Wednesday, September 2, 2009

From the Shelves of the Paco Library



In Shakespeare’s Kings, historian John Julius Norwich has provided us not only with a superb history of the Plantagenet dynasty, but with a fascinating look at the playwright’s sources and the imposing task of editing and telescoping the historical record in order to create plays that preserved a reasonable fidelity to the actual events described, while capturing and maintaining the interest of his audiences.

The period covered was a momentous one for England, featuring an on-again, off-again war with France, rebellions at home, and constant scheming among the heirs of Edward III to secure the throne (incidentally, one of the interesting discoveries for me, in reading this book, is the fact that many scholars now include the play, Edward III, in the Shakespearean canon, although it was, like certain other of Shakespeare’s plays, a collaborative effort). The Plantagenet line included a mixture of weaklings and warriors, from Richard II, a learned and cultured monarch who proved, in the end, to be incompetent at government, to Henry V, perhaps the greatest (or maybe just the luckiest) warrior to ever sit on the English throne. And as with all good historians, Norwich gives us not just the circumstances surrounding famous battles, dynastic marriages and royal births, but the small, occasional detail that is not the less interesting for it being incidental to the main story line (for example, Richard II is credited with having invented the handkerchief).

Yet it is the big, and largely bloody, events that perhaps best capture the imagination, and Norwich describes Pluys, Crécy and Agincourt in all their gory drama. The French, stubbornly bound to their traditional notions of knightly chivalry, were continually mowed down by the English longbow, and didn’t make any strategic or tactical adjustments for nearly a hundred years; and no sooner had the war with France died down than England experienced the civil war known as the Wars of the Roses, with Lancastrians and Yorkists locked in an internecine struggle that featured almost every kind of crime imaginable, including regicide.

In alternating chapters, Norwich gives us the historical record, and Shakespeare’s literary synthesis of events. His conclusion?
[Shakespeare’s] sources may have been few, and not invariably satisfactory; but where they were found wanting he always had his imagination to fill the gaps. He would never have claimed historical accuracy…but then he was not a historian; he was a dramatist. The play was the thing; and if he could amuse, inspire and perhaps very modestly educate his audiences, that was enough. He did so, and he has continued to do so for four hundred years. He rests his case.”
And, as you would expect in a work such as this, there is a generous sampling of those marvelous lines that have come down to us from the Histories - for example, Prince Hal’s eloquent eulogy upon the death of the rebellious, but glorious, Harry Hotspur (Sir Henry Percy):
When that this body did contain a spirit,
A kingdom for it was too small a bound;
But now two paces of the vilest earth
Is room enough. This earth that bears thee dead
Bears not alive so stout a gentleman

Both as a work of history, and of historico-literary exegesis, this is a highly instructive and enjoyable book, that will soon have me burrowing back into the plays, armed with a far greater understanding of the historical context than when I read them the first time.

5 comments:

P. Frizzle said...

Thanks, Paco, for suggesting what sounds like yet another fascinating read. In fact, I’m popping over the Reston Library today to pick up a copy. My only complaint is that reading the books you recommend takes up valuable time that really ought to be spent pondering Michelle Obama’s lovely hair.

And why is "undress" the verification word that I'm being asked to enter in order to post? Are you trying to turn this place into Ace of Spades, or something. :)

Paco said...

Frizz: Fortunately, I had just finished reading Shakespeare's Kings when the Michelle hair issue arose, so I now have sufficient time to contemplate the ramifications of the First Lady's hair style.

I have no control over the verfication words, but they are sometimes pretty funny. Paco Enterprises emphatically does not intend to introduce the AoS lifestyle here (can't afford to post that much bond money).

Isophorone said...

My favorite of the "king" plays is Richard III. The historical Richard III (reigned 1483 - 1485) was closest to Shakespeare's own time, and the play has a real murder mystery as a part of it. The historical Richard is supposedly the one who first instituted the concept of bail.

There is also a "Richard III Society" that puts In Memoriam announcements in the New York Times every year on the anniversary of the Battle of Bosworth (August 22). While the Shakespeare story is probably overblown, it offers an interesting lesson into the fate of those who turn from hunting down their enemies to hunting down their friends.

For another historical perspective on Richard III, check out the Allison Weir book, The Princes in the Tower. And yes, I do believe that Richard was somehow behind the murder of his nephews.

Paco said...

Isophorone: One of the best attempts I've seen to rehabilitate Richard's reputation is The Daughter of Time, a novel by Josephine Tey. It is only a novel in the sense that the characters who carry out their research are fictional (Tey's detective is laid up with a broken leg, and is looking for something to keep his mind occupied). The actual case that is made is based on a mixture of actual facts and intelligent conjecture. I found the thing to be brilliant, if ultimately not entirely convincing.

Isophorone said...

There is also the movie "Looking for Richard" starring Al Pacino and several others. It is about making a production of Richard III with some scenes from the play acted out. Pacino does a pretty convincing character, actually.