"A RARE GEM!" -San Francisco Chronicle ^. mairie • life 3c •J. $20.00 •U.a $16.00 • CAt ( vi> )) fernJB^/ft) \(r/y) F His POEMS, ' His LIFE INTIMES, ANI MORE CHARI I THE I REFE: Cffl fc<« *^!n^y AND \ii J; figjis» sE "A SPLENDID REFERENCE WORK." —Los Angeles Magazine Foreword by Terry Hands, Royal Shakespeare Company "A DELIGHT FROM FIRST TO LAST PAGE." —Entertainment I A U R E L
Shakespeare A to Z
Mar 16, 2023
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Shakespeare A to Z^ .
"A SPLENDID REFERENCE WORK." —Los Angeles Magazine
Foreword by Terry Hands, Royal Shakespeare Company "A DELIGHT FROM FIRST TO LAST PAGE." —Entertainment
I A U R E L
"A REMARKABLE SUMMATION...A BRILLIANT AND WELCOME ADDITION TO OUR KNOWLEDGE OF THE MAN AND HIS WORKS."
—Terry Hands, from the Foreword • What famous essayist insisted that Shakespeare's plays were unfit for performance?
• Which two plays center on the Hundred Years' War?
• In which scene of Romeo and Juliet does the Nurse report—falsely—that Juliet is dead and thus seal Romeo's tragic fate?
The answers are easily found in Shakespeare A to Z, the only single-volume reference to virtually everything one needs—or wants—to know about the Bard. Wonderfully inform ative, this comprehensive work includes 3,000 entries and 50 illustrations covering:
• EVERY PLAY, including scene-by-scene synopses, critical commentary, sources, textual commentary, and theatrical history
EVERY CHARACTER, from Aaron to Young Talbot, including those without speaking parts
• THE POEMS, including the sonnets and long works in verse
«ACTORS, PRODUCERS, AND DIRECTORS, including William Kempe, Charles Laughton, Sarah Bernhardt, Sir Laurence Olivier, and others who have brought the plays and characters to life over the centuries
" PLACES, real and imaginary, important to Shakespeare's life and works
- THEATRICAL AND LITERARY TERMS that relate to the plays and poetry
• CONTEMPORARIES OF SHAKESPEARE, including family members, friends and colleagues, patrons, and historical figures
• AUTHORS, SCHOLARS, AND PUBLISHERS of Shakespeare's works, critical studies, and histories—and much more, all in easily accessible encyclopedic format
JMf&ifaVM ATOZ
"A wonderfully convenient reference work for everything you've ever wanted to know about Shakespeare and haven't known how to ask... A highly readable reference work"
—David Bevington, University of Chicago, Editor, The Bantam Shakespeare
ISBN 0 - 4 4 0 - 5 0 4 2 9 - 5
A LAUREL TRADE PAPERBACK DELL PUBLISHING
COVER PRINTED IN USA 780440"504290
51600> COVER DESIGN
© DESIGNED TO PRINT. NYC
COVER ILLUSTRATIONS © TUDOR BANUS
A ROUNDTABLE PRESS BOOK
TO BE OR NOT TO BE?" MAY BE THE QUESTION. BUT HERE'S WHERE YOU WILL FIND
ALL THE ANSWERS.
How many ghosts appear in Shakespeare's plays'? More than fourteen, including Caesar's ghost, Banquo's ghost, and the ghost of Hamlet's father. Eleven ghosts haunt Richard III. There are many "ghost characters" who appear in the stage directions but do not appear in the plays.
In what play does Swinstead Abbey figure"? A religious establishment in Lincolnshire, it is the setting for King John and the site of the death of King John. It is not, however, the site of King John's actual historical death.
Who first played Lady Macbeth as a sex goddess? Dating to Sarah Bernhardt's bold interpretation of the role, this most famous of ambitious wives has been played as a woman who flaunts her charms to entice her husband to murder. And did you know her unlovely first name? It's Gruoch.
FASCINATING, FUN, AND VERY INFORMATIVE, NO HOME OR SCHOOL LIBRARY SHOULD BE WITHOUT—
Shakespeare A to Z
"INVITES COMPARISON WITH THE READER'S ENCYCLOPEDIA OF SHAKESPEARE . . . PROVIDES REMARKABLE LEVELS OF DE TAIL ON VIRTUALLY ANY ASPECT OF SHAKESPEARE'S LIFE AND ART . . . BOYCE'S WORK IS WELL DONE AND MUCH MORE CURRENT, AND IT INCLUDES MANY UNIQUE ENTRIES."
