In
this post, I am going to continue to support my hypothesis that the play As You Like It contains messages hidden
messages (i.e. steganographic messages) about the murder of the poet
Christopher Marlowe on May 30, 1593. I
am going to show the clues to the messages, the solution to the messages, and I
will also engage in some literary analysis.
(I usually try to avoid literary analysis, but since one aspect of the
message is allegorical, I cannot avoid it.)
Background of Marlowe’s Death:
First,
I am going to repeat the accepted facts about the death of Christopher Marlowe
from chapter 2 of my book, which is found elsewhere on my blog. The facts here are based on Wikipedia and
other sources on the Internet. I think
the facts here are, for the most part, undisputed as the accepted story.
Marlowe was killed on May 30, 1593, in house in Deptford,
England, probably a private victualing house, owned by a widow named Eleanor Bull. The circumstances of his killing are documented, but the whether
the report of the facts surrounding his killing are the truth is the subject of
much debate. Even the fact of whether he
actually died on May 30, 1593, is the subject of disagreement. The survival of Marlowe beyond May 30, 1593, is
an integral part of the “Marlovian” theory of Marlowe’s candidacy for
being Shakespeare. Because Shakespeare
clearly wrote after 1593, Marlovians must explain away the accepted date of
Marlowe’s death. They theorize that Marlowe’s
death was faked and that he went into exile, where he continued to write under
the pen name of Shakespeare.
The events leading to Marlowe’s killing began in the
Spring of 1593 when Marlowe found himself at the center of trouble, again. In early May 1593, several bills began to
appear posted around London threatening Protestant refugees who were arriving
in London from France and the Netherlands.
One bill, the “Dutch church libel”, signed anonymously by “Tamburlaine,”
was written in blank verse and contained allusions to several of Marlowe’s
plays. On May 11th the Privy
Council ordered the arrest of anyone involved in the production and posting of
these “divers lewd and mutinous libels.”
Marlowe probably fell under suspicion, but was not arrested immediately. However, the lodgings of one of Marlowe’s
fellow writers, Thomas Kyd, were searched immediately. Kyd was a dramatist and the author
of The Spanish Tragedy, or Hieronimo is
Mad Again. From 1587 to 1593,
Kyd was in the service of an unidentified noble, and, in 1591, Marlowe came
into service of this same unidentified noble.
For some period during this time the two dramatists had shared lodgings
together. The search of Kyd’s lodgings
did not reveal evidence of the bills, but, unfortunately for Kyd, a heretical
Arianist tract was discovered, placing Kyd under further suspicion. Kyd claimed under torture that the heretical
tract was not his and that it had probably been mixed up with his papers when
he had previously shared lodgings with Marlowe.
Kyd later claimed he was the victim of an informer.
Kyd’s statements under torture resulted in an arrest
warrant for Marlowe being issued on May 18th. He made his appearance at the Privy Council on
Sunday, May 20th, when the Privy Council was not in session. His appearance was as “indemnity” to show his
willingness to appear to avoid further penalties.[1] He was ordered to “give his daily attendance
on their Lordships, until he shall be licensed to the contrary.” Essentially,
he was released on his own recognizance and ordered to appear later. Before his appearance at a Privy Council
meeting, accusations of atheism were made against Marlowe. These accusations were made in documents
known as “Baines Note” and “Remembraunces of wordes & matters against Ric
Cholmeley.”
The official version of how Marlowe was killed is
contained in the coroner’s inquest report.[2] First, it should be noted that the report
indicates that Marlowe died “within the verge”; that is, within 12 miles of the
Queen’s Court. Because of this, the
report was prepared by William Danby, “Coroner of the Household of our said
Lady the Queen.” The fact that the Marlowe killing in Deptford occured “within
the verge,” and the fact that the Coroner of the Queen’s Household conducted
the inquiry, has been the source of extensive discussion. On the other hand, because Marlowe had to
report to the Privy Council on a regular basis, it is not entirely surprising
that he was in close proximity to the royal court on May 30th. The report goes on to relate that on the day
of his death, May
30, 1593,
Marlowe spent the entire day at the house of Eleanor Bull, in the company of
three other men: Ingram Frizer, Nicholas
Skeres, and Robert Poley. All three of these men had disreputable
reputations to varying degrees. Robert
Poley is known to have been acted as a spy or operative of Sir Francis
Walsingham, the Queen’s spymaster.
