Henry VI Part One the Articles in This Study Guide Are Not Meant to Mirror Or Interpret Any Productions at the Utah Shakespeare Festival

Total Page:16

File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb

Henry VI Part One the Articles in This Study Guide Are Not Meant to Mirror Or Interpret Any Productions at the Utah Shakespeare Festival Insights A Study Guide to the Utah Shakespeare Festival Henry VI Part One The articles in this study guide are not meant to mirror or interpret any productions at the Utah Shakespeare Festival. They are meant, instead, to be an educational jumping-off point to understanding and enjoying the plays (in any pro- duction at any theatre) a bit more thoroughly. Therefore the stories of the plays and the interpretative articles (and even characters, at times) may differ dramatically from what is ultimately produced on the Festival’s stages. The Study Guide is published by the Utah Shakespeare Festival, 351 West Center Street; Cedar City, UT 84720. Bruce C. Lee, publications manager and editor; Clare Campbell, graphic artist. Copyright © 2018, Utah Shakespeare Festival. Please feel free to download and print The Study Guide, as long as you do not remove any identifying mark of the Utah Shakespeare Festival. For more information about Festival education programs: Utah Shakespeare Festival 351 West Center Street Cedar City, Utah 84720 435-586-7880 www.bard.org. Cover Art for Henry VI Part One by Cully Long. Henry VI Part One Contents Information on the Play Synopsis 4 Characters 5 Scholarly Articles on the Play A New Kind of Play by a New Playwright 6 Information on William Shakespeare Shakespeare: Words, Words, Words 8 Not of an Age, but for All Mankind 10 Elizabeth’s England 12 History Is Written by the Victors 13 Mr. Shakespeare, I Presume 14 A Nest of Singing Birds 15 Actors in Shakespeare’s Day 17 Audience: A Very Motley Crowd 19 Shakespearean Snapshots 22 Ghosts, Witches, and Shakespeare 24 What They Wore 26 Utah Shakespeare Festival 3 351 West Center Street • Cedar City, Utah 84720 • 435-586-7880 Synopsis Henry V’s reign has ended, and his funeral is attended by many nobles who honor the great king. His young son Henry VI is crowned king of England, and word arrives of trouble in France. The Dauphin Charles has been crowned as the French king and several towns once won by Henry V are now lost. In addition, the English hero Talbot has been taken prisoner. British noblemen rise to action while Talbot’s forces, exhausted and starving, beat the French at Orléans. Joan la Pucelle (Joan of Arc) tells Charles that she has seen visions from God and can lead the troops. Skeptical, he challenges her to single combat and she wins. She brings military strength to the French army at Orléans and defeats Talbot who has been released in exchange for a captured French lord. She spares Talbot’s life during the fighting and he contrives a sneak attack and retakes the city. In England, Gloucester, Henry VI’s protector, and his rival Winchester quarrel and encourage their fol- lowers to attack each other in the streets. Richard Plantagenet (later York) and Somerset (of Lancaster) are also rivals and their followers declare their allegiance by wearing white or red roses. Warwick pre- dicts their argument will lead to the deaths of thousands. Richard Plantagenet learns he has a claim to the English throne from his dying, imprisoned uncle Mortimer. Gloucester and Winchester’s men continue to fight, but promise to stop when pressed by the king. Upon request, Plantagenet is granted both his father’s and uncle’s titles, renaming him the Duke of York. Henry VI is crowned in Paris, and orders York and Somerset to fight the French instead of each other. As they squabble, French forces kill Talbot and his son. The English army captures and executes Joan. Suffolk captures Margaret, daughter of the king of Naples, and falls in love with her, but because he is already married, he successfully woos her on behalf of Henry, selfishly designing a way to stay close to her. England and France make a peace agreement, and Suffolk hopes that the new Queen Margaret will come to great power by dominating the King Henry VI, thereby achieving greatness for himself. 