Whetstone’s sources

Whetstone took many elements from Boccaccio for the structure of his book, and for the novellas. He adapted two novellas from Boccaccio’s Decameron in the fourth day’s exercise of his work. Whetstone and other Elizabethan writers translated and imitated Boccaccio especially for his religious arguments. Boccaccio was a Catholic writer, but he always spoke about priests, nuns and monks without hypocrisy.

The Elizabethan writers took from Boccaccio this religious material to show the sins and the corruption of the Catholic clergy. In fact, it was a way of exalting Protestantism and the raising Puritanism. They considered the Catholic Church blasphemous and idolatrous; they thought Catholics were ignorant because they hadn’t the Bible translated in the vulgar language, so the Priests could tell them anything they wanted from Pulpit and the people would believe them. In choosing the tales to translate there were many limitations so they chose the tales that hadn’t lascivious scenes and could be considered moralizing.

Elizabethan writers were very critical of the Catholic Clergy and of the contrasts between the different orders of catholic monks (Agostinian, Franciscan, etc). The most famous novellas by Bandello in the Elizabethan times were The Duchess of Malfi and The Countesse of Celant; the adapted novella of Rinaldo and Gilletta in The Rock of Regarde (1576) and Romeo and Juliet, recalled by a character in the fifth daies pleasures in Aurelia (1593). The most famous novella by Giraldi Cinthio was Il Moro di Venezia, which Shakespeare took for the plot of his Othello. Whetstone adopted the story of Promos and Cassandra that Giraldi Cinthio had used in his Ecatommiti, (Deca VIII, Nov. 5).

Whetstone wrote a play The Rare Historie of Promos and Cassandra (1578) that was never performed on the stage. The novella is the prose version of the play and it is the most famous work by Whetstone because it was the main source of Shakespeare’s Measure for Measure.

Whetstone doesn’t quote his main sources, so it is difficult to know who he refers to. Whetstone only quotes in the margin of the text when he refers his quotation to a classical author such Ovid or Pliny. But it is unusual. We can speak about his sources approximately. It often happens that his sources aren’t easy to find because he speaks about a tale or an argument that many authors spoke about. What we can do is to find a source close to his version and to confront similar passages and different ones. The problem is with his method of composition. Whetstone was a literary man. He loved books and culture, so he assimilated a lot of elements of other authors. He reports some elements of these in his works, but he treats them as an argument that he has elaborated. Sometimes, he translates from a foreign author or quotes from the Bible or a classical author, but he goes on with his own arguments. There are many poems in his books and his main source is Petrarca. In his particular case, he translates some lines, but he continues with his own verses. He takes the themes from Petrarca, not the rhythm or the pattern of his verses.

Whetstone was a typical Elizabethan writer. He reflects in his personality the elements, the customs and uses of that particular time. He was a courtly writer. He wrote for the Queen and sought protection from important men at Court. This is the reason why he wrote dedicatory epistles in his books. He looked for a Patron who could issue his books.

The book that we are examining was dedicated to Sir Christopher Hatton. Sir Christopher Hatton was a Knight, Captain of His Majesty’s Garde, vice- chamberlain and Privy Counsell of her Majesty’s the Queen. He was a courtly man, a possible patron, so Whetstone chose him to dedicated his book.

A book about the advantages and disadvantages of Marriage could be dedicated to a happy married couple or to a bachelor to persuade him to marry. Sir Christopher Hatton was a bachelor and an influential man at Court, too. Whetstone had two good reasons to dedicate his book to him.