Shakespeare’s French Connection

Shakespeare most often locates his plays in Italy and England, and his third most frequent setting is France. Indeed, nearly 70 scenes at a conservative count, and perhaps as many as 100, take place in France in a variety of significant geographical locations. French is also the foreign language Shakespeare uses most; he is sufficiently au fait with French to use it for puns and scatological jokes. He weaves in comments on French fashion, ways of walking, and skills in horsemanship, sword-playing and dancing. Not only does Shakespeare draw directly or indirectly upon French chroniclers but he also presents us with parts of French history. Many French characters people his stage; sometimes historical figures appear as themselves, and sometimes they are alluded to. And the plays demonstrate Shakespeare’s reading in French literature and how that influenced him.
This work shows us just how widely that French presence is evident in his plays. Other books and articles may focus on Shakespeare’s familiarity with Italy, the bible, law, medicine, or astronomy, for example. This book adds to those, shining another spotlight on Shakespeare’s remarkable knowledge and eclectic reading, confirming him yet again as a truly extraordinary Renaissance figure.

Margrethe Jolly, PhD, Brunel University, studied Hamlet alongside its French source and consequently wrote The First Two Quartos of ‘Hamlet’. Her passion for the plays and her love of literature teaching has tempted her to investigate more, and more, of the French elements in the Shakespeare canon.

Margrethe Jolly
Format: softcover (6 x 9)
Pages: 257
Bibliographic Info: 23 photos, notes, bibliography, index
Copyright Date: 2024
pISBN: 978-1-4766-9538-9
eISBN: 978-1-4766-5269-6
Imprint: McFarland

Conventions ix
Acknowledgments and Thanks xi
Timeline xiii
Preface 1
Introduction: A Tiny French Connection 3
1. French, Frenchness, and the English 11
2. French Chroniclers, French Locations, and English History 30
3. French Folk, Wars, and Weddings 50
4. Joan of Arc, More War, and Another Wedding 75
5. Ici on parle français et apprend l’anglais: Speaking French and Learning English 94
6. Marguerite of Angoulême, Her Heptameron, and Shakespeare’s Women 104
7. Catherine de’ Medici and Macbeth 122
8. Nérac and Love’s Labor’s Lost: Nérac et Peines d’Amour Perdues 138
9. Marguerite of Valois, Hélène of Tournon, and Ophelia 146
10. François de Belleforest, and the Beginnings of Hamlet 156
11. How Many Hamlets Did Shakespeare Write? 166
12. Hamlet: A French Play? 178
13. Curiosities in Place and Circumstance 191
14. William Shakespeare: French Matters 210
Chapter Notes 217
Bibliography 227
Index 231

“Jolly focuses on Anglo-French interrelationships from the 12th century through Shakespeare’s lifetime as a lens on all the history plays plus various others. The Bard’s familiarity with the French language and culture is well established, yet this dense study adds significant documentation to his ‘French connection.’ …recommended”—Choice