Table Of ContentShakeSpeare and the
ItalIan renaISSance
Anglo-ItAlIAn RenAIssAnce studIes seRIes
Series Editors
General editor: Michele Marrapodi, University of palermo, Italy
advisory editors: keir elam, University of Bologna, Italy
robert henke, Washington University, USa
this series aims to place early modern english drama within the context of the
European Renaissance and, more specifcally, within the context of Italian cultural,
dramatic, and literary traditions, with reference to the impact and infuence of both
classical and contemporary culture. Among the various forms of infuence, the
series considers early modern Italian novellas, theatre, and discourses as direct or
indirect sources, analogues and paralogues for the construction of Shakespeare’s
drama, particularly in the comedies, romances, and other Italianate plays. critical
analysis focusing on other cultural transactions, such as travel and courtesy books,
the arts, fencing, dancing, and fashion, will also be encompassed within the scope
of the series. Special attention is paid to the manner in which early modern english
dramatists adapted Italian materials to suit their theatrical agendas, creating new
forms, and stretching the renaissance practice of contaminatio to achieve, even
if unconsciously, a process of rewriting, remaking, and refashioning of ‘alien’
cultures. the series welcomes both single-author studies and collections of essays
and invites proposals that take into account the transition of cultures between the
two countries as a bilateral process, paying attention also to the penetration of
early modern english culture into the Italian world.
otHeR tItles In tHe seRIes
Shakespeare and Renaissance Literary Theories
Anglo-Italian Transactions
edited by Michele Marrapodi
Italian Culture in the Drama of Shakespeare and His Contemporaries
Rewriting, Remaking, Refashioning
edited by Michele Marrapodi
The Perfect Genre. Drama and Painting in Renaissance Italy
kristin phillips-court
Shakespeare and the
Italian renaissance
appropriation, transformation, Opposition
edited by
MIchele MarrapOdI
University of Palermo, Italy
© Michele Marrapodi and contributors 2014
all rights reserved. no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval
system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying,
recording or otherwise without the prior permission of the publisher.
Michele Marrapodi has asserted his right under the copyright, designs and patents act,
1988, to be identifed as the editor of this work.
published by
ashgate publishing limited ashgate publishing company
Wey court east 110 cherry Street
Union road Suite 3-1
Farnham Burlington
Surrey, GU9 7pt Vt 05401-3818
england USa
www.ashgate.com
British library cataloguing in Publication data
a catalogue record for this book is available from the British library
the library of congress has cataloged the printed edition as follows:
Shakespeare and the Italian renaissance : appropriation, transformation, Opposition /
edited by Michele Marrapodi.
pages cm.—(anglo-Italian renaissance studies)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBn 978-1-4724-4839-2 (hardcover : alk. paper)—ISBn 978-1-4724-4840-8 (ebook)—
ISBn 978-1-4724-4841-5 (epub)
1. Shakespeare, William, 1564–1616—knowledge—Italy. 2. english drama—early
modern and elizabethan, 1500–1600—history and criticism. 3. english drama—17th
century—History and criticism. 4. English drama—Italian infuences. 5. Renaissance—
Italy. 6. Italy—In literature. I. Marrapodi, Michele, editor.
pr3069.I8S498 2015
822.3’3—dc23
2014026180
ISBn: 9781472448392 (hbk)
ISBn: 9781472448408 (ebk – pdF)
ISBn: 9781472448415 (ebk – epUB)
V
contents
List of Figures vii
Notes on Contributors ix
Acknowledgments xiii
Introduction: Shakespearean Subversions 1
Michele Marrapodi
PARt I APPRoPRIAtIons oF PoetRY And PRose
1 Sprezzatura and embarrassment in The Merchant of Venice 21
Harry Berger, Jr.
