Shakespeare Electronic Conference, Vol. 5, No. 0373.  Thursday, 28 April 1994.
 
(1)     From:   Tom Clayton <This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.>
        Date:   Wednesday, 27 Apr 1994 15:10:59 -0500 (CDT)
        Subj:   Re: SHK 5.0368  Re: London/Stratford Productions Correction
 
(2)     From:   W.L. Godshalk  <This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.>
        Date:   Wednesday 27 Apr 1994 21:10:44 -0500 (EST)
        Subj:   "Universals" and Jesting (Quotation)
 
(3)     From:   William Kemp <This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.>
        Date:   Wednesday, 27 Apr 94 21:58:34 EDT
        Subj:   re: *MND* Doubling
 
 
(1)----------------------------------------------------------------------------
From:           Tom Clayton <This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.>
Date:           Wednesday, 27 Apr 1994 15:10:59 -0500 (CDT)
Subject: 5.0368  Re: London/Stratford Productions Correction
Comment:        Re: SHK 5.0368  Re: London/Stratford Productions Correction
 
Whatever he says. All I knew is what I took from the RSC Spring/Summer 1994
Season booklet, which says: "This production will concentrate on the final part
of the Henry VI trilogy with additional material from part II" (17). I hope
that whoever sees whatever it is enjoys it.
 
(2)----------------------------------------------------------------------------
From:           W. L. Godshalk  <This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.>
Date:           Wednesday, 27 Apr 1994 21:10:44 -0500 (EST)
Subject:        "Universals" and Jesting
 
Balz Engler has accused me to tipping my hand -- again. Actually I was simply
jesting with David Schalkwyk, and so if I have revealed anything about myself
it is that I lack high seriousness. However, as far as I know, males are
universally distributed throughout the mammalian species. (My wife just
reminded me -- over my shoulder -- that in China males are over-represented.)
 
Hanging in there, I remain, Bill Godshalk
 
(3)----------------------------------------------------------------------------
From:           William Kemp <This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.>
Date:           Wednesday, 27 Apr 94 21:58:34 EDT
Subject:        re: *MND* Doubling
 
James Calderwood published an article in ShQ a few years ago which (as I
recall, but caveat lector) argues for the doubling as thematically appropriate.
He sees the dream in the woods as a Thesean anxiety fantasy about marrying an
Amazon. The Indian boy becomes a symbol of Titania-Hipployta's emotional
independence. After Titania-Oberon have reconciled in Theseus' dream, he is
able to calmly resolve the conflicts among the young lovers -- an otherwise
inconsistent action, Calderwood argues, since in 1.1 Theseus had claimed to be
bound under Athenian law to enforce Egeus' wishes. He also tries to identify
Egeus (father of Hermia) with Aegeus (father of Theseus). Maybe too clever.
 
Calderwood frames all this with brief discuss of Holbein's painting "The
Ambassadors," which has a famous optical-illusion skull in the foreground. His
point is that such perspective tricks are common in the Renaissance. MND, he
claims, offers an analogous perspective trick when the action switches from
Athens to the forest.
 
Sorry, I can't give a citation; my copies of ShQ are at the office.
 
Personally, I think doubling literalizes and impoverishes the analogies between
the two pairs of characters. The play teases us into looking at Athens in the
light of the forest--and forest in the light of Athens. Doubling prompts us to
feel that Athens=forest. Too categorical, too reductive.
 
Bill Kemp
Mary Washington College
Fredericksburg, Va.
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

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