Shakespeare Guild Founder Opens Falvey Memorial Library Distinguished Lecture Series 2000
Julie Mattock ‘01

John F. Andrews, founder and president of The Shakespeare Guild opened the Falvey Memorial Library Distinguished Lecture Series 2000 on Oct. 11, in Falvey Memorial Library. The topic of Andrews lecture presented: Abraham Lincoln and the Booth Family: A Shakespearian Tragedy. Andrews discussed Lincoln's own love of Shakespeare, the Booth family of actors, and the assassination of Lincoln by John Wilkes Booth, as a Shakespearian tragedy.

Andrews began his talk by praising Shakespeare as the most frequently performed dramatist not only in Britain and North America as might be expected, but also in Germany, Japan, Russian, and India. He continued, In the classroom, Shakespeare still remains at the heart of any curriculum that seeks to preserve the master works of our heritage." Thus, Andrews’ theory determines that the influence of Shakespeare and his literary plots had a profound impact on the people, as well as circumstances surrounding the assassination of Lincoln extending as far back as pre-Christian antiquity.

The Booth family had its own ties to pre-Christian antiquity in Junius Brutus Booth, the famous English actor who came to America in 1821. Andrews noted, His name and character linked him with one of the founder’s of the Roman Republic and the descendant who had fought to maintain something." Junius Brutus Booth died in 1852, but had established himself as a leading actor of his era. Like his father and grandfather, Junius Brutus was staunchly anti-authoritarian in his political convictions, and he wanted to bequeath the same ideals to his sons: Junius Brutus Jr., Edwin and John Wilkes Booth.

Along the same lines, John Wilkes Booth’s name and character were also linked to a predecessor, particularly a cousin of his father’s grandmother. The first John Wilkes was an 18^th century radical known to friend and foe alike as the agitator. As Lord Mayor of London, he led the British opposition to King George III, whom he despised as a tyrant. Much like his namesake, John Wilkes also strongly opposed a man in the highest power in the land, the president of the United States.

"John Wilkes Booth detested Lincoln and was convinced that he was going to dismantle the republic the founding fathers had erected," said Andrews. "He was persuaded that the Confederacy was the world’s new bulwark against a would-be king approaching despotism."

The remainder of the Booth family, headed by Maryanne Booth and some of her children, supported the northern cause. Edwin, who had performed for Lincoln on a number of occasions and had even saved the life of Lincoln’s son, Robert Todd, when he slipped between a departing train and the platform in Jersey City, was a solid supporter the North.

Edwin also had a great love of theater, and Shakespeare in particular. He advised a sculptor on Elizabethan attire for a bronze statue of Shakespeare to be erected in Central Park. In an effort to help with the fundraising for the statue, the three Booth sons performed a one-night show of "Julius Caesar" at the Wintergarden Theater in New York. Edwin took the role of Brutus, the older brother, Junius Brutus, played Casius and young John Wilkes played Marc Anthony. The brothers received rave reviews in the newspaper, and succeeded in contributing $4,000 to the statue fund. Andrews noted that John Wilkes may have been in the wrong role, but recognized in the right play.

During his career, John Wilkes achieved genuine distinction for his roles as Romeo, Richard III, Hamlet, and Macbeth. On Nov. 9, 1863, Lincoln actually attended a performance at Ford's Theater of the melodrama, "The Marble Heart", in which John Wilkes performed. Right before he killed Lincoln, Booth was overheard saying in a bar adjacent to Ford’s theater, "When I leave the stage for good, I’ll be the most talked about man in America."

Andrews then addressed Abraham Lincoln's "deep and abiding love for Shakespeare." The president was said to have turned regularly to the Bible and Shakespeare, and even had several verses committed to memory. Lincoln would discuss Shakespeare for hours with anyone willing to listen during the stressful and days of the Civil War. His favorites were "Hamlet," "Macbeth" and the series of histories.

Andrews discussed the similarities of a dream Lincoln had shortly before he was killed, to the dream Calpurnia has in "Julius Caesar". In his dream, he followed the sounds of sobbing through the White House until he found a corpse wrapped in funeral vestments in the East Room. When Lincoln asked a soldier who was dead, the soldier replied, "The President. He was killed by an assassin." On the eve of the assassination in "Julius Caesar," Calpurnia dreams that she sees the fountains of Rome flowing with her husband's blood. In turn, she pleads with her husband to stay home.

Mrs. Lincoln was extremely disturbed by Lincoln's dream, and was frightened when he still decided to attend the theater. Andrews explained, "Like Caesar, Lincoln dismissed his forebodings and the repeated warnings of others, when he decided to proceed with his announced plans and attend ‘Our American Cousin’ at Ford's Theater. In so doing, Lincoln played his own part in restaging the classical tragedy that had long since thought to be archetypal."

On April 14, 1865, Good Friday, John Wilkes Booth assassinated Abraham Lincoln. He shouted, "Sic, Semper, Tyrannis," (thus ever to tyrants) and escaped out of Ford's Theater. "Just like Brutus, the assassin in ‘Julius Caesar,’ John Wilkes expected his act to be widely approved. He was bewildered by the reaction his deed elicited," stated Andrews. Booth was shot in a barn about 60 miles south of Washington D.C. Andrews continued, "For John Wilkes Booth, Lincoln was Caesar. He thought of himself as someone who was protecting the Constitution, and he thought Lincoln was trying to destroy the document on which this nation was built. People like Booth thought one desperate act might yet save the cause (of the Confederacy)."

Andrews has been working on a book discussing this topic concerning Shakespeare's role in the Lincoln assassination. A preview of this research appeared in the October 1990 issue of The Atlantic Monthly, and also in a PBS special on "The Civil War." He noted, "I think the moral of the story is that Shakespeare is bigger than we are."

A native of Carlsbad, N.M., Andrews holds degrees in English from Princeton (A.B., 1965), Harvard (M.A.T., 1966), and Vanderbilt (Ph.D., 1971). He has taught at several universities, among them Tennessee, Florida State, Catholic, Georgetown and George Washington. From 1974 - 1984, Andrews served as Director of Academic Programs at the Folger Shakespeare Library. Currently, Andrews is an editor, author, lecturer and educator with extensive experience as an administrator, producer and consultant in the arts and humanities. In 1987, Andrews founded The Shakespeare Guild, a nonprofit global organization to foster a deeper appreciation for one of the world’s most influential writers, William Shakespeare. On June 19 during a ceremony at the British Embassy in Washington, Andrews was inducted into the Order of the British Empire.