The following blog post was adapted from an article that appeared in THE DAY.
Shakespeare intervenes in refugee crisis
THE DAY, Wednesday, 16 March 2016
http://theday.co.uk/arts/shakespeare-intervenes-in-refugee-crisis
This is the only known script in Shakespeare’s hand...
The British Library has digitised a powerful
speech in Shakespeare’s own handwriting: a heartfelt plea for the humane treatment of
refugees. Does the
bard have an answer to Europe’s crisis?
Germany’s chancellor, Angela Merkel, is sticking by her
welcoming policy for refugees, despite the mounting resistance from EU citizens. And
yesterday she found support from an unexpected source: England’s most famous writer
and beloved
bard, William Shakespeare.
A powerful speech appealing to the humanity of a xenophobic crowd has surfaced as if from beyond the grave
- or rather, the British Library has digitised the handwritten document in
time for this year’s anniversary of Shakespeare’s death.
Scholars believe that the speech was inserted by Shakespeare into a play about Sir Thomas More by less interesting writers, and
commentators were quick to
point out that it has a spooky affinity with today’s refugee crisis.
The scene of the play takes place on 1 May 1517 - a day which later
became known as ‘Evil May Day’ (cf. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evil_May_Day).
French, Belgian and Italian immigrants had travelled to London to escape various
religious and political wars in Europe. Inflamed by an angry speech calling on
‘Englishmen to
cherish and defend themselves,’ a violent mob of working-class apprentices marched through
central London, where many of the foreigners were living.
Sir Thomas More, who at the time was under-sheriff of London, was sent
to calm them. He asks them to imagine the ‘wretched strangers’ with ‘babies at their
backs’, ‘plodding to
the ports and coasts for transportation’. It is a description that could be
taken straight from today’s shores in Europe, which saw hundreds of thousands cross the Mediterranean in search of asylum last year.
More then asks the crowds to put themselves in the strangers’ shoes. He asks: “How
would you like to be treated in their place?” And he finishes with a scornful summary of
the crowd’s ‘mountainish inhumanity’ (i.e. big as a mountain or perhaps
referring to the supposedly backward mentality of people who live in mountainous regions?).
‘It is striking
and sad just how relevant
it seems to us now considering what is happening in Europe,’ said the British
Library’s curator, Zoe Wilcox. ‘At its heart it is really about empathy.’
'Your great trespass'
This a powerful speech, say some, but let’s not get carried away. The circumstances
of 16th-century England were strikingly different to Europe today. There was no European
Union, no Daesh targeting
civilians. There are 50 million more people in England and Wales now
than in 1500. Political decisions should not be dictated by a long-dead writer
from Warwickshire.
This is wilfully
missing the point, argue others. Of course Shakespeare is not directly
addressing Nigel Farage. But his words prove that this is an issue that
returns throughout history. It is easy to fear outsiders, but xenophobia is
always proved wrong as a culture adjusts to its new arrivals. We must remember
our common humanity - and no one is better at reminding us than Shakespeare.
GROUP WORK
1. Each person in the class reads
out loud a paragraph of the text.
2. Each person in the group
translates two (or three) paragraphs. In turn, read out your translations.
3. In your index notebooks, write
down, translate, and then help each other learn by heart the words highlighted in grey.
4. Listen to the teacher comment the
words in white highlighted in black.Take notes!
5.
Below is the text written by Shakespeare (cf. the photo above of the handwritten
document). Listen to Sir Ian McKellen (go
to 2:50) recite More’s speech to the mob (whilst reading the transcript below):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RFJaqVG_nMY . The parts in bold have been translated (cf. 7).
Thomas
More is sent by the King to quell a riot in the streets of London. The riot is
happening at St. Martins in the Fields and a young apprentice shouts that the
strangers should be removed, and Thomas More replies:
"Grant
them removed, and grant that this your noise
Hath
chid down all the majesty of England;
Imagine that you see the wretched
strangers,
Their babies at their backs with
their poor luggage,
Plodding to the ports and coasts for
transportation,
And that you sit as kings in your
desires,
Authority quite silenced by your
brawl, and you in rough of your opinions clothed;
What had you got? I'll tell you: you
had taught
How insolence and strong hand should
prevail,
How order should be quelled; and by
this pattern
Not one of you should live an aged
man,
For other ruffians, as their fancies
wrought,
With self same hand, self reasons,
and self right,
Would shark on you, and men like
ravenous fishes
Would feed on one another.
O,
desperate as you are,
Wash
your foul minds with tears, and those same hands,
That
you like rebels lift against the peace,
Lift
up for peace, and your unreverent knees,
Make
them your feet to kneel to be forgiven!
You'll
put down strangers,
Kill
them, cut their throats, possess their houses,
And
lead the majesty of law in lion,
To
slip him like a hound. Say now the king
(As
he is clement, if th' offender mourn)
Should
so much come to short of your great trespass
As
but to banish you, whither would you go?
