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Replies | Post Reply | Shakespeare Queries From Genuinely Interested Students 3.15.97: Top | Help
of Shakespeare getting into trouble, although a projected performance of one of his plays (one of the Richards) was quashed and used to bring sedition charges against a supposed plot to gain support for Elizabeth's overthrow and the installation of Mary on the throne. Of Sh himself, we know so little that all is supposition. I suppose a case could be offered that his retirement to Stratford (from which no further writing issued) could be tied to a sort-of banishment as a result of official disapproval -- but I've never seen that theory seriously offered.
Alternatively, those who believe the works were written by the 17th Earl of Oxford (Edward DeVere), could make similar cases that Oxford was continually in and out of trouble -- but saved only by his closeness to the Queen -- and that the adoption of the Shakespeare attribution was a direct result of an official desire not to have embarrassing or potentially seditious writings attributed to a noble friend of the Court.
Clearly, there are many allusions to English politics. The (English) history plays are suppportive of the Tudor line. Polonius is surprisingly like Lord Burghley. There appear to be veiled references to Elizabeth all over the place -- but they are, like hidden cyphers -- easier to find than to prove. It's a fascinating occupation, however.Posted by JTJ on March 24, 1997 at 08:20:25
In Reply to "Allusions to Elizabethians " posted by kase on March 23, 1997 at 20:38:09
Replies | Post Reply | Shakespeare Queries From Genuinely Interested Students 3.15.97: Top | Help