In the first couple of years of the 1600s, several new Shakespeare plays appeared. ‘Much Ado About Nothing’ and ‘As You Like It’ were recorded in the Stationer’s Register, and a third play called ‘The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark’ was likely performed on the stage for the first time. In this episode, we’ll look at those plays and examine how they influenced the English language. We also explore the creation of the East India Company in 1600 and the Essex Rebellion of 1601. Works discussed in this episode include:
‘Much Ado About Nothing’ – William Shakespeare
‘As You Like It’ – William Shakespeare
‘The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark’ – William Shakespeare
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Thank you for another great episode! I’m loving the current season of Shakespeare. I hope it lasts a long time!
Thanks! Speaking of the “melancholy Jaques”, it seems that his name was pronounced two different ways in “As You Like It”, depending on the scansion … both ways different from how we’d pronounce the name today. First, “jay-queez” for a line like “The melancholy Jaques grieves at that”. Second, “jayks” for a line like “Much markèd of the melancholy Jaques”. The latter pronunciation allows for the earthy pun with “jakes”, a term for “privy” at the time. (Credit: David Crystal via Wikipedia “Jaques” article)
I hesitate to post this, but: here is an account, written in 1966, of Hamlet, abroad:
https://www.naturalhistorymag.com/picks-from-the-past/12476/shakespeare-in-the-bush
“[… ] is consistently the most popular article on our website and one of the most anthologized anthropology articles of all time.”
(from the site, Natural History.)
I really enjoyed this fragment! I have tried to find the full article but unfortunately it doesn’t seem to be available.
I don’t think this is a ‘fragment.’ The 4 pages [as per the bottom of page of the link] constitue the full article.
Thank you! I had missed the page numbers at the bottom.
Are you familiar with the joke about the person who dismissed Shakespeare with the comment, “It’s so full of old clichés”?
But mainly I wanted to comment that it was perhaps your best cast ever and I really enjoyed it.
Fantastic episode. You discussed malapropisms, and when you quoted the line “Something is rotten in the state of Denmark” I immediately remembered one of Archie Bunker’s phrases (From American sitcom All in the Family), “Something is rotten in the state of Denver.”
Dear Kevin,
As always, great episode!
At one point you triggered a childhood memory. In the mid-to-late 1960s, I was watching Gilligan’s Island. In the episode, the characters were performing snippets from Hamlet, but they were singing the lines. At one point my mother—who had no interest in the silly show—walked through the room and stopped and smiled. She told me that the music was from the opera Carmen. To this day, I realize that I am unconsciously singing “neither a borrower nor a lender be” to the tune of the Toreador song. And now, I cannot get that tune out of my head 😊.
I started to write the above comment when the episode was released last month but did not get around to posting. Just now, while fiddling around on YouTube, lo and behold, a clip from the very episode popped up:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MKMOClN9ITg
In glancing through the comments below the YouTube clip, I see that others also have had the words “neither a borrower nor a lender be,” sung to the Toreador tune, stuck in their brains for more than 55 years! Good fun!
Again, thanks for the terrific episode.
–Spencer
Thanks for the link! I’ve never seen that.
In the 1960’s, my mother was attending a production of Hamlet. When it came to the ” to be or not to be “, there were two nuns sitting in front of her. One said to the othet, ” That is a famous saying .”
Thank you, Kevin, another very informative episode, both about the English language and the English nation. A propos of the East India Company, the invention of the joint stock company was perhaps the most innovative creation in the history of capitalism and world trade.
On the transformed saying “To the Manor Born” (still shown on British TV), I was reminded years ago that the continuation ” a custom more honoured in the breach than the observing” has changed meaning as well. Shakespeare meant it was more *honourable not to observe it than to observe it.
IHappy Thanksgiving to you!