Philostrate
Encyclopedia
Philostrate is the Master of Revels
at Theseus' court in William Shakespeare's
A Midsummer Night's Dream
(1596). He is in charge of his lord's entertainments, making recommendations to Theseus, as well as altering the text of some of the plays performed in his court. Shakespeare may have used this character to poke fun at play censorship
in London at the time. In early performances of the play, the actor who played this character probably also played the part of Egeus
, Hermia's
strict father. There is only one scene in Act V where both Egeus and Philostrate are present, and in this scene Egeus' character would have taken all of Philostrate's lines as his own.
at Theseus' court, Philostrate is asked to recommend plays to his Lord to help while away the time. Theseus rejects all of the plays except Pyramus and Thisbe
, which Philostrate has given a particularly bad review. He advises the betrothed king not to choose "The Mechanicals'
" (the workers') play because it is badly rehearsed:
Theseus, eager to please his fiancee, Hippolyta
, and the rest of his court, chooses Pyramus and Thisbe despite Philostrate's efforts. Because of its amateurishness, the play turns out to be humorous.
However, a variation to this would be based on the conventions of classical Greek. In this case, the final "e" would be pronounced (as an "ee" or "aye"), giving the name four syllables, and the accent would shift from the first syllable, to either the second or third syllable, depending on whether the medial syllables are considered short or long. It would then be pronounced: fill-uh-STRA-tay.
Canterbury Tales and Philostrate is no exception. His name is the pseudonym adopted by Arcite upon covertly returning to Athens in The Knight's Tale
to work for Theseus. (A Knight's Tale was dramatized nearly twenty years later by Shakespeare and Fletcher
as The Two Noble Kinsmen
.) Chaucer himself took the name Philostrate from Boccaccio's
poem Il Filostrato
, a story about Troilus
and Criseyde
. Because Chaucer's Arcite adopts this identity to become a servant at Theseus' court, it is possible that the Midsummer Night's Dream character is meant to be the same person in a continuation of the story. However, the two characters have little else in common. Another candidate for the source of Philostrate's character is Philostratus the Elder, the author of Comus, a play which has similarities to Shakespeare's Midsummer Night's Dream.
Philostrate's duty in Theseus' court is to examine the play that Nick Bottom
and the others are about to perform and to make suggestions for improvement. It is also his duty to advise Theseus on matters of entertainment. Theseus calls him "our usual manager of mirth". The official term for Philostrate's position in the Court is the Master of Revels.
In Shakespeare's day, the Queen of England had her own Master of Revels—appointed to oversee all entertainment in London. Before a play could be performed, its script had to go through him, and whenever the Queen wanted to see a play, he would make recommendations. By 1581 (over a decade before the writing of Dream), all plays had to be approved by the Master of Revels prior to being performed. Shakespeare seems to be poking fun at the profession through Philostrate. At one point, when Theseus asks Philostrate to recommend a play to help pass the time, he lists several which sound ridiculous, such as "the battle with the centaurs to be sung by an Athenian eunuch to the harp." These names are humorous examples of the types of plays that were actually being performed around the time of Dream. They were becoming old however, and, like Theseus, monarchs were searching for something new, refreshing, and sophisticated.
and the actor who played Philostrate were probably one and the same. This can be gathered through discrepancies between the First Folio
and earlier quarto versions of the play. In Act V, scene 1, for example, the quartos say "Call Philostrate" in several places where the 1623 Folio says "Call Egeus". This would be an easy mistake to make if one actor had spoken both parts in this scene. One actor filling both roles explains the jumbled dialogue in this scene. Howard Furness, editor of several Shakespeare editions, interprets this a little differently, saying that Shakespeare may not have originally intended both roles to be played by the same person, but that directors combined the roles to save money. In any case, Act V, scene 1 is the only scene in which both men are present at the same time. In cases where one actor was playing both roles, Egeus' character would probably have filled both roles in this scene, absorbing Philostrate's lines into his own.
Master of the Revels
The Master of the Revels was a position within the English, and later the British, royal household heading the "Revels Office" or "Office of the Revels" that originally had responsibilities for overseeing royal festivities, known as revels, and later also became responsible for stage censorship,...
at Theseus' court in William Shakespeare's
William Shakespeare
William Shakespeare was an English poet and playwright, widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's national poet and the "Bard of Avon"...
