Shakespeare's Voice As Spoken by His Characters
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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 2nd Edition 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 second edition: 2016 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 Shakespeare's experiences as a young man page 7 A review of Shakespeare’s 37 plays page 15 Shakespeare’s voice as spoken by his characters. Preface page 17 Part 1 Imagined realities enriched by a great variety of created characters in diverse scenes Chapter 1. An Introduction and Acknowledgements page 21 Chapter 2. Did Shakespeare write with any moral purpose? page 37 Chapter 3. Four linked themes dominate the play of Hamlet. page 63 Chapter 4. Cruelty, compassion, dignity, forgiveness & page 85 magnanimity shown by Shakespeare’s characters. Chapter 5. The great and powerful when they fall from page 95 power and influence. Chapter 6. Integrity, decency and fair play shown by page 103 powerful men in authority. Chapter 7. Shakespeare’s characters reflecting on the page 107 human condition. Part 2 Aspects of Individual and Categories of Shakespeare’s Plays Chapter 8. Introduction to the 12 Comedies. page 129 Chapter 9. Introduction, Romance plays & links to Henry VIII page 151 Chapter 10. Pericles page 161 Chapter 11. Cymbeline page 177 [1] Chapter 12. The Winter’s Tale page 185 Chapter 13. The Tempest page 191 Chapter 14. Considering Tempest & links to Henry VIII page 213 Chapter 15. Introduction to the 10 History Plays page 221 Chapter 16. The 10 Tragedies Romeo & Juliet page 245 Julius Caesar page 252 Hamlet page 264 Othello page 273 King Lear page 296 Macbeth page 326 Antony & Cleopatra page 347 Coriolanus page 353 Timon of Athens page 366 Titus Andronicus page 377 Chapter 17. Troilus & Cressida, a Greek & Roman Play page 395 Chapter 18. Conclusions page 421 [2] Notes and Acknowledgements This second edition of Shakespeare’s voice as spoken by his characters corrects the minor typographical errors to be found in the first edition, but also includes an introduction on Shakespeare's experiences as a young man, previously published as a stand alone essay at http://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/1420633/. 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 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 indebted to Monsieur Francis Saillart for his knowledge of Shakespeare’s plays and poems shared during our many discussions. I am also indebted to my wife Brenda Amy Cordeiro for years of support, and for proof reading and help with this book. Finally, I acknowledge the debt I owe to Professor David Price of UCL. He has acted as the Editor and the guide for the whole 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 the 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 224-225. 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. 221 Henry VI ii 1590 England & France p. 221 Henry VI iii 1590 England & France p. 221 Richard III 1592 England p. 221 Richard II 1595 England p. 221 King John 1596 England & France p. 242 Henry IV i 1596 England p. 221 Henry IV ii 1598 England p. 221 Henry V 1598 England & France p. 221 Henry VIII 1612 England p. 151, 213, 221 Ten Tragedies Date of writing Location of play Titus Andronicus 1593 Roman play p. 377 Romeo & Juliet 1594 Italy p. 245 Julius Caesar 1599 Roman play p. 252 Hamlet 1600 Denmark p. 264 Othello 1604 Italy p. 273 King Lear 1605 England p. 296 Macbeth 1605 Scotland & England p. 326 Antony & Cleopatra 1606 Roman play p. 347 Coriolanus 1607 Roman play p. 353 Timon of Athens 1607 Greek play p. 366 Twelve Comedies Date of writing Location of play Two Gentlemen of Verona 1593 ? Italy p. 129 The Taming of the Shrew 1593 ? Italy p. 129 The Comedy of Errors 1592 Ancient Greek City p. 129 Loves Labours Lost 1594 Kingdom of Navarre (NE Spain) p. 129 Midsummer Night’s Dream 1595 Greece p. 129 Merchant of Venice 1596 ? Italy p. 129 Much Ado About Nothing 1598 Italy p. 129 As You Like It 1599 England p. 129 Twelfth Night 1599 Illyria and Adriatic coast p. 129 [5] Merry Wives of Windsor 1600 England p.129 All’s Well that Ends Well 1602 France & Italy p.129 Measure for Measure 1604 Vienna p.129 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. 395 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. 161 Cymbeline 1609 England & Italy p. 177 The Winter’s Tale 1610 Sicily & Bohemia p. 185 The Tempest 1611 Italy& Mediterranean p. 191, 213 [6] Shakespeare's experiences as a young man in continental Europe Introduction The 23rd April 2014 marked the 450th anniversary of the birth of William Shakespeare in the town of Stratford on Avon, that is situated in the middle of England. This paper is written as a contribution to the celebration of his work. We present here the case and explanation for the reason why, perhaps counter to expectations, the majority of his plays were set in places outside England and Scotland. The majority of his plays were in fact set in continental European countries, namely: Italy, Sicily, Bohemia, Greece, Denmark, Illyria, and the Adriatic coast as well as in France, Vienna, and in what was then called Troy (which is now called Hisarlik) in NW Turkey. The following pages of this paper will go some way, we hope, to explain why and how it was that from 1592 and continuing until 1611 he was able to describe in his plays in great detail the nature of life in foreign lands.