21 (U171.868)

When Rutlandbaconsouthamptonshakespeare or another poet of the same name

 21th cast. page 171, line 868.

 

When Rutlandbaconsouthamptonshakespeare or another poet of the same name in the comedy of errors wrote Hamlet he was not the father of his own son merely but, being no more a son, he was and felt himself the father of all his race, the father of his own grandfather, the father of his unborn grandson who, by the same token, never was born, for nature, as Mr Magee understands her, abhors perfection.

 

Episode 9. In the library, Stephen is discussing his theory about Shakespeare.

 

Since many biographical facts about Shakespeare are unknown, several theories about who he really was have been discussed since early times.

 

Rutlandbaconsouthamptonshakespeare is an amalgamation of these alleged identities.

 

1. Roger Manners, 5th Earl of Rutland (1576 - 1612)
2. Francis Bacon, philosopher and Lord Chancellor (1561 - 1626)
3. Henry Wriothesley, 3rd Earl of Southampton (1573 - 1624)

 

Henry Wriothesley is known as the nobleman to whom Shakespeare dedicated his poetry collection Venus and Adonis (1593), but I don't know if there is any theory that this man is Shakespeare.

 

Stephen argues for a theory that identifies Shakespeare with the murdered father-king in Hamlet.

 

It is difficult to make sense of the passage.

 

“・・・he was not the father of his own son merely but, being no more a son, he was and felt himself the father of all his race, the father of his own grandfather, the father of his unborn grandson who, by the same token, never was born,・・・”

 

I don't know what it means to be not only the father of his own son, but also the father of all his race and the father of unborn grandson.

 

Just before that, there is a line from Stephen, "the Father was Himself His Own Son". He is stating the theological theory that God the Father was His own Son.

 

I think he is equating Shakespeare with God in this passage.

 

Hamnet, the son of Shakespeare, died at the age of eleven and had no children, and Hamlet, the son of his father Hamlet (Shakespeare), had no children. Christ, the Son of God, also had no children.

On the other hand, both God and Shakespeare were the creators of all mankind.
That's what he is saying.

 

The Comedy of Errors is one of Shakespeare's early comedies. Since Shakespeare had a so-called "shotgun marriage" with Anne Hathaway, I think Stephen is referring to him as the poet of the comedy of errors.

 

Mr. Magee is the real name of Eglinton (William Kirkpatrick Magee, 1868 - 1961), a writer and librarian who is discussing with Stephen in this library. Or rather, Eglinton is a character in the work who is modeled after the real Eglinton.

 

"Nature abhors perfection" is probably a parody on Aristotle's "Nature abhors a vacuum. Plato versus Aristotle is the topic of this Episode, and Stephen is an Aristotelian.

Henry Wriothesley

"Henry Wriothesley, 3rd Earl of Southampton" by lisby1 is marked with CC PDM 1.0

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