{"id":7599,"date":"2018-12-05T08:14:47","date_gmt":"2018-12-05T13:14:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/vweisfeld.com\/?p=7599"},"modified":"2019-01-09T07:34:20","modified_gmt":"2019-01-09T12:34:20","slug":"a-sea-of-blistered-tongues","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/vweisfeld.com\/?p=7599","title":{"rendered":"A Sea of Blistered Tongues"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Richard

Laurence Olivier as Richard III<\/p><\/div>\n

Shakespeare scholar Stephen Greenblatt made an absorbing presentation last week, here in Princeton, based on his new book, Tyrant: Shakespeare on Politics<\/em>. What Shakespeare has to say about pretty much any domain of human behavior is worth thinking about, and Greenblatt\u2019s current preoccupation was clearly shared by his receptive audience.<\/p>\n

He edged into the topic by describing how Shakespeare has been used in many countries and settings as a screen on which people may project their views about their own leaders\u2014views that very often would cost them their freedom or more, if stated directly. Shakespeare\u2019s notable tyrants\u2014Macbeth, Coriolanus<\/a>, Lear, and, especially, Richard III<\/a>\u2014become stand-ins for narcissistic demagogues across time and geography.<\/p>\n

He highlighted the would-be king (and real-life character) Jack Cade, who appears in 2 Henry VI, <\/em>as a populist leader deploying eerily familiar tactics. In Shakespeare\u2019s dialog, Cade makes blatantly absurd promises to the rabble he incites, to wit:<\/p>\n

\u201cThere shall be in England seven half-penny loaves sold for a penny;<\/p>\n

The three-hooped pot shall have ten hoops;<\/p>\n

And I will make it a felony to drink small [weak] beer. . . .<\/p>\n

There shall be no money; all shall eat and drink on my score;<\/p>\n

And I will apparel them all in one livery,<\/p>\n

That they may agree like brothers and worship me their lord.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

This peroration is followed by what Greenblatt supposed (correctly in my case) was the only line most people can quote from that particular play, \u201cThe first thing we do, let\u2019s kill all the lawyers.\u201d Greenblatt says that, while the cheering rabble could not have truly believed these extravagant promises, their support for Cade was unwavering. Not until scheming Macbeth is exposed as a regicide and murderer, does Malcolm regret his former loyalty, saying, \u201cThis tyrant, whose sole name blisters our tongues, was once thought honest.\u201d<\/p>\n

Shakespeare\u2019s tyrants arise in eras when, as the book blurb summarizes, \u201cCherished institutions seem fragile, political classes are in disarray, economic misery fuels populist anger, people knowingly accept being lied to, partisan rancor dominates, spectacular indecency rules.\u201d Such fraught times inspired Shakespeare, as did the tyrants\u2019 narcissistic personalities and the \u201ccynicism and opportunism of the various enablers and hangers-on\u201d surrounding them. These same forces, personalities, and motives give his work continued relevance.<\/p>\n

Greenblatt sounded a discouraging note in saying that, while Shakespeare was brilliant at portraying causes and effects in his history plays, he does not point a way to solutions. \u201cThere aren\u2019t any good ones,\u201d he said. Yet, remarkably, civilization survived these conflicts and setbacks. On a more positive note, he concluded that what Shakespeare also teaches us is, \u201cWe are not alone.\u201d
\n<\/a>\"\"
\nAs an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases\u2014a few pennies to put in a jar to pay my WordPress bills. When you purchase this book by clicking on the photo above, you help me fill the jar. Thank you!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Shakespeare scholar Stephen Greenblatt made an absorbing presentation last week, here in Princeton, based on his new book, Tyrant: Shakespeare on Politics. What Shakespeare has to say about pretty much any domain of human behavior is worth thinking about, and … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"A Sea of Blistered Tongues - what Shakespeare reveals about tyrants","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[366,266,268,104,147],"tags":[416,197,1463,129],"class_list":["post-7599","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-drama","category-history","category-politics","category-the-morgue","category-theater","tag-real-life","tag-shakespeare","tag-stephen-greenblatt","tag-wars-and-conflicts"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p2NkiT-1Yz","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/vweisfeld.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7599","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/vweisfeld.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/vweisfeld.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vweisfeld.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vweisfeld.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=7599"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/vweisfeld.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7599\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7601,"href":"https:\/\/vweisfeld.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7599\/revisions\/7601"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/vweisfeld.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=7599"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vweisfeld.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=7599"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vweisfeld.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=7599"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}