This business of Shakespeare being Catholic \u2014 in thought word and deed, though subtle enough to avoid getting drawn and quartered \u2014 flourishes in each examination of detail. Here is a specimen for a day on which I have \u201cnothing more to say,\u201d or to do for that matter, beyond watching Lake Ontario freeze over. (Perhaps that will accelerate tomorrow.)<\/p>\n
The character Falstaff in the History plays began with the name \u201cOldcastle.\u201d This created something of a scene, because Sir John Oldcastle was a real historical character, and his proud descendants were prominent at Court \u2014 the top one, the seventh Lord Cobham, becoming suddenly Lord Chamberlain, and therefore licenser of plays. (By happenstance he died soon after, or we might never have had Macbeth, Hamlet, Lear, Othello, nor heard much more from Ben Jonson, neither, nor from the effervescent Thomas Nashe, nor other closet Cath-o-licks who\u2019d sharpened their wits on this dull anvil.)<\/p>\n
Now, Oldcastle was a Protestant \u201cmartyr\u201d \u2014 an unspeakable Lollard from two centuries before, who\u2019d been hunted down to the Welsh Marches and properly euthanized. And here was Shakespeare depicting him as a charismatic low-life drunkard, a duplicitous liar and compulsive thief. The fan started hitting the apples, and Shakespeare\u2019s company must have told him it was time to stop it. The name would just have to be changed.<\/p>\n
That is why you will find lines in Henry IV, Part One, whereon the name \u201cFalstaff\u201d appears, which scan one syllable short of the meter. It is because Will Shakespeare did the last-minute white-out on \u201cOldcastle,\u201d scrawling \u201cFalstaff\u201d over the top. (But leaving in a gorgeous pun on Oldcastle\u2019s name.)<\/p>\n
So where did the Bard get \u201cFalstaff\u201d from?<\/p>\n
It was the name of another old Puritan hero, who didn\u2019t have any descendants.<\/p>\n
Now, if that ain\u2019t cute, I don\u2019t know what is.<\/p>\n
By David Warren, lecturer in religion and literature, St Philip’s Seminary<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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