"Foolery does walk about the orb like the sun, it shines everywhere," and enough of it is historic, like credit, commerce, collections, and haywired confusion, that Copernicus, Kepler, Galileo, and Newton
too were monumetnal fools, at the markets or not, to not see it any better than Einstein, who relatively speaking was only another crypto-communist.
For as weak and nonexistent as it is, by far the weakest of all
supposed forces, much weaker even than the tiniest refrigerator magnet or an itsy bitsy spider, the Newtonian gravity of gravitation would be an exclusively vertical force only if the earth were flat. And gravity is not a lateral force at all, of course,
and the earth is not flat certainly.
Shakespeare for his part was born in 1564, the same year as Galileo, and in all his works he never mentions Copernicus or heliocentrism.
He never mentions Gilbert, Kepler, or Galileo even superficially. However, as poetics and what-for, he did mention Aristotle and Plato, and some of the classics and the Christian faith in general. Both or all of which are geocentric sources, as was Cervantes
too, who like Sancho Panza and Don Quixote marveled at the chariot of the Sun and rosy-fingered dawn.
From sentiments gathered from his plays and details of his life, he appears to have been a
Catholic sympathizer, or even a sort of crypto-Catholic, getting by as wisely as would be well in Protestant England. In "Troilus and Cressida" he wrote "one touch of nature makes the whole world kin" and phrases that fairly should be interpreted as a geocentric
and Catholic view of the cosmos: Troilus saying, "as sun to day, as iron to adamant, as earth to center", and Cressida "as the very center of the earth drawing all things to it."
In the same play, Ulysses says : "the Heavens themselves, the Planets, and this center [the Earth], observe degree, priority, and place."
The lines "as earth to center", "the very center of the earth drawing all things to it" and Ulysses' statement would refer to the evident fact that the earth is the only sign always in every constellation of the ecliptic. Remaining
as it is, between and among all astronomical oppositions, that way in every constellation all the time, even as so distantly would be far away, the metaxological character and isometric panorama of the earth in its view of the heavens, therefore, is central
and unique.
As the luminary Count Pierre Bezukhov noticed, that for all the
aspects in the distance of evening twilight, as dusk folds up the day, they could fit the Moon, the Sun, and all the astronomy of the stars "into a shed boarded up with planks" -- or any prison cell with an orrery in the corner for the same. In "As You Like
It" Shakespeare wrote, "all the world's a stage" -- and, like the stage that he meant, the earth is not moving, but the players and their fates are. In "King Lear", he wrote that "our foster-nurse of nature is repose", and the stationary earth and the
daily rest that it makes possible then are as mother nature as much as medicine.
In Act II Scene II of Hamlet, it is evident that Denmark
is still of the old Aristotelian and Ptolemaic line. A pre-Newtonian country, where Lord Polonius reads Hamlet's aeriform letter to Ophelia for the court, which says, in part, "doubt thou the stars are fire; doubt that the sun doth move; doubt truth to be
a liar; but never doubt I love."
Doubt then that the sun does move, but not that Hamlet loves Ophelia. Then, ventilated as a coincidental matter, Copernicanism is wrong.
If not for comedy but tragedy, if Ophelia would be such a fool, perplexed with stupid doubts, she may doubt that the stars are fire, and that the sun does move and orbit the earth, and that the truth is not
the truth but a liar, but she should not doubt that Hamlet loves her.
Later in Act II Scene II Hamlet says to Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, "and indeed it goes so heavily with my disposition that
this goodly frame, the earth, seems to me a sterile promontory, this most excellent canopy, the air, look you, this brave o'erhanging firmament, this majestical roof fretted with golden fire, why, it appears no other thing to me than
a foul and pestilent congregation of vapours." Calling the earth "this goodly frame", not this "relative frame of reference", he likens the earth to a "promontory" with a "majestical roof fretted with golden fire". The metaphors here are geocentric and classical
not Copernican.
If it were not clear enough, In Act III Scene II, the Player King says, "Full thirty times hath Phoebus' cart gone round Neptune's salt wash and Tellus' orbed ground, and thirty
dozen moons with borrow'd sheen about the world have times twelve thirties been"... Phoebus' cart is the sun, Tellus is the earth, and such a cart going around ...
