Literary critic claims that the pseudonym "Shakespeare" was used by Amelia Bassano
It is 400 years since the death of William Shakespeare. However, his identity is still a mystery. English Shakespeare scholar John Hudson published a book called "The Dark Lady of Shakespeare", in which he proves that in fact under the pseudonym "Shakespeare" is a woman - the poet Amelia Bassano.
In 2008, a document appeared on the Internet entitled "Declaration of Informed Doubt", which argued that a six-grade person named William Shakespeare could not have authored plays and sonnets that demonstrate a thorough knowledge of foreign languages, jurisprudence, astronomy, geography, world history, medicine, music, literature and many other sciences and arts. As of April 2016, the document was signed by 3321 people, including 567 scientists. Many prominent scholars and writers believed that the son of an illiterate glover, William Shakespeare, whose daughters were also illiterate, who lived in Stratford-upon-Avon, was an impostor. Among such "Shakespearean" were, in particular, Charles Dickens, Mark Twain, Henry James, Sigmund Freud.
The father of the so-called anti-Stratford school of Shakespeare was the vicar James Wilmot, who visited Stratford-upon-Avon in 1785 in the hope of finding evidence that William Shakespeare, who was born and died there, was in fact the author of Hamlet, Macbeth and Romeo and Juliet. ". After checking all the archives and libraries of the city and county, looking through the official and private correspondence of the 16th-17th centuries, he did not find a single document or mention of such a writer. In Shakespeare's will, written by a notary, there was no mention of books, manuscripts or just paper (which was very expensive at the time), only money, real estate and household items. Until now, no manuscripts of his works have been found, there is not even a piece of paper that he wrote with his own hand. Many researchers have the impressionthat Stratford-upon-Avon stingy money-lender, grain merchant and small landowner William Shakespeare was illiterate. It must be said that at first the plays and sonnets attributed to Shakespeare were published anonymously, and only a few years later the name of one of the actors who played in these plays appeared on the covers. Who, then, could have been the author of these dramatic and poetic masterpieces? Among the possible contenders for 38 plays and 154 sonnets are named, in particular, the outstanding playwright of the Elizabethan era, Christopher Marlowe, the philosopher and statesman Francis Bacon, as well as two aristocrats: the Earl of Oxford (Edward de Vera) and the Earl of Derby (William Stanley). At first glance, the version of John Hudson looks paradoxical, which proves in the book "The Dark Lady of Shakespeare",that under the name of Shakespeare lies the poetess Amelia Bassano - a baptized Jewish woman of Venetian descent from a family of musicians who played at the royal court. Having studied the biography of Bassano and her poetry, the English Shakespeare scholar came to the conclusion that of all the contemporaries of the great Bard, only Amelia Bassano possessed the necessary talent and erudition to create literary masterpieces that required encyclopedic education. The theory that Shakespeare was a woman has generated heated debate in the academic community. Why philosophize slyly? - say her opponents. - Let's check this version with an endoscopic examination of Shakespeare's grave. It seems that the Shakespeare Society intends to do this. However, most likely, supporters of this idea will be disappointed: in 1820, Washington Irving wrote,that “a few years ago” a church gravedigger looked into Shakespeare's grave and “did not find any coffin or bones in it; nothing but dust. " The epitaph on Shakespeare's tombstone, the authorship of which is attributed to him, is now perceived as prescient: it urges not to tear open the grave and curses those who dare to “touch my ashes”. However, the endoscope is not a hoe; you will not have to tear the grave apart. Characteristically, Shakespeare's tiny tombstone bears neither the name nor the date of the deceased's life. In an interview with Radio Liberty, John Hudson justifies his "female version" as follows.an endoscope is not a hoe, you don't have to tear open the grave. Characteristically, Shakespeare's tiny tombstone bears neither the name nor the date of the deceased's life. In an interview with Radio Liberty, John Hudson justifies his "female version" as follows.an endoscope is not a hoe, you don't have to tear open the grave. Characteristically, Shakespeare's tiny tombstone bears neither the name nor the date of the deceased's life. In an interview with Radio Liberty, John Hudson justifies his "female version" as follows.
