Shakespeare's Voice As Spoken by His Characters
Total Page：16
File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb
SHAKESPEARE’S VOICE AS SPOKEN BY HIS CHARACTERS MICHAEL G. AUDLEY-CHARLES SHAKESPEARE’S VOICE AS SPOKEN BY HIS CHARACTERS: A review of the 37 plays of Shakespeare MICHAEL G. AUDLEY-CHARLES Emeritus Professor and Fellow UCL Copyright © Michael G. Audley-Charles. All rights reserved. Office of the Vice Provost Research, University College, London, 2 Taviton Street, London WC1E 0BT This edition: 2013 Cover Image from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Shakespeare_Droeshout_1623.jpg List of Contents Notes and Acknowledgements page 3 List of Plays page 5 Foreword page 7 Preface Shakespeare’s voice as spoken by his characters. page 9 Part 1 Imagined realities enriched by a great variety of created characters in diverse scenes Chapter 1. An Introduction and Acknowledgements page 13 Chapter 2. Did Shakespeare write with any moral purpose? page 29 Chapter 3. Four linked themes dominate the play of Hamlet. page 55 Chapter 4. Cruelty, compassion, dignity, forgiveness & page 77 magnanimity shown by Shakespeare’s characters. Chapter 5. The great and powerful when they fall from page 87 power and influence. Chapter 6. Integrity, decency and fair play shown by page 95 powerful men in authority. Chapter 7. Shakespeare’s characters reflecting on the page 99 human condition. Part 2 Aspects of Individual and Categories of Shakespeare’s Plays Chapter 8. Introduction to the 12 Comedies. page 121 Chapter 9. Introduction, Romance plays & links Henry VIII page 143 Chapter 10. Pericles page 153 Chapter 11. Cymbeline page 169 Chapter 12. The Winter’s Tale page 177 Chapter 13. The Tempest : page 183 [1] Chapter 14. Considering Tempest & links to Henry VIII page 205 Chapter 15. Introduction to the 10 History Plays page 213 Chapter 16. The 10 Tragedies page 231 Romeo & Juliet page 237 Julius Caesar page 242 Hamlet page 256 Othello page 265 King Lear page 288 Macbeth page 318 Antony & Cleopatra page 339 Coriolanus page 345 Timon of Athens page 358 Titus Andronicus page 369 Chapter 17. Troilus & Cressida, a Greek & Roman Play page 387 Chapter 18. Conclusions page 413 [2] Notes and Acknowledgements The Oxford Dictionary of Quotations (OUP 1970) has 66 pages of quotations attributed to the writings of William Shakespeare in which there are 2369 quotations, which may reflect well over 5000 speeches, discussions, observations and comments that are present in Shakespeare’s work. It is largely from those speeches and discussions on Shakespeare’s 37 plays, as well as his, and others’ poems, that examples have been taken here. In this book all quotations from his poems and plays have been taken from various editions of the Arden Shakespeare. The writer is very much indebted to the rapid response provided by his son, Henry Audley-Charles , for cries of help, guidance, advice and repairs to his ageing PC, that Henry provided at all hours. Without this assistance over the last 3 years this book could not have been written. In addition, the writer is much for the kind help by discussion and proof readings from Elizabeth Macbeth and Janet Hulse; and for his knowledge of Shakespeare’s plays and poems in discussions with Monsieur Francis Saillart; and especially for years of proof reading, support and help with this book from my wife Brenda Amy Cordeiro. Above all, the debt I owe is to Professor David Price, Vice Provost Research. He has acted as the Editor and the guide for the whole project. This has been far from easy with changes repeatedly being made by the author and which continued after Professor Price had provided all the editorial structure for this project. The five characters from The Tempest that have been displayed in this book were sketched by Monsieur Francis Saillart. He has translated elsewhere all of Shakespeare's 154 sonnets into French, many of these translations are remarkably successful. His translation of The Tempest into French was performed on the stage in Paris in 2011 to much acclaim. In view of the importance of The Tempest, and to the other three Romance plays, Francis Saillart has kindly permitted us to display a copy of five of his sketches that can be seen on pages of this book that is focused on Shakespeare's words spoken by his characters. A number of people, from various parts of the world have, over many years, participated in an annual commemoration and rejoicing over the life and work of William Shakespeare, that used to take place in East Sussex , but this moved 20 years ago to southwest France, since when it led to the writing of this book. The anniversaries include a lunch, with what we trust is, as close as we can make it possible to traditional fare, of a kind that we hope would have been recognised