Why Miranda is a Hidden Mermaid. Part I.

Why Miranda is a Hidden Mermaid.

Part I

Miranda is a “sea-maid,” or mermaid, for the purpose of hidden messages in The Tempest, and the rest of the Shakespeare’s First Folio (1623).

 

Why is this so?

 

One reason is that her hidden identity is crucial for deciphering a word puzzle on page 11 of The Tempest that reveals the name of Edward de Vere’s real father-- Thomas Seymour, 1st Baron Seymour of Sudeley, Lord High Admiral. 

Clues on page 5 of The Tempest point to the puzzle on page 11.

On page 11 of The Tempest, the lines “What is your name? Miranda, O my Father” stand out as being related to the puzzle on page 5 of The Tempest, which is about finding the identity of someone’s father.  The relevant lines, with the surrounding lines, are:

                    What is your name?

                         Mir. Miranda, O my Father,

                    I haue broke your hest to say so.

                         Fer. Admir'd Miranda,

                    Indeede the top of Admiration, worth

                        What's deerest to the world….

(Underline added.)

A full explanation of the solution to this puzzle is found in my book, Yes, There Really Are Hidden Messages in Shakespeare.  See https://hiddenmessagesinshakespeare.blogspot.com/2021/01/full-fadom-five-thy-father-lies-ditty.html.  A brief summary of the first steps in the solution are shown below as background.

The first key step in solving this puzzle is determining that, for the purpose of the hidden messages in The Tempest and the First Folio, Miranda’s name is not derived from the Latin word mirandus meaning “admirable, wonderful.”  This derivation of Miranda’s name is also reinforced based on lines in the play, spoken by Ferdinand, in which Miranda is described as a “wonder,” “admired,” and “the top of admiration.” However, evidence in the plays, and evidence in hidden messages presented later, show that this derivation Miranda’s name is not correct for the hidden messages in the First Folio.  In fact, in lines spoken by Miranda herself, Miranda says that she is “no wonder.”

For the purpose of the hidden messages, Miranda’s name is derived from the Italian phrase andare mare, meaning “go to sea.”  By reversing the order of the words, the phrase becomes mare andare, and that phrase easily converts into “mareanda,” by dropping the letters “re.”  “Mareanda” sounds very much like Miranda.

The purpose of this seven-part post is to provide further evidence to support the derivation of Miranda’s name is derived from the Italian phrase andare mare (“go to sea”).

Once the name Miranda is converted into the English phrase “sea go to.”  The first step in solving the puzzle on page 11 of The Tempest is to substitute “sea go to” into the puzzle:

                                                        

                    What is your name?

                         Mir. [Sea go to], O my Father,

                    I haue broke your hest to say so.

                         Fer. Admir'd [Sea go to],

                    Indeede the top of Admiration, worth

                                What's deerest to the world….

The next step to solving the puzzle is to realize that the letter “O,” in “O my Father,” can be interpreted as “zero (0), or nothing.”  The word “cipher” also means zero (0) or nothing.   The words “O my Father” can also be interpreted as “cipher (or decipher) my Father[’s] [name]”; however, the meaning “nothing” is the key meaning of “O” for the solution to the puzzle.

By substituting the word “nothing” for “O,” the lines become—

                    What is your name?

                         Mir. [Sea go to] [nothing] my Father,

                    I haue broke your hest to say so.

                         Fer. Admir'd [Sea go to],

                    Indeede the top of Admiration, worth

                                What's deerest to the world….

The transformed line provides a new instruction, “go to nothing,” which helps to solve the puzzle.  The word “nothing” appears in the right-hand column, directly across from the dialog being examined here, in a set of lines spoken by Prospero that begin with the word “So.”

The lines in the right-hand column are:

                    Pro. So glad of this as they I cannot be,

               Who are surpriz'd with all; but my reioycing

               At nothing can be more: Ile to my booke,

               For yet ere supper time, must I performe

               Much businesse appertaining. Exit.

