hamlet

How Accurate Is Medieval Times?

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In many ways, Medieval Times is a campy, theme park-esque place. Done’t get me wrong, I love this place and puppet Shakespeare and I enjoyed it immensely, but from a historical perspective, Medieval Times has more in common with Disney Land than British history. That said, it still contains a nod to this ancient culture that praised and highly ritualized the concept of judicial combat.


The Court

You are cast as a lord or lady, representing a fantasy kingdom (which corresponds to the color of the crown you wear). I was fortunate to get the Red crown for Valentines Day, and was seated right next to the King and Queen (more on that later). The hall was decorated with colored banners and each kingdom was introduced with trumpets and flags. The feast was a celebration of the uniting of all the surrounding kingdoms under the King and Queen. As the king and queen came out, everyone cheered and the royals toasted each kingdom and praised and thanked them all for their service to the crown. The monarchs then promised each lord and lady there a greater reward with sports, games, spectacles, and of course, the feast itself.

Feudalism

Map of the kingdoms in England during the Wars of the Roses

As I mentioned in my Game of Thrones post, a king’s main job was to unite all the lords in the land and get them swear fealty to him, binding the whole country under the crown. It was King Henry VI’s failure to keep the lords in line that resulted in the civil war known as the Wars of the Roses. Feasts like the one in Medieval Times, were essentially propaganda to keep the lords allied with the king. They demonstrated the power of the king and communicated loudly and clearly that the lands would be stronger together, as opposed to endless war. So, this kind of pageantry was political as well as entertaining, and the king and queen’s dialogue preserves the purpose of this kind of feast, which as a history nerd, I deeply appreciated.

Court Sport


While we waited for the feast, the knights entertained the court with displays of their skills and strength. They rode towards the quintain and hit it with their lances, threw spears at a target, and even their horses got a chance to trot without riders, showing how well trained they were.

The knights practice throwing spears at the target

The Joust

Shakespeare’s Pericles, Prince Of Tyre has a very elaborate and detailed depiction of how jousts worked in the Medieval and Renaissance eras. Shakespeare knew that the joust was the ultimate display of skill, chivarly, and the ideals of courtly love. Knights were portrayed as romantic heroes who fought for a simple favor from a lady such as a rose or handkerchief and each one defined himself by his strict code of honor and virtue. All these traditions are hightlighted in the scene where Pericles fights in a tournament to gain the love of the princess Taisa:

Enter A pavilion for the [p]reception of King, Princess, Lords, &c.

[Enter SIMONIDES, THAISA, Lords, and Attendants]

Simonides. Are the knights ready to begin the triumph?
First Lord. They are, my liege;750
And stay your coming to present themselves.
Simonides. Return them, we are ready; and our daughter,
In honour of whose birth these triumphs are,
Sits here, like beauty's child, whom nature gat
For men to see, and seeing wonder at.755
[Exit a Lord]

Thaisa. It pleaseth you, my royal father, to express
My commendations great, whose merit's less.
Simonides. It's fit it should be so; for princes are
A model which heaven makes like to itself:760
As jewels lose their glory if neglected,
So princes their renowns if not respected.
'Tis now your honour, daughter, to explain
The labour of each knight in his device.
Thaisa. Which, to preserve mine honour, I'll perform.765
[Enter a Knight; he passes over, and his Squire]
presents his shield to the Princess]
Simonides. Who is the first that doth prefer himself?
Thaisa. A knight of Sparta, my renowned father;
And the device he bears upon his shield770
Is a black Ethiope reaching at the sun
The word, 'Lux tua vita mihi.'
Simonides. He loves you well that holds his life of you.
[The Second Knight passes over]

Chivalric ideals aside, the joust also had a practical purpose- it was a way for knights to train for war, an a way for them to win fame, money, and good reputations at court. As you can see in the photos above, the knights were separated by a wooden barrier called “the tilt wall.” Each knight was identified by the colorful designs on their banners, shields, and the blanket draped over the horse. Once the king or marshal threw down the warder, the knights charged headfirst at their opponents, armed with shields, lances, and full armor. Knights scored points for breaking lances and shields or by knocking other knights off their horses. Naturally, to create the most impressive display possible, all the knights at Medieval Times fell off their horses and no lances broke.


