Shakespeare Anyone? – Détails, épisodes et analyse

Today’s episode is another part of our series on Shakespeare’s Language Framework, or how Shakespeare’s use of language can inform our understanding of his works. In today’s episode, we are going to explore a device Shakespeare uses throughout his plays (but very notably in the comedies and histories): malapropisms. 

We will start by defining the term malapropism, then we will explore a linguistic study on malapropisms to determine how Shakespeare's malapropisms are linguistically constructed. We will also discuss whether or not early modern audiences would have understood these malapropisms as intentional wordplay, and how scholars know that they are intentional, instead of a printing or editing error. 

Shakespeare Anyone? is created and produced by Kourtney Smith and Elyse Sharp.

This episode was written by Elyse Sharp.

Music is "Neverending Minute" by Sounds Like Sander.

Follow us on Instagram at @shakespeareanyonepod for updates or visit our website at shakespeareanyone.com

You can support the podcast by becoming a patron at patreon.com/shakespeareanyone, sending us a virtual tip via our tipjar, or by shopping our bookshelves at bookshop.org/shop/shakespeareanyonepod.

Works referenced:

“Acyrology, N.” Oxford English Dictionary, Oxford UP, June 2024, https://doi.org/10.1093/OED/4304815537.

Britannica, The Editors of Encyclopaedia. "malapropism". Encyclopedia Britannica, 12 Jul. 2024, https://www.britannica.com/topic/malapropism. Accessed 20 August 2024.

"Dogberryism." Oxford Reference. . . Date of access 21 Aug. 2024, https://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/oi/authority.20110803095724827

Keller, M. (2017). “Saying Thus or to the Same Defect”: A Linguistic Analysis of Shakespeare’s Malapropisms. English Studies, 98(3), 244–261. https://doi.org/10.1080/0013838X.2017.1283119

Livingstone, David. (2024). "If We Offend, It Is With Our Good Will”: Malapropisms, Mispronunciation and Garbling of Language in Shakespeare's Plays. FOLIUM. 4. 160-166. 10.32782/folium/2024.4.23. 

 

In today's episode, we are investigating Shakespeare's comic constable in Much Ado About Nothing, Dogberry, and why this character is portrayed as a clown. We'll look at a survey of historical records from Shakespeare's time to determine if early modern constables were truly as ineffective as Dogberry appears to be and if there is a contextual reason that Shakespeare's audience would want to see them depicted as foolish on stage. 

We will also discuss what the job of the early modern constable entailed, how it developed, and who the "real-life Dogberry" would have been in their communites. Finally, we will discuss how this context can shift our understanding of the character Shakespeare wrote. 

Shakespeare Anyone? is created and produced by Kourtney Smith and Elyse Sharp.

Music is "Neverending Minute" by Sounds Like Sander.

Follow us on Instagram at @shakespeareanyonepod for updates or visit our website at shakespeareanyone.com

You can support the podcast by becoming a patron at patreon.com/shakespeareanyone, sending us a virtual tip via our tipjar, or by shopping our bookshelves at bookshop.org/shop/shakespeareanyonepod.

Works referenced:

Kent, Joan. “The English Village Constable, 1580-1642: The Nature and Dilemmas of the Office.” Journal of British Studies, vol. 20, no. 2, 1981, pp. 26–49. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/175635. Accessed 4 Aug. 2024.

Spinrad, Phoebe S. “Dogberry Hero: Shakespeare’s Comic Constables in Their Communal Context.” Studies in Philology, vol. 89, no. 2, 1992, pp. 161–78. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/4174417. Accessed 4 Aug. 2024.

In today's episode, we are exploring the life and works of one of Shakespeare's contemporaries: Ben Jonson. Often called "Shakespeare's rival," Ben Jonson was an early modern actor turned playwright who came from humble beginnings to achieve success on the London stages. We'll dive into the parallels between Shakespeare and Jonson's lives, and we'll discuss how Jonson may be the person who we should thank for Shakespeare's First Folio. 

 

Shakespeare Anyone? is created and produced by Kourtney Smith and Elyse Sharp.

Music is "Neverending Minute" by Sounds Like Sander.

Follow us on Instagram at @shakespeareanyonepod for updates or visit our website at shakespeareanyone.com

You can support the podcast by becoming a patron at patreon.com/shakespeareanyone  or by shopping our bookshelves at bookshop.org/shop/shakespeareanyonepod

Works referenced:

 Donaldson, Ian. "Jonson, Benjamin [Ben] (1572–1637), poet and playwright." Oxford Dictionary of National Biography.  October 03, 2013. Oxford University Press. Date of access 9 Apr. 2024,

Editors of Poetry Foundation. “Ben Jonson.” Poetry Foundation, Poetry Foundation, 2024, www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/ben-jonson.