Following the instruction “at nothing can be more,” the word “more” can be substituted for the word “nothing” in the puzzle.  In the process the “go to” instruction can be deleted: 

               What is your name?

                    Mir. [Seamore], my Father,

               I haue broke your hest to say so.

                    Fer. Admir'd [Seamore],

               Indeede the top of Admiration…

The transformation of Miranda’s name in the puzzle solution is now complete, and the solution so far is: “Seamore [or Seymour], my Father…”.

All the steps in solution will not be shown here (the full solution is shown in my book), but the full solution of the puzzle is—

What is the name of your father?

[Thomas] Seymour

[I haue broke your hest to say[more].]

Admir[al] Seymour

Indeede the [Lord High] Admira[l]ion

As can be seen, the first critical step to solve the puzzle is to convert Miranda’s name into “go to sea.”  Clearly, this is a potential weak point in the solution that critics and skeptics can point to as unsupported other than by a tenuous linkage to the Italian phrase mare andare.  The solution of the puzzle would be much stronger if there were evidence that supports deriving the name Miranda from the phrase mare andare.  In fact, there is such evidence in the First Folio.

The evidentiary support for deriving the name Miranda from the Italian phrase mare andare is found on pages 4 and 5 of The Tempest, pages 72 and 73 of Measure for Measure, and page 149 of A Midsummer Night’s Dream.

On page 4 of The Tempest, Prospero commands Ariel, his spirit-helper, to take the form of a “Nymph o'th' Sea”:

     Pro. Goe make thy selfe like a Nymph o'th' Sea,

Be subiect to no sight but thine, and mine: inuisible

To euery eye-ball else: goe take this shape

And hither come in't: goe: hence

                                                   With diligence. Exit.

(Bold and underline added.)

In the first line, the first word spoken by Prospero is “go,” which is capitalized, and the last word is of the line is “sea.” The word “go” spoken three times in all.  Thus, the idea “go to sea” is emphasized three times by repetition.

The letters “G” and “C” (from the word “sea”) in the line “Goe make thy selfe like a Nymph o'th' Sea,” page 4 of The Tempest, can be converted into a page number using a simple cipher. The simple cipher of the letter “G” is seven (G = 7), and the value of the letter “C,” which sounds like the word “sea,” is three (C = 3).  The number 73 can be obtained by combining these numerals.

Page number 73 of the Comedies section of the First Folio is a page from Measure for Measure.  In the right-hand column of the page, the following lines mentioning a “sea-maid” appear:

      Luc. Yes in good sooth, the vice is of a great kindred;

it is vvell allied, but it is impossible to extirpe it quite,

Frier, till eating and drinking be put downe. They say

this Angelo vvas not made by Man and Woman, after

this downe-right vvay of Creation: is it true, thinke

you?

      Duke. How should he be made then?

      Luc. Some report, a Sea-maid spawn'd him. Some,

that he vvas begot betweene two Stock-fishes. But it

is certaine, that when he makes water, his Vrine is con-

geal'd ice, that I know to bee true: and he is a motion

generatiue, that's infallible.

(Bold and underline added.)

In the left-hand column, directly across from the line with the word “sea-maid,” this line appears:

      Elb. His necke will come to your wast, a Cord sir.

      Clo. I spy comfort, I cry baile: Here's a Gentleman,

and a friend of mine.

(Bold added.)

These lines are interesting because the letters “G” and “C” are capitalized and are very near to each other.  The letters “G” and “C,” 73 in simple cipher, are the letters from the line in “Goe make thy selfe like a Nymph o'th' Sea,” which led to the examination of page 73 of Measure for Measure.

On page 73 of Measure for Measure, the word “sea-maid” appears in the 27^th line from the top of the page.  This is is exactly the line of page 5 of The Tempest where Miranda says that she is "no wonder... But certainly a Mayd.”

