DOCSLIB.ORG

Homeless Shakespeare His Fabricated Life from Cradle to Grave

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Homeless Shakespeare His Fabricated Life from Cradle to Grave “The biographers must re-write their Lives of Shakespeare.” — An Eighteenth Century Critic Homeless Shakespeare His Fabricated Life from Cradle to Grave By E. M. Dutton ―The biographers must re-write their Lives of Shakespeare.‖ —A Critic Homeless Shakespeare His Fabricated Life from Cradle to Grave By E. M. Dutton 1 The Idol By Dr. Holmes An idol? Man was born to worship such. An idol is the image of his thoughts; Sometimes he carves it out of gleaming stone, And sometimes moulds it out of glittering gold. Or rounds it in a mighty frescoed dome, Or lifts it heavenward in a lofty spire. Or shapes it in a cunning frame of words. Or pays his priest to make it, day by day. For sense must have its god as well as soul. The time is racked with birth pangs. Every hour Brings forth some gasping truth; and truth new born Looks a misshapen and untimely growth; The terror of the household and its shame, A monster coiling in its nurse‘s lap That some would strangle, some would only starve; But still it breathes, and passed from hand to hand. And suckled at a hundred half-clad breasts. Comes slowly to its stature and its form; Welcomed by all that curst its hour of birth, And folded in the same encircling arms That cast it like a serpent from their hold. ―Be sure and smash the idol, Shakespere, if you can, with the powerful weapons of fact, before you attempt to set up any poetical divinity in his place.‖ —John H. Stotsenburg (1904) ―The faults of great authors are generally excellences carried to an excess.‖ —Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1772–1834) 1 ―In sheer despair of ascertaining facts, the majority of biographers have been content to weave a tissue of fictions.‖ —C. M. Ingleby (1877) 2 ―The delusions are based upon prejudice and preconceived ideas, and die very hard.‖ —Sir George Greenwood 1 Miscellanies, p. 149. 2 Shakespeare: The Man & the Book (London: Trubner & Co.) Vol. I. 2 CONTENTS List of Illustrations 5 Acknowledgments 6 Introduction 7 Chapter One: Introduction to William Shakespeare‘s Biographies 9 I. Nicholas Rowe (1674–1718) 9 II. Sir Sydney Lee (1859–1926) 40 III. Edmond Malone (1741–1812) 72 Chapter Two: Facts not Myths 75 I. The Birthplace 75 II. The Droeshout Image 81 III. Shakespere‘s Religion 83 IV. Journey to London 90 V. Which Anne? 93 VI. John Shakespere‘s Religion 104 VII. Shakespere‘s Funeral 106 Chapter Three: Shakespearean References with Historical Facts 113 I. Elizabethan Times 115 II. Last Will & Testament of Willemi Shackspeare 127 III. Displeasure Entertains Fables 135 Chapter Four: The First Folio (1623) 141 I. The Editing 145 II. The Printers & Editors 146 III. The Publication 150 IV. The Plays 153 Chapter Five: The Forgers 163 I. Shakespeare‘s Alleged Portraits 164 II. Important Forgeries 171 III. John Payne Collier (b.1789) 178 Chapter Six: Palace of Myths 188 I. Shakespere‘s Coat-of-Arms 190 II. The Influence of Commercialism 192 III. Shakespere‘s Professions 197 Epilogue 207 Appendix A 213 Other biographers on Shakespeare‘s life Appendix B 216 The Alleged Marriage Appendix C 218 Thomas Vautrollier‘s Publications Appendix D 223 Richard Field‘s Publications 3 Appendix E 225 Schoolmasters and Clergymen of Stratford From 1546 to 1792 Bibliography 226 Index 233 4 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS Frontispiece: Sketch from Charles Knight‘s William Shakspere (1865) Digital Processing ©2011 Sergio Verrecchia Illustration 01: Nicholas Rowe (1674–1718) 10 Illustration 02: Thomas Betterton (1635–1710) 11 Illustration 03: William Oldys (1696–1761) 13 Illustration 04: John Aubrey (1626–1697) 16 Illustration 05: Additional passage about Shakespeare by John Aubrey 19 Illustration 06: Sir Sidney Lee (1859–1926) 40 Illustration 07: Samples of John Shakespere‘s mark 45 Illustration 08: Leonard Digges‘s Eulogy from the First Folio (1623) 52 Illustration 09: Wenceslas Hollar‘s Sketch (Dugdale‘s Warwickshire Antiquities 1656) 57 Illustration 10: Sir William Dugdale (1605–1686) 60 Illustration 11: Various Sketches of the ―Stratford Moniment‖ 61 Illustration 12: Edmond Malone (1741–1812) Painted by J. Reynolds c.1774 72 Illustration 13: Two left sleeves 83 Illustration 14: Marriage license for ―Wm Shaxpere and Annam Whateley of Temple Grafton‖ registered November 27, 1582 93 Illustration 15: Marriage Bond for ―Willm Shagspere and Anne Hathwey of