An actor made for Shakespeare
Fabien Dei Franchi
"Thou trumpet set for Shakespeare's lips to blow!"
Poem
The silent room, the heavy creeping shade,The dead that travel fast, the opening door,The murdered brother rising through the floor,The ghost’s white fingers on thy shoulders laid,And then the lonely duel in the glade,The broken swords, the stifled scream, the gore,Thy grand revengeful eyes when all is o’er—These things are well enough—but thou wert madeFor more august creation! frenzied LearShould at thy bidding wander on the heathWith the shrill fool to mock him, RomeoFor thee should lure his love, and desperate fearPluck Richard’s recreant dagger from its sheath—Thou trumpet set for Shakespeare’s lips to blow!
In brief
SummaryA sonnet addressed to an actor in the role of Fabien dei Franchi, hero of a stage melodrama of ghosts and revenge. The first eight lines list the thrills of the part: the silent room, the ghost of the murdered brother rising through the floor, the duel in the glade and the actor's 'grand revengeful eyes'. These things are 'well enough', the speaker says, but the actor was made for greater work. He should play Lear on the heath, Romeo and Richard, for he is a 'trumpet set for Shakespeare's lips to blow'.
Key themes
"These things are well enough"
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The poem opens with a list of stage effects, all addressed to the actor as 'thou': 'The silent room, the heavy creeping shade, / The dead that travel fast, the opening door', the 'murdered brother rising through the floor', and 'The ghost's white fingers on thy shoulders laid'. Then come 'the lonely duel in the glade', the broken swords, the 'stifled scream, the gore', and 'Thy grand revengeful eyes when all is o'er'.
At the eighth line the poem turns: 'These things are well enough', but 'thou wert made / For more august creation!' The speaker wants the actor to make 'frenzied Lear' wander the heath with 'the shrill fool to mock him', to play Romeo luring his love, and to show 'desperate fear' plucking 'Richard's recreant dagger from its sheath'. The last line sums up his gift: 'Thou trumpet set for Shakespeare's lips to blow!'
Characters
The actor
Fabien dei Franchi on stage
The performer addressed throughout as 'thou', seen playing Fabien dei Franchi, with the ghost's fingers on his shoulders and 'grand revengeful eyes' after the duel. The speaker believes he was 'made / For more august creation' and should be playing Shakespeare's tragic heroes.
The speaker
The admiring playgoer
A spectator who has watched the melodrama closely, recalling each effect in order, and who admires the actor enough to want more for him. His closing image, 'Thou trumpet set for Shakespeare's lips to blow!', is both praise and a challenge.
Themes
Melodrama and greatness
The octave lists the effects of melodrama with evident relish, the ghost 'rising through the floor', 'the stifled scream, the gore', yet the verdict is cool: 'These things are well enough'. The sestet sets against them the great roles of Shakespeare, Lear, Romeo and Richard, as 'more august creation'. The poem praises the actor by saying his talent is being spent on lesser work.
The actor as instrument
The final line pictures the actor not as a creator but as an instrument: a 'trumpet set for Shakespeare's lips to blow'. Earlier, Lear 'Should at thy bidding wander on the heath', giving the actor a power over the characters. The poem holds both ideas together: the performer commands the stage, but his highest use is to give voice to a greater poet.
Quotes
"These things are well enough"
The speaker
"The murdered brother rising through the floor,"
The speaker
Context
'Fabien Dei Franchi' appears in the 'Impressions de Théâtre' section of Wilde's collected poems. Fabien dei Franchi is the hero of The Corsican Brothers, a stage melodrama drawn from a story by Alexandre Dumas, in which a man's murdered twin returns as a ghost and he avenges him in a duel. The poem is a sonnet addressed to an actor in that role; it does not name him.
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