The Immortal Bard, otherwise known as William Shakespeare, is an easily recognizable figure no matter where you go. Four hundred years after his death his works are still widely circulated and often used in high school English courses as a torture device for some and a brilliant escape for others — learning to write in iambic pentameter can be difficult at the best of times, but it does make wonderful poetry. A documentary crew has taken a new approach to looking at his grave for the 400th anniversary of his death. They used radar to scan his tomb at the Holy Trinity Church.
This would be a normal enough procedure to see what exactly is interred with Shakespeare's remains if it weren't for the words guarding the grave. Inscribed on a plaque is a curse more befitting of the mummy of King Tutankhamun than a sixteenth-century playwright. An enigmatic epitaph rests above the grave and reads:
Good friend for Jesus' sake forbear,
To dig the dust enclosed here.
Blessed be the man that spares these stones,
And cursed be he that moves my bones.
Who would think that William Shakespeare of all men would have a curse laid out to defend his bones? This would lead many to consider opening the grave completely out of the question — if Trinity Church would even allow such an action. The results of the radar scan are set to appear in a documentary later this spring.
Around 38 plays and 154 sonnets have been attributed to William Shakespeare, and he has inspired many other works in recent history. "Shakespeare Undead" by Lori Handeland features our favorite poet with a couple of fanged editions to his person (I recommend it as a good read if you want a laugh). Cole Porter's "Kiss Me Kate" takes a turn for the musically inclined as a modern day twist on Shakespeare's "The Taming of the Shrew." It just seems incongruous that a man known to bring joy to his audiences would wish harm on those that would plot to disturb his bones. It does make a wonderful deterrent for potential grave robbers, though.
Curse aside, the hope is that the scans done on the Bard's grave will help reveal more about the man and his family. The graves around his are the final resting places of various extended family members such as his wife, Anne Hathaway, his daughter Suzanna and many others. April 23 is the anniversary of his death and will be met with a candlelit vigil hosted at Holy Trinity with various performances and academic workshops across Britain.
May his poetry live on and his bones never be disturbed lest those words prove true.
