h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Entry: Marlowe - The Man Who Would Be Shakespeare - A882461
Author: Caregan - U156168

I wrote this as part of a H2G2 University project on Christopher Marlowe's life & work... erm, which I never quite got round to finishing... this was my favourite entry though - but is it too long for an edited entry???

I read this as Marlowe - the Man Who Should be Shakespeare at first

Good entry although I've only skim read it so far. Interesting and well-researched.

I'll be back for a more detailed read tomorrow...


F/b

Great entry - presents all the cases, better than many of are presented by their proponants.

Very very nice. I thoroughly enjoyed reading this.

But the title seems a bit misleading to me... Perhaps 'The Death of Christopher Marlowe' or something similar? It's your decision though, of course.

Hmm, yes - I see your point (think I'd just watched The Man Who Would be King when I wrote this )... could add a question mark to that as well: 'The Death of Christopher Marlowe?'

nice entry.

I had no idea about any of this - having a life threatening allergy to anything related to Wm.S

Maybe that's because deep down you always knew he was a fraud?

deep down I knew that King Bloody Lear and The Sodding Tempest (oh, I hope those won't get moderated?) robbed me of precious hours of my life

Very nice - an interesting read

The one little picky point I have is on the assertion that the Shakespeare texts were delivered as perfect drafts.

I had always thought that there was quite a bit of uncertainty about Shakespeare's actual versions, because the written texts were often transcripts of a living play, and sometimes written down well after the performance.

Hence the scholarly versions of the plays we read now contain a lot of alternate wordings.

sprout

Thank you, Sprout!

You're right about the different versions of the plays, but the reason for that is there are different published editions that survive but no actual drafts (ie the author's manuscripts). Also, none of these printed editions were published during his lifetime, making it even more uncertain which of those is closest to Shakespeare's intent...

I was refering to the myth that Shakespeare delivered the original manuscripts (ie not the printed editions but his original draft) as perfect copies - in other words that he wrote the plays without ever having to correct a line or word once written. Which is a bit unfair since I can't even write a postcard without crossing something out!

Maybe a footnote would make that clear?? I'd quite like to leave that in (in some form anyway) because of that extra little bit of conspiracy about the money left to that copyist

Footnote would be a good idea - clear things up for those with a little knowledge but not the full picture.



sprout

Speaking about Will's Will... maybe you saw this article in the Guardian today?

It's now available (free) online (although I haven't checked it out yet) I thought you might be interested

(hoping the link works)

http://www.guardian.co.uk/online/news/0,12597,1170504,00.html

Oo - no I didn't! Thanks Sho I'm just sad enough to find that really interesting!

I wonder if any other famous dead people did anything as embarrassing as leaving their wife the second-best bed?? Could be a lot of private feuds revealed by what people left their mother-in-laws and wives!

So how's this one going? Is it about ready, or are there still things needing to be done?

I think so - though I could keep going back and changing one word here and there forever...

It looks pretty much done to me, and an excellent article to boot.

(If you really *want* to change a word, I'd suggest adding an 'i' to 'Sir Walter Ralegh'

Thanks!
But if I put an 'i' in, there'd be no reason for my witty aside/footnote

I'm not much of one for footnotes - I hate things forcing me to read text non-linearly and break concentration when it isn't strictly necesary.
Maybe flipping the sense of the foortnote around (also spelt as Ralegh...) would be as informative.

Hmm, well Sir Walt never used the spelling Raleigh himself (mostly he stuck to Ralegh), so personally I prefer to spell it without the 'i' - otherwise it would be like spelling Marlowe without the 'e', just because that's the way people would spell it now.

Then again, both spellings are generally accepted, so I don't think it makes a lot of difference which way round it goes.

I have only two comments to make

>> Is Marilyn Manson the little boy from The Wonder Years?<<

This isn't so much a mystery (as he most definitely isn't the same person) as an Urban Myth that refuses to go away. I think it's funny to mention it here, but it would work better if you at least acknowledge that it isn't true in the footnote.

Aside from that, all that's left to say is a Scout has recommended the entry for the Edited Guide, so let me know when you're ready


Jimster