Tag Archives: william shakespeare

Fool, if you think…….

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One of the great trademarks of Shakespeare’s plays is the way that the fools and clowns of the various plays are the deliverers of so much wit and wisdom. From the erudite fool in King Lear via the midpoint of the humour of the Porter in MacBeth to the comic turn that is Launcelot Gobbo in Merchant of Venice, the collected works are full of them.

So you’d expect that there would be a fool in Titus Andronicus and indeed there is and we’ve not yet looked at his role. The simply-named “Clown” does not arrive on the scene until Act 4 Scene 3, line 76.1. He is asked by Titus to deliver a message to Saturninus, the Emperor. He tells us no hidden truth and aside from one strong joke which would be understood by the audience of the day, he has no particularly witty words to give us and he understands less. By scene 4 of the same Act, he delivers his message and by line 48 of that scene he is led away to his death. Don’t shoot the messenger, indeed!

If this was a late play in the Shakespearean writings, then you might think that old Will is ironically dispelling our expectations. After a career of using the fools of the theatre company to deliver insight, here is one who has nothing to say and only a brief moment upon the stage ending in his own death. But Titus Andronicus, as far as we know, is the earliest of the Shakespearean tragedies. So what are we to understand through this?

Well, perhaps, Shakespeare is pointing out that in corrupt society even truth dies. Even the hidden channels by which truth sometimes comes are closed off. In the scene that has Clown’s appearance, old Andronicus is firing arrows into the heavens (no mean feat with one good arm) with messages attached, hoping to contact the Divine who seems to have hidden his face. He then proceeds to fire them towards the Emperor’s palace in the hope of at least notifying him of his complaint. Neither tactic seems to produce much (except a bird that falls from the heavens) so Titus depends on the Clown to deliver his message for him.

The final channel for truth in this corrupt society is stopped and is hung upon the gallows. Redemption, if there is any, must come from without.

Will you still have a song to sing when the razor boy comes and takes your fancy things away……

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So I’m into my seventh week of hanging around with Titus Andronicus. If you’ve seen me on the tube, I bet I was reading Titus Androncius. If you’ve seen behind a plate of food, I’d guess that Titus Andronicus was there too. And everywhere that me and my trusty “Steely Dan – Everything Must Go” bag have gone, well, Titus Andronicus was right along with us. But I’m coming towards an end. I’ve read everything I can find that’s related to it. I’ve absorbed the text and I guess I only have two or three more journal entries to bore you with. One of which is here and now……

So if you read the play or you’ve read one of my musings on the subject, you’ll remember that one of the key events of the story is the rape and mutilation of Titus’ daughter, Lavinia. The play was one of the most popular of his works during Shakespeare’s lifetime. During the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, the play was virtually unstageable. It was thought to be indecorous. It was thought to be in bad taste. When Peter Brook directed it with Laurence Olivier in the 1950s, he was credited with saving “this dreadful play”. I’ve already mentioned T.S. Eliot’s condemnation in a previous journal entry.

But I think that it is a great play (as if my voice matters!) and every major production of the last century has been (or seems to have been) a landmark in the history of Shakespearean theatre.

I think that is obvious that the root of these widely divergent views lies in the aforementioned rape and mutilation (mercifully, portrayed offstage) but also in the depiction od the reaction to these crimes.

If Shakespeare was living in the 21st century and if he was a film director, there is no doubt that the revealing of Lavinia after her assault would be done at the end of the scene rather than at a beginning. Also, there seems little doubt that the reaction to her assault would include many meaningful silences, mood-driven stares and tears. But the standards of the theatre of his day were the standards of his day and it is how the play works within these standards that we must judge it. In a Shakespearean script there are no silences, there are no pregnant pauses. There are only words and a very minimum of stage directions. The convention was for three, four, five acts with a few scenes with in each and so there is no space for us to withdraw and find out how the family has dealt with these horrendous events months later. The story is the thing and the action must roll remorsefully on. And there are always words and more words. But what words do you speak when you are presented with your daughter raped and with both hands cut off. There are none that are fit and certainly none that Shakespeare had. So instead he concentrates not on the emotion of the moment but what the mutilation means. And this he does very well indeed.

Marcus: This was thy daughter
Titus: Why, Marcus, so she is

Marcus’ (Titus’ brother) use of the past tense implies that Lavinia is less than she was before the assault – perhaps that in her current physical state, she has become less than human. Titus is the voice of compassion. He knows that she is still what she was before but great violence has been done to her. She has not lost her honour or womanhood. Others have tried to take them from her and they have failed but he cannot help with the shame feels. And to reckon all of these things is hard and Titus loses his sanity. His mind breaks. In the process, Shakespeare teaches us that there are no great nations, no great empires, by definition – only nations that are great for a time because they are driven by great and moral men. The Romans, in the story, have already adopted the morality of the Goth people they have defeated – they had to descend to their level in order to win the war but now Lucius, son of Titus, most leave Rome to keep his life and to avoid being part of the dreadful decline that has begun.