Stratford in the diocese of Worcester, maiden‖ entered November 28, 1582 95 Illustration 16: Caricature sketch by Arthur Moreland (1915) 102 Illustration 17: The Mermaid Tavern 116 Illustration 18: Shakespeare‘s Folios 141 Illustration 19: Droeshout, Cobbe & Sir Thomas Overbury 165 Illustration 20: George Steevens (1736–1800) 175 Illustration 21: The Harleian Collection displayed at the British Library 177 Illustration 22: Alleged signature of Shakespeare on Ovid‘s Metamorphoses 183 Illustration 23: The Irelands: Samuel (the father) and William-Henry (the son) 186 Illustration 24: Sir William D‘Avenant (1606–1668) 217 5 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I would first like to take the opportunity to express my gratitude for the use of all illustrations set in this work that are now in public domain. This would mean all images chosen is not protected by copyright and may be freely used by everyone, for the explicit reason the work is not protected: A term of copyright has expired. I express gratitude to my friend, Sergio Verrecchia, for his digital processing on the front-page image. Additional thanks go to the services of the Internet Archive Copyright Agent for their preservation of archives in collaboration with institutions, including the Library of Congress and the Smithsonian; their assistance was indispensable as their material assisted in collecting information from authentic and highly regarded sources. Reprints of material have been quoted with sources indicated. A wide variety of references are listed, and reasonable efforts have been made to collect reliable data. For convenience, we have followed writing the surname ―Shakespeare‖ for the author of the Shakespeare Canon; thereafter, ―Shakespere‖ in reference to the actor of Stratford-upon-Avon, though spelling of the latter surname in legal documents, remains as given, that upholds the universal rule of quoting original documents as found. Finally, it gives me pleasure to thank family and friends who have assisted in the creation of this work, and feel indebted to their patience and good judgment. 6 INTRODUCTION ―When a thing is asserted as a fact, always ask who first reported it, and what means he had of knowing the truth.‖ —James Spedding 3 John Ward had noted: ―In ancient historic, if we will have anything of truth, we must have something of falsehood; it is as impossible to find antiquity without fables, as an old face without wrinkles.‖ 4 Without knowing it, John Ward could easily have said these same words if he was talking about William Shakespeare. In Chapter one, we unravel the very first instigators who created the pseudo-biography of Shakespeare: They were a late sixteenth, early seventeenth century clique of men bound by tradition to uphold the name of the British Bard. These men circulated various myths and produced the disinformation of what we know today in order to create a genealogy. The motive for this is dealt with in Chapter four with supporting evidence and references. As researchers of the Elizabethan and Jacobean era, we have encountered many intrigues and machinations; plots and plotters who could organize a plot for as long as two years, which shall have no other importance but to dine with the squire of a neighbouring parish. It was such concepts of life that made all cunning persons superficial ones: The men of this clique we investigate, were no better. In Chapter two, the most important myths created and shown in chapter one are dispelled with the actual events to take their place. This offers the reader enough evidence to form an opinion of their own if the actor of Stratford is or is not the Shakespeare of literature. We do not cover the subject of the Authorship Controversy, since this is an immense field of pure guesswork by those who support Shakespeare to be Bacon, the Earl of Oxford, Kit Marlowe, and others. There is no possibility of discovering any evidence on the Authorship Controversy (at least for the present), so we did not want the material we were working on to be shadowed with assumptions and/or circumstantial evidence. In Chapter three it was imperative to give some evidence of the Elizabethan era, their dwellings, their ways of printing, and other such activities of those times. This material helps the reader understand the Elizabethan attitude, in order to comprehend why the life of Shakespeare was fabricated in the seventeenth century with a pseudo-biography. In Chapter four we offer detailed evidence for the motive of the fabrication, which is the First Folio published in 1623. In Chapter five, we extend in depth on the forgers of the time, who they were, what their motives were for fabricating Shakespearean material, and what has become of those spurious 3 James Spedding (1808–1881) English author, chiefly known as the editor of the Works of Francis Bacon. 