The Theatre of History
by F.R.R. Mallory
April 26, 2007

As Stephen Greenblatt says in Will In The World, the game William Shakespeare plays is about risk, the game is "a skillful assault...a symbolic violation of the social order, a coded challenge to authority." This is never more present than in Shakespeare's play Much Ado About Nothing. On the surface, this froth of a comedy appears the antithesis of such a challenge. It sports an entertaining abundance of shallow themes such as the petty machinations and betrayals of the marriage process or as Beatrice famously states, it's all about "wooing, wedding and repenting." (2.1.60). And it is. It's important to be able to look no further than the engaging characters and the mischief they make upon themselves, in fact it is absolutely essential. This is a comedy. It is meant to entertain, to glide across the palate like cheap wine. Interpersonal relationships are universal, easy and safe.

But, this is Shakespeare, a playwright noted for his powerful dramas centered on royal politics, intrigue, and issues around religious persecution. When Shakespeare is at his most innocent, when he tells us by a play's very title that there is "nothing" here then we should remember - carefully, what Shakespeare is always capable of. Has Shakespeare removed his political oars and if not, how are his play's surface themes transformed by its deeper currents?

Why Messina? Why Don John?

It's fair to say that Shakespeare lived in religiously challenging political circumstances. Elizabeth I, Queen of England at the time the play was being written, was famous for instituting, "Strict laws regulating theater prohibit[ing] any explicitly religious or current political events from being represented on stage. No playwright writing for the public during the English Renaissance could be formally considered a religious dramatist" (Voss). Shakespeare's family and upbringing was Catholic and Elizabeth's Protestant reign was a dangerous time to be a Catholic in England. Catholic priests caught on English soil were considered traitors and were executed.

Messina may simply be a random picturesque setting, far enough from England to possess an exotic quality to provide a romantic backdrop for the audience. Don John may simply be minor villain with an easily forgettable character name. But, on February 8, 1587, Mary, Queen of Scots, Catholic heir to Elizabeth's Protestant English throne, was beheaded. During her imprisonment from 1568 till her execution in 1587, Mary was the flame to which English Catholicism was drawn. Formidable attempts to rescue Mary were active as early as 1576 when the Infante Juan of Austria, known as Don John, illegitimate son of King Carlos I of Spain (Holy Roman Emperor Charles V) conspired with his brother, Phillip II, King of Spain, to invade England, rescue and marry Queen Mary. Don John's astute military prowess had been demonstrated by his historic victory over the Ottoman Empire at the Battle of Lepanto in 1571 at Messina. (Hume).

Don Pedro is identified by Shakespeare as a "Prince of Aragon." Aragon is a region of Spain which had dominion over and relationships with Italian provinces such that the famous Spanish Armada, a fleet of 200 ships, assembled and launched from Messina. Phillip II was King of England (as King-consort of "Bloody" Mary I) from 1554 to 1558 and his desire to conquer England is well documented. During the time Shakespeare was writing this play King Phillip deployed three Spanish Armadas against England in the Anglo-Spanish War. (Hume).

Given these facts Messina hardly seems an appropriate romantic backdrop for an English comedy play. So, what is this play about, at its core? The play centers around the female character of Hero. Not only does Shakespeare give her a most unusual name, he positions her equal in status to Don Pedro and alludes to a potential match between them, "The Prince woos for himself." (2.1.170). This elevates her status from 'governor's daughter' to parallel with or of royalty. From a gross language perspective the name Hero can be examined as descriptive. A hero is generally considered to be an individual who is willing to sacrifice themselves for the greater good. Other attributes of the hero as myth include: the hero meets an unusual death, their body is not buried, and they leave no successor. They also attract some degree of cult status and the attributes of their lives are often exaggerated or fabricated to enhance their status as hero.

In Shakespeare's tale the innocent Hero is betrayed by political fabrication. Her reputation is salvaged by the testimony of common people, after her death. She then miraculously reappears when we are told, "One Hero died defiled, but I do live...The former Hero! Hero that is dead! She died, my lord, but whiles her slander lived." (5.4.62,64,65). and the Friar (religious authority) answers, "All this amazement can I qualify, When, after that the holy rites are ended, I'll tell you largely of fair Hero's death." (5.4.66-8). In this extraordinary sequence the life and death of the hero is pivoted on the perpetuation of the slander against her and the hero is moved outside of common humanity in their resurrected second life.