Shakespeare shows us that the pattern of people’s lives doesn’t change across the century. He uses Ovid’s depiction of Ancient Greece (another empire that came to naught) and it’s mythology to show that the pattern that was then was re-occurring in Rome and perhaps by extension that it was capable of happening in his own generation — and therefore, as we read today, in ours.

Chiron (son of the Goth queen) declares in an earlier scene: “I love Lavinia more than all the world”. He has confused love with lust. And he satisfies that “love” through rape. Sex is debased in a society that is debased. Lives are destroyed. And eventually a new kingdom arises. And men have the chance to fail again….. or even succeed, perhaps.

Hanging with the Andronici…

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Still with Titus Andronicus. Whenever I’m trying to really study Shakespeare as opposed to reading for fun (is this boy sane?), I always find that I gravitate towards the Arden version. The individual volumes of the Arden Shakespeare are generally the best informed, best researched with the best grasp of the play’s background. This certainly works with Titus Andronicus, although you’ll need to avoid the 2nd edition which isn’t worth the admission price purely because the editor didn’t like the play. The third edition, however, has many reasons you should acquire it. Not least is the pithy, witty and enthusiastic style of its editor, Jonathan Bate. Another reason is the cover artwork which would be worth purchasing if you didn’t want the play. The artwork is by one Dennis Leigh who seems to have reached peaks in many disciplines. Even if you haven’t heard of him, and don’t know me personally enough to have had your ear bent by my enthusiasm for his work, you may have come across him in his alter-ego of John Foxx. Anyway, here’s a reproduction of the cover:

Close inspection of the image reveals a man’s image, on the forehead, holding a suffering child and a female figure whose image ends before the hand at the point it meets the mouth of the main image. With depictions of torture running up both cheeks, we have an extraordinary image which wordlessly (suitably) covers the main themes of the play. Excellent!

For those who are a little less inclined to the highbrow, it’s worth noting that John Foxx and Louis Gordon will only be playing one UK gig this year. It will be at the Cargo, in North London in October (16th). I’ll see you there. Those who want to aim for the middle ground might want to try Foxx’s solo concert in Leeds where he will accompany sections of his Quiet Man prose on acoustic piano (7th November). I’ll be there too – should be interesting. I’m intrigued.

The Mystery We Are

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Modern understanding of human nature tells us of the value of mourning and expressing our grief. Counsellors, pastors and priests encourage us to off load our troubles. The psychologist and the psychotherapist help us to order our sorrows. Or at least that’s the way the modern theory goes……

Understanding human nature though is not just a modern preoccupation. It goes back a long, long time. I don’t know if anybody actually reads this but if you do then you’ll know that this month I’m exploring Titus Andronicus by William Shakespeare and Shakespeare had more than a little common ground with modern wisdom. He saw a lot of things very differently but some things the same and I could suggest that we ought to hang onto those things that are time-honoured and doubt the purely modern but I won’t. At least not at this point. But onto the wisdom of the ages……..

In Macbeth, Shakespeare points us to something that I think is central to balanced human living. 

    Methought I heard a voice cry ‘Sleep no more!
    Macbeth does murder sleep’, the innocent sleep,
    Sleep that knits up the ravell’d sleeve of care,
    The death of each day’s life, sore labour’s bath,
    Balm of hurt minds, great nature’s second course,
    Chief nourisher in life’s feast,– 

(Macbeth Act 2 Scene 2)

The chief notion here is that when our life is disordered, a regular sleep pattern is one of the first things to go. From old Elizabethan times to today, it holds true. When someone comes to me for advice (as they sometimes do, it’s part of what I do), amongst my first questions are “how are you sleeping?”, “how’s your appetite?”. In the play, Macbeth thought that he could handle his deed of murdering Duncan but no matter what he does, his internal nature rebels against his stern exterior. When he killed the King, he killed his own peace of mind. He murdered his own ability to sleep.

This other Shakespearean tragedy has another bolt of wisdom for us. Titus Andronicus might not be as highly rated (or as often performed) as Macbeth but you can’t keep a good writer and wise man down.

“Sorrow concealed, like an oven stopped
Doth burn the heart to cinders where it is.”