What
country, by the nature of your error,
Should
give you harbor? Go you to France or
Flanders,
To any German province, to Spain or
Portugal,
Nay,
anywhere that not adheres to England,
Why, you must needs be strangers: would you be pleased
To
find a nation of such barbarous temper,
That,
breaking out in hideous violence,
Would
not afford you an abode on earth,
Whet
their detested knives against your throats,
Spurn
you like dogs, and like as if that God
Owed
not nor made not you, nor that the claimants
Were
not all appropriate to your comforts,
But
chartered unto them, what would you think
To
be thus used? This is the strangers case;
And
this your momtainish inhumanity.
6.
Listen to the teacher read out loud the modern version of the speech (it has
been shortened):
Grant them removed,
and grant that this your noise
Hath chid down all the
majesty of England;
(Okay, let’s say you
get your way, and this riot sees the strangers kicked out of England.)
Imagine that you see
the wretched strangers,
Their babies at their
backs and their poor luggage,
Plodding to the ports
and coasts for transportation,
(Imagine that you can
see them, holding their babies and their things, travelling to the coast and
leaving for good.)
And that you sit as
kings in your desires,
Authority quite silent
by your brawl,
And you in ruff of
your opinions clothed;
(You have got your
wish; you have silenced the government with your anger and you wear it proudly.)
What had you got? I’ll
tell you: you had taught
How insolence and strong
hand should prevail,
How order should be
quelled; and by this pattern
Not one of you should
live an aged man,
(So what have you
achieved? I’ll tell you: you have shown that insolence and brute force ought to
win, and that peace should not last. By this logic, you won’t be around very
long.)
For other ruffians, as
their fancies wrought,
With self same hand,
self reasons, and self right,
Would shark on you,
and men like ravenous fishes
Would feed on one
another….
(Soon, others will be
angered for the same self-righteous reasons that you claim now, and soon they
will turn on you too. Society will tear itself apart.)
Say now the king
Should so much come
too short of your great trespass
As but to banish you,
whither would you go?
(Now let’s say that
your rioting today doesn’t work, and the king banishes you for your treason.
Where will you go?)
What country, by the
nature of your error,
Should give you
harbour? Go you to France or Flanders,
To any German
province, to Spain or Portugal,
Nay, anywhere that not
adheres to England,
(Which country will
take you? France? Flanders? Germany, Spain, Portugal? Anywhere but England.)
Why, you must needs be
strangers: would you be pleased
To find a nation of
such barbarous temper,
That, breaking out in
hideous violence,
Would not afford you
an abode on earth,
Whet their detested
knives against your throats,
Spurn you like dogs,
(Now you have become
the stranger. Would you be happy to arrive in a country so angry at your
arrival that it breaks out in riots, does not give you shelter, cuts your
throat and treats you like a dog?)
and like as if that
God
Owed not nor made not
you, nor that the claimants
Were not all
appropriate to your comforts, But chartered unto them,
(That acts as if you
were not made by the same God, as if it deserves more than you?)
what would you think
To be thus used?
(How would you feel to
be treated that way?)
this is the strangers
case;
And this your
mountainish inhumanity.
(That is how the
strangers feel now.
This is the enormous inhumanity you have shown.)
This is the enormous inhumanity you have shown.)
7.
Listen to the teacher read the translation of part of the text (the parts in bold, cf. 5):
« Imaginez le spectacle de ces malheureux
étrangers, / Leurs bébés sur le dos, avec leur misérable baluchon, / Marchant
péniblement vers les portes et les côtes pour être déportés ; Imaginez que vous
trôniez, vous, monarques de vos caprices, / L'autorité de l'Etat rendue muette
par vos vociférations, / Drapés dans votre bonne conscience ; / Qu'auriez-vous
obtenu ? [...] / Vous auriez montré que l'ordre pouvait être bafoué et, selon
cette logique, / Pas un de vous ne devrait atteindre un grand âge / Car
d'autres voyous, au gré de leurs caprices, Avec les mêmes mains, avec les mêmes
raisons et au nom du même droit, / Vous attaqueront comme des requins et les
hommes, comme des poissons voraces, / Se dévoreront entre eux (…) Si vous
alliez en France ou en Flandres, dans une province allemande, en Espagne ou au
Portugal", (…) "vous seriez
les étrangers. »
8.
List some of the arguments that you have heard or read in the media against (more) immigrants (refugees)
coming into your country.
9.
List some of the arguments that you have heard or read in the media for allowing (more) immigrants
(refugees) into your country.
10.
In what ways could refugees be better helped do you think? You should read
relevant news articles to help you think about the issue before writing your
answer…
If you find this topic interesting, carry out further research:
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