How to Behave Badly in Elizabethan England

Folger Shakespeare Library: Shakespeare Unlimited

Folger Shakespeare Library

Arts

4.8 • 879 Ratings

🗓️ 30 October 2018

⏱️ 37 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

What is a knave? How about a varlet? Did people in Shakespeare’s time really throw the contents of their chamber pots out of their windows? And was that, like. . . encouraged? If you’ve ever wondered about the naughty bits of early modern history and culture, Ruth Goodman’s book is for you. How to Behave Badly in Elizabethan England: A Guide for Knaves, Fools, Harlots, Cuckolds, Drunkards, Liars, Thieves, and Braggarts covers all the things we don’t talk about in polite company, including dirty words, bad manners, criminal conduct, and sex. We talked with Goodman about what bad behavior can tell us about Shakespeare’s world and about our society today. Ruth Goodman is an author, historian of British social and domestic life, host of a BBC TV series, and an advisor to the Royal Shakespeare Company. She is interviewed by Barbara Bogaev. From the Shakespeare Unlimited podcast series. Published October 30, 2018. © Folger Shakespeare Library. All rights reserved. This podcast episode, “My Speech Of Insultment Ended On His Dead Body,” was produced by Richard Paul. Garland Scott is the associate producer. It was edited by Gail Kern Paster and Esther Ferington. Ben Lauer is the web producer. We had technical help from Andrew Feliciano and Paul Luke at Voice Trax West in Studio City, California and Aidan Lyons at the Sound Company in London.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Here's a distinction that makes a lot more sense on the page than it does over the air.
0:05.0	We're leaving the first production of Henry V in 1599.
0:09.6	Situation 1.
0:10.9	I turned to the woman with me and I say,
0:13.0	I kiss your hand and I call you my queen.
0:16.8	Reasonably, I might expect to smile.
0:19.8	Situation 2. I turned to the woman on the other side and I say,
0:24.5	You are a queen.
0:27.0	Reasonably, I might expect to get sued, or at the very least, punched in the face.
0:44.4	From the Folger Shakespeare Library, this is Shakespeare Unlimited.
0:47.0	I'm Michael Whitmore, the Folger's director.
0:50.4	Okay, now I'll explain that distinction.
0:59.5	In 1599, the word queen, Q-U-E-E-E-N, meant Monarch, just like it does today. But there was another word back then, Queen spelled Q-U-E-A-N, and that meant prostitute.
1:08.7	The difference between Queen and Queen is just one of the dozens of examples of impertinent words and transgressive behaviors that you'll find in a delightful new book by Ruth Goodman.
1:19.6	The title of the American edition is How to Behave Badly in Elizabethan England, A Guide for Naves, fools, harlots, cuckolds, drunkards,
1:29.6	drunkards, liars, thieves, and braggards. Ruth Goodman came into the studio recently to talk
1:35.8	about the difference between cursing and not cursing, when not to blow your nose, and other
1:41.8	ways to be polite or exactly the opposite in Shakespeare's England.
1:46.2	We call this podcast, My Speech of Insultment Ended on His Dead Body.
1:52.4	Ruth Goodman is interviewed by Barbara Bogave.
1:55.2	Well, first off, you win best attention-grabbing book title.
1:58.8	Kudos on that.
	...

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