4 Utah Shakespeare Festival 351 West Center Street • Cedar City, Utah 84720 • 435-586-7880 Characters The English King Henry VI Duke of Gloucester: Uncle and protector to the young king Duke of Bedford: Uncle to the king and regent of France Thomas Beauford: Duke of Exeter, great uncle to the king Henry Beauford: Bishop of Winchester and later cardinal, great uncle to the king John Beauford: Earl, later duke, of Somerset Richard Plantagenet: Son of Richard, late earl of Cambridge, afterwards duke of York Earl of Warwick Earl of Salisbury Earl of Suffolk Lord Talbot: Afterwards Earl of Shrewsbury John Talbot: His son Edmund Mortimer: Earl of March Sir John Falstaff Sir William Lucy Sir William Glansdale Sir Thomas Gargrave Mayor of London Woodville: Lieutenant of the Tower of London Vernon: Of the White Rose or York faction Basset: Of the Red Rose or Lancaster faction A Lawyer Jailors to Mortimer The French Charles: Dolphin, and later king, of France Reignier: Duke of Anjou and Maine, King of Naples Duke of Burgundy Duke of Alanson Bastard of Orleance Governor of Paris Master Gunner of Orleance Boy: His son General: Of the French forces at Bordeaux French Sergeant Porter Shepherd: Father to Joan de Pucelle Margaret: Daughter to Reignier, afterwards married to King Henry VI Countess of Auvergne Joan la Pucelle: Also called Joan of Arc Fiends: Appearing to Joan de Pucelle Utah Shakespeare Festival 5 351 West Center Street • Cedar City, Utah 84720 • 435-586-7880 Henry VI Part One: A New Kind of Play by a New Playwright By Ace G. Pilkington Henry VI Part One (the first play in Shakespeare’s first tetralogy, which was most likely written sometime between 1589 and 1592) begins with the funeral of Henry V and ends with Henry VI’s proxy marriage to Margaret of Anjou, the French queen’s niece. In between, Lord Talbot and Joan of Arc fight it out both physically and symbolically, the English lose France, and Shakespeare contrasts one of England’s most successful kings with one of its worst failures. The Duke of Gloucester says of Henry V, “England ne’er had a king until his time./ Virtue he had, deserving to command./ His brandished sword did blind men with his beams./ His arms spread wider than a dragon’s wings.” While most of that is hyperbole, the last line of Gloucester’s speech about his dead brother is much closer to the truth, “He ne’er lift up his hand but conquered” (all references to the play are from The Norton Shakespeare Based on the Oxford Edition [London: Norton, 1997], 1.1.8-11 and 16). In William Shakespeare, the Wars of the Roses and the Historians, Keith Dockray says something very similar but with more examples, “Henry V was probably the greatest English general before Marlborough in the early eighteenth century; his great success at Agincourt . thoroughly humiliated the French, and as a result, the English gained a reputation for invincibility . that was to last until the catastrophic defeat of Henry VI’s forces in Formigny in 1450” ([Oxford: Fonthill Media, 2016], 56). Nor is it hard to find other examples of Henry V’s remarkable abilities. Tito Livio, whose patron was Duke Humphrey (Gloucester) himself, wrote around 1437 that the king was “taller than most men . his limbs slender and marvelously strong. Indeed, he was miraculously fleet of foot, faster than any dog or arrow. Often he would run with his companions in pursuit of the swiftest of does and he . would always be the one to catch the creature” (cited in Elizabeth Hallam, ed. The Chronicles of The Wars of the Roses [Wane, NJ: CLB International, 1988], 119). Henry V was held up as the ideal medieval king, but unlike some of his contemporaries (and his son), he also had modern skills. In 1453, the actual Lord Talbot (as opposed to Shakespeare’s ever-heroic avatar) “made a textbook error, leading a cavalry charge uphill against a fortified camp defended by 300 cannon. One in ten of his troops was killed before they reached the pali- sades, including Talbot himself. From that day the only English possession left in France was . Calais” (Rebecca Fraser, The Story of Britain [New York: Norton, 2005], 224). Henry V, on the other hand, “studied the art of war and used artillery on a scale hitherto unknown, reducing strongly fortified towns by bombardment and fierce assault” (Hallam 122). No wonder Michael Hattaway says (in his Introduction to The First Part of King Henry VI), “Henry V will haunt the ensuing action like the Ghost in Hamlet, he is a presence whose honour, prowess, and acquisi- tion of empire throw into contrast the attacks of fatalism and debilitating piety suffered by his contemplative son” (New Cambridge Shakespeare series [Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1990], 5). In Derek Wilson’s words, “What lay at the root of widespread and growing discontent was the personal ineffectiveness of the king. Not only was Henry the first king not to lead his armies in foreign battle, he was also incapable of directing policy” (The Plantagenet Chronicles 1154-1485 [New York: Metro Books, 2011], 328-329). 6 Utah Shakespeare Festival 351 West Center Street • Cedar City, Utah 84720 • 435-586-7880 There was another sense in which Henry V was a part of this story, a part of the new kind of history and the new history plays that were becoming popular in Shakespeare’s London fol- lowing the English victory over the Spanish Armada. There was a general notion that history should contain more fact than fable, more real events than instructive examples.
