🚀 go-pugleaf

> > > If there is a subtext in the play The Two Gentlemen
> > > of Verona, it may concern the relation between art
> > > and power, Julia symbolizing art, Silvia power,
> > > Proteus the poet and playwright, and Valentine
> > > the one destined by virtue to exert power, Latin
> > > valere meaning 'to be worthy, having value, virtue'
> > > being present in the name Valentine. Proteus would
> > > then symbolize de Vere. Homer tells us about
> > > Proteus in book 4 of the Odyssey: an old man
> > > (de Vere began writing tragedies at a relatively high
> > > age), honest (the bard's motto pronounced in
> > > sonnet 105 is "Fair, kind, and true," being true an
> > > equivalent of being honest), of infallible lips (the
> > > bards claims the same in the sonnets), he sees
> > > and knows everything (and so does the playwright
> > > in his god-like position as the creator of his plays),
> > > he metamorphs into everything that walks on earth,
> > > but also into water and divine blazing fire, becomes
> > > a lion with a mane, a snake, a panther, liquid water,
> > > a tree of a towering crown (while the playwright
> > > can assume every guise in his plays), he knows
> > > the depths of all seas (he knows the depths of the
> > > human nature), his daughter is Eidothea, literally
> > > the goddess of pictures (and the bard creates
> > > living pictures on the illuminated stage), he knows
> > > what happens in the palace (and de Vere knew
> > > the court, having been raised in the care of the
> > > queen),  good or bad (the achievements and
> > > crimes of five-hundred years of history of the
> > > empire). De Vere matches Valentine with Silvia,
> > > and Proteus with Julia, not without pointing out
> > > a temporary aberration of Proteus who was
> > > seduced by power. De Vere elevates William
> > > Shakespeare in the guise of valiant Paris into
> > > the rank of a count. And the opening lines of
> > > the gory first play Titus Andronicus pose the
> > > question of who acceeds the throne directly.
> > > Saturninus
>
> > >   Plead my successive title with your swords
> > >   I am his (the late emperor's) first-born son
>
> > > Whereupon Bassianus
>
> > >   And suffer not dishonour to approach
> > >   Th' imperial seat, to virtue consecrate
>
> > > My claim: Titus Andronicus might be an allegory
> > > on five hundred years of British history, naming
> > > injustices that were the consequence of unworthy
> > > rulers who climbed the throne either by birth-right
> > > or by the help of protection. In later plays de Vere
> > > learned to convey his message in subtler and more
> > > pleasing ways, but he could only do so after he had
> > > made his point in all clarity.
>
> > Titus Andronicus might be a surrealist play avant la lettre,
> > a tragic satire, methodical insanity used in describing
> > a mad time, the natural order of the human cosmos
> > dissolving, held together for appearances by a stern
> > logic of violence, five hundred years ending in doom
>
> > 1086 Domesday Book or Doomsday Book
> > 1588 ? Titus Andronicus "This is our doom"
>
> > Titus Andronicus --- 'builder' of the English empire,
> > William the Conquerer and others including Henry VIII
> > as military leader
>
> > Bassianus --- Henry VIII as humanist
>
> > Saturninus --- Henry VIII as king
>
> > Lavinia --- Anne Boleyn
>
> > Lucius --- Elizabeth
>
> > Young Lucius --- Edward de Vere
>
> > Marcus Andronicus --- Arthur Golding / Lord Burghley
>
> > Tamoria, queen of Goths --- Mathilde, widow of the German
> > Keiser Heinrich V, imposed as queen of England by her father,
> > Saxon king Henry I, in 1127, her arrival in England in 1139
> > the begin of the age of anarchy (civil wars) / Mary Tudor
> > "Bloody Mary" supporting the German Keiser Karl V and
> > marrying Philipp II of Spain
>
> > Aaron the Moor --- Black Prince, waged war on France in
> > 1369 / Philipp II of Spain, prosecutor of the Moriscos 'Moors'
> > and Maranos 'pigs' Jews, turned into a Moor of a Jewish
> > name in the fiction of the play, perhaps wearing a sign of
> > the Spanish king on the stage
>
> > The play, an allegory condensing five hundred years of
> > English history and focusing on then recent events, was real
> > enough to ban the audience and unreal enough to avoid
> > censorship. In all the mess of lost reality and upturned human
> > relations one thing becomes apparent: Edward de Vere's
> > political position. He welcomes the collapse of Karl's Reich,
