The Shakespeare Conference: SHK 10.1416 Wednesday 11 August 1999.
From: Geralyn Horton <This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.>
Date: Tuesday, 10 Aug 1999 11:03:53 -0400
Subject: 10.1407 Re: Hoghton Tower Controversy
Comment: Re: SHK 10.1407 Re: Hoghton Tower Controversy
I know you are scholars, and I am a mere tourist: but when I was in
Stratford, the docent at the church pointed out Wm Shakespeare's name on
the list of vestrymen after his retirement from the theatre, and said
that the office entitled him to be buried in the church. At this point
in his career, WS shouldn't have had to worry about conforming outwardly
to Anglicanism to stay out of trouble-he had managed to stay out of
trouble quite well for years, in a much more exposed position.
Now, WS might have taken on the church office because as an actor he
loved hearing the sound of his own voice applied to poetry, and once
retired he could only exercise it if he were a lay reader. Or he might
have signed up to annoy his wife, who may have plagued him with
accusations that in spite of his ill-gotten wealth he was nothing but an
ungodly adulterous flibertygibbet of a common player. But that would
make him quite a hypocrite. Isn't the simplest explanation- that WS
found the established church spiritually satisfying-best?
Geralyn Horton, Playwright
Newton, Mass. 02460
<http://www.tiac.net/users/ghorton>
