{"id":1152,"date":"2018-10-11T11:49:59","date_gmt":"2018-10-11T11:49:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/shakespeare-and-his-sisters\/?page_id=1152"},"modified":"2019-02-20T16:38:27","modified_gmt":"2019-02-20T16:38:27","slug":"simon-langton-boys-school","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/shakespeare-and-his-sisters\/simon-langton-boys-school\/","title":{"rendered":"Simon Langton Grammar School for Boys"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/p>\n

On the 18th October, Professor Alison Findlay ran a workshop with Year 13 Literature and Theatre Studies students, organised by Dr Elizabeth Askey. We\u00a0considered the ways Love\u2019s Victory<\/em> connects to Hamlet, <\/em>with special attention to relationships of love and friendship.<\/p>\n

We began by reading and discussing\u00a0the opening scene of Love\u2019s Victory <\/em>which introduces Venus, the goddess of love, complaining to her\u00a0son Cupid: ‘Cupid methinks we have too long been still \/ And that these people grow to scorn our will’<\/p>\n

\"Billy <\/a>
Billy Richards and Rebecca Robinson <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"Anna <\/a>
Anna Milton, Lily Parish, Emily Woodruff consider the role of Venus <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>\n

Patrick and partner reading Venus and Cupid<\/a><\/p>\n

Group discussion exploring Venus and Cupid<\/a><\/p>\n

We compared Shakespeare\u2019s (paternal) and Wroth\u2019s (maternal) dramatizations of supernatural figures, considering in particular how the ghost in Hamlet <\/em>appears from underneath the stage (the area associated with Hell and the underworld), while the upper levels of the theatre represent the the Heavens, the middle with the earth and the understage level with hell suggested by the De Witt drawing of the Swan Theatre (1596) the only extant\u00a0contemporary picture of the inside of a commercial theatre.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Using that image as a starting point, students then discussed how Venus and Cupid might have been staged in a non-commercial theatre like the Baron\u2019s Hall at Penshurst Place, Wroth\u2019s family home. Students then watched a clip of the opening scene from the filmed performance<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Lizi Watson (17)\u00a0remarked \u2018I really liked the setting of Cupid and Aphrodite [Venus] being higher than the ‘mortals’ and would be interested to see how it works in real life, especially the staging of the movement of Cupid and his development.’<\/p>\n

Holly Smith (18) noted that the minstrel\u2019s gallery at Penshurst had some drawbacks in restricting movement though:<\/p>\n

\u2018My favourite part was workshopping the scene with Venus and Cupid, as I was able to think about the ways I would direct it. The text was effective in providing us with a clear context to the events of the play, and the relationship between mother and son, which I did not previously know about. I think I would stage the scene differently, exploring Venus\u2019 disgust towards the mortals not worshipping her, and try to incorporate levels and status more, which at Penshurst Place was not possible. I think Love\u2019s Victory <\/em>has helped me to put Hamlet <\/em>into context, especially with the scenes including the Ghost, as I had previously struggled to understand the scenes – that the Ghost could potentially be a symbol for Hamlet\u2019s desires and what he wants to hear to settle his melancholy mind.\u2019<\/p>\n

Bonds of Love and Friendship in Love\u2019s Victory <\/em>and Hamlet<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

We considered early modern ideas of love and friendship based on classical models of the friend as another self: \u201cAmicus alter ipse<\/em>\u201d. Patrick Lyle-Condon read out an extract from Cicero\u2019s Laelius De Amiticia <\/em>(44BC) trans. John Harrington, (London, 1550).<\/p>\n

First who can be\u2026livyng in this lyfe, that liueth not in mutual loue with some freend? What sweeter thyng can there be, than to haue one, with whom thou darest so bold|ly talke all mattiers, as with thine owne\u00a0selfe: how shoulde the profit of welfare, and prosperitee be so great, if you had not some, which should reioise so muche therat as your \u00a0self?<\/p>\n

The close relationship Hamlet claims with Horatio, whom he vows to wear \u2018In my heart\u2019s core, ay in my heart of heart\u2019 (3.1.65) seems to draw on this model as we discussed. Hamlet greets his other university friends Rosencrantz and Guildernstern with great warmth too, though they become painfully estranged when Claudius recruits them to spy on Hamlet.<\/p>\n

I think the relationship between Horatio and Hamlet is the strongest in the play, and it could be argued that their friendship provides an exemplar for the following literature which displays such friendships <\/em>(Holly Smith)<\/p>\n

