The Life of William Shakespeare: A Critical Biography

508 Pages·2012·2.972 MB·English

by  Lois Potter(auth.), Claude Rawson(eds.)

“Lois Potter’s book provides a delightful guide through Shakespeare’s world. A
splendidintroductionforthosenewtothefactsaboutShakespeare’slife,itisalsoa
revelation for anyone all too familiar with them. The Life of William Shakespeare
revitalizesoldtruthsbyaskingquestionswherenoneseemednecessary,byfillingin
newdetail,and,mostofall,byapproachingthematerialfromtheperspectiveofa
would-be, then practicing and collaborating, player-playwright. Potter’s unique
emphasis on Shakespeare’s imaginative life and the words that fed it works
brilliantlytoproducewhatIwouldhavethoughtimpossible:areallynewbiography
thatneverthinsintomerespeculation.Learned,modest,witty,andaboveallsmart,
thebook will bea must-readfor anyonewho cares aboutearly moderntheater.”
Meredith Skura,Professor of English,
Rice University
“BykeepinghereyeontheenduringpowerofShakespeare’swriting,LoisPotter
managestogatheralltheinterestingandpuzzlingquestionswehaveaskedabouthis
lifeintoafocusedandauthenticallycriticalbiography.Sheisadventurousintaking
onspeculationandcounter-speculationbutneverallowsustoconfuseconjecture
with fact. Richly informative and engagingly written, this book should appeal to
general readersas well as toprofessional Shakespeareans.”
Edward Pechter, Distinguished Professor Emeritus,
ConcordiaUniversity
“LoisPotterhasproducedanastonishing,revelatory,fullyliterarybiography.The
Life of William Shakespeareis a product of deep reservoirs of historical knowledge,
theatrical experience, and critical acumen, all deployed with an extraordinarily
sympathetic imagination. Potter adjudicates standing quarrels about the life story
withintelligence anddispassion,offersupscintillatingnewreadingsoftheworks,
and produces interesting and original observations on every page.”
LenaCowen Orlin, Executive Director,
ShakespeareAssociation ofAmerica, and
Professor of English, Georgetown University
“Thisisnotjust(just!)abiographyofShakespeare:itisatheatricalbiography.Ituses
LoisPotter’simmense,unrivalledknowledgeofthingstheatricaltodrawverylogical
and frequentlyoriginal inferences.”
Laurie E. Maguire, Professor of English,
University of Oxford
“This is a lively, fresh new introduction to the life of Shakespeare, no mere
regurgitatingofearlierlives.Itreadswell.Itisjudicious,intelligent,coherent,and
well documented.”
David Bevington, Distinguished Professor Emeritus,
University of Chicago
BLACKWELL CRITICAL BIOGRAPHIES
General Editor: Claude Rawson
This acclaimed series offers informative and durable biographies of important
authors, British, European, and North American, which will include substantial
critical discussion of their works. An underlying objective is to re-establish the
notionthatbooksarewrittenbypeoplewholivedinparticulartimesandplaces.This
objectiveispursuednotbyprogrammaticassertionsorstrenuouspoint-making,but
throughthepracticalpersuasionofvolumeswhichofferintelligentcriticismwithina
well-researched biographical context.
Also inthis series
TheLifeof Geoffrey Chaucer TheLife ofHenry Fielding
Derek Pearsall Ronald Paulson
TheLifeof Samuel Johnson TheLife ofW. B.Yeats
RobertDeMaria, Jr Terence Brown
TheLifeof Robert Browning TheLife ofEvelynWaugh
Clyde DeL. Ryals Douglas Lane Patey
TheLifeof William Faulkner TheLife ofGoethe
RichardGray John R.Williams
TheLifeof Walter Scott TheLife ofJohn Milton
John Sutherland Barbara Lewalski
TheLifeof Samuel Taylor Coleridge TheLife ofDanielDefoe
RosemaryAshton John Richetti
TheLifeof Thomas Hardy TheLife ofWilliam Shakespeare
Paul Turner LoisPotter
TheLifeof Celine TheLife ofGeorgeEliot
NicholasHewitt Nancy Henry
The Life of
William Shakespeare
A Critical Biography
Lois Potter
Thiseditionfirstpublished2012
(cid:1)2012LoisPotter
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LibraryofCongressCataloging-in-PublicationData
Potter,Lois.
ThelifeofWilliamShakespeare:acriticalbiography/LoisPotter.
pagescm
Includesbibliographicalreferencesandindex.
