67 pages • 2 hours read
Gary L. BlackwoodThe Shakespeare Stealer
Fiction | Novel | Middle Grade | Published in 1998A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more. For select classroom titles, we also provide Teaching Guides with discussion and quiz questions to prompt student engagement.
Symbols & Motifs
The Shakespearean Stage
The Shakespearean stage operates as both a setting and a symbol in The Shakespeare Stealer because it mimics the real lives and roles of the players. The plot of the book unfolds primarily in and around the stage of the Globe theatre, which is where Widge learns his most important life lessons.
The stage is a place where people get to play characters and act out imagined stories, which reflects the larger theme of identity that permeate the book. Readers see the ways in which characters are able to assume new identities to play new roles. This concept extends to characters like Falconer, Widge, and Julia, each of whom assumes new identities in order to achieve his or her goals.
The Shakespearean stage also symbolizes the gender expectations of Widge’s time. The Elizabethan stage was a gender fluid place. That means that normal social roles for men and women were broken down on stage, especially since women’s roles were usually played by young boys. However, that fluidity is reserved only for male characters in Elizabethan England. Julia is cut off from the stage once the other players realize that she is a woman. The Shakespearean stage also symbolizes a privileged section of society too. While it provides opportunities for the male characters, like Widge and Sander, it also excludes others, like Julia.
Fencing
Fencing is a prominent motif in The Shakespeare Stealer, and it contributes to the novel’s preoccupation with performative masculinity. Whether it is Nick’s goading of Widge or Julian’s desire to defend his honor against Nick’s taunts, fencing becomes the primary means for characters to work out their aggression. These duels in the theatre bleed over into the characters’ real lives as a way to settle disputes. A man’s dueling skill is directly tied to his masculine power. This is certainly true for Falconer, whose dueling victory early in the novel paints a picture of him as skilled, forceful, and dangerous.
Fencing also functions as a catalyst for honor and friendship within the novel. Widge learns how to defend himself against fencing attacks as he starts to lower the emotional defenses that separate him from others. During his lessons, Widge learns about Julian’s tough childhood, and Sander’s patient instruction becomes a hands-on tutorial in kindness and friendship. It is through his daily fencing lessons that Widge begins to bond with the other apprentices, learn what it means to be part of a community, and develop his own identity.
Charactery and Coded Language
In the novel, coded language is most evident through Dr. Bright’s method of plagiarism—charactery. Charactery is a method of shorthand that is used to transcribe spoken language. As Bass’s apprentice, Widge’s job is to write in code in order to steal the script of Hamlet from the Lord Chamberlain’s Men. In that scenario, language is literally translated into a code that only Widge can break, which echoes the deceitfulness of stealing the play in the first place. However, charactery is just one way that the novel wrestles with coded language.
Coded language also works symbolically in the novel through regional linguistic coding. In other words, readers see the ways in which listeners “code,” or label, certain types of language with additional meaning. This is apparent when Widge moves to London and has to wrestle with the issue of his accent. Widge comes from Yorkshire, a small country town, and he speaks in a strong dialect that is noticeably different from those of Londoners. The way he speaks labels him as lower class, rural, and uneducated. In order to transcend these labels, he has to learn to speak in a London accent, which he struggles with throughout the book. Changing the way he speaks, or using a different code of language, completely alters the way he fits into society and the world around him. Widge must acculturate himself not only to new forms of speech but also to new social codes. The novel concludes with this motif, demonstrating Widge’s resolution as a character because he learns to decode words such as “family” and “home.”
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