humanities.lit.authors.shakespeare

On Mar 2, 12:43=A0pm, Jim KQKnave wrote:
> On Feb 29, 4:56=A0pm, Tom Reedy wrote:
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> > On Feb 29, 10:03=A0am, Tom Reedy wrote:
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> >
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> > > Enter Sebastian and Stukley.
>
> > > King Sebastian
> > > Seest thou not, Stukley, o Stukley, seest thou not
> > > The great dishonour done to Christendom!
> > > Our cheerful onset crossed in springing hope; =A060
> > > The brave and mighty prince, Duke of Avero,
> > > Slain in my sight. Now joy betide his ghost,
> > > For like a lion did he bear himself!
> > > Our battles are all now disordered,
> > > And by our horses' strange retiring-back
> > > Our middle wing of footmen overrode.
> > > Stukley, alas, I see my oversight!
> > > False-hearted Mahamet, now, to my cost,
> > > I see thy treachery, warned to beware
> > > A face so full of fraud and villany. =A070
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> > > Alarums within, and they run out, and two set upon Stukley, and he
> > > driveth them in. Then enter Moor and his boy, flying.
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> > > The Moor
> > > Villain, a horse!
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> > > Boy
> > > O, my lord, if you return, you die!
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> > > The Moor
> > > Villain, I say, give me a horse to fly,
> > > To swim the river, villain, and to fly.
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> > > Exit boy
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> > > Where shall I find some unfrequented place,
> > > Some uncouth walk, where I may curse my fill,
> > > My stars, my dam, my planets, and my nurse,
> > > The fire, the air, the water, and the earth,
> > > All causes that have thus conspired in one,
> > > To nourish and preserve me to this shame? =A080
> > > Thou that wert at my birth predominate,
> > > Thou fatal star, what planet e'er thou be,
> > > Spit out thy poison bad, and all the ill
> > > That fortune, fate, or heaven, may bode a man.
> > > Thou nurse infortunate, guilty of all,
> > > Thou mother of my life, that brought'st me forth,
> > > Cursed mayst thou be for such a cursed son,
> > > Cursed be thy son with every curse thou hast!
> > > Ye elements of whom consists this clay,
> > > This mass of flesh, this cursed crazed corpse, =A090
> > > Destroy, dissolve, disturb, and dissipate,
> > > What water, earth, and air congealed.
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> > > Alarums, and enter the boy.
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> > > Boy
> > > O, my lord,
> > > These ruthless Moors pursue you at the heels
> > > And come amain to put you to the sword!
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> > > The Moor
> > > A horse, a horse, villain, a horse!
> > > That I may take the river straight and fly.
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> > > Boy
> > > Here is a horse, my lord,
> > > As swiftly paced as Pegasus;
> > > Mount thee thereon, and save thyself by flight. 100
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> > > The Moor
> > > Mount me I will.
> > > But may I never pass the river, till I be
> > > Revenged upon thy soul, accursed Abdelmelec!
> > > If not on earth, yet when we meet in hell,
> > > Before grim Minos, Rhadamanth, and Eacus,
> > > The combat will I crave upon thy ghost,
> > > And drag thee thorough the loathsome pools
> > > Of Lethes, Styx, and fiery Phlegethon.
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> > > Exeunt
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> > This is by far the most interesting part of the play.
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> > TR- Hide quoted text -
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> > - Show quoted text -
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> If any of it could be said to be interesting, that is.

Authorship seem to be of no serious interest to any participating
members of this group, even though the topic is the supposed reason
for its establishment. Instead of any serious exploration of
authorship, it seems to be three or four (the numbers change with each
new crackpot idea that a publisher thinks can suck money from the
pockets of the ignorant) sides blindly holding on to their beliefs for
no reason at all that I can see, except that they're theirs, and
that's enough reason for them.

Die-hard Strats (like you) worship Shakespeare as a loner who wrote
every word of the canon unaided. To suggest that he was a playwright
of the times who collaborated from time to time is to sully his
pristine genius. You claim that evidence exists in other Shakespeare
works that proves that Titus was 100 percent written by him, yet you
can't be bothered to present it in any organized, convincing way,
because you would be "doing our homework" for us.

Oxfordians worship Shakespeare as the man who never had to research a
thing, because he pulled every little detail from either his
fantastically wonderful education or his interesting (and mostly
fantasized by Oxfordians) life experiences. They can only burrow
deeper into fantasy when faced with evidence of all the other facets
of determining authorship, such as literary style or the progression
of the dramatic fashions, because to admit those disconcerting facts
destroys their comic-book hero. Besides, there's more fun to be had by
inventing conspiracies and assasinating the character of Shakespeare,
so since that's all they can really do well, that's what they do.

Marlovians are fascinated with the idea of alternate history, only
instead of a Batman-type of hero that Oxfordians prefer they're more
Spiderman or X-Men types--the conflicted, troubled genius, bearing the
burden of an enlightened consciousness and forced to make an unholy
deal with the authorities-that-be just in order to survive.

Baconians are just plain nuts. To them, Bacon did everything short of
creating the world in six days.

All these zealots miss out on the excitement of the reality of
authorship studies--the discipline that tries to determine who wrote
what and when they wrote it--mostly because it's hard and it takes a
long time to get any kind of handle on it at all. It's much easier to
scream from the sidelines and get a little tingle in your pucker when
some new fact or theory--a fact or theory that a real, working
academic or some independent scholar actually worked out--appears to
support (or can be twisted to made to appear to support) their
favorite comic-book hero, whether it be Super Will or Genius Oxford or
Jesus Shakespeare or whoever.

TR