Jonson, Ben. “To the Memory of My Beloved the Author, Mr....” Poetry Foundation, Poetry Foundation, 2024, www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/44466/to-the-memory-of-my-beloved-the-author-mr-william-shakespeare.

Leech, Clifford. “Ben Jonson.” Encyclopædia Britannica, Encyclopædia Britannica, inc., 7 Apr. 2024, www.britannica.com/biography/Ben-Jonson-English-writer.

Mabillard, Amanda. “Preface to The First Folio (1623).” William Shakespeare’s First Folio: The Preface to the First Folio, 21 Jan. 2022, www.shakespeare-online.com/biography/firstfolio.html.

“Research Guides: Shakespeare Studies: Ben Jonson.” Ben Jonson - Shakespeare Studies - Research Guides at New York University, New York University, 2024, guides.nyu.edu/shakespeare-studies/ben-johnson.

“Shakespeare First Folio: Folger Shakespeare Library.” Edited by Folger Shakespeare Library, Shakespeare First Folio | Folger Shakespeare Library, Folger Shakespeare Library, 2024, www.folger.edu/explore/shakespeare-in-print/first-folio/.

Shoemaker, Robert. “Punishment Sentences at the Old Bailey.” The Proceedings of the Old Bailey, Digital Humanities Institute at the University of Sheffield, autumn 2023, www.oldbaileyonline.org/about/punishment.

Westminister Abbey. “Ben Jonson.” Westminster Abbey, Westminster Abbey, 2024, www.westminster-abbey.org/abbey-commemorations/commemorations/ben-jonson.

 

 

This is Part I of our intro series, “Stuff You Should Know,” which covers some background and context into the life and times of Shakespeare, because art isn’t created in a vacuum. In this episode, we’ll be covering some basic information about the monarchy and English Renaissance. And when we say basic, we mean basic. This is a quick overview of early modern England, more importantly the England that influenced Shakespeare. 

In this episode, we’ll be covering some basic information about the English monarchy and English Renaissance. We will give an overview of the history of the English monarchy during the English Renaissance, through the early modern period and a little beyond Shakespeare's lifetime. We will discuss how the Renaissance differed from the medieval period that came before it and how the English Renaissance differed from the Italian Renaissance. 

Want more about the English Renaissance? Check out these episodes that go more in depth on topics we touch on in this episode:

• Mini: Shakespeare and Petrarch
• Mini: Shakespeare and the Colonial Imagination
• Mini: Shakespeare's World: Immigrants, Others, and Foreign Commodities
• Mini: "Decolonize the Mind" through Shakespeare
• Mini: Commerce and Trade in Shakespeare's Time
• Hamlet: Ophelia, Gertrude, and Female Agency

Shakespeare Anyone? is created and produced by Kourtney Smith and Elyse Sharp.

Episode written and researched by Kourtney Smith. Revised September 2024.

Music is "Neverending Minute" by Sounds Like Sander.

Follow us on Instagram at @shakespeareanyonepod for updates or visit our website at shakespeareanyone.com

You can support the podcast by becoming a patron at patreon.com/shakespeareanyone, sending us a virtual tip via our tipjar, or by shopping our bookshelves at bookshop.org/shop/shakespeareanyonepod.

Additional sound effects from https://www.zapsplat.com

Works Referenced:

Cooper, Dr. Tanya. “Elizabeth I and Her People”. National Portrait Gallery, The Weiss Gallery, 7 Oct. 2013. Accessed 8 Sept. 2020, from www.npg.org.uk/whatson/elizabethi/film

Elizabethans - Religious Settlement. (2018, September 23). Accessed 24 Sept. 2020, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ylP6oZgSeuI

Fox, Dr. James, creator and writer. A Very British Renaissance, Episode 1: The Renaissance Arrives. A BBC Arts Production, 2014. Accessed 16 Sept. 2020, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rtc1cY3ZDTs

Fox, Dr. James, creator and writer. A Very British Renaissance, Episode 2: The Elizabethan Code. A BBC Arts Production, 2014. Accessed 16 Sept. 2020, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qCCjOck6cd4

Fox, Dr. James, creator and writer. A Very British Renaissance, Episode 3: Whose Renaissance?. A BBC Arts Production, 2014. Accessed 16 Sept. 2020, from https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b03yzflc/episodes/guide

William, Professor Kate, presentor. The Stuarts - A Bloody Reign, Episode 101: King James I. Timeline, A 3DD Production in association with Yesterday imagined by UKTV, 31 July 2018. Accessed 16 Sept. 2020, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7zfgxzk3UtY

Introducing Shakespeare Anyone?

A podcast by two Shakespeare nerds...minus the bardolatry. 

Coming in 2021. 

Shakespeare Anyone? is created and produced by Kourtney Smith and Elyse Sharp.

Note: When this episode was recorded, Kourtney Smith was using the stage name "Korey Leigh Smith".

