I’m Alana, a rising Senior, English major, and Writing Fellow at Pomona College. Just two weeks ago, I returned home to sunny SoCal after 6 months in Cambridge, UK. Currently, I’m part-time (but that may change; we’ll see). Anyway, in addition to curating exhibits and working in CCEPs with Emma and Pieter, I’m also going to use this library time to get started on my thesis examining magical language in Shakespeare’s plays.Â
When I’ve told people that I’ll be writing about Shakespeare (and will possibly be pursuing a Master’s in it as well), I’ve gotten two reactions. 1) That’s awesome! or 2) Ew, Shakespeare is no fun. Well, part of what my aim for this blog is to make the latter group see is that Shakespeare is fun. For example, take a look at this picture of an actor portraying Richard III.
Just look at his facial expression and body position and try to tell me that he’s boring. There’s so much sass.
More that just this picture, though, I’ve come across a few cool illustrations while searching for a direction for my research. One (see below) is from The Tempest, one of the magic plays and one of Shakespeare’s last plays. In this one, Prospero commands certain natural forces and spirits of this abandoned island, and we can see the extent of his power in this image from a 1871 decorative edition of Shakespeare’s works.
This same edition contains this image (see below), featuring the Bard himself (again, look at that body position and tell me this is serious). As the creator, Shakespeare sits with some of his characters, including the transformed Bottom (he’s the donkey) from A Midsummer Night’s Dream. The banner at the top asserts something we have seen come true: Shakespeare has endured for all time (so far).
There’s a whimsical feel to this picture and places Shakespeare in the same plane as his characters, possibly suggesting that they exist in the same world. Considering how writer had come to be “our immortal Shakespeare,” it is no surprise to see him placed in the same plane as his characters (from the Proem of F.G. Waldron’s The Virgin Queen: A Drama in 5 Acts; Attempted as a Sequel to Shakespeare’s Tempest. 1797).
Along these lines, I found a masque called Shakespeare’s Jubilee (1769) which places characters from plays like Macbeth, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, and The Tempest in one common setting, one which the bard eventually enters. Not only does this masque reflect trends of people imitating his works, it represents a fictionalization of the writer into an idea subject to creative manipulation rather than a static historical figure.
(The Bard, right there in the masque with characters he created.)
I don’t know about you, but I think that’s pretty cool. If you do, too, please stick around for more posts to come. It’s nice to make your Internet acquaintance!
Alana