Recommended publications
  • FRENCH INFLUENCES on ENGLISH RESTORATION THEATRE a Thesis
    FRENCH INFLUENCES ON ENGLISH RESTORATION THEATRE A thesis submitted to the faculty of San Francisco State University In partial fulfillment of A the requirements for the Degree 2oK A A Master of Arts * In Drama by Anne Melissa Potter San Francisco, California Spring 2016 Copyright by Anne Melissa Potter 2016 CERTIFICATION OF APPROVAL I certify that I have read French Influences on English Restoration Theatre by Anne Melissa Potter, and that in my opinion this work meets the criteria for approving a thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirement for the degree Master of Arts: Drama at San Francisco State University. Bruce Avery, Ph.D. < —•— Professor of Drama "'"-J FRENCH INFLUENCES ON RESTORATION THEATRE Anne Melissa Potter San Francisco, California 2016 This project will examine a small group of Restoration plays based on French sources. It will examine how and why the English plays differ from their French sources. This project will pay special attention to the role that women played in the development of the Restoration theatre both as playwrights and actresses. It will also examine to what extent French influences were instrumental in how women develop English drama. I certify that the abstract rrect representation of the content of this thesis PREFACE In this thesis all of the translations are my own and are located in the footnote preceding the reference. I have cited plays in the way that is most helpful as regards each play. In plays for which I have act, scene and line numbers I have cited them, using that information. For example: I.ii.241-244.
    [Show full text]
  • In Praise of Folly: a Cursory Review and Appreciation Five Centuries Later
    Page 1 of 7 Original Research In Praise of Folly: A cursory review and appreciation five centuries later Author: Desiderius Erasmus was a humanist reformer concerned with reforming the civil and 1 Raymond Potgieter ecclesiastical structures of his society. In reformed circles, much attention is paid to his role in Affiliation: the Lutheran controversy. Despite this, his powerful influence continues to this day. Erasmus’ 1Faculty of Theology, particular fool’s literature, Moriae Encomium (1509), revealed his humanist concerns for civil North-West University, and ecclesial society as a whole. He employed folly as a rhetorical instrument in satirical Potchefstroom Campus, South Africa manner, evoking readers’ amusement from numerous charges against the perceived multi- layered social reality of the day. Five hundred years later the person of Folly may still perform Correspondence to: this same task in Christian society. That was Erasmus’ point – the church is not to be seen as Raymond Potgieter an island, it shares in the structures of society and is therefore still subject to its share of critical Email: comments. [email protected] Postal address: PO Box 19491, Noordbrug ‘Lof der Zotheid’: ‘n oorsig en evaluering vyf eeue later. Desiderius Erasmus was ’n humanis 2522, South Africa wat gepoog het om hom te beywer vir die hervorming van die burgerlike en kerklike strukture Dates: van sy tyd. In gereformeerde kringe word sy rol in die Lutherse twisgeskil beklemtoon. Received: 30 Mar. 2015 Sy verreikende invloed word steeds vandag gevoel. Erasmus se gekke-literatuur, Moriae Accepted: 23 July 2015 Encomium (1509), het sy besorgdheid rakende die burgerlike en ekklesiastiese samelewing Published: 29 Sept.
