; as a squash is before 'tis a peascod, or a codling, when 'tis almost an apple: He is very well-favoured, and he speaks very shrewishly; one would think his mother's milk were scarce out of him. The signs used by Malvolio to describe Cesario have a double meaning: In English, as in other spoken languages, metre is what gives rhythm to a verse or a line through a recurring pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables.
However, movement, location and handshape contribute to establishing verse-form in ASL as in all sign languages. Classifiers are one way of doing this. Some examples of classifiers include the 1 classifier that can be used to represent, among other things, a person standing, or, if placed horizontally, a pair of scissors, etc. Even if it is possible to recount a story exclusively using one classifier handshape, most stories make use of several classifiers. The first images show the use of the 1 classifier to represent a person, respectively Olivia and her handmaid.
When Feste refers to visiting both households where he entertains for money regularly, he shows this visually by moving himself between the two classifiers which represent Olivia and Orsino.
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The motion of cutting the suspenders is made by using a 2 classifier iconically reproducing the image of scissors cutting the suspenders off. Finally, after the gaskins fall, they reveal his bare legs, represented by a 2 classifier. This is made clear by the images below, which show the predominance of similar handshapes and of recurrent movement paths used for the sign translation of the first lines from Twelfth Night. Arguably, such an advantage consists for the former demographic in the possibility of accessing a literary icon, thus partaking in his linguistic mastery and creative genius; moreover, it is a way to give academic relevance to ASL itself, showing its manifold possibilities.
Peter Novak Washington, D. Lennard Davis New York: Carocci, Sacks, Oliver, Vedere voci: Adelphi, Snyder, Lindsey Diane, Sawing the air thus: American Sign Language translations of Shakespeare and the echoes of rhetorical gesture, Ph. This transfer is not accidental but, on the contrary, sets up a meaningful contrast between opposed perspectives on politics and action. Lucan depicts the Roman general at one of the most important and controversial moments of his career: Most critics, however, agree that something is hidden beneath this negative representation: Gundolf, The mantle of Caesar, trans.
He would rather smash the city-gates than enter them wide open, with sword and fire devastate the fields than tread them with the farmer unresisting. He is ashamed to go by paths permitted, like a citizen. At the peak of his delusion, he urges his soldiers with the following words: Here Caesar, maddening the people and goading them to frenzy, goes ranging round the troops, adding fires to spirits already blazing: Wherever he goes round.
And yet, at the end of this bloody and fratricidal struggle, the reader is presented with an even more chilling scene: Lucan and his heroes Ithaca: He is delighted that he cannot see the Emathian land and that his eyes scan fields hidden underneath the carnage. The Roman general revels in the visceral reality of blood: No wonder, then, that such a literary creation has been one of the most influential characters in Western literature, never ceasing to fascinate or disgust writers, critics and readers in every age.
All references to the play are to this edition. Right after Anthony, Dolobella and an unnamed lord of the Roman army have expressed their desire to crown him king, Caesar starts pouring out his sorrow for the devastation he has left behind himself in the last internecine battle 1. Why Caesar oft hath sacrificed in France, Millions of Soules, to Plutoes grisly dames And made the changed coloured Rhene to blush, To beare his bloody burthen to the sea.
This is enough to make Caesar instantly forget his previous cares and feel ready for a new fratricidal battle: In light of these considerations, it is easy to understand how the images of destruction are employed as a means to foreground the horrors of civil war, and so to render the censure of ambition and revenge more explicit. Anthony proclaims Aemathian fieldes shall change her flowry greene, And die proud Flora in a sadder hew;.
Hemus shall fat his barren fieldes with bloud, And yellow Ceres spring from wounds of men. In her penultimate speech, her palpable gloating and satisfaction indicate that she has fully attained her ends: I, now my longing hopes haue their desire, The world is nothing but a massie heape Of bodys slayne, the Sea a lake of blood, The Furies that for slaughter only thirst, Are with these Massakers and slaughters cloyed. Hell and Elysium must be digd in one, And both will be to litle to contayne, Numberles numbers of afflicted ghostes, That I my selfe haue tumbling thither sent.