First, and most important, was the Joust Royal, or "tilting," in which mounted knights armed with lances charged at their opponents across a barrier.
This was followed by a "tourney" in which mounted knights ran at each other without a tilt barrier (as pictured here).>
Combatants armed with spears and swords also fought on foot over a barrier 
Best, Michael. "Chivalry and Duels." Internet Shakespeare Editions, University of Victoria, 28 Sept. 2016, ise.uvic.ca/Foyer/citing. Accessed 30 Sept. 2016.

The Lance

The video above is from Weapons That Made Brittain, in which historian and reinactor Mike Loads, explains with vivid details, how Knights learned how to master the art of the Lance, and how the Lance became one of the most important weapons of the knight.

Duels

In the climax of the evening, the knights stopped fighting for sport, and started fighting for power! The Green Knight (as green with envy as his armor and horse), suddenly refused to dismount from his horse and began striking knights left and right. He then challenged the leadership of the king, threatening to rebel from the kingdom, along with his fellow knights! The king then decided to choose a champion to fight the Green Knight to the death! The Red Knight, (who as I mentioned before, represented my kingdom, and threw a rose as a favor to my family), picked up the glove of the envious Green Knight, thus signifying that he would be the champion, and fight for the fate of the kingdom!

Why the Green Knight?

Illustration from Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, 14th century.

At the hall door comes a frightening figure,
He must have been taller than anyone in the world:
From the neck to the waist so huge and thick,
And his loins and limbs so long and massive,
That I would say he was half a giant on earth.
But more than anything
His color amazed them:
A bold knight riding,
The whole of him bright green. Sir Gawain and the Green Knight

In most (but not all) interviews and clips I’ve seen, the Green Knight is the bad guy- the one Knight whom almost everyone is supposed to root against. When I got home, I wondered why this was. After all, isn’t the black knight usually associated with villainy? My personal theory is that this is a subtle reference to the classic medieval story, Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. The eponymous Knight is supernaturally strong and able to even survive decapitation! He serves in the story, as the ultimate test for our young hero, Sir Gawain. I think the writers of Medieval Times definitely did their homework, making this Knight the antagonist.

The duel began on horses, but quickly changed to single combat on foot. They fought with axes, maces, and of course swords.

Even though dueling was a bloody and dangerous pastime, it has a long history that even kings couldn’t erase. Back in Anglo-Saxon times, private disputes, (such as the murder of one’s father) could be settled through means of a duel. In this period, England was occupied by the Danes, (which we would now call Vikings), and several Viking practices of judicial combat survive. For example, the Hólmgangan, an elaborate duel between two people who fight within the perimeter of a cloak. These kinds of fights continued throughout medieval Europe and, like Medieval Times Shakespeare knew their devastating dramatic potential.

Fighting to Win: The Art of Sword Combat in The Early Modern Period

At the end of Shakespeare’s Hamlet, the revenge cycle between Hamlet, Leartes, and Fortinbras, comes to a close using a duel. Hamlet has murdered Leartes’ father but Hamlet did not intentionally kill him. This kind of legal dispute would certainly have been settled with a duel in Saxon times. This is one reason why Leartes scorns Hamlet’s offer of forgiveness at the beginning of the scene, and instead trusts in the outcome of the fight to prove his cause. Hamlet and Leartes begin fighting officially under the terms of a friendly fencing match, but it becomes clear early on that at least in the mind of Leartes, this is actually a blood-combat. Laertes is demanding blood for the death of his father, and like the Green Knight, his fight will decide the fate of the Danish throne.

  • Hamlet. Come for the third, Laertes! You but dally.
    Pray you pass with your best violence;
    I am afeard you make a wanton of me.
  • Laertes. Say you so? Come on. Play.
  • Osric. Nothing neither way.
  • Laertes. Have at you now!

[Laertes wounds Hamlet; then] in scuffling, they change rapiers, [and Hamlet wounds Laertes].

[Laertes falls.]

