THE SHAKESPEARE CANON:

The Problem of the text:

•ü  Plays were not considered literature in sense of lyrical or epic poetry

•ü  The texts were published without the permission of the author: either copied from promptbooks or from the memory by one of the players  themselves

•ü  Texts were often unreliable

The "quartos" and the "folios":

•ü  These unreliable editions are usually called "bad", and since they were published in quarto size, are called "bad quartos"

•ü  1597 came out a "bad quartos" of Romeo and Juliet

•ü  1623 the first fairly accurate edition of Shakespeare's works (by Hemminges and Condell). It is called "First Folio" because it was folio sized.

•ü  The texts we read today are not  Shakespeare's  originals

•ü  The method  was generally that of comparing the text of First Folio with all other available editions

The problem of the date:

•ü  Not every play that we know is written and/or performed

•ü  Sometimes we have to guess the date of the play taking into account external and internal evidence

External evidence:

•ü  A play can be mentioned in the Stationers' Register, or it may be mentioned by other authors (For instance, some of Shakespeare's plays  cited in Francis Mere's Palladis Tamia , came out in 1598. This play must have been composed before the date)

Internal evidence:

•ü  A play may contain references to contemporary historical events, which help us to date it

•ü  It may use images or expressions that come from other books (in Hamlet, for instance, Shakespeare paraphrases parts of Florio's English version of Montaigne's essays published in 1603.)

•ü  The  style may also help us to give the play  a date

The dating of the plays:

•ü  One of the most authoritative attempts at dating Shakespeare's plays was made by E.K. Chambers.