In Cornelia Caesar, who does not appear until 4. It is Cassius, in a dialogue with Brutus at the beginning of 4. Some should you see that had theyr heads halfe clouen, And on the earth theyr braines lye trembling: Here one new wounded helps another dying: Petreius and Affranius I defeated. Pompey I over threw; what did that get me? Kyd, Cornelia, in The works of Thomas Kyd, ed. Massinger, The false one, ed. Turner, in The dramatic works in the Beaumont and Fletcher canon, gen.
They are perhaps best understood, as Clifford J. Here the images of devastation—many directly taken from Lucan—are more widespread and have wider implications. Their speeches abound with Lucanic echoes and would seem to presage a chilling enterprise of unheard-of impiety; in fact, the language stands in sharp contrast to the chronic inaction to which the plotters doom themselves.
This happens, for example, in the raving exchange taken almost verbatim from Bellum Civile between Catiline and his henchman Cethegus in Act 1. The most vivid and striking images of destruction are deployed by Cethegus, undoubtedly the most enthusiastic, the most eager, the most thirsty for revenge, slaughters and carnage among the conspirators. In fact, he proclaims himself happy to reach his objectives by a dangerous and rough road in a speech which combines two passages from Lucan [Civil War, 2.
When the consul asks him how he would have used the weapons found in his house he can only answer as follows: Jonson, La congiura di Catilina: Marlowe, Tamburlaine the Great: Though he never loses his coherence and dignity, after the electoral defeat his attitude seems marked by a desire to inflict destruction on himself rather than on others. Even more telling in this respect is the use Jonson makes of an image taken directly from Bellum Civile in the final description of the fight between the Catilinarians and the consular troops: The way Jonson exploits and combines the images of destruction drawn from Lucan acquires a specific meaning in the light of his portrayal of Caesar.
On the contrary, he is portrayed as the perfect representative of political Machiavellianism: They had condemned his ambition, which had led him to become the destroyer of the republic. Bruni, History of the Florentine people, ed. Elyot, The book named the governor, ed. Gentili, La Roma antica degli elisabettiani Bologna: If, however, anyone desires to know what writers would have said, had they been free, he has but to look at what they say of Catiline.
For Caesar is the more blameworthy of the two in that he who has done wrong is more blameworthy than he who has but desired to do wrong. Come, there was never any great thing yet Aspired, but by violence or fraud. His conduct from this point on will be marked by the utmost prudence and characterized by the most devious duplicity, finally providing him with impunity.
Caesar always remains cold and detached, never abandoning his pragmatism to indulge in delusions of destructive omnipotence. Thus, Jonson sets up an opposition between Lucan and Machiavelli in order to illustrate a universal lesson in politics: Machiavelli, The discourses, ed. McLaughlin suggests that perhaps Machiavelli has in mind a similar interpretation proposed by Poggio Bracciolini about a century earlier M. Machiavelli, Istorie Fiorentine e altre opere storiche e politiche, ed.
On the contrary, it gives life to a personal and original reworking through which the playwright can express his conception of life, art and, in this particular case, history and politics. James Hankins Cambridge, MA: Jonson, Ben, La congiura di Catilina: Lucanus, Marcus Annaeus, Civil war, ed. Penguin, Marlowe, Christopher, Tamburlaine the Great: Michael Andrew Screech Harmondsworth: Penguin, Boas, Frederick S.
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Gentili, Vanna, La Roma antica degli elisabettiani Bologna: Miriam Tamara Griffin Hoboken: Wiley, , pp. Gundolf, Friedrich, The mantle of Caesar, trans. Jacob Wittmer Hartmann London: ECIG, , pp. Blackwell, , pp. According to reception theory, the same thing happens with literature. The role of reception is even more visible when a work undergoes a translation, which is, inevitably, another culture- dependent act.
It has been largely assumed that observing a Shakespearean text through the lens of a non-English language and culture means questioning it and enriching its interpretative possibilities, just as any distancing act unavoidably widens understanding. Yet the answer to the question: The description of the latter work as a multifaceted intercultural practice, profoundly different from the plain ideological reading often associated with the German dramatist, will be a concrete way to obtain an unsettling and complex interpretation of the Shakespearean text.