—Library Journal
"A treasure trove of information." —School Library Journal
"Highly recommended." —The Book Report
"The ultimate book for the Bard's most fervent followers. . . . Very highly recommended!" —SSC Booknews
"A DELIGHT FROM FIRST TO LAST PAGE." —Entertainment
SHAKESPEARE A TO Z
THE ESSENTIAL REFERENCE TO HIS PLAYS, HIS POEMS, HIS LIFE
AND TIMES, AND MORE
Foreword by Terry Hands, Artistic Director,
Royal Shakespeare Company
To Marya
A LAUREL TRADE PAPERBACK Published by Dell Publishing a division of Bantam Doubleday Dell Publishing Group, Inc. 666 Fifth Avenue New York, New York 10103
If you purchased this book without a cover you should be aware that this book is stolen property. It was reported as "unsold and destroyed" to the publisher and neither the author nor the publisher has received any payment for this "stripped book."
Copyright © 1990 by Charles Boyce and Roundtable Press, Inc.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy ing, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without the written permission of the Publisher, except where permitted by law. For information address: Facts on File, Inc., New York, New York.
The trademark Laurel® is registered in the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.
The trademark Dell® is registered in the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.
ISBN: 0-440-50429-5
Printed in the United States of America
Published simultaneously in Canada
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
RRH
Appendix 729
FOREWORD
Shakespeare is celebrated the world over for the poetry and passion of his plays. He reformed the English language, enriching the vocabulary and increasing the flexibility of verse and prose. Supremely creative him self, he constantly inspired creativity in others. Above all, his profound humanity has enabled succeeding generations to rediscover within the dramatic intensity of his vision their own individual concerns. To many people, in many nations, Shakespeare is still our greatest living author.
All this we take for granted, but Shakespeare's survival was by no means certain. His plays were not published until 1623, some seven years after his death. The Commonwealth ended performance continuity, and with the Restoration in 1660 control of his work passed to the literate only. They decided what the public would or would not receive as Shake speare. For fifty years, most of his plays were not performed at all, and the remainder heavily adapted. Scenes were out, characters added or removed, the language rewritten. In this manner the public were treated to John Lacey's Shrew not Shakespeare's, Davenant's Macbeth, Nabum Tate's King Lear. Dryden and Davenant rewrote The Tempest; Purcell turned it into a musical.
Sadly the theatre can take little credit for Shakespeare's survival. Occa sionally an actor would popularize a play—Betterton's Pericles for in stance, or Garrick's Richard III—but the effects were temporary and the rewriting endemic. Garrick's Richard III, for instance, was largely Colley Cibber's, and having promised 'To lose no Drop of that Immortal Man' Garrick proceeded to perform The Winter's Tale without three of its five acts.
The seventeenth and eighteenth centuries may have been bad—but they were at least 'lofty' in intention. The nineteenth century made little pretence of presenting Shakespeare for anything other than profit. The plays were 'bowdlerised', rewritten, or if morally irredeemable not per formed at all. A famous production of Henry V reduced the play to five scenes of which only four appear in the original. Actors pillaged the plays for great roles, great moments, and cut the rest. Managers favoured a few spectacular tableaux. Actor/managers did both. It was not just Kean's acting but Shakespeare himself who was seen only 'by flashes of light ning'.
Paradoxically, throughout this time Shakespeare's reputation con tinued to grow. The Romantics promoted Shakespeare, but not as a playwright. For them he was a poet to be read rather than seen. Charles Lamb pronounced King Lear 'essentially impossible to be represented on a stage'. Considering what the stage was doing to Shakespeare in the nineteenth century, Lamb's assertion was not unreasonable. But where the theatre had failed the publisher was beginning to succeed.
vu
William Poel (1852-1934) first advocated a positive return to Shake speare's original texts and methods of production. Harley Granville- Barker, in the early twentieth century, took up the theme. But it was not until the post-war years that their principles were generally realised. The key was education. Education and increased literacy created both a new theatre and a new audience. Lilian Baylis's Old Vic and the newly formed RSC re-established the integrity of the plays themselves, while across Europe the principle of state subsidy deferred profit in favour of in creased audience accessibility. Today the collaboration of critic, scholar, public and profession in the plays of William Shakespeare is probably higher than it has ever been—thanks to the publisher and the general reader.
Shakespeare A to Z is a remarkable summation of this new Shakespeare awareness. The focus is rigorously upon the plays themselves, with occa sional reference to performance, and the tone is at all times individual but rational. It both secures and increases Shakespeare's stature and as such is a brilliant and welcome addition to our knowledge of the man and his works.
—Terry Hands, Artistic Director and Chief Executive, Royal Shakespeare Company
PREFACE
This book is not meant as scholarship; my intention has been to assemble conveniently a body of lore for the information and entertainment of the student and general reader. I have not studded the book with references to the scholarship of others that underlies it, for I have presumed that most readers will have little interest in knowing, say, who first suggested that Brian ANNESLEY was a living model for King LEAR'S madness. I make no claim to having discovered this possibility, though I do not name the scholar who did. It is enough that someone did, and that the discovery came to my attention, so that I can bring it to yours.
