Two Shapes: Difference between revisions

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The play appears in Henslowe's diary as follows:
[http://www.henslowe-alleyn.org.uk/images/MSS-7/106r.html F.106<sup>r</sup>] [http://www.archive.org/stream/henslowesdiary00unkngoog#page/n227/mode/1up Greg I, 167]:


:Lent vnto Thomas downton the 29 of maye
:Lent vnto Thomas downton the 29 of maye
:1602 to paye Thomas dickers drayton mydellton
:1602 to paye Thomas dickers drayton mydellton
:& webester & mondaye in fulle paymente for
:& webester & mondaye in fulle paymente for
:ther playe called too shapes the some of iij<sup>ll</sup> ([http://www.archive.org/stream/henslowesdiary00unkngoog#page/n227/mode/1up Greg I, 167])
:ther playe called too shapes the some of iij<sup>ll</sup>  
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The second word of the title has occasioned some uncertainty. Malone recorded the title as "The Two Harpies" and Collier as "too harpes", noting that the second word might also be ''hapes'', ''hopes'' or ''harpes''. However, W.W. Greg read it as "Two Shapes":
===Note on the title===
:There can be no question as to the letters ''hapes'', but there is something before them. This looks at first sight like a ''c'', but I am convinced on examination that it is really an ''s'', of which the tail is almost invisible. <br>([http://www.archive.org/stream/henslowesdiary00unkngoog#page/n293/mode/1up Greg I, 233]; [http://www.henslowe-alleyn.org.uk/images/MSS-7/106r.html cf. the facsimile at Henslowe-Alleyn])
Greg notes that the title is not in Henslowe's hand, and may be Downton's ([http://www.archive.org/stream/henslowesdiary00unkngoog#page/n293/mode/1up Greg I, 233]). The second word of the title has occasioned some uncertainty. Malone recorded it as "The Two Harpies" and Collier as "too harpes", noting that the second word might also be ''hapes'', or ''hopes''. However, Greg and Foakes read it as "Two Shapes": Greg explained, "There can be no question as to the letters ''hapes'', but there is something before them. This looks at first sight like a ''c'', but I am convinced on examination that it is really an ''s'', of which the tail is almost invisible" ([http://www.archive.org/stream/henslowesdiary00unkngoog#page/n293/mode/1up Greg I, 233], [http://books.google.ca/books?id=5xNzpYJ28UUC&printsec=frontcover&dq=foakes+henslowe&hl=en&ei=2VzQTeXZLMbq0QHwtKCKDg&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=book-thumbnail&resnum=1&ved=0CC0Q6wEwAA#v=onepage&q&f=false Foakes 202]).
Foakes records the word as "shapes" without comment ([http://books.google.ca/books?id=5xNzpYJ28UUC&printsec=frontcover&dq=foakes+henslowe&hl=en&ei=2VzQTeXZLMbq0QHwtKCKDg&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=book-thumbnail&resnum=1&ved=0CC0Q6wEwAA#v=onepage&q&f=false 202]).
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Greg notes that the title is not in Henslowe's hand, and may be Downton's ([http://www.archive.org/stream/henslowesdiary00unkngoog#page/n293/mode/1up Greg I, 233]).
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Revision as of 14:55, 16 May 2011

Thomas Dekker, Michael Drayton, Thomas Middleton, Anthony Munday and John Webster (1602)

Historical records

File:Two shapes.jpg
See the relevant MS entry in the Henslowe-Alleyn Digitisation Project site here.

F.106r Greg I, 167:

Lent vnto Thomas downton the 29 of maye
1602 to paye Thomas dickers drayton mydellton
& webester & mondaye in fulle paymente for
ther playe called too shapes the some of iijll



Note on the title

Greg notes that the title is not in Henslowe's hand, and may be Downton's (Greg I, 233). The second word of the title has occasioned some uncertainty. Malone recorded it as "The Two Harpies" and Collier as "too harpes", noting that the second word might also be hapes, or hopes. However, Greg and Foakes read it as "Two Shapes": Greg explained, "There can be no question as to the letters hapes, but there is something before them. This looks at first sight like a c, but I am convinced on examination that it is really an s, of which the tail is almost invisible" (Greg I, 233, Foakes 202).


Theatrical provenance

The payment to Thomas Downton indicates that the play was written for the Admiral's Men.


Possible Narrative and Dramatic Sources or Analogues

None known.


Probable Genre(s)

Unknown.


Critical Commentary

W.W. Greg identified this play with the lost Caesar's Fall, recorded in the diary one week earlier. Henslowe had paid out £5 for Caesar's Fall and attributed it to Munday, Drayton, Webster and "the Rest", with Middleton's name noted above the words "the Rest". Dekker's name does not appear in the Caesar's Fall record, but Greg argued that the close correspondence between the dramatists and the payments make this identification "beyond doubt" (Greg II, 222). Subsequent commentators have followed suit.

Doris Feldman and Kurt Tetzeli von Rosador (who follow Greg in assuming that Two Shapes was about Julius Caesar) argue that the word "shape" probably refers to disguises (OED, 7); they note that Middleton commonly associates the word with duplicity and suggest that it refers to Caesar's legendary ability to dissimulate (329).


References to the Play

None known.


For What It's Worth

While the word "shapes" could certainly refer to disguises, it may be worth noting that it could also refer to ghosts (OED, 6.c.). If the play was about Julius Caesar, the title may thus refer to spectral versions of Caesar and/or other characters, perhaps inspired by the ghost in Shakespeare's play.


Works Cited

Feldmann, Doris and Kurt Tetzeli von Rosador. "Lost Plays: A Brief Account." Thomas Middleton: The Collected Works. Ed. Gary Taylor and John Lavagnino. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 2007. 328-333. Print.




Site created and maintained by David Nicol, Dalhousie University; updated 15 May, 2011.