The two sources differ in their treatment of the subject: In Livy, indeed, the political issues are pivotal in the story of Coriolanus. Thus, the historian of the Roman Augustan age used the tale of Coriolanus — a successful general in the battlefield but a tyrannical leader towards his people — as a warning for the Roman citizens: See also Coldiron, , and the rich methodological introduction in Huang, pp. Like Coriolanus, the English king found himself god-like, irreplaceable.
In , the king was asked to make a speech to Parliament to revise his previously stated autocratic tendencies, but the gesture intended for appeasement produced undesirable and unforeseen consequences. Ultimately, Parliament responded with the Petition of Right. In , the enclosing of some fields in England aggravated the already desperate situation of farm labourers. Dearth and depopulation afflicted them. In his study of the historical context of Coriolanus, David George quotes a description of the riots that can be found in the coeval records: The gentry and the king responded to this unrest with heavy repression.
In the towns of Newton and Hillmorton in particular, participants in the riots received exemplary punishments. As it is reported: And topical elements are reflected not only in the content of the play, but also in its linguistic composition. As David George demonstrates in his above mentioned volume, the public discourse on the dearth and insurrections in England can be easily detected also on the linguistic level of the work.
The terms used by Shakespeare seem to be borrowed directly from contemporary historical documents. Costumes, for example, should have been a marked sign because, as Ripley maintains: This argument is inconsistent, since George himself defines the allusions to contemporary events in Coriolanus as manifest. More convincing is the logic suggested by Annabel Patterson: She defines this as the productive relativistic point of view from which Shakespeare presents the socio-political problems of his time and the cognate theme of class struggles.
I shall be asking the reader to consider a great many Renaissance plays to be questions… even questions that question whether such questions can be answered… these plays did not merely raise questions, in the general sense, but literally were questions — or rather fictional realizations of questions.
It stimulates intellectual inquiry in the domain of fiction, which can be fruitful because it is free from social and political restraints. This puzzling perspective has also encouraged different interpretations of the play, which have been mainly intended to reflect presumed authorial intentions and supposed fixed universal meanings — all of which are in reality historically or ideologically biased. On the emblematic value of costumes in the Renaissance see Mullini-Zacchi See also Phillips, ; Garboli, ; George, For a political interpretation of the play, see, among others, Pettet, and Huffmann, Suffice it to mention its first two English adaptations: This sentiment stems from the romantic period, when he, the discourse around him and his works had a central role in the definition of German cultural identity and in the development of German national drama.
After the second world war, Brecht, like other German intellectuals, felt the duty to free the German cultural heritage — of which Shakespeare is an essential element — from Nazi appropriation. The introduction of a German edition of the play reads: To carry out this project he had to begin with translating Shakespearean plays, which were — as it has been said — at the heart of German theatre. The American critic Eric Bentley understood this motive as early as , writing: It has even been suggested that Brecht will translate Shakespeare; perhaps he could not remake the German theatre, as he wishes to do, without translating Shakespeare, who is, after all, the leading German dramatist.
Up to now Shakespeare has been the dramatist of German romanticism, which means that of late he has become a somewhat academic figure, a Walter Scott of the stage. Brecht would give us a very modern Shakespeare, doubtless; the hope would be that the modern style would contain more of the original Elizabethan spirit than the romantic style did. The theater of Narrative Realism … has more in common with the great theater of the remoter past than with the theater of today and yesterday. In approaching Shakespeare as a classic, Brecht advocated a fearless attitude which should not undo the work but restore its original freshness and historical impact.
The Berliner Ensemble completed it for a production in Thus Brecht re wrote the Shakespearean text in the hard political, economic and cultural climate of the German Democratic Republic, which provided him with material to make his adaptation topical just as Shakespeare did in his version. Thus the title character in Brecht comes to reflect these models. Furthermore, economically the condition of the East German people was as desperate as that of the English people in , though for different reasons.
It extracted resources and goods from the GDR and continued to do so until war reparations were formally settled in August The extraction caused depression and the rationing of staple products like fat, sugar, and meat; consumer durables remained scarce and expensive. Although wages increased for people employed by the state, living standards for the majority were terribly low. Their destiny was the same as that of their English Renaissance counterparts: Brecht re writes the play with this work in mind, making these issues and complexities visible, understandable and meaningful for his audience.