(Titus Andronicus Act 2 Scene 3)

The basic notion here is, as I hinted earlier, that with sorrow or grief we have two options either to let it out or to let it eat us up inside. Sorrow is characterised by Marcus Andronicus (for it is he that Will gives these words to) as a great heat that builds up like it would in a oven where there is no outlet or regulator. It turns that which is developing in the oven into ashes and cinders. Score one for our society not losing sight of this with its counsellors et al. The downside I think for modern society is that in the fracturing of community it is robbing us of the most natural way of off-loading our troubles – for free with friends over a drink. We live in a society where it is possible to live in a street without knowing any of our neighbours, never mind understand them. The number of people who live alone is on the increase which is not a problem but when those people do not choose to live in isolation and have no-one to talk to then we have created a huge problem. A huge chasm that we are struggling to bridge.

In Titus Andronicus, the person with the greatest grief is not Titus himself but the woman who he grieves over – his daughter, Lavinia. She has been raped and assaulted. In order to ensure that she cannot identify those who have raped her attackers have cut out her tongue. In Ovid’s “Metamoprheses”, a thousand years earlier, a woman, Philomela is similarly assaulted and also has her tongue cut out. She is able to identify her assaulters by sewing on a sampler and identifying them. Aware of this, Shakespeare makes his villains also cut off Lavinia’s hand. The implication is that she cannot communicate in anyway. This is particularly true in a theatrical work where speech and the hand movements of rhetoric are so central to all communication.

We live in a society where we understand the benefits of talking about  our sorrow but we have created a lack of community which destroys the way that we would best share. It’s an interesting dilemma and we have no Shakespeare to guide us.

William Shakespeare and T.S. Eliot fighting in the Captain’s tower……..

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So as I mentioned before I’ve committed a good chunk of my month’s reading time to Titus Andronicus, one of the more controversial of William Shakespeare’s dramatic tragedies. It must be the time of year for his controversial work because before this I was crossing swords with the current RSC production of “The Merchant of Venice” (see my review elsewhere on this journal) which has more than its share of attached baggage.

So I’m reading Titus Andronicus and any essays about the play that I can lay my hands on. I came across this scathingly, brilliant quote from T.S. Eliot in his essay “Seneca in Elizabethan Translation”. He describes Titus Andronicus as:

“one of the stupidest and most uninspired plays ever written”

Don’t beat around the bush, Thomas. Tell us the way you feel.

It’s commentary of this kind that I’ll be trying to avoid. I’ve already shared my thoughts on what I think Titus Andronicus is saying about Empire and I’m gathering my thoughts about its thoughts on sorrow and mourning so it seems to me that there is plenty here but where it falls short I hope to know why I think it falls short. So much modern criticism amounts to – this is not to my taste so it is rubbish. Won’t do. Try harder next time, Mr Eliot

The Goths are at the door……….

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No, not the guys who dress in black. Guys who dress in black can actually be quite approachable.

I’m thinking about Titus Andronicus at the moment. I’m sure it has something to say about Empire and its nature but I’m still trying to work all this out.

Titus Andronicus, for those who don’t know, is a neglected play by that little known writer William Shakespeare. I’m only joking about Shakespeare being little known. Titus Andronicus is a neglected play. Principally, I think, because, it is probably Shakespeare’s most violent play. It includes someone having her tongue cut out, being raped, having her hand cut off. You get the idea. You can do that in the cinema and say nothing but if it’s Shakespearean drama and it has something to say you’d better look forward to it seldom being performed.

But what does it have to say? Now there’s the question. The Romans and the Goths are at war. The General Titus Andronicus returns victorious but with 21 of his 25 sons sacrificed in the battles. He decides to humiliate the Goth prisoners who return to Rome in his train. The Goths in their midst become more cultured during their stay in Rome. The Romans display the barbarism they had until now associated with the Goths. By the end of the play, Titus Andronicus’ son has ascended to the throne and he is enabled to achieve this goal by the Goths that his father had sought to humiliate.

Empire is a very current idea. The Americans and assorted allies invade Iraq to remove a corrupt leader but also to export democracy. The kind of rights that are traditionally associated with democracy are meanwhile denied those who are prisoners-of-war at Guantanamo Bay. 

Heather James in her important essay, “Cultural disintegration in Titus Andronicus” has this to say:

“the founding acts of Empire turn out to contain the seeds of its destruction”

Something like this is afoot in the world at the moment. The Chinese seem to be exporting their Empire to Africa by stealth and by financial interest. Examine what’s happening in Congo and Ethiopia. Sell us your resources and we will build you roads and train lines. Ships of Chinese weapons are stopped at South Africa en route to Robert Mugabe. Meanwhile, China stifles Tibet back home. Beware of Empire-makers bearing gifts. Africa needs to wake up before it gives away the little it has left……..

