The Shakespeare Conference: SHK 12.1332 Sunday, 3 June 2001
From: R.A. Cantrell <This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.>
Date: Friday, 1 Jun 2001 11:32:40 -0600
Subject: Geography
>Terence Hawkes points to Shakespeare's "most crucial mistake of all"
>--"Gaunt's assumption [in Richard II] that England is an island."
>
>But Gaunt doesn't say England is an "island": he says it's an "isle,"
>which can mean a lot of things besides, or in addition to, the modern
>sense of "island."
Gaunt says a lot of things.
>I know that this is not a fresh topic, but has anyone noticed co-extensive
>geographical mistakes with those of Shakespeare in ANY literary artifacts
>from the period? It is interesting to consider the possibility of a source
>text for those mistakes noted in the plays and also to consider that
>others may have been misinformed by that same text.
I asked about texts from the period.
Nice re-direct Pr. Hawkes.
>Wouldn't it be natural for the old man to assume (consume?) Scotland
>into the picture,
>Paul E. Doniger
and Wales, for all any of this might matter.
Let me be more direct. Do any well informed students of the period know
of any texts that might be relevant to this apparent and in itself
unimportant mistake?
All the best,
R. A. Cantrell
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