no, but this is why people do the boring archival work! because we think we do know why âexit, pursued by a bearâ exists, now, and we figured it out by looking at ships manifests of the era -
itâs also why there was a revival of the unattributed and at the time probably rather out of fashion mucedorus at the globe in 1610 (the same year as the winterâs tale), and why ben jonson wrote a chariot pulled by bears into his court masque oberon, performed on new yearâs day of 1611.
we think the answer is polar bears.
no, seriously! Â in late 1609 the explorer jonas poole captured two polar bear cubs in greenland and brought them home to england, where they were purchased by the beargarden, the go-to place in elizabethan london for bear-baiting and other âanimal sports.â Â it was at the time run by edward alleyn (yes, the actor) and his father-in-law philip henslowe (him of the admiralâs men and that diary we are all so very grateful for), and would have been very close, if not next to, the globe theatre.
of course, polar bear cubs are too little and adorable for baiting, even to the bloodthirsty tudor audience, arenât they? Â so, what to do with the little bundles of fur until theyâre too big to be harmless? Â well, if thereâs anything we know about the playwrights and theatre professionals of the time, itâs that they knew how to make money and draw in audiences. Â and the spectacle of a too-small-to-be-dangerous-yet-but-still-real-live-and-totally-WHITE-bear? Â what good entertainment businessman is going to turn down that opportunity?Â
and, voila, we have a death-by-bear for the unfortunate antigonus, thereby freeing up paulina to be coupled off with camillo in the final scene, just as the comedic conventions of the time would expect.
titsay
vaporwave