Music is "Neverending Minute" by Sounds Like Sander.

Follow us on Instagram at @shakespeareanyonepod for updates or visit our website at shakespeareanyone.com

In today's episode, we will be discussing what is was like to be a teenager in Shakespeare's time, and how we can see early modern teenagerdom represented in Shakespeare's Romeo & Juliet. We will build on our previous explorations of the early modern understanding of age and youth from our episodes on girlhood and manhood, then dive into the lived experiences of early modern teens and young adults. Finally, we will discuss the early modern public health crisis of suicide among children and adolescents.

Content Warning: Suicide

If you or someone you know is struggling or in crisis, you are not alone and help is available.

If you are in the United States, call or text 988 or chat 988lifeline.org

You can find additional resources for your location at https://www.iasp.info/suicidalthoughts/

Shakespeare Anyone? is created and produced by Kourtney Smith and Elyse Sharp.

Music is "Neverending Minute" by Sounds Like Sander.

Follow us on Instagram at @shakespeareanyonepod for updates or visit our website at shakespeareanyone.com

You can support the podcast by becoming a patron at patreon.com/shakespeareanyone  or by shopping our bookshelves at bookshop.org/shop/shakespeareanyonepod

Works referenced:

Murphy, Terence R. “‘Woful Childe of Parents Rage’: Suicide of Children and Adolescents in Early Modern England, 1507-1710.” The Sixteenth Century Journal, vol. 17, no. 3, 1986, pp. 259–70. JSTOR, https://doi.org/10.2307/2540320. Accessed 19 Feb. 2024.

Prusko, Rachel. “Youth and Privacy in Romeo and Juliet.” Early Theatre, vol. 19, no. 1, 2016, pp. 113–36. JSTOR, https://www.jstor.org/stable/90018273. Accessed 22 Mar. 2024.

Sparey, Victoria. “Performing Puberty: Fertile Complexions in Shakespeare’s Plays.” Shakespeare Bulletin, vol. 33, no. 3, 2015, pp. 441–67. JSTOR, https://www.jstor.org/stable/26355127. Accessed 19 Feb. 2024.

In today's episode, we are joined by Dr. Danielle Rosvally and Sydney Schwindt to discuss how fight choreographers approach staging moments of violence in theatre, specifically in Shakespeare's plays. We will discuss how they collaborate with directors and actors to safely depict violence on stage, the state of the fight direction community, and how anyone can learn more about safe, consent-based practices for staging violence onstage. 

Our guests: 

Danielle Rosvally, Ph.D., is an assistant professor of theatre at the University at Buffalo where she serves as resident violence coordinator. She is a fight director, actor, dramaturge, and director. Danielle has been crafting and performing staged violence for over twenty years, and has written about fight direction for venues such as Theatre Topics, Fight Master Magazine, and various edited collections. As a researcher, Danielle specializes in Shakespeare; her book on  on Shakespeare as an economic value comes out with the State University of New York press in July.

Sydney Schwindt wears many hats in the theatre world; she is an actor, director, fight director, and educator. She is a resident artist with the San Francisco Shakespeare Festival and works frequently with SPARC Theatre. She is an advanced actor combatant with the Society of American Fight Directors and is on the advisory board for the Same Boat Theatre Collective. She has taught movement and stage combat at Indiana University and the American Conservatory Theatre’s Graduate program. 

Sydney directed “As You Like It” with San Francisco Shakespeare Festival’s Shakespeare on Tour. It is running from now until mid May 2024 all across California. Check the websites for a public performance near you! www.sfshakes.org

She will be directing “Twelfth Night” with the Starling Shakespeare Company this summer. The show runs in rep with “Henry IV, Part 1” from June until September, 2024. 

Learn more about Fight Direction:

Society of American Fight Directors

The British Academy of Stage and Screen Combat

British Academy of Dramatic Combat

Fight Directors Canada

Danielle's HowlRound Article

Shakespeare Anyone? is created and produced by Kourtney Smith and Elyse Sharp.

Music is "Neverending Minute" by Sounds Like Sander.

Follow us on Instagram at @shakespeareanyonepod for updates or visit our website at shakespeareanyone.com

You can support the podcast by becoming a patron at patreon.com/shakespeareanyone  or by shopping our bookshelves at bookshop.org/shop/shakespeareanyonepod

 

 

In today's episode, we will be diving into the culture of courtship and marriage in early modern England. We will take a look at how the cultural norms and concerns surrounding marriage were shifting and changing in Shakespeare's time and how we can see this represented in Romeo and Juliet. We will also discuss how, at least in some parts of England and for certain classes, young people were able to resist some of the societal structures around courtship and marriage. 

 

Shakespeare Anyone? is created and produced by Kourtney Smith and Elyse Sharp.

Music is "Neverending Minute" by Sounds Like Sander.