A Note on Cross-References
When a name or term that is entered in this book appears in another entry, it is printed in SMALL CAPITALS, except in the case of Shakespeare himself and the titles of his works (see CANON). Each of these is, indeed, treated in its own entry, but this fact seems self-evident and reference to them is so frequent that to cross-refer each time would produce typo graphical clutter.
A Note on Citations
Line citations used in this book are taken from the New Arden Shake speare (Methuen, 1951-1984), except in two instances. For The Two Noble Kinsmen, not included in the New Arden canon, citations are from the New Penguin edition (Penguin Books, 1977), and for the sonnets, from the exemplary Shakespeare's Sonnets of Stephen Booth (Yale, 1977).
ix
Aaron Character in Titus Andronicus, the chief villain, a vicious criminal who loves evil for its own sake. Aaron, a Moor, is the lover of TAMORA, the Queen of the Goths, and carries out her revenge on TITUS (1) Andronicus, who has permitted her son to be killed. Although Aaron is in the retinue of the captured Queen in Act 1, he is silent. Only in 2.1 does he begin to reveal his character, rejoicing in the advancement of Tamora, who is to marry the Emperor, SATURNINUS, because it will also benefit him. The rich imagery of his first soliloquy (2.1.19-24) suggests that here is a vil lain who looks forward to catastrophe; it has for him the allure of 'pearl and gold'.
Tamora's two sons lust after LAVINIA, Titus' daugh ter. Aaron plans their appalling rape and mutilation of the girl that is the centre-piece of the revenge upon her father. Aaron's plots are indeed successful. Not only is Lavinia brutalised, but her new husband, BAS- SIANUS, is murdered and two of Titus' sons are charged with the crime. Further, Aaron falsely tells Titus that his severed hand is required as ransom for the two sons' lives. Titus submits to the amputation, only to have the sons' heads, and his own hand, deliv ered to him on a platter. This excessive piece of bru tality delights Aaron, and he gloats to himself: 'O, how this villainy / Doth fat me with the very thoughts of it!' (3.1.202-203).
Aaron's blackness was a common symbol of evil in Shakespeare's day (though, as OTHELLO demonstrates, it did not have to have such a connotation). However, even in this early work, Shakespeare doesn't settle for simple conventionality. Later in the play, a NURSE (1) delivers to Aaron Tamora's new-born black infant, his child, calling it 'as loathsome as a toad / Among the fair-faced breeders of our clime' (4.2.67-68). She bears Tamora's orders that Aaron is to kill it to protect her reputation. He refuses and defends the baby at sword's point against Tamora's sons.
The black man's proud defiance of society reflects Shakespeare's awareness that villainy can have in gredients in common with heroism, regardless of race. Although the irony of this extraordinarily evil man cooing over his infant son was probably intended as humorous, it is also a good instance of the play
wright's respect for the full humanity of all his charac ters, even one intended as a demonstration of cruelty.
Aaron's villainy is certainly still active, for he pro ceeds to kill the NURSE and send the two sons out to buy a white child for Tamora to claim as her own. Aaron attempts to deliver his infant to friends among the GOTHS, but he is captured, and LUCIUS (1) sen tences both father and son to hang. Aaron offers to confess all in exchange for the baby's life. Lucius agrees, and Aaron takes the occasion to boast of his evil, declaring, while detailing his crimes, that in his delight with himself, he 'almost broke my heart with extreme laughter' (5.1.113). Lucius, incredulous, asks whether Aaron is not at all sorry for his 'heinous deeds'. Aaron replies: 'Ay, that I had not done a thou sand more' (5.1.124). Lucius has Aaron gagged, and the Moor is taken to Rome. After the grisly banquet scene in which Titus' revenge is accomplished, Aaron is brought forth to be sentenced. He is to be buried to the neck and starved to death. This fate only provokes a last outburst: 'If one good deed in all my life I did, / I do repent it from my very soul' (5.3.189-190).
Aaron is the first of Shakespeare's flamboyantly ma levolent villains, foreshadowing the likes of RICHARD HI, EDMUND, LADY MACBETH, and, most spectacular of all, IAGO. A less developed personality than the later characters, Aaron more clearly represents the conven tional figure from which they all descend, the MA CHIAVEL. At the time when Shakespeare was writing Titus, The Jew of Malta, by Christopher MARLOWE ranked as one of the most successful offerings yet pre sented in the new world of English theatre, and it featured two very popular Machiavels—Barabas and his assistant Ithamore, racially exotic evil-doers who exult in their criminality. These characters surely in fluenced the young creator of Aaron. However, some historians of drama see Shakespeare as influenced here by earlier, more purely English theatrical tradi tions, with Aaron as a descendant of the VICE figure in the medieval MORALITY PLAY. The two propositions are not at all mutually exclusive; the idea of the Machiavel doubtless was influenced by the well-known Vice fig ure. It is likely that Shakespeare was aware of both and simply used a successful type.