ISBN978-0-631-20784-9(cloth)–ISBN978-1-118-28152-9(pbk.)
1.Shakespeare,William,1564-1616.2.Dramatists,English–Earlymodern,
1500-1700–Biography.I.Title.
PR2894.P682012
822.303–dc23
2011043348
AcataloguerecordforthisbookisavailablefromtheBritishLibrary.
Setin10/12ptBembobyThomsonDigital,Noida,India
1 2012
Contents
Listof Illustrations vi
Preface andAcknowledgments vii
Listof Abbreviations x
TheShakespeareFamilyTree xii
1 “Born into the World”: 1564–1571 1
2 “NemoSibiNascitur”:1571–1578 21
3 “Hic et Ubique”: 1578–1588 40
4 “This Man’s Art and That Man’sScope”: 1588–1592 64
5 “Tigers’ Hearts”:1592–1593 86
6 “The Dangerous Year”:1593–1594 106
7 “Our Usual Managerof Mirth”: 1594–1595 134
8 “The Strong’st and Surest Way to Get”: Histories, 1595–1596 162
9 “When Love Speaks”:Tragedy and Comedy,1595–1596 181
10 “You Had aFather; Let Your Son Say So”: 1596–1598 201
11 “Unworthy Scaffold”:1598–1599 231
12 “These Words Are Not Mine”: 1599–1601 258
13 “Looking Beforeand After”:1600–1603 277
14 “This Most Balmy Time”: 1603–1605 300
15 “Past the Size of Dreaming”: 1606–1609 330
16 “Like an Old Tale”: 1609–1611 360
17 “The Second Burden”:1612–1616 384
18 “Inthe Mouthsof Men”: 1616 and After 414
Bibliography 443
Index 475
v
List of Illustrations
1. Elizabethan-Jacobean Stratford-upon-Avon 4
2. New Place, the Guild Chapel, and the grammar school inStratford 23
3. Elizabethan-Jacobean London: locations associated with Shakespeare
and his contemporaries 52
4. Portrait of the Earl of Southampton 111
5. Portrait of Richard Burbage 138
6. The Shakespeare coat of arms 206
7. Title pageof TheSpanish Tragedy 227
8. Portrait of Ben Jonson 233
9. Will Kemp as depicted inhis pamphlet TheNineDays’Wonder 239
10. Title page of Robert Armin’s The Two Maids of Moreclacke 240
11. Title page of the appendix to Robert Chester’sLove’sMartyr 270
12. Pagefrom themanuscript of Sir ThomasMore 273
13. Portrait of George Chapman 293
14. Portrait of John Lowin 304
15. Title page of the 1608 Quarto of King Lear 322
16. Portrait of Thomas Middleton 333
17. Title page of George Wilkins’The Painful Adventures of Pericles 348
18. Portrait of John Fletcher 390
19. The frontispiece to the First Folio (1623) 417
20. Portrait of SirJohn Suckling 421
21. Images of Shakespeare and hischaracters, c.1820 426
22. A nineteenth-century composite of Shakespeare portraits 435
23. The Chandos portrait 436
24. The Cobbe portrait 437
vi
Preface and Acknowledgments
WhatdifferentiatesoneShakespearebiographyfromanotheristhekindofcontext
(andthereforespeculation)withinwhichitlocatestheavailablefacts.Thisbiography
doesnothaveagreatdealoflocalcolor,andthereisn’tmuchsexeither.Otherpeople
canandwillwritebetteronthesesubjects;theonlyShakespeareIcanimagineisone
whoseimaginativelifewasfedessentiallybywords.Thoughthechaptersfollowa
chronological sequence, with occasional overlapping, each one begins with the
discussion of the words in its epigraph, which are not necessarily part of the
chronology. These mini-critiques are meant to remind both me and the reader
thatmysubjectisawriterwhosewords,morethanmostpeople’s,havetakenonalife
oftheirown.As“Seedsspringfromseeds,andbeautybreedethbeauty”(Venusand
Adonis167)words,Ibelieve,springfromthememoryofotherwords.Memoryis
crucial: actors cannot function without it, and the Greeks made Mnemosyne the
motheroftheMuses.Thisbook,then,willfocusmainlyonShakespeare’sliterary
andtheatricalworld.Itsmostunusualfeaturemaybeitsstressonhisrelationtohis
fellow-dramatistsandactors,particularlyascollaboratorandreviser.Theseactivities
havebeenthefocusofagreatdealofongoingresearch,andsomeofmysuggestions
maybeprovedwrongbythetimethebookisout,butnobiographyofShakespeare
can remain cutting-edge for long. Though the final chapters in this Critical
Biographiesseriesnormallygiveanexhaustiveaccountofthesubject’safterlife,in
thecaseofShakespearethisissimplynotpossible,andIamwellawarethatIhave
been selective and impressionistic.
