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pedanther, especially (et alia).
Continuing our brief chat here, regarding the Shakespeare marriage.
A blog entry on what we can, and cannot, actually know about the whole affair, including a brief speculation on the meaning of Sonnet 145:
Those lips that Love's own hand did make
Breathed forth the sound that said 'I hate'
To me that languish'd for her sake;
But when she saw my woeful state,
Straight in her heart did mercy come,
Chiding that tongue that ever sweet
Was used in giving gentle doom,
And taught it thus anew to greet:
'I hate' she alter'd with an end,
That follow'd it as gentle day
Doth follow night, who like a fiend
From heaven to hell is flown away;
'I hate' from hate away she threw,
And saved my life, saying 'not you.'
Michael Wood, in his biography, Shakespeare: the book based on the TV documentary series "In Search of Shakespeare" (or maybe the TV show was based on the book; I have a feeling they were written together), speculates that this sonnet was perhaps the first one William wrote. He further speculates that William wrote it on the occassion of his wedding, noting that "Hathaway" and "hate away" were a homonyms, in his accent, and the last line sounds an awful lot like "Anne saved my life...".
Assuming for the moment that that speculation is correct (and acknowledging that it is a big assumption), and putting on my "Decoding Literature Hat," I would make the following points in the essay I'd hand into the teacher:
So, what given all that, what is it that Young Willm. Shakespeare is saying about his own relationship to Anne?
What we cannot know from this poem, is whether that "I hate--" was spurred on by a real resentment that lingered through the years, or just an outburst of anger in the heat of an argument, and not really meant, or even if it was a made-up scene, just so he could end on the pun "hate away" (though, given the specificity of the scene, I find that least likely). In any case, it's hard to say, based on the evidence of this poem, that their relationship was cold, or without passion, at least at the time of their wedding...
I may do a post a bit later, illustrating how Shakespeare shows a deepening respect for his female characters, throughout his dramatic carreer... Which, imnsho, would not have happened if William did not respect the real women at the center of his life: his wife and daughters (and mother and mistress).
pedanther, especially (et alia).Continuing our brief chat here, regarding the Shakespeare marriage.
A blog entry on what we can, and cannot, actually know about the whole affair, including a brief speculation on the meaning of Sonnet 145:
Those lips that Love's own hand did make
Breathed forth the sound that said 'I hate'
To me that languish'd for her sake;
But when she saw my woeful state,
Straight in her heart did mercy come,
Chiding that tongue that ever sweet
Was used in giving gentle doom,
And taught it thus anew to greet:
'I hate' she alter'd with an end,
That follow'd it as gentle day
Doth follow night, who like a fiend
From heaven to hell is flown away;
'I hate' from hate away she threw,
And saved my life, saying 'not you.'
Michael Wood, in his biography, Shakespeare: the book based on the TV documentary series "In Search of Shakespeare" (or maybe the TV show was based on the book; I have a feeling they were written together), speculates that this sonnet was perhaps the first one William wrote. He further speculates that William wrote it on the occassion of his wedding, noting that "Hathaway" and "hate away" were a homonyms, in his accent, and the last line sounds an awful lot like "Anne saved my life...".
Assuming for the moment that that speculation is correct (and acknowledging that it is a big assumption), and putting on my "Decoding Literature Hat," I would make the following points in the essay I'd hand into the teacher:
- The sonnets, unlike his plays, were written in the first person, in his own voice, as opposed to the voice of another character, created to further the plot of a drama. Therefore the sonnets are the closest thing we have to Shakespeare's autobiography (and in the polished draft of my essay, I would cite specific sonnets and show their likely correlation with contemporary events in the historical record, such as King James I's Corronation).
- This sonnet is a lot rougher in form and language than the other sonnets in the collection (the "turn" in the poem happens at line 5, instead of line 9, as is traditional in sonnets, for example), which is one reason why some scholars, in the past, didn't even believe it was written by Shakespeare at all. But this could also simply be one of Shakespeare's earliest poems-- if, in fact, it was written for his wedding, he would have been 18; how many teenaged young men do you know who write as well or as smoothly as they will in their 30s? That, and the pun on Hathaway (and without the pun to support it, line 13 is very clunky), supports the idea that this was, in fact, his "wedding poem."
So, what given all that, what is it that Young Willm. Shakespeare is saying about his own relationship to Anne?
- That he is accustomed to hearing her say sweet things to him:
"...that tongue that ever sweet/Was used in giving gentle doom" - That he was deeply in love with her, and perhaps desperate to have her love him back:
"To me that languish'd for her sake;" - That, at least on the one occassion addressed in this verse, she was smack dab in the middle of spitting out: "I hate you!" when she saw the look in his face, took pity on him, and checked herself, mid-sentence, and what she said instead was: "I hate ... not you." And for that, he is eternally grateful to her.
What we cannot know from this poem, is whether that "I hate--" was spurred on by a real resentment that lingered through the years, or just an outburst of anger in the heat of an argument, and not really meant, or even if it was a made-up scene, just so he could end on the pun "hate away" (though, given the specificity of the scene, I find that least likely). In any case, it's hard to say, based on the evidence of this poem, that their relationship was cold, or without passion, at least at the time of their wedding...
I may do a post a bit later, illustrating how Shakespeare shows a deepening respect for his female characters, throughout his dramatic carreer... Which, imnsho, would not have happened if William did not respect the real women at the center of his life: his wife and daughters (and mother and mistress).
