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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/14699-0.txt b/14699-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..d21e028 --- /dev/null +++ b/14699-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,3781 @@ +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 14699 *** + +E-text prepared bu Ted Garvin, Keith M. Eckrich, and the Project Gutenberg +Online Distributed Proofreading Team + + + +SHAKESPEARE STUDY PROGRAMS: THE COMEDIES + +by + +CHARLOTTE PORTER & HELEN A. CLARKE + +Authors of _The Tragedies_ +Editors of the _Pembroke Shakespeare_, the _First Folio Shakespeare_, +_Poet Lore_, etc. + +Boston: Richard G. Badger +Toronto: The Copp Clark Co., Limited +The Gorham Press, Boston, U.S.A. + + + + + + + +[Illustration: ARTI et VERITATI] + + + + +INTRODUCTORY NOTE + + +The Shakespeare Study Programs appeared originally in _Poet Lore_. +They have met with marked favor, and have been reprinted as the back +numbers went out of print. The steady demand for these programs +prompts the present issue in book-form. Several new programs have been +added, and those reprinted have been revised. + +The references in this volume are to the "First Folio Edition" of +Shakespeare, edited by Charlotte Porter. + + + + +"Criticism is the endeavour to find, to know, to love, to recommend +not only the best, but all the good that has been known and thought +and written in the world. ... It shows how to grasp and how to +enjoy;... it helps the ear to listen when the horns of England blow." + +--GEORGE SAINTSBURY, "History of Criticism." + + + + +CONTENTS + +The Comedie of Errors + +The Two Gentlemen of Verona + +The Taming of the Shrew + +Love's Labour's Lost + +Much Adoe About Nothing + +A Midsommer Nights Dreame + +The Merchant of Venice + +The Merry Wives of Windsor + +As You Like It + +Twelfe Night + +The Tempest + +The Winter's Tale + + + + + +THE COMEDIE OF ERRORS + + +In the Summer of 1594 a translation of a Latin Farce by the Roman +Dramatist, Plautus, was made ready for publication in London. It may +even have been published then, for, although the title page date is +1595, then, as often now, the issue was made in advance of date. +Circulation in MS., moreover, now unusual, was then common. + +This translation was registered, at any rate, for publication, June +16, 1594, as "A Booke entitled Menæchmi, being a pleasant and fine +conceited comedy taken out of the most wittie poet Plautus, chosen +purposely from out the rest as being the least harmful and most +delightful." + +Six months later, Shakespeare had made an English Farce out of this +Latin one. He invented several new characters, arranged many new +situations, and put a good deal more life-likeness in the relations of +the characters, while yet it may be seen that, his new play, "The +Comedie of Errors," was directly drawn from the old one by Plautus. + +The first record we have of Shakespeare as an actor before Queen +Elizabeth relates to the performance in Christmas week of this same +year of "twoe severall comedies." This record in the Accounts of the +Treasurer who paid out the money for the Plays acted before the Queen, +runs as follows: + +"To William Kempe, William Shakespeare, and Richard Burbage, servaunts +to the Lord Chamberleyn upon the Councelles warrant dated at Whitehall +xv. die. Marcij 1594 [1595], for twoe severall comedies or enterludes, +shewed by them before her Majestie in Christmas tyme laste paste, +viz., upon St. Stephen daye, [Dec. 26,] and Innocente's day, [Dec. +28,] xiii^{li} vi^{s} viij^{d} and by way of her Majesties rewarde +vi^{li} xiij^{s} iv^{d} in all xx^{li}." + +It is fair to infer that the "Comedie of Errors" was one of these two +comedies, for on the evening of the 28th of December, 1594, there +arose a sudden necessity to hire an entertainment to take the place at +Gray's Inn, one of the great Law Schools of London, of a Play by the +students which had gone to pieces. In lieu of this amateur play, for +which a great stage had been built in their Hall, it is recorded that +the great throng assembled were forced, first, to "content themselves +with ordinary dancing and revelling, and when that was over, with a +Comedy of Errors like to Plautus his Menoechmus, which was played by +the players." That these "players" were public players is shown in the +Gray's Inn account of these Christmas festivities by another reference +to this "company of base and common fellows" who were "foisted" in "to +make up our disorders with a play of Errors and Confusions." + +Since this substitution of the "players" Play for the Play by the +young gentlemen students was unexpected, we can be sure it was not +made for this occasion. It seems obvious that whatever comedy was +specially designed by Shakespeare and his fellow actors for their +Christmas performances before the Queen at Greenwich, would be apt to +be chosen for a sudden repetition at Gray's Inn the same evening. And +of course for such an institution of scholarly gentlemen as Gray's +Inn, a farce based on Plautus would be likely to be thought +appropriate. + +So Mrs. Charlotte Stopes argues, who brought into association these +facts and dates. She brings out also, another curious incident or two +concerning what we may take to be the earliest performances of "The +Comedie of Errors." One is that the mother of the Earl of +Southampton,--the young nobleman who was Shakespeare's patron and to +whom the Poet dedicated "Venus and Adonis" and "Lucrece,"--was then +acting officially for her late husband. Thus it fell to her care to +make up his accounts as Treasurer of the Chamber, and she it was who +wrote this particular notice of the acting of Shakespeare before Queen +Elizabeth. Others acting as Treasurer did not find it worth their +while to include the Actors' names in their accounts. This notice of +hers is the first and last to mention names in this way. Her son, +being a Gray's Inn man, would have been in a position to suggest the +substitution of Shakespeare's Play and as a friend of Shakespeare's +would desire to do so. + +The other incident of biographical interest is that the Gray's Inn +students were much mortified by the uproar which caused the failure of +the program of their chief of Revels called "The Prince of Purpoole," +and made it necessary for them to call in common players. The result +of their desire "to recover their lost honor with some graver +conceipt" was to give Jan. 3d, a learned Dialogue called "Divers Plots +and Devices." Bacon aided largely in this stately affair. In its +course six Councillors one after the other deliver speeches on +enrollment of Knights and Chivalry, the glory of War, the study of +Philosophy, etc. The scorn felt for Shakespeare's "Comedie" and the +contrast with this rival specimen of academic dramatics is +significant. + +Out of the comparatively simple plot of Plautus, Shakespeare developed +an amusing complexity of situations. These appear upon studying the +progress of the story, Act by Act, as follows: + + +ACT I + +THE ARRIVAL OF CERTAIN STRANGERS IN EPHESUS + +What has the arrest of the "Marchant" Egean to do with the rest of the +Story? How soon does any connection appear? + +The reference in scene ii, to the occurrence taking place in scene i, +suggests a somewhat odd chance coincidence in the arrival from +Syracuse on the same day of both of these strangers. By this casual +reference the seemingly unrelated scenes are so innocently linked +together that it rather blinds than opens the eyes of the audience to +the deeper links of connection. It also acts at once as a warning to +Antipholus, and explains why he also is not arrested under the same +law from which Egean suffered. + +The merchant who gives Antipholus this warning does not appear to be +at all an intimate friend. Yet he seems to have met the stranger upon +his arrival. Is this accounted for? What office does the scene show +that he bears toward him? How recent an institution is the Bank and +Letter of Credit for travellers? Was the lack of such facilities long +filled in the way here exemplified? + +Do these two men keep the appointment they made to meet at five +o'clock? Why is it made? Does it serve any need of the Play? + +The reference to Ephesus as a town given over to sorcery and +witchcraft assists in giving the impression that the time of the Play +falls within the Christian era, when the ancient customs of the Pagan +inhabitants gave the City a bad repute of this particular kind. Was it +derived from Plautus? Note whether sorcery and witchcraft are included +in his account of the discreditableness of Ephesus. What conclusions +may be gathered as to Shakespeare's account of it from a comparison +with the corresponding passage in Plautus (This extract is given in +Note on I, ii, 102-107 in the "First Folio" Edition of Shakespeare's +Play). Show how this statement is useful in throwing light upon the +character of Antipholus as well as on events. + +The first complication in scene ii arises from mistaking Dromio of +Ephesus for Dromio of Syracuse; but notice that this error is +accounted for by the second source of the errors of the play--belief +in witchcraft. + +QUERIES FOR DISCUSSION + +Is the audience as much in the dark over the first mystification as +Antipholus is? Should it be? Is the play the better or worse for not +being clear? If both Dromios are made to look exactly alike how can +the audience know? + + +ACT II + +ANTIPHOLUS THE STRANGER DINES AT HOME + +Notice how the last scene of the preceding Act is cleared up by the +first scene of the present Act. + +Are the errors of Act II the results of those of Act I? The errors of +Act I affect but a very few characters, but in Act II how many? A new +source of complication is brought forward in this Act, also. Show what +it is, and how it both adds to the interest of the Play as a story and +to the confusion begun by the mistaken identity and the witchcraft +elements of the Plot. + +The fooling dialogue of Scene ii gives the action pause. Is it +therefore useless, or a dramatic mistake? The ease with which the +right master and man fall into this talk after the earlier +cross-purposes with the wrong man, seems to betray the fact that they +do belong together. They are so readily familiar that the +cross-purposes making up the plot seem to be no longer troublesome +either to themselves or the audience. The interval of reassurance +makes the return of strangeness more unaccountable. Antipholus is also +now reassured about his gold, and the earlier cross-purpose seems only +a jest. + +Why does the mention of Dromio's name (II, ii, 156) cause both master +and man to exclaim? Why should it not have led them to guess the +truth? + +Would this scene with Adriana and Luciana have been equally mystifying +and skilful if the right master and man had not been together? + +QUERIES FOR DISCUSSION + +In the debate between the sisters upon patience in marriage is Adriana +or Luciana the more justifiable? Has their argument anything to do +with the plot? Is character interest or plot interest of the first +importance, and how are they apportioned in this play? + +Is Adriana's argument that she is bound to share morally herself in +the infidelity of her husband sophistical? Or has it a core of sound +ethical value? + + +ACT III + +ANTIPHOLUS THE NATIVE INVITES FRIENDS TO DINE WITH HIM + +How far are the errors of Act III new? From which element of the plot, +mistaken identity, or the domestic difficulties of the native-born +Antipholus do they arise? + +What effects are gained by bringing together in this Act the right +pairs of master and man? + +The closed door between the two groups, one within the house, the +other without, is the only barrier to such an exhibition of the double +resemblances as would clear up all difficulties immediately. Is the +humor of the situation the better for this slightness of the barrier, +or is it rendered altogether too unlikely by it? Notice also the +narrow escapes from meeting and being seen together which masters and +men are constantly making and the skill of the stage movements so +that, for example, while one pair of twins is in the house, the other +pair is absolutely unable to come there, and make clear the main cause +of the errors. + +What relation to the subordinate cause of the errors, i.e., the +domestic difficulties of Antipholus the Native--has the new source of +difficulty and bepuzzlement--the gold chain? Bring out the relation of +the dialogue (III, i, 23-35), between Antipholus and the friends he +invites, to the welcome they find and discuss later. The irony of his +confidence in welcome, at least, which is precisely what is lacking, +is peculiarly true to such disappointments in life. For the fun and +naturalness gained by it, therefore, the carefully planned arrangement +of the dialogue to lead up to it, does not seem to be artificial. What +would have happened to the plot if the plan proposed to force the door +with a crow-bar had been carried out? Since the dramatist was so +daring as to cause it to be suggested, it was incumbent upon him at +once to devise something to prevent it from being done. The way in +which he has accomplished this through Balthazar, puts both Antipholus +and his guest in an estimable light. Show its effect upon the present +scene and upon both the character-interest and the scenes to come in +which the Courtisan figures. What expense does Antipholus refer to +(III, i, 169)? + +Is Luciana's advice so good that it accounts for the attraction she +has for Antipholus the Stranger? Or do you think she is attractive in +spite of it? + +Is the dialogue in this Act between the right master and man as good +as that in Act II? Has it other excuse for being besides punning and +fooling? Examine its value as compared with the other in introducing a +new and amusing error, and educing puns that are suggested by this, +and therefore not independent of the plot. + +This Act closes with two new incidents of use in the sequel: What are +they? + +QUERIES FOR DISCUSSION + +Why has Shakespeare chosen to make Antipholus the Stranger abhor +Adriana, and be attracted to her sister instead? What is the result +for the plot? Is it a mistake that the promised match between Luciana +and the Stranger is not consummated at the close of the play? Is the +reference then made to it the best imaginable? How, if so, is it +reconcilable with the more rapid matches at the close of other plays, +e.g. Oliver and Celia in "As You Like It?" + + +ACT IV + +COMPLICATIONS GROW + +The errors of the early Acts begin simply and proceed by begetting +other errors and beginning, also, with but one of the twin masters and +one of the twin men-servants proceed by involving every one in each of +the two Antipholus groups. In this Act others outside the main groups +are continually being interwoven in the net of complications. In which +Act did these larger social complications arise, and how are they +carried on in the present Act. Show how by means of these larger +circles of complication, e.g., the arrests, the visits of the +Courtisan to Adriana in the attempt to get back her ring, the +conjurring scenes, etc., the confusion becomes extreme. And then show, +also, how by the very means of these larger circles of complication +the clearing up process is brought forward. To whom is the suggestion +due that Antipholus the Native has gone mad? What fitness is there in +that, especially in its being broached by a minor character? Trace the +relation of the Goldsmith, his delays and his debts to the Plot. How +does it come about effectively that in this Act the wrong master and +man are together, the opposite of what has prevailed, earlier? Show +how in the eagerness of Adriana to send the gold and the grief over +what she jealously suspects to be the cause of it, a tragic situation +is reached. In which scene is the most complex confusion reached. + +QUERIES FOR DISCUSSION + +Is the confusion of identity, the domestic discord or the bewitchment +and supposed lunacy the most powerful factor in the plot of error. +Which is the most comical and which the most tragic moment in this +Act? + + +ACT V + +SOLUTIONS MAKE ALL THE STRANGERS FEEL AT HOME + +The climax of bewilderment being reached in the evidence that the same +man is both out of the Priory and in it, solutions follow. Trace the +steps by which this is accomplished. + +Why is the attack upon Antipholus the Stranger assigned to the +Merchant who is the Goldsmith's creditor instead of to the Goldsmith? +Is it by chance or is there some reason for it? Why did not Antipholus +explain that he had the chain through no option of his own? By means +of the Merchant drawing his sword and detaining him, the scene with +Adriana at the close of the preceding Act when his flight prevented +her from having him bound as a mad man is carried on again, and refuge +in the Priory forced upon him. + +Why does the Abbess blame Adriana first because she did not find fault +with her husband and then because she did? Is her sudden harsh turn +against her explicable not as personal inconsistency or womanly +prejudice, but as due to a gleam of insight? What clew to the case +does Adriana's meekness afford? Or else of the relationship of the +Abbess to the twins? Why does she so peremptorily keep the man from +his wife? Is not this conduct devised to mystify the audience rather +than the characters? + +Notice that the Abbess is more of a surprise in her relation