Spring 2007 Shakespeare Matters page 1 8:3 “Let me not to the marriage of true minds admit impediments...” Summer 2009 Shakespeare’s Plutarchan Nomenclature: The Company of Noble Grecians by Earl Showerman “Plutarch’s Lives built the heroic ideal of the Elizabethan age.” C.S. Lewis (1954) lutarch’s Parallel Lives of the Greeks and Romans provided a vision of Greece and Rome which during the 16th century P“held the imagination” of all of Europe according to T.J.B. Spencer in the introduction to his study, Shakespeare’s Plutarch “Shepherd Piper” by Sophie Anderson. (1964). Shakespeare scholars today universally confirm Lewis’ and Spencer’s judgment on the importance of Plutarch’s Lives to the plots, poetics and characterization of the Roman plays, Julius Caesar, Antony & Cleopatra, Titus Andronicus and Coriolanus, Song in Shakespeare’s Plays as well as Timon of Athens. Spencer’s study closely examines Plutarch’s lengthy text (1,300 pages in the Modern Library edi- by Ren Draya tion), repeatedly identifying concordances between Plutarch’s and Shakespeare’s very words. Noting the challenge to Shakespeare Presented at the 13th Annual Authorship Studies Conference, in mastering Lives so well, Spencer assumes the author must Concordia University, 18 April 2009. have used North’s 1579 English translation: e automatically think of the actors’ lines in a play — as In Shakespeare’s time, the Lives were confined to large Hamlet would say, the “words, words, words.” But any and cumbrous folios. There were no convenient selections Wdirector, of course, notes the variety of sounds a given comparable to the present volume. One reads 1010 pages play may require: trumpet fanfares, battle alarms, crows cawing, before coming to the death of Cleopatra….The reading a knocking at the door. And there is music. Shakespeare’s plays of North was rather a serious thing for a busy man of are replete with references to music, with snatches of lyrics, and the theatre, probably his most serious experience of the with full songs. Often, the dramatis personae include “musi- bookish kind. (13) cians”: see, for example, Two Gentlemen of Verona, Much Ado About Nothing, and Twelfth Night. In Taming of the Shrew, While Spencer and many other scholars have noted Shake- one of Bianca’s suitors (Hortensio) is disguised as a musician in speare’s profound debt to Plutarch, editors Horace Howard order to gain access to the lovely maiden. As Tranio remarks Furness (1898) and J.H.P. Pafford (1963) have also identified to his master: Plutarch’s Lives as the likely source for many of the character names in The Winter’s Tale. Similar nomenclature adoptions have . practice rhetoric in your common talk, been noted by other editors including Stephen Orgel (Pericles, Music and poesy use to quicken you 2001) and H.J. Oliver (Timon of Athens, 1969). This pattern of (1.1.35-36) Plutarchan nomenclature is also evident in A Midsummer Night’s (Continued on page 7) (Continued on page 12) page 2 Shakespeare Matters Summer 2009 Shakespeare canon, Diana Price [1], for iarity with various aristocratic sports and Letters example, has listed some of the external other activities, and many, many more. evidence that one would expect to see So here, too, the absence of expected connecting an author to his or her works evidence points to the unlikelihood that To the Editor: or to the act of writing: Stratford is the author, while the pres- • school records ence of that expected evidence in the life Let me offer up praise to Mr. Ian • correspondence of Oxford allows us, at the very least, to Haste for his superb article in the latest • payment for writing postulate that Oxford is the author. issue of the Shakespeare Matters, con- • connection to a patron It bears repeating: “The absence of cerning the question of why Shakespeare • manuscripts expected evidence is evidence of absence.”It chose to emphasize the word "ring" and several other items, most of is a maxim that applies to the question throughout Merchant of Venice: wedding which Ms. Price has shown to exist for each of elephants in your neighborhood, little ring in Italian is vera; the plural in Ital- of a dozen writers who were Shakspere’s green men on Mars, a teapot in orbit around ian is vere. contemporaries, but none of which exist the earth, and the Shakespeare question. Haste displays the interdisciplinary for the Stratford man. skills needed to uncover the multiple lay- An honest person would thus ac- Sincerely Yours, ers of evidence that point directly at the knowledge that it is unlikely that the real author of the canon — knowledge Stratford man was Shakespeare. But he or David Moffatt of contemporary English and Italian his- she might also add, “This lack of expected tory, English poetry, Italian society and external evidence would also exclude [1] Price, Diana, Shakespeare’s Unortho- its dialects, as well as typography, bio- Oxford.” This