4 Charles Severn, Diary of the Rev. John Ward (London: Henry Colburn, 1839), 115. 7 documents. Unfortunately, modern biographers still use these forged documents to create their life of Shakespeare. In Chapter six, we offer the reader final evidence and proof that the actor of Stratford is not the author of the plays, sonnets, and poems. And, in the Appendices is material that would have disrupted the flow of events in all pre-mentioned chapters. 8 CHAPTER ONE Introduction to William Shakespeare‘s Biographies ―Of no man has so much that is unreliable been written as about William Shakespeare.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Gay Marriage Opponents Closer To
    Columbia Foundation Articles and Reports July 2012 Arts and Culture ALONZO KING’S LINES BALLET $40,000 awarded in August 2010 for two new world-premiere ballets, a collaboration with architect Christopher Haas (Triangle of the Squinches) and a new work set to Sephardic music (Resin) 1. Isadora Duncan Dance Awards, March 27, 2012 2012 Isadora Duncan Dance Award Winners Announced Christopher Haas wins a 2012 Isadora Duncan Dance Award for Outstanding Achievement in Visual Design for his set design for Triangle of the Squinches. Alonzo King’s LINES Ballet wins two other Isadora Duncan Dance Awards for the production Sheherazade. ASIAN ART MUSEUM $255,000 awarded since 2003, including $50,000 in July 2011 for Phantoms of Asia, the first major exhibition of Asian contemporary art from May 18 to September 2, 2012, which explores the question “What is Asia?” through the lens of supernatural, non-material, and spiritual sensibilities in art of the Asian region 2. San Francisco Chronicle, May 13, 2012 Asian Art Museum's 'Phantoms of Asia' connects Phantoms of Asia features over 60 pieces of contemporary art playing off and connecting with the Asian Art Museum's prized historical objects. According to the writer, Phantoms of Asia, the museum’s first large-scale exhibition of contemporary art is an “an expansive and ambitious show.” Allison Harding, the Asian Art Museum's assistant curator of contemporary art says, “We're trying to create a dialogue between art of the past and art of the present, and look at the way in which artists today are exploring many of the same concerns of artists throughout time.
    [Show full text]
  • Proem Shakespeare S 'Plaies and Poems"
    Proem Shakespeare s 'Plaies and Poems" In 1640, the publisher John Benson presents to his English reading public a Shakespeare who is now largely lost to us: the national author of poems and plays. By printing his modest octavo edition of the Poems: Written By Wil. Shake-speare. Gent., Benson curiously aims to complement the 1623 printing venture of Shakespeare's theatre colleagues, John Heminge and Henry Condell , who had presented Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies in their monumental First Folio. Thus, in his own Dedicatory Epistle "To the Reader," Benson remarks that he presents "some excellent and sweetly composed Poems," which "had nor the fortune by reason of their lnfancie in his death, to have the due accommodation of proportionable glory, with the rest of his everliving Workes" (*2r). Indeed, as recent scholarship demonstrates, Benson boldly prints his octavo Poems on the model ofHeminge and Condell 's Folio Plays. ' Nor simply does Benson's volume share its primer, Thomas Cores, wirh rhe 1632 Folio, bur both editions begin with an identical format: an engraved portrait of the author; a dedicatory epistle "To the Reader"; and a set of commendatory verses, with Leonard Digges contributing an impor­ tant celebratory poem to both volumes. Benson's engraving by William Marshall even derives from the famous Martin Droeshout engraving in the First Folio, and six of the eight lines beneath Benson's engraving are borrowed from Ben Jonson's famed memorial poem to Shakespeare in char volume. Accordingly, Benson rakes his publishing goal from Heminge and Conde!!. They aim to "keepe the memory of such worthy a Friend, & Fellow alive" (Dedicatory Epistle to the earls ofPembroke and Montgomery, reprinted in Riverside, 94), while he aims "to be serviceable for the con­ tinuance of glory to the deserved Author" ("To the Reader," *2v).