> > indicated by the initial speech of Young Lucius demanding
> > the sacrifice of a Goth who must be dismembered before
> > being placed on the pyre, symbolizing the breaking apart
> > of Karl's empire. He supported the English empire,
> > indicated by the final speech of Young Lucius honoring
> > Titus Andronicus. And he welcomed the breaking up of
> > the Spanish hegemony, indicated by Lucius condemning
> > the Moor of a Jewish name, Philipp II as one of his own
> > victims ... What appeared to be racism before is now
> > a sharp satire used as weapon in defending the Moors
> > and Jews against the 'Christian' monster Philipp II,
> > bow and arrow of his biting wit, indicated by the two lines
> > of Horace written down in Act 4 Scene 2
>
> >   Integer vitae, scelerisque purus,
> >   Non eget Mauri jaculis, nec arcu.
>
> > by Young Lucius and handed over as weapon. A literary
> > weapon, the play itself. The promise of a new  order is
> > made in the two last lines of the play, delivered by
> > Queen Elizabeth in the guise of Lucius
>
> >   Then, afterwards, to order well the state,
> >   That like events never it ruinate.
>
> What about Shylock? Isn't he evidence for a latent
> antisemitism in the bard?
>
> Bassianus in the play Titus Andronicus represented
> Henry VIII as humanist, while we have the Italian
> version of Bassianus, namely Bassiano, in the play
> The Merchant of Venice, and accordingly Bassiano
> proposes a humanist view, for example when he
> speaks about the law and religion in Act 3 Scene 2
>
>   In law, what plea so tainted and corrupt,
>   But, being season'd with a gracious voice,
>   Obscures the show of evil? In religion,
>   What damned error, but some sober brow
>   Will bless it, and approve it with a beat,
>   Hiding the grossness with fair ornament?
>
> When I read the convoluted second sentence I was
> baffled by a grammatical pun
>
>   religion, what damned error
>
> If the sentence is parsed correctly it contains a humanist
> view, so I believe that 'Christian' in the play, when used
> in a positive sense, means Humanist. Jessica, daughter
> of Shylock, converts to Christianism, but really she
> remains a Jew, a humanist one. Shylock is sentenced
> to loose all his money, but he keeps it and reinstalls
> Jessica as his heir; he is also sentenced to become
> a Christ, but, we may infer, he remains a Jew, now
> a humane one, a humanist ... In the bard's opinion
> a truly humanist society has to give equal rights to
> women. In the play a woman, Portia, wife of Bassiano
> - the two married on their word, no priest and church
> involved - turns the play around and solves the dire
> conflict by telling Shylock that he is not allowed to shed
> one single drop of Christian blood. Now Christian blood
> is a nonsense term, Christians and Jews having the
> very same blood, human blood, so the word Christian
> has the meaning of human, humane, humanist ...
> I see a variety of humanist messages enfolded in
> the play, in the dialectical way this bard loved so much.

Correction: Latin Bassianus and Italian Bassanio
are not exactly the same name but close enough.

I wanted to confine myself to one single thread,
but Melanie Sands opened two more threads,
and now I conclude my contribution in all of them.

The Stratfordians of the orthodox orthodox bulwark
and Oxfordians of the orthodox heretic stronghold
are ashamed of Titus Andronicus, while I, a free
heretic, not wearing anybody's blinders, rehabilitate
the play. It was grossly misunderstood until now,
the atrocities taken 1:1 and not recognized as the
bard's allegory on the then political situation.

Edward de Vere was neither a racist (Moor Aaron)
nor an antisemite (Shylock), he defended every
religion as long as it was humane, and opposed
to every religion that became inhumane.

I am already used to the name Edward de Vere
going along with the new interpretations of the plays
and poems, and think I demonstrated the proper way
of proceeding: by reading the plays and daring fresh
interpretations in a wider space gained within a couple
of weeks only.

I won't be able to publish my interpretations on paper,
neither with the Bulwark nor the Stronghold, so it is
the electronic publication in the Usenet, a further step
toward a free global university ... Once again a big
Thank You to the Google company.

Goethe called reading a highly demanding art.
I can read. If somewone wants me to go for yet
another play, he or she may tell me.