    [Show full text]
  • Writing the Shakespeare Mask: the Novelist's Choices
    Writing The Shakespeare Mask: The Novelist’s Choices Newton Frohlich *Corresponding Author: [email protected] Copyright©2016 by authors, all rights reserved. Authors agree that this article remains permanently open access under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License 4.0 International License Abstract The authorship of the works of Shakespeare by de Vere is depicted from when he was five to the time of his the glover from Stratford -on-Avon has been considered a tragic death, including his "favored," sexual relationship myth almost from its inception. No less than Charles Dickins, with the queen and his intimate relationship with Emilia Mark Twain, Henry and William James, Ralph Waldo Bassano, who is widely accepted as the "Dark Lady" of Emerson, Herman Melville, Walt Whitman, Royal Shake-speare's Sonnets. (There is no evidence of any Shakespeare Company actors John Gielgud, Derek Jacobi, relationship between the Stratford man and Emilia Bassano.) Jeremy Irons, and Michael York, British Prime Minister In short, while the documentary evidence of de Vere's -- or Benjamin Disraeli, five United States Supreme Court the Stratford man's -- authorship of the works of Shakespeare Justices, and thousands who signed a Declaration of Doubt is missing, the circumstantial evidence of de Vere's About Will circulating the World-Wide Web have attested to authorship is overwhelming. And as United States Supreme their doubts. In response to the request by his publisher, Court Justice John Paul Stevens puts it, "circumstantial author Newton Frohlich, commencing research connected evidence can be as persuasive as documentary evidence with a sequel to his novel about Columbus, came across especially where, as here, there's so much of it.
    [Show full text]
  • Redating Pericles: a Re-Examination of Shakespeare’S
    REDATING PERICLES: A RE-EXAMINATION OF SHAKESPEARE’S PERICLES AS AN ELIZABETHAN PLAY A THESIS IN Theatre Presented to the Faculty of the University of Missouri-Kansas City in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree MASTER OF ARTS by Michelle Elaine Stelting University of Missouri Kansas City December 2015 © 2015 MICHELLE ELAINE STELTING ALL RIGHTS RESERVED REDATING PERICLES: A RE-EXAMINATION OF SHAKESPEARE’S PERICLES AS AN ELIZABETHAN PLAY Michelle Elaine Stelting, Candidate for the Master of Arts Degree University of Missouri-Kansas City, 2015 ABSTRACT Pericles's apparent inferiority to Shakespeare’s mature works raises many questions for scholars. Was Shakespeare collaborating with an inferior playwright or playwrights? Did he allow so many corrupt printed versions of his works after 1604 out of indifference? Re-dating Pericles from the Jacobean to the Elizabethan era answers these questions and reveals previously unexamined connections between topical references in Pericles and events and personalities in the court of Elizabeth I: John Dee, Philip Sidney, Edward de Vere, and many others. The tournament impresas, alchemical symbolism of the story, and its lunar and astronomical imagery suggest Pericles was written long before 1608. Finally, Shakespeare’s focus on father-daughter relationships, and the importance of Marina, the daughter, as the heroine of the story, point to Pericles as written for a young girl. This thesis uses topical references, Shakespeare’s anachronisms, Shakespeare’s sources, stylometry and textual analysis, as well as Henslowe’s diary, the Stationers' Register, and other contemporary documentary evidence to determine whether there may have been versions of Pericles circulating before the accepted date of 1608.
    [Show full text]
  • Top Left-Hand Corner
    Department of English ”Art Made Tongue-tied By Authority”? The Shakespeare Authorship Question Lars Lindholm Bachelor Degree Project Literature VT 2012 Supervisor: Marion Helfer Wajngot Abstract The essay presents the scholarly controversy over the correct attribution of the works by “Shakespeare”. The main alternative author is Edward de Vere, 17th earl of Oxford. 16th century conventions allowed noblemen to write poetry or drama only for private circulation. To appear in print, such works had to be anonymous or under pseudonym. Overtly writing for public theatre, a profitable business, would have been a degrading conduct. Oxford‟s contemporary fame as an author is little matched by known works. Great gaps in relevant sources indicate that documents concerning not only his person and authorship but also the life of Shakspere from Stratford, the alleged author, have been deliberately eliminated in order to transfer the authorship, for which the political authority of the Elizabethan and Jacobean autocratic society had motive and resources enough. A restored identity would imply radical redating of plays and poems. To what extent literature is autobiographical, or was in that age, and whether restoring a lost identity from written works is legitimate at all, are basic issues of the debate, always implying tradition without real proof versus circumstantial evidence. As such arguments are incompatible, both sides have incessantly missed their targets. The historical conditions for the sequence of events that created the fiction, and its main steps, are related. Oxford will be in focus, since most old and new evidence for making a case has reference to him. The views of the two parties on different points are presented by continual quoting from representative recent works by Shakespeare scholars, where the often scornful tone of the debate still echoes.
