Shakespeare's "Borrowing"
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William Shakespeare was a great plagiarist. In so saying, the word "great" is used in both its connotations: Shakespeare's plagiarisms resulted in great plays - and he plagiarized a great deal. In the modern world of letters he would be either critically censured for massive "borrowings" from other sources, or spending a lot of his time in court fighting off copyright infringement lawsuits. His approach to theater was purely practical on this point: if an idea, storyline or remembered phrasing came to mind and fit in with the piece he was writing, throw it into the play - if it worked for the actors, use it. In so creating his plays, Shakespeare utilized an organic approach that incorporated history, poetry, philosophy, current events and actors' personalities in the shaping of the final work; his eye and ear were attuned to the effect as a whole, as a performance. In such a context the eclecticism of his borrowing betrays a commonsense integrity. No one faults an actor for "stealing" a bit from another actor, or for reinterpreting a role originated by someone else. In a similar context, 250 years later, Richard Wagner would justify such a concept as "Gesamtskunstwerk," or "total artwork"; for Shakespeare it was a Renaissance heritage, this synthesis of other works into a new whole, particularly models from the past (Kirby xiii & xvi). In the creation of The Tragedy of Othello, The Moor of Venice he followed this pattern of wholesale plagiarism without hesitation.
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of Cinthio's story would certainly be serviceable enough (Black xxxii). But the plot of Cinthio's story serves only as the foundation for the play Shakespeare constructs; like all buildings, the final structure is a far greater accomplishment than its foundation.
To begin with, in Cinthio's story "the Moor" is an enigmatic black Muslim, and this tale is primarily a cautionary warning against miscegenation, as foretold in Disdemona's comment, "Italian ladies will learn by my example not to tie themselves to a man whom Nature, Heaven, and manner of life separate from us" (Cinthio 248). To be a Muslim, in the Catholic world of Renaissance Italy, was worse than being black (Toynbee 76). In the Protestant world of Shakespeare's England, where in 1600 Elizabeth I had considered an alliance with North Africans against Spain (Bullough 207-208), emphasis of religious difference was not worth making an issue - Othello is a Christian. By the same token, while it is downplayed in Cinthio, Shakespeare is very clear that racism is one of the motivators in his play. "Moor" here is used synonymously with "black" and "Negro," inspiring backbiting comments such as (I, i, 66-67):
RODERIGO: What a [full] fortune does the thick-lips owe
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Approximate Word count = 1826
Approximate Pages = 7 (250 words per page)
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