Philostrate
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Philostrate is the master of revels at Theseus' court in William Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream. He advises the betrothed king not to choose "The Mechanicals'" (the workers') play because it is badly rehearsed. Philostrate: "I have heard it over, / And it is nothing, nothing in the world, / Unless you can find sport in their (The Mechanical's) intents, / Extremely stretched, & conned (learnt) with cruel pain, / To do you service."[1]
Context
The name Philostrate is the pseudonym adopted by Arcite upon covertly returning to Athens in Chaucer's The Knight's Tale (dramatized by Shakespeare as The Two Noble Kinsmen). Chaucer got the name from Boccaccio's poem Filostrato, a story about Troilus and Criseyde.[2] As Arcite adopts this identity to become a servant at Theseus' court, it is possible that the Midsummer Night's Dream character is meant to be the same person. However, the two characters have little else in common. Other candidates include Philostratus, the author of Comus, a play which has been compared to Shakespeare's.[3]
During the play within a play, when the actors are performing Pyramus and Thisbe, Philostrate fulfills a role that would have been well-known to playwrights in Shakespeare's day—that of the Master of Revels. After 1581, all plays in England had to be approved by the Master of Revels before being performed. This man would check the play for any inappropriate content (as he judged it), and would make suggestions for changes. In Midsummer Night's Dream, Philostrate looks over the play that Nick Bottom and the others are about to perform in the same way as one of this office would have in Shakespeare's day. Theseus calls him, "our usual manager of mirth",[4] also pointing to this connection.[5]
Performances
In original performances of A Midsummer Night's Dream, the actor for Egeus and Philostrate were probably one and the same. This can be gathered through discrepancies between the First Folio and earlier quarto versions of the play. In Act V, scene 1, for example, the quartos say "Call Philostrate", while the 1623 Folio says "Call Egeus". One actor filling both roles also explains some of the jumbled dialogue in this scene, as it was probably the result of confusion over the role the actor was playing at the time.[6]
References
- ^ V.i.76-81
- ^ Bullough, Geoffrey. Narrative and Dramatic Sources of Shakespeare. Columbia University Press: 1957. ISBN 0-23108-891-4. pg. 369.
- ^ Kott, Jan. The Bottom Translation. Evanston: Northwestern University Press, 1987. ISBN 0-81010-738-4 pg. 68
- ^ V.i.35
- ^ Engle, Lars. Shakespearean Pragmatism. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1993. pg. 140
- ^ Collier, J. Payne. Notes and Emendations to the Text of Shakespeare's Plays from Early Manuscript Corrections in a Copy of the Folio, 1632. Burt Franklin: September 1970. ISBN 0-83370-627-6