Poley’s involvement in the uncovering the Babington Plot is
well-documented. Frizer was a
businessman and a servant of Thomas Walsingham, first cousin once removed from
Sir Francis Walsingham. Frizer was “a
property speculator, a commodity broker, a fixer for gentlemen of good worship”
and a con-man who tricked “young fools” out of their money. Skeres, like Frizer, operated as a con-man.
According to the coroner’s report, Marlowe, Skeres, Frizer,
and Poley, spent the day together. After supper, the three men were in their room, with Marlowe resting on a bed, and the
three other men, Skeres, Frizer,
and Poley, in that order sitting, with their backs to Marlowe at one side of a table in the
room. Marlowe and Frizer then got into
an argument over "le reckyninge" (i.e., the bill). Marlowe, in a fit of anger drew Frizer’s
knife and attacked him from behind, inflicting two wounds to Frizer’s head “of the length of
two inches & of the depth of a quarter of an inch.” The report states that Frizer was
trapped between the table, Skeres, and Poley, “so that he could not in any wise
get away,” with Marlowe attacking him with a knife from behind, and
was “in
fear of being slain.” A struggle between Frizer and Marlowe ensued
(there is no mention of what Skeres and Poley did). The report goes on to relate—
“& so it
befell in that affray that the said Ingram, in defence of his life, with the
dagger aforesaid to the value of 12d, gave the said Christopher then &
there a mortal wound over his right eye of the depth of two inches & of the
width of one inch; of which mortal wound the aforesaid Christopher Morley then
& there instantly died.”
Peter Farey theorizes that one possibility, among others
he discusses, is that Marlowe’s death was actually faked and that the body of
an executed man was substituted for his body.
The theory is that the body of John Penry, a Puritan preacher associated
with the printing of Martin Marprelate tracts, which attacked the episcopacy of
the Anglican Church, was substituted for Marlowe’s body. Penry was hanged at 4 p.m. on Tuesday, May 29th,
at St. Thomas-a-Watering, two miles from Deptford. The theory of the faking of Marlowe’s death
leaves Marlowe alive to write Shakespeare’s later works.
My
Hypothesis:
My hypothesis is that the play As You Like It
contains messages about the murder of the poet Christopher Marlowe. (It is a
working hypothesis because I have only found some of the messages.) Here is the
hypothesis in a nutshell:
Chistopher Marlowe, a promising poet, was recruited
or sought to become a member of the Rose Cross Brotherhood of writers, and he
was eventually inducted.
Marlowe collaborated with Edward de Vere and
possibly other writers in the Rose Cross Brotherhood, and he became privy to
some of the very sensitive secrets and secret projects of the Rose Cross
Brotherhood.
He may have learned that Queen Elizabeth I was the
true mother of Edward de Vere, 17th Earl of Oxford (and probably Francis Bacon
and Robert Devereux, 2nd Earl of Essex). (This is another radical hypothesis.)
However, if Marlowe was working with de Vere and Bacon, he would have at least
known the messages being planted in published works and other Rose Cross
intrigues.
Marlowe was somehow involved with the publication of
the Martin Marprelate tracts. I believe he somehow subverted the publication,
either by inserting attacks that would infuriate John Whitgift, Archbishop of
Canterbury, and antagonize the government, or, alternatively, he may have informed
on the Rose Cross Brothers involved in the project, which led to the arrest and
execution of John Penry.
Marlowe was entangled in the "Dutch church
libels,” which led to the arrest and torture of Thomas Kyd, and was about to
appear before the Privy Council. There was a great risk that he would divulge
the most sensitive information about the activities of the Rose Cross
Brotherhood.
As a result, he was eliminated for the execution of
Penry, for breaking his vows to the Brotherhood, and to silence him.
