The two noble cousins

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The knight . Illustration from the Ellesmere manuscript

The two noble cousins (Engl. The Two Noble Kinsmen ) is a comedy of English literature from the early 17th century, which was written in part by Shakespeare and on the story of the knight (Engl .: The Knight's Tale ) from Geoffrey Chaucer's Canterbury Tales based. The play is considered to be the last of Shakespeare's late romances.

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The two noble cousins is a tragicomedy based on Chaucer verse narrative The Knight's Tale ( The account of the knight ) with an additional sub-plot, which runs parallel to the main story. The two cousins ​​and close friends Palämon and Arcite were incarcerated by the Athenians after the defeat of their hometown Thebes . From the dungeon window they see Princess Emilia, and since they both fall in love with her, their friendship turns into a bitter rivalry. Arcite is released from captivity but exiled from Athens. However, he returns in disguise to find Emilia and becomes her henchman. In the meantime, the jailer's daughter has fallen in love with Palämon and helps him to escape, after which he meets Arcite again. To end their rivalry over Emilia, they decide to take part in a public tournament. The abandoned jailer's daughter is now going mad, but her former lover wins her back by convincing her that he is Palämon. Before the tournament begins, Arcite begs the gods to let him win. Palämon prays that he can marry Emilia; Emilia asks the gods to give her the husband who loves her most. Each of the three prayers is answered: Arcite wins the fight, but is then thrown from his horse and dies, so that Palämon remains and Emilia marries.

Authorship

Joint authorship of John Fletcher and William Shakespeare is assumed for the work . Already August Wilhelm Schlegel had in his lectures on dramatic art and literature do not doubted Shakespeare's co-authorship. In the later 19th century, Shakespeare's authorship was controversial, and it was long accepted that Fletcher's co-author Philip Massinger , who was apparently the first translator of the play into German. Today, however, there is unanimity among experts about the dual authorship of Shakespeare and Fletcher. Shakespeare researchers used a series of tests and techniques to determine the respective proportions of Shakespeare and Fletcher in the play. Metric characteristics, vocabulary and word compositions, the occurrence of certain contractions, the type and use of images and characteristic lines of certain types were examined in an effort to distinguish the respective parts of Shakespeare and Fletcher in the play. Hallet Smith now breaks down the proportions as follows, although his results do not coincide in every detail with the results of other researchers. After this investigation, the following sections of the work of Shakespeare come: Act I, scenes 1–3; Act II, scene 1; Act III, scene 1; Act V, scene 1, lines 34–173, and scenes 3 and 4. The prologue and act II, scenes 2–6 are probably from Fletcher; Act III, scenes 2-6; Act IV, scenes 1 and 3; Act V, scene 1, lines 1–33, and scene 2; Epilogue. For the sections Act I, Scenes 4 and 5; Act IV, Scene 2, the authorship is uncertain.

Dating

Title page of the quarto from 1634.

Various cross-connections between The Two Noble Kinsmen and contemporary works lead to a likely origin and performance time from 1613 to 1614. The mention of Palämon, one of the main characters in the two noble cousins in Ben Jonson's play Bartholomew Fair ( The Bartholomew's Market ) from 1614 (4th act, 2nd image) suggests that the audience knew the cousins . In Francis Beaumont's courtly masquerade The Masque of the Inner Temple and Gray's Inn from 1613, the second counter-masque shows an occupation with rural figures: pedant, May lord and lady, servant and maid, innkeeper and landlady, a shepherd with his Loved ones and two baboons (male and female). A little simplified (without shepherdess and with only one baboon), the same line-up performs the moriskentanz ("morris dance") in the cousins (2nd act, verses 120-138). A successful “special effect” in Beaumont's Masque , which had only been developed for a single performance, apparently found its way into the cousins , albeit slightly modified , from which it can be assumed that the comedy was shown not long after the Masque .

Text history

The piece was recorded in the stationer's register on April 8, 1634; the four- high edition was published by the bookseller John Waterson that same year, the printer was Thomas Cotes. The play was not included in the first Shakespeare complete edition ( "First Folio" ) of 1623, nor in any of the later folios of Shakespeare's works, but can be found in the second folio edition by Beaumont and Fletcher from 1679.

