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Shakespeare in London
Shakespeare in London offers a lively and engaging new reading of some of Shakespeare's major work, informed by close attention to the language of his drama. The focus of the book is on Shakespeare's London, how it influenced his drama and how he represents it on stage. Taking readers on an imaginative journey through the city, the book moves both chronologically, from beginning to end of Shakespeare's dramatic career, and also geographically, traversing London from west to east.
Each chapter focuses on one play and one key location, drawing out the thematic connections between that place and the drama it underwrites. Plays discussed in detail include Hamlet, Richard II, The Merchant of Venice, The Tempest, King Lear and Romeo and Juliet. Close textual readings accompany the wealth of contextual material, providing a fresh and exciting way into Shakespeare's work.
Each chapter focuses on one play and one key location, drawing out the thematic connections between that place and the drama it underwrites. Plays discussed in detail include Hamlet, Richard II, The Merchant of Venice, The Tempest, King Lear and Romeo and Juliet. Close textual readings accompany the wealth of contextual material, providing a fresh and exciting way into Shakespeare's work.
282 pages, Kindle Edition
First published February 26, 2015
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February 27, 2024
‘For all of the plays set in Venice, Padua, or Verona, in ancient Britain, Rome, or Greece, not one of Shakespeare’s works is set in the London of his own day. And yet, as we shall discover, the size, diversity, noise, smell, chaos, anarchy and sheer excitement of London can he felt in all that Shakespeare writes.’ [Introduction]
How was London precisely in the late 16th and early 17th centuries? Well, it was home to around one hundred thousand souls, with an assorted set of residents ranging from nobility to beggars, royalty to refugees. It was the epoch of Elizabeth. She was reigning supreme. London was a station of reverses – you had a London of monarchs and sycophants, but also a London where insufficiency and pandemic ruled the roost – and all of it, the whole thing, would be decanted into Shakespeare’s works.
The legend that Shakespeare, on his first appearance in London, employed himself to holding horses outside theatre doors, or worked in a printer's or lawyer's office, is now discredited. The earliest notice of Shakespeare in London occurs in 1592 in the death-bed effusion of Robert Greene-A Groatsworth of Wit Bought with Million of Repentance, in which Shakespeare is referred to as "an upstart crow, beautified with our feathers" and as "Johannes factotum."
Henry Chettle, who edited Greene's pamphlet, makes a nice apology to Shakespeare. It may be inferred from Greene's ill-natured allusion that Shakespeare must have been actively engaged in writing plays by 1592, that some at least of them were based upon the work of other men.
The playhouse with which tradition connects Shakespeare was called "The Theatre", built by a player and joiner, James Burbage in 1577, in the fields outside the City Walls, on the west of Bishopsgate Street, in Shoreditch. In 1598 it was pulled down and in 1599 rebuilt as "The Globe", on Bankside Southwark.
The records of Shakespeare's life and career henceforth are fairly continuous. Not long after he found a patron in Henry Wriothesley, Earl of Southampton. In 1596, he seems to have been well off enough to apply for a coat-of-arms.
The book has the following chapters:
1) Violence in Shakespeare’s London: Titus Andronicus (1594) and Tyburn
2) Politics in Shakespeare’s London: Richard II (1595) and Whitehall
3) Class in Shakespeare’s London: Romeo and Juliet (1595—6) and The Strand
4) Law in Shakespeare’s London: The Merchant of Venice (1596—8) and the Inns of Court
5) Religion in Shakespeare’s London: Hamlet (1600—1) and St Paul’s
6) Medicine in Shakespeare’s London: King Lear (1605—6) and Bedlam
7) Economics in Shakespeare’s London: Timon of Athens (1607) and the King’s Bench Prison, Southwark
8) Experimentation in Shakespeare’s London: The Tempest (1610—11) and Lime Street
This book discusses in its eight chapters that London holds a central place in the Shakespearean imagination, underwriting the plays that he created there, even while they are set elsewhere. The author of this book holds that ‘it is a notorious fact that Shakespeare rarely writes about London directly, and yet his life was enmeshed with that of his adopted city — through the ownership of property there, his investment in its theatrical world, and his roles at the heart of some of its most prominent acting companies….’
By 1592 Shakespeare was living and working in London, where he would reside for the next twenty years of his life, an existence punctuated by regular trips back to Stratford to visit his wife and family, who would remain there throughout these years.
On August 11, 1596, Shakespeare's only son, Hamnet, died and was buried at Stratford. His son's death must have been a great blow to Shakespeare, wishing as he did to found a family. Now he seems to have been growing rich. In 1597, he bought for £ 60 the largest house in his native town, New Place, and later he made further investment in land in the neighbourhood.
When "The Theatre" was rebuilt as the "Globe", Shakespeare was taken in as a partner"a fellowship in a cry of players" - (Hamlet, III, ii). The admission as a partner into the profits of the New Globe marks definitely his success in London better than his purchase of New Place at Stratford.
In the beginning of the year 1601, Essex's rebellion broke out and, for his share in it, Lord Southampton was imprisoned in the Tower whence he was not released until James I's accession in 1603. Shakespeare's fortunes thus suffered a temporary eclipse. On March 24, 1603, Queen Elizabeth died, and as Chettle complains, "the silver- tongued Melicent" (Shakespeare) did not "drop from his honied Muse one stable tear."