1
2 Abbess, The
Abbess, The Character in The Comedy of Errors. See EMILIA ( 1 ) .
Abbot of Westminster, William Colchester (c. 1 3 4 5 - 1420) Historical figure and character in Richard II, a conspirator against BOLINGBROKE (1). After RICHARD II is formally deposed in 4 .1 , the Abbot conspires with the Bishop of CARLISLE and the Duke of AUMERLE to kill the usurper. The plot is discovered, and the Abbot's death, apparently of a bad conscience, is reported in 5.6.19-21. The historical Abbot was pardoned by Bo lingbroke, by then King HENRY IV, after one month in prison, and was permitted to retain his office, which he held until his death. Shakespeare may have confused the Abbot's fate with Carlisle's, as reported (inaccu rately) by HOLINSHED. The Bishop is said to have died upon capture, 'more through feare than force of sick- nesse'.
Abergavenny, George Neville, Lord (d. 1535) His torical figure and minor character in Henry VIII, son- in-law of the Duke of BUCKINGHAM (1). As the play opens, Abergavenny joins Buckingham and the Duke of NORFOLK (3) in their complaints about Cardinal WOLSEY'S abuse of power. At the end of 1.1 Aberva- genny and Buckingham are arrested for treason, the victims of a plot by Wolsey. Like his father-in-law, Abergavenny calmly accepts his fate, 'The will of Heaven be done, and the king's pleasure / By me obey'd' (1.1.215-216), offering a strong contrast with Wolsey's villainy. Shakespeare took Abergavenny's in volvement from HOLINSHED'S Chronicles, and the lord is merely an echo of Buckingham. At 1.1.211 of the FIRST FOLIO edition of the play, Abergavenny's name is spelled 'Aburgany', indicating its ordinary pronuncia tion.
Abhorson Character in Measure for Measure, an exe cutioner. Abhorson appears in 4.2, where he under takes to train the pimp POMPEY (1) as his assistant, and in 4.3, where he and Pompey summon the condemned criminal BARNARDINE to be executed, only to be comi cally frustrated by the victim's refusal to cooperate. Abhorson is part of the comic SUB-PLOT—in 4.2 he drolly claims the status of 'mystery' for his profes sion—but he serves chiefly to help create the ominous atmosphere of the prison. Abhorson's name, which suggests both the verb 'abhor' and the insulting noun 'whoreson', serves the same two purposes. It conveys clearly the repellent aspects of the man's profession, thereby reinforcing the atmosphere of impending doom that has been established earlier in the play, even as its absurdity helps defuse that tension.
Abram (Abraham) Minor character in Romeo and Juliet, a servant of the MONTAGUE (1) family. In 1.1 Abram and BALTHASAR (2) brawl with servants of the
CAPULET (1) household. This episode illustrates the extent to which the feud between the two families has upset the civic life of VERONA.
Academic Drama Sixteenth-century literary and theatrical movement, the predecessor of ELIZABETHAN DRAMA. Beginning c. 1540, a body of plays was written and performed, mostly in Latin, by faculty and stu dents of England's two 16th-century universities, Ox ford and Cambridge, of its chief graduate school, the INNS OF COURT in LONDON, and of several of England's private secondary schools. The best-known creators of academic drama were Nicholas UDALL and William Gager (c. 1560-1622). Academic plays were secular, but they shared the moralising, allegorical qualities of their medieval religious predecessors (see MORALITY PLAY). They were often intended to improve the Latin and public speech of the students, and compared to the popular theatre of the 1580s they were often quite dull. Nevertheless, they created a generation of theatre-goers and the first important group of English playwrights, the so-called UNIVERSITY WITS.
Achilles Legendary figure and character in Troilus and Cressida, a Greek warrior in the TROJAN WAR. Though acknowledged as the greatest Greek warrior, Achilles refuses to fight because he feels he is insuffi ciently appreciated; he is also motivated by a treason ous desire to please a Trojan lover. Not until Act 5, after his close friend PATROCLUS is killed, does Achilles, enraged with grief, return to the battlefield. Then, he underhandedly has his followers, the MYRMI DONS, kill the chivalrous HECTOR, thereby ensuring the defeat of TROY in the climactic battle. In 5.8 he further discredits himself by declaring that he will mutilate Hector's body by dragging it behind his horse.
