William Casey Caldwell, visiting assistant professor of English at Northwestern University, points out that two of the three plays Shakespeare wrote that aren’t largely based on existing source material - A Midsummer Night’s Dream and The Tempest - are filled with magical elements. Folger ART File S527.2 no.134 copy 1 (size M)As his comfort with divinity and immortality suggests, Shakespeare was certainly no stranger to the supernatural, filling his plays with ghosts, fairies, sprites, witches, wizards, soothsayers, and all manner of “quaint devices.” These elements show that Shakespeare acknowledged the mysterious and ineffable not only in his work, but in the creation of his work. Shakespeare seated between the Dramatic Muse & the Genius of painting / I. “Be thou the tenth muse,” he writes, “Ten times more in worth / Than those old nine which rhymers invocate,” expressing the desire that his mortal muse become immortal, if not as a goddess, then within the lines of these poems. “How can my muse want subject to invent / While thou dost breathe…” he begins, before suggesting that his human muse be added to the pantheon of divine ones. But in Sonnet 38, he explores the tension between this internal muse and his external living one. Venting his creative frustration, Shakespeare complains that his muse is inarticulate, insufficiently inspiring, and has even outright abandoned him. When he’s not praising the beauty of the Fair Youth or lusting after the Dark Lady, Shakespeare personifies his own internal creative spirit as a muse. WH,” who appears in the dedication to the first published edition and is described as “the onlie begetter of these sonnets.” Was he the same person as the “Fair Youth,” or did he do something else to “beget” the sonnets? It’s possible that he might have been a patron of Shakespeare’s or paid for the sonnets’ publication in either case, cash money can also be a wonderful form of inspiration. There is the so-called “Dark Lady” sonnet sequence and the “Fair Youth” sonnet sequence both identities remain unknown. Folger ART Box B584 no.21But an artist’s muse could also be a living person, and Shakespeare appears to be directing his sonnets to multiple figures. William Shakspeare / Alexandre Bida, 1893. And in Othello, when the villainous Iago complains of his own lack of “invention” and says, “My muse labors, and thus she is delivered,” Shakespeare draws a nice parallel between literary creation and childbirth. Shakespeare famously calls upon the muse in the opening line of Henry V - “O, for a muse of fire that would ascend the brightest heaven of invention” - a classical invocation drawn from Homer and Virgil that could easily be something Shakespeare muttered to himself while trying to create his third five-act play in twelve months with a deadline looming. In a wonderful way, they anthropomorphize inspiration (and the desire for it), as well as being a convenient focus for the frustration of not getting it. Historically, the “muse” refers to one of nine Greek goddesses, said to personify the arts (literary, visual, musical, and dramatic) and sciences. Shakespeare mentions his “muse” many times, mostly in his sonnets but a few times in his plays. Folger ART Box R167 no.1 (size L)It’s a tantalizing mystery: What was Shakespeare’s inspiration? What was the source of his talent? How on earth did he do what he did? Were his abilities and success the product of native talent forged by practice and honed by association and collaboration with talented theatre colleagues and great actors - or was he in fact touched by the gods?
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |