Death
He lived a long life and may have died a centenarian, although that is not without doubt. While his second wife gave his birth year as 1690 on the memorial tablet installed in St. Paul's Church, Covent Garden, making him 107 at his death; others have suggested that he was born in 1699 or 1710. His memorial shows a dagger piercing the eye of a theatrical mask, a contrite reference to his altercation with Thomas Hallam.
Macklin’s famous role as Shylock and introduction of naturalistic acting would later influence realism in the 19th century. If anything, Macklin’s drive and discipline to perfect himself as an actor and teacher still inspires theatre practitioners today. Macklin was never afraid of the moment and took every opportunity to become better in his profession. Many will continue to play Shylock, but it is no doubt that Macklin will always be the Jew that Shakespeare drew.
Macklin is remembered today in his native Inishowen, where the Charles Macklin Autumn School is held each October in the village of Culdaff.
Read more about this topic: Charles Macklin
Famous quotes containing the word death:
“When death has you by the throat, you don’t mince words.”
—Friedrich Dürrenmatt (1921–1990)
“your antlers like seaweed,
your face like a wolf’s death mask,
your mouth a virgin, your nose a nipple,
your legs muscled up like knitting balls,
your neck mournful as an axe....”
—Anne Sexton (1928–1974)
“We achieve “active” mastery over illness and death by delegating all responsibility for their management to physicians, and by exiling the sick and the dying to hospitals. But hospitals serve the convenience of staff not patients: we cannot be properly ill in a hospital, nor die in one decently; we can do so only among those who love and value us. The result is the institutionalized dehumanization of the ill, characteristic of our age.”
—Thomas Szasz (b. 1920)