to the +plot than the condemned Egean is. The Abbess episode balances at the +close of the Play the Egean episode at the opening of the story. Trace +the links of connection with the main action of each and their +relation to each other, showing how they bind into an absolute unity a +peculiarly symmetrical plot. Why do the two Dromios end the Play +instead of the main characters? + +QUERIES FOR DISCUSSION + +Is this Play the better or worse farce for the serious domestic +situation and the pathos of the long separation of the shipwrecked +family? + + +VI + +CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT + +In what sense can there be said to be a development of character in +"The Comedie of Errors?" If no progress can be traced in the +standpoint of any one character of the Play, save possibly in that of +Adriana, is there yet not to be seen a gradual bringing forward of the +traits inwardly differentiating the two pairs of twins, and stamping +the personality of Adriana and Luciana and even in a slighter degree +of the Goldsmith, the Creditor Merchant, Egean, and the Abbess? + +Show what you deem this to be in each character, and by what means the +result in each is effected. + +Is Antipholus the Stranger of a gentler and more pious spirit than +Antipholus the Native? What signs of this impression can you cite? Was +Antipholus the Native popular in Ephesus? What calling had he +followed? Why do we learn more of Antipholus the Stranger at once than +of his brother? In what respects does this suit the plot and the +circumstances? + +Which Dromio do you think the wittier? Is one more a house servant and +less of a personal attendant and professional fool than the other? +Why, do you think, is Antipholus the Stranger made to beat his man so +often? Is his quick temper, or a sort of horse-play fun at the bottom +of it? Or is the ancient custom as to body servants exemplified? + +Which Antipholus has been the more independently reared and is this +signified in their characters? It has been supposed that Antipholus +the Native married at the Duke's bidding for money and not for love. +What reason does the Play give for this supposition? Is Adriana's +jealousy a reason, or is he fonder of her than she realizes? Which of +the Sisters do you like best, and why? + +Why would Antipholus the Native be better mated with one than the +other? In what respects of character would Luciana be apt to attract +Antipholus the Stranger more than Adriana would? Are there signs to +show that Adriana and her husband are the more stalwart pair? Show how +admirably the riper characters of the father and mother set off the +qualities and relationships of the younger group. + +QUERIES FOR DISCUSSION + +The resemblances of the twins externally are counter-balanced by +diversities that are internal, so that the possibilities of confusion +may be said to be only skin deep. Does this add to the improbableness +of the plot sufficiently to make it a questionable quality of the plot +that the characters are so much differentiated, or does it serve +rather to enrich the Play and make it far more interesting? Are there +signs of character in Adriana and her husband going to show that they +are destined to be happier in their relation to each other than ever +before? + + +VII + +SHAKESPEARE'S DEPARTURES FROM PLAUTUS + +The omissions and changes Shakespeare made from Plautus's plot are +almost as important in lending his Play a new effect as the additions +and entirely original inventions. + +Notice the entire omission of the borrowed cloak taken from his wife, +Mulier, by Menaechmus and given to the Courtisan, Erotium; also, of +the character of the parasite, Peniculus, by means of whom as a +spiteful informer the wife is told of her husband's relations with +Erotium and the dinner he proposes to take with her. Instead of +Mulier's father, Senex, Shakespeare creates the noble Egean, the +father of the Twins. Introducing his plot with the incident of his +arrest, he closes it with the still more notable character of the +mother whom he gives an important part to play in the happy solution +of the difficulties and the re-union. The part of the Duke and the +trade relations of the two cities, the city in Sicily as in Plautus, +the other Ephesus, instead of Epidamnum, as in Plautus, are ingenious +changes of an external sort. What is effected by them? The different +treatment of the dinner incident which causes the husband to mean to +dine at home, until he finds he cannot, when with others he invites +the courtisan to dine with them at an Inn, lends a different color to +the story. What do you think it effects as to character, amusingness, +and unity with the plot of mistaken identity? The courtisan's open +visit to the wife and direct effect upon the plot is in strong +contrast to the intrigue of which the wife is informed by a third +person. Bring this out, and show what the influence is. + +Compare the argument of Plautus (For this see "First Folio Edition" of +"Comedie of Errors," p. 76) with the opening scene wherein Shakespeare +causes Egean to tell the story out of which the Play grows. In what +respects is this an improvement? (See Extract from Ten Brink, p. 183). + +What is accomplished by the addition of the twin servants?--the two +Dromios? (for special assistance in a comparative appreciation of +Shakespeare's farce and that of Plautus see Introduction also Sources +in the "First Folio Edition" of this Play). + +QUERIES FOR DISCUSSION + +Is the complexity of Shakespeare's plot over that of Plautus a +disadvantage? If not, how does this fact agree with the common saying +that simplicity in Art is the highest Art? + +Are the farcical interest and the character interest carried on too +far not to be seen to be inconsistent interests? Or is the secret of +the Art of the Play the reconciliation and harmony of the farcical and +the serious? + + + + +THE TWO GENTLEMEN OF VERONA + + +The unusual in this Comedy is due to its reflection of the ideals and +manners of Chivalry in Love and Friendship as loyally professed by +Valentine and Silvia and outraged by Protheus. + +The plot is extremely simple and is carried on by means of causing its +main characters successively to dominate in their influence upon the +action. + + +ACT I + +VALENTINE VERSUS PROTHEUS AND JULIA + +Valentine's reasons for travel and those of Protheus for staying at +home separate the two friends. Compare Valentine's preference of +Honor, and that of Protheus for Love, with the opening of "Love's +Labour's Lost" and "Much Adoe." + +Show how the rest of the action, after the separation of the friends +to suit this double thesis of life, depends upon illustrating the +effect of Protheus's love upon Julia's fortunes, and of Valentine's +quest of honor upon the fortunes of Protheus. Notice how it happens +that his own deception has a direct influence upon his father, so that +his departure to join Valentine is as much due to his own lack of +firmness in his desire to stay on Julia's account, as to Valentine's +initiative in going. + +QUERIES FOR DISCUSSION + +Is Valentine's or Protheus's the more influential character upon the +course of events thus far? + + +ACT II + +VALENTINE AND SILVIA + +Tell the story of this Act. + +Explain the courtship scene with which this Act opens as illustrating +the service of love in systems of Chivalry. (For hints on this see +Introduction to the Play in "First Folio Edition" also Note on II, i, +97). + +Contrast the earnestness of Valentine's nature in this devotion to +Silvia with the fickleness of Protheus. + +The two servants, Speed and Launce, may be compared, their contrasts +to each other shown, and their general resemblance to a similarly +contrasted pair--the two Dromios in the "Comedie of Errors." + +QUERIES FOR DISCUSSION + +Is the love of Protheus for Silvia a reflex influence from Valentine's +extreme enthusiasm? + +Why does Lucetta distrust Protheus? + + +ACT III + +THE FALSE FRIEND + +What effect has the arrival of Protheus at the Milanese Court? How +does the new-comer manage to dominate this Act? Point out the skill of +Protheus in making his disclosure to the Duke seem to be reluctantly +wrung from him against the friendship he feels for Valentine and only +because of a sense of duty toward the Duke. + +What does this delicacy accomplish toward his own courtship of Silvia? +If he had seemed eager to tell his friend's secrets would not the Duke +distrust him and suspect some self-interest on his part? What did his +mention of Thurio's suit do for himself? + +Compare the nature of the two friends' talk; how that of Protheus +gives a better impression of himself than is true, that of Valentine, +a worse. Show the consistency in wile of Protheus in his conduct +toward the Duke, Thurio, Silvia, and Julia. Why does it succeed? +Wherein is it likely to fail? + +QUERIES FOR DISCUSSION + +Is Protheus impossibly false as a character? Or is his duplicity an +exemplification of the facility toward evil of this kind that is +natural to an extremely impressionable nature which lacks stability? + +In what does Valentine's superiority consist? Are the maxims for the +treatment of women which he gives the Duke due to artificial system +learned from others or a part of his own experience? + + +ACT IV + +SILVIA AND JULIA + +Tell the story of the Act. All the main characters and one new one +have their parts in the next steps in the plot? What are those parts? + +Valentine's fate and its result. + +Silvia's determination and its effect. Notice how her call upon +Eglamoure for knightly service brings the action into the province of +Chivalry again. + +Julia's office in the schemes of Protheus. + +Is this Act dominated in its drift by the two women? How do they put +their impress upon events? + +Show how the villain Protheus is instrumental in bringing these two +women together, and how this is equivalent to uniting against his evil +policy, the good forces of the Play. The loyalty of Silvia to Julia +considered as offsetting the falsity of Protheus to Valentine. + +QUERIES FOR DISCUSSION + +Is the most actively beneficial episode in this Act also the most +charming. + + +ACT V + +VALENTINE, SILVIA AND JULIA VERSUS PROTHEUS + +What are the results of Silvia's flight? + +Why does outlawry bring out the superiority of Valentine? + +Does it serve also to bring out the inferiority of Protheus? + +How does outlawry serve to defeat the purposes of the Duke and Thurio +and bring about the conquest over them of Valentine? + +How does Thurio's nature inure to the credit of Valentine's with the +Duke? + +Does outlawry here represent the injustices of civic life? To what +degree? Or the natural life beneficent and innocent of Arden Forest in +"As You Like It?" To what degree is this true? + +QUERIES FOR DISCUSSION + +Why did Julia swoon? Was the repentance of Protheus genuine?--and +natural? What does Valentine mean by his forgiveness of Protheus and +his proof of it--"All that was mine, in Silvia, I give thee?" could he +give her, personally, against her will, in Chivalry? Or in true love? +How could he mean anything then, but proving by this entrusting of her +to his friend his belief in his loyalty and purity? + +Why is Silvia silent? (See Introduction to the Play in "First Folio +Edition," also Selected Criticism and Notes on V, iv, 91, for hints on +these latter queries). + + + + +THE TAMING OF THE SHREW + + +A Play or mask within the Play is not uncommon in Shakespeare. A Play +outside the Play especially distinguishes the arrangement of this +Comedy. + +Perhaps it serves to indicate that the theme of the taming of a wife +is crude and primitive folk-farce, particularly suited to the taste of +the drunken tinker before whom it is played. + +Shakespeare's handling of the tinker's subject, however, like other +rude and homely matters taken up by an acute mind is such as to fasten +deeper attention and to overgo a tinker's appreciation. + + +I + +THE PLAY OUTSIDE THE PLAY + +The effect of the Induction in dramatic presentation is not easy to +estimate. Since there is no direct connection between it and the Play +itself what do you see that it could be made to do for the action? Is +it like a frame for a picture adapted to give the theme remoteness? Is +this appropriate? Is it otherwise a mere cause for confusion? Or is it +intended to add one more thread of amusement? Why does Shakespeare in +"The Shrew" drop the tinker interregnum dialogue recurring regularly +in "A Shrew?" May Shakespeare, therefore, be cited as finding only a +limited use for "the Play outside the Play," deeming it in the way +later? How has he arranged for its gradual disappearance from +attention? Is there a stage reason alone enough to account for it? +(See suggestions in Notes on I, i, 266, and IV, iii, i, "First Folio +Edition"). Compare the Tinker scenes in the version of 1594. (For +these see Extracts in Sources, pp. 105-110, in "First Folio Edition"). +Do the Slie of "A Shrew" and Christophero Sly of "The Shrew" differ as +characters? As to their opinion of the Play: Are their between-the-act +dialogues materially different? + +What is the relation to the source and what has been altered from the +old tale. + +The local Warwickshire touches in the Induction and their explanation. +(For these see "Story of the Induction" in the Play). + +QUERIES FOR DISCUSSION + +Ought the Induction play to be left out? How might it be made more +effective by special treatment on the stage? Should the additional +scenes be interpolated as was the stage custom, or should +Shakespeare's diminishing notice of them be adopted to produce the +most artistic effect? + + +II + +THE DOUBLE PLOT OF THE MAIN PLAY + +In "A Shrew" and "The Shrew": Show how the story, with respect to the +Taming scenes, is the same substantially, with comparatively minor +differences, except for the characterization. But with respect to the +Bianca scenes it has been expanded and altered. This suggests, most +naturally, that the part Shakespeare did not write or answer for in "A +Shrew" was merely the Bianca scenes, and that his task in "The Shrew" +was to cut out and rewrite the scenes that were not his so as to be +unhampered with the disharmony of the two parts of the plot as it +appears in the Quarto of 1594. + +The story of the Play as it now stands consists of an interweaving of +the Taming story and the story of Bianca's Courtship in such a way +that while they keep their separateness of necessity, they balance +better in interest and are more continually brought to bear upon each +other from time to time. What are their points of contact in each Act? +The sisters with relation to their father and their suitors in Act I: +How does this initiate the action? + +With relation to each other and the Music Master in Act II: How does +this separate the action into two lines of Courtship. + +After Katherine's marriage in Act III the interest divides between the +Taming of Katherine and the Courtship of Bianca. + +In Act IV two or three points of contact are arranged by means of the +journey and what two characters? + +In Act V how is contact both objective and moral obtained? + +Alternative interest in the Bianca Courtship after Kate's marriage and +taming is attained by the elaborate scheme to make Lucentio the most +successful suitor and the droll surprises and difficulties met with in +the process. + +QUERIES FOR DISCUSSION + +Is the lack of unity in the Play sufficiently remedied by enriching +the Bianca counterplot and arranging for alternate interest first in +the plot and then in the counterplot, or is the original difficulty +irremediable? + +In which story is plot or else character the supreme interest? + +Is the Bianca story or the Katherine story the more entertaining? Why? + + +III + +BIANCA AND HER SUITORS + +Lucentio's errand in Padua, his breeding and relations to his servant +qualify him as quite the conventional hero of a romantic love-story. +How does he compare with the young noblemen of "Love's Labour's Lost?" +What part of the study of Philosophy does he specially desire to take +up and how does his temper toward learning fall in with theirs? + +What light does Bianca on her appearance throw upon herself? Through +the testimony of her sister and her father and the two suitors what +else is to be gathered? + +Her effect upon Lucentio: The parallelism with "A Midsommer Nights +Dreame" (I, i, 156, and see p. 134 in the First Folio Edition of "The +Shrew") not appearing in "A Shrew," considered as indicative of the +favorite method of Shakespearian lovers in falling in love at first +sight. + +Katherine's effect upon Tranio, lost upon Lucentio, in his daze over +Bianca, leads to what plan of action? How does the part Hortensio and +Gremio play in this reinforce the plot, and combine them all to +instigate Petruchio to woo Katherine? How does the contest for the +best sale of Bianca when Katherine is out of the way lead to a new +plot? The money-contest of the suitors, judged by the father is +supplemented by the mock teaching-contest of the lovers of which +Bianca herself is the judge. Show how this constitutes the second step +in the action and what complications and simplifications it prepares. +Lucentio's studies in the hedonistic Philosophy he professes and its +victory over Music and Hortensio. + +What is Bianca's contribution to the gossip excited by Katherine's +wedding, and what impression does Act III give you altogether of +Bianca's character? Is the bad report of