crashfrog writes:
quote:
Yes, but it's not like they're saying Marlowe moved to France or something.
Actually, that's precisely what they're saying.
Why do you think so many of Shakespeare's plays are set in Italy? Because Marlowe faked his death and moved to Italy.
Of course, the fact that the first play Shakespeare set in Italy,
Two Gentlemen of Verona, gets the geography all wrong (Sebastian goes to Milan from Verona by boat. Milan, however, is inland from Verona...you wouldn't go there by boat but overland) is glossed over.
There was a program that I am certain was on PBS but it might have been one of the other educational channels or perhaps BBC America that dealt with the Marlowe claim and it pointed out this aspect (that Marlowe moved to Italy after his faked death) of the assertion. Apparently, those who claim Marlowe was Shakespeare have traced his supposed movements in Italy. Alas, I cannot recall the name of the program. It included discussion about how one of the big Marlowe proponents claimed that original Shakespeare scripts would be found in the grave of somebody (I recall it being Marlowe's publisher, but I think I'm wrong on that) and thus, it would prove that Marlowe was Shakespeare. He got special permission to dig up the grave...finding absolutely nothing.
My undergraduate had a project to analyze with computers the text of Shakespeare for word choice, sentence style, etc. and compare them to various authors who are claimed to be Shakespeare (Marlowe, de Vere, even Queen Elizabeth has proponents) and found that the text of Shakespeare is linguistically unique.
On a somewhat related note, my production of
The Compleat Wrks of Wllm Shkspr (abridged) has been picked up for an extended run. For those of you in the San Diego area, come see. Details can be found at the theatre's web site,
Sixth @ Penn.
And for those who have a vendetta against me, go see the official Reduced Shakespeare Company in their latest production,
All the Great Books (abridged) at the
San Diego Rep
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Rrhain
WWJD? JWRTFM!