The Dark Lady of the Sonnets
By Bernard Shaw
()
About this ebook
Read more from Bernard Shaw
The Black Girl In Search Of God And Some Lesser Tales Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsTHE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF A SUPER-TRAMP: The life of William Henry Davies (With a preface by Bernard Shaw) Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsRevolutionist's Handbook and Pocket Companion Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsTolstoy on Shakespeare: A Critical Essay on Shakespeare Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsMrs. Warren's Profession Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Maxims for Revolutionists Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Perfect Wagnerite Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The Perfect Wagnerite, Commentary on the Ring Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Admirable Bashville Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsBack to Methuselah: A Metabiological Pentateuch Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Man of Destiny Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Shewing-up of Blanco Posnet Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsArms and the Man Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Pygmalion: Bestsellers and famous Books Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Candida Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsHeartbreak House Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsPreface to Androcles and the Lion Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsArms and the Man - An Anti-Romantic Comedy in Three Acts Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Doctor's Dilemma Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Major Barbara Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsOn the Prospects of Christianity Bernard Shaw's Preface to Androcles and the Lion Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsCandida Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Miraculous Revenge: Little Blue Book #215 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsAndrocles and the Lion Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsPress Cuttings Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings
Related to The Dark Lady of the Sonnets
Related ebooks
The Dark Lady of the Sonnets Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Dark Lady Of The Sonnets, By George Bernard Shaw Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Dark Lady of the Sonnets Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The Complete Works of George Bernard Shaw Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsMarge Askinforit Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Complete Works of Barry Pain Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsDescent into Hell: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Phantom of the Opera Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsMarge Askinforit: 'But I knew how near she was to a nervous breakdown'' Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Aspern Papers Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Phantom of the Opera (Golden Deer Classics) Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Man on the Box Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Lilac Fairy Book Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Phantom of the Opera + The Mystery of the Yellow Room Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Sisterhood - Catthy's Kin Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Phantom of the Opera (annotated) (Best Navigation, Active TOC) (A to Z Classics) Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsBaled Hay: A Drier Book than Walt Whitman's "Leaves o' Grass" Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsFlighty Phyllis Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA (Mystery & Horror Series): Gothic Classic Based on True Events at the Paris Opera Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThere is No Death Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Lost Viol: ''A letter bitter to the point of invective'' Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsA Pair of Blue Eyes Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsPsychometric Portraiture of the Victorian Era: Paranormal Parlor, A Weiser Books Collection Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Phantom of the Opera: Gothic Horror Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Memoirs of Harriette Wilson Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsChronicles of the Canongate, 1st Series Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsMy Mortal Enemy: With an Excerpt by H. L. Mencken Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Brass Bottle: "It's all right, so long as you didn't try to get the top off." Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings
Performing Arts For You
As You Wish: Inconceivable Tales from the Making of The Princess Bride Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Wuthering Heights Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Macbeth (new classics) Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Sisters Brothers Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Science of Storytelling: Why Stories Make Us Human and How to Tell Them Better Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Importance of Being Earnest: A Play Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5For colored girls who have considered suicide/When the rainbow is enuf Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Becoming Free Indeed: My Story of Disentangling Faith from Fear Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Angels in America: A Gay Fantasia on National Themes: Revised and Complete Edition Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Hamlet Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Stories