Teachers, students don’t take Shakespeare’s pic at face value

CHENNAI: The mystery surrounding William Shakespeare’s identity and his plays continues to hold readers’ imagination for several centuries.  An engraving of a handsome laurel-wreathed man in a 16th-century book on plants is now bestowed with a claim to be the genuine portrait of Shakespeare. The engraving was identified by UK botanist and historian Mark Griffiths and revealed in this week’s issue of ‘Country Life’ magazine.  

“Mysteries surrounding Shakespeare’s identity and authorship have always been as exciting as his plays. But they do not rise above the greatness of his works. The now familiar visage of Shakespeare is so deeply etched in our minds that a new one may not hold itself beyond curiosity,” says Beena Thomas, head of English department, Chevaliar T. Thomas Elizabeth College for Women, Chennai.

However, S. Devika, associate professor of English, NSS College for Women, Thiruvananthapuram, says “I am not convinced about the recent portrait on the basis of a couple of emblems surrounding the picture. Probably the botanist read too much into it.  We can never be sure. But this new “discovery” proves that Shakespeare is one figure who commands perennial interest among academics, researchers and even laymen. The mystery surrounding his true identity has engendered hundreds of research articles, the claims made in each one of them sounding more convincing than the other.”

Similarly, students of English literature are awestuck by the discovery. “I have read articles which claimed Shakespeare’s plays may have been written by Francis Bacon or Christopher Marlowe. We know him as a man balding, moustached with longish black hair. “This news of his latest identity makes interesting reading,” says Kumar, a student of English literature. When his portrait can evoke such overwhelming response around the world, what about his plays?  

“Shakespeare’s works exist in academic syllabus owing to his past glory. His plays are accepted for their plot characterisation and grandeuer but not for its once acclaimed language.  His works are more enjoyed as adaptations and stories,” adds Mrs Beena Thomas.

But teachers agree Shakespeare comes alive in classrooms mesmerizing the students even now.  “Students are generally impressed and awestruck by the many facets of human character and behaviour that Shakespeare opens before us in his tragedies. The magical world of his comedies fascinates , and his puns and quibbles (once explained) continue to delight them,” says Ms Devika Nair.  Like his plays which evoke myriad of feelings and emotions in readers, the latest finding makes the Bard of Avon the most lovable, ‘mystery’ playwright and poet of all times.