~Sometimes they have more meaning to them than just the name is "unique". It is also spelled this way on the misattributed quarto of Sir John Oldcastle (1600; 1619) and on the verse collection The Passionate Pilgrim (1599). The second, or "good", quarto of Hamlet (1604) also uses this spelling. [13] This spelling continued to be popular throughout the later Georgian period. He criticised Malone and Steevens, writing that "in an evil hour they agreed, for no apparent reason, to abolish the e in the first syllable. Although the name is now a household one, ‘Shakespeare’ is not a particularly common or easy to spell name. As proof for this idea, proponents point to Psalm 46, and allege that Shakespeare slipped his name into the text. [16], The "Shakespear" spelling continued to be used by scholars throughout the 18th century, including William Warburton. [9] A hyphen is also present in the first quarto of Hamlet (1602) and the second of King Lear (1619). 18th-century French critics were known to use "Shakpear, Shakespehar, Shakespeart, or Shakees Pear. odysseetheater.org. whom they call 'Shakespeare' or 'Shake-speare' (with the hyphen)." R.C. [18] Pinkerton did so in Letters on Literature, published under the pen-name Robert Heron. He linked this to a history of the Shakespeare family and its descendants, though he was not able to add much to the material already identified by Edmond Malone. [6], According to Hunter it was in 1785 that the antiquarian John Pinkerton first revived the spelling "Shakspere" in the belief that this was the correct form as "traced by the poet's own hand" in his signatures. [15] The spelling with an "e" at the end persisted, however. We know that because of the six signatures that have to be his (his last name that is) to make official the legal documents on which they appear (deposition, bill of sale, will), in which he spelled his name differently every time. The exhibition Shakespeare’s Potions is on display until June 26, 2016 at the Currier Museum of Art.. Potions, poisons and spells are fundamental to the work of William Shakespeare. This spelling was followed by Alexander Pope in his edition of the Works of Shakespear (1725) and George Sewell (The Works of Mr. William Shakespear). 3. his second best bed. Question: How did William Shakespeare spell his name? On 15 title pages, his name is hyphenated, "Shake‑speare", 13 of these spellings being on the title pages of just three plays, Richard II (Q2 1598, Q3 1598, Q4 1608, and Q5 1615), Richard III (Q2 1598, Q3 1602, Q4 1605, Q5 1612, and Q6 1622), and Henry IV, Part 1 (Q2 1599, Q3 1604, Q4 1608, and Q5 1613). It later became a habit of writers who believed that someone else wrote the plays to use different spellings when they were referring to the "real" playwright and to the man from Stratford upon Avon. The Gentleman's Magazine became the forum for discussion of the topic. The short answer is, he didn’t, because he couldn’t spell. So, among the most common spellings of Shakespeare over the years were: It is believed that Shakespeare wrote 38 plays in total between 1590 and 1612. When he was referred to in foreign languages, he acquired even more variant spellings. Several forms of the name of the English playwright have been used. However, Prospero’s magic in “The Tempest” is not so simple as an indication of power. Pope's rival Lewis Theobald retained it in his edition, Shakespeare Restored (1726), which pointedly rejected attempts to modernise and sanitise the original works. Not once did he spell it "Shakespeare": Willm Shackper William Shakspear Wm Shakspea William Shackspere Wllm. Shakespeare spelled his name all funky Spelling was not seen as important in Shakespeare’s time (a schoolchild’s heaven), even educated people would not necessarily spell words with any consistency. We only have six signatures of Shakespeare, and in some of those he did not spell out his full name. In his hometown, he was known as the famous businessman and property owner whereas in the London he was known as the best famous playwright. [13] Samuel Taylor Coleridge, who published a large quantity of influential literature on the playwright, used both this and the "Shakspeare" spelling. Stephen Greenblatt voiced the belief that “there is ample evidence that William Shakespeare of Stratford-upon-Avon wrote the plays.” In a docum… [13], The antiquarian Joseph Hunter was the first to publish all known variations of the spelling of the name, which he did in 1845 in his book Illustrations of the Life, Studies, and Writings of Shakespeare. There are also many other variations that appear in small numbers or as one-offs. There was a heated debate in 1787, followed by another in 1840 when the spelling was promoted in a book by Frederic Madden, who insisted that new manuscript evidence proved that the poet always wrote his name "Shakspere". He gives an account of what was known at the time of the history of the name of Shakespeare, and lists all its variant forms, including the most idiosyncratic instances such as "Shagsper" and "Saxpere". Top Answer. William Hazlitt used it in his book Characters of Shakespear's Plays. What were the different prices for going to plays? Answer Save. He is often called England's national poet and the "Bard of Avon" (or simply "the Bard"). 1 decade ago. It’s likely that almost everyone reading this had to study at least one of Shakespeare’s plays at school and it’s guaranteed that everyone reading this has seen at least one movie based on one. That last question was asked recently when USC unveiled the new statue of Hecuba, queen of Troy, last week. Thomas M. Raysor, "Coleridge's Manuscript Lectures". It was, however, the spelling used as a printed signature to the dedications of the first editions of his poems Venus and Adonis in 1593 and The Rape of Lucrece in 1594. [13] Nevertheless, Pinkerton gave it wide circulation. [34], Some authors claim that the use of a hyphen in early published versions of the name is an indication that it is a pseudonym. FOLGER SHAKESPEARE LIBRARY. So then it may surprise you to learn that the “greatest English writer of all time” literally couldn’t spell his own […] Here is how the story goes. Reading Shakespeare in the light of all of this information opens an entire new universe to those who already thrive on Shakespeare’s oeuvre. Shakespeare has been credited by the Oxford English Dictionary with introducing almost 3,000 words to the English language. 