is true, with respect to ex- dox Biography. Westport, Connecticut: graphical information of historical fig- ternal evidence. However, Oxfordians and Greenwood Press, 2001. ures, and more. His seamless integration Stratfordians alike can list several dozen of evidence shows how the author left realistic expectations based upon the in- distinctive clues in the plays themselves ternal evidence of the plays and sonnets, that, exposed to the keen eye of a diligent all of which can be connected to Oxford researcher, can still offer up positive evi- but not to Stratford. dence that identify the real Shakespeare. These include evidence of fluency in Latin and Italian, familiarity with Italy Sincerely, itself, a deep knowledge of the law, famil- Gary Goldstein Shakespeare Matters Subscriptions to Shakespeare Matters are Published quarterly by the $40 per year ($20 for online issues only). Family or institution subscriptions are $45 per year. To the Editor: The Shakespeare Fellowship Patrons of the Fellowship are $75 and up. Please address correspondence to: Please send subscription requests to: How do we know that there are no Editorial Offices elephants wandering our neighborhoods? P.O. Box 65335 The Shakespeare Fellowship The obvious short answer is, “Because we Baltimore, MD 21209 PO Box 421 have not seen any.” A more precise answer Hudson, MA 01749 Editor: is, “Because we have seen no evidence of Roger Stritmatter, PhD The purpose of the Shakespeare Fellowship them.” A still better answer is, “Because we is to promote public awareness and acceptance have seen none of the expected evidence Contributing Editors: of the authorship of the Shakespeare Canon by Mark Anderson, Lynne Kositsky, Howard Edward de Vere, 17th Earl of Oxford (1550-1604), of them.” If there were such elephants, Schumann, Dr. Charles Berney, and further to encourage a high level of schol- we would expect to see footprints, drop- Charles Boyle, Dr. Felicia Londre, arly research and publication into all aspects of pings, and crushed shrubbery, as well as Alex McNeil, Shakespeare studies, and also into the history and William Boyle, Richard Whalen, culture of the Elizabethan era. the elephants themselves. Hank Whittemore, Dr. Daniel L. Wright The Society was founded and incorporated What does this have to do with the in 2001 in the State of Massachusetts and is authorship question? In response to some Phone (Baltimore, MD): (410) 764-9202 chartered under the membership corporation laws email: [email protected] of that state. It is a recognized 501(c)(3) nonprofit key arguments of Oxfordians, many Strat- All contents copyright ©2009 (Fed ID 04-3578550). fordians will say, “Absence of evidence is not The Shakespeare Fellowship Dues, grants and contributions are tax-de- evidence of absence.” The appropriate reply ductible to the extent allowed by law. to that is, “Absence of expected evidence Shakespeare Matters welcomes articles, essays, commentary, book reviews, letters and news items. is indeed evidence of absence.” Contributions should be reasonably concise and, when appropriate, validated by peer review. The views expressed In the case of the authorship of the by contributors do not necessarily reflect those of the Fellowship as a literary and educational organization. Summer 2009 Shakespeare Matters page 3 From the Editors: Shakespeare’s Missing Shoe hakespeare has lost a shoe. prejudiced person, endowed with a sense of humor, can look upon 37 plays, two narrative poems, and 154 sonnets are in it without being tempted to irreverent laughter. Not only is it, as Ssearch of a foot. It is not just, as the great 19th century many have pointed out, and as is apparent even to the untrained literary historian Henry Hallam remarked, that of the writer eye, altogether out of drawing; not only is the head preternaturally whom “we seem to know better [through his work] than any large for the body; not only is it quaintly suggestive of an unduly human writer,” we may yet be said to “scarcely know anything” deferred razor; but it looks at one with a peculiar expression of of a substantive biographical nature. Nor is it even, as Hal- sheepish oafishness which is irresistibly comic.” lam in 1839 supposed, that “all that insatiable curiosity and No, Michael Shermer does not find the Droeshout funny or unwearied diligence have hitherto detected about Shakespeare appreciate the political spoof of “Shake-speare.” He is a “skeptic,” serves rather to disappoint and perplex us than to furnish the and skeptics (by his example) apparently don’t go in for ideas slightest illustration of his character.” which have not been a priori sanctioned by authority, or bother In fact, it can be argued that by early modern standards we to study the objects of their skepticism long enough to reach now know a great deal about the man who supposedly wore the an informed opinion about them.