Re Stephen Greenblatt - Will in the World
An important contribution to the Shakespeare Authorship Debate
This book is an important contribution to the Shakespeare Authorship Debate. It was not meant to be, of course. Its intended and recognized goal is a reconstruction of the life of William Shakspere (his preferred spelling) who grew up in Stratford-upon-Avon, based on the orthodox conception that he is to be identified with "William Shakespeare," the great poet and playwright. Greenblatt, whose book is written with eloquence, wit and creativity, is the John Cogan University Professor of the Humanities at Harvard University and Editor of the Norton Shakespeare. It is therefore not surprising that this book received rave reviews and became a New York Times bestseller.
Since one may fairly regard this book as one of the most scholarly and eloquent arguments in favor of the orthodox position that the great playwright and poet may be identified with Shakspere, anyone wishing to explore the Authorship Question for himself or herself would be well justified in adopting this book as a benchmark--an authoritative case for the orthodox position. This facilitates one's task. One can then set Greenblatt's book side-by-side with one of a growing number of books arguing for a different identity and compare the two cases, item by item.
For example, one may focus on the sonnets and compare Chapter 8 of Greenblatt's book with--for instance--Chapter 4 of Proving Shakespeare, by David Roper. Greenblatt (p. 237) proposes that Shakspere was commissioned by Lord Burghley to write nineteen sonnets to Henry Wriothesley, Earl of Southampton, to encourage him to marry. Greenblatt (p. 239) attributes the further development of the sequence to Shakspere's falling in love with Southampton.
There are obvious problems with this scenario. Apart from the general problems--such as explaining how Shakspere suddenly developed into the supreme poet and playwright and master of the English language with intimate knowledge of court life and foreign countries and familiarity with the classics, foreign languages, etc., etc.--we are asked to believe that a nobleman would have carried on a long-duration, homosexual love affair with a commoner. This is hard to believe, and Greenblatt presents no evidence for such a relationship.
One can also be more specific. For instance, in sonnet 42 the poet writes "But when my glass shows me myself indeed, Beated and chopt with tann'd antiquity, ..." But Shakspere was only nine years older than Southampton. In 1591, when the sequence is believed to have begun, Shakspere was only 27 years old.
If we replace Greenblatt's conventional scenario with the currently unorthodox scenario advocated by Roper, these problems disappear. "Shakespeare" is now the nom-de-plume of Edward de Vere, Earl of Oxford, a senior nobleman (who had a magnificent education and traveled widely), the father of Elizabeth de Vere, the lady whom Burghley (Oxford's father-in-law) wished his ward Southampton to marry. Oxford was 23 years older than Southampton; in 1591, he was 41 years old. Who was more likely to feel "beated and chopped," a 27-year-old or a 41-year-old? Who was more likely to have carried out a long love affair with a nobleman--a commoner, or another nobleman?
One may also consider the enigmatic dedication of the sonnets, in which case one may compare Greenblatt's very brief comment with The De Vere Code by Jonathan Bond. Greenblatt (p. 232) writes "The publisher's famous dedication in the first edition--`To the only begetter of these ensuing sonnets, Mr. W.H., all happiness and that eternity promised by our ever-living poet, wisheth the well-wishing adventurer in setting forth. T.T.'--does not help. It is not clear whether these words reveal something crucial about Shakespeare or merely about the publisher, Thomas Thorpe, whose initials seem to lay claim to the dedication as his own."
It would be appropriate to have Greenblatt's book on the left, and Bond's book on the right. Whereas Greenblatt finds that the dedication "does not help," Bond finds that it is a mine of information, containing eight ciphers--one in Latin--that in total point to Oxford as the author of both the sonnets and their dedication.
There are many more such comparisons that an interested scholar may make, with Greenblatt's book on the left, and Roper's book, Bond's book, or Diana Price's "Shakespeare's Unorthodox Biography: New Evidence of An Authorship Problem" (or one of several other examples of unorthodox Shakespeariana) on the right.
Will in the World is a brilliant exposition of the orthodox conception of how "A young man from a small provincial town--a man without powerful family connections, and without a university education--moves to London in the late 1580s and, in a remarkably short time, becomes the greatest playwright not of his age only but of all time." (Greenblatt, p.11.) It has its strengths, but it is not without weaknesses. Readers need to put strengths in one pan, and weaknesses in the other.
Peter Sturrock--author of AKA Shakespeare, A Scientific Approach to the Authorship Question.
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Top reviews from other countries
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- Cliente AmazonReviewed in Italy on June 1, 2021
Taking us back to Shakespeare's world
- K RAJAGOPALReviewed in India on November 24, 2015
A Breezy bona fide biography of Shakespeare