And the Player Queen answers,
"so many journeys may the sun and moon make ... again ..." In these brief lines, the geocentric cosmology of Shakespeare and Hamlet in Denmark are self-evident.
Heliocentrism and scientific materialism,
however, have played hosts to other confusions than dramatic theatre. If not an experience like little tempests in a teapot, to be so confused, if for so many years after Copernicus, they are still posing around. Yet like rattling stormwinds in a small world,
they have blown some ships off course as disasters may come and go.
The "Tempest"
was Shakespeare's last play, and still retains some classic sense about the human condition and state of man in the cosmos. As Prospero says, "We are such stuff as dreams are made on; and our little life is rounded with a sleep."
Written 77 years before Newton's "Principia" and 250 years before Darwin and Marx, the setting of Prospero's
deserted isle could be taken like the world of honest science and honest government, so alienated and exiled from its proper place. Though good understanding may be in some supply, however pained, the thing is yet in exile, and at times the course of events
may seem quite usurped. To have the correct facts, to make the correct notes in response, some castaways may find it easy to listen to the wind, then so quietly listen again, to hear a distant voice crying in the wilderness, et cetera.
So it goes, "vox clamantis in deserto", and some people on rare occasion may quote or make up Shakespearese, as other nonsense, since it may not be worse than science,
and "if you can play Shakespeare, you can play anything." For nothing but the wages or to place a bet in embarrassment, the type of boredom and social damages may be difficult to assess. If not very good, it may not be far worse than the Three Stooges or "I
hate it when that happens". Although things could be quite bad at times, and painful, Shakespeare may not have said it, but it could be close from a distance not too far apart.
There is the sometime
corny state, and ouchy things that may erupt, per occasion; and then there is the corruption of astronomy and the oddest circumstances and odds and ends to explain it as well. People can see that, it only makes sense, like Mars in Cancer, if whatever with
bygones and bygones of Elizabethan ado.
For example, In Act III, Scene 2, Stephano, Trinculo, and Caliban drink to their hearts
content from some kegs of rum near the beach, in another part of the island, away from Prospero's court; and there they plumb the shallow depths of their place in the cosmos.
Caliban: This isle is full of noises, mystery sounds, sometimes sweet airs that give delight and hurt not. But no womens have I seen other
than Prospero's daughter.
Sometimes a thousand twangling instruments will hum about mine ears, and sometime voices. The clouds methought would open and show riches ready to drop upon me that
I could not count.
Stephano: For a dog-ape to dream so in this intoxicating sun? where to look too long is almost going blind? It must be
a strange sign of Venus or Jupiter hidden in the sky.
Galileo and Newton were fools, you know, besides Kepler and Copernicus. Einstein, of course, was an old communist, perhaps an idiot.
(he would sing a little) "Flout 'em and scout 'em, scout 'em and flout 'em. Hey, ho, come on, Trinculo, sing 2 and 2 are 4, not 5, and thought is free".
Caliban:
Is that not a tune from that magic book you would call geocentricity? Prospero should not see it. No no no. He has enough books already.
Stephano: May the bird of paradise fly up his nose.
Caliban: ... and an elephant caress him with his toes.
Stephano: of course. (they drink)
Trinculo:
You'll teach this poor creature too, to not believe in gravity? Is this some strange island madness, not to believe in Newton's recognized theory of the system of the world?
Stephano: No, certainly not. Even if gravity may seem the attractive word to some, like alchemy perhaps, I've never believed Newton's theory at
all. Yet in there being if there be an attractive force, there may be created an attractive path like gravitas. Eh, Caliban?
Caliban: hhhu-aw-ottle-ah, ha ha, gravity and love of parrots in the
breeze -- if Prospero's daughter had a phone number and I could read, I'd call her.
Stephano: wouldn't you then and how bizarre.
Caliban:
of course, hold the thought and not a penny nickel more (takes a folded piece of paper from an interior pocket in his "Miami Vice" sport coat)
Stephano: What's that?
Trinculo: (looking at it over his shoulder) "Fervor of love escorts ... 8-6-7-5 and 3-0-9, for a good good time call Jenny."
Caliban: Howls my heart, and look at the
drawing (howls).
