Mis-mything Shakespeare

I really identified with what Jaime spoke in her presentation about yesterday: that it is difficult to get the 'inside jokes' and fully understand Shakespeare if you are not familiar with mythology. I wouldn't consider myself completely unfamiliar with mythology, I've read Ovid (though it was a few years ago), am familiar with the general temperaments and roles of the gods in Greek/Roman life and literature, and comprehend the significance of myths like 'Demeter and Persephone' or 'Venus and Adonis'. But I would still consider myself unprepared to understand even 25% of the mythic allusions in Shakespeare.

I attribute this feeling to a couple of things. First of all, at this point in the semester I had expected myself to have the ability to read through one of Shakespeare's plays and spot most of the mythic elements. Clearly, I still cannot do this. I also thought that rereading some Ovid would maybe help, but this was not the case either. The whole thing is a little frustrating, because I constantly feel like I'm missing something. We've said it before in this class, you can't understand Shakespeare unless you understand his Ovidian and Mythological roots.

This is part of the reason I appreciate Ashley's blog so much, and why she is doing an exceptional job. She takes a concept like the 'Gnostic myth of Sophia' or as she explores in her paper that 'Cordelia is the vessel meant to hold the sacred alphabet of poetry', and expands on it by integrating fantastic quotes and discussing it in context of the plays we've read. More than anything, she reveals her own thought process in a very accessible yet eloquent way. It is clear that much of her inspiration comes from Ted Hughes (as is the purpose of our secondary texts), but the thought processes and connections she incorporates in the blogs are very much her own.

Through reading not only Ashley's blog, but many others, I've realized how unrealistic it is to expect ourselves to uncover all of Shakespeare's subtle and even obvious mythic allusions. In truth, the simple fact that we are aware of the prevalence of mythology within Shakespeare probably catapults us past many people who 'think' they are familiar with Shakespeare.

I've decided it's reasonable to satisfy myself with the few mythic elements I've become aware of in "Mything Shakespeare". After all, we've got to start somewhere. And at this point, for me at least, it is definitely necessary to have Dr. Sexson and the secondary texts outline them. For myth in Shakespeare consists not only of direct mention of gods and goddesses (Hymen, Diana, Venus, Poseidon) and mythological rapes, but of subtle echoes (like the cowslip or cinque-spotted mole).

Ultimately, I believe I have difficulty in picking out pieces of mythology in Shakespeare, because Shakespeare IS mythology. I was 'missing Shakespeare" by thinking too narrowly about "Mything Shakespeare". But I think I've begun to grasp it now.