Achilles scandalises the Greek camp by ridiculing his superior officers, AGAMEMNON and NESTOR. ULYSSES, in a significant passage, holds Achilles' atti tude responsible for the Greek failure to defeat Troy despite seven years of fighting. Societies fail, he says, when hierarchical rankings are not observed. More over, Achilles' insubordination has spread, and AJAX is behaving similarly. The prideful warrior thus repre sents a social defect that is one of the targets of the play's satire—the evil influence of morally deficient leadership. Achilles' selfish, traitorous, and brutally unchivalrous behaviour…
"A SPLENDID REFERENCE WORK." —Los Angeles Magazine
Foreword by Terry Hands, Royal Shakespeare Company "A DELIGHT FROM FIRST TO LAST PAGE." —Entertainment
I A U R E L
"A REMARKABLE SUMMATION...A BRILLIANT AND WELCOME ADDITION TO OUR KNOWLEDGE OF THE MAN AND HIS WORKS."
—Terry Hands, from the Foreword • What famous essayist insisted that Shakespeare's plays were unfit for performance?
• Which two plays center on the Hundred Years' War?
• In which scene of Romeo and Juliet does the Nurse report—falsely—that Juliet is dead and thus seal Romeo's tragic fate?
The answers are easily found in Shakespeare A to Z, the only single-volume reference to virtually everything one needs—or wants—to know about the Bard. Wonderfully inform ative, this comprehensive work includes 3,000 entries and 50 illustrations covering:
• EVERY PLAY, including scene-by-scene synopses, critical commentary, sources, textual commentary, and theatrical history
EVERY CHARACTER, from Aaron to Young Talbot, including those without speaking parts
• THE POEMS, including the sonnets and long works in verse
«ACTORS, PRODUCERS, AND DIRECTORS, including William Kempe, Charles Laughton, Sarah Bernhardt, Sir Laurence Olivier, and others who have brought the plays and characters to life over the centuries
" PLACES, real and imaginary, important to Shakespeare's life and works
- THEATRICAL AND LITERARY TERMS that relate to the plays and poetry
• CONTEMPORARIES OF SHAKESPEARE, including family members, friends and colleagues, patrons, and historical figures
• AUTHORS, SCHOLARS, AND PUBLISHERS of Shakespeare's works, critical studies, and histories—and much more, all in easily accessible encyclopedic format
JMf&ifaVM ATOZ
"A wonderfully convenient reference work for everything you've ever wanted to know about Shakespeare and haven't known how to ask... A highly readable reference work"
—David Bevington, University of Chicago, Editor, The Bantam Shakespeare
ISBN 0 - 4 4 0 - 5 0 4 2 9 - 5
A LAUREL TRADE PAPERBACK DELL PUBLISHING
COVER PRINTED IN USA 780440"504290
51600> COVER DESIGN
© DESIGNED TO PRINT. NYC
COVER ILLUSTRATIONS © TUDOR BANUS
A ROUNDTABLE PRESS BOOK
TO BE OR NOT TO BE?" MAY BE THE QUESTION. BUT HERE'S WHERE YOU WILL FIND
ALL THE ANSWERS.
How many ghosts appear in Shakespeare's plays'? More than fourteen, including Caesar's ghost, Banquo's ghost, and the ghost of Hamlet's father. Eleven ghosts haunt Richard III. There are many "ghost characters" who appear in the stage directions but do not appear in the plays.
In what play does Swinstead Abbey figure"? A religious establishment in Lincolnshire, it is the setting for King John and the site of the death of King John. It is not, however, the site of King John's actual historical death.
Who first played Lady Macbeth as a sex goddess? Dating to Sarah Bernhardt's bold interpretation of the role, this most famous of ambitious wives has been played as a woman who flaunts her charms to entice her husband to murder. And did you know her unlovely first name? It's Gruoch.
FASCINATING, FUN, AND VERY INFORMATIVE, NO HOME OR SCHOOL LIBRARY SHOULD BE WITHOUT—
Shakespeare A to Z
"INVITES COMPARISON WITH THE READER'S ENCYCLOPEDIA OF SHAKESPEARE . . . PROVIDES REMARKABLE LEVELS OF DE TAIL ON VIRTUALLY ANY ASPECT OF SHAKESPEARE'S LIFE AND ART . . . BOYCE'S WORK IS WELL DONE AND MUCH MORE CURRENT, AND IT INCLUDES MANY UNIQUE ENTRIES."
—Library Journal
"A treasure trove of information." —School Library Journal
"Highly recommended." —The Book Report
"The ultimate book for the Bard's most fervent followers. . . . Very highly recommended!" —SSC Booknews
"A DELIGHT FROM FIRST TO LAST PAGE." —Entertainment
SHAKESPEARE A TO Z
THE ESSENTIAL REFERENCE TO HIS PLAYS, HIS POEMS, HIS LIFE
AND TIMES, AND MORE
Foreword by Terry Hands, Artistic Director,
Royal Shakespeare Company
To Marya
A LAUREL TRADE PAPERBACK Published by Dell Publishing a division of Bantam Doubleday Dell Publishing Group, Inc. 666 Fifth Avenue New York, New York 10103
If you purchased this book without a cover you should be aware that this book is stolen property. It was reported as "unsold and destroyed" to the publisher and neither the author nor the publisher has received any payment for this "stripped book."
