Shakespeare and the Welsh, Part V

11 Reasons for Shakespeare’s Hidden Welsh Sympathies.

(Read Part One of this series first?)

I don’t believe Shakespeare intended to represent the Welsh in a negative light, having reviewed in former posts this month the Welsh characters and connections in Shakespeare’s ‘history plays,’ and especially since discovering that Henry V can be read as an attack on English imperialism.

In fact, I would even go so far as to say that Shakespeare secretly sympathised with the Welsh nation and language – or that he was at least heavily influenced by people who did. Here are eleven reasons why:

1.) Shakespeare’s Welsh Blood.

For starters, Shakespeare’s maternal grandmother, Alys Griffin, was Welsh, which means ‘the bard’ was himself a quarter Welsh. Some early twentieth century scholars even believed that this link to an oral, poetic, Celtic tradition explained Shakespeare’s imaginative and linguistic abilities as a writer in English, although later critics have been more skeptical about this.

2.) Shakespeare’s Welsh Teacher.

Shakespeare had a Welsh school teacher, Thomas Jenkins. According to the eminent Shakespearean Jonathan Bate, Thomas Jenkins had a deep and lasting influence on Shakespeare, teaching him Latin at the King Edward VI grammar school in Stratford upon Avon, and helping to strengthen his growing abilities with langauge.

3.) Shakespeare’s Welsh Workmates.

Shakespeare worked with multiple Welsh actors in the London theatres. For a good part of his career as a writer, he worked with the company known as The Chamberlain’s Men, a group of actors who at any given time consisted of several Welshmen. These actors included Henry Evans, Jack Jones, John Rice (Rees/Rhys), Augustine Phillips and Robert Gough. Hard to imagine these relationships wouldn’t have influenced Shakespeare’s view of the Welsh.

4.) Shakespeare’s Welsh-Aristocrat Patrons.

Shakespeare’s first Folio is dedicated to the Earls of Pembroke, William and Philip Herbert. The dedication refers to the brothers as, “the most noble and incomparable paire of brethren.” Obviously these members of the aristocracy made a big impression – but as his financial patrons, their influence on Shakespeare would have been all the more powerful.

5.) Wales in Shakespeare’s Psyche.

Stratford upon Avon is close to the Welsh border, and there are more Welsh characters in Shakespeare’s plays than there are from any of the other nations which neighbour England. This is notable when you think of the size of Wales. These characters include Sir Hugh Evans in The Merry Wives of Windsor, Captain Fluellen in Henry V, and Owen Glendower in Henry IV Part One.

6.) Shakespeare’s Partly Welsh Monarch.

Shakespeare wrote during the reign of Elizabeth I, and the Tudors owed much to Wales and acknowledged strong roots there. This in itself likely coloured to some extent how Shakespeare depicted the Welsh. Elizabeth wasn’t as bad as her father, but the Tudors seemed particularly fond of decapitating those who offended or inconvenienced them.

7.) Shakespeare’s Welsh Dialogue.

Shakespeare championed Welsh language and identity on stage. Lady Mortimer, Glendower’s daughter, actually delivers all her lines in the Welsh language in Act Three of Henry IV Part One. This is very telling. English imperialists hoped that the Welsh language could eventually be extinguished altogether – so including it in a play whose audience was predominantly English-speaking is in fact remarkable. Though Elizabeth I may have had the bible translated into Welsh, this was primarily intended to increase English influence through the State apparatus of the Church.

8.) Shakespeare’s Welsh Settings.

Shakespeare sets a whole play in Wales. Cymberline is full of Wlaes and Welsh history and most of the action occurs in Wales. In this late romance, the heroine, Imogen, gets lost whilst trying to flee to the West Wales town of Milford Haven (Aberdaugleddau). Aberdaugleddau happens to be in the county of Pembroke, and it is referred to as, “blessed Milford” (3.2.59). Is this again due to the influence of Shakespeare’s patrons, the Earls of Pembroke?

9.) Shakespeare’s Welsh Love Interest?

Shakespeare is believed by many to have been bisexual. Several names have been mentioned in relation to the mysterious ‘Fair Lord’ or ‘Fair Youth’ to whom over a hundred of the sonnets attributed to Shakespeare are addressed. His patron, William Herbert, the Third Earl of Pembroke, is widely considered to be one of the most likely candidates.

10.) Shakespeare’s Welsh Fairies.

The fairies in Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream are believed to have been influenced by Welsh folklore. Shakespeare was probably inspired by reading Geraldus Cambrensis’ twelfth-century account of his journey through Wales, written in Latin and published in Shakespeare’s time. The account includes a description of the human-like Welsh ‘fair folk’ – Y Tylwth Teg – whose alternative society, inhabiting a parallel world, resembles the fairy kingdom of Oberon and Titania. English fairies, on the other hand, were insect-like creatures with wings.

11.) Shakespeare’s Quasi-Welsh Theatre?

There is some indication that the Welsh language may have been used interchangeably by The Chamberlain’s Men. The printed text for As You Like It contains a curious word which no one could explain for a long time. Jacques says, “Ducadame,” which makes no sense in English or Greek. However, if the English printer was attempting a phonetic spelling of the Welsh “Dewch gyda fi/mi” (“Come with me”), then the line makes sense within the context and action of the play.