Furthermore, to underline the political and topical values of these issues for his audience, Brecht accomplished a light devaluation of the title role, painting as a less brave figure, and a secondary valuation of both the tribunes, who are given more pre-eminence, and the plebeians, whose identities are accentuated and are assigned a higher symbolic value. Despite these shifts in emphasis, it could not be said that Brecht overlaid the Shakespearean text with external and unrelated ideas — he only reworked what is already contained in the play. Brecht did not modify the problematic features of the Shakespearean characters, but explored them to the full by including related textual additions, removing scenes and shortening parts.
For their exact meaning see Genette, pp. Coriolanus, in turn, lives in the tragic condition of the dictatorial hero who believes himself irreplaceable. This is a dream that cannot last precisely because of the weakness of the people, who seem to become a coherent force only in times of war. This peace is nothing but to rust iron, increase tailors, and breed ballad- makers.
Let me have war, say I. Ay, and it makes men hate one another. The very first lines are by Scinius, who declares: This point is particularly important in relation to the scene mentioned above, because it is a further demonstration of the use of war by the State to control the masses. All this is in accordance with his well-known borrowing from Chinese theatre, where emotions are represented by a stylized presentation, with the effect of both distancing them from the audience and making them stronger.
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Moreover, to give the text the key feature of his epic theatre, Brecht included a lied that interrupts the dramatic action. In conclusion, Brecht revived the meaning of Coriolanus by considering its historical remoteness, seen as one major cultural difference, and then rewriting it topically, in contemporary German and using his own dramatic aesthetics. Werner Hecht Frankfurt am Main: Suhrkamp, , p. Suhrkamp, Shakespeare, William, Coriolanus, ed. Eric Bentley New York: Applause Theatre Books, , pp. Bantan Books, , pp.
Suhrkamp, , pp. Maria Del Sapio Garbero et al. Pearson Longman, Coldiron, A. Laurie Maguire Maldan, MA. Wiley-Blackwell, , pp. Alessandro Serpieri et al. Pratiche Editrice, , pp. CLUEB, , pp. Maria Del Sapio Garbero et al Goettingen: Il teatro in Italia negli anni Sessanta Milan: Sansoni Editore, , pp. Hortmann, Wilhelm, Shakespeare on the German stage: Kennedy, Dennis Foreign Shakespeare Cambridge: Routledge, Michael, Nancy C.
Liguori, Patterson, Annabel, Shakespeare and the popular voice Oxford: Routledge, Pettet, E. Pugliatti, Paola, Shakespeare and the just war tradition Farnham: Palgrave Macmillan, , pp. Williams, Simon, Shakespeare on the German stage, Cambridge: George Gascoigne took an important literary part in this occasion, as he was commissioned to co- write and edit a collection of texts: The Princelye pleasures, at the Courte at Kenelwoorth.
That is to saye. In the yeare However, the majority of critics have offered historical-cultural readings of The Princely Pleasures, focusing on the extent to which the outdoor shows J. Nichols, The progresses and public processions of Queen Elizabeth I, 3 vols. Austen, George Gascoigne Cambridge: References to this edition are given as page numbers after quotations in the text. For my discussion I have consulted the following editions: Dobson, English pronunciation, —, 2 vols.
From stage to text: This mode of representation is reinforced at the end of the same speech: Come, come, most perfect Paragon, passe on with ioy and blisse, I. Doran, Monarchy and matrimony: Leahy, Elizabethan triumphal processions Aldershot: I am the Lady of this pleasant Lake, who since the time of great king Arthures reigne That here with royal Court aboade did make, haue led a lowring life in restles paine. Til now that this your third arriuall here doth cause me come abroad, and boldly thus appeare. His role seems to be that of an interpreter of the opening speeches delivered on the first day: And who gaue all those gifts?
I pray thee Eccho say? Was it not he?