By the Renaissance, dueling was highly controlled by traditions of honor and fair play. As Laertes admits, poisoning Hamlet and fighting him to the death without his knowledge would be considered treason, and highly dishonorable. The Green Knight does every possible thing to make the audience see him as the villain with his lack of courtesy, dirty tricks, and disdain for the king and queen. He is so dishonorable that, even Americans, who have nothing but disdain for monarchy and in real life, value independence and self-sovereignty, would rather take the side of the monarch and his stooge the Red Knight over the Green Knight, just because he refuses to play fair.

The Weapons

What Would I Do Differently?

Sources:

Sources-

  1. Ur- Hamlet
  2. Lear source- Hollinshed’s Chronicles
  3. Tony Robinson’s Crime and Punishment: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2yz9VLkNHJU&feature=youtu.be
  4. Truth Of the Swordhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vFL2ghH0RLs
  5. Secrets Of the VIking Sword http://youtu.be/nXbLyVpWsVM
  6. Ancient Inventions- War and Conflict http://youtu.be/IuyztjReB6A
  7. Terry Jones- Barbarians (the Savage Celts) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PSuizSkHpxI
  8.  Joe Martinez book

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‘Frankenstein’ and Shakespeare

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Benedick Cumberbatch morphing between Richard III and the Frankenstein monster.

With awards season in full swing, there has been a lot of controversy over two stories that Shakespeare had a great influence over- Hamnet, based on the novel of the same name, and Guillermo Del Toro’s adaptation of Frankenstein. Despite getting five golden globe nominations, Frankenstein went home with a hand emptier than the monster floating off on an iceberg. Meanwhile, Hamnet took the best actress and best picture award, and is poised for an Oscar nomination.

I’ll review Hamnet at a later date. What I want to do now is discuss the influence Shakespeare and other Renaissance writers had on the classic 1818 novel, and how well Del Toro hints at the story’s Renaissance roots.I would argue that, although rooted in the 10th century Romantic world, Frankenstein has many Shakespearean and Early Modern influences, notably Dr Faustus by Christopher Marlowe,  and The Tempest by Shakespeare

In 1818, a young woman named Mary Wolstonecraft, heard from her friend, a Swiss doctor, about a prominent experiment called galvanism and was faced with the terrifying prospect that man might someday be able to resurrect the dead, (a feat that had only successfully been done by God). When Mary Shelley wrote the novel Frankenstein she redefined the Faustus story and made it about Man not taking responsibility for the consequences of his actions, and also a warning to progress for its own sake without compassion without reason without wisdom. As we shall see, Shelly was a trailblazer in turning the Faustian wizard into the mad scientist.

The Morality Tale

Faustus is one of the oldest and most quintessential German stories it is a morality tale medieval in its origins it also is loosely based on a real person a real scholar named Doctor John foustis and this story was influential on forming German cultural identity and the story itself has inspired countless authors some German and some merely influenced by German culture and it’s very interesting to trace the way that it’s being used And how the the trope of the Faustian bargain has influenced Germany America and and England other Anglo sects and countries so the story of Faustus is Medieval in origin but he became extremely popular when English playwright Christopher Marlowe Shakespeare’s contemporary and rival wrote it down in his play of Dr. Faustus

What’s interesting about this interpretation is that you could easily see it as Faustus Rejects from the beginning the notion of divine grace he believes that he cannot that he is either unwilling or unable to believe that he is beloved by God and therefore he turns to satanic poworse it’s somewhat ambiguous why he does this one possible interpretation is that Faustus might actually be a that faustis like Marlow might be a possible gay man and is convinced that he is an abomination under the Lord and therefore he might as well indulge in satanic activities.

Whatever the reason the play does a great job of showing the struggle of Faustus as he is presented several times with the chance to repent, and actively refuses it every single time. 

“Tutors Not So Careful”

In Marlow’s version, Faustus studies at the University of vittenburg in Germany, whicb also boasts other notable allumni- Prince Hamlet which Shakespeare would later write in his own play Hamlet Prince of Denmark. The prince broods over whether the creature he has seen return from the dead is actually a devil, sent to destroy him.

