Covert Appropriations of Shakespeare: Three Case Studies

Papers on Language and Literature, Winter 2007 by Hirsh, James

Being a great poet himself, Robert Browning probably appreciated Elizabeth's artistic wit and daring in creating a genuine love poem addressed to himself out of materials supplied by a contemptible character. But it is unlikely that Elizabeth intended general readers of her poem to make the connection. Many readers would become distracted by this curious feature of the poem's creation. They would either be baffled by the connection or wonder if it was a sly hint that the speaker of the poem was meant to be as insincere as Goneril. This explains why Browning did not employ extended verbatim phrases from the speech. She appropriated materials from the speech but disguised her source.

Browning was often effusive in her admiration for Shakespeare's genius: "our Shakespeare passes to the presidency unquestioned, as the greatest artist in the world" (The Book of the Poet in Complete Works 6: 272). The phrase "our Shakespeare," which she used on numerous occasions,4 is ambiguous. It may mean that Shakespeare is a member of "our" nation or "our" species, but it may also mean that his works have become "our" property, to be used as we see fit. That Browning could use a possessive pronoun to express ownership by right of being an artist is suggested by the following passage in a letter to Robert Browning (25 May 1845) : "I quote again from your Shakespeare to you who are a dramatic poet" (R. Browning and Barrett, 1: 79). Browning's deep immersion in Shakespeare 's works is borne out by her correspondence. Her letters to a single correspondent, Mary Russell Mitford, contain over two hundred allusions to Shakespeare (see Mitford). In an 1841 letter, she confessed to a desire to see Shakespeare "with his hose un gartered" (15 July, Mitford 1: 234). Browning imagined herself in a situation strangely analogous to that of Ophelia when Hamlet shows up in her private chamber with his stockings "Ungart'red" (2.1.77).

A connection between the opening scene of Lrarand "How do I love thee? Let me count the ways" was eerily foreshadowed by the following passage from an 1836 letter from Browning to Mitford: "how can I thank you enough? Let me be silent, & love you!" (29 Sept 1836, Mitfardl: 17). This passage both anticipates the famous opening line of Browning's sonnet and paraphrases part of Cordelia's aside-"Love, and be silent"-that immediately follows the speech by Goneril that is appropriated in the sonnet. In Sonnet 13 of Sonnets of the Portuguese Browning again paraphrased Cordelia:

And wilt thou have me fashion into speech

The love I bear thee [. . .]

[...............................]

Nay, let the silence of my womanhood

Commend my woman-love [. ..]. (1-2, 9-10)

This sonnet in which Browning paraphrased one of Lear's daughters balances Sonnet 43, in which she paraphrased another.

It is likely that Browning was drawn to both Goneril and Cordelia because of similarities between them and herself. Like Goneril, Browning was the "eldest-born" of a domineering father. He forbad Elizabeth to marry, and so she was forced to elope with Robert Browning. A letter from Elizabeth to Robert that described a confrontation with her father could serve as Cordelia's account of the opening scene of Lear: "words have been said that I cannot easily forget, nor remember without pain. [...]! was treated [. . .] as an undutiful daughter. [. . .] he washed his hands of me altogether. [. . .] my spirits sink altogether at the thought of leaving England so" (25 Sept 1845, R. Browning and Barrett 1: 211).