She which vseth not to lye? Alas what dyd that beldame there? What dyd she prophecie? Prophecie O then by lyke she causde, the worthy Queene to knowe: What happy raigne she still should hold, since heauens ordeyned so. From text to stage: Whear thinges, for the parsons, for the place, tyme, cost, deuisez, straungnes, and aboundauns, of all that euer I sawe. He describes, in particular, its spacious and well-lighted rooms, the gardens and their statuary as well as the elaborate fountain.
Dillon, The language of space in court performances, Cambridge: Her Maiesty passing on to the first gate, there stode in the Leades and Battlementes therof, sixe Trumpetters hugelie aduaunced, much exceeding the common stature of men in this age, who had likewise huge and monstrous Trumpettes counterfetted, wherein they seemed to sound: The new grove dictionary of music and musicians, ed. Equally complementary, the contents of each follow a similar structure: There followed a tableau representation which visually endorsed the message behind each speech by marking the ending of the entertainment.
In his letter, Langham devotes a two-page section to the delivery of some heavenly gifts before the Queen. He orders each of them to give you some kind homages, Hence, Sylvanus gave his birds, Pomona fruit, Neptune fish, Mars military weapons, Phoebus sweet music and robust and durable health. The Gods give you, O Queen, these gifts for which you are most worthy ; The Lord of Kenelmi [Kenilworth], along with the Lord-owner, offers these presents and himself. The Latin speech devised by Mulcaster and spoken by the Poet was this one: Imperium superi pro se dat quisque libenter, Musiculas Syluanus aues, pomonaque poma, Fruges alma Ceres rorantia vina Lyoeus: Ipse loci dominus, dat se Castrumque Kenelmi.
As wine, corne, fruites, fishes, fowles, instrements of musike, and weapons for martial defence. All which were expounded by an Actor clad like a Poet, who pronounced these verses in Latine. So would I her aduise: Of sundry things vpon a bridge? Or pleasures of prouision, as tokens of true love?
Met her Maiesty with a well penned meter and matter… vnderstanding of her highness hither cumming, thought it both office and duetie in humbl wize to discouer her and her estate: Perhaps this A. John Nichols, Secondary texts Alston, C. Austen, Gillian, George Gascoigne Cambridge: Dillon, Janette, The language of space in court performances Cambridge: Clarendon Press, Doran, Susan, Monarchy and matrimony: University of Delaware Press, , pp. Leahy, William, Elizabethan triumphal processions Aldershot: Sadie, S, The new grove dictionary of music and musicians, 16 vols. Macmillan, Sewter, A.
For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged: An Angelo for a Claudio; death for death. Haste still pays haste, and leisure answers leisure; like doth quit like, and Measure still for Measure. Interestingly, it reveals significant links not only with the Bible of James I, but also with the monarch himself. The Authorized Version was part of a precise political strategy aiming at the exaltation and the enhancement of the sovereign and his policy, and the theatre played an essential role in this political campaign, proving to be a surprisingly effective vehicle for political and social messages.
I love the people, but do not like to stage me to their eyes; thought it do well, I do not relish well their loud applause and aves vehement, nor do I think the man of safe discretion that does affect it. The Bible appears unequivocally to be a source of inspiration for the playwright; what is under discussion is the reason why he disseminated biblical references in all his works.
On the one hand, the school of thought of Wilson Knight sees the numerous biblical references in the play as a didactic reinforcement of the Christian doctrine as well as a vehicle for religious concepts. On the other hand, some sceptical scholars, like A. Bradley, claim that the references are irrelevant and lack any divine or supernatural implications.
Lombardo, in Measure for measure: The present paper purposes to investigate the relationship between Measure for Measure and the Bible of James I covering three main points: The development of religious movements during the English Reformation in the sixteenth century led to a rise in interest in the analysis of the biblical text and in its interpretation, placing a decisive importance on the personal readings of the Holy Scriptures and stimulating the translation of the Bible into English. Reprinted seven times in two years, this translation is known as one of the most successful even though its Protestant translator Tyndale was burned at the stake during the reign of the Catholic Mary I.
Published in under Elizabeth I, the Geneva Bible also became very popular at its time due to its relatively cheap price: Shakespeare must have known these translations since he quotes from almost all of them in his works; furthermore most of the passages cited are those usually read during the Mass.
