{"id":561,"date":"2016-02-04T10:10:20","date_gmt":"2016-02-04T09:10:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.elizabethanpartsongs.nl\/wordpress\/?page_id=561"},"modified":"2016-09-07T20:56:33","modified_gmt":"2016-09-07T18:56:33","slug":"a-fate-worse-than-death","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.elizabethanpartsongs.nl\/wordpress\/the-art-of-understanding\/the-art-of-song-writing\/a-fate-worse-than-death\/","title":{"rendered":"a fate worse than death"},"content":{"rendered":"

Next song from Shakespeare\u2019s\u00a0Twelfth-Night<\/i>\u00a0is introduced as a traditional. To\u00a0be sung by women at their daily labour when the weather is bright. Three of\u00a0these working women, however, can scare the living daylight out of even Zeus\u00a0himself. These are the\u00a0Moirai<\/i>, or \u2018spinsters\u2019.<\/p>\n

\n
Moirai is the plural of Moira, the Trinity Goddess of Destiny<\/span><\/em><\/span><\/span><\/h5>\n
Klotho first the work begins,<\/span><\/em>
\nLachesis ever further spins,<\/span><\/em>
\nCuts Atropos the thread at last,<\/span><\/em>
\nYour days, o mortal man, have passed.<\/span><\/em><\/span><\/span><\/h5>\n
translated from Gustav Schwab :\u00a0<\/span><\/em>Die Sch\u00f6nsten Sagen des Klassischen Altertums –\u00a0<\/span>The Finest Sagas of the Classical Age<\/span><\/em><\/h5>\n<\/blockquote>\n

And when they dally with \u2018the\u00a0innocence of love\u2019, their song is bound to make real death look like a picnic.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

—<\/span>\u00a0Duke<\/strong>\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0: O fellow come, the song we had last night:
\nMarke it Cesario, it is old and plaine;
\nThe Spinsters and the Knitters in the Sun,
\nAnd the free maides that weaue their thred with bones,
\nDo vse to chaunt it: it is silly sooth,
\nAnd dallies with the innocence of loue,
\nLike the old age.
\n—<\/span>\u00a0Clowne<\/strong>\u00a0\u00a0 : Are you ready Sir?
\n—<\/span>\u00a0Duke<\/strong>\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0:\u00a0I prethee sing. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\n
In the oldest Greek mythology Moira is also known as Aphrodite.<\/span><\/em>\u00a0<\/span><\/h5>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Musicke.<\/i><\/p>\n

The Song.<\/i><\/p>\n

Come away, come away death,
\nAnd in sad cypresse let me be laide.
\nFye away, fie away breath,
\nI am slaine by a faire cruell maide:
\nMy shrowd of white, stuck all with Ew, O prepare it.
\nMy part of death no one so true did share it.<\/span><\/p>\n

Not a flower, not a flower sweete
\nOn my blacke coffin, let there be strewne:
\nNot a friend, not a friend greet
\nMy poore corpes, where my bones shall be throwne:
\nA thousand thousand sighes to saue, lay me \u00f4 where
\nSad true louer neuer find my graue, to weepe there.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\n
In modernized spelling the third line, as a rule, is corrected to \u2018fly away breath\u2019. Which makes the line a sort of repetition of\u00a0\u2018come away death\u2019. Just like the third line in the second stanza is a sort of repetion of its first\u00a0one. Yet, \u2018fie\u2019 allows the use of \u2018breath\u2019 in its ancient meaning of \u2018scent\u2019 or \u2018smell\u2019. And that\u00a0possibility alone is all the reason one needs to dismiss the editor\u2019s interference as an improvement that\u00a0may have deleted the underlying message.\u00a0<\/span><\/em><\/h5>\n<\/blockquote>\n

This song is in outlines\u00a0Dido\u2019s Lament all over again. And the ‘if’ is accounted for. These outlines, however, justify a little adjustment to the touchstone.<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

if \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0Death<\/span>\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0= \u00a0\u00a0(better than) \u00a0<\/span>\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0the unilateral lover<\/span><\/strong>
\nand \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0Death \u00a0 \u00a0<\/span>= \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0the \u2018Oh\u2019 in \u2018love\u2019<\/span><\/strong>
\nthen \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0Death<\/span>\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0= \u00a0\u00a0(still) \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0<\/span>\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0worse than Death<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

