INDOOR AND OTHER INTERESTS

Shakespeare's images from indoor life, which are very numerous, reflect in the most marked and interesting way the life and activities in a simple, or as we might say today, a farm-house kitchen, where we would surmise, when indoors, he spent a good part of his boyhood. Nothing there has passed unobserved, and some things which entail unpleasantness, especially to the sense of smell, are very vividly remembered.

Among these a ‘stopped oven’ is especially noticeable, and the fierce burning, smoke and cinders which ensue. It is the same quality in it as in the overflowing and dammed up river which attracts him, that is, the life in it, and the likeness of fire to human passions, which, when suppressed, become more fierce and unruly.

The smoking, ill-burning lamp, short of oil, dry of wick, and consequently evil smelling, the short length of candle, going out when most wanted, are other house-hold inconveniences which have left a deep impression on Shakespeare.

It might be thought that the ill-ventilated fire, the guttering candle, and oil-dried lamp form a common stock of material for Elizabethan imagery.