Amidst fears of a backlash, political dithering puts Hamlet in the shade

On the 400th anniversary of his death, William Shakespeare is rightly celebrated worldwide as possibly the greatest dramatist of all time.

Amidst fears of a backlash, political dithering puts Hamlet in the shade

But, in addition to being a keen observer and scrutiniser of human nature, he also alluded in his plays and sonnets to the animal kingdom, and especially wild creatures.

As a campaigner for wildlife protection and conservation, I find those references intriguing.

There’s a major campaign right now for the protection of the honey bee from pesticides, with fierce debates on the issue in national parliaments and assemblies throughout the EU.

Shakespeare paid a memorable tribute to the insect in Henry V:

“For so work the honey-bees, Creatures that by a rule in nature teach, The act of order to a peopled kingdom.”

References to blood sports abound in the playwright’s work. There’s the well-known quote from Act 3, Scene 1 of Julius Caesar: “Cry ‘Havoc! and let slip the dogs of war.”

The slipper was the man who unleashed two greyhounds after a hare in a coursing event. Sadly, he performs the same function today in Ireland, where hare coursing is still legal.

In Act 4, Scene 3 of Love’s Labour Lost, the character Biron says: “…The king he is hunting the deer; I am coursing myself…

In As You Like It, an onlooker describes the plight of a wounded stag thus:

…The wretched animal heaved forth such groans That their discharge did stretch his leathern coat Almost to bursting, and the big round tears Coursed one another down his innocent nose In piteous chase….

I recalled that graphic depiction when the Dáil finally got around to banning stag-hunting in 2010 amid tensions between Coalition partners Fianna Fáil and the Greens over tackling the practice.

In his narrative poem, Venus and Adonis, Shakespeare empathises with the plight of a hare that is being chased:

…Mark the poor wretch, to overshoot his troubles, How he outruns the wind, and with what care He cranks and crosses with a thousand doubles…

Unfortunately, far too many of our politicians, at both local and national level, are reluctant in 2016 to legislate against blood sports. They fear an electoral backlash from their coursing cousins in the countryside.

Their dithering puts even Hamlet in the shade.

Perhaps, some day, they’ll find the courage to act — hopefully before another 400 years have passed since the death of Shakespeare.

John Fitzgerald

Campaign for the Abolition Of Cruel Sports

Callan,

Co Kilkenny

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