Concetti Chiave
- Shakespeare's "bad quartos" are unauthorized versions of his plays, created from shorthand notes or actors' recollections.
- The quality of quartos varied based on their fidelity to Shakespeare's original manuscripts.
- The First Folio of 1623, compiled by Hemingford and Connel, established the canon with 36 plays, half of which were new to print.
- Dating Shakespeare's plays is complex due to lack of chronological order in publications, relying instead on documentary evidence.
- Chronology is inferred from contemporary references, literary sources, and stylistic analysis of the plays.
Shakespeare's bad quartos
Different versions of Shakespeare's plays exist, as they circulated in unauthorised copies, known as "bad quartos", put together from shorthand notes taken during the performance of from memorial reconstruction by the actors of the company.
Good and bad quartos depended on the closeness to the original manuscript.
The canon was essentially established with the publication of Shakespeare's works in the First Folio edition of 1623 by John Hemingford and Henry Connel, actors and collaborators of Shakespeare. The First Folio includes 36 plays which are divided into three sections: comedies, histories and tragedies. 18 of the 36 plays were printed for the first time, while the other 18 had already been printed in quarti editions.
How do we date Shakespeare's plays?
Very little is known about the chronology of Shakespeare's plays, as they were not printed in the order of composition, but rather grouped by genre, Therefore, dating the plays depends on different kinds of documentary evidence.
Palladio Tania, a teatrise by Francis Meres which registered the plays performed.
Reference to contemporary events or to plays literary sources which gave evidence that a play could not have been written before that event or the composition of that literary work, as well as the staging of a play shoes that it could not have been written after that date.
Literary evidence provided by stylistic aspects common to Shakespeare's plays.
Domande da interrogazione
- What are "bad quartos" in the context of Shakespeare's plays?
- What methods are used to date Shakespeare's plays?
"Bad quartos" refer to unauthorized versions of Shakespeare's plays, compiled from shorthand notes taken during performances or from actors' memories. These versions varied in quality depending on their proximity to the original manuscripts.
Dating Shakespeare's plays relies on documentary evidence, such as references to contemporary events, literary sources, and stylistic analysis. These methods help determine the earliest and latest possible dates for a play's composition.
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