    [Show full text]
  • SANDERS Siftings No. 57
    SANDERSSiftings an exchange of Sanders/Saunders family research Number 57 April, 2009 four issues per year • $12 per year subscription • edited by Don E. Schaefer, 1297 Deane Street, Fayetteville, AR 72703-1544 Jim Sanders Searches for the Connection of It Has Been A Very Moses Sanders and Patrick Sanders Interesting 14 Years The following is the result of research Moses Saunders and a Mary Hamilton in The first issue of Sanders Siftings, of Jim Sanders, 2235 Los Encinos Road, the same, immediate geographic area as only eight pages, featured a story of Ojai, CA 93023, well as the correct time frame. The Glenn D. Sanders’ grandfather—and <[email protected]>. occurrence of the names Moses Sanders that was what got me interested in Moses Sanders/Brunswick, Va. 1772 and Mary (Hamilton) Sanders, may have taken place in other records but to our printing stories of our Sanders kin. In 1772, Moses Saunders was a knowledge, it has not been substantiated. That first issue was started with a defendant against Thomas Preston, who nucleus of people who were was a neighbor of Joseph Hamilton’s. ADD: August 2008: Francis, Moses exchanging Sanders stuff in the (Preston’s property is noted in Joseph and their brothers were very active in early days of the internet. Hamilton’s will and again in a obtaining land grants between 1771 and In that same issue were two sto- Brunswick Deed recorded in Book 7 1780 in Anson County, N.C. As shown ries by Justin Sanders, now living in Page 165). Hamilton’s property was earlier, Patrick and William left Halifax Mobile, Ala.
    [Show full text]
  • Spenser, Donne, and the Trouble of Periodization Yulia Ryzhik
    Introduction: Spenser, Donne, and the trouble of periodization Yulia Ryzhik The names Edmund Spenser and John Donne are rarely seen together in a scholarly context, and even more rarely seen together as an isolated pairing. When the two are brought together, it is usually for contrast rather than for comparison, and even the comparisons tend to be static rather than dynamic or relational. Spenser and Donne find themselves on two sides of a rift in English Renaissance studies that separates the sixteenth century from the seventeenth and Elizabethan literature from Jacobean.1 In the simplest terms, Spenser is typically associated with the Elizabethan Golden Age, Donne with the ‘metaphysical’ poets of the early seventeenth century. Critical discourse overlooks, or else takes for granted, that Spenser’s and Donne’s poetic careers and chronologies of publication overlapped considerably. Hailed as the Virgil of England, and later as its Homer, Spenser was the reigning ‘Prince of Poets’, and was at the height of his career when Donne began writing in the early 1590s. Both poets, at one point, hoped to secure the patronage of the Earl of Essex, Donne by following him on expeditions to Cadiz and the Azores, Spenser by hailing his victorious return in Prothalamion (1596). The second instalment of Spenser’s The Faerie Queene (also 1596) gives a blistering account in Book V of the European wars of religion in which Ireland, where he lived, was a major conflict zone, but it is Donne who travelled extensively on the Continent, including places where ‘mis-devotion’ reigned.2 Spenser died in 1599 and was buried with much pomp at Westminster Abbey as if poetry itself had died with him.
    [Show full text]
  • Statutes and Rules for the British Museum
    (ft .-3, (*y Of A 8RI A- \ Natural History Museum Library STATUTES AND RULES BRITISH MUSEUM STATUTES AND RULES FOR THE BRITISH MUSEUM MADE BY THE TRUSTEES In Pursuance of the Act of Incorporation 26 George II., Cap. 22, § xv. r 10th Decembei , 1898. PRINTED BY ORDER OE THE TRUSTEES LONDON : MDCCCXCYIII. PRINTED BY WOODFALL AND KINDER, LONG ACRE LONDON TABLE OF CONTENTS CHAPTER I. PAGE Meetings, Functions, and Privileges of the Trustees . 7 CHAPTER II. The Director and Principal Librarian . .10 Duties as Secretary and Accountant . .12 The Director of the Natural History Departments . 14 CHAPTER III. Subordinate Officers : Keepers and Assistant Keepers 15 Superintendent of the Reading Room . .17 Assistants . 17 Chief Messengers . .18 Attendance of Officers at Meetings, etc. -19 CHAPTER IV. Admission to the British Museum : Reading Room 20 Use of the Collections 21 6 CHAPTER V, Security of the Museum : Precautions against Fire, etc. APPENDIX. Succession of Trustees and Officers . Succession of Officers in Departments 7 STATUTES AND RULES. CHAPTER I. Of the Meetings, Functions, and Privileges of the Trustees. 1. General Meetings of the Trustees shall chap. r. be held four times in the year ; on the second Meetings. Saturday in May and December at the Museum (Bloomsbury) and on the fourth Saturday in February and July at the Museum (Natural History). 2. Special General Meetings shall be sum- moned by the Director and Principal Librarian (hereinafter called the Director), upon receiving notice in writing to that effect signed by two Trustees. 3. There shall be a Standing Committee, standing . • Committee. r 1 1 t-» • 1 t> 1 consisting 01 the three Principal 1 rustees, the Trustee appointed by the Crown, and sixteen other Trustees to be annually appointed at the General Meeting held on the second Saturday in May.
