April 23, 2010
A Merry Shakespeare (1597)
Today is the traditional birthday of William Shakespeare, born in Stratford upon Avon in 1564. Although his exact birth date was not recorded in the parish register, it is known that he was baptized on April 26. The date first appears in scholar George Steevens’ 1773 edition of Shakespeare, the source coming from Stratford curate Joseph Greene.
But there are two more reasons why we celebrate the birth of England’s great poet and playwright on this day. First, Shakespeare died on this day, in 1616, and on the Roman Catholic calendar, April 23rd is also the feast day for St. George, England’s patron saint. Even if we discover some ancient birth certificate that proves otherwise, the symmetry seems much too strong to mark any other day but this one as Will’s day.
Today is also the day that “The Merry Wives of Windsor” was first performed in 1597, at the feast for the newly anointed Knights of the Garter before Queen Elizabeth I and her court at the royal palace in Whitehall. Tradition says that Shakespeare wrote the play in two weeks after the queen had asked him to write a play featuring Sir John Falstaff, the fat, witty and drunken reprobate who caroused with the future King Henry V in two previous plays.Falstaff had been a troublesome character from the start. In his debut in “The First Part of Henry the Fourth,” he was called Sir John Oldcastle, after one of Henry’s companions. This didn’t set well with Lord Cobham, Oldcastle’s descendant and the new lord chamberlain. Shakespeare changed the name, but took his revenge in “Merry Wives” by using Cobham’s family name, Brooke, as a comic alias used by one of the husbands. Shakespeare’s little joke was a success with at least two members of the court, who enjoyed referring to the Puritan Cobham as Falstaff in their letters.
Born: William Shakespeare, playwright, poet, Stratford-on-Avon, 1564; William Caslon (bap.), typefounder, Cradley, Worcestershire, 1693; Ngaio Marsh, mystery author, Christchurch, New Zealand, 1899; Vladimir Nabokov, novelist, memoirist, translator, St. Petersburg, Russia, 1899; Halldór Laxness, novelist, Reykjavík, Iceland, 1902; J(ames) P(atrick) Donleavey, novelist, playwright, short-story writer, Brooklyn, N.Y., 1926; Barry Hannah, novelist, short-story writer, Clinton, Miss., 1942.Died: William Shakespeare, playwright, poet, Stratford-on-Avon, 1616; William Wordsworth, poet, Rydal Mount, England, 1850; Rupert Brooke, poet, near island of Skyros, Greece, 1915; P(amela) L(yndon) Travers, children's author, London, 1996; Paul Erdman, economist, felon, novelist, Sonoma Co., Calif., 2007.
Quote for the Day: “Good frend for Jesus sake forbeare, To digg the dust enclosed heare. Blese be ye man that spares thes stones, And curst be he that moves my bones.” ” — Shakespeare’s epitaph
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