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Replies | Post Reply | Shakespeare Queries & Replies From Everyone Else 3.15.97: Top | Help
The favorite is extensively examined in Rowse's biography of Shakespeare. She is Amelia Bassano
Lanier. She was a poet in her own right and has a home page devoted to her on the Net. There is
another book, (which I cannot secure) "The Bassanos: Venetian Musicians and Instrument Makers in
England, 1531-1665" by David Lasocki and Roger Prior, Aldershot, Hampshire, Scolar Press, that
describes the intimacy that existed between Shakespeare and her family, the Bassanos, Jewish convert
musicians of the court. So that when Shylock complains that whining bagpipes make him unable to
contain his water, and his dislike of the fife one suspects that Shakespeare might well have heard the
words directly from or about a Bassano family member. Further, I would go so far as to speculate,
which is according to my own reading of "The Merchant of Venice" that Shylock's complicated
machinations which are to legalize Jessica's inheritance might very well be a direct result of knowing and
regretting the personal history of the orphaned Amelia who became a rich man's concubine through lack
of inheritance.
Posted by Florence Amit on March 23, 1997 at 21:29:23
In Reply to "Any feminist perpectives on the Dark Lady?" posted by Judith Landy on March 23, 1997 at 18:44:02
Replies | Post Reply | Shakespeare Queries & Replies From Everyone Else 3.15.97: Top | Help