    [Show full text]
  • NEW FACES Intellectual Output
    PROJECT : NEW FACES Intellectual Output n°6 FACING EUROPE IN CRISIS: SHAKESPEARE’S WORLD AND PRESENT CHALLENGES (VOL. 2) Language: English Edited by Richard Chapman and Paola Spinozzi (Università di Ferrara) The European Commission's support for the production of this publication does not constitute an endorsement of the contents, which reflect the views only of the authors, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License. Strategic Partnerships for Higher Education NEW FACES 2016-1-FR01-KA203-023980 Table of contents 1. Wheeling Strangers of Here and Everywhere Present Issues of Integration and the Early Modern Crisis of Conversion Lieke Stelling, Universiteit Utrecht…………… ……………………..…………….p.1 2. Shakespeare and the Origins of European Culture Wars Jean-Christophe Mayer, Université Paul-Valéry Montpellier 3……………..……..p.14 3. Educated Shrews: Shakespeare, Women’s Education and Its Backlash Larisa Kocic-Zámbó, Szegedi Tudományegyetem / University of Szeged………..p.27 4. Towards a Critical Reevaluation of The Rape of Lucrece Juan F. Cerda, Universidad de Murcia…………………………………………...…p.47 5. LOL and LLL Nathalie Vienne-Guerrin, Université Paul-Valéry Montpellier 3…………………..p.58 6. From a Corrupt Eden to Bio-power: War and Nature in the Henriad Martin Procházka, Univerzita Karlova…………………………………..…………p.68 7. Crises of Our Time in Song of the Goat Theatre’s Island Agnieszka Romanowska, Uniwersytet Jagielloński w Krakowie…………………..p.81 8. Mrs Shakespeare’s New Face(t)s Paola Spinozzi, Università di Ferrara………………………………………...……..p.99 Strategic Partnerships for Higher Education NEW FACES 2016-1-FR01-KA203-023980 New Faces essay collection, Lieke Stelling, August 2019 Wheeling Strangers of Here and Everywhere.
    [Show full text]
  • Life Portraits Illian Si Ak Hart
    LI F E PO RT RA I T S ” T I L L I A N S I A K H A R A HI ST O RY O F THE VAR OU RE RE ENTAT ON OF THE OET WI TH A N I S P S I S P , I N T R A T ENT TY E" A MI NAT I ON TO H E I U H I C I . 6 x 9/ B “ Y . HA N y I FR I SWE L L . ' ’ ‘ ’ ’ ’ [llzzslratm é " Pfi oto ra fis o th e most a utfiemz c Pan m z fs and wz flz ) g p f , Views "f a é C ND D NE C O . , " U ALL, OW S , T H E F F L T O N H E A D O F S B A K S P RA R F L O N D N A M P L W N O S S O N O , SO , A H L x LU DG TE L . 4 , I 1 8 64 . L O N DO N R G AY S O N A N D A \ LO P I E S , T R , R NT R , BR E A D S TR E E T H I L L THE RE SI DENT P , V C E - R E D E N T I P S I S , AND BROT HE R M EMBERS OF T HE C OMMITT EE FO R RA ISING A NAT I ONA L M EMORI A L T O P E A R E S H A K S , T HIS VOLU M E IS D EDI CAT ED BY R T HE A UT HO .
    [Show full text]
  • Joan Plantagenet: the Fair Maid of Kent by Susan W
    RICE UNIVERSITY JOAN PLANTAGANET THE FAIR MAID OF KENT by Susan W. Powell A THESIS SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS OF THE DEGREE OF Master of Arts Thesis Director's Signature: Houston, Texas April, 1973 ABSTRACT Joan Plantagenet: The Fair Maid of Kent by Susan W. Powell Joan plantagenet, Known as the Fair Maid of Kent, was born in 1328. She grew to be one of the most beautiful and influential women of her age, Princess of Wales by her third marriage and mother of King Richard II. The study of her life sheds new light on the role of an intelligent woman in late fourteenth century England and may reveal some new insights into the early regnal years of her son. There are several aspects of Joan of Kent's life which are of interest. The first chapter will consist of a biographical sketch to document the known facts of a life which spanned fifty-seven years of one of the most vivid periods in English history. Joan of Kent's marital history has been the subject of historical confusion and debate. The sources of that confusion will be discussed, the facts clarified, and a hypothesis suggested as to the motivations behind the apparent actions of the personages involved. There has been speculation that it was Joan of Kent's garter for which the Order of the Garter was named. This theory was first advanced by Selden and has persisted in this century in the articles of Margaret Galway. It has been accepted by May McKisack and other modern historians.
    [Show full text]
  • John Boydell's Shakespeare Gallery and the Promotion of a National Aesthetic
    JOHN BOYDELL'S SHAKESPEARE GALLERY AND THE PROMOTION OF A NATIONAL AESTHETIC ROSEMARIE DIAS TWO VOLUMES VOLUME I PHD THE UNIVERSITY OF YORK HISTORY OF ART SEPTEMBER 2003 2 TABLE OF CONTENTS Page Volume I Abstract 3 List of Illustrations 4 Introduction 11 I Creating a Space for English Art 30 II Reynolds, Boydell and Northcote: Negotiating the Ideology 85 of the English Aesthetic. III "The Shakespeare of the Canvas": Fuseli and the 154 Construction of English Artistic Genius IV "Another Hogarth is Known": Robert Smirke's Seven Ages 203 of Man and the Construction of the English School V Pall Mall and Beyond: The Reception and Consumption of 244 Boydell's Shakespeare after 1793 290 Conclusion Bibliography 293 Volume II Illustrations 3 ABSTRACT This thesis offers a new analysis of John Boydell's Shakespeare Gallery, an exhibition venture operating in London between 1789 and 1805. It explores a number of trajectories embarked upon by Boydell and his artists in their collective attempt to promote an English aesthetic. It broadly argues that the Shakespeare Gallery offered an antidote to a variety of perceived problems which had emerged at the Royal Academy over the previous twenty years, defining itself against Academic theory and practice. Identifying and examining the cluster of spatial, ideological and aesthetic concerns which characterised the Shakespeare Gallery, my research suggests that the Gallery promoted a vision for a national art form which corresponded to contemporary senses of English cultural and political identity, and takes issue with current art-historical perceptions about the 'failure' of Boydell's scheme. The introduction maps out some of the existing scholarship in this area and exposes the gaps which art historians have previously left in our understanding of the Shakespeare Gallery.
    [Show full text]
  • Review of Literary Records
    Shakespearean Biografiction: How modern biographers rely on context, conjecture and inference to construct a life of the Bard A thesis submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Department of Arts and Humanities Brunel University By Kevin Gilvary November 2014 ii Candidate Kevin Gilvary (1955- ) B.A. (Hons), Classics, Southampton, 1976 M.A., Classics, Southampton, 1978 M.A. (Ed), Language in Education, Southampton 1996 P.G.C.E., Institute of Education, London, 1980 Doctoral Study 2007-2014 (part-time), Brunel University Supervisor 1 Professor William Leahy, School of Arts, Brunel University Supervisor 2 Dr. Sean Gaston, School of Arts, Brunel University Examiner 1 Professor Tom Betteridge, School of Arts, Brunel University Examiner 2 Professor Tom Healey, University of Sussex iii Abstract Modern biographies of William Shakespeare abound: new studies appear almost every year, each claiming new research and new insights, while affirming that there are enough records for a documentary life. In this thesis, I argue that no biography of Shakespeare is possible due to insufficient material, that most of what is written about Shakespeare cannot be verified from primary sources, and that Shakespearean biography did not attain scholarly or academic respectability until Samuel Schoenbaum’s Documentary Life (1975). The thesis therefore is concerned with demythologising Shakespeare by exposing numerous “biogra-fictions.” I begin by reviewing the history and practice of biography as a narrative account of a person’s life based on primary sources. Next I assess the very limited biographical material for Shakespeare identifying the gaps, e.g. there is no record that he spent any of his childhood in Stratford or ever attended school.
