Justice Stevens mentions that Lord Burghley, guardian of the young de Vere, is generally accepted as the model for the courtier Polonius in "Hamlet." "Burghley was the No. 1 adviser to the queen," says the justice. "De Vere married [Burghley's] daughter, which fits in with Hamlet marrying Polonius's daughter, Ophelia."I don't think the Burghley-Polonius connection is at all "generally accepted." It would certainly be an odd tribute, given that Polonius is a garrulous fool.
Monday, April 20, 2009
From the bench ...
... Justice Stevens Renders an Opinion on Who Wrote Shakespeare's Plays. (Hat tip, Dave Lull.)
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I haven't read any scholarship that would agree with the opinions of the justices in my time...I would appreciate being pointed in the right direction if there is actually consensus anywhere on their conception...the only time I've come across the de Vere is once and that was a brief mention in a long list of unsubstantiated Shakespeare theories.
ReplyDeleteAs far as I know, the preponderance of scholarly opinion supports the fellow from Stratford-upon-Avon. I suppose we can only hope that the justices' legal scholarship is sounder than their literary scholarship.
ReplyDeleteEssays by an Oxfordian can be found here. (You can ignore the "This article is available only to subscribers of The Atlantic Monthly" in the parentheses at the bottom of the page.)
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