Copyright © 1990 by Charles Boyce and Roundtable Press, Inc.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy ing, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without the written permission of the Publisher, except where permitted by law. For information address: Facts on File, Inc., New York, New York.
The trademark Laurel® is registered in the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.
The trademark Dell® is registered in the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.
ISBN: 0-440-50429-5
Printed in the United States of America
Published simultaneously in Canada
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
RRH
Appendix 729
FOREWORD
Shakespeare is celebrated the world over for the poetry and passion of his plays. He reformed the English language, enriching the vocabulary and increasing the flexibility of verse and prose. Supremely creative him self, he constantly inspired creativity in others. Above all, his profound humanity has enabled succeeding generations to rediscover within the dramatic intensity of his vision their own individual concerns. To many people, in many nations, Shakespeare is still our greatest living author.
All this we take for granted, but Shakespeare's survival was by no means certain. His plays were not published until 1623, some seven years after his death. The Commonwealth ended performance continuity, and with the Restoration in 1660 control of his work passed to the literate only. They decided what the public would or would not receive as Shake speare. For fifty years, most of his plays were not performed at all, and the remainder heavily adapted. Scenes were out, characters added or removed, the language rewritten. In this manner the public were treated to John Lacey's Shrew not Shakespeare's, Davenant's Macbeth, Nabum Tate's King Lear. Dryden and Davenant rewrote The Tempest; Purcell turned it into a musical.
Sadly the theatre can take little credit for Shakespeare's survival. Occa sionally an actor would popularize a play—Betterton's Pericles for in stance, or Garrick's Richard III—but the effects were temporary and the rewriting endemic. Garrick's Richard III, for instance, was largely Colley Cibber's, and having promised 'To lose no Drop of that Immortal Man' Garrick proceeded to perform The Winter's Tale without three of its five acts.
The seventeenth and eighteenth centuries may have been bad—but they were at least 'lofty' in intention. The nineteenth century made little pretence of presenting Shakespeare for anything other than profit. The plays were 'bowdlerised', rewritten, or if morally irredeemable not per formed at all. A famous production of Henry V reduced the play to five scenes of which only four appear in the original. Actors pillaged the plays for great roles, great moments, and cut the rest. Managers favoured a few spectacular tableaux. Actor/managers did both. It was not just Kean's acting but Shakespeare himself who was seen only 'by flashes of light ning'.
Paradoxically, throughout this time Shakespeare's reputation con tinued to grow. The Romantics promoted Shakespeare, but not as a playwright. For them he was a poet to be read rather than seen. Charles Lamb pronounced King Lear 'essentially impossible to be represented on a stage'. Considering what the stage was doing to Shakespeare in the nineteenth century, Lamb's assertion was not unreasonable. But where the theatre had failed the publisher was beginning to succeed.
vu
William Poel (1852-1934) first advocated a positive return to Shake speare's original texts and methods of production. Harley Granville- Barker, in the early twentieth century, took up the theme. But it was not until the post-war years that their principles were generally realised. The key was education. Education and increased literacy created both a new theatre and a new audience. Lilian Baylis's Old Vic and the newly formed RSC re-established the integrity of the plays themselves, while across Europe the principle of state subsidy deferred profit in favour of in creased audience accessibility. Today the collaboration of critic, scholar, public and profession in the plays of William Shakespeare is probably higher than it has ever been—thanks to the publisher and the general reader.
Shakespeare A to Z is a remarkable summation of this new Shakespeare awareness. The focus is rigorously upon the plays themselves, with occa sional reference to performance, and the tone is at all times individual but rational. It both secures and increases Shakespeare's stature and as such is a brilliant and welcome addition to our knowledge of the man and his works.
—Terry Hands, Artistic Director and Chief Executive, Royal Shakespeare Company
PREFACE
This book is not meant as scholarship; my intention has been to assemble conveniently a body of lore for the information and entertainment of the student and general reader. I have not studded the book with references to the scholarship of others that underlies it, for I have presumed that most readers will have little interest in knowing, say, who first suggested that Brian ANNESLEY was a living model for King LEAR'S madness. I make no claim to having discovered this possibility, though I do not name the scholar who did. It is enough that someone did, and that the discovery came to my attention, so that I can bring it to yours.
A Note on Cross-References
When a name or term that is entered in this book appears in another entry, it is printed in SMALL CAPITALS, except in the case of Shakespeare himself and the titles of his works (see CANON). Each of these is, indeed, treated in its own entry, but this fact seems self-evident and reference to them is so frequent that to cross-refer each time would produce typo graphical clutter.
