Check out this great story on NPR
NPR story about Shakespeare’s Folio
Shakespeare’s First Folio Is On Tour!
analysis
How to Throw Your Own 12th Night Party
Part One: The Invitation:Tradition says the 12th night does not actually start until nightfall on January 5th; it’s the celebration of the night when the wise men finally got to Bethlehem, so make sure you you’re clear on that in the invitation. If you need help on designing clever 12th night invitations, view my previous post on creating Valentine’s Day cards!Part Two: The FeastTraditionally celebrated with, (as Sir Toby puts it), “cakes and ale,” there’s a lovely recipe for a 12 night cake below.
Picture/ recipe is available here: Jane Austin.com: Twelfth Night cakeA Twelfth Night cake is basically a fruitcake stuffed with spices and dried fruit, that symbolizes of the three kings that came from the orient to Bethlehem all those years ago. One game you can play with your guests is putting a bean in the center of the cake. Tradition holds that whoever finds the bean has good luck for the coming year.The alternative version favored in France and Switzerland, is made of puff pastry, egg, and rum. Here’s a recipe I found on food.com: Swiss Twelfth night cakeMusicSinging is a big part of 12th night as evidenced in this scene where sir Toby, Mariah and Sir Andrew start singing songs: Act II Scene III I have taken the liberty of putting down all the songs from 12th night and some YouTube clips of my favorite renditions.Hold Thy Peace, Thou Knave (Shakespeare Songbook)O Mistress Mine (2011)Come Away Death(2014 Shakepeare in the Park SoundtrackHey Robin, Jolly Robin ( Shakespeare Birthplace)I Am Gone Sir (Stratford Shakespeare Festival 2011)The Wind and Rain (Alabama Shakespeare Festival)
Games
As I’ve mentioned in my previous posts one big part of the Christmas season was appointing a lord of misrule, and ancient tradition that goes back even before Christian times. In the play 12th night Feste basically serves as Lord Of Misrule; he presides over all the games and songs in the house, and he helps Sir Toby baffle Malvolio. In real life a Lord of Misrule presided over each Twelfth Night celebration, choosing which games and dances everyone would engage in.
Most early Twelfth Night celebrations included a masked ball. In the 18th century, merrymakers engaged in a sort of role playing game, where they drew a character based on a popular archetype like the soldier Charles Cuttemdown or Beatrice Bouquet, and had to act like that character the rest of the night. Finally, a holiday that encourages you to LARP!Wassail.As I mentioned in my previous post wassail was the quintessential winter beverage and 12 night was not an exception. In this post you can see some photos of me actually making wassail myself in accordance with a trip up recipe I found on the food from the food network’s Alton Brown.Alton Brown Wassail recipe 
I didn’t have Madeira wine so I substituted port, but otherwise I used all the ingredients he mentioned in the recipe.
Like I said in the previous post, Wassail is derived from an old word meaning “lamb’s wool,” and you can see why when you see the frothy mixture on top.
I served this wassail to my in laws on Christmas night, and the only complaint I got was that the weather was a little too hot to enjoy it. I can personally attest that wassail warms you right down to your toes, which is great if you’ve been out caroling in 17th century England, but indoors during the hottest Christmas on record, it was a little uncomfortable- I was already wearing shorts and I was still too hot. My advice is- if you get a white Christmas, enjoy your wassail, but if it’s 60 degrees outside, stick to ale or Madeira, or some other kind of spicy spirit that you can serve
Well, that’s my advice, happy Twelfth Night everyone!Update: I’ve adapted the material from this post into an interactive, multimedia online class for kids aged 13-18! It will cover Elizabethan Christmas traditions and the plot and themed of Twelfth Night. You can register now at Outschool.com!
Sources:Brownie Locks.com- History of Twelfth Night Catholic Encyclopedia: Feast of Fools
Jane Austin.com: Twelfth Night Celebrations
Lost Past Remembered: Twelfth night Why Christmas.com: the Twelve Days of Christmastime Project Britain: Twelfth Night http://projectbritain.com/Xmas/twelfth.htm
Shakespeare Uncovered: Twelfth Night
Below is a link to the excellent documentary, Shakepeare Uncovered. In this episode, actress Joelly Richardson examines the character Viola from Twelfth Night, with the help of her mother, legendary actress Vanessa Redgrave:
Christmas For Shakespeare Part III: Performing for Queen Elizabeth
Merry Christmas Eve everyone! Today I will be talking about how Shakepeare’s two royal patrons, Queen Elizabeth I and James I celebrated this holiday!
