Speak It in Welsh - by Megan S Lloyd (Hardcover)

About the Book

From the quarrelling captains in Henry V, to the linguistically challenged lovers in I Henry IV, to the monoglot vocalist Lady Mortimer, to the proud Sir Hugh Evans, Shakespeare offers Welsh characters whose voices, language use, and presence help reflect a sometimes marginalized aspect of British identity. "Speak It in Welsh" Wales and the Welsh Language in Shakespeare seeks to understand why Shakespeare included the Welsh voice in his plays.

Book Synopsis

"Speak It in Welsh" Wales and the Welsh Language in Shakespeare examines the marginalized Welsh voice in Shakespeare's plays and seeks to understand why Shakespeare may have included Wales and the Welsh in his plays as he reacts to, reflects, and contributes to the formation of early modern Britain. Today, contemporary English playwrights seldom turn to Wales as a subject or setting for their works, and infrequently do they include Welsh characters in their plays. Yet during the English Renaissance, we find a great many plays about Wales, set in Wales, or with Welsh characters on stage entertaining English-speaking audiences. From the quarrelling captains in Henry V to the linguistically challenged lovers in I Henry IV, to the monoglot vocalist Lady Mortimer, to the proud Sir High Evans, Shakespeare creates Welsh characters whose voices, language use, and presence help reflect one aspect of British identity. Beginning with Tudor Welsh language policy and its impact on Welsh identity and Britishness, with attention paid to foreign language usage in the Henriad and the characterization of Wales and the Welsh in Shakespeare's plays, "Speak It in Welsh" illustrates how Shakespeare offers a dramatic portrayal of a newly evolving Britain and how he constructs a model for English and Welsh coexistence for a newly forming British identity.

Review Quotes

"The place of Wales in Shakespeare, and the place of Shakespeare in Wales, extends far beyond the setting of Cymbeline and the character of Glendower. Megan Lloyd, like Fluellen, offers a Welsh correction to an English condition-the condition of paying too little heed to England's neighbor nations. Lloyd is to be congratulated for bringing such clarity of purpose and critical acumen to discussion of the vital but vexed nature of Anglo-Welsh relations in the early modern period.'Speak It in Welsh' is a valuable contribution to current debates around colonial and national identities in Shakespeare and in Renaissance studies more generally. By examining the Welsh dimensions of Shakespeare alongside the work of his contemporaries, and establishing a detailed historical context for questions of language and identity, Lloyd makes a convincing case for the importance of Wales as a site of resistance, a source of rhetoric, and a staging post for idea about empire and union. All those interested in the politics of performance, and the ways in which issues of race and representation crisscross the drama, will find something to savour in this rich and rewarding study." --Willy Maley, professor of Renaissance studies, University of Glasgow

"This attractively written volume provides an authoritative point of entry into the intriguing extent to which Wales and its native language figured in the works of Shakespeare. It casts new light on issues of identity, anglicization, and the emergence of Cambro-Britons in the days of 'The Bard.'" --Geraint Jenkins, director, University of Wales Centre for Advanced Welsh & Celtic Studies

"The references to the plays are very comprehensive and the historical background informative....She has undoubtedly made a considerable contribution to understanding the position of the Welsh in the time of Elizabeth." --Renaissance Quarterly

"The volume is clearly the result of several years' study and is fully researched and up-to-date, presenting not only a study from the Shakespearean side (the author is an expert in this area) but also casts the net wider and gives a picture of ethnicity in the Elizabethan period, including intermarriage and language problems; the author looks at attitudes to the situation of the Welsh language in the period, and the exiled Welsh in England (and in particular, in London) in the period....The study is successful, and what we have is an interesting and full picture of Elizabethan society with a focus on Wales and the Welsh language....full, informative, and fascinating....Speak It in Welsh is a long-overdue study of this topic and will hopefully prove to be the first of several." --Sixteenth Century Journal

"Megan Lloyd's 'Speak It in Welsh' illuminates a usually forgotten aspect of early modern British studies: the place of Wales and the Welsh. By examining how Welsh characters were portrayed in Shakespeare's plays, Lloyd goes to the heart of issues of language, identity, and nation. Her study not only examines Welsh characters, but places them within a cultural context with descriptions of historical Welsh people in early modern Britain. Thoroughly researched and elegantly written, 'Speak It in Welsh' is an important scholarly contribution." --Carole Levin, Willa Cather Professor of History, University of Nebraska, author of The Heart and Stomach of a King: Elizabeth I and the Politi

About the Author

Megan S. Lloyd is associate professor at King's College in Wilkes-Barre, PA.