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THE DRAMATURGICAL AND THEATRICAL HERITAGE
and they function not as texts, but first and foremost as “objects that move
between individuals”! On the other hand, the passage cited above also shifts
attention from the text of the letter, which in this case is not disclosed, to the
significance and complexity of the task of the messenger, who was not simply
a carrier, but also reported on the recipient’s reactions and thus contributed
to the written correspondence.
Unlike in the case of Magnyfycence and the anonymous play, there are
two occasions when even the texts of letters are read on stage, and on each
occasion, this reading reveals a murder attempt. First, Gloster reads aloud the
letter that Edmund forged to make his father believe that Edgar intended to
kill him. This scene resembles Fansy’s first meeting with Magnyfycence, since
the letter becomes an attribute of a vice character, who remains present and
deceitfully influences the process of interpretation:
A Letter.
Glost. This policie of age makes the world bitter to the best / of our times, keepes
our fortunes from vs till our oldnes cannot / relish them, I begin to find an idle and
fond bondage in the op- / pression of aged tyranny, who swaies not as it hath power,
but as / it is suffered, come to me, that of this I may speake more; if our / father
would sleepe till I wakt him, you should inioy halfe his / reuenew for euer, and liue
the beloued of your brother Ed-/gar."?
This letter has special significance in the subplot, Stewart argues, because
Gloster’s fate seems to be decided by closet letters. First, Edmund alleges that
he found this forged letter, which ultimately makes Gloster fall victim to his
bastard son’s manipulation, “throwne in at the casement of my closet.”!© Later,
Cordelia also sends Gloster a letter which he hides in his closet, but to his
great regret he also informs Edmund about it, who steals the letter in order to
give it to Cornwall as a token of treason, which then leads to Gloster’s blinding
on stage. As Stewart concludes, the presence of the letters in the closet thus
signals their dangerous nature, yet what makes their misinterpretation and
abuse possible is that their messenger is unknown, so there is nobody to
answer for their origin.’
Second, in addition to being the victim of a forgery, Edgar also becomes a
special reader as he reads aloud another dangerous letter written by Gonorill
in which she urges Edmund to kill her husband, Albany:
161 Ibid., 23.
Shak-speare: His True Chronicle, sig. C1v.
163 Tbid., sig. Clv.
164 Stewart: Shakespeare's Letters, 217-218.
+ Al +