- The first argument in favor of my version was the fact that Amelia Bassano Lanier possessed knowledge of all those 20-30 arts and sciences that were captured in the works of Shakespeare. And this is a very important point. I mean knowledge of Hebrew, Latin, Italian; knowledge of jurisprudence, history, medicine, botany, heraldry, falconry, cooking and many other sciences, arts and crafts, the mention of which is found in the plays of Shakespeare. The second argument was what I call a "literary trace" - the presence of Shakespeare's images, plots, names similar to Bassano's poetry, in particular, the names of Amelia and Bassano in different transcriptions and variants in "Titus Andronicus", "The Merchant of Venice", Othello and other plays. These mutual literary leitmotifs give serious grounds to assert that we are talking about a single authorship. The third argument in favor of my version was the stylistic and prosodic analysis of the poetry of Shakespeare and Bassano. Amelia Bassano was the first female poet in Elizabethan England. I mean her poetry collection Glory to Thee, Lord, King of the Jews, published in 1611. Shakespeare can be called an experimental, innovative poet, in many ways ahead of his time. Comparison of Shakespeare's sonnets with Bassano's poetry reveals similarities in style, vocabulary, poetic form, poetic dimensions, composition, historical sources, theological images, dramatic techniques, even the use of similar neologisms. In my opinion, these three arguments are enough to assert with confidence that Amelia Bassano had a hand in the creation of Shakespeare's plays.
- Does this mean that the mysterious "dark lady" of Shakespeare's love lyrics was not Mary Fiton, but Amelia Bassano?
- Leslie Rouse was the first to name Amelia Bassano Lanier in 1973 the dark lady of Shakespeare's sonnets. His guess was correct, but the evidence he gave was insufficiently substantiated, for which he was rightly criticized. Another researcher, Martin Green, has shown in an excellently argued article that Amelia Bassano, in her own lyrics, portrays herself as a dark lady and that the same image appears in Shakespeare's sonnets. So in Shakespeare's sonnets, Amelia is simply portraying herself.
- Your "female version" is not the first in Shakespearean studies. What other women, besides Bassano, were predicted to be Shakespeare?
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John Hudson
- It has been suggested that Queen Elizabeth could have written Shakespeare's plays. Also named was Mary Sidney-Herbert, Countess of Pembroke. There is a hypothesis that Shakespeare was written by his wife Anne Hathaway. Russian researcher Ilya Gililov, in his 1997 book A Game about William Shakespeare, or The Mystery of the Great Phoenix, suggests that Shakespeare's plays may have been written by Elizabeth Sidney-Ratland, in collaboration with her husband, Earl Ratland. Gililov, in particular, noted that the poems in the collection of Amelia Bassano Salve Deus Rex Judaeorum ("Glory to Thee, Lord, King of the Jews") are not inferior in artistic quality to Shakespeare's sonnets. I will not call this an indirect recognition of the identity of these authors, but one cannot but agree with this opinion.
- Leslie Rouse suggests Amelia Bassano was Shakespeare's mistress. How likely is it?
- This idea, of course, absolutely contradicts my version. If this were so, it would mean that Amelia was a constant source of information for the actor Shakespeare, and for twenty years - the time of his creative activity. This would mean that Bassano did not part with him for twenty years and supplied him with musical and literary allusions throughout this time. This is contrary to her biography. Shakespeare never left England, and Amelia traveled extensively in Europe when he lived in Stratford.
- You write that the most intriguing moment in Shakespeare's plays was the acquaintance of their author with Judaism and Jewish sacred texts, and you note that in Elizabethan London this was an unusually rare occurrence. How do you explain the knowledge of Shakespeare or his counterpart of Hebrew and Talmud?