Therefore, we could conclude that the playwright spent much time studying the Bible under his own volition in order to achieve such thorough knowledge of the text. It would be even possible to draw a connection between each phase of his dramatic production and the biblical references he made: Bloom, The invention of the human New York: Alas, Alas; Why, all the souls that were forfeit once, And He that might the vantage best have took Found out remedy.
How would you be, If He, which is the top of judgement, should But judge you as you are? Measure for Measure is divided into sixteen scenes, which seem to reflect the balance of the title: In the second group of eight scenes, the power of the duke is restored. In Elizabethan terms, eight is the number representing justice, as stated by Macrobius and by Ben Jonson in his Masque of Beauty.
According to Knight, there are conspicuous similarities between biblical episodes and scenes of the play, and the key penetrating both this work and the Christian parables is faith. This pattern is re-enacted by the duke of Measure for Measure, who spies on his people while disguised as a friar. One of these is the bed trick, a common device in literature and in the Bible, as in the case of Jacob and Leah.
Names and characters Shakespeare chooses his setting and character names with singular care to give them a symbolic meaning from the Christian perspective. First of all, it is worth noticing that the story is set in Vienna, a Catholic city at that time and that the duke is disguised as a Catholic friar, a spiritual brother.
Yet what is the meaning of the duke within the narrative dynamic? Is he a benevolent incarnation of divine S. Marx, Shakespeare and the Bible Oxford: Knight, The wheel of fire: The character remains ambiguous till the end of the play, aptly in keeping with the ambiguity of a text which simultaneously evokes and evades Christian morality. The vicar Angelo represents the deceitful world of Measure for Measure. Embodying chastity, she is characterized by coldness, strict morality and self-sacrifice, qualities which emerge from her first lines: And have you nuns no farther privileges?
Are not there large enough? I speak not as desiring more, but rather wishing a more strict restraint upon the sisterhood, the votarists of Saint Clare. Lucius, the fanatic, is a recurrent name for Lucifer: His deceitfulness emerges in his language, which oscillates between two poles: Some that he was begot between two stock-fishes. But it is certain that when he makes water his urine is congealed ice. That I know to be true. And he is a motion generative. III, 2, — and an elevated and reverent one hinting at the biblical episode of the Annunciation: Hail, virgin, if you be, as those cheek-roses proclaim you are no less.
Can you so stead me as bring me to the sight of Isabella, a novice of this place, and the fair sister to her unhappy brother, Claudio? More minor characters are not exempt from this system of nominal signification. Finally, Barnardine recalls Barabbas, the murderer set free instead of Jesus. It is necessary to examine only the most noteworthy examples, many of which have been mentioned also by Naseeb Shaheen, one of the most influential scholars in the field of biblical studies and Shakespearian drama. The first scene opens with a quotation from Genesis, as the duke calls his faithful Escalus like the angel called Abraham: Neither do men light a candle, and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick, and it giveth light unto all that are in the house.
What emerges is the image of a state morally corrupted to the core, as suggested by the numerous explicit allusions to venereal diseases as well as the ironic treatment of religion, through the image of the sinner as a pirate, very common in the Elizabethan culture: Ay, that he razed. They put forth to steal. On the other hand, piracy, which had enriched England under the reign of Elizabeth I, was banned by James I in What if we do omit N. Thus can the demi-god Authority Make us pay down for our offence by weight.
For he saith to Moses, I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion. So then it is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that sheweth mercy. For the scripture saith unto Pharaoh, Even for this same purpose have I raised thee up, that I might shew my power in thee, and that my name might be declared throughout all the earth. Therefore hath he mercy on whom he will have mercy, and whom he will he hardeneth. The beginning of Act II also offers an intriguing parallelism in a dialogue between Angelo and Escalus: His explicitly sharp word shows all his inflexibility: Must he needs die?
Maiden, no remedy…] Ang: Why, no; I, that do speak a word, May call it back again. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? For that which I do I allow not: If then I do that which I would not, I consent unto the law that it is good. Now then it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me. For I know that in me that is, in my flesh, dwelleth no good thing: For the good that I would I do not: Le tavolette di cera erano assicelle di legno ricoperte da uno strato abbastanza spesso di cera che veniva incisa da uno stilo.