2 a niggle of doubt: courtliness and chastity in Shakespeare
and castiglione 39
John Roe
3 dramatic appropriations of Italian courtliness 57
Thomas Kullmann
4 disowning the Bond: coriolanus’s Forgetful humanism 73
Maria Del Sapio Garbero
5 Matteo Bandello’s Social authorship and paulina as patroness
in The Winter’s Tale 93
Melissa Walter
6 tracing a Villain: typological Intertextuality in the Works of painter,
Webster, cinthio, and Shakespeare 107
Karen Zyck Galbraith
PARt II tRAnsFoRMAtIons oF toPoI And tHeAtRegRAMs
7 “Wanton pictures”: The Baffing of Christopher Sly and the
Visual-Verbal Intercourse of early Modern erotic arts 123
Keir Elam
8 Shylock’s Venice and the Grammar of the Modern city 147
Sergio Costola and Michael Saenger
vi Shakespeare and the Italian Renaissance
9 Helen, the Italianate Theatrical Wayfarer of All’s Well
That Ends Well 163
Eric Nicholson
10 “These Times of Woe”: The Contraction and Dislocation of Time in
Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet 181
Bruce W. Young
11 “Dark is Light” – From Italy to England: Challenging Tradition
through Colours 199
Camilla Caporicci
12 The Italian Commedia and the Fashioning of the Shakespearean Fool 215
Iuliana Tanase
PART III OPPOSITIONS OF IDEOLOGIES AND CULTURES
13 The Aretinean Intertext and the Heterodoxy of The Taming of the Shrew 235
Michele Marrapodi
14 Shakespeare Italianate: Sceptical Crises in Three Kinds of Play 257
Lawrence F. Rhu
15 The Jew and the Justice of Venice 275
Hanna Scolnicov
16 Hamlet, Ortensio Lando, or “To Be or Not To Be”
Paradoxically Explained 291
Rocco Coronato
17 Much Ado about Italians in Renaissance London 305
Duncan Salkeld
18 Shakespeare, Italian Music-Drama, and Contemporary Performance:
Space, Time, and the Acoustic Worlds of Romeo and Juliet
and The Tempest 317
Anthony R. Guneratne
Bibliography 333
Index 359
list of Figures
7.1 robert Smirke, Taming of the Shrew – Induction, Scene II,
a room in the lord’s house, engraved by robert thew
for Boydell’s Shakespeare Gallery and Folio, 1794.
By permission of the Folger Shakespeare library. 124
7.2 Fragments of Marcantonio raimondi’s I modi. © the trustee
of the British Museum. 129
7.3 aretino, Sonetti lussuriosi, Sonnet 11. By courtesy of the library
of the University of Bologna. 137
8.1 John Florio, Firste Fruites, 1578 (london, 1578), p. 156r–v.
reproduced by kind permission of the huntington library,
San Marino, california. 158
15.1 Statue of Justice on the south front of the palazzo ducale.
Shutterstock image. 278
15.2 palazzo ducale, west front. Shutterstock image. 279
15.3 Jacobello del Fiore, Justice fanked by archangels Michael
and Gabriel, 1421. Web Gallery of art. 282
15.4 palazzo ducale, west and south fronts. Shutterstock image. 283
15.5 palazzo ducale, porta della carta. Shutterstock image. 284
15.6 Filippo calendario (?), Venecia (c. 1345), palazzo ducale,
west front. Shutterstock image. 285
15.7 Il Dottore, anon., 18th century. last accessed (May 2014)
at http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:arlequin_-_
pantalone_-_Il_dottore_-commedia_dell’arte.JpG. 288
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notes on contributors
Harry Berger, Jr. is a professor emeritus of literature and art history at the
University of california, Santa cruz. his most recent books include The Absence
of Grace: Sprezzatura and Suspicion in Two Renaissance Courtesy Books (2000)
and A Fury in the Words: Love and Embarrassment in Shakespeare’s Venice (2012).
John Roe is a reader in english and related literature, University of York. he is
the author of Shakespeare and Machiavelli (2002). he has edited Shakespeare: The
Poems (2006) and Inspiration and Technique: Ancient to Modern Views on Beauty
and Art (with Michele Stanco, 2007). he contributed to the Great Shakespeareans
series (continuum press).
thomas Kullmann is director of the “Institut fuer anglistik und amerikanistik”
at the University of Osnabrueck and author of a number of articles and essays on
Shakespeare and elizabethan drama.
Maria del sapio garbero is a Full professor of english literature at roma tre
University. She has written widely on Shakespeare and early modern drama. She is
the author of Il bene ritrovato: le fglie di Shakespeare dal ‘King Lear’ ai Romances
(2005) and the editor of Identity, Otherness and Empire in Shakespeare’s Rome
(2009).
Melissa Walter teaches english literature at the University of the Fraser Valley,
canada. She has contributed to many journals and collections of essays on
renaissance drama. She is currently completing a book on The Italian Novella
and Shakespearean Comedy.
Karen Zyck galbraith is an independent scholar residing in Boston,
Massachusetts. She recently received her ph.d. in english literature from
Marquette University in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, where her research focused on
the early modern novella and its substantial infuence on Jacobean drama.
Keir elam is a Full professor of english drama at the University of Bologna
and advisory editor of “anglo-Italian renaissance Studies” (ashgate). his books
include The Semiotics of Theatre and Drama (1980) and Shakespeare University
of Discourse (1984). his edited volumes include Shakespeare’s Today (1984) and
La grande festa del linguaggio (1986). he is the editor of Twelfth Night for the
arden Shakespeare.