IfthisbookshowsanyofthetheatricalawarenessthatIconsideressentialtoan
understandingofShakespeare,thisisduetomanyyearsofattendingplaysinrehearsal
as well as in performance, particularly at the University of Leicester and the
UniversityofDelaware’sProfessionalTheatreTrainingProgram.Ihavealsolearned
fromthe biennialBlackfriarsConference inStaunton, Virginia, which focuses on
performance in the early modern theater, from the different versions of “original
practices”inproductionsthereandat“Shakespeare’sGlobe”inLondon,andfrom
manyforeign-languageproductions.ThoughIalwayswantedtobeagoodteacher,
vii
Preface andAcknowledgments
IsuspectthatwhateversuccessIhadcamenotfromanythingIsaid,butfromtheplay
readingsthatIheldthroughoutmyteachingcareer.Bytheend,Ihadcometofeel
thatsimplyreadingaplayaloudwasmorevaluablethananyamountoftalkingabout
it. Some of myspeculations are the result of this experience.
I have always believed that writers are entitled to any delusions, however self-
aggrandizingorsilly,thatenablethemtocontinuewriting;Ihaveevenspeculated
aboutwhichoftheseShakespearemighthaveindulgedin.Havingtheencourage-
ment of others, however, is even better. The University of Delaware provided a
pleasant environment, a good library, good students, and several sabbaticals that
helpedinthewritingofthisbook,thoughIhadtoretireinordertocompleteit.At
variousstagesIspenthappymonthsatboththeFolgerShakespeareLibraryandthe
Henry E. Huntington Library – which, I am sure with a full sense of the irony
involved,gavemeaFrancisBaconFellowshipin2002.Throughoutthefinalstages
of this project I benefited most from the excellent electronic databases that the
University of Delaware Library had the foresight to acquire, especially the online
Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, a wonderful resource. Though I’ve never
workedattheChapinLibraryofRareBooksatWilliamsCollege,Iamverygrateful
toAssistantChapinLibrarianWayneG.Hammondfortakingthetrouble,atthelast
minute,to scan aMiddleton portrait for me.
Initssemi-finalstate,themanuscriptwasreadbyDavidBevington,LenaOrlin,
and Laurie Maguire. Icannot say how gratefulIam for their comments at atime
whenIseemedtobewritingfromandintoablackhole.Stilllater,AlanH.Nelson
generouslymadecriticismsandsuggestionsthatsavedmefrommanyerrorsofdetail.
Noneofthemshouldbeblamedifthisbookisnotasgoodastheonetheycouldhave
written.Itisdifficulttoknowwhereotheracknowledgmentsshouldbeginandend,
sinceitisthenatureofShakespeare’swritingtoseemrelevanttoeverythingelseand
for everything else to seem relevant to it. I have worried both about putting too
much into the bibliography and about leaving out major influences that I have
absorbedsocompletelythattheyarenowforgotten.Iprobablyowesomethingto
anyone who has ever talked with me about Shakespeare, whether or not in
connectionwiththisproject.Thefollowingnamesarethetipofaniceberg:Debby
Andrews (who got me to discuss The Birthplace with her class), Jim Dean, Pavel
Dr(cid:1)abek, Lindsay Duguid, Richard Dutton, Reg Foakes (who suggested I should
think about the magus), Martin Hilsk(cid:1)y, John Jowett, David Kathman, Lawrence
Normand,JayL.Halio,AngelaIngram,RoslynKnutson,LenaOrlin,KristenPoole,
RichardProudfoot,AngelaSmallwood,Zden(cid:3)ekandMajkaSt(cid:3)r(cid:1)ıbrn(cid:1)y,AnnThomp-
son,LynTribble,RogerWarren,MicheleandRaymondWillems,JulianYates,and
GeorgiannaZiegler.Ishouldalsomentionallofmyformerresearchassistantsatthe
University of Delaware: Pamela Vasile, Mark Netzloff, Rebecca Jaroff, Barbara
Silverstein,PaigeHarrison,BradleyRyner,MichaelClody,KellyNutter,Darlene
Farabee, Michael Edson, Kevin Burke, Matthew Sauter, and Hannah Eagleson.
viii
Preface andAcknowledgments
Someweremoreinvolvedinthebiographythanothers–Ididn’tstartonituntilthis
century – but all of ustalked about Shakespeare.
