The British Library is all set to release the last surviving handwritten script by William Shakespeare online, in which he pictures Sir Thomas More making a plea for humane treatment of refugees.

The script reveals much about the social and cultural structure of the society during that time, which shaped his ideology and imagination. This, one of the 300 newly digitised treasures, will be made available for the viewers on a new website prior to an exhibition on the playwright at the library the coming month.

This heart-rending scene was written by the playwright during a heightened tension over the number of French Protestants (Huguenots) seeking asylum in the capital and More is depicted challenging anti-immigration rioters in London. One of the outstanding characteristics of the book of Sir Thomas More is that it is relevant even today and holds importance in the light of the current European migration crisis.

Throwing light on the manuscript, Zoe Wilcox, the British library curator said, “It is a really stirring piece of rhetoric. At its heart it is really about empathy. More is calling on the crowds to empathise with the immigrants or strangers as they are called in the text. He is asking them to imagine what it would be like if they went to Europe, if they went to Spain or Portugal, they would then be strangers.

He is pleading them against what he calls their ‘mountainous inhumanity’. It is striking and sad just how relevant it seems to us now considering what is happening in Europe.”

The original play, which was written around 1600 and revolved around the life of Henry VIII’s Councillor and Lord Chancellor, was initially not staged due to the fear of unrest. Later, though, Shakespeare reworked the piece and till date his contribution is considered to be the most remarkable.

“You’ll put down strangers, / Kill them, cut their throats, possess their houses, / And lead the majesty of law in lyam/ To slip him like a hound. Alas, alas! Say now the King/ As he is clement if th’offender mourn,/ Should so much come too short of your great trespass/ As but to banish you: whither would you go?/What country, by the nature of your error,/ Should give you harbour? Go you to France or Flanders, / To any German province, Spain or Portugal, / Nay, anywhere that not adheres to England: / Why, you must needs be strangers,” he wrote.

Wilcox said: “All proofs imply that the script was handwritten by Shakespeare. He added, “All we have other than that is the six authentic Shakespeare signatures, so this is really amazing. It is not even a fair copy; it is something he was drafting as he was mid-composition.”

Conserved and digitised, the manuscript will be put on display at the British library’s Shakespeare in 10 Acts exhibition that will open on 15 April. The exhibit will also feature essays and films to recreate the world in which Shakespeare was living.

Wilcox said, “We are trying to help students understand the context of Shakespeare’s time because many English teachers tell us that students struggle to understand him and the world he came from.”

Courtesy: i.guim.co.uk