- This is one example of the fact that Amelia Bassano Lanier was behind this, who came from an Italian family of Maran Jews, for whom Hebrew was their mother tongue. Words in Hebrew, metaphors from the Talmud and Mishnah, at that time, non-Jews could not know. It has even been suggested that Shakespeare was a baptized Jew. Jews generally could not legally reside in England during Elizabethan times. At that time, there were no more than two hundred Maran Jews who converted to Christianity in the whole country - mostly immigrants from Portugal. These Jews used Hebrew as a trading language. Many of them were engaged in trade, like the character of the "Merchant of Venice". It is characteristic that Jewish allusions practically analogous to Shakespeare's are found in the poems of Bassano, in whose family Hebrew and Italian were “home languages,” and her family did not speak them openly outside the home.
- You describe Amelia Bassano Lanier as a Renaissance personality, an encyclopedic educated woman. How could a Jewish girl from a family of musicians who enjoyed a rather low social prestige at that time receive such an education and join a high culture?
Amelia Bassano
- There is a very rarely exhibited miniature portrait of Amelia Bassano in court dress by Nicholas Hilliard in about 1591. The soulful face of an intelligent and intelligent woman is looking at you. After her father's death, Amelia was sent to the estate of Catherine Willoughby, Duchess of Suffolk at the age of seven. Her daughter Countess Susan Bertie, one of the most educated women of the time, taught Amelia Greek and Latin, read the Bible and other books with her. At the age of 13, Amelia became the mistress of Queen Elizabeth's cousin Lord Hansdon, who became her patron, who introduced her to music and theater. He was the patron of many musical ensembles and theater companies. At one time, Amelia ran the school. Her highest education is confirmed by numerous studies.
- If Amelia Bassano Lanier was not the author of Shakespeare's plays according to your version, what would you say about her as a person?
- We know a lot about her from her letters and thanks to her poetry. She had a very extraordinary life after being introduced to the court and becoming the mistress of Queen Elizabeth's cousin Lord Hansdon. She then married musician Alfonso Lanier. It is known that she was one of the first women to found a school for girls in England. The last years of her life were overshadowed by poverty and litigation. Amelia Bassano died in 1645. It can be inferred from her poetry that she was one of the greatest English poets of her time. Her work bears traces of high intelligence and poetic innovation. The same can be said for the author of plays attributed to Shakespeare, who was also an intellectual and literary innovator. As a person and a poet, she fully meets these criteria.
- Let's say that Amelia Bassano was the author of Shakespeare's plays, but it is unlikely that she also played in the theater, under the pseudonym William Shakespeare. Indeed, in those days, female roles were played by men. Was the historical, Stratford Shakespeare also an actor?
- Yes, I was, and not only an actor, but also a theater producer, a kind of theater investor. William Shakespeare is on the list of members of the theatrical troupe called "Lord Chamberlain's Men", which gave performances at court. We later find him on the list of actors who played at the Globe Theater in London. True, he played minor, secondary roles. There is documentary evidence that he began his theatrical career as a servitor - something of a stage worker. In his will, Shakespeare mentioned the small sums he had left for a few of his fellow actors to buy commemorative rings, which was the custom at the time. The fact that Shakespeare was an actor may provide further confirmation that he could not have authored nearly forty plays. It is unlikely that the acting actor could find time for the necessary scientific research and work on such complex, multifaceted plays.
- Frankly, for me it was almost a shocking discovery that William Shakespeare, it turns out, was also a member of a criminal gang, as you write in your book …
- William Shakespeare is mentioned in a court order of 1598 as an accomplice of Francis Langley - a London jeweler, swindler, leader of a criminal gang and owner of the popular Swan Theater. Shakespeare, like Langley, was a very active money-lender, while simultaneously engaging in extortion. He was also a "theater businessman." It can be assumed that Amelia Bassano may have used Shakespeare as an intermediary or "literary agent" to stage her plays in a theater where he was one of the shareholders. Naturally, the income was shared. It was around this time, in 1598, that his name began to appear on play covers and script sheets.
