The Shakespeare Oracle

Shakespeare never mentions Tarot cards. And Lewis in King John has this to say about cards:

Have I not here the best cards for the game,
To win this easy match play’d for a crown?
And shall I now give o’er the yielded set?
No, no, on my soul, it never shall be said.

According to this website they have been around since the Renaissance and earlier.

Naturally the tarot forum has a discussion about this subject and are generally in agreement Shakespeare did make use of the emblem books of the time and perhaps saw a deck or two.

20-01-2007, 04:21
Although playing tarot never became popular in England, there is no reason why some people might not have known it. Particularly Francophiles.

The earliest reference to tarot in England is in 1592, in a French conversation book by “G. De La Mothe” (usually known as G. Delamothe) called “The French Alphabet”. It is a collection of phrases, and one phrase says:”A quel jeu voulez vous jouer? Voulez vous jouer aux Dames aux Des, aux Tarots, aux Eschets, etc.” The English translation he provides is: “What game will you play? Will you play at tables, at Dyce, at Tarots, at Chesses, etc.”

For a description of this book (but not the quote), see e.g. –
http://www2.prestel.co.uk/rey/add3.htm

“It is by someone calling himself G.(Guilliaum?) De la Mothe (= de la Motte). Who better than an English word-smith, who had just spent up to three or four years in France, to write such a book?

The third part of The French Alphabet is a collection of over six hundred “sentences, similes, apothegmes and golden sayings of the most excellent French Authors, as well poets as orators”, all translated into English (translators, of course, usually work into their native language, rather than from it). This would be a priceless collection for any playwright, whether interested in French or not, and appears closely to resemble the Promus and similar items among the Le Doux papers.”

Shakespeare mentions cards and uses card metaphors many times. I’m with those who don’t see a direct allusion to tarot cards, but there is no historical reason he couldn’t have known about it.

Ross
Ross G Caldwell
20-01-2007, 04:41
BTW, the second mention of tarot cards in English that I know of is in an Italian-English dictionary written by John Florio, “A Worlde of Wordes”, first published in 1598 and in a second edition in 1611.

Under “Tarocchi” in the first edition, it reads: “A kinde of playing cardes used in Italy, called terrestriall triumphes”.
http://www.pbm.com/~lindahl/florio1598/436small.html

The second edition omits a reference to Italy and mentions the German-sounding name “tarocks” – “A kinde of playing cardes called Tarocks or Terrestriall triumphs”.
http://www.pbm.com/~lindahl/florio/568small.html

Homepage:
http://www.pbm.com/~lindahl/florio/

Ross

As a Shakespeare enthusiast people buy me anything related to the man. I own 3 decks of Tarot or Oracle cards, one Dutch one English and a third called the Renaissance Tarot. I rarely use them but have of late to pass away the time.

The following descriptions come from The Shakespeare Oracle:

The Major Arcana:

0 FOOL – Feste
1 MAGICIAN – Shakespeare
2 ABBESS – Aemilia (appears at the end of Comedy of Errors)
3 EMPRESS – Queen Elizabeth
4 EMPEROR – Henry VIII
5 HIEROPHANT – Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester (youngest son of Henry 4th and brother to Henry V)
6 LOVERS – Romeo and Juliet
7 CHARIOT – King Henry V
8 JUSTICE – Portia
9 HERMIT – Caliban
10 WHEEL OF FORTUNE – Fortune Theatre
11 STRENGTH/LUST – Katherine & Petruchio
12 HANGED MAN – Hamlet
13 DEATH – Lear
14 TEMPERANCE – Prospero
15 DEVIL – Puck
16 TOWER – Timon
17 STAR – Cleopatra
18 MOON – Three Witches
19 SUN – King of Navarre/ Princess of France (Ferdinand & unnamed Princess)
20 JUDGEMENT – Vincentio (Duke of Vienna in Measure for Measure)
21 WORLD – Globe Theatre

The Minor Arcana:

Chalices represent those qualities that are fluid, inward looking, and life sustaining. This is the suit of emotions, relationships, and reflection.

CHALICES
Lady of Chalices – Rosalind
Lord of Chalices – Valentine
Queen of Chalices – Hermione
King of Chalices – Antony
Suit cards 1-10

Coins represent the mind working at the real world, physical level. This is the suit of material concerns, security, worth, practicality, and prosperity.

COINS
Lady of Coins – Mistress Page
Lord of Coins – Falstaff
Queen of Coins – Helena
King of Coins – Shylock
Suit cards 1-10

Quills represent abstract, theoretical applications of the mind. This is the suit of intellect, reason, creativity, problem solving, communication, truth, and justice.

QUILLS
Lady of Quills – Viola
Lord of Quills – Armado
Queen of Quills – Beatrice
King of Quills – RIchard 2nd & Henry Bolingbroke
Suit cards 1-10

Sceptres represent energy and action. This is the suit of physical force, play, travel, inspiration, impulse, ambition, and self-growth.

SCEPTRES
Lady of Sceptres – Volumnia
Lord of Sceptres – Richard Plantagenet
Queen of Sceptres – Katherine of Aragon
King of Sceptres – Philip the Bastard
Suit cards 1-10

Each suit has cards numbered 1-10. These refer to experiences, ordinary aspects of day-to-day life, actions, objectives, decisions, situations, and your responses to them, motives, reasons, justifications, goals, hopes, fears, and how your actions affect others. They lend insight into the ‘why’ of your actions and suggest ways to adjust and rethink.

Each number regardless of its suit holds some general meanings:

1. the essence and all of the potential of the suit, beginnings, foundation
2. opposites, conflict, decisions, duality, partnership, relationship
3. growth, results, action, synthesis, collaboration, plans, enthusiasm
4. stability, solidity, organisation, logic, security, order, discipline
5. mutability, change, uncertainty, loss, regret, obstacles ahead
6. advancement, prospective, turning point, balance, social concerns
7. tension between creativity and reality, valor, end of phase, progress, wisdom
8. balance of opposing forces, setting priorities, interference, transformation
9. inner strength, achievement, fulfillment, perfection, bringing to conclusion
10. responsibilities, completion, wisdom from experience, culmination