The Shakespeare Conference: SHK 16.1480  Wednesday, 7 September 2005

[1] 	From: 	Larry Weiss <
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	Date: 	Tuesday, 06 Sep 2005 11:31:18 -0400
	Subj: 	Re: SHK 16.1468 Lear's little dogs

[2] 	From: 	Elliott Stone <
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	Date: 	Tuesday, 6 Sep 2005 16:07:27 -0400
	Subj: 	Re: SHK 16.1447 Lear's little dogs

[3] 	From: 	James Doyle <
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	Date: 	Wednesday, 7 Sep 2005 12:59:57 +0100
	Subj: 	Lear's Little Dogs


[1]-----------------------------------------------------------------
From: 		Larry Weiss <
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Date: 		Tuesday, 06 Sep 2005 11:31:18 -0400
Subject: 16.1468 Lear's little dogs
Comment: 	Re: SHK 16.1468 Lear's little dogs

 >Is there a cat list?  I can think of the witches' Graymalkin
 >and Lady Macbeth's "cat i' th' adage" in Macbeth,
 >referring to the cat who would eat fish but would not get
 >her feet wet.  There must be others.

Thrice, the brinded cat, comes to mind.  Perhaps the feline equivalent 
of Trey.

[2]-------------------------------------------------------------
From: 		Elliott Stone <
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Date: 		Tuesday, 6 Sep 2005 16:07:27 -0400
Subject: 16.1447 Lear's little dogs
Comment: 	Re: SHK 16.1447 Lear's little dogs

If it turned out that Francis Bacon, Edward De Vere or Chris Marlowe 
owned three dogs called Trey, Blanch and Sweetheart, it might be 
necessary to resurrect Sherlock Holmes to deal with "The Case Of The 
Three Dogs That Didn't Bark".

Best,
Elliott H. Stone

[3]-------------------------------------------------------------
From: 		James Doyle <
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Date: 		Wednesday, 7 Sep 2005 12:59:57 +0100
Subject: 	Lear's Little Dogs

Trey seems more likely to be from the meaning 'three' or 'third' rather 
than some shortening of 'betray' I'd have thought.  Who'd call a dog, 
lap- or hunting, 'Betrayer'?

The meaning to me is that the dogs who should be most loyal now no 
longer recognize him and treat him as an intruder; there are obvious 
resonances with the three daughters.

In A.S Byatt's 'Possession', one of the leading characters is called 
Blanche and has a pet dog called Trey.  I took this when reading it as a 
hint that the close friend (and house-sharing companion, IIRC) with whom 
she shares the dog is her 'sweetheart' - an inference which is later 
proved true.

James

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