The Shakespeare Conference: SHK 21.0290 Thursday, 15 July 2010
[1] From: Paul Barry <
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Date: July 14, 2010 3:24:10 PM EDT
Subj: Re: SHK 21.0282 Hamlet's Feminine Endings
[2] From: S. L Kasten <
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Date: July 15, 2010 4:32:57 PM EDT
Subj: Re: SHK 21.0282 Hamlet's Feminine Endings
[1]-----------------------------------------------------------------
From: Paul Barry <
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Date: July 14, 2010 3:24:10 PM EDT
Subject: 21.0282 Hamlet's Feminine Endings
Comment: Re: SHK 21.0282 Hamlet's Feminine Endings
MacMorris, Jamy, and Fluellen speak in accents, not dialects; their first
language is Gaelic.
[2]-------------------------------------------------------------
From: S. L Kasten <
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Date: July 15, 2010 4:32:57 PM EDT
Subject: 21.0282 Hamlet's Feminine Endings
Comment: Re: SHK 21.0282 Hamlet's Feminine Endings
On July 12 Phyllis Gorfain wrote
>I wonder, Syd, what you make of the "dialects" (Irish, Scots, Welsh)
>in Henry V for the comic characters Captain MacMorris (Irish), Captain
>Jamy (Scots), and Captain Fluellen (Welsh)? Would you not class those
>as "gross" imitations? What are you thinking of, by that term?
>
>Thanks for clarification!
Point well taken!
I should have written "gratuitous" rather than "gross".
Actually, I was thinking of exotic characters like Morocco, Arragon in MOV
or Rosencrantz and Guildenstern in Hamlet.
Hotspur and Glendower speak fluent and sometimes eloquent English, although
I wouldn't be surprised if a Henry Higgins exists who has found national
echoes in the lines given them.
Being something of a pedant myself I never considered Fluellen a comic
character; perhaps I was overly influenced by the film "How Green Was My
Valley". While his classical references might seem quaint I don't find them
far off the mark, no Dogberry he. His accent did not hide a serious attitude
to his military work, an attitude perhaps as quirky as the proverbial
English stiff upper lip. As for the imitative speech, if the author wanted
to give special expression to the integrity and loyalty of members of
absorbed subject nations I can't think of any other way to do so than by
giving the characters something like their natural voice. Surely Henry
included them when he spoke to his "band of brothers"; they were, after all,
officers, a step in rank above the soldiers Williams and Bates. On
reflection one gets the impression that the author considered Henry's
charisma a cement to the Union in a way that wasn't always there and wasn't
always to be there.
As for the Henry of the play on Fluellen:
Though it appears a little out of fashion
There is much care and valour in this Welshman.
(Another pair of feminine ended lines)
And fellow captain Gower to Pistol after the latter's drubbing at the hands
of Fluellen:
...You thought because he could not speak English in the native garb, he
could not therefore handle an English cudgel: you find it otherwise; and
henceforth let a Welsh correction teach you a good English condition. Fare
ye well.
I'm grateful, Phyllis, for both your flattering attention and your enriching
challenge.
Syd Kasten
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