Trinculo: That notice is not from this island. Where did you get it?
Caliban: Curiosity
about its import? No area code. In truth, it washed ashore, a message in the bottle romancing the stone.
Trinculo: and the wagging oddity's so easily inflamed.
Stephano: Pluto of Venus indeed let me see that mail ... (takes it. Caliban snarls and woofs a little. Stephano examines it then hands it back) Do you know Coco?
Caliban:
Yes, that one too, oh storied delight.
Trinculo: When the going gets weird, the weird turn pro.
Caliban: (looking at it, then putting
it away) that's a precious fillip (he howls and woofs again).
Stephano: Well, as we were, gravitas in Latin means weight, of course. To acknowledge that weight exists which may exert force as it
operates with density, mass, and impetus is not necessarily to accept Newton's theories at all.
For one, recall the earth's a sphere of unique density, and gravity's not a lateral force. Since
gravity's not a lateral force, and the earth and space are spherical, it's not a vertical one either -- except, of course, as the effect holds earthly bodies in place or compels air to let things fall.
Caliban:
ah, paper boats, to the surface to the center ... quoquo quaqua
Stephano: Not lateral, quoquo, then not radial either, quaqua, since radial force is also lateral from the axis at the center.
Caliban: tuku tuku tiki taka. as it will.
Stephano: The only way that gravity could be operative on an exclusively vertical plane is if the earth
were flat; but the earth's not flat, of course, it goes without saying: we have here a sphere with no equatorial bulge and no squeezed-in polar caps.
Caliban: That's it, ya-ya yo-yo, thwip. One
can feel it, even from the stars.
Stephano: To better sense that source of Jupiterial élan all round, as an ancient and wise Roman King once said, "telluris ingens conditor terram dedisti immobilem".
Caliban: hmm, such words, and Dom Prospero has often begun to tell
me what sort of freak I am but stopped and left me to a bootless inquisition.
Stephano: "Conturbare grave, falso auctum" ...
Caliban:
yes, that it could be
Stephano: ... disturbingly burdensome, therefore, falsely exaggerated, heliocentrism aggrieves proper celestial
mechanics and common sense physics. Isn't that right? Caliban, what's correct and much better is the classical theory of impetus, momentum, and accomodation.
Trinculo: For the pleasure of sick
fools, if the world be trained by such morons as thee, then many among the wretched poor and lame will still be doomed as ever.
Caliban:
Yo-Yo tragical and the stupid looks of you. Everyone has a plan 'till they get punched in the mouth.
Stephano: See, the seasons change sorely in
these times. Yet tell me not, when the barrel's out, we'll drink water. Not one drop sooner. Cheers, therefore, bear up and board 'em, servant-monster, and drink to me, you ugly fellow.
Caliban: hhhu-aw, pffaw, gravity -- curiosity killed the cat ... but satisfaction brought him back.
Trinculo: Servant-monster? The folly of this
place! And they say there’s but five upon this isle. We are three of them. If the other two be brained like us, the state totters.
Stephano: Drink, servant-monster, when I bid thee.
Thine eyes are almost set in thy head, foul companion.
Trinculo: Where should they be set else? He were a brave monster indeed,
if they were set in his tail, even for such an atavistic end.
The barber's chair fits all buttocks but his: and lost on an uncharted isle in the middle of the cosmos, ah, the last resort of Ptolemy's lizard goose or somebody's fixed-Earth location.
Stephano: Must we speak such drivel, to say that the desert in China does not orbit the Sun?
Caliban: Cheers! If you will, sirrah, by impetus ...
Stephano: Right, by the inverse squared, and the momentum.
Trinculo: bah, no, and the reptilian-hybrid's so drunk already he can't talk without spitting spittle and spilling from his kettle of rum.
Caliban: (spilling and
drinking) If I were not so thirsty, I'm not sure what I would do? (menacing Trinculo with looks)
Trinculo: What an awful beast of fear and loathing he is! For what would you teach him geocentricity?
He might destroy us all, if he's not set again to his chain. Therefore, get the lock, or this island
will be wrecked as well like our old ship.
