Vulgar words in The Man Shakespeare (Page 1)
This book at a glance
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Shakespeare's Men of Action: the Bastard, Arthur, and King Richard II V. Shakespeare's Men of Action ( continued ): Hotspur, Prince Henry, and Henry V VI.
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The lyrical effusion that follows is not very successful, and probably on that account Macbeth breaks off abruptly: "Whiles I threat he lives, Words to the heat of deeds too cold breath gives," which is, of course, precisely Hamlet's complaint: "This is most brave; That I, the son of a dear father murdered, Prompted to my revenge by heaven and hell, Must, like a whore, unpack my heart with words."
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CHAPTER IV SHAKESPEARE'S MEN OF ACTION: THE BASTARD, ARTHUR, AND KING RICHARD II.
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In the mirror which Shakespeare held up to human nature, we not only see Romeo, and Jaques, Hamlet, Macbeth and Posthumus; but also the leonine, frank face of the Bastard, the fiery, lean, impatient mask of Hotspur, and the cynical, bold eyes of Richard III.
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Jaques, for instance, is his own creation from top to toe; every word given to him therefore deserves careful study; but how much of Hotspur is Shakespeare's, and how much of the Bastard?
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A believer in the theory I have set forth would guess at once that the strong, manly character of the Bastard was vigorously sketched even in the old play, and just as surely one would attribute the gentle, feminine, pathetic character of Arthur to Shakespeare.
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Who does not feel the leaping courage and hardihood of the Bastard in these lines?
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Shakespeare seizes the spirit of the character and renders it, but his emendations are all by way of emphasis: he does not add a new quality; his Bastard is the Bastard of "The Troublesome Raigne."
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It might be the Bastard speaking, so hardy-reckless are the words.
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When the Bastard asks the nobles to return to their allegiance, Salisbury finds an astonishing phrase to express their loathing of the crime: "The King hath dispossess'd himself of us; We will not line his thin bestained cloak With our pure honours, nor attend the foot That leaves the print of blood where'er it walks ."
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Even the Bastard calls it "A damned and bloody work, The graceless action of a heavy hand," and a little later the thought of the crime brings even this tough adventurer to weakness: "I am amazed, methinks, and lose my way Among the thorns and dangers of this world."
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or Shakespeare himself better than it suits the hardy Bastard.
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As in "King John" we have the sharply contrasted figures of the Bastard and Arthur, so in this "Third Part" there are two contrasted characters, Richard Duke of Gloster and King Henry VI., the one a wild beast whose life is action, and who knows neither fear, love, pity, nor touch of any scruple; the other, a saint-like King whose worst fault is gentle weakness.
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To sum up, then, for this is not the place to consider Shakespeare's share in "Henry VIII.," I find that in the English historical plays the manly characters, Hotspur, Harry V., the great Bastard, and Richard III., are all taken from tradition or from old plays, and Shakespeare did nothing more than copy the traits which were given to him; on the other hand, the weak, irresolute, gentle, melancholy characters are his own, and he shows extraordinary resource in revealing the secret workings of their souls.
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The critics who have ignorantly praised his Hotspur and Bastard as if he had been a man of deeds as well as a man of words have only obscured the truth that Shakespeare the poet-philosopher, the lover quand même , only reached a sane balance of nature through his overflowing humour.
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He whose intellect and sensibilities inspired him with nothing but contempt and loathing for the mass of mankind, the aristocrat who in a dozen plays sneers at the greasy caps and foul breaths of the multitude, fell in love with Dogberry, and Bottom, Quickly and Tearsheet, clod and clown, pimp and prostitute, for the laughter they afforded.
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Not only is the genial Lord of Humour degraded in it into a buffoon, but the amusement of it is chiefly in situation; it is almost as much a farce as a comedy.
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How Shakespeare delights in making love!
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Sonnet 127 runs in almost the same words; though now the poet speaking in his own person is less bold: "In the old age black was not counted fair, Or, if it were, it bore not beauty's name; But now is black beauty's successive heir, And beauty slandered with a bastard shame: For since each hand hath put on nature's power, Fairing the soul with art's false borrow'd face, Sweet beauty hath no name, no holy bower, But is profaned, if not lives in disgrace.
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Whore-master in thy face; Thou hast lain with her thyself, I'll prove it in this place.
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They are whore-masters both, sir, that's a plain case.
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A pimp and a scab.
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A pimp and a scab!
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He preferred Arthur to the Bastard, and King Henry VI.
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The soliloquy on this point in "Hamlet" is the most characteristic thing in the drama: "This is most brave, That I, the son of a dear father murder'd Prompted to my revenge by heaven and hell, Must, like a whore, unpack my heart with words, And fall a-cursing like a very drab."
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* * * * * Damn her, lewd minx!
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O, damn her!"
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O, could'st thou speak, That I might hear thee call great Caesar, ass Unpolicied!"
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The characteristic high temper of Mary Fitton breaking out again--"ass unpolicied"--and then the end: "Peace, peace!
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But how can all things become a woman who is not beautiful, whose face some say "hath not the power to make love groan," who cannot even blind the senses with desire?
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The long discussion with Phrynia and Timandra is simply dragged in: neither woman is characterized: Shakespeare-Timon eases himself in pages of erotic raving: "... Strike me the counterfeit matron; It is her habit only that is honest, Herself's a bawd:..." And then: "Consumptions sow In hollow bones of man........... ...............Down with the nose, Down with it flat; take the bridge quite away ..." The "damned earth" even is "the common whore of mankind."
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It was well that he made love to Anne Hathaway; well, too, that he was forced to marry her; well, finally, that he should desert her.
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Shakespeare's "universal sympathy"--to quote Coleridge--did not include the plainly-clad tub-thumper who dared to accuse him to his face of serving the Babylonish Whore.
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Gravely, in sonnet 140, he warns Mary Fitton that she had better not provoke him or he will write the truth about her--just as if the maid of honour who could bear bastard after bastard, while living at court, cared one straw what poor Shakespeare might say or write or sing of her.
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INDEX Abbess Academe Achilles Actium Adam Adonis Adriana Aegeon Aeneas Agamemnon Agincourt Agrippa Ajax Albany, The Duke of (in "Lear") Aleppo Alexander Angelo Anne, Lady Antigone Antipholus Antonio Antonio (Duke in the "Tempest"), Antony, Marc "Antony and Cleopatra" Apelles Apemantus "Arabian Nights' Entertainment" Archbishop of Canterbury Arden, Mary Arden, the family of Argus Ariel Armado Arnold, Matthew Arthur, Prince Arviragus Asbies "As You Like It" Aubrey Aufidius Aumerle Austin, Alfred Autolycus "Babes in a Wood" Bacon Bagot Balzac Bankside Banquo Bardolph Barnardine Bartholomew Fair Bassanio Bastard (the) Bazarof Beatrice Beaumont Beckett, Ernest, dedication.