it in Act IV, made by +Hortensio, as the Musician, Lisio, with Tranio, quite fair to her? + +The abusive opinion and jealousy of Hortensio assisted by the supposed +Lucentio narrow down the uncertainties of the courtship so as to +concentrate interest on the new scheme of the supposed father. How is +this worked out? Explain the conflict with the arrival of the true +father, and the amusing counter-play. + +QUERIES FOR DISCUSSION + +Why does Lucentio's suit excel that of any other in interest? + +Is Bianca wrong in acting independently of her father? + + +IV + +THE SHREW AND HER TAMER + +Does the Shrew justify her reputation on her first appearance? What is +said of her compared with what she does then and in Act II? Why is +Petruchio's first approach with a combat of wit and a great bluff of +compliment effective? Is Kate really impressed by it, or only fearful +that she is being fooled? How do you account for her denial of him and +his suit to her father in Act II and her mortification when he does +not arrive till late in Act III? Does Petruchio's speech to the others +and before them (II, i, 328-350) account for the change? His arrival +at the wedding in such shabby attire and with so wretched an +appearance as to retinue, with his sorry horse and man-servant +contrasts strongly with the promises held out in this speech. What is +the effect on Kate and why does it serve his purpose? + +Is Kate's entreaty to stay, or her action in showing her bridegroom +the door the climax of the wedding scene? What is the point in the +stage business of Petruchio's speech warning others not to touch his +chattel? Is she really being befriended by the bystanders when she +declares they must go "forward to the bridall dinner" or is she so +entirely alone in her opposition to Petruchio's command to go, that +his speech is the keenest satire upon her defencelessness in every +direction but through him? + +Is Petruchio's conduct at home and the servants' comment upon it such +as to make Kate's two entreaties explicable? + +What light does Petruchio's own account (IV, i, 183-207) of his method +throw upon it? + +In the eating and haberdasher scene (IV, iii) what is it Kate +learns--merely that she cannot command by force and can have what she +wants by another method? What is the secret of her tractableness in +Scene v? + +QUERIES FOR DISCUSSION + +Are Katherine and Petruchio the most interesting characters in the +Play? Why? + +Is their prominence due to their personal attractiveness or to the +Dramatist's skill? + + +V + +THE TRIPLE MARRIAGE AND THE MORAL + +Why should the Play not end with Act IV? + +What does Act V add? + +Is the quality of the table-talk in keeping with the plot and +characters? + +The husbands' talk and wager turns on what point, obedience to the +husband, or agreement of husband and wife as mutually to their +interest? + +Show the drift of Kate's expression of the moral of the Play, and +state your own way of looking at it. + +QUERIES FOR DISCUSSION + +Did Petruchio and Kate give an impromptu performance of conjugal +felicity, or one decided upon beforehand? + +Was Kate quick-witted enough to guess there was money in it, or was +she really, once of a different mind and reformed. + + +VI + +THE FOLK ORIGIN OF THE TAMING + +Trace the antiquity of this schooling of a wife, and the resemblances +and contrasts in the chief variants of the story (for help in this see +Sources in "First Folio Edition"). + +Is there any progress to be discerned in the degree of bodily force +deemed expedient? + +Is any such scheme of the marriage-relation compatible with advanced +civilization, or is it peculiar to crude notions of life in a taming +age? + +QUERIES FOR DISCUSSION + +Is the folk-legend indicative of an inherent relation in marriage of +the male and female natures, or is it merely an expression of +established custom and legalized institution upon gaining for each the +aims and line of conduct desired? If so, is the result of the process +to gain a ground of mutual compromise and accommodation and a division +of labor in joint life which will enable the process itself to fall +into disuse. + +Is coercion of others consistent with a high grade of individuality? + +Did Petruchio play the Tamer in a "Pickwickian sense" and the whole +thing being a bit of acting, did Kate see through it, finally, and +play her part too? + +The use of finesse in the Play (see Introduction to the Play "First +Folio Edition"). + +Does Shakespeare's way of handling the characters and the process of +taming materially differ from the way prevailing both in the crude +folk tales and in "A Shrew?" + +Does he suggest that in both Petruchio's and Kate's case they are +merely bent upon their own individual emotions until closer relation +makes them join forces? + +What is the modern bearing of Shakespeare's way of putting the story? + +Partnership and co-operation _versus_ autocratic rule: Are the +administrative advantages of the latter consonant with the good will +and continual psychical development furthered by the former? + +Does the intellectual advantage rest with the user of force or with +the mind that accommodates itself to force by gaining its ends by +stratagem and other indirect policies? + +Is coercion as wise as persuasion which has no such penalties to pay? + + + + +LOVE'S LABOUR'S LOST + + +Shakespeare makes us laugh in "Love's Labour's Lost" at the futility +of the attempt of ascetic and academic men to shut out love and women +from their schemes of life and study. + +His early work in putting the past history of England into dramatic +form may possibly have suggested to him to put more recent history on +the stage by means of this Comedy. Light as it is, the point of it is +to satirize the monastic and exclusive element in current educational +schemes. Fictitious as the story is, it touches upon names and +incidents belonging to actual history. So familiar were these actual +happenings of the day to his audience that it could especially enjoy +these veiled allusions to them. + +The main idea of the plot of the Comedy--the "Academe," was one that +had a bearing upon various similarly named educational projects of +that time in England. + +One such scheme was drawn up about 1570, by Sir Humphrey Gilbert, Sir +Walter Raleigh's half-brother, for the "education of her Majeste's +Wardes and others the youths of nobility and gentlemen." This plan +was, like Shakespeare's arranged for a "three yeeres terme" (I, i, 20) +and at the end of "every three years" some book was to be published +which would represent the fruit of the Academy's study during that +period. Merely the title of this scheme--"Queen Elizabethes Achademy" +may have suggested Shakespeare's "Achademe" (I, i, 17). Of course, +however, both Gilbert's and Shakespeare's adoption of the name are +examples of the appropriation by educational groups of the classic +academes of the Philosophers of Athens and their student followers. +Another educational plan "for the bringing up in vertue and learning +of the Queenes Majestis Wardes," was devised by Sir Nicholas Bacon, in +1561. Later, in the reign of James I, the establishment of the +"Academe Royal" by Bolton, is an example of the early vogue of the +name, which has since become familiar everywhere, for educational and +learned institutions. + +A less important element in the formation of the plot is the allusion +to current French politics which the situation of the characters of +the Play suggests. + +A King of Navarre and a Princess of France conferring in treaty over a +disputed province and a claim of allowance for services rendered is an +incident constituting a reference to a state of things in France then +closely concerning England. The succession to the throne of France of +Henry of Navarre, the champion of the Huguenots of France, was long +contested. England was friendly to Navarre, the object of her foreign +policy being to counterpoise the power of Spain and the Catholics of +France, with whom Queen Elizabeth's most formidable rival, Mary +Stuart, was allied in interest. + +No king of Navarre was ever named Ferdinand. Yet by making an entirely +fictitious hero a king of Navarre and the suitor of a princess of +France, the relationship of Henry of Navarre to dominance in France +was suggested in an unobjectionable and amusing way. And the death of +the King of France introduced at the close of the Play, involving the +prospect as a probability that the hero might then succeed to the +throne of France, could scarcely fail to remind Shakespeare's audience +of the actual struggle of the King of Navarre for the French crown, +and also of the fact that on the death of the French King in August, +1589, Navarre then became heir presumptive, and after