We have surviving records that prove Shakespeare and his troupe performed at Christmas during the reigns of Queen Elizabeth and King James I. The buildings still exist so we can imagine what Shakespeare’s performancesal at court might have looked like. What follows is a bit of historical detective work, with a nice holiday flavor to boot.
How did Good Queen Bess celebrate Christmas?
Like her predecessor Henry VIII, Her Majesty Elizabeth accepted presents from the nobles on New Year’s Day instead of Christmas morning. From all over the kingdom, people would bring the best and most extravagant presents to the queen, hoping to gain her favor at court. Take a look at this true case of what her favorite courtier, Robert Dudley gave the queen for Christmas in 1588:
Dudley gives Queen Elizabeth a wristwatch
Unlike her dad however, Elizabethan Christmas was a more elaborate affair than a week of sitting and feasting. Yes, Gloriana had elaborate feasts, but she preferred to impress her nobles and visiting dignitaries with dances, jousts, and plays. She was an accomplished dancer and poet, and she loved court masques.
A masque is sort of like a combination masked ball and performance art piece. The nobles would put on costumes and masks and enact a historical or mythological event, like “the Golden Age Restored,” a masque Ben Johnson wrote for Twelfth Night in 1616. The intent was to flatter the queen and her court, as well as having a good time. Of course, Liz still made time on the dance floor for Shakepeare’s company!
.
How the plays were performed:
The plays would be in a large empty hall like the banquet hall or dance hall. Probably the tables would be removed from the feasting, then the dancing would begin. At around 10PM, the actors would take their places. There might be a makeshift tiring house, which was mainly just a curtain that the actors could hide behind to wait for their entrances.
The queen or King would be sitting on a throne on a raised platform so that she or he could be clearly seen by the actors and the audience.
Which plays did They Perform?
In 1594 The Lord Chamberlain’s Men played before the Queen at Greenwich Palace. Alas, we don’t know which plays they performed this time. What follows is a list of the plays we do know Shakepeare’s company played at Christmas.
Whitehall Palace by Dankerts, 1675.
Love’s Labors Lost– 1597 at Whitehall palace. This time we know which play they performed before the Queen, because it’s listed right on the title page. I suspect that printing where the play was performed was designed to fire the imagination of the people who bought it. If you couldn’t be at court to see Shakespeare’s play, you could at least read his words and imagine you were there.
James I invited Shakepeare’s company to perform at Hampton Court many times. Below is an account of the plays for the Christmas holiday in 1603. Notice that Shakepeare’s name is spelled “Shaxberd.”
Here’s a list of some more plays we know Shakepeare’ performed at Christmas:
- Midsummer Nights Dream- 1603 on New Years Day, Hampton Court.
- Measure for Measure on Boxing Day 1603, Hampton Court.
- King Lear on Boxing Day 1606.
- Twelfth Night- Candlemas (Feb 2nd 1602).
- Twelfth Night 1618 and 1619 (location unknown).
Below is an episode of the incredible documentary “In Search of Shakepeare.” The first twelve minutes show what Christmas might have been like at Hampton Court in 1603, the first year of King James’ reign.
In Search of Shakespeare: For All Time
James loved plays and masques even more than Liz, which is why he employed one of the greatest scenic artists of all time, Inigo Jones, to come up with extravagant stage designs and costumes for plays and masques. James’ Queen Anne Of Denmark performed in quite a few masques herself. James also treated the Christmas season as a time of charity, which might have inspired some of the lines in King Lear, which was performed ‘on the feast of Steven’ 1606:
“Poor naked wretches… who soer you are. I have taken too little care of this.” -King Lear, Act III, scene I (The Storm Scene).
We can recall the contrast between King Lear and Good King Wenceslas. In the scene I quoted earlier, Lear laments that he hasn’t been more charitable to the poor, now that he himself feels cold and homeless.
The Christmas season would carry on until oh January 6, aka Twelfth Night. This was the day when, according to Christian tradition, the Three Wise Men finally got to Bethlehem and delivered their presents. Shakespeare’s play Twelfth Night is all about celebrations of feasting, fools and clowns, and of course, epiphanies.
If you liked this post, please consider signing up for my new online class, “What Was Christmas Like For William Shakespeare?” I’ll go further into the traditions of Elizabethan Christmas and add some insight into Shakespeare’s play “Twelfth Night.” Register now at Outschool.com!
The Shakepearean Student
Sources: http://www.unofficialroyalty.com/columnists/the-laird-othistle/will-shakespeare-at-christmas-court/
http://home.hiwaay.net/~paul/shakespeare/revels/revelsacct1.html
http://www.timetravel-britain.com/articles/christmas/jacobean.shtml
http://www.shakespeare-online.com/theatre/theroyalpalaces.html
http://internetshakespeare.uvic.ca/m/lifetimes/society/court%20life/festivals.html
FMI look at “The Christmas Revels”
How Shakespeare Celebrated Christmas Part 2: How the Nobles Celebrated Christmas
Once Shakespeare became a member of the Lord Chamberlain’s Men and later The King’s Men, the royals often requested that he and his company perform as the official royal entertainment at Christmas. Christmas for Shakespeare from 1592 to 1613 meant work. Nevertheless, it must’ve been a thrill for this country boy from Warwickshire England to see how the king and courtiers of his country would celebrate Christmas with elaborate feasts, parties, dances, and of course drama.
We know for a fact that Shakespeare was asked to perform at Christmas. As you can see on this title page for Shakespeare’s Loves Labors Lost, we have records of his plays being performed by name for the Christmas feast. In Tudor and Jacobean times, The Master of the Revels kept records of which plays he permitted to perform during the Christmas season and those records reveal what kind of entertainment each monarch enjoyed at Christmas.
Christmas at King Henry VIII’s palace
Although King Henry the Eighth died before Shakespeare was born, his Christmas feasts were so lavish I simply had to devote some space in this post to talk about him. Henry outlawed all sports and games at Christmastime during his reign, focusing instead on drama and feasts. Part of the reason that the king outlawed any kind of sports (except archery), was because of the huge caloric quantity ingested from his feasts. To be blunt, as Henry aged, his diet only got worse. Near the end of his life, he was so overweight, his attendants needed a crane to get him out of bed!
Henry’s Christmas feasts were the stuff of legend. One-third of his palace at Hampton Court was devoted to the kitchens! The feast would include as many exotic and expensive dishes as the king’s court could imagine!
Christmas turkey became popular in Henry the Eighth’s day, but it would certainly share a dish with peacock, hare, goose, and wild boar; the most vicious animal to kill in the wild forest. There’s even a Christmas carol called the Boar’s Head Carol, which celebrates how hard it was to procure and prepare such an animal. For Henry, exotic food was a symbol of his power and so he stocked his Christmas feast with the most elaborate food a king could buy to impress his nobles and visiting dignitaries.
After the feast, the court would sing together, often to unaccompanied music called madrigals. These were short, secular songs in multiple voice parts and they were the pop songs of Henry’s day; he even composed a few himself!
If you watch this video you can see an incredible documentary, where a group of historic food historians re-creating an elaborate Tudor feast: A Tudor Feast
If you liked this post, please consider signing up for my new online class, “What Was Christmas Like For William Shakespeare?” I’ll go further into the traditions of Elizabethan Christmas and add some insight into Shakespeare’s play “Twelfth Night.” Register now at Outschool.com!
– Shakespearean Student
What was Christmas Like For William Shakespeare?
Well, Christmas is almost here; soon many of us will be traveling home to celebrate the holidays with our families, enjoying parties, presents, carols, and decorations. However, our modern traditions weren’t always the norm for people who celebrate Christmas. In the interest of historical curiosity, we here at Shakespearean Student would like to talk a little bit about how William Shakespeare might’ve celebrated Christmas!
As with everything in Shakespeare’s life, many times scholars have nothing but “what if’s” to go on, because few records exist, there were no photos from the period, and very few documents survive related to Shakespeare. He also kept no journals or diaries to record what his life might’ve been like. However, based in the holiday traditions of England that have lingered on to this day, we can surmise what Christmas might’ve been like in the late 16th century.
Part 1: Stratford
Shakespeare was born in 1564, in the town of Stratford-Upon-Avon in the county of Warwickshire England. As I mentioned earlier, Shakespeare would not have known many of our modern Christmas traditions. The Christmas Tree as we know it didn’t come into being until Queen Victoria’s reign, (and she certainly didn’t light hers with electric lights). Victoria also invented the idea of putting presents under the tree. I’m not an expert on Christmas, but my research would indicate that probably Elizabethans like Shakespeare didn’t even give out presents on Christmas Day! Instead, in country towns like Stratford in Tudor times, Christmas was a time of feasting, singing, caroling, and theatre!
![Candleglow%20PR%20small[1]](https://shakespeareanstudent.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/candleglow20pr20small1.jpg)
The Christmas season in Shakespeare’s day usually extended from Christmas Eve to the twelfth night after Christmas also known as Twelfth Night or Epithany. Common people usually decorated their homes with holly and ivy, and celebrated Christmas Eve by lighting their homes with candles and by burning the Yule log, an ancient tradition dating back over 1,000 years when the Vikings controlled most of England. It was a symbol of light and warmth in the darkest time of the year.
Feasting-
Roast goose was a staple of the common man’s feast at Christmas. In 1588, Queen Elizabeth commanded the whole country to consume geese to commemorate England’s victory over the Spanish Armada. Other traditional fare included plum porridge, beer or ale, and the most celebrated Christmas beverage of all: Wassail!
Wasailing-
The old tradition of caroling comes from an ancient pagan holiday tradition of showing charity to the poor at the winter solstice. People would go door to door asking for alms and occasionally a warm beverage. This ancient practice evolved into caroling and Wasailing!
The word “wassail” is an old Celtic word that means “lambswool,” it refers to the fact that the drink is covered with a thin foam that looks kind of like the wool of a sheep. It is also derived from the Anglo-Saxon “wassail,” which means “be in health,” so it is simultaneously a drink, a toast, and an explanation of what the drink looks like.
Like our modern-day caroling, people would sing and dance going door to door asking for a traditional glass of wassail or a mince pie. A mince pie is a traditional meat pie that is often filled with 12 different ingredients to symbolize the 12 days of Christmas.
Mince pies were popular with both peasants and kings, and contains both fruit and different types of meat including rabbit chicken duck and hare.
Wasailing also has its roots in ancient pagan holidays and that’s why it’s often accompanied with a traditional Morris dance, where the dancers are waving handkerchiefs, knocking sticks together and dancing with brightly colored ribbons. This was a great tradition back in the small towns and shires of England and continues to this very day. Below you’ll find a video where you can make some wassail yourself! I Just a note that in this recipe, the cook has left out the alcohol and has also left out the egg which is necessary to create the foamy lambswool. Nonetheless I think it’s a very good recipe and I welcome you to try it for yourself.
Plays–
As the mayor’s son, young William had a VIP pass to see all traveling actors who came to town. Shakespeare’s dad would’ve decided who got to perform at the guild halls and local inns, so he and his son would’ve watched private performances of all the shows first. After that, John Shakespeare decided who got to perform, and who would be sent away. In addition to professional troupes at Christmas, craftsmen in Will’s hometown people in Warwickshire would come together and put on a show! These amateur dramatic pieces were known as Mystery Plays.
Mystery Plays got their name from the old meaning of mystery: a trade or skill. Much like modern nativity plays or community theaters, every year all the craftsmen from the town would put on a series of short shows derived from Bible stories at Christmas time, and showcase their crafts as well as their acting talents. For example the goldsmiths were in charge of the Three Wise Men story.
We know that Shakespeare liked these plays because he refers to one in particular many, many times: The play of King Herod. in the Bible, Herod The Great is fearful of the baby Jesus and sends his soldiers to kill any young baby that they can find in the city of Jerusalem. Very often when Shakespeare refers to any of his villainous characters he describes them as Herod-like.
The Mysteries were printed during Shakespeare’s lifetime and people in York, Coventry, and Wakefield England still perform them today! Here’s a video of a little girl who performed in the York Mystery play last year:
I hope you enjoyed this little sojourn into the ancient traditions of the common folk back in Shakespeare’s England.
If you liked this post, please consider signing up for my new online class, “What Was Christmas Like For William Shakespeare?” I’ll go further into the traditions of Elizabethan Christmas and add some insight into Shakespeare’s play “Twelfth Night.” Register now at Outschool.com!
Till next time!
-The Shakespearean Student
Sources:
- Historic UK: A Tudor Christmas: http://www.historic-uk.com/HistoryUK/HistoryofEngland/A-Tudor-Christmas/
- Shakespeare Birthplace Trust: Christmas At Shakespeare’s Houses: http://www.shakespeare.org.uk/visit-the-houses/whats-on.html/christmas-holidays.html
- The Anne Bolyn Files: A Tudor Christmas: http://www.theanneboleynfiles.com/resources/tudor-life/tudor-christmas/
- Wassailing and Mumming: http://www.whychristmas.com/customs/wassailing.shtml
Shakespeare’s only All Soul’s Day Speech
Today (Monday) is All Souls Day, AKA “Dia DeLos Muertos.” Shakespeare writes an incredible speech for a character when he realizes it’s all soul’s day, but i couldn’t find a version of it online. That’s why I decided to do it myself! This is a speech that comes from Shakespeare’s bloody history play, “Richard the Third.”
To set the scene, the character Buckingham has worked as a vile two-faced politician working for Richard Gloucester, Shakespeare’s most evil and tyrannical king. To support Richard’s quest for the throne, Buckingham has arranged the murders of kings, princes, lords, ladies, and basically anyone who got in their way. All the while, he has acted like a nice and loyal Yorkist nobleman, and even swears to protect and serve them.
BUCKINGHAM
Whenever Buckingham doth turn his hate
On you or yours, To the Queen
but with all duteous love
Doth cherish you and yours, God punish me
With hate in those where I expect most love!
When I have most need to employ a friend,
And most assured that he is a friend
Deep, hollow, treacherous, and full of guile,
Be he unto me! this do I beg of God,
When I am cold in zeal to yours (Richard III, Act II, Scene ii).
After Richard becomes king, he slights Buckingham, who then gets bitter and joins Richard’s enemies. Richard then captures the duke, and sentences him to death by beheading. The day he is to be executed is, you guessed it, All Soul’s Day, which forces Buckingham to confront all the souls Buckingham is directly or indirectly responsible for taking. I hope you enjoy my interpretation!
Here’s the text of the speech here:
Why, then All-Souls’ day is my body’s doomsday.
This is the day that, in King Edward’s time,
I wish’t might fall on me, when I was found
False to his children or his wife’s allies
This is the day wherein I wish’d to fall
By the false faith of him I trusted most;
This, this All-Souls’ day to my fearful soul
Is the determined respite of my wrongs:
That high All-Seer that I dallied with
Hath turn’d my feigned prayer on my head
And given in earnest what I begg’d in jest.
Thus doth he force the swords of wicked men
To turn their own points on their masters’ bosoms:
Now Margaret’s curse is fallen upon my head;
‘When he,’ quoth she, ‘shall split thy heart with sorrow,
Remember Margaret was a prophetess.’
Come, sirs, convey me to the block of shame;
Wrong hath but wrong, and blame the due of blame.
The Witches Of Macbeth
Happy Halloween everybody!
Tonight I’d like to discuss some of the spookiest, most enigmatic, and above all WEIRDEST characters in Shakespeare: the Three Weird Sisters in Macbeth.
1. Who are they?
Every production has to answer who the witches are, and many have very different answers. Are they temptress? Are they evil agents controlling Macbeth?Furies trying to destroy Macbeth?
I would argue in their basic form the witches are harbingers of change. Their very name “Wyrd Sisters” refers to an old Anglo Saxon concept of fate or destiny. Whether or not they have any effect on Macbeth mind or soul, they point the finger at him and say “things are going to change for you.” Then, he either makes the choices that determine his fate, or they change his fate for him.
Macbeth meets the witches on a heath, which means land that is literally out of bounds– the wild, untamed wilderness, which the old Anglo Saxons believed was the lair of many cursed spirits and monsters. This could symbolize Macbeth’ sin or transgressions, slowly turning into a murderer, usurper, and a tyrant. It could also symbolize the chaos in Macbeth’s life.
What Do They Look Like?
Shakespeare’s descriptions of the witches are highly contradictory- they seem to be floating, yet on the ground, they seem to be women, but they have beards! They don’t look Earthly, but here they are on the Earth. This gives them an other worldly quality that keeps us guessing as to who they are, and helps them tempt Macbeth more easily.
BANQUO
What are these
So wither’d and so wild in their attire,
That look not like the inhabitants o’ the earth,
And yet are on’t? Live you? or are you aught
That man may question? You seem to understand me,
By each at once her chappy finger laying
Upon her skinny lips: you should be women,
And yet your beards forbid me to interpret
That you are so.
MACBETH
Speak, if you can: what are you? (Act I, Scene iii).
The Witches’ Language:
You know from my earlier posts that the norm for Shakespearean characters is to speak in iambic pentameter- 10 syllable lines of unrhymed poetry that sounds like a normal heartbeat. The witches break these norms- they generally speak in Trochaic Tetrameter- 8 syllable lines with the off beat emphasized. The witches are literally offbeat, and that’s why their speeches are unsettling. Look at the contrast between a normal iambic line like:
“In sooth I know not why I am so sad.” (Merchant Of Venice I,i).
and
“Dou-ble Dou-ble, Toil and Tro-ble.
Fire burn and Caul-dren Bu-ble. (Macbeth, Act IV, Scene i).
For more info on the verse forms of the Witches, click here:
The witches also speak their prophesies in a vague, ambiguous manner They like to play with obscuring their prophesies with lines that make Macbeth think one thing, but the opposite is true. The famous example here is when they claim Macbeth will never be vanquished “until Birnam Wood comes to Dunsinane Hill.” Macbeth assumes this means he’s invincible, but it actually means that the enemy carry wood from the forrest. This is called Equivocation.
Witches and mythology
1. During the reign of King James, the modern witch hunt began; the king was fascinated with witches and even wrote a book called Daemonology on how to identify and destroy them. This was the era where people believed that witchcraft, rather than a pagan religious practice, was a forbidden craft that could only come from a pact with the devil. However, Shakespeare borrows from both Satanic and early pagan ritual in the characters of his witches.
2. Shakespeare took a couple of details about witchcraft from ancient Celtic and Greek mythology. First of all, the use of a cauldron. In Celtic myth, a cauldron is a symbol of rebirth and was sometimes used to resurrect the dead, just as the witches do in IV i. Of course, the ideal time for raising the spirits was on the feast of the pagan god Samhain, at the point where the veil between the living and dead was the thinnest. The feast took place on October 31st, our modern day Halloween!
3. Familiar spirits In Act I, the witches speak to animal spirits called familiar spirits, which call to them and tell them where to go. King James himself wrote about how the witches found and communicated with these spirits.
Hecate.
In Act IV, Hecate, Ancient Greek goddess of magic appears. She is clearly the lord of all the witches, and is very displeased that they are riddling with Macbeth. Maybe not all witches believe in giving out prophesies that can destroy the Scottish monarchy. Hecate was always enigmatic in myths- she was born one of the Titans who opposed the gods, but frequently changed sides. More then being two faced, she was often portrayed as having three faces! Shakespeare refers to her frequently as “Triple Hecate.”
For more information on this mysterious goddess, consult the video below, (WARNING, ADULT-ONLY CONTENT).
In conclusion, the witches are meant to be ambiguous because the play examines the source of evil- whether it is inspired by other people, or if it comes from one’s own heart. The witches can be either or both, depending on how you want to tell the story, which is why they act and speak in contradictory ways.
Thanks for reading! If you enjoyed this posting, please consider signing up for my online class, “Macbeth: An Immersive Horror Experience.” I tell you the story of Macbeth and you get to play through an escape room, where you must solve the witches’ puzzles or be added to their Cauldron!
Visions Of Lady Macbeth
One of the greatest icons of female villainy, Lady Macbeth has been portrayed onstage by our greatest actresses, and immortalized in many alluring and terrifying works of art. Here are some of my favorites:
http://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/fuseli-lady-macbeth-seizing-the-daggers-t00733
http://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O1068192/lady-macbeth-watercolour-cattermole-george/
http://www.louvre.fr/oeuvre-notices/lady-macbeth-somnambule
http://aworldelsewhere-finn.blogspot.com/2012/03/dante-gabriel-rossetti-death-of-lady.html
The Shakespearean Student 