Page 72 (numerals of 27 reversed) of Measure for Measure is also noteworthy.  On page 72, the Duke proposes that Isabella avoid the indecent proposal of Angelo by substituting Mariana for Isabella.  The name Mariana is derived from Latin, meaning “star of the sea; grace.”  Thus, the scheme outlined by the Duke on page 72 is to hide Mariana, a "sea" maid, in Angelo’s bed.   Coincidentally, capital letters “G” and “C” (73) appear in the 26^th and 27^th lines of the right-hand column, which seems to be another clue pointing to the significance of page 73. Also, Mariana’s background story is somewhat reminiscent of events in The Tempest.  Mariana’s brother Frederick was lost in a shipwreck at sea with her dowry.

On page 149 of A Midsummer Night’s Dream lines spoken by Oberon allude to an event in the play The Tempest where Miranda, apparently in the form of a mermaid, calms a sea storm with music:

                    Ob. Wel, go thy way: thou shalt not from this groue,

               Till I torment thee for this iniury.

               My gentle Pucke come hither; thou remembrest

               Since once I sat vpon a promontory,

               And heard a Meare-maide on a Dolphins backe,

               Vttering such dulcet and harmonious breath,

               That the rude sea grew ciuill at her song,

               And certaine starres shot madly from their Spheares,

               To heare the Sea-maids musicke.

                    Puc. I remember.

Oberon’s description of the mermaid uttering sweet sounds to calm a raging sea is reminiscent of lines spoken by Miranda to her father, Prospero, on pages 1 and 2 of The Tempest.  Oberon’s line “Since once I sat upon a promontory” is a clue to examine Miranda’s lines on page 2 of The Tempest (“since once,” meaning after page 1).

In the lines on pages 1 and 2 of The Tempest, Miranda begs her father to calm the tempest he conjured up that threatens to destroy King Alonso’s ship and all the passengers in it:

                                               Enter Prospero and Miranda.

                    Mira. If by your Art (my deerest father) you haue

               Put the wild waters in this Rore; alay them:

               The skye it seemes would powre down stinking pitch,

               But that the Sea, mounting to th' welkins cheeke,

               Dashes the fire out. Oh! I haue suffered

               With those that I saw suffer: A braue vessel

               (Who had no doubt some noble creature in her)

               Dash'd all to peeces: O the cry did knocke

               Against my very heart: poore soules, they perish'd.

               Had I byn any God of power, I would

               Haue suncke the Sea within the Earth, or ere

               It should the good Ship so haue swallow'd, and

               The fraughting Soules within her.

(The letters in blue spell the word “sat.”  The letters in red spell “Oberon.”  Letters in purple and red can be used to spell the word “promontory.”)

In Miranda’s lines on page 2, letter alignments spelling “Oberon,” “sat,” and “promontory” can be found near the line “Dash’d all to peeces.”  Thus, Oberon’s lines on page 149 concerning the mermaid are linked to Miranda’s lines in which she pleads with her father, Prospero, to stop the tempest he has created at sea.  For the purpose of the messages hidden in the First Folio, Miranda is the “Meare-maide,” or “Sea-maid,” described by Oberon.

Clues in Miranda’s lines provide text alignment instructions.  Placing the word “Dash’d,” on page 2, above the words “the fire” in the line “Dashes the fire out” on page 1, so that the word “Dash’d” metaphorically dashes out the fire in the line “Dashes the fire out.”  The letter alignment from the text alignment reveals words that are mentioned in Oberon’s lines on page 149 of A Midsummer Night’s Dream: “Sea made” (i.e., sea maid) (letters in blue), “d-all-fin” (letters in red), “musicke” (letters in green), and sea “O” (i.e., sea more, Seymour (see solution for puzzle on page 11 of The Tempest) (letters in purple). 

      The skye it seemes would powre down stinking pitch,

                  (Who had no doubt some noble creature in her)

      But that the Sea, mounting to th' welkins cheeke,

                  Dash'd all to peeces: O the cry did knocke

      Dashes the fire out. Oh! I haue suffered

                  Against my very heart: poore soules, they perish'd.

      With those that I saw suffer: A braue vessel

                 Had I byn any God of power, I would

                 Haue suncke the Sea within the Earth, or ere

This concludes part one of this discussion.