the battle of +Ivry in 1590 Spain delayed but could not long obstruct his complete +success. + +In 1593 the most important cities of the Kingdom yielded him +allegiance and in the Spring of 1594 Paris herself opened her gates to +him. These dates 1589-1594 indicate the time, also, when "Love's +Labour's Lost" is likely to have been timely in these references, and +yield a clew to its date of composition. + +The effect of these allusions to French political affairs, made more +piquant by the downfall of Spain in her political opposition both to +England and the party of Henry of Navarre, was intensified in +Shakespeare's Play by the names given to Navarre's lords. _Berowne_, +as the name appears in the Folio, is an English spelling of the French +name _Biron_, to which it is changed in modernized editions of +Shakespeare. _Longavill_ is an English equivalent of _Longueville_, +and _Dumaine_ or _Dumane_ of De Mayenne, names which also are changed +in the modernized editions, although not consistently. All these names +are associated with Navarre's struggles in France. The Maréchal de +Biron and the Duc de Longueville fought prominently on Navarre's side. +The Duc de Mayenne, brother of Henry of Guise, fought on the opposite +side. The Duc d'Alençon long a suitor for the hand of Queen Elizabeth, +is mentioned as the father of Rosaline. + +Another veiled reference to a Russian suitor of the Queen's seems to +be made in the incident introduced in the last Act. This scene of the +wooing of the King and his lords when disguised as Russians makes fun, +perhaps, of an actual embassy of Russians to the Court of Elizabeth, +in 1583, when the Queen had arranged to put upon Lady Mary Hastings +the suit which the Czar Ivan had originally hoped to proffer to the +Queen herself. (For information upon these and other incidents of the +period that may be used in the plot see Sources, pp. 106-116 also +Notes in the "First Folio Edition" of this Play). + + +ACT I + +THE VOW AND ITS FIRST ANTAGONISTS + +The theme of the Comedy--the exclusion of love for the sake of winning +fame for learning, is made clear by the first speaker. The opposition +Love will make to this is next expressed through another speaker, and +then embodied in a practical example. Bring out the argument, in full, +on both sides, as expressed by the King and his lords, on the one +side, and by one lord who is less subservient on the other side. What +does Berowne object to in the King's idea about study and fame? He +says, practically, that fame is a mere expression of opinion, and that +as anybody can give anyone the name of being learned or the name of +being anything, fame may be given by those who have very little notion +of any real knowledge. Superficial knowledge is knowledge of names but +real knowledge is that which names mean. In a word, we but dull our +minds and blind our eyes in poring over the outsides of things, unless +we study to understand life and act a beneficent part in it. + +As children we are rightly put to task work in order to get the means +to go on independently using life and all the products of life +including books, in order to minister toward independent thought and +life. But to start in with rules and restrictions when we are older +and life itself is opening before us, is like climbing over a house to +unlock the gate before it. Their artificial arrangements are not +fitted to meet actual experience. Actual experience is bound to laugh +at their exclusion of life. How does the message brought by Costard +and Clowne bear on the argument? The fooling seems to be the dominant +interest in Scene ii. Is it, nevertheless, only the vehicle by which +the theme is developed? Show how also not alone by the confession +Armado makes but also by the words in which he expressed it, the theme +of the conflict of Love against the vow foreswearing it is made clear. +Notice, too, that the symptom, so to speak, of the labour of Love or +Cupid as opposed to the Herculean labor of "warre against your owne +affections" is at once made evident in Armando. This symptom is the +desire to write a Sonnet. In what way, then, does it appear from the +Story of Act I, that witness will be borne to the success of love's +labor over the vow of the _Achademe_? + +Does the sprightliness of the second scene obscure the scheme of the +play advantageously or disadvantageously? + + +ACT II + +THE EMBASSY _versus_ THE VOW + +How is it made apparent that the effect of the Embassy of France to +Navarre will be on the side of Love against the Vow? The ladies' +remarks upon the students of the _Achademe_ throw light upon +themselves and the drift of the story as well as upon their subjects. +Show what may be gathered from their speeches? What does the Princess +gather from them? + +The King does not invite the Princess to his Court, and declares he +will not violate his vow. Nevertheless he does do so. In what respect? +Boyet's observation of him goes still farther. What is this? And how +does it seem to be justified? Is Boyet's conclusion that "Navar is +affected," more a means of telling the Audience what is about to +happen, than comment on what is to be seen? Or is it of use to show +the Actor of the King's part how he must bear himself? How does it fit +with the name and scheme of the Play that Boyet who thinks the King +has already fallen in love should be called Cupid's grandfather? + +QUERIES FOR DISCUSSION + +Why does the Princess discount Boyet's remarks and accuse him of +joking? Does she give any clew to her own feelings? + + +ACT III + +THE CLOWN AS A LETTER-CARRIER + +Why is it in keeping with the Play that Berowne should be the first of +the Lords to be foresworn? + +In making Armado the keeper of Costard, the Clown's breaking of the +vow has already been satirized by the King's own act. Armado now takes +his next turn at making Costard's sentence a hollow mockery by sending +him as a messenger to Jacquenetta. How is this first letter-carrying +made to lead to a second, doubling the mockery and promising new +confusions? + +Has Moth anything to do with the scheme of the Play? + +Who is the "Boy" of whom Berowne speaks repeatedly in his speech +concluding this Act? What is the bearing of the reference to him upon +the Play? + +How is the joke of the rhyme in which the Boy got the better of his +Master by selling him the "Goose" to be explained? It is commonly +supposed that the interpolation from the Quarto, i.e., the lines put +between brackets in the "First Folio Edition" (p. 31) are necessary. +It is better however, to leave them out, as they are left out in the +Folio text, if it is understood that the Boy Moth, repeats ll. 91-92, +after Armado has said them. Then Armado begins the "lenvoy" with the +intention that the Boy will also repeat that and that being the end, +turn the laugh on himself by calling himself the Goose. But the Boy is +too clever. He says it ends where it should. Costard declares the Boy +has sold him, and both laugh to the bewilderment of Armado. If the +Page added the "lenvoy" as the Quarto puts it the joke would already +have been turned against him. The explanation has to be very elaborate +and the poor little joke is too thin to stand it, if both texts be +followed. It is easy to see that the repetition by the Page of ll. 91 +and 92, on the stage, confused the hearer who set it down for the +publisher of the Quarto, and also that the repetition would be a part +of the stage business and the lines might not appear twice therefore +in the MS. of the Play itself. The question growing out of this +is--Ought not the bracketed part of the text to be left out? + +QUERIES FOR DISCUSSION + +Why does Berowne say that he loves "the worst of all" (III, i, 193)? +Is this true? Does he think it true? Does it refer to her looks, or +her disposition, or her brain? Is it said of her because she is the +cleverest, and does Berowne really share the common prejudice of the +male against a superior woman or only pretend to? + + +ACT IV + +BEROWNE HEARS SOME SONNETS AND THE KING RECEIVES A LETTER + +Does the Princess guess the truth of the matter when Costard delivers +the wrong letter for Rosaline? + +What relation has the second scene of Act IV to the Play? Of what use +to the preceding action, and to the present? Of what use are all these +new characters to the Plot? One has been before heard from, but is he +of the most or least use here? Are they of use to the story in any +other way, later? In what respects do their tricks of speech and +affectation of learning suit the aim of the Comedy? Show how the +Sonnet-writing is made the means of unmasking the lovers to each other +and all of them to Berowne. Are the sonnets suited to the characters +of the writers? Contrast the