A Note on Citations
Line citations used in this book are taken from the New Arden Shake speare (Methuen, 1951-1984), except in two instances. For The Two Noble Kinsmen, not included in the New Arden canon, citations are from the New Penguin edition (Penguin Books, 1977), and for the sonnets, from the exemplary Shakespeare's Sonnets of Stephen Booth (Yale, 1977).
ix
Aaron Character in Titus Andronicus, the chief villain, a vicious criminal who loves evil for its own sake. Aaron, a Moor, is the lover of TAMORA, the Queen of the Goths, and carries out her revenge on TITUS (1) Andronicus, who has permitted her son to be killed. Although Aaron is in the retinue of the captured Queen in Act 1, he is silent. Only in 2.1 does he begin to reveal his character, rejoicing in the advancement of Tamora, who is to marry the Emperor, SATURNINUS, because it will also benefit him. The rich imagery of his first soliloquy (2.1.19-24) suggests that here is a vil lain who looks forward to catastrophe; it has for him the allure of 'pearl and gold'.
Tamora's two sons lust after LAVINIA, Titus' daugh ter. Aaron plans their appalling rape and mutilation of the girl that is the centre-piece of the revenge upon her father. Aaron's plots are indeed successful. Not only is Lavinia brutalised, but her new husband, BAS- SIANUS, is murdered and two of Titus' sons are charged with the crime. Further, Aaron falsely tells Titus that his severed hand is required as ransom for the two sons' lives. Titus submits to the amputation, only to have the sons' heads, and his own hand, deliv ered to him on a platter. This excessive piece of bru tality delights Aaron, and he gloats to himself: 'O, how this villainy / Doth fat me with the very thoughts of it!' (3.1.202-203).
Aaron's blackness was a common symbol of evil in Shakespeare's day (though, as OTHELLO demonstrates, it did not have to have such a connotation). However, even in this early work, Shakespeare doesn't settle for simple conventionality. Later in the play, a NURSE (1) delivers to Aaron Tamora's new-born black infant, his child, calling it 'as loathsome as a toad / Among the fair-faced breeders of our clime' (4.2.67-68). She bears Tamora's orders that Aaron is to kill it to protect her reputation. He refuses and defends the baby at sword's point against Tamora's sons.
The black man's proud defiance of society reflects Shakespeare's awareness that villainy can have in gredients in common with heroism, regardless of race. Although the irony of this extraordinarily evil man cooing over his infant son was probably intended as humorous, it is also a good instance of the play
wright's respect for the full humanity of all his charac ters, even one intended as a demonstration of cruelty.
Aaron's villainy is certainly still active, for he pro ceeds to kill the NURSE and send the two sons out to buy a white child for Tamora to claim as her own. Aaron attempts to deliver his infant to friends among the GOTHS, but he is captured, and LUCIUS (1) sen tences both father and son to hang. Aaron offers to confess all in exchange for the baby's life. Lucius agrees, and Aaron takes the occasion to boast of his evil, declaring, while detailing his crimes, that in his delight with himself, he 'almost broke my heart with extreme laughter' (5.1.113). Lucius, incredulous, asks whether Aaron is not at all sorry for his 'heinous deeds'. Aaron replies: 'Ay, that I had not done a thou sand more' (5.1.124). Lucius has Aaron gagged, and the Moor is taken to Rome. After the grisly banquet scene in which Titus' revenge is accomplished, Aaron is brought forth to be sentenced. He is to be buried to the neck and starved to death. This fate only provokes a last outburst: 'If one good deed in all my life I did, / I do repent it from my very soul' (5.3.189-190).
Aaron is the first of Shakespeare's flamboyantly ma levolent villains, foreshadowing the likes of RICHARD HI, EDMUND, LADY MACBETH, and, most spectacular of all, IAGO. A less developed personality than the later characters, Aaron more clearly represents the conven tional figure from which they all descend, the MA CHIAVEL. At the time when Shakespeare was writing Titus, The Jew of Malta, by Christopher MARLOWE ranked as one of the most successful offerings yet pre sented in the new world of English theatre, and it featured two very popular Machiavels—Barabas and his assistant Ithamore, racially exotic evil-doers who exult in their criminality. These characters surely in fluenced the young creator of Aaron. However, some historians of drama see Shakespeare as influenced here by earlier, more purely English theatrical tradi tions, with Aaron as a descendant of the VICE figure in the medieval MORALITY PLAY. The two propositions are not at all mutually exclusive; the idea of the Machiavel doubtless was influenced by the well-known Vice fig ure. It is likely that Shakespeare was aware of both and simply used a successful type.
1
2 Abbess, The
Abbess, The Character in The Comedy of Errors. See EMILIA ( 1 ) .