Shelley admits that a lot of her as a source for that her sources for Shakespeare her sources for Frankenstein included Shakespeare in The Tempest. Though Doctor Frankenstein his book is not a is Swiss not German he is educated at the University of english stat in Germany where he learns organic chemistry and acquires the ambition to do with the alchemists and conjurors of faustis day failed to do namely create the elixir of life.

“Graves, at my command, Hath waked their sleepers”

One big trope in Frankenstein is the danger of man crossing over into God’s domain- that from the beginning of time there has been a knowledge that God deliberately kept from humankind. In Frankenstein, this takes the form of scientific knowledge, but in Shakespeare, it is magic. In Macbeth, the title character is tempted by witches to know his destiny and is punished severely for it. Remember that when Shakespeare wrote the play, King James presided over hundreds of witch hunts and wrote a book on how to identify witches.

In The Tempest, Shakespeare gives us a more ambiguous look at magic where the magician Prospero has the power to create storms, conjure up spirits, and like Frankenstein, raise the dead:

 I have bedimm'd
The noontide sun, call'd forth the mutinous winds,
And 'twixt the green sea and the azured vault
Set roaring war: to the dread rattling thunder2065
Have I given fire and rifted Jove's stout oak
With his own bolt; the strong-based promontory
Have I made shake and by the spurs pluck'd up
The pine and cedar: graves at my command
Have waked their sleepers, oped, and let 'em forth
By my so potent art. The Tempest, Act V, Scene i.

Even though Prospero is the protagonist and he faces no consequences for his magic, for some reason he chooses to abandon it. It’s almost as if Shakespeare was anticipating Frankenstein by having a proto mad scientist character give up his art before it is too late:

 But this rough magic
I here abjure, and, when I have required
Some heavenly music, which even now I do,
To work mine end upon their senses that
This airy charm is for, I'll break my staff,2075
Bury it certain fathoms in the earth,
And deeper than did ever plummet sound
I'll drown my book.
Prospero, Act V, Scene i.

“This thing of Darkness”

“You taught me language, and my profit in’t is I know how to curse!”

“Cursed, cursed creator! Why did I live? Why, in that instant, did I not extinguish the spark of existence which you had so wantonly bestowed? I know not; despair had not yet taken possession of me; my feelings were those of rage and revenge. I could with pleasure have destroyed the cottage and its inhabitants and have glutted myself with their shrieks and misery.

Shelly, Chapter 16

If you’ve never read the book Frankenstein, you might be surprised to learn that unlike Boris Karloff’s grunting silent monster, in the novel the Monster is actually intelligent and well-spoken. One thing I enjoyed about Guillermo Del Toro’s version is that the Monster gets time to tell his tale. As we in the audience get to know him, the notion of who is the true Monster and who is truly human becomes as murky as the subterranean lair the doctor chains his creation within. He engages in intellectual debates with his creator and demands to know why Frankenstein chose to abandon him.

My abhorrence of this fiend cannot be conceived. When I thought of him I gnashed my teeth, my eyes became inflamed, and I ardently wished to extinguish that life which I had so thoughtlessly bestowed. When I reflected on his crimes and malice, my hatred and revenge burst all bounds of moderation.

Shelly, Chapter 9

Lots of Great classes are available on Outschool This Winter

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Course Description: A flexible schedule class that teaches kids the plot and characters of “Romeo and Juliet,” in the context of a detective story where you solve the mystery of the young lovers’ deaths.

Course Descriptions

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Activities For Teachers and Students: Shakespeare Gingerbread Men (and Women)

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Every holiday season, my school likes to decorate the classroom doors in a festive way. I wanted to celebrate my Shakespeare Club and also teach the club members about Shakespearean fashion, Shakespearean characters, and maybe a little bit about engineering too. I’m very proud of the results, and I wanted to share this idea with you to maybe inspire you next holiday season!

Gingerbread Hamlet
Close up of Hamlet’s sword
Gingerbread Shakespeare
Off with his head!
Gallery of my Gingerbread Madness

The Concept

Hath I but one penny in the world, thou should’st have it to buy gingerbread. – Love’s Labors Lost

Since the theme had to be holiday-related, I looked at the above quote and decided to make Shakespearean gingerbread men! I knew I wanted to make the kids design a bunch of gingerbread men that would look like Shakespearean characters. While we were at it, I wanted gingerbread houses and maybe even a 3D element to go along with it. I knew it wouldn’t be easy, but I also knew my group was up to the task!

The plan

My concept drawing of how the door should look

I knew I couldn’t use real gingerbread, so I chose the next best thing- cardboard! I made a cardboard plan of the door to show to my group. I then found a wooden gingerbread man at the local dollar store and used that as a template for the cardboard characters. Finally, I explained the concept to the group, and divided my group up into teams- one group would draw and color the gingerbread houses, one group would color the gingerbread men based on pictures of Shakespearean characters:

Gingerbread Hamlet
Gingerbread Henry V
Gingerbread Juliet

My final group created a 3D gingerbread house with a light in it to make the gingerbread village come to life. They even put my little puppet Shakespeare pal in there (I guess it’s his winter home).

RIP James Earl Jones

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Speak of me as I am, nothing extenuate- Othello

I’m sure I don’t need to tell you that one of the most iconic voices of our generation, James Earl Jones has passed away at the age of 93. I’m sure I also don’t need to mention his iconic film roles in such films as Field of Dreams, Coming To America, The LIon King, and of course, his (initially uncredited) role as the voice of Darth Vader in the Star Wars Trilogy. As I’ve written before, Jones had a powerful, authoritative voice that played kings, generals, knights, and even gods, which came directly from his training as a Shakespearean actor. So, instead of taking a look at his illustrious film career, I’d like to celebrate Jones’ contributions to Shakespeare, and how Shakespeare changed his life, and through him, changed mine.

Jones and Poetry

“I don’t mind talking about my stuttering because it’s just another example of you finding yourself with a weak muscle and you exercise it, and sometimes that becomes your strong muscle,” Jones told KCRA in 1986. “I was mute from grade one through freshman year in high school — mute because I just gave up on talking.”

-James Earl Jones in a TODAY Show interview, 1986

James Earl Jones was born in 1931 in Arkabutla, Mississippi. Not only did he struggle with racial discrimination at home and in his career, he also dealt with a debilitating stutter which, as you can see in the quote above, left him all but mute for years of his life. It was one of his teachers who helped Jones find his voice by giving him poetry to read, inspiring him to become an actor. As a Shakespearean actor who also struggles with a stutter, reading this about Jones helped me become an actor as well.

The New York Shakespeare Festival

Your voice has the power to inspire, motivate, and change lives. Don’t be afraid to use it.

James Earl Jones

Before he became a star in the Hollywood firmament, Jones was a classically trained actor who starred in many contemporary and classic plays like The Iceman Cometh, The Great White Hope, and a title role in a drama about the great Shakespearean actor, Paul Robeson. In addition, Jones was a regular performer at the New York Shakespeare Festival, starring as King Claudius in Hamlet, Oedipus Rex, The Prince of Morocco in The Merchant of Venice, and like Paul Robeson, Jones was celebrated for his dignified and powerful portrayal of Othello.

James Earl Jones as Othello and Cecilia Hart as Desdemona in a scene from the Broadway revival of the play “Othello.”
James Earl Jones as Othello and Christopher Plummer as Iago in a scene from the Broadway revival of the play “Othello” (New York 1982)

“Mr. Jones commands a full, resonant voice and a supple body, and his jealous rages and frothing frenzy have not only size but also emotional credibility,” .”

The Times wrote in a review in 1964

From Shakespeare to Strangelove

James Earl Jones made the leap from stage and TV (he was one of the first celebrity guests on Sesame Street among others), after a surprising performance. In 1964, he was playing the relatively minor role of the Prince of Morocco in Merchant of Venice at the New York Shakespeare Festival, while George C. Scott played the more iconic role of Shylock. Surprisingly, Director Stanley Kubrick saw both of them and cast them both in Dr. Strangelove, Or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying And Love the Bomb, Jones’ first film role.