King's and Berowne's in this respect. +Does the King suspect Berowne before Jaquenetta brings her letter? Why +does Jaquenetta say it was treason? Would Berowne have confessed if he +were not forced to? After having so unmercifully followed the example +of the others in condemning them for doing what each was equally +involved in, the climax of forced confession from him is more amusing +than if any one of them had unmasked him, as Longaville did Dumain, +the King Longaville, and Berowne the King. What special fitness was +there in making Dumane find out that the torn letter was in Berowne's +hand and bore his signature? + +QUERIES FOR DISCUSSION + +Is Berowne's speech to "salve" their "perjury" (IV, iii, 309-383) the +moral of the piece? If so why should not the Play end here? How does +Berowne's final speech in this Act foreshadow the conclusion of the +Play? + + +ACT V + +SPORT IS BY SPORT OVERTHROWN + +What were the main events of the last Act and of this one, and how do +they bear upon one another? Why is the revenge planned by the Princess +both fair and prudent? Are the men more in earnest than they seem? Do +the women seem less in earnest than they are? Which man first draws a +lesson from being outwitted, and how is it justified? Show how this +lesson suits the trend of the Play, and advances upon the outcome of +the preceding Act. To whom is Berowne's line (V, ii, 477)--"Speake for +yourselves, my wit is at an end"--addressed? How is the King brought +to confusion? Is the Princess too hard upon him? Why does Berowne +scoff so fiercely at Boyet? + +Is the presentation of the Nine Worthies too absurd in itself to mix +well with the courtliness, learning, and elaborate wit of the rest of +the Play? Note Berowne's defence of it (V, ii, 569-571) and his rebuke +to the King for despising it? The Princess's defence of it and its +correspondence with that of Theseus for the show of the "base +mechanicals" in the "Midsommer Nights Dreame." How does Berowne's +humility in accepting the parallel with their own wit-overthrown mask +agree with his boisterous jeering at the mask of the Nine Worthies +later? How does the attitude of the ladies toward it compare with that +of the men and what comment upon it does it constitute in your +opinion? How does it all prepare the way for the sudden sad message, +and also for the decision of the Ladies to rebuff love that is not +serious? What special point is there in the kind of trial Rosaline and +her mistress each specially propose for Berowne and the King? Has it +any relation to what has just been shown of each of them in their +attitude towards others with respect to the humble performers of the +Mask of the Nine Worthies? What makes wit an unalloyed pleasure? + +QUERIES FOR DISCUSSION + +Is the serious ending of this Comedy a disappointment? Is seriousness +an ending artistically called for by this plot, or only morally called +for? Compare with the serious strain in the "Comedie of Errors." What +does the contradictory little final dialogue between Winter and Spring +add to the significance of the Play? + + +VI + +THE WIT OF THE PLAY + +This has been called by Armitage Brown, "A Comedy of Conversation"; +and the quibbles in which the Play abounds have been supposed by Dr. +Johnson to give the Author "such delight, that he was content to +sacrifice reason propriety and truth" for their sake. How far do these +observations justly apply to the Play? + +In what degree is the extravagant banter of the Play itself an +imitation of current fashions of speech and itself an object of +ridicule? + +Its relations to Lyly and Euphuism. (See Extracts from Ward and from +Landmann in "Selected Criticism," in First Folio Edition of the Play). + +Make a study of the lesser and larger wit of the play, showing how the +former is merely incidental to the latter. + +In what respects is the whimsical talk of the Play suited to certain +groups and to special characters, so that there is more variety in it +than appears at first. + +QUERIES FOR DISCUSSION + +Does the master wit of the Play consist in any one class of fun, as +verbal conceits in the punning line; practical jokes; Euphuism, +so-called; banter in speech and retort, versemaking and sonneteering, +learned quips, or in the use of all these combined in a way to bring +out the point of the Play--the clash of natural with artificial +methods. + +Is wit or purpose dominant in the Play? + +Which is the wittiest scene? Is it also the most morally significant? + + +VII + +THE CHARACTERS + +Three groups of characters appear in the play--the main group +belonging to the Court; the learned group, Armado, the, schoolmaster, +and the Curate; and the native group, Costard, Jaquenetta, Dull, and +Moth. The two latter subordinate groups add much to the Play. Show in +what respects: as to Plot interest what do they add? As to merriment +and significance? Is the morality and wit of the Play contributed to +by them? Are they of interest in themselves, apart from their relation +to the other characters? Are Costard and Jaquenetta the only happy +lovers in the Play? Why? + +Is the King, kingly? In what respects, do you think, does he evince +youth and inexperience? When does he begin seriously to be in love? Is +the Princess justified in disciplining him? How much of her discipline +is due to the event that cuts short the Play? Judging from his +character, do you think he will stand the "twelvemonth" test? + +Is Berowne the oldest as well as the deepest and wisest of the men? +How does he show all this? + +Why does Rosaline discipline him? Is she in insight superior to him as +the Princess is to the King? Are the other court ladies equally wise +in the probation period they allot? + +Are all the men--Costard included--so much a prey to a sort of foppery +of expression and love of animal spirits as to be properly subject to +the satire the play provides for them? Are the women more sane in this +respect, despite their wit, or not? + +Is Shakespeare apparently on the women's side? + +QUERIES FOR DISCUSSION + +Is Costard the bumpkin the best actor in the Mask of the Worthies? +Why? Why is Jaquenetta the least and Moth the most discomfitted of the +third group of characters? + +Dowden says the women of the Play "have not the entire advantage on +their side." What do they lack? He also says, to bear this out, that +"Berowne is yet a larger nature than the Princess or Rosaline." What +has this to do with their relative advantage in the Play itself, as +Shakespeare shows it? + +Who are the critics of the falseness of artifice in the Play? Is +Berowne on the women's side in the criticism which gives them their +advantage? + + +VIII + +THE MORAL OF THE PLAY + +Is there a moral against the current educational methods and the +affectations social and literary of Shakespeare's time? The monastic +and aristocratic elements in education considered as opposed to the +progress of Women and the People. Show the general conditions of +education prevailing after the Middle Ages, and the new spirit of the +Renascence making itself felt, also the degree in which this appears +in this plot. If Shakespeare's spirit, as manifested in this Play, had +been more influential practically, do you think a different road would +have been taken? (For hints upon this line of thought see Introduction +in the "First Folio Edition"). How far is Berowne to be taken as the +spokesman of Shakespeare? Note what Pater says of him as "a reflex of +Shakespeare himself," and trace the truth of this as concerns the fact +that he is never "quite in touch" with the level of the understanding +shown by others of the Play, and state the bearing this has upon the +Moral of the Play. (See Pater's "Appreciations" or extract from same +in "Selected Criticism," pp. 242-248, "First Folio Edition"). + +Why does so frolicsome a Comedy end so seriously? Does that make it +funnier? + +QUERIES FOR DISCUSSION + +Is there really a moral in the Play in favor of nature and sincerity +or is it merely read into it? + +Is Dowden right, who says "there is a serious intention in the play," +or Barrett Wendell who says: "like modern comic opera, such +essentially lyric work as this has no profound meaning; its object is +just to delight, to amuse; whoever searches for significance in such +literature misunderstands it." + +In comparison with other comedies of Shakespeare, is a serious +undercurrent discernible in all of them, but none in this? + + +IX + +SHAKESPEARE'S PLAY AND TENNYSON'S POEM ("THE PRINCESS") UPON EDUCATION +OF MEN AND WOMEN + +Summarize story and outcome of Play and Poem in comparison and in +contrast. Does Shakespeare's exposition of the contemporary view of +education account for the condition Tennyson criticises? If so, are +women