History 477

Devine

Spring 2013

 

Study Questions for “Shakespeare in the Bowery”

 

 

Lawrence Levine, “William Shakespeare in America”

 

  1. How does Levine make his case that Shakespearean drama, rather than being reserved for the educated elite, was popular entertainment in the 19th century?

 

  1. How does Levine demonstrate that Shakespeare was integrated into American culture rather than being diluted or exalted?

 

  1. How was the 19th century theater different than the theater of today – with regard to both audiences and performances?

 

  1. In what ways could 19th century theater audiences exercise “control” over the performances?

 

  1. What evidence does Levine cite to show that Shakespeare was losing his grip on American audiences by the late 19th century – transforming from entertainment to “Culture”?

 

  1. According to Levine, how have 20th century theater historians and critics tried to “explain away” Shakespeare’s widespread popularity during the 19th century?  Why does Levine reject their explanations?  What reasons does he give for Shakespeare’s popularity?

 

  1. Why were the characters and messages of Shakespeare’s plays attractive to American audiences in the 19th century?

 

  1. Why did Shakespeare’s popularity decline at the end of the 19th century? How did this reflect broader cultural, demographic, and technological changes occurring in the U.S.?

 

  1. What precipitated the Astor Place Riot?  What social conditions underlay the violence?  What issues were in dispute?

 

  1. Levine refers to the 19th century theater as a “house of refuge” (68) for antebellum Americans. What did the people seek refuge from? Why were they so adamant about defending their “house of refuge”?

 

  1.  Why was there a scholarly movement in the late 19th century to “prove” Shakespeare did not write the plays attributed to him?  How was this movement related to issues of cultural authority and class that many Americans also debated during this period?

 

  1.  “American entertainment,” Levine notes, “was shaped by many of the same forces of consolidation and centralization that molded other businesses.” (78) How did this process of consolidation and centralization result in Shakespearean drama becoming “high” art rather than “popular” entertainment?

 

Nigel Cliff, “A Night at the Opera, and Another in Hell”

 

  1. Why did class conflict become sharper in New York City during the 1840s? How did changes in the economy, the emergence of the “nouvoux riche,” and the sharp increase in immigration fuel these tensions?

 

  1. What was the Five Points? What was life like there?

 

  1. Why did the Irish become targets of anti-immigrant sentiment? How did they threaten the “American way of life”?

 

  1. How was the game of politics played in New York City during the 1840s?  What, if anything, distinguished the various factions from each other?

 

  1. Why does the author suggest that the showdown between the “Upper 10” and the “b’hoys” taking place in a theater was not as outlandish as it appears today?  Why was had the theater become culturally significant to both sides?

 

  1. What factors – personal, local, and international – led to the Astor Place Riot?

 

 

Richard Butsch, “The B’Hoys in Jacksonian Theaters”

 

  1. Who were the Bowery B’hoys? What were the features and characteristics of their subculture?  How did they distinguish themselves from middle class New Yorkers?

 

  1. What were the “three discourses” (48) on the b’hoys? What purpose did each serve? Who were the audiences for each portrayal of the b’hoys?

 

  1. How did the b’hoys exercise “sovereignty” in the theaters? How was this assertion of sovereignty related to patriotism and pretenses of respectability?

 

  1. How was the Astor Place riot a turning point in audience rights at the theater?

 

  1. How did arguments over “respectable” behavior depoliticize class tensions?

 

Richard Butsch, “Knowledge and the Decline of Audience Sovereignty”

 

  1. What purpose did “green’un” stories serve for those who told them?

 

  1. Why does Butsch say that the Mose plays were both a mirror and an “etiquette book” for the b’hoys?  What was the relationship here between “life” and “art”?

 

  1. How did performers shift the balance of power from audiences to themselves? In this process, how did the b’hoys oppositional culture become co-opted?

 

  1. The author describes three “discourses” – “cultivation, respectability, and fashion” (61).  How did the “cultivated” differ from the “fashionable”?

 

  1. What purpose did the Opera House serve for the “fashionable”?