The Africa that Shakespeare Imagined; or, Notes for Aspirant Film Makers

Abstract

I saw an incredible number of attentive men and women ... they held a mappamundi and spoke eloquently of prodigies ... of the pyramids and the Nile ... and of Troglodytes, of Himantopodes , of Blemmyae ... of Cannibals ... There I saw Herodotus, Pliny, Solinus ... and many other ancients ... all writing beautiful lies.
(François Rabelais, Pantagruel, c. 1550)

Thus wrote Rabelais, just a few years before Shakespeare was born. I wish to explore some of the lies about Africa that may have intrigued Shakespeare and that may even have been perpetuated by him. As my title indicates, I have also amused myself with speculations on how my findings might translate into filmic conceptions of some of Shakespeare’s plays.