Message in the Play As You Like It:
For the messages in this post, I am going to start with a part of a comic dialogue from Act III, scene ii (p. 196-197 of the Comedies) of the play As You Like It (I have underlined the significant parts).
Orl. I wil chide no breather
in the world but my selfe
against whom I know mosl
faults.
Iaq. The worst fault you
haue, is to be in loue.
Orl. 'Tis a fault I will not
change, for your best ver-
tue: I am wearie of you.
Iaq. By my troth, I was
seeking for a Foole, when I
found you.
Orl. He is drown'd in the
brooke, looke but in, and
you shall see him.
Iaq. There I shal see
mine owne figure.
Orl. Which I take to be
either a foole, or a Cipher.
Iaq. Ile tarrie no longer
with you, farewell good sig-
nior Loue.
Orl. I am glad of your
departure: Adieu good Mon-
sieur Melancholly.
I take this to be a clue or riddle leading to a
message. The clue or riddle is—
Seek a fool. He is down’d or can be found by looking in a
brook. If Jaques looks in the brook he
will see his “figure.” This “figure”
will be the reflection of a fool or a cipher.
Also, note that Jaques is referred to as “Monsieur
Melancholly.” Now that we have the clues,
let’s look more closely at a few words.
Here is the word origin of the word “figure” (from http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/figure):
Word Origin and History
for figure
n.
early 13c.,
"visible form or appearance of a person," from Old French figure
(10c.) "shape, body, form, figure; symbol, allegory,"
from Latin figura "a shape, form, figure," from PIE *dheigh- "to
form, build" (see dough ); originally in English with meaning
"numeral," but sense of "form, likeness" is almost as old
(mid-13c.).
(underline added.)
Significantly, “figure” can mean both "visible
form or appearance of a person," and “symbol” or “allegory”. In this puzzle, it is being used in both
meanings. As I discuss later, the
allegorical meaning of the message will be important.
Now, for the word origin of the word “cipher” (from http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/cipher?s=t):
Word Origin and History for cipher
n.
late 14c.,
"arithmetical symbol for zero," from Old French cifre "nought,
zero," Medieval Latin cifra, with Spanish and Italian cifra,
ultimately from Arabic sifr "zero," literally "empty,
nothing," from safara "to be empty;" loan-translation of
Sanskrit sunya-s "empty." The word came to Europe with Arabic
numerals. Originally in English "zero," then "any numeral"
(early 15c.), then (first in French and Italian) "secret way of
writing; coded message" (a sense first attested in English 1520s),
because early codes often substituted numbers for letters. Klein says Modern
French chiffre is from Italian cifra.
v.
"to do
arithmetic" (with Arabic numerals), 1520s, from cipher (n.). Meaning
"to write in code" is from 1560s. Related: Ciphered ; ciphering.
(underline added.)
Thus, cipher can mean, alternatively, “a person of
no influence; nonentity,” a coded or message, or “to do arithmetic.” I believe
the meaning of the word cipher in the context of the dialogue above has been
interpreted in the first sense--“a person of no influence; nonentity,” as a
fool is (i.e., as Orlando insulting Jaques).
I believe it is also being used in the second sense--"secret way of
writing; coded message"—and possibly in the third sense (but I have not
found any proof of that, yet).
Alright, now that the preliminaries are out of the
way, where else in the play As You Like
It can Jacques be found in association with a brook? The answer is in Act II, scene i (p. 190 of
the Comedies). On page 190, members of
the old Duke’s entourage describe witnessing the distress of “melancholie
Jaques” over a wounded stag that he had found “sequestered” near a brook in the
forest. In fact, the word “brooke” or
“brookes” appears three times in this portion of Act II, scene i. The word “foole” and the word “fooles” each
appear once.
Here is the relevant text of the scene:
Du.Sen.
Come, shall we goe and kill vs venison?
And yet it irkes me the
poore dapled fooles
Being natiue Burgers of
this desert City,
Should in_their owne
confines with forked heads
Haue their round hanches
goard.