I Only Tell My Friends: An Autobiography Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Robin Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Diamond Eye: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Count Of Monte Cristo (Unabridged) Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Trial Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Lucky Dog Lessons: From Renowned Expert Dog Trainer and Host of Lucky Dog: Reunions Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Quite Nice and Fairly Accurate Good Omens Script Book: The Script Book Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Coreyography: A Memoir Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Unsheltered: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Our Town: A Play in Three Acts Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Mash: A Novel About Three Army Doctors Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Hollywood's Dark History: Silver Screen Scandals Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Romeo and Juliet Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Whale / A Bright New Boise Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Agatha Christie Collection Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe World Turned Upside Down: Finding the Gospel in Stranger Things Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Strange Loop Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Dolls House Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Doctor Faustus: A Play Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Reviews for The Dark Lady of the Sonnets
0 ratings0 reviews
Book preview
The Dark Lady of the Sonnets - Bernard Shaw
Bernard Shaw
The Dark Lady of the Sonnets
Published by Good Press, 2022
goodpress@okpublishing.info
EAN 4057664123985
Table of Contents
How the Play came to be Written
Thomas Tyler
Frank Harris
Harris durch Mitleid wissend
Sidney's Sister: Pembroke's Mother
Shakespear's Social Standing
This Side Idolatry
Shakespear's Pessimism
Gaiety of Genius
Jupiter and Semele
The Idol of the Bardolaters
Shakespear's alleged Sycophancy and Perversion
Shakespear and Democracy
Shakespear and the British Public
THE DARK LADY OF THE SONNETS
How the Play came to be Written
Table of Contents
I had better explain why, in this little piece d'occasion, written for a performance in aid of the funds of the project for establishing a National Theatre as a memorial to Shakespear, I have identified the Dark Lady with Mistress Mary Fitton. First, let me say that I do not contend that the Dark Lady was Mary Fitton, because when the case in Mary's favor (or against her, if you please to consider that the Dark Lady was no better than she ought to have been) was complete, a portrait of Mary came to light and turned out to be that of a fair lady, not of a dark one. That settles the question, if the portrait is authentic, which I see no reason to doubt, and the lady's hair undyed, which is perhaps less certain. Shakespear rubbed in the lady's complexion in his sonnets mercilessly; for in his day black hair was as unpopular as red hair was in the early days of Queen Victoria. Any tinge lighter than raven black must be held fatal to the strongest claim to be the Dark Lady. And so, unless it can be shewn that Shakespear's sonnets exasperated Mary Fitton into dyeing her hair and getting painted in false colors, I must give up all pretence that my play is historical. The later suggestion of Mr Acheson that the Dark Lady, far from being a maid of honor, kept a tavern in Oxford and was the mother of Davenant the poet, is the one I should have adopted had I wished to be up to date. Why, then, did I introduce the Dark Lady as Mistress Fitton?
Well, I had two reasons. The play was not to have been written by me at all, but by Mrs Alfred Lyttelton; and it was she who suggested a scene of jealousy between Queen Elizabeth and the Dark Lady at the expense of the unfortunate Bard. Now this, if the Dark Lady was a maid of honor, was quite easy. If she were a tavern landlady, it would have strained all probability. So I stuck to Mary Fitton. But I had another and more personal reason. I was, in a manner, present at the birth of the Fitton theory. Its parent and I had become acquainted; and he used to consult me on obscure passages in the sonnets, on which, as far as I can remember, I never succeeded in throwing the faintest light, at a time when nobody else thought my opinion, on that or any other subject, of the slightest importance. I thought it would be friendly to immortalize him, as the silly literary saying is, much as Shakespear immortalized Mr W. H., as he said he would, simply by writing about him.
Let me tell the story formally.
Thomas Tyler
Table of Contents
Throughout the eighties at least, and probably for some years before, the British Museum reading room was used daily by a gentleman of such astonishing and crushing ugliness that no one who had once seen him could ever thereafter forget him. He was of fair complexion, rather golden red than sandy; aged between forty-five and sixty; and dressed in frock coat and tall hat of presentable but never new appearance. His figure was rectangular, waistless, neckless, ankleless, of middle height, looking shortish because, though he was not particularly stout, there was nothing slender about him. His ugliness was not unamiable; it was accidental, external, excrescential. Attached to his face from the left ear to the point of his chin was a monstrous goitre, which hung down to his collar bone, and was very inadequately balanced by a smaller one on his right eyelid. Nature's malice was so overdone in his case that it somehow failed to produce the effect of repulsion it seemed to have aimed at. When you first met Thomas Tyler you could think of nothing else but whether surgery could really do nothing for him. But after a