With the death of Mary Queen of Scots the English Catholics' hopes for the placement of a Catholic monarch upon the English throne were reduced to dependence on a foreign power to overthrow England's Queen Elizabeth. Insurrection from within is a very different thing from invasion from without and it is unfair to speculate on Shakespeare's political opinion about such an event. What is certain is that Mary Queen of Scots did achieve and has maintained a degree of cult status. She did lead an extraordinary life and died a most unusual death. She was betrayed by the probable fabrication of the "Casket Letters" alleging she participated in a conspiracy against Elizabeth I, documents she was never allowed to see or defend herself against in court. Her most famous quote from that trial is, "Remember Gentlemen the Theatre of History is wider than the Realm of England." She was not buried for a year after her death and although her son James became the next King of England after Elizabeth's death, he was not a practicing Catholic and that aspect of her legacy died with her. (Fraser).

By choosing to look at Mary Queen of Scots as the hero of Shakespeare's musings, it becomes possible to consider Claudio's epitaph as Shakespeare's tribute to her,

"Done to death by slanderous tongues
Was the Hero that here lies.
Death, in guerdon of her wrongs,
Gives her fame which never dies.
So the life that died with shame
Lives in death with glorious fame.
Hang thou there upon the tomb,
Praising her when I am dumb." (5.3.5-10).

If this play is a tribute, that would make this play a 'coded' violation of the social order of Shakespeare's day all dressed up to look like a romantic comedy, which sounds exactly like what Shakespeare would write. He does seem to ask us to repent the sin of Hero/Mary's betrayal which argues that 'the nothing we are much ado over' may be as in'significant' as a person's right to live inviolate.

Works Cited or Referenced

Fraser, Antonia, King James VI of Scotland, I of England. London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson. 1974.

Greenblatt, Stephen, Will In The World, How Shakespeare Became Shakespeare. New York: W.W. Norton & Co. 2005.

Hume, Martin, Spain Under Philip II. Vol. III. United Kingdom: Cambridge University Press. 2007.

"Mary, Queen of Scots" <http://www.royal.gov.uk/output/Page134.asp>. April 2007.

"Philip of Spain" <http://www.archontology.org/nations/england/king_england/philip.php>.
April 2007.

Shakespeare, William, David Bevington, Ed., "Much Ado About Nothing". The Necessary Shakespeare. 2nd ed. New York: Pearson Longman. 2005.

Mary, Queen of Scots
1542-1567

Mary seems familiar to me and I suppose it is partly because I have red hair too and when we are children we look for minor similarities to form relationships with people in history we know little about. In my case, my knowledge of Mary is limited to the research I've done to write this essay and the somewhat scattered mention of her that has registered with me from sources like movies or books. She is one of those historical figures that never seemed to die. I suspect this is due, in large part, to the idea - at the time of her death - that she was being wrongly accused and punished and for people of the day, that was all too familiar and deeply resented. Collectively, I think we remember broad beliefs like this without any of the real detail to educate us to what might have been most true at the time.

I tend to have a squirmy feeling about history. Most of the time I believe that each historian is forwarding their personal or public agenda. I am hearing only and ever a portion of the 'story' of history so I will never really know the truth.

Knowing the truth is actually less interesting to me than knowing what I think is the truth or exploring my vague feelings when I am basically uniformed. I am very interested in macro thought forms and exactly these sort of vague ideas that become part of how the mind thinks and operates.

I do think that each of us is sensitized to betrayals and violations of trust - we have to be - on a physical level such violations could cause our deaths and since the whole person has an interest in survival such sensitization makes sense. It also makes sense to me that historical or macro thinking is incorporated into this sensitivity to provide a basis for longer term survival by more people or more along the lines of Rupert Sheldrake's ideas around morpho genetics.

I have no idea if I would have thought Mary was a crud of a person as a person. I don't know if her attitudes and behaviors would have inspired or annoyed me but I know that she managed to make it into the macro puddle of genetic soup, at least for euro descendents like me. This makes her a 'person of interest' and it remains likely that over the course of my like I will learn more of her and know and understand my responses probably no better than I do today.

HOME | MALLORY'S WORKS | COOL STUFF | JOURNAL | TRUNK | ABOUT MALLORY

© 2007 F.R.R. Mallory