Shakespeare’s Knowledge of Italian

Abstract

The question of whether Shakespeare could read Italian remains uncertain although the plots of many of his plays were based on Italian sources. Othello, The Merchant of Venice, and Measure for Measure were based either wholly or in part on Italian narratives written by Cinthio, Bandello, Ser Giovanni Fiorentino and others. Twelfth Night and The Merry Wives of Windsor were heavily indebted to the anonymous Italian play Gl' Ingannati and Ser Giovanni Fiorentino's Il Pecorone. Many other Italian sources were used to a lesser extent in other plays. Did Shakespeare read these sources in Italian, or did he have to rely on English and French translations of these works? Nothing certain is known. The claim that Shakespeare's knowledge of Latin enabled him to read Italian cannot be supported. The differences in the two languages are so great that even one versed in classical Latin cannot necessarily read Italian. For Shakespeare to have known Italian so as to be able to read the novelle of Cinthio and Bandello, he would have had to make some study of Italian as a separate language. John Florio, well known in London's intellectual circles and Italian tutor in Southampton's household, published two Italian- English manuals, Firste Fruites in 1578, and Second Frvtes in 1591 ( STC 11096-7). These were manuals of polite conversation as well as textbooks for teaching Italian to .Englishmen and English to Italians. They also come within the courtesy book tradition with their discussions of fencing, tennis, polite conversation, hunting, hawking, and other activities suitable for a gentleman.