Performance history

In addition to the performances from around 1613-14, a performance at the royal court in 1619 is documented. When after the joyless puritanism of Cromwell the theater with the onset of -Herrschaft restoration had reopened, leaving Sir William Davenant by the Duke's Company, an adapted version of both noble cousins under the title The Rivals ( the rivals ) list. Thomas Betterton portrayed the "Philander", Davenant's version of the Palämon. Samuel Pepys saw Davenant's production and judged in his diary on September 10, 1664: "Not an excellent piece, but it is well represented"

Adaptations

The Two Noble Cousins is the only play of Shakespeare that has never been adapted for film or television. After the Simpsons gave Moe Szyslak a bottle of rare 1886 Château Latour without thinking in the episode Co-Dependent's Day , he wipes his tears with another priceless collector's item, an original manuscript by the two noble cousins

swell

  • Edward Arber: A List based on the Registers of the Stationer's Company of 837 London Publishers between 1553 and 1640. In: ANGLIA. Monthly magazine for English lessons. hg.v. Ewald Oel, Volume 1 (1980/91)
  • Hansjürgen Blinn, Wolf Gerhard Schmidt: Shakespeare-German: Bibliography of translations and arrangements. also inventory of Shakespeare translations in the Duchess Anna Amalia Library Weimar, Erich Schmidt Verlag, Berlin 2003, ISBN 3-503-06193-2 .

Text output

English
  • Louis Potter (Ed.): William Shakespeare: The Two Noble Kinsmen. Arden Series. London 1997. Revised 2015 edition, ISBN 978-1472577542
  • Robert Kean Turner and Patricia Tatspaught (Eds.): William Shakespeare: The Two Noble Kinsmen. New Cambridge Shakespeare. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 2012, ISBN 978-0521686990
  • Eugene M. Waith (Ed.): William Shakespeare: The Two Noble Kinsmen. Oxford Shakespeare. Oxford University Press, Oxford 1989/2008, ISBN 978-0199537457
German
  • Ferdinand Adolph Gelbcke: The two noble cousins. First printed in: The English Stage in Shakespeare's Time. Twelve dramas by his contemporaries. Brockhaus, Leipzig 1890, Vol. 3, pp. 1–105.
  • Kurt Klinger: The two noble cousins ​​or unwilling hostility: a play. Editing, reproduced as Ms., stage and music publisher Pero, Vienna 1981.
  • Jürgen Wüllrich: The two noble cousins: The Two noble Kinsmen. Books on Demand Verlag, Norderstedt 2009, ISBN 978-3-8370-8170-1

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Harold Bloom: Shakespeare. The Invention of the Human Translated from English by Peter Knecht, Berlin-Verlag 2000, p. 3.
  2. ^ August Wilhelm Schlegel: About dramatic art and literature. Lectures. 3 vols., Mohr & Zimmer, Heidelberg 1809–1811
  3. ↑ "The two noble kinsmen deserve special mention because they are said to have come from Shakespeare and Fletcher together. I see no reason to doubt this; the play appeared after the deaths of both, but in which one The editor or printer should have intended to deceive this, since Fletcher's name was just as famous at the time, or more famous than Shakespeare's. " ; quoted from PH Sillig: The Shakespeare literature until mid-1854. Compiled and edited by PH Sillig , Dyk'sche Buchhandlung, Leipzig 1854, p. 34.
  4. ↑ Ferdinand Adolph Gelbcke (ed.): The two noble cousins. By John Fletcher and Philip Massinger. Translated by FA Gelbcke. In: The English stage in Shakespeare's time. Twelve dramas by his contemporaries . Three volumes. Brockhaus, Leipzig 1890, Volume 3, pp. 11-105.
  5. ↑ Erdman and Fogel: Evidence for Authorship. Pp. 486-494; see. Pp. 433-435 and pp. 467-469.
  6. ↑ Hans-Dieter Gelfert: Shakespeare , Beck'sche Reihe vol. 2055, CH Beck Munich 2000, ISBN 3-406-44755-4 , pp. 29, 31
  7. ^ Hallett D. Smith in The Riverside Shakespeare. Boston 1974 p. 1640.
  8. ^ Hallett D. Smith in The Riverside Shakespeare. Boston 1974, p. 1640.
  9. ↑ Werner Habicht, Wolf-Dieter Lange: The literature Brockhaus. Mannheim 1988, p. 364.
  10. ↑ Inner Temple and Gray's Inn are two of the four English bar associations and training centers (Inns of Court) in England.
  11. ^ Halliday: Shakespeare Companion. Pp. 53-54, 306.
  12. ^ Halliday: Shakespeare Companion. P. 507.
  13. ^ Halliday: Shakespeare Companion. Pp. 416, 507.
  14. ^ IMDb Title Search