My cousin Becky (whom I regard as an expert in Renaissance Festivals since she has been to two or three in the past) told me that there are some Ren Faire performers who will go about reciting Shakespeare on request. We did not run into any during our day spent in the 1500s, but I wish now that before we set off to this land of jousting and quaint little medieval buildings and endless tempting shops, I had brushed up on the Bard a bit. It feels like a few sonnets and perhaps a good Shakespearean insult or two would be fitting to bring to the faire, to hang on your belt as it were.
If, that is, I had worn a belt. If only I had, I would have purchased a pretty little expensive leather journal to attach to it - to wear to the park to write poetry, as Becky suggested. But, alas, my practical side managed to keep control of my wallet, and somehow I resisted not only the book but a beautiful bodice and a lady assassin coat and musketeers hats for my brothers and many other gorgeous things. Seeing the incredible ensembles of other festival goers filled me with wardrobe regrets. I’ve always loved meticulously planning costumes for Mickey’s Not-So-Scary Halloween Party, and while I liked the simple white dress and golden elven crown and ear cuff that I wore to the Ren Faire, I felt it was not quite up to my usual sartorial standards for such occasions. Another time I will have to plan ahead and invest in a hoop skirt and gown and feathered cap.
Many of you may have already caught my Renaissance Festival vlog on YouTube, but I thought I would upload it here to Substack as well and - to return to Shakespeare - take the opportunity to do some digital declaiming! There are two booktube readathons going on this month, #Shaketember and #TudorTember, that very much fit the Ren Faire vibes. My reading month has already been a bit packed, but I do have at least one book for each readathon.
Inspired by Jane Austen’s insistent defense of the doomed queen in her History of England, I picked up Antonia Fraser’s biography Mary Queen of Scots at the library, and I also decided to embark on a re-read of Romeo and Juliet. I tend to read Shakespeare either very slowly or very quickly - slowly if I stop to read the fascinating footnotes, quickly if I skip the footnotes and let the deft and nimble footwork of Shakespeare’s pen carry me away. You’ll always find wordplay in the plays, but it seems particularly a theme in Romeo and Juliet, especially in the exchanges between Romeo and Mercutio.
MERCUTIO: Sure wit, follow me this jest now till thou hast worn out thy pump, that when the single sole of it is worn the jest may remain, after the wearing, solely singular.
ROMEO: O single-soled jest, solely singular for the singleness.
MERCUTIO: Come between us, good Benvolio; my wits faints!
ROMEO: Swits and spurs, swits and spurs, or I’ll cry a match.
MERCUTIO: Nay, if our wits run the wild goose chase, I am done, for thou hast more of the wild goose in one of thy wits than, I am sure, I have in my whole five. Was I with you there for the goose?
ROMEO: Thou wast never with me for anything, when thou wast not there for the goose.
If I actually understood all the Elizabethan innuendo, I doubt I could stomach Shakespeare. 😆 But I do love the beauty and swiftness of the language. It makes sense that the image of the “sole” of a dancing pump is used because the exchange of words is like a dance. The phrase Romeo and Juliet may be synonymous with romance in modern parlance, but for Mercutio, it’s all about the verbal fencing.
Why is not this better now than groaning for love? Now art though sociable, now art thou what thou art, by art as well as by nature.
I also like how other characters like Friar Lawrence roll their eyes good-humoredly at the endless witticisms.
Be plain, good son, and homely in thy drift;
Riddling confession finds but riddling shrift.
Friar Lawrence may be my favorite character and has some of my favorite passages. I love his reflection on the fickle (and mickle!) power of plants.
O, mickle is the powerful grace that lies
In plants, herbs, stones, and their true qualities.
For naught so vile that on the earth doth live
But to the earth some special good doth give;
Nor aught so good but, strain’d from that fair use,
Revolts from true birth, stumbling on abuse.
Virtue itself turns vice being misapplied,
And vice sometime’s by action dignified.Within the infant rind of this weak flower
Poison hath residence, and medicine power:
For this, being smelt, with that part cheers each part;
Being tasted, slays all senses with the heart.
Two such opposed kings encamp them still
In man as well as herbs,—grace and rude will;
And where the worser is predominant,
Full soon the canker death eats up that plant.
I’m only about halfway through my reread of Romeo of Juliet, so I’m sure I’ll have some more quotations to share in my September reading wrap-up in the next few weeks!
A Shakespearean September