Sophy and the Persian prince
Shakespeare and Persia
October 22, 2002
The Iranian
Persia has always been a rich source of inspiration for poets and writers of different periods in
history. From the late sixteenth-century, oral transmission of stories and the publication of travel
books on the Orient enabled dramatists such as Shakespeare to make references to the court of
the Grand Sophy in Persia.
At the beginning of the seventeenth-century the adventures of the Sherley brothers and the
publication of Sir Anthony Sherley's Relations of Travels into Persia (1613) and Thomas
Herbert's A Relation of Some Years Travaile (1634) inspired several plays, including Sir John
Denham's The Sophy (1642), Robert Baron's Mirza, A Tragedy (1647), William Cartwright's The
Royall Slave (1639). The lives of the Sherleys were also dramatised, as in Nixon's The Three
English Brothers... (1607) and John Day's The Travailes of the three English Brothers (1607).
One can find several allusions to Persia in the work of the renowned English poet and dramatist,
William Shakespeare (1564-1616). Shakespeare probably became acquainted with Persia
through the accounts of travellers such as Ralph Fitch (Account of the Voyage of Ralph Fitch,
Merchant of London) and he had probably read or heard about the journal, "The long, dangerous,
and memorable voyage of M. Ralph Fitch ...," in Richard Hakluyt's The Principal Navigations
Voyages Traffiques & Discoveries of the English Nation (1589-1590).
There are also echoes of the British merchant, Anthony Jenkinson's account of his visit to Kazvin
(Qazvin) and to Shah Tahmasp's court which might have attracted the attention of Shakespeare
and made him write about the Persian outfit. (Jenkinson had a meeting with Shah Tahmasp, and
presented him with gifts, but upon finding that Jenkinson was a European and a Christian, the
Shah was not interested in further contacts.
Jenkinson's timing was also unlucky in this respect. The Shah had just signed a treaty of
friendship with the Turks, who regarded almost all Europeans as enemies. Still, on request of his
son, who warned him that doing evil unto strangers coming to his country might scare away
other visitors, the Shah eventually let Jenkinson go without doing him any harm, and even sent
him a rich garment.)
In his A Comedy of Errors, Shakespeare alludes to Persia when the Second Merchant (Angelo's
creditor), demanding the repayment of his money, says to Angelo: "I am bound for Persia, and
want guilders for my voyage." (IV. i).
In King Lear, Lear says to Edgar:
You, sir, I entertain for one of my hundred;
only I do not like the fashion of your garment;
you will say they are Persian attire, but let
them be changed. (III. vi).
The accounts of the travels of Robert Sherley, and other travellers, interested European kings
greatly and sometimes prompted them to wear Persian costumes on special occasions. In one
occasion, Louis XIV, and Charles II went so far as to compete with one another in richness of
costume, as recorded by diarists as Samuel Pepys and John Evelyn.
In Merchant of Venice, the Prince of Morocco, addressing Portia, says:
I pray thee, lead me to the caskets
To try my fortune. By this scimitar,
That slew the Sophy and the Persian prince,
That won three fields for Sultan Solyman,
I would o'erstars the sternest eyes that look. (II. i.)
Here Shakespeare probably refers to Jenkinson's account of his travels to Persia but has got the
facts wrong. No Sophy / Shah or a prince was slain in the wars between Persia and Turkey in the
sixteenth-century, only Shah Ismail was badly wounded and escaped capture in the battle of
Chaldiran in 1514.
In Twelfth Night, Shakespeare, once more alludes to Sophy. He probably refers to the pension
which Shah Abbas had granted to the British mercenaries, Anthony and Robert Sherley. Sir
Anthony was in Persia from Dec 1, 1599 to May 1600. He was given 5,000 horses to train the
Persian army according to the rules and customs of the English militia. He was also commanded
to reform and retrain the artillery. When he left Persia, he left his brother, Robert Sherley, behind
with 14 Englishmen who lived in Persia for years.
In 1609 Robert Sherley was employed, as his brother had been, by the Persian monarch, as
ambassador to several princes of Christendom, for the purpose of uniting them in a confederacy
against the Turks. He first went into Poland, where he was honorably entertained by Sigismond
the Third. In June of this same year he was in Germany, and received from the Emperor Rudolph
II the title of Earl.
<>From Germany Sir Robert went to Florence and from there to Rome. He next visited Milan,
and then proceeded to Genoa, from where he embarked to Spain, arriving in Barcelona in
December 1609. He sent for his Persian wife and they remained in Spain, principally at Madrid
until the summer of 1611. With the aid of these British mercenaries Shah Abbas developed the
use of artillery and succesfuly regained much of the Persian land that had been taken by the
Ottomans.
In Twelfth Night, Fabian addresses Sir Toby saying,
I will not give my part of this sport
for a pension of thousands to be paid from
the Sophy. (II. v.)
In another instance, when Sir Toby is praising a knight's bravery and skill, he says to Viola:
"They say he has been fencer to the Sophy." (III. Iv.)
In King Henry VI, When Charles praises Joan of Arc's endeavors to save France, he alludes to
the coffer of Darius:
In memory of her, when she is dead,
Her sashes, in an urn more precious
Than the rich jewelled coffer of Darius
Transported shall be at high festivals
Before the kings and queens of France. (I. Vi.)
In another instance in the same play, Countess of Auvergne says,
The plot is laid; if all things fall
Out right,
I shall as famous be by this exploit
As Soythian Tomyris by Cyrus' death. (II. ii.)
This comes from the belief that Cyrus was killed in 529 B.C. in a war against Tomyris, the
Queen of Scythians. Herodotus believed that Cyrus had asked Tomyris to marry him but she
rejected his offer which made him attack her country and defeat her forces as a result of which he
was killed. This, we know, is not accurate because Cyrus was actually killed in a battle with a
tribe called Dahae.
In King Henry IV, in order to show the serious intentions of Falstaff in pursuing his aims,
Shakespeare alludes to King Cambyses and writes:
Give me a cup of sack to make my eyes
look red, that it may be thought I
have wept; for I must speak in passion,
and I will do it in King Cambyses' vein. (II. iv.)
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Used by leading Academics
Pasquale Terracciano
"Tor Vergata" University of Rome
Alejandra B Osorio
Wellesley College
Mercedes Gamero Rojas
Universidad de Sevilla
Luc Duerloo
University of Antwerp
