The World of Arts
Beside the river Avon sat a young dreamer
by Gwen Herat
DRAMA: He was a confused young man just 28 years old and he
dreamed but he never dreamed that he would be the literary colossus of
the world.
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SYMBOLIC MOMENTS: The young Shakespeare let his dreams soar
higher and higher as he sat beside the River Avon and watched
the swan gliding over its water. They were the symbolic moments
prelude to a spectacular career. |
He watched the slow rolling waters of the Avon in solitude as he
contemplated on his rash marriage when he was only 18 years old, how he
would fend his three young surviving children, help out his father who
had to keep the home fires burning.
And unaware, he was stirring the academic world of writers who had
established their literary works.
William Shakespeare had arrived and exploded into their territory. So
great was the impact of young Shakespeare's entry into thier domain that
Nash and his company of young humanists called the University Wits had
hardly recovered from another academic writer, Marlow's triumph when
they faced the dangerous, challenging rival, the young Shakespeare who
sprang from a different world.
Marlow was a Master of Arts of Cambridge who in his arrogance and
being a member of The University Wits, smelt the danger before the rest.
It was during this time that the Lord Chamberlaine's were snapping their
manuscripts, accredited to the producers of fine literature but an
unknown actor was taking it upon himself to write, reshape, rephrase and
clipping to his company's repertory.
He fashioned them but never created whole plays. This angered Green
who was approaching his end and who was seething in jealousy, summoned
his fellow academics to warn that 'there is an up start crowe beautiful
without feathers'....
Obscurity
In fury, Green advised his colleagues, Marlowe among them, that it
was best they all gave up and abandoned the playwrights' profession. He
advised over and over again that to stay put will be to lose the time
and trouble as well as their souls.
They in turn, panicked. The man they denounced was born in 1564 and
presently 28 years old. He had been in obscurity but was now enjoying
fantastic reputation as an actor with a company which he built. His
plays were being received well by the audiences that made the
established dramatists uneasy. He had been in London for about six
years, driven by a passion for the stage as well as adventure from his
small town of birth, stratford-Upon-Avon.
And to sit beside the River Avon and let his dreams take flight, was
his obsession..... and now it was happening. He had had a haphazard
education but his ardent reading and attendance at Stratford Grammar
School, was all he had. To imagine a Master or Bachelor of Arts of the
two universities, was only a dream.
He had nothing to boast about except his natural genius and the
little experience gained on stage as an actor. But he never rested on
his meagre education but went on to adapt himself to every 'genre' and
imitated every note on which a poet based his words or recited them.
He was determined to prove his worth for he knew that behind his
back, the University Wits were sneering him. Though he had no theory of
literature but only the desire to involve the public of his talent and
flexibility, he adapted every 'genre' and imitated every note on which a
poet had played.
Patriotism
There were doubts about his first plays as they were anonymous as
they were mostly rearrangements. The young Shakespeare was also aware
that it was the years near the Armada and patriotism was running high
which strongly united the mixed audiences. He had to fit into the scene.
So, he sought chronicles and produced scenes from national history.
He had no difficulty in doing so as he was well read. He rearranged some
scenes from the reign of Henry VI and disasters caused by the civil war.
The crowds were not used to seeing the archaic in structure because
of the multiplicity of the scenes. In some sense, Shakespeare was ready
to educate the audiences. This was in the face of the triumphs of Kyd
and Marlowe who had revealed to the playwright that the applauses of the
audiences could be won in other ways.
They and their colleagues and other academics were annoyed how an
'upstart' like him without a formal education and who had never seen the
inside of the two universities, could present national history in his
plays.
The innovations attracted him by their success and determined to
further enhance his plays, Shakespeare served the audiences horrors that
had never been on stage before. The tragedy with horror, murder and
vengeance that was unimaginable, was laid bare in Titus Andronicus.
His excessive flow of words marvelled the Wits and soon were
conceding victory to Shakespeare. But how did he master than language he
was using in his plays? And no one could answer that but they had to
retreat.
Composition
Secretly they admired his skills in composition but felt uneasy as
they lost the prestige they enjoyed in society and literary circles as
public disapproval for actors disappeared with Shakespeare's entry.
Rather than be surprised that Shakespeare was an actor and yet wrote
plays that were masterpieces, they pondered at the possibility whether
such things could happen in any other walk of life.
So, in the face of Green's attacks and despise, Shakespeare wrote and
published Venus and Adonis as well as The Rape of Lucrece in quick
succession. Making things more uneasy to the Wits, Shakespeare struck up
a great relationship with the Earl of Southampton that sealed his place
in society. Opportunity and death along paved the way for his supremacy.
Green died in 1992. His arc rival, Marlowe, came to an abrupt stop
the following year and faded away. Kyd died in 1594. Lodge abandoned
playwriting for medicine. Lyle pulled out all his connections with the
stage and court.
Peele sank deep into dissipation and ceased writing. Nash explored
his other talent in satirical scripts and novels. Other than an
occasional play by Antony Munday, Shakespeare had no important rival. In
comparison to Shakespeare's, no single play can be cited either as a
tragedy or comedy of real value in the ensuing years.
Shakespeare's integrity, eloquence of language and historical
perfection were so supreme that no one dared question him or compete
with his works.
Green's sustained and tender grace, Lyly's mythological imagination
and witty dialogue, Nash's philosophical renderings, Marlowe's mystique
and passionate dialogue, Peele's sentiments, etc grew dim and faded away
into oblivion in the presence of the Bard's exquisite and enchanting
words. It was like that he had taken one swipe to vanquish them.
The age of fine literature and the force of drama dawned in England. |
