Shakespeare: The Victorian Idol

William Shakespeare is arguably the most quoted and most immortal writer in all of history. He wrote most of the phrases we use even in the course of today's speech. To name of few, the green-eyed monster, the long and short of it, and give the devil his due. Shakespeare wrote during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I, a woman with significant power. As a result his plays have female characters that are strong willed, free thinkers, and often times rebellious. When Queen Victoria ascended the throne in 1837, England had another powerful woman at its helm. A woman who was not bound by the same social rules as an everyday, average woman. In Shakespeare, Victorians found willfull and strong female characters that mirrored their monarch. They loved the idea of Shakespeare's independent women. One Victorian writer was so enthralled by these characters that she imagined their lives before Shakespeare wrote about them. She even wrote a book, Girlhood of Shakespeare's Heroines, which became a popular book for young girls. The editors of the time period also tried to preserve the "innocence" of a young girl and thus produced editions of Shakespeare's plays where any phrase that could offend or ruin a young girl was removed.

Not only did young people like the master bard's plays, writers of the Victorian era looked to the works of Shakespeare for guidance and inspiration. For many, the draw of Shakespeare's works came from the fact that his plays cover such a wide range of genres and human emotions. His works show not only tragedy, history, and comedy; but also love, betrayal, revenge, murder, fantasy, sorrow, etc. It wasn't until the Regency and Victorian eras when the idea for the novel became a reality. Those that wrote the novels we remember and respect today, often copied or quoted Shakespeare throughout their works. Jane Austen, Charles Dickens, and Herman Melville are three widely famous authors that used Shakespeare as a guide. In Jane Austen's first novel, Sense and Sensiblitiy, Marianne Dashwood quotes Shakespeare's sonnet 116 to describe her love for Willoughby. Marianne uses this sonnet to justify her decision not to hide her feelings in anything she does. Later in the novel, the same sonnet is used to describe the loss Marianne feels after she is set aside by Willoughby. Charles Dickens fashioned his characters using Shakespeare's model for character devlopment. Many of his characters are satirical or parodies for the social occurences in his time. The title for his work Twice Told Tales is a quote from Shakespeare's King John. Lastly, Herman Melville's character of Captain Ahab is often referred to by critics as a Shakesperean tragic character. In his works, Melville wrote almost like a playwright by using sililoquies instead of dialogue. Other writers also quoted Shakespeare in their work, but to list them all would take a really long time. But to give you a general idea as to how often the bard was quoted in this time period, let me tell you that George Bernard Shaw called literature and society's dedication to Shakespeare "Bardolatry".

As the Victorian era came to an end in 1901, the novel was in its glory and authors were continuing to quote Shakespeare in their work. As the novel progressed into silent movies and later into films, Shakespeare's plays and sonnets remained the pinnacle works to adapt. Over the years, there have been countless productions of his plays on the silverscreen. However, recently there has been the idea to take Shakespeare to a younger and cooler audience. Leading to adaptations that have Macbeth taking place in a restuarant; Othello taking place in a high school; Romeo & Juliet with handguns; and The Twelfth Night at a boarding school socceer field. I guess what you can take away from this posting is that no matter what time period comes next, Shakespeare's works will stand the test of time somehow. Every generation since he lived has bent his work to their own cultural inclinations.

As a side note, this blog was inspired by our Shakespeare on Love picnic. It will be held, Tuesday evening, July 13 at 6:00pm. We still have places available - please call the museum for reservations. 757-623-9814.