At this occasion Death comes too late to the rescue. If he comes at all. Which\u00a0makes the opening identical to\u00a0Let down the Bars.<\/i>\u00a0An observation that cannot\u00a0fail to suggest a very similar story. And because of that story’s particular effect on its audience, a sharp listener may have heard the Duke to\u00a0introduce this song as ‘a chilly truth’.<\/span><\/p>\n

\n
Be aware of the danger of interpreting the song with a biassed mind. The bias itself seems\u00a0reliable enough, but that is always the problem with a bias.\u00a0<\/span><\/em><\/h5>\n<\/blockquote>\n

The \u2018and\u2019 is not exactly in line, because the 1623 First Folio does not provide\u00a0an \u2018Oh\u2019. Judged by context, the \u2018O\u2019 in the song\u2019s fifth line might be one, but one\u00a0better resists the temptation to correct accordingly, because it is the sole piece of evidence that the \u2018\u00f4\u2019 in line eleven should not sound like a regular \u2018O\u2019.\u00a0And that is the one that comes with \u2018a thousand sighes\u2019. It also is\u00a0the one that is misplaced at the cost of its functionality : it should be moved\u00a0forward by two positions if it is supposed to serve any linguistic purpose. And\u00a0with three old spinsters prepared to vouch for the \u2018than\u2019, the touchstone\u00a0seems once more the proper device to narrow the range of possible\u00a0interpretations down to one. But, with the \u2018and\u2019 open to question, arguments to\u00a0the contrary are welcome as comments on this page.<\/p>\n

The same for reports of malfunction : the touchstone is designed to rule out\u00a0far-fetched and complicated interpretations. If it fails to do a proper job, it is\u00a0not suited for this particular song.<\/p>\n

When accepted as useful, the touchstone is rather suggestive on words like \u2018cypresse\u2019, \u2018greet\u2019 and \u2018shrowd of white\u2019 when looking for substitutes. And be aware of the song\u2019s context as well. When it comes to interpretation, the comedy that surrounds it can be expected to be as good a guide as the touchstone. The song\u2019s introduction does in any case not quite agree with regarding it as a mere interlude :\u00a0Twelfth-Night<\/em>\u00a0is one great dalliance with the innocence of love.<\/p>\n

\n
The standard Shakespearean comedy is ruled by Aphrodite. But in\u00a0<\/span><\/em>Twelfth-Night<\/span>\u00a0she habitually\u00a0casts a shadow on the various love affairs that is shaped like Moira. The sudden urge of the duke\u00a0to kill Cesario in scene 5 ; 1 is just the tip of that icebergh : the play hides an equally strong motive\u00a0for the Duke to lash out at Cesario\u2019s predecessor in his favour (last seen alive in scene 1 ; 4).\u00a0<\/span><\/em><\/h5>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Alongside the excercise of reading attentively, the second method of interpretation, my old school\u2019s \u2018text explanation\u2019, is useful as well. Finding the correct answers is usually not much of a problem, but finding the right questions is the real name of the game. The first one that springs to mind concerns the narrator : male or female?<\/p>\n

answer :\u00a0…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….<\/span><\/p>\n

The song is introduced by a Duke who identifies himself with the narrator. This because he is love-sick, and love poetry habitually defines the cruel lady as the cause of his malady. And of the suicidal mood that comes with unanswered love. He should have known better : Shakespeare deals in his \u2018sugared\u2019 sonnets with a lady who proves most cruel in denying the narrator her favours after a first amazing night.<\/p>\n

\n
A cruelty that casts its shadow on the occasional play as well. As if reflecting Shakespeare\u2019s personal experience with married life:\u00a0<\/span><\/em><\/h5>\n
Hamlet \u00a0 \u00a0: I’st a prologue, or a poesie for a ring?
\nOphelia \u00a0 : T’is short my Lord.
\nHamlet \u00a0 \u00a0: As womens loue.<\/span><\/em><\/h5>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Apart from that mistake, the Duke\u00a0identifies himself with a lament that he explicitly mentions to be a woman\u2019s\u00a0song.\u00a0Its hired performer, however, is supposed to be a baritone. And this singer is with\u00a0certainty a professional jester. In which capacity he makes his money by\u00a0showing his audience a mirror. Because Cesario, the Duke\u2019s companion, has as \u00a0little reason to identify himself with the narrator as the Duke himself, the\u00a0mirror must be showing them the future. The next question therefore is :\u00a0whose future?<\/p>\n

answer :\u00a0…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….<\/span><\/p>\n

