Rowland Wymer (Letters,18 December) refers to original sources which would logically lead to Innogens protagonist being called Giacomo. Simon Forman, the other source for “misspelling” of Imogen, and also states in his diary that he saw Mackbeth,king of Codon at the glod, and he writes of Bancko, and Dunkin king of Scotes. The First Folio was what the actors performed,not a historical document – otherwise the weird sisters would meet up with Mac Bethad. Directors may choose Innogen if they wish, but claiming that Imogen is a misspelling simply fuels the already exaggerated claim by many that, and “the Folio is full of mistakes”.
Christine Ozanne[br]London• Professor Wymer is honest to point out the chronicled precedents for Simon Forman’s diary spelling of Shakespeare’s Innogen in Cymbeline. His point is further supported by the fact that there was no standalone Quarto edition of Cymbeline and therefore Forman’s viewing of the play,probably in April 1611, places his spelling of the name fully 12 years earlier than the Folio’s Imogen and thus significantly closer to the immediacy of the witnessed theatre experience. The compositor of the Folio play simply mis-read the manuscript’s nn” as an m” – an understandable error as it was nearly certainly written in the spidery secretary hand favoured at the time.
Dr Lawrence Green
Stratford-upon-AvonContinue reading...
Source: theguardian.com