Swordplay On Shakespeare's Stage

Hamlet Act V scene ii (170)

Hamlet: Come on, sir.

Laertes: Come, my lord. (They play).

Hamlet: One.

Laertes: No!

Hamlet: Judgement?

Osric: A hit, a very palpable hit.

This first bit of action begins one of the most famous duels in Shakespearean drama. The "hit" is nothing more than a tap on the chest that marks 1 point in favor of Hamlet. Soon the exhibition is over and the two characters are fighting for their lives, culminating in both their deaths. In reality, the actors playing the roles cannot kill each other; they have four more performances at the Globe Theatre left before the run of the show ends. So they must set a choreographed sequence that can be safely repeated each night when the time comes to perform the scene. This scene is an example of stage violence or stage combat. Any sequence of events in a play that causes physical harm and/or death to a character must be presented in a way that is safe to the actor and visually believable to the audience. The Globe’s audience craved violence and its playwrights fulfilled the need by adding many scenes that were exceedingly "action packed". The actors in the sixteenth century would have to learn how to fight with rapiers as well as any well trained nobleman and then apply it to the stage. The way they would learn the art of fencing, is through fencing schools. Over the following pages we will look at the history of fencing schools, the importance of technique to the actors onstage, and consider some of the possibilities in the catastrophe scene from Hamlet.

A Master of Arms is more honourable than a Master of Arts ,for good fighting came before good writing. - Marston. The Mountebank’s Masque. Paradox XV. 1617. (Aylward 1)

The origin of fencing schools was in Italy and soon spread to Spain and France prior to arriving in England. At the beginning of the Italian Renaissance, Italy was a popular place to do battle. As the kingdoms tried to conquer more land and riches, soldiers became more proficient in protecting themselves from attackers (Morsberger 9). The idea of the Italian duello was also very important. It was a daily occurrence of Italian life, like going to see a movie. Of the three kinds of dueling, the state duel, judicial duel, and the duel of honor, it is the last one that was the most popular, the judicial duel being the second most popular. The judicial duels were used to determine who was guilty in a trial. The victor would be deemed innocent, and the person who lost would be deemed guilty. These types of duels did not last very long though, and the ruling was often overturned if both parties lived through the ordeal. The duel of honor would deal with personal honor and would only be allowed by soldiers and men of stature. These would often happen when one man slights another in some way, such as insulting him, or making a lewd comment about the other’s wife. They could often be frivolous in nature too, being fought by two arrogant upper class men. Only soldiers and upper class men would be allowed to duel because only they had honor. If a man of the upper class was insulted by a man of the lower class, the man of the upper class would not duel the other man, but instead beat him with a can as he would to a servant or slave. The duel of honor was the most prominent duel in society and was well represented on the stage (Morsberger 34). Examples include the Hamlet/Laertes fight (which begins as an exhibition match and ends as a duel), Tybalt’s fight with Mercutio, and Romeo’s slaying of Tybalt.

The large market for Italian culture is due to upper-class English families(Aylward 39). Parents would send their children across Europe so the children could learn about other countries, and they would bring back many different ideas and exotic customs (the duel being one). "The Renaissance spread Italian swordsman as well as Italian scholars" (Morsberger 14). It soon became fashionable for an Italian swordsman to set up schools in England and establish clientele consisting of aristocratic young men. English sword teachers were being replaced by new Italian teachers and found themselves out of a job. They ended up having to teach anybody they could which would include jugglers and actors (Morsberger 14).

A Master of Arms was the instructor who knew everything about a weapon and taught a particular style of fighting. The quote on the previous page shows how seriously the Master of Arms took his profession. One of the most prominent Master of Arms was Rocco Bonetti. He leased part of the theatre at Blackfriars and set up a fencing school before his death in 1587 (McCollum 29-30). Jeronimo continued to lease the space and teach before being challenged and dying in his own duel. It was through schools like this that actors would learn how to fence like professionals.

Next let’s look at some techniques that were used in Elizabethan stage fencing. First, one must understand the importance of using real fencing technique. The sword was an essential part of a man’s dress, and worn with him everywhere that would be appropriate. Much like your shoes, hat, and doublet, the rapier defined whom you were (Morsberger 3). An actor had to be as confident with his rapier as