Shakespeare's Muse

Recent interest in who Shakespeare's Muse may have been prompts one to come forthto dispel the drastically simplistic notions that have been brought forward.In this essay John O'Meara suggests where our concern with Shakespeare shouldactually lie or what form of Muse we can suppose it was that commanded hisdevelopment the way it did.

Shakespeare was fated for a certain experience from which he could not extricatehimself, even if he had wished to. Highlighted is his struggle with Martin Luther'sinjunction to imagine human depravity to the fullest, with which O'Meara comparesthe route travelled by Christopher Marlowe. The challenge was laid down toShakespeare to imagine the worst of human tragedy, which finally focuses for him inthe precipitated death of the loved one.

But it testifies to the enduring power of Shakespeare's Muse that She has 'borne' this deathwith him.

"I find myself very much in sympathy with your general approach."
-Stanley Wells, general editor of The Oxford Shakespeare and formerly Director ofThe Shakespeare Institute, Stratford-Upon-Avon, England