The wadlow Shakespeare Portrait...

BLOG 3: Does it matter what William Shakespeare looked like?

"There’s no art to find the mind’s construction in the face.” From William Shakespeare’s Macbeth. Act one, scene four. King Duncan.

The short answer is NO. How he truly and accurately looked has no bearing on his influence, on literature, the arts and history. Whether short, tall, bald, or with hair, handsome or not, it has no bearing on his legacy.

The quote “There`s no art to find the minds construction in the face” accurately alludes to the fact that you cannot tell an individual’s character, intelligence, kindness or wickedness from the way they look. This is, of course, true; you should not judge a book by its cover.

In Macbeth, King Duncan realises he had misjudged the Thane of Cawdor; despite the man’s outwardly loyal face, it was not to be.

However, it’s generally the face we all refer to when thinking about someone, whether a memory of a living person or in our imagination when reading fiction or listening to music.

I am sure that when you read you have an image of each character in a book or play, particularly the leading character.

Leading characters from fiction which I have a clear image of are people like Mathew Shardlake from the wonderful books by C.J. Sansom, Giordano Bruno from the fabulous series written by S J Pariss and Dan Brown’s Robert Langdon.

I had a clear image of in my mind, of Robert Langdon, but then after the series of films based on Dan Brown`s books, The Da Vinci Code, Angels and Demons and Inferno, I cannot now help but picture him as Tom Hanks. This demonstrates how one’s interpretation can then be changed by the visual effect of seeing an actor playing that part.

To reinforce how important a “hero’s face can be, imagine that Elvis Presley or Freddie Mercury had never had their photographs taken or been on film, but you were a fan of their music, having no idea what they looked like. You would, without doubt, have your unique image of them.

But then, how excited would you be if an unknown, lost photograph were discovered of your hero, and you could finally see what they looked like? This could go either way, you might be disappointed or delighted by how they really looked.

Take this a step further, and in the case of Elvis, suppose the lost image was of him towards the end of his life, bloated and rather sad in appearance. This would then be the image in your mind, not knowing that he was once the handsome, desirable specimen he was when younger. Going a step further, what if, after the discovery of the first photograph was released, another of him in his heyday surfaced? You would most likely hang on to the younger image of him in your mind, some may even question if they could be the same person.

Turning to Shakespeare, we have a similar situation. Whether hearing the name Shakespeare, or reading or watching one of his plays, most will conjure up an image of him.

But what image? It is well known that there is no definitive image of him.

So, what image appears in the mind?

Some will see the Droeshout engraving, probably even in black and white, some the Chandos or the funerary bust. Younger people may even see David Mitchell in character as the Bard from Ben Elton’s comedy “Upstart Crow”.

David Mitchell: Upstart Crow

None, with the greatest respect to David Mitchell, are very attractive images, but that does not matter. I mean Mitchell as The Bard, not himself.

And then the Cobbe image appears, with much debate and is taken under the wing of the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust. Understandably, it is a more attractive image that people can refer to in their minds. This is probably why the Cobbe was so readily accepted in the mainstream and media, even if it was hotly debated.

Enter The Wadlow, another more attractive image, like the Cobbe portrait, a younger version of the Bard.

So now, when I think of Shakespeare, I see a thoughtful, theatrical, handsome chap, the Wadlow, like a young Elvis. It’s not essential, but would it not be wonderful to have this as the true image of The Bard, as the evidence increasingly suggests?

But not forgetting “There’s no art to find the mind’s construction in the face.”

Steve