The Shakespeare Conference: SHK 12.1844  Tuesday, 24 July 2001

[1]     From:   Graham Hall <
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        Date:   Monday, 23 Jul 2001 18:22:03 +0000
        Subj:   Re: SHK 12.1828 Re: Wearing Swords at Home

[2]     From:   Larry Weiss <
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        Date:   Monday, 23 Jul 2001 17:33:14 -0400
        Subj:   Re: SHK 12.1828 Re: Wearing Swords at Home

[3]     From:   Steve Roth <
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        Date:   Monday, 23 Jul 2001 15:44:34 -0700
        Subj:   Re: SHK 12.1828 Re: Wearing Swords at Home


[1]-----------------------------------------------------------------
From:           Graham Hall <
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Date:           Monday, 23 Jul 2001 18:22:03 +0000
Subject: 12.1828 Re: Wearing Swords at Home
Comment:        Re: SHK 12.1828 Re: Wearing Swords at Home

Steve Urquartowitz writes:

>With wearing weapons at home or castle as with most things, there must
>have been a lot of variety of usages, a social semiotics of domestic
>armament.
>
>In the Alexander Iden/Jack Cade scene in 2 Henry VI, in the 1595 text
>Iden comes onstage, imagined as his hedged garden, accompanied by some
>of his men. He sees Cade, is challenged by him, and has to send one of
>his men out to "fetch weapons." The 1623 text instead has Iden enter
>alone, there is no command to anyone to bring in an offstage sword, so >in
this version he has to be entering earlier bearing arms.


Shakespeare does have a character comment on folk looking for a fight
who go into pubs with their rapiers of course. (Although I have not seen
much of this in the Vale of the White Horse, Oxfordshire, of late,
notwithstanding the many retirement enclaves in the neighbourhood.|)

The conflated Harry Sixes given at the Watermill, Newbury, last year had
Cade and the establishment arriving  - "tooled up" as the vernacular has
it - with baseball bats (although the future Dicky III was refined
enough to employ a cut throat razor). There was also a lot of red
cabbage bashing and slashing, but nothing citrus. Oh, such times, etc.

Best wishes,
Graham Hall

[2]-------------------------------------------------------------
From:           Larry Weiss <
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Date:           Monday, 23 Jul 2001 17:33:14 -0400
Subject: 12.1828 Re: Wearing Swords at Home
Comment:        Re: SHK 12.1828 Re: Wearing Swords at Home

> I take it you mean Cinna was hanged upside down like Mussolini.

Il Duce was actually shot to death.  The body was hung by the heels for
display purposes only.  (Note: "Hung," not "hanged," as he was already
dead.)

[3]-------------------------------------------------------------
From:           Steve Roth <
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Date:           Monday, 23 Jul 2001 15:44:34 -0700
Subject: 12.1828 Re: Wearing Swords at Home
Comment:        Re: SHK 12.1828 Re: Wearing Swords at Home

> The Romans wore a long and a short sword into battle.

Note also that Laertes is noted for his skill with "rapier and dagger."

(Ham.  That's two of his weapons; but, well.)

Steve
http://princehamlet.com

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