Bardisms (44 page)
Authors: Barry Edelstein
LET’S FURTHER THINK ON THIS…
The 1964 Democratic National Convention came to a teary standstill when RFK recited this Bardism in memory of JFK. It’s superb Shakespeare on the Occasion of a Memorial to a Loved One.
When he shall die,Take him and cut him out in little stars,And he will make the face of heaven so fineThat all the world will be in love with night,And pay no worship to the garish sun.—J
ULIET
,
Romeo and Juliet
, 3.2.21–25(The lines sound sublime when spoken with that Kennedy Boston Brahmin accent.)
SHAKESPEARE ON GOD, SPIRITUALITY, AND FAITH
Angels and ministers of grace defend us!—H
AMLET
,
Hamlet
, 1.4.20
“Still remember what the Lord hath done,” advises King Henry in
Henry VI, Part II
, and in giving this counsel, he articulates something central to Shakespeare’s worldview that can escape detection in our secular, postmodern world. The Bard, and his Elizabethan and Jacobean contemporaries, were devoutly religious. Sacred concepts were real and omnipresent in English Renaissance lives, and mentions in literature of the devil, the soul, angels, good, and evil referred not to intellectual constructs or belletristic abstractions, but to concrete things. God’s hand was discernible everywhere, and the supernatural—ineffable forces beyond human comprehension—not only existed but held sway in day-to-day life. Birth, love, loss, and death, all the chapters of the human story, resonated with mystical overtones. These proved irrefutably that the plane of human existence was but one point on a spiritual spectrum that reached into realms knowable only by the Divine…and by poets, such as Shakespeare, who were touched by a spark of it.
This chapter’s Bardisms on death are moving and powerful. But without their necessary Renaissance context, Bardisms on matters spiritual, they illuminate only partially. Here, then, the rest of the tale: Shakespeare on Occasions That Bear Witness to a Higher Power.
IN GOD WE TRUST
These are two Bardisms that state simply and clearly the bedrock principle of Shakespearean religiosity: God exists, and in His perfection He guides and protects human lives.
God shall be my hope, / My stay, my guide and lantern to my feet.—K
ING
H
ENRY
,
Henry VI, Part II
, 2.3.24–25
Heaven is above all yet—there sits a judgeThat no king can corrupt.—Q
UEEN
K
ATHERINE
,
Henry VIII
, 3.1.98–99
Some details:
These two Bardisms come from opposite ends of Shakespeare’s career.
Henry VI, Part II
was one of his first plays,
Henry VIII
one of his last. Although twenty-two years separate the two works, they each include passages that praise God as an ever-present source of reassurance, guidance, and hope.
*
I’ve spoken elsewhere in this book of how attractive it is to view the body of Shakespeare’s work as a single unit with a beginning, middle, and end, and the juxtaposition of these two passages testifies to the appeal of this idea. In them, we can see a constant in Shakespeare’s thinking, a central principle that endured unchanged through all the vicissitudes of a long career, and turbulent life, in the hardscrabble environment of professional London theater.
A HIGHER POWER IS IN CONTROL
Replete with unadorned and starkly simple statements of God’s omnipotence and goodness, the canon also adduces some metaphorical testimonials to the divine presence. My favorite is a quiet stunner from
Hamlet
whose wisdom and calm earn it a permanent place on my Shakespeare Top Ten.
There’s a divinity that shapes our ends,Rough-hew them how we will.—H
AMLET
,
Hamlet
, 5.2.10–11
In other words:
God creates an orderly outcome for our lives regardless of the mess we make of them.
Some details:
I cherish this Bardism not only for what it says about God but also for what it says about Shakespeare. (See? I know there’s a difference.) In it, Shakespeare does one of the characteristic things that make him the towering genius he is. The sentiment expressed in the passage is lushly poetic, but the language that expresses that sentiment is plain and straightforward. It’s a kind of anti-poetry, a metaphor made from the decidedly non-metaphoric. Indeed, the imagery derives from one of the most banal features of everyday life in the English Renaissance: thatched roofs.
