WHAT NOBODY WILL TELL YOU ABOUT SHAKESPEARE & FLORIO

Hi everyone, welcome back to John Florio channel. I am Mary and I'm here to talk about John Florio. We have come now to the end of this long journey on Lost Love's Lost. I have shown you the main sources of this play, which are John Florio and Giordano Bruno. Now, Lost Love's Lost is generally considered a play with no literary source. Instead, I have shown you that, thanks to John Florio and Giordano Bruno, it is possible to understand the characters of the play, the plot of the play, the topics that Shakespeare shows in the play against pedantry, science and patriarchism. I have also shown you that these sources are generally not included by Shakespeare scholars, leaving a void in the comprehension of this play. But why they do that? The main reason why Shakespeare scholars prefer to not include John Florio and Giordano Bruno as main sources of Lost Love's Lost is they prefer to describe John Florio as the silly pedant that Shakespeare loved to mock in Lost Love's Lost, the pedant Holofernes. But we have seen that the truth is different. These are not facts. These were opinions that have been written and told so many times throughout the centuries that they have become the truth. But truth is that we have Florio's style, Florio's works and his life in Lost Love's Lost. Second reason is that they couldn't explain how Shakespeare was able to read a work like The Candlebearer, written by Giordano Bruno, a comedy written in vernacular Italian and Neapolitan dialect. And if they do, if they use Giordano Bruno's Candlebearer, they use John Florio as intermediator. Let's focus on this word because this word is so frequently used by Shakespeare scholars to explain how could Shakespeare read that Italian book that was not translated in English, how could Shakespeare know Giordano Bruno that left England in 1586. So they use this magic word as a gateway to solve a huge problem. So now let's focus on this role that Shakespeare scholars give to John Florio, intermediator. What does an intermediator do? An intermediator is someone who acts as a link between two parties. If you read Shakespeare books, you often encounter this word intermediator when they cite John Florio, a mediator between Shakespeare and that unknown word that are Italian words not yet translated into English or Giordano Bruno. They use this word and yet problem is solved. But today I'm not here to repeat what others have already said. I'm here to make a difference. But before we start, if you're new here, don't forget to subscribe, to share this video, to like and if you want, to comment. And now, let's start! Florio and Shakespeare, Shakespeare and Florio. Florio the pedant, Florio the intermediator, Florio the friend, Florio the go-between. It's time to make things clear. I have explained in different videos that throughout the centuries, Shakespeare scholars have portrayed Florio in a very bad way. I mean, Shakespeare scholars didn't have a good relationship with Florio. But at the same time, they needed Florio. Why? They used him as an intermediator, Shakespeare tutor, a go-between, someone who translated the Italian words for Shakespeare, those words that Shakespeare used for his plays. And so many others. Is this vision possible? Could Florio be Shakespeare's greatest enemy? Someone that Shakespeare loved to mock and considered stupid and at the same time his greatest friend, tutor and personal translator? Sorry, but this is bull****. Because, first, they had literally erased the real life and personality of John Florio to write Shakespeare to the stars. Second reason, you can't use Florio as a jolly card. Every time you need to explain how could Shakespeare read that Italian word or how could Shakespeare know Giordano Bruno or how could Shakespeare know Italy so well. Why they can't do that? It's very simple. Why had John Florio to spend so much time with Shakespeare? Why he had to translate Italian books for him? Why he had to teach him Italian or talk to Shakespeare about Giordano Bruno? Why he had to translate Giordano Bruno's comedy for Shakespeare? Why he had to do all this without any remuneration, without any income? Didn't Florio have a life? I mean, at some point he had a wife, children. Jesus, he couldn't spend all day with Shakespeare and teach Shakespeare how to write or what to write. There is one word that has never been used and will probably never be used because they are so scared to say it and it's collaboration. If there is so much John Florio in Los Lapos Los or Giordano Bruno it's not about being an interrogator. It's not about being the friend to discuss about Bruno with Shakespeare. It's about co-authorship. It's about collaboration. Florio began working in theatre since 1578, more than ten years before Shakespeare arrived in London. He collaborated with London's greatest actors, Richard Tarton, John Bentley, Robert Wilson. Why? Because he had a knowledge of Italian literature and Italian theatre that none had at the time. And we know that Shakespeare collaborated. It has been proved that he wrote many plays in collaboration with other dramatists. So why can't we say that Shakespeare also collaborated with John Florio? Why do we have to portray Florio as this stupid, silly pedant just to explain that there are his fingerprints in Shakespeare's plays and that the real explanation would be they brought it together? Truth is that this mudslinging, matched with the term intermediator, is a façade used to hide the fact that Florio was writing plays with Shakespeare. This would really explain why we have so much Florio in some Shakespeare's plays, why we have so much Giordano Bruno in Shakespeare's plays. To talk about an intermediator doesn't make any sense. According to some Shakespeare scholars, Florio's Shakespeare relationship was something like this. Hi, listen, I need a play. What do you mean? Translate me an Italian one. But why Italian? This book, for example. Yes, that's... Seems great. It's the camera. Yeah, I know, I know. I know the camera. It's a great book. Boccaccio. The camera. It's the book. Yeah, whatever. Translate it. Bye, see ya. Hey. Listen, I need an Italian setting for a play. Why? Venezia, Verona. Love Italy. Yeah, but why not something that you actually know? Yeah, but why not? Why not? It's dreadful. Tomorrow at 5 p.m. I want Italian information about the city, ok? Hey. What? Listen, do you know Giordano Bruno? Yeah. Of course. I spent three happy years. Translate me this. Tomorrow. So, truth is that they simply broke together. My point is, it is time to accept the fact that Shakespeare was not God. Someone who acquired all this knowledge thanks to intermediators. He was an author who had a great talent and collaborated extensively during his career with some dramatists. And among them, John Florio. Stay resolute. Bye.