Both the Duke and Cesario will be engaged before the play is over, the mirror can therefore show either of them during the first wedded night. It also can show both of them in equal circumstances. Either as the narrator, or as seen from the narrator\u2019s point of view. And it evidently is a future of unilateral love. Which may be a seamless fit with the Dickinson poem, but not with the setting of two lovers at their first wedded night. The mirror therefore shows a very strange future indeed. Strange enough even to dismiss it as impossible. But sometimes not even the strangest of foretellings is as strange as reality. And many a riddle concerning Shakespeare\u2019s marriage would dissolve at the instant if this mirror actually shows its first night through the eyes of Anne Hathaway. Or even through Shakespeare\u2019s own, in case the \u2018Annam Whateley of Grafton\u2019 who he was licenced to marry on 27 November 1682, is not the \u2018Anne Hathwey of Stratford\u2019 who he was legally bound to marry on the 28th<\/p>\n

\n
The names on the marriage licence from the 27th. seems to have been mixed up with that of a\u00a0certain William Whateley of Crowle. Who featured on a legal deed from the same day, and from\u00a0the same clerk\u2019s hand. The licence itself was for a marriage by a couple from Stratford at the\u00a0parish church of Temple Grafton.<\/span><\/em><\/h5>\n
Ian Wilson :\u00a0<\/span><\/em>Shakespeare – the Evidence<\/span>\u00a0\u00a0 pp. 56 – 57<\/span><\/em><\/h5>\n<\/blockquote>\n

The jester\u00a0therefore knows his business, and the third question must be : whose point of\u00a0view does he represent?<\/p>\n

answer :\u00a0…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….<\/span><\/p>\n

Unless it answers both the opening questions correctly, your interpretation of the song is bound to be troubled with inconsistencies. The moment everything falls into place, however, the third answer can be trusted to come up even before asking the question. A convicing indication of being correct. But the real proof is in the context : your interpretation must be in line with the story that leads up to the mirror\u2019s future. This may establish a serious problem, because\u00a0Twelfth-Nigh<\/em>t has no story-line that covers the narrator\u2019s dealings with a cruel lady. Not at its surface at least, where the fair lady is cruel by keeping her distance. In the case of Cesario and the Duke the play even rules those dealings out. And the same for their respective lovers. This, however, makes the song inconsistent with the context in which it is performed, and can\u2019t be true. The final question therefore is : what does the play hide from view, that allows to identify either of them with the song ?<\/p>\n

Quite a lot, actually. And most of it is hiding in plain sight. Which, by the way,\u00a0makes it rather difficult to spot.\u00a0As Death demonstrates in his habit of\u00a0being too close to be noticed. But seek and you will find. And in case you won\u2019t,\u00a0there is always the the option to place a comment to refute a seemingly unfounded claim.<\/span><\/p>\n

\n
Guided by Shakespeare’s intentions with the play, it was evident \u00a0for me where to look, and what to look for. But still ; at the first go, nothing. At\u00a0the second go faint outlines only. And from the third go omward I couldn\u2019t understand how on\u00a0earth I had been that blind. The murder of Cesario’s predecessor as the Duke’s go-between, by the way, took me a decade more to notice. Its trace is faint, and has been deleted from many a modern edition anyway.
\n<\/span><\/em><\/h5>\n<\/blockquote>\n

\u2014<\/span><\/p>\n

\u2014<\/span><\/p>\n

go to next chapter<\/a>\u00a0\u2013 \u2013 \u2013 \u2013 \u2013 \u2013 \u2013 \u2013 \u2013 \u2013 \u2013 \u2013 \u2013 \u2013 \u2013 \u2013 \u2013 \u2013 \u2013 \u2013 \u2013<\/span>\u00a0back to the previous chapter<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

\n

write a comment<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Next song from Shakespeare\u2019s\u00a0Twelfth-Night\u00a0is introduced as a traditional. To\u00a0be sung by women at their daily labour when the weather is bright. Three of\u00a0these working women, however, can scare the living daylight out of even Zeus\u00a0himself. These are the\u00a0Moirai, or \u2018spinsters\u2019. … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":679,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.elizabethanpartsongs.nl\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/561"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.elizabethanpartsongs.nl\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.elizabethanpartsongs.nl\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.elizabethanpartsongs.nl\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.elizabethanpartsongs.nl\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=561"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.elizabethanpartsongs.nl\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/561\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1346,"href":"https:\/\/www.elizabethanpartsongs.nl\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/561\/revisions\/1346"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.elizabethanpartsongs.nl\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/679"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.elizabethanpartsongs.nl\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=561"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}