Avevano il vantaggio di essere riutilizzabili: Erano utilizzate anche le cortecce di albero, come per esempio quelle della Tilia , e altri materiali consimili. Secondo Erodoto Storie 5: La parola greca per papiro come materiale di scrittura biblion e libro biblos proviene dal porto fenicio di Biblo , da dove si esportava il papiro verso la Grecia. Tomus fu usato dai latini con lo stesso significato di volumen vedi sotto anche la spiegazione di Isidoro di Siviglia. Che fossero fatti di papiro, pergamena o carta, i rotoli furono la forma libraria dominante della cultura ellenistica , romana , cinese ed ebraica.
Gli autori cristiani potrebbero anche aver voluto distinguere i loro scritti dai testi pagani scritti su rotoli. La storia del libro continua a svilupparsi con la graduale transizione dal rotolo al codex , spostandosi dal Vicino Oriente del II - II millennio a. Fino al II secolo d. All'arrivo del Medioevo , circa mezzo millennio dopo, i codici - di foggia e costruzione in tutto simili al libro moderno - rimpiazzarono il rotolo e furono composti principalmente di pergamena.
Anche nei suoi distici, Marziale continua a citare il codex: Dal II secolo a. Nel mondo antico non godette di molta fortuna a causa del prezzo elevato rispetto a quello del papiro. Il libro in forma di rotolo consisteva in fogli preparati da fibre di papiro phylire disposte in uno strato orizzontale lo strato che poi riceveva la scrittura sovrapposto ad uno strato verticale la faccia opposta. La scrittura era effettuata su colonne, generalmente sul lato del papiro che presentava le fibre orizzontali.
Non si hanno molte testimonianze sui rotoli di pergamena tuttavia la loro forma era simile a quella dei libri in papiro. Gli inchiostri neri utilizzati erano a base di nerofumo e gomma arabica. Dal II secolo d. La vecchia forma libraria a rotolo scompare in ambito librario. In forma notevolmente differente permane invece in ambito archivistico. Nel Medioevo si fanno strada alcune innovazioni: Questo mezzo, permettendo l'accelerazione della produzione delle copie di testi contribuisce alla diffusione del libro e della cultura. Altri suoi distici rivelano che tra i regali fatti da Marziale c'erano copie di Virgilio , di Cicerone e Livio.
Le parole di Marziale danno la distinta impressione che tali edizioni fossero qualcosa di recentemente introdotto. Sono stati rinvenuti "taccuini" contenenti fino a dieci tavolette. Nel tempo, furono anche disponibili modelli di lusso fatti con tavolette di avorio invece che di legno. Ai romani va il merito di aver compiuto questo passo essenziale, e devono averlo fatto alcuni decenni prima della fine del I secolo d. Il grande vantaggio che offrivano rispetto ai rolli era la capienza, vantaggio che sorgeva dal fatto che la facciata esterna del rotolo era lasciata in bianco, vuota.
Il codice invece aveva scritte entrambe le facciate di ogni pagina, come in un libro moderno. La prima pagina porta il volto del poeta. I codici di cui parlava erano fatti di pergamena ; nei distici che accompagnavano il regalo di una copia di Omero , per esempio, Marziale la descrive come fatta di "cuoio con molte pieghe". Ma copie erano anche fatte di fogli di papiro. Quando i greci ed i romani disponevano solo del rotolo per scrivere libri, si preferiva usare il papiro piuttosto che la pergamena. I ritrovamenti egiziani ci permettono di tracciare il graduale rimpiazzo del rotolo da parte del codice.
Fece la sua comparsa in Egitto non molto dopo il tempo di Marziale, nel II secolo d. Il suo debutto fu modesto. A tutt'oggi sono stati rinvenuti 1. Verso il d. I ritrovamenti egiziani gettano luce anche sulla transizione del codex dal papiro alla pergamena. Sebbene gli undici codici della Bibbia datati in quel secolo fossero papiracei, esistono circa 18 codici dello stesso secolo con scritti pagani e quattro di questi sono in pergamena.
