Shakespeare Begins
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Othello and Desdemona: An Italian novella of murder and manipulation
Until you read the stories that Shakespeare read, it’s difficult to fully understand the plays he wrote. This is the tale of a particular story he read: the Italian novella which inspired Othello. Shakespeare adapted its plot to the stage, and like Romeo and Juliet, he made it world famous. To Shakespeare, Othello was the most important person in the tale. For the author of the novella however, Desdemona was the heart of the story. For the novella focusses on hatred of a woman. In Shakespeare’s hands the story became a play about the hatred of a man. There is much that the two stories share in common. Most of…
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Romeo and Juliet Go Down to Egypt
As far as we know, the first recognisable version of Romeo and Juliet was written by Masuccio Salernitano, or, by his proper name: Tommaso Guardati. (His nickname just means: “Tommy of Salerno.”) In 1476, when he wrote his version of Romeo and Juliet, he didn’t use the names we now know today. Yet even though he calls the lovers “Mariotto and Gianozza,” and they lived in Siena instead of Verona, it’s clear these lovers are Romeo and Juliet. The journey from Masuccio’s tale to that of Shakespeare passes through several versions. First, Luigi da Porto took the story and put it in Verona. He gave the lovers the names we…
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What an Italian novella really taught me about Shakespeare …
It’s a strange place to look, you’d think. Shakespeare is an English poet. No … He is the English poet. So surely there would be little to learn about him in an Italian story, particularly one written before he was even born. But that’s the great thing about taking a turn down the side roads of history. You never know what you’ll discover. Earlier I wrote an article titled: It’s Funny, but Shakespeare is Teaching me Italian Stories. This is a complement and looks at the relationship between Italy and Shakespeare from the opposite direction. But where to begin? That maybe there was a grain of truth in a Groats-worth…
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An Interview with Dr Francesco Ricatti: Matteo Bandello’s Romeo and Juliet
Recently, I was privileged to speak with Dr Francesco Ricatti, Associate Professor of Italian Studies at the Australian National University who kindly arranged the interview which was intended for his second year Italian language students. Our conversation was about Matteo Bandello’s Romeo and Juliet: the Italian novella that inspired the Shakespeare play we all know. I have embedded the video of the interview below. Also, as time didn’t allow, below are a few further thoughts to further explore Bandello, his life and his writing and particularly his Romeo and Juliet. Matteo Bandello: A Refugee Whose Writings Reached the World Starting with Matteo Bandello’s life, in the video we discuss how…
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Matteo Bandello’s Forgotten Tale of the Tragic Lovers Romeo and Juliet
Sometimes, you just can’t believe what you turn up in history. If I told you a rather odd (and almost forgotten) bishop was the one who started the story of Romeo and Juliet ‘going global’, you would raise your eyebrows. But that’s what happened. His name was Matteo Bandello, and he wrote Romeo and Juliet before Shakespeare. In fact, he wrote hundreds of stories. And translated into French, English and Spanish, his stories made their way around Europe in his own lifetime. In England and Spain, his stories were adapted for the stage. Shakespeare loved Matteo Bandello’s stories so much, that he made four of them into plays. How did…
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It’s funny, but Shakespeare is teaching me Italian stories
It’s curious to find the heart of Italy in the soul of England, but so it is. For Shakespeare put it there. For years now, I’ve been hunting down Italian stories, and the last thing I expected was that Shakespeare would give me the breakthrough I was looking for. The most desperate loves, the vilest deceptions, the most delightful cross-dressing dalliances and the bitterest revenge. Shakespeare found them in Italian novellas and adapted them to the London stage. I have to admit, although the journey has been fun, it’s not so easy to plunge into the ocean of Italian literature, not knowing where it might take you or in which…
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Shakespeare in Love: A Case of Cultural Appropriation?
Shakespeare didn’t write Romeo and Juliet. No! Wait, what? Shakespeare didn’t write Romeo and Juliet!?? That’s right. If the fact Shakespeare set the play in fair Verona didn’t give it away, Shakespeare didn’t create the story of Romeo and Juliet. So no, Shakespeare’s first draft of Romeo and Juliet didn’t read “Romeo and Ethel, the Pirate’s Daughter” as Shakespeare in Love portrays it. And, plot spoiler, no true-life English love of Shakespeare’s inspired the character Juliet. Nor was the war of the two houses of Verona “both alike in dignity” inspired by two playhouses duking it out for writers and audiences in London. Don’t get me wrong. I loved the…
