A Sleeve By Any Other Name
(Historical Inaccuracy)

ON SHAKESPEARE - by G.L. Horton (2/08/02)

MS writes: Not in *Julius Caesar*. The first scene features a cobbler... In the second scene, Cassius instructs Brutus to "pluck Casca by the sleeveÓ (The Romans didnÕt wear sleeves).

I think people conceded too easily. None of these details would yank the historically-minded out of the narrative, and the analogies -- I see them as analogies, as "clock" is -- pull the portion of the populace that doesn't know Rome from ravioli into it. The Romans had craftsmen who made sandals and boots and were therefore like cobblers; they wore something like cloaks and doublets-- at least they were more like cloaks and doublets than like anything worn today-- and all these terms imply relationships to the mind's ear. If by some miracle Shakespeare had a wardrobe of authentic Roman dress, and a mountain of Roman props, how could he use these unfamiliar objects and/or their names to communicate meaning? "Realism" would result in a stage world stripped of common reference points and key emotions like that evoked by sleeve-plucking. Even without sleeves, surely the Romans plucked.

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