- There is a widespread Shakespearean romantic myth, especially popular in Stratford, in which Shakespeare is presented as a boy from a poor illiterate family from a small provincial town, which, thanks to hard work and talent, achieved wealth and fame and at the same time glorified his hometown, turning it into a place of pilgrimage for millions of tourists. to the "Temple of Shakespeare". In general, something like a Hollywood sucсess story. Is there some truth here?
- The idea of Shakespeare as a poor man is an unsubstantiated fiction. His father John Shakespeare, the glove-maker and mayor of Stratford, was a very wealthy man. He owned three houses, illegally engaged in usury, and lent money at very high interest rates. In addition, illegal speculation in wool brought him a fair amount of income. Later, the son took over these activities of his father when he became a member of the Francis Langley gang. He succeeded in London and, returning to Stratford, acquired the second largest house in the city.
- To quote your book: "It seems that Shakespeare's plays appeared at the wrong time." What do you mean?
- The time when they appeared was a transitional period from metaphorical theater to realism. The sophisticated allegories on which the plot was built could not create the impression of a realistic representation. The audience was not deceived on this score. The stage action was largely conditional. However, over time, elements of realistic drama emerged in Shakespeare's plays. The evolution of their drama went in this direction. Nevertheless, the influence of allegorical and metaphorical theater persisted in the plays of the mature Shakespeare. Everything bore the stamp of a stylistic transition, a change in the artistic method. This is why I used the expression "not the right time."
- To quote your book again: "Today, 400 years after the creation of these plays, Shakespeare has grown into a global multi-billion dollar business." Has this changed anything in the modern perception of Shakespeare's plays?
“You see, these plays were originally written for an elite audience in Elizabethan London. For their adequate perception it was necessary to know the Bible well, to know and understand classical and modern literature and history. That is, they were written for an educated audience for that time. However, 400 years later, the plays had a completely different audience and reader. This audience, which gets acquainted with Shakespeare's plays not only in the theater, but also in the cinema, has a completely different life and spiritual experience. She has vague ideas about the Bible, she does not know any ancient or modern Shakespeare literature, for the most part, this democratic audience is poorly educated. Plays were written for a certain time and place, but the viewer for whom Shakespeare wrote, eventually disappeared, and the modern education system does not contribute to its reproduction. This is why most modern interpretations of these plays show a purely commercial, populist approach.
- Can we say that your book and your “female version” have finally closed the problem of Shakespeare's personality, or is this secret still preserved?
- I think that the long journey of disclosing this secret is over. However, it is not for me to judge. New generations of researchers may discover new facts and documents, their archival searches may add something or change something in our ideas about Shakespeare's personality. Perhaps, in the future, some new, unknown to us research methods, new intellectual opportunities will arise. There is a great chance that this topic will continue to be researched and tested. As the saying goes, "I did everything I could, whoever can, let him do better."
For 400 years in the world there were about two million studies devoted to Shakespeare, and no more than two hundred - to the work of Amelia Bassano
For most of Shakespeare's lovers, it doesn't matter at all whether he was a woman or an aristocrat, whether he really existed or was the subject of a grandiose literary hoax. More importantly, King Lear, Macbeth, Romeo and Juliet, Coriolanus, Prospero and Hamlet are exciting generations of readers and audiences around the world. The first line of the Prince of Denmark's graveyard monologue does not need to be reminded to anyone. Actor Alexander Filippenko presents three versions of the Russian translation, three authors, three temperaments: Boris Pasternak, Vladimir Nabokov, Grand Duke K. R. in the reflections of Hamlet. To the 400th anniversary of the death of William Shakespeare - a project by Alexander Filippenko and Radio Liberty.
Natalia Golitsyna