    [Show full text]
  • The Shakespeare Controversy
    Brief Chronicles Vol. I (2009) 277 Book Reviews !e Shakespeare Controversy 2nd Edition By Warren Hope and Kim Holston Je!erson: NC, McFarland, 2009 Reviewed by R. "omas Hunter knew I liked this book from its !rst words. “For too long” Delia Bacon has been misunderstood and misrepresented as has her symbolic function for Shakespeare I authorship studies: “an unworldly pursuit of truth that produces gifts for a world that is indi"erent or hostile to them.” Anyone who has labored in the vineyards of authorship study knows how well that statement expresses their experience. #e second accomplishment of authors Warren Hope and Kim Holston in the early pages of !e Shakespeare Controversy is to help untangle the web of Ms. Bacon’s seminal work, which !rst articulated the authorship issue and gave birth to subsequent generations of research, reading, and speculation, !e Philosophy of the Plays of Shakespeare Unfolded. #us, from its very beginning, the authors of this recently revised history of the Shakespeare authorship controversy provide an engaging and a very necessary primer into the history of the controversy and its progression toward Edward De Vere, the 17th Earl of Oxford as the true author of Shakespeare’s works. It is at the same time more complete, more reasonable, and more readable than anything Stratfordian Professor Samuel Shoenbaum, who tended toward hysteria whenever he addressed authorship literature, ever provided in his histories of Shakespearean biography. Indeed in their introduction, the authors remark on how histories of authorship produced by the traditional camp have all been a$icted with “a dreary sameness…[that] there is no Shakespeare authorship question, really, only a gabble of cranks who think there is.
    [Show full text]
  • Could Shakespeare Think Like a Lawyer? How Inheritance Law Issues in Hamlet May Shed Light on the Authorship Question
    University of Miami Law Review Volume 57 Number 2 Article 4 1-1-2003 Could Shakespeare Think Like a Lawyer? How Inheritance Law Issues in Hamlet May Shed Light on the Authorship Question Thomas Regnier Follow this and additional works at: https://repository.law.miami.edu/umlr Recommended Citation Thomas Regnier, Could Shakespeare Think Like a Lawyer? How Inheritance Law Issues in Hamlet May Shed Light on the Authorship Question, 57 U. Miami L. Rev. 377 (2003) Available at: https://repository.law.miami.edu/umlr/vol57/iss2/4 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Journals at University of Miami School of Law Institutional Repository. It has been accepted for inclusion in University of Miami Law Review by an authorized editor of University of Miami School of Law Institutional Repository. For more information, please contact [email protected]. COMMENT Could Shakespeare Think Like a Lawyer? How Inheritance Law Issues in Hamlet May Shed Light on the Authorship Question Shakespeare couldn't have written Shakespeare's works, for the reason that the man who wrote them was limitlessly familiar with the laws, and the law-courts, and law-proceedings, and lawyer-talk, and lawyer-ways-and if Shakespeare was possessed of the infinitely- divided star-dust that constituted this vast wealth, how did he get it, and where, and when? . [A] man can't handle glibly and easily and comfortably and successfully the argot of a trade at which he has not personally served. He will make mistakes; he will not, and can- not, get the trade-phrasings precisely and exactly right; and the moment he departs, by even a shade, from a common trade-form, the reader who has served that trade will know the writer hasn't.