We then used a quotation from Alan Bray\u2019s The Friend <\/em>(Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2003) as a way to approach relationships of love and friendship between men and between women in Love\u2019s Victory<\/em><\/p>\n

\u2018The word \u201clove\u201d in this society could comprehend as easily the public relation of friends as the more private meaning we give the word today, but wherever on that wide spectrum the gift of a friend\u2019s body might lie, it gestured toward a place of comforting safety in an insecure world. (p.158)<\/p>\n

In Hamlet <\/em>the female characters, Gertrude and Ophelia, are largely isolated from each other, in comparison. We asked how depictions of same sex relationships differed in Wroth\u2019s female-authored play Love\u2019s Victory <\/em>by reading sections of a scene in which four shepherdess characters meet in an all female group to talk about their experiences of love. To what extent is friendship a \u2018place of comforting safety in an insecure world\u2019?<\/p>\n

In this extract, the characters Climeana and Simeana, who are rivals for the love of the shepherd Lissius, argue and the readers discuss whether the all-girls\u2019 scene is true to life now.<\/p>\n

Students read argument between Climeana and Simeana and discuss<\/a><\/p>\n

How, by contrast, does Wroth write and stage relationships between men? We read a scene between the shepherds Philisses and his best friend Lissius, whose love has been torn by Philisses\u2019 belief that the shepherdess he loves, Musella, love Lissius. The scene begins with Lissius asking what is wrong<\/p>\n

Lissius: O, plainly deal with me, my love hath been
\nStill firm to you; then let us not begin
\n<\/span>To seem as strangers; if I have wronged you, speak,
\nAnd I\u2019ll forgiveness ask; else, do not break
\nThat band of friendship of our long-held love.
\nWhich did these plains to admiration move.
\nPhilisses. <\/em>I cannot change, but love thee ever will,
\nFor no cross shall my first affection kill.\u00a0 [Make this single spaced]<\/p>\n

Patrick Lyle-Condon (17) commented \u2018It\u2019s made me consider the relationships in Hamlet <\/em>differently and see them not only in a historical context but also as referenced against modern friendships, especially male ones\u2019.<\/p>\n

Group discussion exploring relationships between men <\/a><\/p>\n

\u2018I believe it [the scene] presents a free, organic relationship commonly seen in today\u2019s society\u2026. The was that male characters mentioned their \u201clove\u201d to each other prompts one to question how the concept of love has changed since the production\u2019 Noah Radcliffe-Adams (17)<\/p>\n

Maggie Baxter (17) commented astutely on the cost of this friendship (the scene ends with Philisses promising to give his sister to Lissius):<\/p>\n

\u2018The scene between Lissius and Philisses demonstrates their ability to resolve their problems in the name of friendship (even if that requires the control and oppression of women)\u2019<\/p>\n

\"Shakespeare's <\/a>
Shakespeare’s Works <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>
\"Shakespeare's <\/a>
Shakespeare’s Sister <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

Conclusions: ‘<\/strong>Reading drama from a female playwright, drawing comparisons between Love\u2019s Victory <\/em>and Hamlet <\/em>was useful in the analysis of same sex friendships. Love\u2019s Victory <\/em>has brought more focus on the nature and importance of friendship (Horatio and Hamlet, Rosencrantz and Guildernstern). Love \u2013 the merging of identity and links between the sex drive and death drive. The nature of parent and child relationships with reference to Freudian concepts of desire.\u2019 (Maggie Baxter)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

On the 18th October, Professor Alison Findlay ran a workshop with Year 13 Literature and Theatre Studies students, organised by Dr Elizabeth Askey. We\u00a0considered the ways Love\u2019s Victory connects to Hamlet, with special attention to relationships of love and friendship. We began by reading and discussing\u00a0the opening scene of Love\u2019s Victory which introduces Venus, the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":462,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-1152","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/P7IR4b-iA","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/shakespeare-and-his-sisters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1152","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/shakespeare-and-his-sisters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/shakespeare-and-his-sisters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/shakespeare-and-his-sisters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/462"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/shakespeare-and-his-sisters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1152"}],"version-history":[{"count":15,"href":"https:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/shakespeare-and-his-sisters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1152\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1222,"href":"https:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/shakespeare-and-his-sisters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1152\/revisions\/1222"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.lancs.ac.uk\/shakespeare-and-his-sisters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1152"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}