July
The Shakespeare Conference: SHK 14.1453 Thursday, 17 July 2003 From: Carol Barton <This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. > Date: Friday, 11 Jul 2003 19:35:39 -0400 Subject: 14.1434 Re: Swear! Comment: Re: SHK 14.1434 Re: Swear! For Jay Feldman, in response to his comment that "As to Gertrude's inability to see or hear the ghost I have no idea of that cause; perhaps the ghost does not choose to further aggravate his former wife's fighting soul. On the other hand, in the first encounter the ghost gave Hamlet information no one else could provide and there were witnesses to the visit. In the queen's chamber neither of these conditions were met, perhaps indicating it was a symptom of madness, or at the very least the result of the powerful and emotional dynamics of Hamlet's day": Remember that the Ghost tells Hamlet, "Taint not thy mind, nor let thy soul contrive / Against thy mother aught: leave her to heaven, / And to those thorns that in her bosom lodge, / To prick and sting her . . ." (1.5.85-88). His appearance would have the same effect on her that Banquo's appearance has on Macbeth: she is not necessarily an accomplice in her husband's murder, but clearly his "most seeming-virtuous queen" was unfaithful to him with his brother: unlike true "virtue, as it never will be moved, / Though lewdness court it in a shape of heaven," her "lust, though to a radiant angel link'd . . . / Sate[d] itself in [their] celestial marriage bed, / And prey[ed] on garbage" (1.5.53-57). That infidelity led directly to the Ghost's death, making her an accessory before the fact to his murder whether she touched the vial of poison or not. If you recall precedent revenge tragedies (particularly the _Oresteia_), Gertrude's likely affirmation of her guilt upon seeing the Ghost would require that Hamlet avenge his father's death on her as he must on his uncle (in direct violation of the Decalogue: "Honor thy father and thy mother, that thy days may be long upon the earth")--uncomfortable for a Judeo-Christian poet to encourage, regardless of his personal commitment to the CofE, and even uncomfortable for Sophocles (hence the pursuit of Orestes halfway round the globe by the Furies). Instead, Shakespeare ties off that loose end rather neatly, by having the victim enjoin the avenger to "leave her to heaven": Hamlet _can't_ in good faith harm a hair on Gertrude's head and be a good son to his father. He must concentrate all of his wrath on his uncle. All best, Carol Barton _______________________________________________________________ S H A K S P E R: The Global Shakespeare Discussion List Hardy M. Cook,This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. The S H A K S P E R Web Site <http://www.shaksper.net> DISCLAIMER: Although SHAKSPER is a moderated discussion list, the opinions expressed on it are the sole property of the poster, and the editor assumes no responsibility for them.
The Shakespeare Conference: SHK 14.1452 Thursday, 17 July 2003 From: Holger Schott <This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. > Date: Friday, 11 Jul 2003 19:27:00 -0400 Subject: Holinshed Dear SHAKSPERians -- John Manning claims in his Camden Society edition of John Hayward's _Life and Raigne of King Henrie III_ (1991, p. 21) that ""The details of [Richard II's] deposition, for example, thoroughly described in the 1577 edition of Holinshed's Chronicles, had been censored from the 1587 edition." I can't find any evidence for this claim -- I have looked at both editions of Holinshed, and, although there are dramatic differences in layout (significant enough, to be sure, but hardly the consequence of censorship), the only difference in content I could find were minor additions to _1587_, no deletions. Annabel Patterson doesn't mention any state interference with this episode in her 1994 _Reading Holinshed's_ Chronicles either. Does anyone know more about this? Was _1587_ censored during its print-run, so that there are versions that contain the full description of the deposition, and others that don't? Manning doesn't cite a source for his assertion. Many thanks for your help, Best, Holger Schott _______________________________________________________________ S H A K S P E R: The Global Shakespeare Discussion List Hardy M. Cook,This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. The S H A K S P E R Web Site <http://www.shaksper.net> DISCLAIMER: Although SHAKSPER is a moderated discussion list, the opinions expressed on it are the sole property of the poster, and the editor assumes no responsibility for them.
The Shakespeare Conference: SHK 14.1451 Thursday, 17 July 2003 From: Mary Rosenberg <This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. > Date: Friday, 11 Jul 2003 15:09:25 -0700 Subject: Hepburn as Cleopatra I was fascinated to learn that Katherine Hepburn had played Cleopatra (Stratford, Connecticut, 1960). If anyone has any personal memories and/or reviews of this performance I'd be grateful if you would kindly share them with me - either through SHAKSPER or privately on my husband's e-mail. Thanks. Mary Rosenberg _______________________________________________________________ S H A K S P E R: The Global Shakespeare Discussion List Hardy M. Cook,This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. The S H A K S P E R Web Site <http://www.shaksper.net> DISCLAIMER: Although SHAKSPER is a moderated discussion list, the opinions expressed on it are the sole property of the poster, and the editor assumes no responsibility for them.
The Shakespeare Conference: SHK 14.1450 Thursday, 17 July 2003 From: Richard Burt <This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. > Date: Friday, 11 Jul 2003 16:56:32 -0400 Subject: Salvatore Sciarrino Macbeth Opera LINCOLN CENTER FESTIVAL REVIEW |'MACBETH' A Shakespeare Tale, Down to the Essentials By ANTHONY TOMMASINI The Italian composer Salvatore Sciarrino worked on his modernist operatic version of "Macbeth" in fits and starts for more than 25 years. That fact, when I learned of it, did not automatically command respect. Why would it take so long to complete a 110-minute musical drama?" I saw the performance last ngiht (Thrusday, July 11) and liked the production and opera a lot. The set was great, drawn more on di Chirico and Expressionist movie sets than on surrealism. I see the reviewer's point about the Lady Macbeth sleepwalking scene--it was rather static. But it was long to make a point. Macbeth and Lady Macbeth are set up as twin parts of the same person in this adaptation, and Macbeth is, effectively absorbed into Lady Macbeth in the third Act, which begins with her sleepwalking scene. After this cene ends with her suicide, Macduff enters briefly, and the Act ends with Macbeth alone on stage doing "tomorrow, tomorrow, and tomorrow" in a way that parallels the sleepwalking scene. http://www.nytimes.com/2003/07/11/arts/music/11MACB.html _______________________________________________________________ S H A K S P E R: The Global Shakespeare Discussion List Hardy M. Cook,This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. The S H A K S P E R Web Site <http://www.shaksper.net> DISCLAIMER: Although SHAKSPER is a moderated discussion list, the opinions expressed on it are the sole property of the poster, and the editor assumes no responsibility for them.
The Shakespeare Conference: SHK 14.1449 Thursday, 17 July 2003 From: Hardy M. Cook <This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. > Date: Thursday, July 17, 2003 Subject: Sorry 'bout That Dear SHAKSPEReans, It appears that when I was out of town some mysterious force reset the defaults in the mailer I use for SHAKSPER and the first few digests today when out with the Chinese character set. Stuart Manager called the problem to my attention, and I have corrected it I very much enjoyed Chicago. I cannot imagine that I lived there for five months in 1969 and never visited the Art Institute. Those were different times. Now, I cannot wait to return. Well, I'm back, somewhat rested, and about to renew my subscription to the Chronicle of Higher Education. Best wishes, Hardy _______________________________________________________________ S H A K S P E R: The Global Shakespeare Discussion List Hardy M. Cook,This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. The S H A K S P E R Webpage <http://www.shaksper.net> DISCLAIMER: Although SHAKSPER is a moderated discussion list, the opinions expressed on it are the sole property of the poster, and the editor assumes no responsibility for them.