Non ne scegliemmo alcuno, ma ne raccogliemmo altri otto per i quali gli diedi dracme in conto. Il codex tanto apprezzato da Marziale aveva quindi fatto molta strada da Roma. Nel terzo secolo, quando tali codici divennero alquanto diffusi, quelli di pergamena iniziarono ad essere popolari.
In breve, anche in Egitto , la fonte mondiale del papiro , il codice di pergamena occupava una notevole quota di mercato. Sono tutti di pergamena, edizioni eleganti, scritti in elaborata calligrafia su sottili fogli di pergamena. Per tali edizioni di lusso il papiro era certamente inadatto. In almeno un'area, la giurisprudenza romana , il codex di pergamena veniva prodotto sia in edizioni economiche che in quelle di lusso. Le ragioni erano buone: La caduta dell'Impero romano nel V secolo d. Il papiro divenne difficile da reperire a causa della mancanza di contatti con l' Antico Egitto e la pergamena , che per secoli era stata tenuta in secondo piano, divenne il materiale di scrittura principale.
I monasteri continuarono la tradizione scritturale latina dell' Impero romano d'Occidente. La tradizione e lo stile dell' Impero romano predominava ancora, ma gradualmente emerse la cultura del libro medievale. I monaci irlandesi introdussero la spaziatura tra le parole nel VII secolo. L'innovazione fu poi adottata anche nei Paesi neolatini come l'Italia , anche se non divenne comune prima del XII secolo. Si ritiene che l'inserimento di spazi tra le parole abbia favorito il passaggio dalla lettura semi-vocalizzata a quella silenziosa.
Prima dell'invenzione e della diffusione del torchio tipografico , quasi tutti i libri venivano copiati a mano, il che li rendeva costosi e relativamente rari. I piccoli monasteri di solito possedevano al massimo qualche decina di libri, forse qualche centinaio quelli di medie dimensioni. Il processo della produzione di un libro era lungo e laborioso. Infine, il libro veniva rilegato dal rilegatore [26].
Le copertine erano fatte di legno e ricoperte di cuoio. Esistono testi scritti in rosso o addirittura in oro, e diversi colori venivano utilizzati per le miniature. A volte la pergamena era tutta di colore viola e il testo vi era scritto in oro o argento per esempio, il Codex Argenteus. Per tutto l'Alto Medioevo i libri furono copiati prevalentemente nei monasteri, uno alla volta. Il sistema venne gestito da corporazioni laiche di cartolai , che produssero sia materiale religioso che profano [28].
Nelle prime biblioteche pubbliche i libri venivano spesso incatenati ad una libreria o scrivania per impedirne il furto. Questi libri furono chiamati libri catenati. Vedi illustrazione a margine. L' ebraismo ha mantenuto in vita l'arte dello scriba fino ad oggi. Anche gli arabi produssero e rilegarono libri durante il periodo medievale islamico , sviluppando tecniche avanzate di calligrafia araba , miniatura e legatoria. Col metodo di controllo, solo "gli autori potevano autorizzare le copie, e questo veniva fatto in riunioni pubbliche, in cui il copista leggeva il testo ad alta voce in presenza dell'autore, il quale poi la certificava come precisa".
In xilografia , un'immagine a bassorilievo di una pagina intera veniva intarsiata su tavolette di legno, inchiostrata e usata per stampare le copie di quella pagina. Questo metodo ebbe origine in Cina , durante la Dinastia Han prima del a. I monaci o altri che le scrivevano, venivano pagati profumatamente.
I primi libri stampati, i singoli fogli e le immagini che furono creati prima del in Europa, sono noti come incunaboli. Folio 14 recto del Vergilius romanus che contiene un ritratto dell'autore Virgilio. Da notare la libreria capsa , il leggio ed il testo scritto senza spazi in capitale rustica. Leggio con libri catenati , Biblioteca Malatestiana di Cesena. Incunabolo del XV secolo. Si noti la copertina lavorata, le borchie d'angolo e i morsetti. Insegnamenti scelti di saggi buddisti , il primo libro stampato con caratteri metallici mobili, Le macchine da stampa a vapore diventarono popolari nel XIX secolo.