1. Lord.
Indeed my Lord
The melancholy Iaques
grieues at that,
And in that kinde
sweares you doe more vsurpe
Then doth your brother that
hath banish'd you:
To day my Lord of Amiens,
and my selfe,
Did steale behinde him
as he lay along
Vnder an oake, whose
anticke roote peepes out
Vpon the brooke that
brawles along this wood,
To the which place a
poore sequestred Stag
That from the Hunters
aime had tane a hurt,
Did come to languish;
and indeed my Lord
The wretched annimall
heau'd forth such groanes
That their discharge did
stretch his leatherne coat
Almost to bursting, and
the big round teares
Cours'd one another
downe his innocent nose
In pitteous chase: and
thus the hairie foole,
Much marked of the
melancholie Iaques,
Stood on th'extremest
verge of the swift brooke,
Augmenting it with
teares.
Du.Sen.
But what said Iaques?
Did he not moralize this
spectacle?
1. Lord.
O yes, into a thousand similies.
First, for his weeping
into the needlesse streame;
Poore Deere quoth he,
thou mak'st a testament
As worldlings doe,
giuing thy sum of more
To that which had too
must: then being there alone,
Left and abandoned of
his veluet friend;
'Tis right quoth he,
thus miserie doth part
The Fluxe of companie:
anon a carelesse Heard
Full of the pasture,
iumps along by him
And neuer staies to
greet him: I quoth Iaques,
Sweepe on you fat and
greazie Citizens,
'Tis iust the fashion;
wherefore doe you looke
Vpon that poore and
broken bankrupt there?
Thus most inuectiuely he
pierceth through
The body of Countrie,
Citie, Court,
Yea, and of this our
life, swearing that we
Are meere vsurpers,
tyrants, and whats worse
To fright the Annimals,
and to kill them vp
In their assign'd and
natiue dwelling place.
D.Sen. And did you leaue him
in this contemplation?
2.Lord.
We did my Lord, weeping and commenting
Vpon the sobbing Deere.
Now, on to the message solving!
The images shown below show how the text in the
scene above can be overlaid on itself to make Jaques, the fool (i.e., melancholie
Jaques), stand “on th'extremest verge of the swift brooke” and “peep” into “the
brooke that brawles along this wood.” Note, that one meaning of “verge” is “the edge,
rim, or margin of something” (http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/verge?s=t
). In this case, the verge is the verge
or edge of the column (where the vertical line divides the left and right
column). It is also a veiled allusion to
the “verge” of the queen’s court (i.e., the area formed by a circle with a
radius of 12 miles from the
queen’s court). The coroner’s inquest
shows that Marlowe died “within the verge.”
The hidden message is—
MARLOWE
The meaning is that Christopher Marlowe is the fool
found by looking in the brook. Christopher
Marlowe is the enciphered message or figure in the brook. Thus, there seems to
be a hidden double meaning in Jaques famous line, "A fool! A fool! I met a fool in the forest." Jaques was not just referring to Touchstone.
I propose that the entire description of the death
of the “sequestered” stag is an allegorical representation of the actual death
of Christopher Marlowe and Edward de Vere’s regret at having to kill Marlowe. I propose, that Marlowe was actually killed
under an oak tree near a stream in a forest and that his body was moved to
create the story of the 'Reckoning'
in the room. I have found messages to
that effect that I will show later.
I have also noticed a parallel between the allegory
of the death of the stag with the death of Ophelia in Hamlet. I have not had time
to do any work on it, but I suspect Ophelia is an allegorical representation of
an effeminate homosexual
Christopher
Marlowe. Another allusion to this is
Orlando’s wooing of Rosalind in the disguise of as Ganymede ("Jove's own page"). There seems to be the suggestion of a homosexual
relationship
between Christopher Marlowe and Edward de Vere.
I will provide more evidence in later posts.
[2] The coroner’s report was
discovered by Dr. Leslie Hotson in 1925, and a transcription of the original
Latin text is printed in his The
Death of Christopher Marlowe (pp.29-31), along with his translation into
English; see also The Marlowe Society
at http://www.marlowe-society.org/marlowe/life/deptford3.html ; and Peter Farey’s Marlow Page at http://www2.prestel.co.uk/rey/inquis~1.htm.
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