    [Show full text]
  • Chapter III Ewing in Ireland 14 the Father of Senator Thomas Ewing of Ohio
    CHAPTER III EWING IN IRELAND In 1688, William of Orange, Prince of Holland, and his lovely wife, Mary, were made King and Queen of England. Mary's father, King James II of England, was so unpopular that he was forced to flee from England to France. The next year, 1689, James II came to Ireland with a small army of French soldiers and took command of all the Catholic Armies who were trying to get the throne from William and Mary, who were Protestant. James II was a Catholic, as has been stated, and William of Orange, a Protestant, was now William III, King of England. The Protestants of England and Scotland, as well as Ireland, were for the most part loyal to William of Orange and were known as “Orangemen.” The Catholics who were loyal to James II were called “Jacobites.” Thomas Babington Macaulay in The History of England, Volume III, gives one of the best written and most thoroughly researched accounts of the Siege of Londonderry, Ireland on the River Foyle that has ever been recorded. The Protestant stronghold was there, and in March, 1689, the Jacobites tried to take the walled city. The gates were, of necessity, closed and the defenders inside the city walls were starving to death. The Jacobites threatened to let them all die unless the city surrendered. After 105 days, on July 29, 1689 King William's ships sailed up Loch Foyle into the River Foyle and ended the Siege of Londonderry. We know from two old poems that there were men named EWING there.
    [Show full text]
  • 'Fhe Shakespeare :7Vewsletter
    'fhe Shakespeare :7Vewsletter Vo 1.35:no.4 "L et me study so, to know the thing I am fo rbid to know" Winter 2000 Shakespeare's Society opens its library, "Bad Law" establishes an EndowlTIent A journey through Two long-standing goals becon1e realities the history of through the generosity of our supporters the argUl1'lents notiler major step has been taken in the Shakespeare Oxford Society's By MarkAndreAlexander Aadvancement of Oxfordian author­ n Shakespeare, IN FA CT (1994), Irvin ship research. Leigh Matus attempts to dispose of any With several significant grantsand do­ notions that Shakespeare had a fo rmal nations already received this year, we have legalI education and used legal terms accu­ been able to take major steps within the past several months in fulfillmentof several long­ rately: standing goals of the Society: a permanent Shakespeare Oxford Society Endowment The question of his legal knowledge has Fund has been established, and the Society been most recently [sic] tackled by O. Hood has rented (in Malden, MA) space to house Phillips, aj urist, legal scholar and educator, in its library, archives and office. The library Shakespeare and the Lawyers. In the chapter, consists of book collections donated to the "Did Shakespeare have a Legal Training?" he Society over the years, with the gathered and summarized the varying opin­ CheJyle Sims, one of the Directors of the centerpiece being the Victor Crichton ions that have been handed down. The most Gertrude C. Ford Foundation, addressed Collection. reliable assessment oftheplay wright' s knowl­ For many years it had been a goal ofthe the Conference at the Saturday luncheon, edge of law, in his opinion, is that of P.
    [Show full text]
  • Summer 2000 Page 3
    'the Shakeseeare ]Vewsletter Vo1.36:no.2 "Let me study so, to know the thing I am forbid to knoyv" SlUnmer 2000 An emerging The not ...too- hidden l(ey "crypto-Catholic" to Minerva Britanna theory challenges The Latin phrase ({by the mind 7' Stratfordians shall be seen" may mean just that By Peter W. Dickson By Roger Stritmatter till unbeknownst to many Oxfordians, the Stratfordians are increasingly per­ Na mes are divine notes, and plexed as to how to salvage the incum­ divine notes do 1I0tifiejilfure even ts; bent Bard in the face ofthe growing popular­ so that evellts consequently must ity of the thesis that he was a secret Roman lurk ill names, which only can be Catholic, at least prior to his arrival in Lon­ plyed into by this mysteIJI ... don, and perhaps to the end of his life, William Camden; "Anagrams" consistent with Richard Davies observation in Remaills ConcerningBritannia in the 1670s, that "he dyed a papist." The mere willingness to explore the evi­ inerva Britanna, the 1612 dence fo r the Shakspere family's religious emblem book written and orientation was strongly discouraged or sup­ M·llustrated by Henry pressed for centuries for one simple and Peacham, has long been consid­ quite powerfulreason: the works of Shake­ The title page to Hemy Peacham's Minerva Britanna ered the most sophisticated exem­ speare had become-along with the King (1612) has become one of the more intriguing-and plar of the emblem book tradition James'VersionoftheBible-amajorcultural controversial-artifacts in the authorship mystely. everpublished in England.