by Will Shakespeare. We cannot pretend that these lunches, in their quantity, would have satisfied Sir John Falstaff, whose passing, with many other of Shakespeare’s characters, are also remembered and honoured at these annual lunches, celebrated at La Serre on every 23rd of April, the anniversary of the birth, and honoured at this same anniversary of death of William Shakespeare. MGA-C La Serre [3] [4] List Of Shakespeare’s Plays (Some of these dates remain to be settled by scholars) An introduction to the ten History of England plays A listing and discussion of Shakespeare’s history plays with the date of writing and dates of the reigning monarch are provided on pages 216-217. Chapter 15 provides a condensed text of some of the history plays, with a particular emphasis on King Henry VIII. All the earlier plays were written before 1600. The high quality and range of the published discussions of the history of England plays has led to this book only attempting to deal with some particular issues related to some aspects of some of Shakespeare’s History of England plays. They tend to have been widely distributed through the text. Henry VIIIh has been discussed in several places with the Romances and especially with The Tempest. Date of writing Location of play Henry VI i 1590 England & France p. 213 Henry VI ii 1590 England & France p. 213 Henry VI iii 1590 England & France p. 213 Richard III 1592 England p. 213 Richard II 1595 England p. 213 King John 1596 England & France p. 234 Henry IV i 1596 England p. 213 Henry IV ii 1598 England p. 213 Henry V 1598 England & France p. 213 Henry VIII 1612 England p. 143, 205, 213 Ten Tragedies Date of writing Location of play Titus Andronicus 1593 Roman play p. 369 Romeo & Juliet 1594 Italy p. 237 Julius Caesar 1599 Roman play p. 244 Hamlet 1600 Denmark p. 256 Othello 1604 Italy p. 265 King Lear 1605 England p. 288 Macbeth 1605 Scotland & England p. 318 Antony & Cleopatra 1606 Roman play p. 339 Coriolanus 1607 Roman play p. 345 Timon of Athens 1607 Greek play p. 358 Twelve Comedies Date of writing Location of play Two Gentlemen of Verona 1593 ? Italy p. 121 The Taming of the Shrew 1593 ? Italy p. 121 The Comedy of Errors 1592 Ancient Greek City p. 121 Loves Labours Lost 1594 Kingdom of Navarre (NE Spain) p. 121 Midsummer Night’s Dream 1595 Greece p. 121 Merchant of Venice 1596 ? Italy p. 121 Much Ado About Nothing 1598 Italy p. 121 As You Like It 1599 England p. 121 Twelfth Night 1599 Illyria and Adriatic coast p. 121 [5] Merry Wives of Windsor 1600 England p.121 All’s Well that Ends Well 1602 France & Italy p.121 Measure for Measure 1604 Vienna p.121 Greek and Roman Plays There are seven Greek & Roman plays also classified by some scholars as tragedies: Troilus & Cressida is the only one of these plays that is not also classified as a tragedy. That is the reason here for only classifying Troilus & Cressida as a Greek & Roman play Date of writing Location of play Troilus & Cressida 1601-1602 Troy & Greece p. 387 Four Romances or Tragi-comedies Commentary on The Tempest and its important links to the play King Henry VIII, includes very brief mention of Shakespeare’s rejection of the concept of life after death, and its associated concept of the punishment of sin after death. See Chapter 8 Twelfth Night p.131, Chapter 9 p. 145, but Chapter 14 provides extended discussion of these issues. Date of writing Location of play Pericles 1608 Mediterranean various locations. p. 153 Cymbeline 1609 England & Italy p. 169 The Winter’s Tale 1610 Sicily & Bohemia p. 177 The Tempest 1611 Italy& Mediterranean p. 183, 205 [6] Foreword A review of Shakespeare’s 37 plays Shakespeare created hundreds of speaking characters for the actors in his 37 plays, and that included the women’s parts played by boys and young men. It is widely recognised that the great range of his poetry and prose spoken on the stage, and preserved in his published plays, is exceptional, felicitous and individual . Shakespeare died when he was 52 at his home in Stratford Avon in 1616. This book is not in any way biographical, nor is it concerned with any historical questions about the authorship of his plays. It is intended not only for the reader who may not be familiar with Shakespeare’s plays, but also for those who are interested in the implications of the enormous amount and variety of Shakespeare’s texts spoken by his actors and accessible to readers. The book discusses the characters created by Shakespeare who range from the very rich and powerful and through the whole of the middle and poorest members of society. This book is concerned with how these characters react to authority and the law, how they express forgiveness, compassion, cruelty, kindness, greed, ambition, weakness and strength, as well as integrity and moral purpose.