Picture of Greene's '
Groatsworth of Wit' pamphlet which attacks Shakespeare
William Shakespeare the ' Upstart
Crow '
THE 'UPSTART CROW'
The first
reference to Shakespeare as an actor / playwright was in 1592.
He was attacked in a pamphlet, written by a a well-known
poet and playwright
called Robert Greene
Robert Greene
was one of the university wits - a member of the of
Cambridge/Oxford trained literary scholars of the era along
with Christopher Marlowe and Sir Walter Raleigh
The pamphlet was called the 'Groatsworth of
Wit' in which Robert Greene attacks the actor William
Shakespeare as an "upstart crow"!
An Upstart is
characteristic of someone who has risen economically or
socially but lacks the social skills appropriate for this
new position - To crow is to boast and a crow is a scavenger
who steals from others - Greene clearly dislikes the
'Upstart Crow'!
This is what the
pamphlet says:
"Yes, trust them not,
for there is an upstart crow, beautified with our feathers, that, with
his Tygers heart wrapt in a Players hide, supposes he is as well able
to bumbast out a blanke verse as the best of you; and being an
absolute Johannes Factotum, is in his owne conceit the onely
Shake-scene in a countrie."
Greene is saying that the
'Upstart Crow' was an actor (wrapt in a Player's hide) who now believes
that he can write as well as the best scholars
That Shakespeare was an
absolute Johannes Factotum (a Mr. Do-Everything a Jack of all Trades)
with a 'Tyger's heart' ( an aggressive person)
Greene does not like actors
"trust them not" because of their power - the actors controlled
the theatres and acting companies and they paid just a one-off price for
a play - the author received no more money, there were no Copyright Laws
nor any Royalties
The 'University Set' were
considered as being the only authors of any note with the ability to
write poetry
William Shakespeare was not
of the 'University Set'
Three months after the death
of Robert Greene, in December 1592, his publisher and printer, Henry
Chettle issued a public apology for the 'Groatsworth of Wit' and to the
"Upstart Crow"!