Ends
refers to the tidy eaves on a thatched roof line; end thatches are chopped roughly from their stalks, then shaped neatly by the roofer who installs them. Thatching as a metaphor for our destinies: only Shakespeare—and perhaps cable television junkies addicted to home makeover shows—would talk about divine providence in terms of roofing materials. The originality, the wit, the quality of surprise are what make this passage so arresting, and what make Shakespeare my go-to guy.
SOMETIMES YOU’VE GOT TO TAKE A LEAP OF FAITH
Religious or secular, devout or agnostic, all of us can admit that there are certain mysteries in life that defy rational explanation. A full moon strikes us as heart-stoppingly beautiful; November’s bare branches are somehow green by May; our baby daughter’s giggle erases a day’s worth of workplace stress. What accounts for such things? There’s no way to answer. Yet such things happen. They just do, they just
are
. Finally there’s less point in asking why they move us than in simply surrendering to how moving they are in the first place. We can believe in them without knowing entirely what they are; we don’t need proof to know that they are real. Belief in the absence of proof—this is the very definition of a concept that underpins all of Shakespeare’s spiritual musings, a concept called
faith
. There are powers at work in our lives that we don’t understand, and on those occasions when they tap us on the shoulder, our best course is to allow them to work their magic. Here’s a Bardism that tells us how:
It is required / You do awake your faith.—P
AULINA
,
The Winter’s Tale
, 5.3.94–95
This Bardism needs no other words, no advice on how to say or use it, and no further details. “Believe,” it tells us. “You must only believe.” A fitting conclusion to this survey of Shakespeare for All Occasions.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Although I could fill this page with Shakespearean expressions of gratitude like those in Chapter Five, I’m going to try for a few paragraphs to resist the temptation, and to acknowledge the debts I owe some important people with words all my own.
First, to all the friends and loved ones whose life occasions I’ve cited as exemplars of how Shakespeare’s eloquence suits any situation, my thanks for letting me expose your private emotions to public light. And to everyone in my life who’s asked me to recommend a Bardism over the years, I couldn’t have put this together without you.
I wouldn’t have put this together without the urging and confidence of my dear friend Ben Sherwood. By way of thanks, I can only tell him that I hope with all my might that what I’ve produced lives up to what he knew it could be.
The publishing professionals who’ve supported me through the writing of this book have been superb in every way. To the great people at ICM—Katharine Cluverius, who got it started; Kate Lee, who closed the deal; and Sam Cohn, who makes everything happen—thank you. To Anne Cole at Collins, whose refined sensibility, clear head, great gentleness, and infinite patience have been nothing short of a godsend—thank you.
I wrote this book during a peripatetic period in my life. As a result, I imposed on the hospitality of libraries on both coasts of this country, and all sorts of random places in between. My thanks to the librarians and staffs of nearly two dozen of our finest temples to knowledge, and about fifty of the New York metropolitan area’s best cafés and greasy spoons.
The staff of the Shakespeare Initiative at the Public Theater took up a lot of the slack created by my writing schedule, and I’m grateful. Thanks also to Oskar Eustis, a great Shakespearean, and to all the artists and teachers in my theater life, from whom I’ve learned so much about why Bardisms are so special.
I’d be remiss if I didn’t convey my deep gratitude to William Shakespeare, who’s enriched my life in countless ways, and who’s always there when I need him. If only he’d listen to me and shave that crazy moustache…
Finally, my infinite, endless, huge thanks to my two best girls, Hilit and Tillirose. They made real sacrifices so that these pages could make their way into the world, and I’ll never forget it. What’s least in them is more than all that’s in any RosalindPortiaViola-HermioneKatherineCeliaBeatriceHeroVenusHermiaPerditaMarina DesdemonaCleopatraCressidaMirandaSilviaJuliaHelenaOlivia ConstanceAnneVirgiliaJulietCalphurniaOpheliaGertrudeImogenCordelia. I love you, Hilit. I love you, Tillirose. Up-up!