A Midsummer Night's Dream
A Midsummer Night's Dream
A Midsummer Night's Dream is a play that was written by William Shakespeare. It is believed to have been written between 1590 and 1596. It portrays the events surrounding the marriage of the Duke of Athens, Theseus, and the Queen of the Amazons, Hippolyta...
(1596). He is in charge of his lord's entertainments, making recommendations to Theseus, as well as altering the text of some of the plays performed in his court. Shakespeare may have used this character to poke fun at play censorship
Censorship
thumb|[[Book burning]] following the [[1973 Chilean coup d'état|1973 coup]] that installed the [[Military government of Chile |Pinochet regime]] in Chile...
in London at the time. In early performances of the play, the actor who played this character probably also played the part of Egeus
Egeus
Egeus is a character in A Midsummer Night's Dream, the comedy by William Shakespeare. He tries to keep his daughter, Hermia, from marrying Lysander, by force if necessary...
, Hermia's
Hermia
Hermia is a science park near Tampere University of Technology . Hermia is located in Hervanta, a suburb of Tampere, Finland. Hermia is also acting as a technology centre for its region....
strict father. There is only one scene in Act V where both Egeus and Philostrate are present, and in this scene Egeus' character would have taken all of Philostrate's lines as his own.
Role in the play
As Master of RevelsMaster of the Revels
The Master of the Revels was a position within the English, and later the British, royal household heading the "Revels Office" or "Office of the Revels" that originally had responsibilities for overseeing royal festivities, known as revels, and later also became responsible for stage censorship,...
at Theseus' court, Philostrate is asked to recommend plays to his Lord to help while away the time. Theseus rejects all of the plays except Pyramus and Thisbe
Pyramus and Thisbe
Pyramus and Thisbe are two characters of Roman mythology, whose love story of ill-fated lovers is also a sentimental romance.The tale is told by Ovid in his Metamorphoses.-Plot:...
, which Philostrate has given a particularly bad review. He advises the betrothed king not to choose "The Mechanicals'
Mechanical (character)
A mechanical is any of six characters in A Midsummer Night's Dream who perform the play-within-a-play Pyramus and Thisbe. Named for their occupations as skilled manual laborers, they are a group of Amateur actors from around Athens, looking to make names for themselves by having their production...
" (the workers') play because it is badly rehearsed:
I have heard it over,
And it is nothing, nothing in the world,
Unless you can find sport in their [The Mechanicals'] intents,
Extremely stretched, & conned [learnt] with cruel pain,
To do you service.
Theseus, eager to please his fiancee, Hippolyta
Hippolyta
In Greek mythology, Hippolyta or Hippolyte is the Amazonian queen who possessed a magical girdle she was given by her father Ares, the god of war. The girdle was a waist belt that signified her authority as queen of the Amazons....
, and the rest of his court, chooses Pyramus and Thisbe despite Philostrate's efforts. Because of its amateurishness, the play turns out to be humorous.
Pronunciations
In most contemporary performances Philostrate's name is usually pronounced: FILL-uh-straight, (to rhyme with Illustrate) with a short "uh" rather than a long "oo" because the medial vowel is unaccented.However, a variation to this would be based on the conventions of classical Greek. In this case, the final "e" would be pronounced (as an "ee" or "aye"), giving the name four syllables, and the accent would shift from the first syllable, to either the second or third syllable, depending on whether the medial syllables are considered short or long. It would then be pronounced: fill-uh-STRA-tay.
Context
Shakespeare is known for borrowing plots and characters from other stories, but the source of A Midsummer Night's Dream has proved difficult to trace. There is no clear parallel to its plot in the literature of his time. However, many of its characters' names and relationships are borrowed from Chaucer'sGeoffrey Chaucer
Geoffrey Chaucer , known as the Father of English literature, is widely considered the greatest English poet of the Middle Ages and was the first poet to have been buried in Poet's Corner of Westminster Abbey...