7 8 9. Isaac D'Israeli wrote a strongly worded letter condemning this spelling as a "barbaric curt shock". ~Usually the main characters and the secondary characters have unique names in Shakespeare's writing. In Shakespeare's time, people were not such sticklers for "correct" spellings as we are today. [17] Hunter noted that "there has been endless variety in the form in which this name has been written." [6], Fifty-eight quarto (or Q) editions of Shakespeare's plays and five editions of poetry were published before the First Folio. Botched rhymes, buried puns and a staged accent that sounds more Victorian than Elizabethan. Favorite Answer. In some cases there were even imagined to be three Shakespeares: the author, the actor and the Stratford man.[8][33]. This is no longer considered genuine, but was accepted by some scholars until the late 20th century. The six signatures appear on four documents: Most of these are abbreviated versions of the name, using breviographic conventions of the time. [size=14pt]SHAKESPEARE left his signature on the Bible.Let me explain it to you detail.Shakespeare use the number 46 as a code to do it. Apparently he never got a clear idea of what came after sp. According to a host of Websites and books, William Shakespeare was called upon to add his artistic touch to the English translation of the Bible done at the behest of King James, which was finished in 1611. Kathman argues that while it is possible that different pronunciations existed, there is no good reason to think so on the basis of spelling variations. Wiki User Answered . He states that of "non-literary references" in Shakespeare's lifetime (1564–1616) the spelling "Shakespeare" appears 71 times, while "Shakespere" appears second with 27 usages. From the mid-19th to the early 20th century, a wide variety of spellings were used for various reasons; although, following the publication of the Cambridge and Globe editions of Shakespeare in the 1860s, "Shakespeare" began to gain ascendancy. There followed a lengthy correspondence, mainly between John Bruce, who insisted on "Shakspere" because "a man's own mode of spelling his own name ought to be followed" and John William Burgon, who argued that "names are to be spelt as they are spelt in the printed books of the majority of well-educated persons", insisting that this rule authorised the spelling "Shakspeare". Churchill notes that name variations were far from unusual in the Elizabethan era: The name of Sir Walter Raleigh was written by his contemporaries either Raleigh, Raliegh, Ralegh, Raghley, Rawley, Rawly, Rawlie, Rawleigh, Raulighe, Raughlie, or Rayly. These are all attached to legal documents. 16. In the Romantic and Victorian eras the spelling "Shakspere", as used in the poet's own signature, became more widely adopted in the belief that this was the most authentic version. [10], The un-hyphenated spelling "Shakespeare" (or Shakeſpeare, with a long s) appears on 22 of the 58 quartos. In some instances it arose from a belief that different spelling literally implied, as R.C. [21], The matter was widely debated. William Shakespeare: No writer in the history of the English language is held in higher regard than England's William Shakespeare. Fidelio:Here’s the pen, captain: your name to the sale. There are two separate lists, to make it easier to test the claim that the names of "the Stratfordman" and the playwright were distinct and spelled differently. Shakespeare spelled his name in different ways, according to remaining records. [8], Kathman notes that the spelling is typically more uniform in printed versions than in manuscript versions, and that there is a greater variety of spelling in provincial documents than in metropolitan ones. When he was referred to in foreign languages, he acquired even more variant spellings. On the misattributed quarto A Yorkshire Tragedy (1608) his name is spelled "Shakſpeare", a spelling that also appears on the quarto of The Two Noble Kinsmen (1634), which was published after the First Folio. Shakspere (by me William) Shakspear. Did Shakespeare spell his name in different ways? The choice of spelling for the Stratford man varied. It is used in the cast list of Ben Jonson's Sejanus His Fall, and in six literary allusions published between 1594 and 1623. He is known for his sonnets. [22] A number of other articles covered the spelling dispute in the 19th century, in which the "Shakspere" spelling generally was promoted on the grounds that it was the poet's own. The "Shakspere" spelling was quickly adopted by a number of writers and in 1788 was given official status by the London publisher Bell in its editions of the plays. He never called himself “William Shakespeare". Robert Waldegrave, who printed the Marprelate tracts, never hyphenated the name, but did hyphenate his own: "If hyphenation was supposed to indicate a pseudonym, it is curious that Waldegrave repeatedly hyphenated his own name while failing to hyphenate an undisputed pseudonym in the same texts."[6]. No writer’s living reputation can compare to that of Shakespeare, whose notable plays include the tragedies Romeo and Juliet, Hamlet, King Lear, Macbeth, and Othello. With rare exceptions, the spelling is now standardised in English-speaking countries as "Shakespeare". George Steevens also used this spelling. [13], Archival material relating to Shakespeare was first identified by 18th-century scholars, most notably Edmond Malone, who recorded variations in the spelling of the name. In Britain the New Shakspere Society was founded in 1873 by Frederick James Furnivall and, in America, the Shakspere Society of Philadelphia adopted the spelling. These are followed by "Shakespear" (16); "Shakspeare" (13); "Shackspeare" (12) and "Shakspere" (8). Over the years there have been a number of variations in the spelling of ‘Shakespeare’, as well as some ridiculous mispells. Hunter also argued that the spelling should follow established pronunciation and pointed to the poems, stating that "we possess printed evidence tolerably uniform from the person himself" supporting "Shakespeare".