In addition, in February 1602 Twelfth Night was performed at the Middle Temple, where Marston was a member, according to this diary entry by John Manningham:
In 1607, publisher Thomas Thorpe teamed up with printer George Eld to publish John Marston's play What You Will. Two years later they published Shakespeare's Sonnets.
My Shakespeare Affinity Test detects an extremely strong intertextual relationship between What You Will and the works of Shakespeare. In fact, it scores higher on my test than many Shakespeare plays (marked below in orange, #18):
What does this mean? What You Will has many words in it that appear in other Shakespeare plays but aren't that common in the entire database of 500+ plays. This is a completely objective test and it really singles out What You Will as unusually Shakespeare-like. The play is relatively short and very "dense" in the sense that there a very large number of unique words compared to the length of the play.
What is going on here? I believe this is due, in part, to Marston consciously and purposely using some unusual words from Shakespeare. That is what the Shakespeare Affinity Test is counting, after all: the number of unusual words in a play that occur in First Folio plays. There is also likely some influence going the other way; Shakespeare adopting some of Marston's words later on. And the two authors were likely pulling from common sources as well.
Examining the Whole Play
To get a better sense of what might be going on, I have reproduced the modern-spelling version of What You Will from EarlyPrint.org (under their CC license), and I have marked in red the "hits" from the Shakespeare Affinity Test. I have also marked in dark blue some sections that specifically seem to reference Shakespeare.
Note, just because a word is marked in red doesn't mean it is a borrowing from Shakespeare or vice versa. In some cases Marston and Shakespeare are just both using an uncommon word, and in some cases there is likely an intertextual connection. The threshold for "unusual" is completely arbitrary, and I could produce a version of this with more or fewer words marked in red just by changing that threshold. In other words, don't over-interpret a word being in red.
If you read through this, you will note that the Quadratus character seems to be satirizing Shakespeare. Here is one of the most interesting examples, where Quadratus specifically quotes Shakespeare "a horse a horse my kingdom for a horse". He also says this "Away Idolater, why you Don Kynsayder" which is a jab at Marston himself:
And this very interesting reference to Sonnets:
Quadratus also says "Rivo" several times, for instance:
The character of Quadratus is a bit of an enigma. In the play, he says this about himself: "I am fat and therefore faithful". He is also described, as we saw above, as an "Epicure...that rubs his guts, claps his paunch & cries Rivo". One wonders what fat individual might have been the true target for Marston's satire. Much more to come on this.
[Originally I reproduced the whole play here, if you actually want that just contact me.]
My Shakespeare Affinity Test detects an extremely strong intertextual relationship between What You Will and the works of Shakespeare. In fact, it scores higher on my test than many Shakespeare plays (marked below in orange, #18):
What does this mean? What You Will has many words in it that appear in other Shakespeare plays but aren't that common in the entire database of 500+ plays. This is a completely objective test and it really singles out What You Will as unusually Shakespeare-like. The play is relatively short and very "dense" in the sense that there a very large number of unique words compared to the length of the play.
What is going on here? I believe this is due, in part, to Marston consciously and purposely using some unusual words from Shakespeare. That is what the Shakespeare Affinity Test is counting, after all: the number of unusual words in a play that occur in First Folio plays. There is also likely some influence going the other way; Shakespeare adopting some of Marston's words later on. And the two authors were likely pulling from common sources as well.
Examining the Whole Play
To get a better sense of what might be going on, I have reproduced the modern-spelling version of What You Will from EarlyPrint.org (under their CC license), and I have marked in red the "hits" from the Shakespeare Affinity Test. I have also marked in dark blue some sections that specifically seem to reference Shakespeare.
Note, just because a word is marked in red doesn't mean it is a borrowing from Shakespeare or vice versa. In some cases Marston and Shakespeare are just both using an uncommon word, and in some cases there is likely an intertextual connection. The threshold for "unusual" is completely arbitrary, and I could produce a version of this with more or fewer words marked in red just by changing that threshold. In other words, don't over-interpret a word being in red.
If you read through this, you will note that the Quadratus character seems to be satirizing Shakespeare. Here is one of the most interesting examples, where Quadratus specifically quotes Shakespeare "a horse a horse my kingdom for a horse". He also says this "Away Idolater, why you Don Kynsayder" which is a jab at Marston himself:
Quadratus.
signior Laverdure, by the heart of an honest man, this jebusite, this confusion to him, this worse than I dare to name, abuseth thee most incomprehensibly; is this your protest of most obsequious vassalage, protest to strain your utmost sum, your most—
Lam.
So Phoebus warm my brain, I'll rhyme thee dead,
Look for the Satire, if all the sour juice
Of a tart brain, can souse thy estimate,
I'll pickle thee.
Quadratus.
Ha he mount Chirall on the wings of fame.
A horse, a horse, my kingdom for a horse,Image 010-a eeboLook thee I speak play scraps. Bydet I'll down
Sing, sing, or stay we'll quaff or any thing
Rivo, Saint Mark, let's talk as loss as air
Unwind youths colours, display ourselves
So that you envy-starved Cur may yelp
And spend his chaps at our fantasticness.
Sym.
O Lord Quadratus.
Quadratus.
Away Idolater, why you Don Kynsayder
Thou Canker eaten rusty cur, thou snaffleTo freer spirits.
Thinkest thou a libertine, am ungiu'd breast
scorns not the shackles of thy envious clogs
You will traduce us unto public scorn.
Quadratus.Light Angels, prithee leave them, withdraw a little and hear a Sonnet prithee, hear a Sonnet.
Qua.
Feed and be fat my fair Calipolis,
Rivo here's good juice, fresh Burrage boy?
Then feed and be fat, my fair Calipolis.And "Rivo" likely comes from Henry IV, Part I:
Come, give's some sack.
I prithee, call in Falstaff: I'll play Percy, andAnd another character comments on Quadratus using this word:
that damned brawn shall play Dame Mortimer his
wife. 'Rivo!' says the drunkard. Call in ribs, call in tallow.
there's my chub my Epicure Quadratus, that rubs his guts, claps his paunch & cries Rivo, entertaining my ears perpetually with a most strong discourse of the praise of bottle ale &Who is Quadratus Satirizing?red Herrings
The character of Quadratus is a bit of an enigma. In the play, he says this about himself: "I am fat and therefore faithful". He is also described, as we saw above, as an "Epicure...that rubs his guts, claps his paunch & cries Rivo". One wonders what fat individual might have been the true target for Marston's satire. Much more to come on this.
[Originally I reproduced the whole play here, if you actually want that just contact me.]