Canterbury Tales and Philostrate is no exception. His name is the pseudonym adopted by Arcite upon covertly returning to Athens in The Knight's Tale
The Knight's Tale
"The Knight's Tale" is the first tale from Geoffrey Chaucer's The Canterbury Tales. The story introduces many typical aspects of knighthood such as courtly love and ethical dilemmas. The story is written in iambic pentameter end-rhymed couplets.-Story:...
to work for Theseus. (A Knight's Tale was dramatized nearly twenty years later by Shakespeare and Fletcher
John Fletcher (playwright)
John Fletcher was a Jacobean playwright. Following William Shakespeare as house playwright for the King's Men, he was among the most prolific and influential dramatists of his day; both during his lifetime and in the early Restoration, his fame rivalled Shakespeare's...
as The Two Noble Kinsmen
The Two Noble Kinsmen
The Two Noble Kinsmen is a Jacobean tragicomedy, first published in 1634 and attributed to John Fletcher and William Shakespeare. Its plot derives from "The Knight's Tale" in Geoffrey Chaucer's The Canterbury Tales....
.) Chaucer himself took the name Philostrate from Boccaccio's
Giovanni Boccaccio
Giovanni Boccaccio was an Italian author and poet, a friend, student, and correspondent of Petrarch, an important Renaissance humanist and the author of a number of notable works including the Decameron, On Famous Women, and his poetry in the Italian vernacular...
poem Il Filostrato
Il Filostrato
Il Filostrato is a poem by the Italian writer Giovanni Boccaccio, and the inspiration for Geoffrey Chaucer's Troilus and Criseyde and, through Chaucer, the Shakespeare play Troilus and Cressida...
, a story about Troilus
Troilus
Troilus is a legendary character associated with the story of the Trojan War...
and Criseyde
Cressida
Cressida is a character who appears in many Medieval and Renaissance retellings of the story of the Trojan War. She is a Trojan woman, the daughter of Calchas a priestly defector to the Greeks...
. Because Chaucer's Arcite adopts this identity to become a servant at Theseus' court, it is possible that the Midsummer Night's Dream character is meant to be the same person in a continuation of the story. However, the two characters have little else in common. Another candidate for the source of Philostrate's character is Philostratus the Elder, the author of Comus, a play which has similarities to Shakespeare's Midsummer Night's Dream.
Philostrate's duty in Theseus' court is to examine the play that Nick Bottom
Nick Bottom
Nick Bottom is a character in Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream who provides comic relief throughout the play, and is famously known for getting his head transformed into that of an ass by the elusive Puck within the play.- Overview :...
and the others are about to perform and to make suggestions for improvement. It is also his duty to advise Theseus on matters of entertainment. Theseus calls him "our usual manager of mirth". The official term for Philostrate's position in the Court is the Master of Revels.
In Shakespeare's day, the Queen of England had her own Master of Revels—appointed to oversee all entertainment in London. Before a play could be performed, its script had to go through him, and whenever the Queen wanted to see a play, he would make recommendations. By 1581 (over a decade before the writing of Dream), all plays had to be approved by the Master of Revels prior to being performed. Shakespeare seems to be poking fun at the profession through Philostrate. At one point, when Theseus asks Philostrate to recommend a play to help pass the time, he lists several which sound ridiculous, such as "the battle with the centaurs to be sung by an Athenian eunuch to the harp." These names are humorous examples of the types of plays that were actually being performed around the time of Dream. They were becoming old however, and, like Theseus, monarchs were searching for something new, refreshing, and sophisticated.
Performances
In original performances of A Midsummer Night's Dream, the actor who played EgeusEgeus
Egeus is a character in A Midsummer Night's Dream, the comedy by William Shakespeare. He tries to keep his daughter, Hermia, from marrying Lysander, by force if necessary...
and the actor who played Philostrate were probably one and the same. This can be gathered through discrepancies between the First Folio
First Folio
Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies. is the 1623 published collection of William Shakespeare's plays. Modern scholars commonly refer to it as the First Folio....
and earlier quarto versions of the play. In Act V, scene 1, for example, the quartos say "Call Philostrate" in several places where the 1623 Folio says "Call Egeus". This would be an easy mistake to make if one actor had spoken both parts in this scene. One actor filling both roles explains the jumbled dialogue in this scene. Howard Furness, editor of several Shakespeare editions, interprets this a little differently, saying that Shakespeare may not have originally intended both roles to be played by the same person, but that directors combined the roles to save money. In any case, Act V, scene 1 is the only scene in which both men are present at the same time. In cases where one actor was playing both roles, Egeus' character would probably have filled both roles in this scene, absorbing Philostrate's lines into his own.