On James' accession, Shakespeare's company, entitled "The Lord Chamberlain's Company", originally entitled. "The Lord Chamberlain's Servants" assumed the title of "The King's Players".
London would be the city in which Shakespeare made his name, in which he produced his greatest work, and embarked upon his most productive partnerships with fellow actors and writers. It would be the place where he earned his money, where he nurtured his connections to the highest reaches of society, and where he achieved mastery of the emerging world of the commercial playhouses.
Shakespeare did not just live and thrive in London, however. Rather the city became a part of him and his writing.
Enjoyable and informative. Give it a try if you choose.
How was London precisely in the late 16th and early 17th centuries? Well, it was home to around one hundred thousand souls, with an assorted set of residents ranging from nobility to beggars, royalty to refugees. It was the epoch of Elizabeth. She was reigning supreme. London was a station of reverses – you had a London of monarchs and sycophants, but also a London where insufficiency and pandemic ruled the roost – and all of it, the whole thing, would be decanted into Shakespeare’s works.
The legend that Shakespeare, on his first appearance in London, employed himself to holding horses outside theatre doors, or worked in a printer's or lawyer's office, is now discredited. The earliest notice of Shakespeare in London occurs in 1592 in the death-bed effusion of Robert Greene-A Groatsworth of Wit Bought with Million of Repentance, in which Shakespeare is referred to as "an upstart crow, beautified with our feathers" and as "Johannes factotum."
Henry Chettle, who edited Greene's pamphlet, makes a nice apology to Shakespeare. It may be inferred from Greene's ill-natured allusion that Shakespeare must have been actively engaged in writing plays by 1592, that some at least of them were based upon the work of other men.
The playhouse with which tradition connects Shakespeare was called "The Theatre", built by a player and joiner, James Burbage in 1577, in the fields outside the City Walls, on the west of Bishopsgate Street, in Shoreditch. In 1598 it was pulled down and in 1599 rebuilt as "The Globe", on Bankside Southwark.
The records of Shakespeare's life and career henceforth are fairly continuous. Not long after he found a patron in Henry Wriothesley, Earl of Southampton. In 1596, he seems to have been well off enough to apply for a coat-of-arms.
The book has the following chapters:
1) Violence in Shakespeare’s London: Titus Andronicus (1594) and Tyburn
2) Politics in Shakespeare’s London: Richard II (1595) and Whitehall
3) Class in Shakespeare’s London: Romeo and Juliet (1595—6) and The Strand
4) Law in Shakespeare’s London: The Merchant of Venice (1596—8) and the Inns of Court
5) Religion in Shakespeare’s London: Hamlet (1600—1) and St Paul’s
6) Medicine in Shakespeare’s London: King Lear (1605—6) and Bedlam
7) Economics in Shakespeare’s London: Timon of Athens (1607) and the King’s Bench Prison, Southwark
8) Experimentation in Shakespeare’s London: The Tempest (1610—11) and Lime Street
This book discusses in its eight chapters that London holds a central place in the Shakespearean imagination, underwriting the plays that he created there, even while they are set elsewhere. The author of this book holds that ‘it is a notorious fact that Shakespeare rarely writes about London directly, and yet his life was enmeshed with that of his adopted city — through the ownership of property there, his investment in its theatrical world, and his roles at the heart of some of its most prominent acting companies….’
By 1592 Shakespeare was living and working in London, where he would reside for the next twenty years of his life, an existence punctuated by regular trips back to Stratford to visit his wife and family, who would remain there throughout these years.
On August 11, 1596, Shakespeare's only son, Hamnet, died and was buried at Stratford. His son's death must have been a great blow to Shakespeare, wishing as he did to found a family. Now he seems to have been growing rich. In 1597, he bought for £ 60 the largest house in his native town, New Place, and later he made further investment in land in the neighbourhood.
When "The Theatre" was rebuilt as the "Globe", Shakespeare was taken in as a partner"a fellowship in a cry of players" - (Hamlet, III, ii). The admission as a partner into the profits of the New Globe marks definitely his success in London better than his purchase of New Place at Stratford.
In the beginning of the year 1601, Essex's rebellion broke out and, for his share in it, Lord Southampton was imprisoned in the Tower whence he was not released until James I's accession in 1603. Shakespeare's fortunes thus suffered a temporary eclipse. On March 24, 1603, Queen Elizabeth died, and as Chettle complains, "the silver- tongued Melicent" (Shakespeare) did not "drop from his honied Muse one stable tear."
On James' accession, Shakespeare's company, entitled "The Lord Chamberlain's Company", originally entitled. "The Lord Chamberlain's Servants" assumed the title of "The King's Players".
London would be the city in which Shakespeare made his name, in which he produced his greatest work, and embarked upon his most productive partnerships with fellow actors and writers. It would be the place where he earned his money, where he nurtured his connections to the highest reaches of society, and where he achieved mastery of the emerging world of the commercial playhouses.
Shakespeare did not just live and thrive in London, however. Rather the city became a part of him and his writing.
Enjoyable and informative. Give it a try if you choose.
Displaying 1 of 1 review