FYP TEXTS
SHAKESPEARE THE HISTORIAN by Dr. Thomas Curran
THE FOUNDATION YEAR Program has devoted 50 years of King's life to exploring the unending hold that literature has on the human imagination. Certainly FYP has become a generational phenomenon—children of former students have been spotted around campus and in tutorial—perhaps, then, a world is beginning to emerge where even grandchildren of the original FYP cohorts might begin to appear? In FYP, we have done whatever we can to recognize the author who appears to have laid the most definitive stamp on English language literature, that is William Shakespeare. I said English language, but perhaps I should have said English history? The Duke of Marlborough—known for his victory at battle of Blenheim (Blindheim, Bavaria: August 1704) and for the Palace (about 10 miles outside Oxford) that was constructed to commemorate his career—the Duke famously suggested that for a satisfactory grasp of the grand sweep of English history there was a singular and supreme source: ‘Shakespeare, the only history of England that I ever read.’ I am guessing that historians of British monarchy in the 15th Century might find this a rather diminished bibliography for the reigns of Shakespeare’s foremost theatrical kings, particularly those from the reign of Richard II (1377-1399) to the defeat of Richard III at Bosworth in 1485—which represents a dramatic narrative (of sorts) for about a century. But the Duke is right: if you wish to make any allusion to the succession of monarchs that Shakespeare’s drama considers—while ignoring committed historians—Shakespeare is the place to anchor your discussion. And, furthermore, there are recorded performances offered by some of the most famous names in theatre, who by their very adoption of these same roles actually determine how we visualize the historical characters that they are bringing to life:
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TIDINGS | WINTER 2022
Kenneth Branagh, Timothée Chalamet, Benedict Cumberbatch, Peter Dinklage, Ralph Fiennes, Jeremy Irons, Laurence Olivier, Mark Rylance, David Tennant, Denzel Washington… FYP has at least once engaged directly with Henry IV—but a play like Antony and Cleopatra belongs somewhere in the catalogue, as a kind of history, the ins and outs of which Dr Roberta Barker has vividly explored with us. Cleopatra also inhabits our imagination, in just the way that Shakespeare made clear: “Age cannot wither her, nor custom stale / Her infinite variety.” I might be inclined to transpose this formula onto Shakespeare’s history plays themselves: “Age cannot wither them…” In the famous (Shakespearian) speech that Henry V makes before the Battle of Agincourt (in 1415), Henry suggests that a battle to be fought on the Feast of Saints Crispin and Crispian (October 25th) will be remembered: “From this day to the ending of the world” … Well, I understand that this is rather an extravagant claim, but I do want to provide two supporting comments. The first is that Henry correctly identifies the double-named Feast of “Crispin Crispian”— but neither saint is particularly well known, and St Crispian, if remembered at all, really only lives on in our consciousness because of Henry’s speech! Moreover, these famous actors are the ones who keep the names of Saints Crispin and Crispian ringing in our ears—since actors are still reciting these very words in theatres and films—six centuries or four centuries after the fact, depending on your point of view. As further evidence: apparently (Anne Curry) in the 16th Century, it was common for ambitious families “to pad their resumés” by claiming that they had forebears who were with Henry V at Agincourt, thus adding
depth and profundity to their family histories. This is a phenomenon highlighted in a creation by Arvo Pärt, the Estonian composer. Wikipedia informs us: “From 2011 to 2018, Pärt was the most performed living composer in the world, and the second most performed in 2019.” I am not in a position to “fact-check” this assertion, but I take it as a sufficient support for a more modest assertion: that Arvo Pärt has had a successful career, and a world-wide following—which includes glittering performances by both, for instance, the Music Department at Acadia University in Wolfville, and by the King’s College Choir here in Halifax. The piece I have especially in mind is Pärt’s 1997 composition: “The Woman with the Alabaster Box” for unaccompanied chorus. The exact text that Pärt has set for this chorale work comes from Matthew’s Gospel (Chapter 26), but it appears also in Mark’s Gospel (Chapter 14). Recently we have been reading Mark’s Gospel in FYP—so I am trying (to claim) this—surreptitiously—as a “FYP text” as well. The libretto concerns an anonymous adherent, who in an act of spontaneous devotion anoints Jesus by pouring “precious ointment” over Jesus’s head. A dispute ensues about this waste of something of high value that could have been used for charitable purposes. But Jesus puts an end to the “conversation” by asserting: “Wheresoever this gospel shall be preached in the whole world, there shall also this, that this woman hath done, be told for a memorial of her.” Again: I am going to emphasize the slightly more modest formulation which reads: “wheresoever this gospel shall be preached”— but the statement is correct to this extent: that wheresoever this choral work is performed or recorded … this will “be told for a memorial of her”—the nameless woman who appeared “in the house of Simon the Leper”.
