Thank you for this exposition. You have presented the facts of Shakespeare’s borrowings from the plays of Thomas North in the manner of befitting a forensic expert witness by laying the facts before the readers/viewers for them to judge for themselves. Bravo!
Well, the person whom Jonson calls “the chief dramatist” of his day in his poem “On Poet Ape,” he then denounces as a plagiarist. The poem is discussed here: https://dennismccarthy.substack.com/cp/143752524
If North was only rewriting his own earlier stuff, why was "Shakespeare" accused of plagiarism in his own time? Are you saying that no one knew North was "Shakespeare?"
Hey James. William Shakespeare and Thomas North are two different people. North was 29 years older and began writing plays before Shakespeare was born, mostly writing for Leciester's Players (even before the existence of popular public theaters). Shakespeare was a playwright for the Lord Chamberlain's and King's Men--who frequently adapted North's old plays for the public stage. This is why various contemporaries, including Nashe and Jonson, mocked Shakespeare as a plagiarist who was getting too much credit for unoriginal work. Also, my coauthor and I, June Schlueter, just had a paper accepted in a well-known journal confirming that the satirists Thomas Nashe, Thomas Lodge, and Ben Jonson all alluded to Thomas North as the original author of early versions of Shakespeare's plays--including Hamlet, Romeo and Juliet, Julius Caesar, and Timon of Athens.
I look forward to reading your paper. I'm intrigued by your acknowledgement of Shakespeare's contemporay accusations of plaigiarism. Just one question...are there any of North's plays extant?
Hey James, I do think so. I think "Arden of Faversham" and "True Tragedy of Richard III" (an early version of "Richard III") are very close versions of North's original works. In fact, North's own personal copy of his own "Dial of Princes" indicates that in 1591-2 he marked various lines and passages he would use to update "Arden of Faversham," not long before it was sold to printers. Also, there's a German version of North's "Titus and Vespasian," which Shakespeare adapted as "Titus Andronicus." I will be positing a lot more on this subject so if you subscribe, you won't miss out. (Insert smiling emoji here.)
Thank you for this exposition. You have presented the facts of Shakespeare’s borrowings from the plays of Thomas North in the manner of befitting a forensic expert witness by laying the facts before the readers/viewers for them to judge for themselves. Bravo!
Ben Jonson called Francis Bacon, "The Chief."
Well, the person whom Jonson calls “the chief dramatist” of his day in his poem “On Poet Ape,” he then denounces as a plagiarist. The poem is discussed here: https://dennismccarthy.substack.com/cp/143752524
non sequitor to my comment.
Bacon and Ben Jonson were confidants, collaborators and worked on the 1623 Folio together
If North was only rewriting his own earlier stuff, why was "Shakespeare" accused of plagiarism in his own time? Are you saying that no one knew North was "Shakespeare?"
Hey James. William Shakespeare and Thomas North are two different people. North was 29 years older and began writing plays before Shakespeare was born, mostly writing for Leciester's Players (even before the existence of popular public theaters). Shakespeare was a playwright for the Lord Chamberlain's and King's Men--who frequently adapted North's old plays for the public stage. This is why various contemporaries, including Nashe and Jonson, mocked Shakespeare as a plagiarist who was getting too much credit for unoriginal work. Also, my coauthor and I, June Schlueter, just had a paper accepted in a well-known journal confirming that the satirists Thomas Nashe, Thomas Lodge, and Ben Jonson all alluded to Thomas North as the original author of early versions of Shakespeare's plays--including Hamlet, Romeo and Juliet, Julius Caesar, and Timon of Athens.
Finally, I do think this post is relevant, which provides the full explanation for how the authorship question arose (it was because Shakespeare adapted old plays): https://dennismccarthy.substack.com/p/the-absolutely-true-indisputable
I look forward to reading your paper. I'm intrigued by your acknowledgement of Shakespeare's contemporay accusations of plaigiarism. Just one question...are there any of North's plays extant?
Hey James, I do think so. I think "Arden of Faversham" and "True Tragedy of Richard III" (an early version of "Richard III") are very close versions of North's original works. In fact, North's own personal copy of his own "Dial of Princes" indicates that in 1591-2 he marked various lines and passages he would use to update "Arden of Faversham," not long before it was sold to printers. Also, there's a German version of North's "Titus and Vespasian," which Shakespeare adapted as "Titus Andronicus." I will be positing a lot more on this subject so if you subscribe, you won't miss out. (Insert smiling emoji here.)