BGE
Brooklyn, 2008
SUBJECT INDEX
Note: Entries in this index, carried over verbatim from the print edition of this title, are unlikely to correspond to the pagination of any given e-book reader. However, entries in this index, and other terms, may be easily located by using the search feature of your e-book reader.
adoption, 5–7
adversity in love, 116–20
advice, 53–56
aging, benefits of, 159–60
apologies, 175, 177
appreciation, 173–74
bad news, 212
baseball, 62
birthdays, 70–72
blessings, 14–19
for daughters, 14–18
for sons, 19
bores, 170–72
breaking news, 211
brothers, 34–35
buzzkills, at parties, 183–85
celebratory eulogies, 244–49
childbirth, 3–7
childhood, 35–43
children, 40–43
death of, 239–40
ill-behaved, 42–43
well-behaved, 40–41
choosing a college major, 45–48
Christmas, 68–70
cold weather, 213
comedians, 167–70
commencement addresses, 51–57
advice in, 53–56
imagination in, 56–57
compassion, 164–66
crying, of newborns, 4–5
daughters, 12–18
blessings for, 14–18
future prospects for, 14–18
death, 221–50.
See also
eulogies
of children, 239–40
eulogies after, 241–50
of husbands, 236–38
as inevitable, 230–35
of loved ones, 235–40
as natural part of life, 227–30
of wives, 239
declarations of love, 81–83
defeat, after war, 141–42
distinction in battle, 127
education.
See
schooling
employment.
See
work
endless love, 110–15
engagement rings, 98–99
eulogies, 241–50
celebratory, 244–49
conclusion for, 250
at funerals, 242–44
exercise, 57–63
running, 60–61
swimming, 61
walking, 59–60
yoga, 62
faith, 254–55
families.
See also
children; daughters; fathers
brothers, 34–35
daughters, 12–18
fathers, 26–30
grandmothers, 196–97
husbands, death of, 236–38
mothers, 23–26
resemblance within, 8–9
siblings, 30–35
sisters, 32–34
sons, 18–22
wives, death of, 239
family resemblance, 8–9
fathers, 26–30
advice to sons, 53–56
sons and, 19–22
female tributes, during old age, 201–2
fitness, in old age, 193–95
football, 62
forgiveness, 175–78
funerals, eulogies at, 242–44
giving thanks, 172–74
global warming, 216–17
God, 251–54
good news, 212
grandmothers, 196–97
grandparents, 195–97
Halloween, 67
health care, 202–5.
See also
fitness, in old age
physician ineptitude and, 207–10
toothaches, 203–4
holidays, 63–72
birthdays, 70–72
Christmas, 68–70
Halloween, 67
New Years Day, 64–67
Thanksgiving, 67–68
honor, 131–33
hosts, 181–83
hot weather, 213
husbands, death of, 236–38
ill-behaved children, 42–43
illness, perseverance through, 205
imagination, 56–57
jealousy, 117–20
judges, 154–56
justice, 152–57, 160–66
mercy in, 164–66
poetic, 162–63
kindness, 172–74
kissing, 93–95
lawyers, 162
life experiences, education from, 49–51
love, 76–81.
See also
making love; weddings
adversity in, 116–20
for brothers, 34–35
declarations of, 81–83
as endless, 110–13
for fathers, 28–30
hopeful, 84–85
as infinitely powerful, 77–81
jealousy and, 117–20
kissing and, 93–95
lust and, 96
marriage proposals and, 98–99
for mothers, 24–25
poetry and, 85–91
for sisters, 32–34
lullaby, 9–12
lust, 96
making love, 92–93, 96–97
kissing and, 93–95
lust and, 96
male tributes, during old age, 198–201
marriage proposals, 98–99
engagement rings and, 98–99
medicine, 202–5
futility of, 207
natural cures, 206–7
physician ineptitude and, 207–10
memorials.
See
eulogies
mercy, 164–66
middle age, 157–60
mothers, 23–26
maternal protection of, 25–26
motivation, for soldiers, 143–47
natural cures, 206–7
newborns, 4–5, 7–12
news, 210–13
bad, 212
breaking, 211
good, 212
New Years Day, 64–67
nostalgia, 192–93
oceans, 113–15
old age, 191–95
fitness in, 193–95
health care in, 202–5
infirmity during, 205
nostalgia in, 192–93