As detailed in earlier posts, North would often write original passages in his translations. That is, he would veer from the language of his source-text, at times preferring to craft his own speeches and descriptions as opposed to closely transcribing the work in front of him. One extraordinary example is North’s original, 110-line poetic complaintContinue reading “52. An Original Poem by North & Turning Juliet’s Wedding into a Funeral”
Tag Archives: Shakespeare
Did Shakespeare Really Adapt Old Plays? (YES! And No-One Denies This!)
As all Shakespeare source-scholars agree, and as umpteen pre-Shakespeare allusions to these earlier plays confirm, and as the first title pages of Shakespeare’s plays make clear, and as Shakespeare’s contemporaries frequently complained: Shakespeare remade old plays. This is not controversial. Yet while this is a fact that few experts deny, it still appears to beContinue reading “Did Shakespeare Really Adapt Old Plays? (YES! And No-One Denies This!)”
26. Dozens of North’s Passages in “Coriolanus”
1. Each of the eight attached pictures will show another page of speeches in Coriolanus that clearly derive form related passages in North’s Plutarch’s Lives. 2. Michael Blanding’s North by Shakespeare will explore arguments that North actually wrote the plays on Julius Caesar, Coriolanus, and Antony and Cleopatra based on his chapters in Plutarch’s LivesContinue reading “26. Dozens of North’s Passages in “Coriolanus””
16. Henry IV Worries that Prince Hal Has Vices Like the “Fattest Soil” Has Weeds
In the prior post on English histories, we noted that the gardener’s comparison of commonwealth to gardens in Richard II derives from two passages of two different works of North: Plutarch’s Lives and The Dial of Princes: Notice that in the above exchange, North’s fatness … of the soil refers to its fertility—and, as withContinue reading “16. Henry IV Worries that Prince Hal Has Vices Like the “Fattest Soil” Has Weeds”
13. Video: How We Know North Was The Original Author of “Henry VIII”
9. Elder Gossip Who Never Spoke “Word That Might Be To The Prejudice of” Another
In Henry VIII, Cardinal Wolsey’s defensive claim that he has never slandered the Queen comes from a similar passage in North’s Dial of Princes. Both passages are referring to elderly, malicious gossipers, especially stressing their spleen, heart, and tongue/mouth. Both also include the same unique eight-word word-string: North’s Dial of Princes Shakespeare’s Henry VIII hisContinue reading “9. Elder Gossip Who Never Spoke “Word That Might Be To The Prejudice of” Another”
7. Coriolanus’s Belly-Fable Conflates 3 Fables, All Written by North
In an earlier example, we noted that the playwright of Julius Caesar was able to recall passages from North’s Dial while copying passages from North’s Plutarch. In this example, he intertwines stories from three of North’s translations. As is well known, in Shakespeare’s Coriolanus, Menenius’s fable, in which “all the body’s members / Rebelled againstContinue reading “7. Coriolanus’s Belly-Fable Conflates 3 Fables, All Written by North”