SHAKESPEARE AND TECHNOLOGY

SHAKESPEARE AND TECHNOLOGY

SHAKESPEARE AND TECHNOLOGY DRAMATIZING EARLY MODERN TECHNOLOGICAL REVOLUTIONS Adam Max Cohen

SHAKESPEARE AND TECHNOLOGY Adam Max Cohen, 2006. Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 2006 978-1-4039-7206-4 All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles or reviews. First published in 2006 by PALGRAVE MACMILLAN 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10010 and Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire, England RG21 6XS Companies and representatives throughout the world. PALGRAVE MACMILLAN is the global academic imprint of the Palgrave Macmillan division of St. Martin s Press, LLC and of Palgrave Macmillan Ltd. Macmillan is a registered trademark in the United States, United Kingdom and other countries. Palgrave is a registered trademark in the European Union and other countries. ISBN 978-1-349-73637-9 ISBN 978-1-137-12004-5 (ebook) DOI 10.1007/978-1-137-12004-5 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Cohen, Adam Max. Shakespeare and technology : dramatizing early modern technological revolutions / Adam Max Cohen. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. 1. Shakespeare, William, 1564 1616 Knowledge Technology. 2. Literature and technology Great Britain History. 3. Technology in literature. I. Title. PR3036.C64 2006 822.3 3 dc22 2006041604 A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library. Design by Newgen Imaging Systems (P) Ltd., Chennai, India. First edition: September 2006 10987654321 Transferred to digital printing in 2008.

To my parents Leslie Krupsaw Cohen and Dr. Max Harry Cohen Thank you for crafting me from scratch, loving me unconditionally, encouraging me to pursue the life of the mind, and finding the courage to set me free.

CONTENTS List of Illustrations Acknowledgments ix xi 1. [W]here we lay our scene : The Critical Landscape and the Elizabethan-Jacobean Technology Boom 1 2. Englishing the Globe: Navigational Technology on and around Shakespeare s Stages 35 3. We live in a printing age : Shakespeare and the Print Revolution 65 4. Weapons of Fire and Shakespeare s Dramatic Trajectory 91 5. The Clockwork Self and the Horological Revolution 127 6. Shakespeare s Halls of Mirrors 151 Conclusion: Surveying Technological Confluence 171 Notes 179 Bibliography 213 Index 225

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 1.1 Agostino Ramelli, Le diverse et artificiose machine (Paris, 1588) The Reading Wheel, p. 317 15 1.2 William Pratt, The Arithmeticall Jewell... (1617), engraving on sig. A1v and facing title page 20 1.3 Jan van der Straet, Nova Reperta (Antwerp, ca. 1600), Nova Reperta, engraved title page 22 2.1 William Barlowe, The nauigators supply... (1597), The Nauigators Hemisphere, foldout engraving between sig. Ev and sig. E2r 37 2.2 Lucas Janszoon Waghenaer, Spieghel der Zeevaerdt...[The Mariners Mirrovr...](1588), engraved title page 43 2.3 The Armada Portrait of Queen Elizabeth I by George Gower (1588) 47 2.4 Emery Molyneux, globe (1592), Petworth House 54 2.5 Emery Molyneux, globe detail (1592), Petworth House 55 5.1 Thomas Fale, Horologiographia: The Art of Dialling (1593), A North reclining declining [dial], p. 28 131 5.2 An illustration of a standard verge escapement 134 5.3 A seventeenth-century copperplate engraving made after Tobias Stimmer s woodcut of the astronomical clock of the Strasbourg Cathedral that was completed in 1574 136 5.4 Venterus Mandey and James Moxon, Mechanick-powers...(1696), engraving facing page 198 144