    [Show full text]
  • The Play of 'Sir Thomas More' and Shakespeare's Hand in It
    79 THE PLAY OF 'SIR THOMAS MORE' AND SHAKESPEARE'S HAND IN IT. Downloaded from I HE announcement late last year by an expert in palaeography that a holo- I graph manuscript of Shakespeare is http://library.oxfordjournals.org/ preserved in the British Museum was an event of national importance, though the Press universally ignored it. Perhaps that was characteristic of * the usual channels of information,' as we call them in satiric moments; but the omission was deplorable, even in war time. For the claim was not the shallow guesswork of at University of California, San Diego on June 5, 2015 an amateur; it was the outcome of an exhaustive study of Shakespeare's handwriting, made by so high an authority as Sir Edward Maunde Thompson.1 The work crowned with this unique distinction is a play entitled 'The Bookc of Sir Thomas Moore,' preserved in Harlcy MS. 7368. It is a thin folio, the thirteen original leaves of which have been identified as in the autograph of Anthony Munday. A mixed assortment of plays, pageants, poems, translations of romances, annals, and miscel- laneous pamphlets issued from his facile pen between 1577 and 1633. Once, and once only, a contem- porary made the mistake of placing him on a 1 ' Shakespeare's Handwriting. A Study by Sir Edward Maunde Thompson.' Oxford, the Clarendon Press, 1916. See also the first Review. 80 THE PLAY OF 'SIR T. MORE' pinnacle of genius. Looking round on the the- atrical world in 1598, Francis Meres enumerated the chief English writers of comedy, and from a group which ^included Shakespeare, singled out Munday as ' our best plotter.' Even if his other Downloaded from plays afforded any justification for this extravagant eulogy, ' Sir Thomas More' would go far to in- validate it.
    [Show full text]
  • The Oxfordian Volume 21 October 2019 ISSN 1521-3641 the OXFORDIAN Volume 21 2019
    The Oxfordian Volume 21 October 2019 ISSN 1521-3641 The OXFORDIAN Volume 21 2019 The Oxfordian is the peer-reviewed journal of the Shakespeare Oxford Fellowship, a non-profit educational organization that conducts research and publication on the Early Modern period, William Shakespeare and the authorship of Shakespeare’s works. Founded in 1998, the journal offers research articles, essays and book reviews by academicians and independent scholars, and is published annually during the autumn. Writers interested in being published in The Oxfordian should review our publication guidelines at the Shakespeare Oxford Fellowship website: https://shakespeareoxfordfellowship.org/the-oxfordian/ Our postal mailing address is: The Shakespeare Oxford Fellowship PO Box 66083 Auburndale, MA 02466 USA Queries may be directed to the editor, Gary Goldstein, at [email protected] Back issues of The Oxfordian may be obtained by writing to: [email protected] 2 The OXFORDIAN Volume 21 2019 The OXFORDIAN Volume 21 2019 Acknowledgements Editorial Board Justin Borrow Ramon Jiménez Don Rubin James Boyd Vanessa Lops Richard Waugaman Charles Boynton Robert Meyers Bryan Wildenthal Lucinda S. Foulke Christopher Pannell Wally Hurst Tom Regnier Editor: Gary Goldstein Proofreading: James Boyd, Charles Boynton, Vanessa Lops, Alex McNeil and Tom Regnier. Graphics Design & Image Production: Lucinda S. Foulke Permission Acknowledgements Illustrations used in this issue are in the public domain, unless otherwise noted. The article by Gary Goldstein was first published by the online journal Critical Stages (critical-stages.org) as part of a special issue on the Shakespeare authorship question in Winter 2018 (CS 18), edited by Don Rubin. It is reprinted in The Oxfordian with the permission of Critical Stages Journal.
    [Show full text]