This goes to show that success is often not a straight line, that sometimes it’s the people you know and the reputation you garner that gives you success in your field.

Success should not be measured by material possessions, but by the contentment and fulfillment we find within ourselves.

James Earl Jones

My Favorite Performance of Jones

Though his film roles brought him international acclaim, James Earl Jones still performed onstage well into his 80s, including many more memorable performances at the New York Shakespeare Festival, including my favorite performance of all Jones’ stage roles- his role as King Lear. I’ve written before that Jones is still my favorite Lear- he plays the characters’ rage and commanding presence extremely well, but tempers it with the frailty and foolishness of age. You get the sense that this man was a force to be reckoned with, but is now unable to command himself, much less others. Jones’ interpretation apparently changed drastically in rehearsal, as he delved into Lear’s all-too-human flaws, playing him more like a king with dementia than like Mufasa.

Final thoughts

James Earl Jones would be the first to admit that Shakespeare and poetry changed his life. I would argue that the poetic qualities of his voice was what made him such a great actor. He could rumble and smash but also soothe and charm with a single sentence, and that is why I am glad that his voice is now preserved in the halls of Hollywood. Though he was a movie star, his voice was a Shakespearean through and through.

True strength is not in showing power over others, but in conquering your own fears and insecurities.

James Earl Jones

For More Information

https://news.northeastern.edu/2024/09/12/james-earl-jones-voice/

Review: Kenneth Branaugh’s As You Like It

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The Concept

According to Branaugh, the idea behind the film was to emphasize beautiful things like tranquility and love, but preserve and heighten the danger of being hunted by a powerful warlord like the Duke

Interview with the director and cast at the Barbican

The Plot Of the Play

Historical Context

Branaugh set the film in 19th century Japan, at a time when English people came to Japan for the first time, and created small English communities in the country. I’ll discuss later that I have very conflicting feelings with this choice, but I will give Branaugh this- it does highlight the fish out of water journey that Rosalind and the other characters go through leaving their homes at court, and becoming enamored with a new country.

The Cast

The cast is full of veteran Shakespeareans and gifted Hollywood stars. Bryce Dallas Howard is charming as Rosalind, and has good chemistry with RSC actor David Oyelowo. I also enjoyed Brian Blessed’s dual role as Duke Senior and Duke Frederick. Kevin Klein is very sincere as Jaques but I wish he had a bit more fun with the over exaggerated melancholy that Jaques puts on. The overall effect of the performances is a sentimental, charming, beautiful, witty group of people who are having a fun time.

My Reaction

The cast is great, the cinematography is stunning, and the music is charming. Overall, Branaugh has done a great job of bringing the spirit of the play alive- that of a sweet, pastoral comedy about love, unrestrained by wealth or status. What I worry about though, is that Branaugh might inadvertently be celebrating colonialism. Yes, Japan is a beautiful country with a  highly sophisticated and rich culture, so it makes sense that English people would be drawn to it. That does not justify the cruel way the English and Americans colonized parts of Japan, made the people mine for gold, and forced them to trade with the west. I worry that, like The Mikado, Branaugh celebrates Japan in a way that makes it seem like westerners were justified in taking so much away from it. I wish the plot had more of a “look but don’t touch” attitude to Japanese culture.

I also question the decision to cast barely any Asian actors. Given the story Branaugh wants to tell, it makes sense to cast non-asian actors as Thr Duke, Rosalind, Celia, and even Orlando, since they are the ones who come to the forest from an English-style court. But the roles of Corin, Silvius, Audry, Phoebe, and even Old Adam are people who are supposed to be familiar with the country, meaning it would make perfect sense to cast Asian actors in these roles. Frankly, there are very few well known Asian actors in Hollywood and I would love to give some of them a chance to shine, especially since Shakespeare has long been a way for actors to show their skills.

In conclusion, I can see why people like this movie and I too enjoy it, despite its questionable subtext. I don’t want to take away anyone’s enjoyment of the film, just to remind people not to be too seduced by the historical practice of taking something “As You Like It”

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