17 October, 2014

Dear Editor,

Re my Thursday email letter re the article on Ruth Thomas. I suggested “Gonzalo” was the name of the victim in the play within a play in Hamlet, when of course it is called the Murder of Gonzago! At least, I’d better say I think it is. Of course, Gonzalo is a ship-wrecked character in the Bermuda-linked play, The Tempest, as you point out in the RG today.

I believe Gonzalo was based on a real historical character of that name. Even such an unlikely name as Fluellen, a Welsh character who occurs in one of the history plays, can be traced to a character who was, I believe, someone who had business dealings with Shakespeare’s father.

These tiny details seem unimportant; but for me they consolidate the claim that the Stratford man was indeed the author of the plays.

I sometimes think certain words really appealed to Shakespeare; they tickled his fancy as it were.

I can easily imagine him enjoying the very sound of words like “Gonzago” and “Gonzalo” and “Fluellen”, relishing the Welsh accent, or satisfying his sense of the right word by creating a name such as “Caliban” for the part-human creature of the Tempest. It is terrific to see in the RG an article examining the links between Shakespeare and Bermuda, and the correct origins of the recent tempest’s name.

In the list of notable Bermuda Shakespeare productions, I should include the 1971 production of Hamlet, directed by Ian Suddards , with the fine Hamlet of the late John Instone, a long time player on the Bermuda stage.

DAVID MORRIS

Byron Bay,

NSW, Australia