Abbot of Westminster, William Colchester (c. 1 3 4 5 - 1420) Historical figure and character in Richard II, a conspirator against BOLINGBROKE (1). After RICHARD II is formally deposed in 4 .1 , the Abbot conspires with the Bishop of CARLISLE and the Duke of AUMERLE to kill the usurper. The plot is discovered, and the Abbot's death, apparently of a bad conscience, is reported in 5.6.19-21. The historical Abbot was pardoned by Bo lingbroke, by then King HENRY IV, after one month in prison, and was permitted to retain his office, which he held until his death. Shakespeare may have confused the Abbot's fate with Carlisle's, as reported (inaccu rately) by HOLINSHED. The Bishop is said to have died upon capture, 'more through feare than force of sick- nesse'.
Abergavenny, George Neville, Lord (d. 1535) His torical figure and minor character in Henry VIII, son- in-law of the Duke of BUCKINGHAM (1). As the play opens, Abergavenny joins Buckingham and the Duke of NORFOLK (3) in their complaints about Cardinal WOLSEY'S abuse of power. At the end of 1.1 Aberva- genny and Buckingham are arrested for treason, the victims of a plot by Wolsey. Like his father-in-law, Abergavenny calmly accepts his fate, 'The will of Heaven be done, and the king's pleasure / By me obey'd' (1.1.215-216), offering a strong contrast with Wolsey's villainy. Shakespeare took Abergavenny's in volvement from HOLINSHED'S Chronicles, and the lord is merely an echo of Buckingham. At 1.1.211 of the FIRST FOLIO edition of the play, Abergavenny's name is spelled 'Aburgany', indicating its ordinary pronuncia tion.
Abhorson Character in Measure for Measure, an exe cutioner. Abhorson appears in 4.2, where he under takes to train the pimp POMPEY (1) as his assistant, and in 4.3, where he and Pompey summon the condemned criminal BARNARDINE to be executed, only to be comi cally frustrated by the victim's refusal to cooperate. Abhorson is part of the comic SUB-PLOT—in 4.2 he drolly claims the status of 'mystery' for his profes sion—but he serves chiefly to help create the ominous atmosphere of the prison. Abhorson's name, which suggests both the verb 'abhor' and the insulting noun 'whoreson', serves the same two purposes. It conveys clearly the repellent aspects of the man's profession, thereby reinforcing the atmosphere of impending doom that has been established earlier in the play, even as its absurdity helps defuse that tension.
Abram (Abraham) Minor character in Romeo and Juliet, a servant of the MONTAGUE (1) family. In 1.1 Abram and BALTHASAR (2) brawl with servants of the
CAPULET (1) household. This episode illustrates the extent to which the feud between the two families has upset the civic life of VERONA.
Academic Drama Sixteenth-century literary and theatrical movement, the predecessor of ELIZABETHAN DRAMA. Beginning c. 1540, a body of plays was written and performed, mostly in Latin, by faculty and stu dents of England's two 16th-century universities, Ox ford and Cambridge, of its chief graduate school, the INNS OF COURT in LONDON, and of several of England's private secondary schools. The best-known creators of academic drama were Nicholas UDALL and William Gager (c. 1560-1622). Academic plays were secular, but they shared the moralising, allegorical qualities of their medieval religious predecessors (see MORALITY PLAY). They were often intended to improve the Latin and public speech of the students, and compared to the popular theatre of the 1580s they were often quite dull. Nevertheless, they created a generation of theatre-goers and the first important group of English playwrights, the so-called UNIVERSITY WITS.
Achilles Legendary figure and character in Troilus and Cressida, a Greek warrior in the TROJAN WAR. Though acknowledged as the greatest Greek warrior, Achilles refuses to fight because he feels he is insuffi ciently appreciated; he is also motivated by a treason ous desire to please a Trojan lover. Not until Act 5, after his close friend PATROCLUS is killed, does Achilles, enraged with grief, return to the battlefield. Then, he underhandedly has his followers, the MYRMI DONS, kill the chivalrous HECTOR, thereby ensuring the defeat of TROY in the climactic battle. In 5.8 he further discredits himself by declaring that he will mutilate Hector's body by dragging it behind his horse.
Achilles scandalises the Greek camp by ridiculing his superior officers, AGAMEMNON and NESTOR. ULYSSES, in a significant passage, holds Achilles' atti tude responsible for the Greek failure to defeat Troy despite seven years of fighting. Societies fail, he says, when hierarchical rankings are not observed. More over, Achilles' insubordination has spread, and AJAX is behaving similarly. The prideful warrior thus repre sents a social defect that is one of the targets of the play's satire—the evil influence of morally deficient leadership. Achilles' selfish, traitorous, and brutally unchivalrous behaviour…
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