Follow us on Instagram at @shakespeareanyonepod for updates or visit our website at shakespeareanyone.com

You can support the podcast by becoming a patron at patreon.com/shakespeareanyone  or by shopping our bookshelves at bookshop.org/shop/shakespeareanyonepod

Works referenced:

Hubbard, Eleanor. “A Room of Their Own: Young Women, Courtship, and the Night in Early Modern England.” The Youth of Early Modern Women, edited by Elizabeth S. Cohen and Margaret Reeves, Amsterdam University Press, 2018, pp. 297–314. JSTOR, https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctv8pzd5z.17. Accessed 25 Feb. 2024.   Peters, Christine. “Gender, Sacrament and Ritual: The Making and Meaning of Marriage in Late Medieval and Early Modern England.” Past & Present, no. 169, 2000, pp. 63–96. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/651264. Accessed 25 Feb. 2024.   Waddington, Raymond B. “Marriage in Early Modern Europe.” The Sixteenth Century Journal, vol. 34, no. 2, 2003, pp. 315–18. JSTOR, https://doi.org/10.2307/20061411. Accessed 25 Feb. 2024.

In today's episode, we will be continuing our series on Shakespeare's Language Framework and our Shakespeare's Sources by taking a closer look at Petrarch.

First, we will dive into the biography of Francesco Petrarca, more commonly known as Petrarch in English, the 14th century poet who had a huge influence on European humanism, the Renaissance, and poetry.

Then, we will explore Petrarch's influence and how it spread across Europe before covering how we can see his influence in the works of William Shakespeare. 

Shakespeare Anyone? is created and produced by Kourtney Smith and Elyse Sharp.

Music is "Neverending Minute" by Sounds Like Sander.

Follow us on Instagram at @shakespeareanyonepod for updates or visit our website at shakespeareanyone.com

You can support the podcast by becoming a patron at patreon.com/shakespeareanyone  or by shopping our bookshelves at bookshop.org/shop/shakespeareanyonepod

Works referenced:

Paster, Gail Kern. “A Modern Perspective: Romeo and Juliet.” Folger Shakespeare Library, 2024, www.folger.edu/explore/shakespeares-works/romeo-and-juliet/romeo-and-juliet-a-modern-perspective/.

"Petrarchism." The Princeton Encyclopedia of Poetry and Poetics. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2012. Credo Reference. Web. 21 January 2015. 

Shakespeare, William, and Keir Elam. Twelfth Night. Arden Shakespeare, 2008.

Vuillemin, Rémi. “‘love with excess of heat’: The sonnet and Petrarchan excess in the late elizabethan and early jacobean periods.” XVII-XVIII, no. 71, 31 Dec. 2014, pp. 99–120, https://doi.org/10.4000/1718.395.

Whitfield, John Humphreys. “Petrarch.” Encyclopædia Britannica, Encyclopædia Britannica, inc., 25 Jan. 2024, www.britannica.com/biography/Petrarch.

In today's episode, we're diving deep into the world of early modern masculinity, patriarchy, and honor as we dissect Shakespeare's iconic play, Romeo and Juliet.

Our discussion begins with the examination of the expectations placed upon men during the early modern period and how those pressures are reflected in Shakespeare's play – the embodiment of honor, the nuances of patriarchy, and the various faces of masculinity depicted in Shakespeare's characters.

Shakespeare Anyone? is created and produced by Kourtney Smith and Elyse Sharp.

Music is "Neverending Minute" by Sounds Like Sander.

Follow us on Instagram at @shakespeareanyonepod for updates or visit our website at shakespeareanyone.com

You can support the podcast by becoming a patron at patreon.com/shakespeareanyone  or by shopping our bookshelves at bookshop.org/shop/shakespeareanyonepod

Works referenced:

Appelbaum, Robert. “‘Standing to the Wall’: The Pressures of Masculinity in Romeo and Juliet.” Shakespeare Quarterly, vol. 48, no. 3, 1997, pp. 251–72. JSTOR, https://doi.org/10.2307/2871016. Accessed 27 Jan. 2024.   Capp, Bernard. “‘JESUS WEPT’ BUT DID THE ENGLISHMAN? MASCULINITY AND EMOTION IN EARLY MODERN ENGLAND.” Past & Present, no. 224, 2014, pp. 75–108. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/24545175. Accessed 27 Jan. 2024.   Fisher, Will. “The Renaissance Beard: Masculinity in Early Modern England.” Renaissance Quarterly, vol. 54, no. 1, 2001, pp. 155–87. JSTOR, https://doi.org/10.2307/1262223. Accessed 27 Jan. 2024.   FLETCHER, ANTHONY. “Manhood, the Male Body, Courtship and the Household in Early Modern England.” History, vol. 84, no. 275, 1999, pp. 419–36. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/24424587. Accessed 27 Jan. 2024.