Muchearlierversionsofpartsofthisbookcameoutoftheconferenceon“Early
ModernLives”organizedbySarahHutton(MiddlesexUniversity,London,2002);
several “Setting the Scene” talks at the Globe Theatre; the conference on
“ShakespeareandHisCollaboratorsovertheCenturies”organizedbyPavelDr(cid:1)abek
(MasarykUniversity,Brno,2006);theFolgerseminaron“TheEnglishGrammar
School”, taught by Lynn Enterline in 2007; and presentations at the Huntington
Library,theUniversityofDelaware,TempleUniversity,theColumbiaRenaissance
seminar,King’sCollegeLondon,andtheModernLanguageAssociation.Aresearch
seminarattheUniversityofLondonin2008,chairedbyBrianVickersandfeaturing
apresentationbyMarinaTarlinskaya,gotmeinterestedinthepossibleroleofKydin
thisstory.Ihavereliedagreatdeal,aswillbeobviousfrommynotes,onvaluable
work done by other biographer-critics – J. Leeds Barroll, E. K. Chambers, Mark
Eccles, Park Honan, Dennis Kay, Alan H. Nelson, Charles Nicholl, Samuel
Schoenbaum, James Shapiro, Ren(cid:1)e Weis, and of course Stanley Wells. Katherine
Duncan-Jones’sstudiesofShakespeareinrelationtohiscontemporarieshavebeena
greathelptome,ashastheGaryTaylor–JohnLavagninoeditionofMiddleton’s
CompleteWorks.IamgratefultomyeditorsatWiley-Blackwell,particularlyEmma
Bennett,forhelpfuladviceand,stillmore,forencouragement.ClaudeRawsonhas
been a sympathetic and supportive general editor. Ben Thatcher shepherded the
bookthroughproduction,withlotsofgoodsuggestions.Icannotimagineabetter
copy editor than Janet Moth. Linda English compiled the index. The oldest hath
borne most: my mother, who reached her 101st birthday as this book went into
production,has been wonderfully patientabout the time it took away from her.
Shakespeare quotations, unless otherwise noted, are taken from the Complete
Works by David Bevington (New York: Longman Pearson, 5th edition, 2004). I
have modernized quotations from other early modern literary works, even when
usingold-spellingeditions.Occasionally,however,Ihaveleftdocumentarymaterial
inthe original spelling, when modernizationwould conceal its ambiguity.
ix
List of Abbreviations
Worksarecitedinthenotesbyauthornamefollowedbyashorttitle;fulldetailsare
given inthe bibliography. Thefollowing abbreviations have also been used:
Bullough Geoffrey Bullough, ed., Narrative and Dramatic Sources
of Shakespeare. 8 vols. London: Routledge & Kegan
Paul,1957–75.
Chambers, ES E.K.Chambers,TheElizabethanStage.4vols.Oxford:
Clarendon Press, 1923.
Chambers, WS E.K.Chambers,WilliamShakespeare:AStudyofFactsand
Problems. 2 vols. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1930
Companion Stanley Wells and Gary Taylor, with John Jowett and
William Montgomery, William Shakespeare: A Textual
Companion.Revisededn.NewYork:W.W.Norton,1997
Cox and Kastan JohnD.CoxandDavidScottKastan,eds.,ANewHistory
ofEarlyEnglishDrama.NewYork:ColumbiaUniversity
Press, 1997
Honan ParkHonan,Shakespeare:ALife.Oxford:OxfordUni-
versityPress, 1998
Herford and Simpson Ben Jonson, ed. C. H. Herford and Percy and Evelyn
Simpson. 11 vols.Oxford:Clarendon Press, 1925–52
Minutes Minutes and Accounts of the Corporation of Stratford-upon-
Avon and other records 1553–1620. Transcribed by
RichardSavage.IntroductionandnotesbyEdgarI.Fripp.
Vol. 1 (1553–1566), Oxford: Dugdale Society, 1921.
Vol. 2 (1566–1577), London: Dugdale Society, 1924.
Vol. 3 (1577–1586), London: Dugdale Society, 1926.
Vol. 4 (1586–1592), London: Dugdale Society, 1929.
Vol. 5 (1593–1598), ed. Levi Fox. Hertford: Dugdale
Society,1990
x