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS W hile writing this book I learned that inventions rarely spring from a single mind. They are usually the result of the contributions of several individuals over the course of multiple generations. This book has benefited most immediately from the authors listed in the notes and the bibliography, the insights provided by friends and colleagues, and the libraries, academic institutions, and professional organizations which have supported my scholarly work, but it has also benefited in important ways from the influences of my parents and grandparents, and I would like to acknowledge their contributions here. In Titus Andronicus Marcus compares Lavinia to Cornelia, the Roman matriarch who was renowned for her dedication to her sons education. My paternal grandmother Rena Cain Cohen could be described as Macon, Georgia s Cornelia. After raising six children whom she encouraged to pursue advanced degrees in medicine and law, she went back to school herself, becoming one of the first women to attend Mercer law school and placing first in her class. When my paternal grandfather Harry Cohen was not working at his wholesale grocery store or cooking large delicious meals for his family he enjoyed reading and studying the Torah, and he imparted a love and respect for religious learning to his children. My maternal grandfather Fulton Hilton Krupsaw was a man of letters who practiced law and was a great lover of history. On vacations he always sought out libraries, and whether at home or abroad he enjoyed finding and reading used books. My friend and maternal grandmother Mildred Krupsaw remains the matriarch of our family. She has always encouraged her children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren to pursue and value education, and she has often told me that she always dreamed of living and working on a college campus. I am delighted that I could fulfill our mutual dream. This book s indebtedness to my mother Leslie Krupsaw Cohen and my father Dr. Max Harry Cohen is much more profound. My mother is a great lover of literature and art history. She taught me the importance

xii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS of self discipline, she impressed upon me the fact that one s appreciation of a work of art is enhanced as one learns more about its historical context, and she has always encouraged me in both overt and more subtle ways to value learning. My father not only had the patience to tutor me in science and math, he also introduced me to the love of Shakespeare s language. He has always delighted in the recitation of moving speeches from Lear and Hamlet, and he has been my most immediate role model in countless ways. As an undergraduate at Stanford I was inspired by remarkable teachers. Ron Rebholz ignited my passion for Shakespeare by giving me the chance to direct scenes from Henry V as part of his class, John L Heureux helped teach me how to speak and write about drama, and Seth Lerer and Terry Castle provided lively introductions to the bookends of the early modern period. During a semester at St. Catherine s College, Oxford, Michael Gearin-Tosh not only introduced me to the metaphysical conceit, he encouraged me to try my hand at writing for the stage. As a graduate student at the University of Virginia Arthur Kirsch inspired me to choose Shakespeare as my professional field, and Mark Edmundson, Cynthia Wall, A. C. Spearing, and Richard Rorty each taught me how to teach by example. Katharine Maus gave me my scholarly wings by encouraging me to ask big questions and take chances in my research, and she also reigned me in when I got carried away. Bill Slaughter and Allen Tilley at the University of North Florida gave me my start in the profession. For their faith in me and their continued support of my career I am grateful. At the University of South Alabama my colleagues provided a rich intellectual environment in which the book began to take shape, and my new colleagues at the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth have provided a stimulating and supportive environment in which to complete it. Portions of this book have been presented at meetings of the Shakespeare Association of America and the Group for Early Modern Cultural Studies. I would like to thank Carla Mazzio, Jean Howard, Crystal Bartolovich, Bruce Boehrer, and Dan Vitkus for organizing panels and chairing sessions which allowed me to share my work with others. Institutional support from the University of South Alabama, the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth, and the Folger Shakespeare Library has been invaluable. My sincere thanks are due to the helpful librarians and staff members at the Folger where I conducted much of the research for this book. I am also grateful to the librarians and staff members at the Library of Congress, the Dibner Library of the History of Science and Technology in Washington, DC, the Houghton Manuscript Collection at Harvard, the Burndy Library at MIT, the Huntington Library, Cambridge University Library, the Bodleian Library, the National Trust, and the Bayerisches Nationalmuseum.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS xiii Two individuals who deserve special thanks for reading the entire manuscript and offering very useful advice on how to improve it are Mark Aune and Jessica Wolfe. Any errors that remain are of my own devising. At Palgrave I would like to thank Farideh Koohi-Kamali and Julia Cohen for their encouragement and their patience. Thanks to Dr. Heather Henri, Brian Henri, Robyn Cohen, Lee Bauer, Dr. Stuart Bauer, Jay Bauer, Eric Bauer, and my aunts, uncles, cousins, and friends for support and encouragement. My beloved wife Debbie Cohen deserves special thanks for traveling to all points of the compass with me as I pursued my academic career, helping me to believe that I could accomplish anything that I put my mind to in life, and giving me the precious gift of time. Last and currently least (but growing fast) I would like to thank the newest addition to our family, Hailey Isabel Cohen, whose imminent arrival on the scene provided the necessary encouragement to complete the primary source research for this book in a timely fashion. As I watch Hailey begin to grow up I can already see that children, like inventions, sometimes exceed their makers wildest dreams.