Santiago Matamoros and Shakespeare

[Robert E. Spenger]

Liz,

Thanks ever so much. You have just answered a question that I asked on another
listserv in another century. I had wondered if W.S. was indulging in a bit of
Spanish-bashing when he wrote that. If my memory serves me right, he was about
20 at the time of the Armada, so it would be expected that it would have had a
strong influence on him. Obviously, he would not use the name James in the
country of the "Court of Saint James" and, although the Iago in the play was
Venetian, the Italian version of the name (Giacomo?) was not used. At the time
of my speculations, I heard something to the effect that W.S. based his play on
an earlier story, but there was no indication that the name Iago was put in by
Shakespeare.

Do you have a reference for the original article? It would be interesting to see
what else he wrote.

regards,

Robert

Elizabeth Boylston-Morris wrote:

> In 1996 Peter R. Moore wrote an illuminating article about the connection
> between "Shakespeare's Iago and Santiago Matamoros".
>
> Liz