GK Chesterton said , in “The Flying Inn”, that the great destiny of Empire was in 4 acts. “Victory Over Barbarians. Employment of Barbarians. Alliance with Barbarians. Conquest by Barbarians.”

There is a theme here somewhere. Something about the fact that on order to create your Empire you must defeat your enemy, and in order to defeat your enemy, you must stoop to the level of those you came to enrich, to exploit and make wiser. In order to build your Empire you must become worse than those you came to improve. This is certainly true of the Romans in Titus Andronicus and perhaps of all attempts at Empire.

There are, of course, those who rise above and survive. Speaking of the people of God, Bob Dylan reminded us “every empire that enslaved him is gone – Egypt and Rome, even the great Babylon” (Neighbourhood Bully, 1983).

Even the Eagles remind us on their new record that the “road to Empire is a bloody stupid waste” (Long Road out of Eden, 2007). Despite all these great voices ranged around to remind us, the wise ones still try to build empires to export their ways. It cost Titus Andronicus his sanity and the Romans the world they had re-created. It might cost us more, if we don’t learn the lessons of this play and our history.

The Merchant of Venice

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Well, back from 4 days in Stratford-Upon-Avon.

What can I say? The town is a mess. The unnecessary vigour to tear down the old theatre and replace it with a new one as now spread to the Bancroft Gardens. Every inch seems to have been dug over and turned to mud. Fences and scaffold surround everywhere in sight and I felt sorry for those who had travelled from France and Japan (seemed like the only two kind of tourists in evidence!) who had made a long journey and who were missing the old town at its best.

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Words, words, words

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Hamlet, I think, Act 2 Scene 2.

Amongst my many other failings, I read too much. Way too much.

To indulge myself and for anyone who might actually read this, I thought I’d make a list of some of my favourite authors (in no particular order):

GK Chesterton…. Love his philosophical and thoughtful stuff. I recently read “The Man who was Thursday” which is kind of a supernatural adventure story or something indefinable. His 1911 book the Napoleon of Notting Hill makes much mention of Ravenscourt Park. I look out on Ravenscourt Park every morning.

Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn….. Someone who rose in prominence primarly because of his opposition to Soviet Russia and who has faded just as dramatically since that is no longer a issue. I began reading him back in the day with A Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich. His later work is largely ignored since he is no longer politically significant. The later version of August 1914, The Red Wheel Knot 1 (published in the 1980s, not the earlier incomplete version from the 1970s) may just be his masterpiece.

William Shakespeare….  Not well known but a good playwright with potential. He just needs the right breaks. Joking aside I love to go and see his plays performed in Stratford-Upon-Avon which is one of my favourite places on the whole planet right now and chock full of good memories. King Lear, MacBeth, Merchant of Venice, The Winters Tale are my favourites probably in that order

Arthur Miller…… I love All My Sons, View From a Bridge, Death of a Salesman but also his later stuff which curiously is not often performed. At one point a few years ago, he decided to open many of his new dramas in London’s West End which suited me down to the ground. Great debuts ensued for plays like the Ride Down Mount Morgan and Broken Glass (which I think he revised before his death). I also enjoyed his short story, Plain Girl

Malcolm Muggeridge…… The most important journalist of the 20th century. I own all of his books bar one. If anyone has a spare copy of “Next Years News” (written with Hugh Kingsmill in 1937, I think) please send it to me. I will pay you generously. Great books, very important and woefully neglected. Three Flats, Picture Palace, Winter in Moscow, Conversion, In a Valley of this Restless Mind, Affairs of the Heart, London a la Mode, I could go on and on and probably will at some juncture.

Charles Williams… A cohort of CS Lewis and JRR Tolkien but less well known. And a better writer for my money. Particularly like his novels which include Descent into Hell and Place of the Lion.

Philip K. Dick…..  A believable futuristic science fiction from a man who lost his mind. Claustrophobic stories from a future world which are so intoxicating.

Shusaku Endo….  Japanese author. I’ve read most everything of his that has been translated into English. Amongst his best are The Girl I Left Behind, Wonderful Fool and Silence
Charles Dickens….  when he’s good, he is very good. Could go far with the right backing. Joking aside, I enjoy Great Expectations, The Christmas Carol and a number of his others (but not all)
 
Current reading – Peter Cook “Tragically, I was an only twin”, Geza Vermes “The Nativity”, Philip K. Dick “Flow my tears, the Policeman said”.