Episode 27 - Shakespeare's Sources and Influences

Explicit content warning

05/05/20 • 81 min

It goes without saying that William Shakespeare, that Sweet Swan of Avon, the upstart crow who turned the English language upside down, was an influential dude. But what many people gloss over in their Bardolatrous zeal is the central question of our show today: Who influenced Shakespeare?

Ancient Bickerings
The gloves come off as Aidan and Lindsay take sides to answer the central question: Since so much of Shakespeare's work was adapted from other source material... was Shakespeare a thief?
Notes:

What Inspired Shakespeare?
- Warwickshire and Shakspeare's Plays
- BBC Radio 4: In Our Time - Marlowe
- The Holinshed Project
- The University Wits
- The Comedy of Errors - Shakespeare's Sources
- A Midsummer Night's Dream - British Library
- Romeo and Juliet - Shakespeare's Sources
- The Merchant of Venice - Shakespeare's Sources
- Julius Caesar - Influences of Plutarch
- Hamlet Dates and Sources - Royal Shakespeare Company
- Prince of Jutland (aka Royal Deceit) - a film adaptation of Amleth (and yes, it starred Helen Mirren as Geruth)
- Macbeth - Sources
- King Lear Sources
- Edward Hall's Chronicle (Wikipedia - with references to a book about a possible copy belonging to Shakespeare)
- "The Poet's Hand" - The New Yorker
- James VI and I's Demonology
- Lindsay mentioned a comedian or actor who carries around a notebook that he used to write down ideas that struck him from conversations he was having; it was actually Canadian singer/songwriter and Tragically Hip frontman Gord Downie. (Source: this came straight from Gord's brother Mike, but it is also referenced on Gord Downie's official website)

Previous Episode

Episode 26 - King John

If there's a contest for the least known of Shakespeare's plays, we feel King John would certainly be in the running. With a meandering plot and characters that don't exactly sizzle on the page or stage, it's a tough play to rank amongst the very best that Shakespeare wrote. However, we're well past Shakespeare's early dalliances with drama, and this play reveals a level of intellectual depth, nuance, and contradiction that makes for excellence podcast fodder.

We hope you'll join us for a discussion of the characters and themes of this play set in the high middle ages that nonetheless manages to focus on some very Elizabethan concerns.

Ancient Bickerings:

This episode we discussed a topic that's always doomed to interpretation and mis-interpretation: authorial intention. We tried to answer the question, "Who did Shakespeare want to be the King from amidst the characters of the play?"

Notes:

Shmoop Themes and Related Questions on King John: https://www.shmoop.com/study-guides/literature/king-john/themes

The Always Useful Wikipedia Entry on Magna Carta: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magna_Carta

The Bastard may have loosely been based on Philip of Cognac, who was an illegitimate son of Richard I: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philip_of_Cognac

Next Episode

Episode 28 - The Merchant of Venice

In our humble opinion (we both agree so we're calling it a singular thing here), this is one of Shakespeare's greatest plays, maybe even his single greatest. Love, debt, justice, prejudice, the law, and the competing desires for mercy and vengeance: it's a fantastic cocktail of themes, motives, and characters that Shakespeare has conjured and which audiences have been grappling with for hundreds of years. More than just the fantastic speeches given by some of its characters (though they are amazing), this play has remained relevant throughout the years for its nuanced exploration of these topics and the characters that provoke the viewer into exploring them.

We loved talking about this play so much there's nary a break in our conversation, as every element of the story is tightly entwined with the others, so that a discussion of one just naturally flows into another. So grab your ducats and prepare for a discussion of one of the bard's most humanistic, complicated, and mentally engaging plays.

Ancient Bickerings

This episode we tackled a rather sedate but still important topic for the play: is it truly a comedy? A tragedy? Something else entirely?

Other Notes

The Merchant of Venice (2004 Film - With Subtitles)

Thug Notes Summary & Analysis of Merchant of Venice