    [Show full text]
  • The Electronic Edition of +The Second Cryptographic Shakespeare+ Copyright 1990 by Penn Leary Permission Is Granted to Quote Up
    The Electronic edition of +The Second Cryptographic Shakespeare+ Copyright 1990 by Penn Leary Permission is granted to quote up to 500 words, except for quotations from other writers for which I have received permissions. The GWBASIC pro- gram, shown near the end of this text, I have placed in the public domain. It is also available from Westchester House, Publishers, 218 So. 95th St. Omaha NE 68114. Cost is $5.00 postpaid on an MS-DOS DD 5 1/2" disk. The book itself is still available from the publisher, $15 postpaid. 313 pages, 16 photo illustrations, bibliography, index. Words marked with + indicate italic text. Title Page. Why how now gentleman: why this is flat knaverie to take upon you another mans's name. William Shakespeare: Taming of the Shrew, iv, 1, 127 +Wherefore let us come to+ CYPHARS. Their kinds are many as, +Cyphars simple; Cyphars intermixt with Nulloes+, or non-significant Characters; +Cyphers of double Letters under one Character; Wheele-Cyphars; Kay-Cyphars; Cyphars of words; Others.+ Francis Bacon: +The Advancement of Learning+ THE SECOND CRYPTOGRAPHIC SHAKESPEARE A MONOGRAPH WHEREIN THE POEMS AND PLAYS ATTRIBUTED TO WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE ARE PROVEN TO CONTAIN THE ENCIPHERED NAME OF THE CONCEALED AUTHOR, FRANCIS BACON BY PENN LEARY THE ENLARGED SECOND EDITION While supplies last, a copy of the book may be obtained from WESTCHESTER HOUSE, PUBLISHERS, 218 SOUTH NINETY-FIFTH, OMAHA, NEBR., U.S.A. 68114 Price $15 p.p. COPYRIGHT 1990 BY PENN LEARY ALL RIGHTS RESERVED Library of Congress Catalog Card Number 90-90117 Quotations excerpted from +The Man Who Saw Through Time+ Copyright by Loren Eiseley, 1973, reprinted with permission of Charles Scribners Sons, New York City.
    [Show full text]
  • Becoming an Oxfordian: the Phenomenology of Shifting Research Paradigms In
    Becoming an Oxfordian: The Phenomenology of Shifting Research Paradigms in Shakespearean Biography1 1.0 Experiencing a New Shakespeare A year before she was to publish her 1922 book The Shakespeare Garden, American author, journalist and polymath Esther Singleton came across a book that was to change her life. It purported that the author of the plays and poems of Shakespeare was not the businessman from Stratford-Upon-Avon but instead a highly-placed Earl who secretly wrote under the pseudonym Shake-Speare. Overwhelmed by this revelation, she re-read the book multiple times before expressing her thoughts on the matter. She wrote, I cannot explain the effect that this discovery has had upon me. All the plays that I know so well, that I have read and reread since childhood until they have become bone of my bone and flesh of my flesh, are now more wonderful. Some things that have been obscure have become as clear as glass; more true in their philosophy; more brilliant in their wit; more sincere in their scholarship; more charming in their tenderness; more subtle in their delicacy; more penetrating in their wisdom; and truer to life…2 The book that had affected her so was the recently-published Shakespeare Identified in Edward de Vere, 17th Earl of Oxford by J. Thomas Looney,3 a ground-breaking work of investigation that would create a movement of Shakespeare enthusiasts calling themselves Oxfordians following in Looney’s footsteps. With the centenary of Shakespeare Identified approaching, it now seems appropriate to consider afresh the impact of Looney’s work – not so much on the production of Shakespeare biographies, for those proceed apace as always – rather, we should examine the lived experience of Oxfordians themselves, and consider the intellectual and emotional phenomenon so eloquently described by Singleton.
    [Show full text]