The Shakespeare Conference: SHK 18.0322 Thursday, 3 May 2007
[1] From: Abigail Quart <
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Date: Friday, 20 Apr 2007 01:07:04 -0400
Subj: RE: SHK 18.0297 Upstart Crow
[2] From: Anne Cuneo <
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Date: Friday, 20 Apr 2007 16:54:36 +0200
Subj: Re: SHK 18.0297 Upstart Crow
[3] From: Philip Tomposki <
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Date: Sunday, 22 Apr 2007 15:05:18 -0400
Subj: Re: Upstart Crow
[1]-----------------------------------------------------------------
From: Abigail Quart <
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Date: Friday, 20 Apr 2007 01:07:04 -0400
Subject: 18.0297 Upstart Crow
Comment: RE: SHK 18.0297 Upstart Crow
I know the Renaissance scholars will be able to explain every word, but
the impression I always got was of a guy with the college degree being
totally pissed off at the success of a smartass who didn't graduate high
school. How dare he master blank verse? He couldn't have done it if the
educated fellows hadn't shown him how.
[2]-------------------------------------------------------------
From: Anne Cuneo <
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Date: Friday, 20 Apr 2007 16:54:36 +0200
Subject: 18.0297 Upstart Crow
Comment: Re: SHK 18.0297 Upstart Crow
My probably not-too-academic reading has always been that Green and a few
others were furious because this non-university wit, with his Stratford
accent and all, had the audacity of writing plays that had more success
than theirs. Of course, Green would have found details which "proved" that
he and his friends had been wronged, because the upstart had been copying
their ideas, thus beautifying himself with their feathers. Robert McCrum
(The Observer's Literary Editor) says this is a phenomenon one observes
with each successful book, film or play. Someone is always sure the
successful author has copied HIM. And the impudent crow compounded his
misdeeds by playing those bombastic - but successful - verses himself. All
of which brought him money that Green would sorely have needed.
[3]-------------------------------------------------------------
From: Philip Tomposki <
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Date: Sunday, 22 Apr 2007 15:05:18 -0400
Subject: Re: Upstart Crow
Everything I've read (except for the revisionist interpretations of the
you-know-whos) indicates a general consensus that this is a complaint by
Greene about the fact that Shakespeare, with only a grammar school
education, was becoming the dominant playwright of the time. Except for
Kyd, Shakespeare was, I believe, the only prominent English playwright
without a university education at the time Groatsworth was published.
Some have argued that "...beautified with our feathers..." was a
suggestion of plagiarism. I believe, however, a look at the quote in
context (the full text of Groatsworth is available at
http://www.uoregon.edu/~rbear/greene1.html) shows it as part of a general
attack on actors, who Greene describes variously as "Puppets ... that
speake from our mouths" and "Anticks garnisht in our colours" and later
writes "...let those Apes imitate your past excellence, and neuer more
acquaint them with your admired inuentions." Beautified with our feathers
sounds to me like an attack along the same lines, and since crows are
known for imitating other birds, upstart crow is probably in a similar
vein. Greene is obviously complaining that actors get the glory for the
playwrights' work. At this point in time, a plays author was not usually
identified to the audience, and often their name did not even appear in
their printed plays.
Greene's main complaints, however, are that of ingratitude and
abandonment:
"Is it not strange that I, to whom they al haue beene beholding: is it not
like that you, to whome they all haue beene beholding, shall (were yee in
that case that I am now) bee both at once of them forsaken?"
Greene is said to have lived a dissipate lifestyle, and it is likely that
in his last years both the quality and reliability of his output suffered.
He may well have been passed over for a more reliable Shakespeare, who
after all was a much better writer. The attack on Shakespeare makes more
sense when viewed in this context. The condemnation of actors for
ingratitude both precedes and follows the complaint about the upstart
crow. Greene's bias against a grammar school educated writer would be
enhanced if that writer were threatening his livelihood.
Philip Tomposki
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