The Shakespeare Code

It’s best to read ‘Scandal, Shakespeare in Court’ Part 37 first.

1597

On 17^th March, 1597: Sir George Carey, second Lord Hunsdon, became the new Lord Chamberlain – so Lord Hunsdon’s Men became the Lord Chamberlain’s Men again and the actors had more security.

On 4^th May, 1597, Shakespeare bought New Place – reputedly the second largest house in Stratford – five gables, ten fireplaces and a frontage of over 60 feet with two barns, two gardens and two orchards.

But politics made life for Shakespeare more unsettled. The Earl of Essex and Harry were planning a rebellion against Queen Elizabeth to ensure that the Succession fell to King James.

Shakespeare initially went along with this as James was Pro-Catholic (seemingly) and Pro-Gay. Christopher Marlowe had even planned to go to King James’s Court in Edinburgh.

1598

After a stormy wooing, Harry secretly married Elizabeth Vernon in August, 1598 and Shakespeare wrote As You Like It as a celebration in the same way he had written A Midsummer Night’s Dream to celebrate the wedding of his mother.

The performance of the play – which included Harry’s friends in the cast, was held at Lees Priory in Essex…..

….the home of Penelope Rich.

He also wrote a Sonnet in celebration of his continuing and growing love for Harry – and uses the image of a baby.

Elizabeth Vernon was pregnant at the time of her marriage…

Shakespeare and Harry had found a way of keeping their love for each other intact even though Harry had married Elizabeth and man and wife had a very close and loving relationship.

143. (115)

Those lines that I before have writ do lie,

Even those that said I could not love you dearer;

Yet then my judgment knew no reason why

My most full flame should afterwards burn clearer.

Shakespeare claims that all his poetry up to this point has been lies: he said before that he could not love Harry more than he did – but has found, over time, that he can. The flame of love has burnt brighter.

But reckoning time, whose million’d accidents

Creep in ‘twixt vows and change decrees of Kings,

Tan sacred beauty, blunt the sharp’st intents,

Divert strong minds to th’course of alt’ring things:

But Time, as Ovid often observed, is all powerful: it makes people break their vows and Kings change their laws, it can spoil beauty and wear down the keenest resolutions and make strong-willed people change their plans.

‘Blunt’ is an oblique reference to Charles Blount, Lord Mountjoy, who was part of the planned rebellion against Elizabeth and the lover of Penelope Rich.

Alas why, fearing of time’s tyranny,

Might I not then say: ‘Now I love you best’,

When I was certain ore in-certainty,

Crowning the present, doubting of the rest:

Shakespeare argues that he was justified in making his statement all those years ago – that he could not love Harry any more. Time is all-powerful and the only thing he could be certain of was the present. Everything else would have been mere speculation.

Love is a Babe, then might I not say so

To give full growth to that which still doth grow.

Love – in the form of Cupid – is after all a baby – and I could be forgiven for saying it was fully grown when it was still, in fact growing.

1599.

Essex and Harry go over to Ireland to quell the Irish Rebellion – and the plan is to then join with the army of King James and dethrone Queen Elizabeth.

To that end Shakespeare writes Henry V – which is a coded celebration of Essex who is mentioned in the play – and Shakespeare himself goes to Scotland to convince James to invade England.

To do this he produces Macbeth at King James’s Court.

See: Shakespeare in Scotland.

However, the Irish campaign is catastrophic – and Essex even has a secret meeting with the Irish Rebel Chief, the Tyrone.

Essex abandons his post and travels back to England to explain matters to the Queen.  The Queen has Essex put under house arrest. Half of the Essex entourage want to go with the rebellion – but the other half, including Shakespeare, do not.

Shakespeare writes Julius Caesar to warn Essex and Harry about the dangers of rebellion – and writes a Sonnet to Harry which describes the plight of Essex.

1600

144. (25)

Let those who are in favour with their stars

Of public honour and proud titles boast,

Whilst I whom fortune of such triumph bars

Unlookt for joy in that I honour most.

Shakespeare leaves fame and titles to people whose lives have been blest with the good fortune of birth and money.  Shakespeare is from the yeoman class – and so barred from high office. But he finds unexpected joy in honouring Harry.

Great Princes’ favourites, their fair leaves spread

But as the Marigold at the sun’s eye,

And in them-selves their pride lies buried,

For at a frown they in their glory die.