Stephano: Hang fire. He's off the chain now and will not easily be put back on
it. Fear and pray for our assembly if you will, but this toothsome creature must run his course. (laughing and rubbing the servant-monster's head. The servant-monster laughs, spits, howls, and drinks more rum.)
Caliban: (singing) It's so hard to keep the smile from my face, since I tol' you I'm all over the place. Clowns to the left. Jokers to the right. Stuck in the middle. Nothing to lose.
Trinculo:
He sings like a dog.
Caliban: woo hoo, and a murder of crows.
Stephano: Whatever happens will happen by fortune, virtue, or design.
Yet Copernicanism's of a nature on which nurture can never stick. Isn't that right, thirsty savage?
Caliban: He who would eat it, the moldy bread of Copernicus, 'twill make him sick to queasy,
even worse than bad rum. (Caliban drinks more)
Stephano: Quo fata ferunt, whither the fates carry us, I wouldn't want it, even for a biscuit, and I wouldn't smoke it either.
Trinculo: Heavens guard this island and its humane society against sordid beasts, malignant spirits, and against all ignorant science.
Stephano:
Coconuts and premature apocalypse, our triumvirate state totters and has fallen away from the truth, if the world spins from gravity more than rum.
Caliban: Aye, but I'd be full of pleasure and
jocund to know that the earth does not orbit the sun.
Trinculo: Even without television (looking at Caliban), I would change the channel.
I'm
afraid our eyes and thirsts are bigger than our bellies, e'en as big as they may be, that we have more curiosity than capacity; for we grasp at all, and drink too much, but catch nothing but foul wind and confusion.
Caliban: Ta ha iffthowwa -- thou makest me merry with thy eyes askance. If there were a cookie, I would certainly eat it.
Trinculo: No pickles and no cookies today.
Caliban: Baaa
Trinculo: Sorry.
Caliban: Oh, for legion animarum ...
Stephano: 'Tis no government where there's no science, and bad ones both where there's no honor but power hungry and devious minds instead -- and faked moon landings.
Caliban: Faked moon landings! Ha! ha, ha, and I'll go to Mars ... sans souci!
Stephano: Moon-calf, speak and barf again in thy vitals, if thou beest a good beasty boy.
Caliban: Hhrrar, pfuaw -- How does thy honour? Let me lick thy shoe.
Stephano: Which way goes the moon?
Caliban: From east to west around our isle, of course, clockwise when spectated from above the North pole
with Santa and his elves.
Trinculo: What astronomy quoth he! That a monster should be such a natural.
Caliban: ha ha, big numbers
are all we need. (counting on his fingers) One two three a billion. Ha, such digits as these!
Stephano: Pure magic, this devil knows the way of the moon better than NASA and the Federal Reserve
scam. In aqua vitae veritas!
With a castle and the stars, this could be just our lot, Camelot.
Caliban: Yet so, the gods keep hidden the means of life, else we would do easily work enough in a day to supply a full year.
For instance, why must I labour with sorrow by day, then perish in madness by night? (He drinks more) The gods have laid sore troubles on me.
Trinculo: Even without working, things for us would seem stranger still. Woe is us. As the world turns, are we not lost?
Caliban:(drinking and speaking) ... t'ooku t'ooku, teeki taka.
Stephano: Erica Kane's long gone, it's true, and all our cousins, except this servant-monster breed here.
If we but had the budget from NASA, we could send him to Mars for cookies and whipped cream.
(A crystalline voice ringing out of thin air says, "that was 'All My Children' not 'As the World Turns'.")
Trinculo: Wo, that sounded from another sphere.
Stephano: What frequency was that?
Caliban: No wonder I sometimes howl myself to sleep at night. This isle's enchanted with spirits.
Ariel: Odd angles three, how now, moodies?
Trinculo: A hidden sprite plays some mischief with us from the trees?
Stephano: Who goes there? Where are you?
Ariel: It's only wind chimes and the trees. They call me, "the Breeze".
Stephano: It's coming from that way, up there. A monkey and wind chimes.
Ariel: ha ha ha, creatures for a day! What
is of man that was not but a shadow of a dream? Three fools like you cannot catch me, but as you will, come and see.
Trinculo: The
sound's going away; let's follow it, and after later do our work.
(Following the voice, they wander up an elevation off the beach to the woods.)