The favourites of great King’s and Queens [‘Prince’ could mean ‘Queen’ and Elizabeth often referred to herself as a ‘Prince’] are like marigold flowers with their leaves stretched out to the sun….but when the sun withdraws its beams, the flowers close up and die with all their ‘pride’ buried inside them.

This is a reference to the sexual liaison between Essex and the much older Queen. Their sex life had been a sado-masochistic struggle for mastery – and by bursting into the Queen’s bedroom unannounced – before the Queen had time to put on wig or make-up – Essex had violated his close relationship with the Queen and their affair was over. Marigold was the colour Essex’s armour…

‘Pride’ = (1) ‘Self-Worth and (2) ‘Sexual power’. This idea is reminiscent of Sonnet 78. (94) which uses the image of the flower living and dying to itself as an image of masturbation.

The painful warrior famoused for fight,

After a thousand victories once foil’d,

Is from the book of honour razed quite,

And all the rest forgot for which he toil’d:

The warrior who is ‘painful’ [= (1) Taking pains or (2) Suffering wounds] and celebrated for his warfare, just has to fail on one mission and all he has achieved before counts for nothing. He is no longer famous.

This is an exact description of Essex who distinguished himself on the Cadiz and Islands Campaigns –

…….but failed in Ireland.

Then happy I that love and am belov’d

Where I may not remove, nor be remov’d.

Shakespeare is ‘happy’ [= (1) Joyful or (2) Lucky] because he loves Harry and is loved in return by him. Shakespeare loves a person from who he can never remove his love and who, in turn, can never remove his love from Shakespeare.

To Shakespeare’s horror, members of the Essex/Southampton entourage stage Richard II at the Globe on the eve of the rebellion – so Shakespeare has to flee back to Scotland.

The rebellion against Elizabeth goes hopelessly wrong. Essex is beheaded on 25^th February,1601 and Harry committed to the Tower, sentenced to death.

Sonnet 145. (66) is Shakespeare’s reaction to these events.

These ideas will find their way into Hamlet’s ‘To be or not to be’ speech.

1601

145. (66)

Tired with all these, for restful death I cry:

As to behold desert a beggar born,

And needy Nothing trimm’d in jollity,

And purest faith unhappily foresworn

I yearn for death – ‘to die, to sleep’ for the following reasons.

When I see: (1) A man born into poverty who stays there and whom everyone disdains. (2) Social butterflies, who have no financial cares at all, dressed up in fine clothes and with no social conscience. (3) Everyone deserting Roman Catholicism – the ‘pure’ faith which goes back to Christ and the Apostolic Succession.

And gilded honour shamefully misplast,

And maiden virtue rudely strumpeted,

And right perfection wrongfully disgrac’d,

And strength by limping sway disabled,

When I see: (4) Harry, the most noble of men, thrown like a common prisoner into the Tower of London. (5) A Queen who demeans the Virgin Mary by claiming that she is the Virgin Queen though in fact she is a whore. (6) An honourable man like Essex disgraced by having his head chopped off. (7) Strong young men dominated by those so weak or old they have to walk with sticks. [Both the Queen and Sir Walter Raleigh both walked with limps]

And art made tongue-tied by authority,

And folly (Doctor-like) controlling skill,

And simple-Truth miscall’d Simplicity,

And captive-good attending Captain ill.

When I see: (8) My plays, and those of my colleagues, controlled by the censor. (9) Stupid people being in charge of clever and talented people. (9) Plain-speaking people dismissed as stupid. (10) Harry imprisoned and guarded by ill-intentioned men.

Tir’d with all these, from these would I be gone,

Save that, to die, I leave my love alone.

Sick of all these things I want to kill myself: but if I were to do so, I would leave Harry alone – as a prisoner in the Tower.

[Hamlet’s reason for not killing himself is the worry about what will happen to him after death]

Shakespeare also writes The Phoenix and the Turtle [Dove] about his love as a commoner (dove) for Harry (the fabulous phoenix). The poem plays on ‘Ung par tout’ motto of the Southampton family – ‘all for/in one’ – and shows how the two birds become one in the flames of death and passion.

There are no published works by Shakespeare – or mention of him at all – for two years.

He was in Scotland, making an alliance with King James…..

To read ‘The Gay Wooing Portrait’, Part 39, click: HERE