to blame for it? If not, how much does this modify Tennyson's +criticism of the educational exclusion that is the scheme of the +College in "The Princess?" Shakespeare seems to point his moral +against his male characters for their exclusiveness, Tennyson against +his women characters? Which one goes the deeper? Wherein do they agree +and disagree? How may they be made to supplement each other? Has +Tennyson's poem presented any phase of the question touching upon +popular interest in exclusive educational schemes? Is Shakespeare, +considering his time, the more democratic in his views of life, as +shown by this Play, in comparison with those brought out in Tennyson's +Poem. Why does Shakespeare leave the women in moral and actual command +of the situation? + +QUERIES FOR DISCUSSION + +Is co-education the right conclusion to draw from the exposition by +the Poets of educational restraints and the relation of men and women +to life? + +What ideals of life as to Nature and Education must be included in +educational schemes? Why does the Play not end with as many marriages +as there are lovers? Is it possibly because Shakespeare did not mean +to bring forward love between man and woman as if it were the only +thing in life but as the typical experience of life that should open +up the depths of knowledge not of love alone but of death and +suffering in relation to it. + + + + +MUCH ADOE ABOUT NOTHING + + +The title of this Comedy broadly describes its character, and is based +upon the double meaning of "Nothing." The events that constitute the +plot are the result of "note-ing" or overhearing and so taking note of +events which are deceptive in some way. Hence, in all the "note-ing" +that takes place, there is, after all "nothing," and the whole amusing +plot constitutes much ado about nothing. The letter "h" in _Nothing_ +was often silent in Elizabethan pronunciation. The "h" in "Moth" in +"Love's Labour's Lost" is another example. + +Noting or overhearing as a factor of the plot is introduced also in +"Love's Labour's Lost." It is one of several links in workmanship with +that Play and its use there may have suggested the production of a +Play almost altogether built, as this is, on overhearing or taking +critical notice such as Benedicke and Beatrice take of each other. + +The part of the plot that is based on an already existent story does +not develop this noteing element particularly. For that reason it is +the likelier that it is a device of Shakespeare's to make up his +Comedy. + + +ACT I + +CLAUDIO NOTES HERO WITH FAVOR AND IS NOTED WITH DISFAVOR + +The Story of Act I results, on the arrival of the Prince and his +suite, in making it known that Claudio has noted Hero as "the sweetest +Ladie" that ever he "lookt on." Show how it also comes out in Scene i +that a noting of a severer kind has passed between Benedicke and +Beatrice. The two kinds of special interest--the openly admiring +noting of Claudio, and the captious notice of each other shown by +Beatrice and Benedicke, initiate the two channels of action in which +the plot will run. The normal sex-agreement of the one pair of +characters is varied by contrast with the more unusual sex-warfare +that asserts itself humorously both in Beatrice and Benedicke. Bring +out pertinent examples of their defiance of love and marriage. What +is to be gathered of Hero and her point of view from this Act? How +much from others, from little from herself? And how much from her of +others? Contrast with hers the witness given of herself by Beatrice. +Is Claudio taciturn, too, when compared with Benedicke? + +What noting goes on in scene ii? Is it in accordance with what has +already taken place between Claudio and the Prince? What additional +noting comes out in Sc. iii. Is this in accordance with Scene i or +Scene ii? Act I closes with a sense of some confusion which Act II is +required to clear up. In addition to the inconsistency, notice Don +John's enmity to Claudio, and its menace of disaster. + +QUERIES FOR DISCUSSION + +Is the inconsistency of the last three scenes misleading and puzzling +rather than alluring to the curiosity of the reader? + +Could it be made more interesting on the stage by the way of enacting +the part of Brother Anthony? + + +ACT II + +THE PRINCE PLOTS FOR TRUE NOTING AND HIS BROTHER FOR FALSE + +Tell the story of the masked ball. What new light is thrown, first, on +the characters and, then, on the plot by means of these fragmentary +bits of dialogue heard as the revellers pass on and off stage +together. + +Is Don John really misled as to his Brother's intentions toward Hero? + +What does Hero herself think? + +Does Don Pedro himself show that he is acting for another--that the +god, Love, dwells beneath his visor? The modernized edition spoils one +of the references to this office in which the Prince labors for Love +and does a labor of love in whose disinterestedness some doubt is +expressed. By changing Love to Jove (in II, i, 92) a literal +correction is made in accord with the legend referred to, but in +entire destruction of the point made by the Prince, if Shakespeare +means to adapt the allusion to his special purpose. Note also +Benedicke's name for Claudio (II, iii, 34). What is your opinion of +this? (See Note on II, i, 91, in "First Folio Edition"). Compare +another instance where the Prince shows that he is acting for Cupid +(II, i, 358-367). Is Don Pedro the most active spirit in the plot? +Show how in Acts I and II, it is made clear that the plot will consist +in the prevalence of either a favorable or unfavorable influence upon +the happiness of the characters. Who represents each influence? + +Notice that the favorable influence in its first action in favor of +Claudio's happiness is misunderstood, discounted and disbelieved in +several directions. Is Claudio led to distrust of the Prince by others +or by his own jealousy? + +In the second action of the favorable influence initiated by the +Prince, which of the characters share? Does the unfavorable influence +work against Benedicke's happiness? + +What is Borachio's place in the action of the unfavorable influence? + +QUERIES FOR DISCUSSION + +Noteing or overhearing is itself nothing or has a large element of the +deceptive in it. How is it made to work well in Benedicke's case? Is +the element of truth the only one that is effective? + + +ACT III + +THE NOTE-ING IS NOTED + +Show that the action taking the Story on consists in the "note-ing" +already planned being enacted and being noted as true. How does this +work with Beatrice in Scene i? + +In Scene ii the unfavorable influence makes its preparation to carry +on the plot disastrously by the same method. How is this made clear? + +In Scene iii the "note-ing" is as effective for evil as that in scene +i, is for good. But a counter influence is brought to bear upon it +which consists in "noteing" the falsity of the first "noteing." Show +how this is arranged and promises to solve all difficulty. But the +marriage is shown next to be in active preparation, and then the +promise of intervention in time to frustrate Hero's disgrace is in +scene v itself frustrated by the bestowal of all Dogberry's +"tediousness" upon Leonato and by his own impatience. Show the place +in the action of the hurrying on of scene iv, and the tediousness of +scene v, and of both on the humor of the Play. + +QUERIES FOR DISCUSSION + +Are the Prince and Claudio justified in the action they propose? + +Is the element of chance, which both destroys the falseness of the +evidence by means of Borachio's talk, and prevents it from being known +by Dogberry's, especially fitting? Why? + + +ACT IV + +HERO IS REPUDIATED AND BEFRIENDED + +Does Claudio's demeanor in the repudiation scene betray the violence +of love? + +What is to be inferred from the Prince's words and those of his +bastard brother Don John? + +Is it natural for Leonato to be convinced and to know his daughter no +better? + +Why is the Friar on her side? Notice how the Friar represents the +Church as Dogberry does the Law. As institutional forces of civic +life, outside the circle of the central group of characters, they +intervene in the action of the drama when it is properly amenable to +outside influences and civic instrumentalities. And both are brought +into the sphere of the Play by a means in sympathy with the artistic +method belonging to it. Observe how Dogberry is made humorously to +desire to have everything noted down, and how the Friar has come to +the conclusion that Hero is innocent "by noting of the Ladie." With +the Friar on her side, Hero and her one staunch friend--Beatrice are +enabled to follow a policy of resistance to her disgrace and of +re-establishment, first, of her good fame and, then, of her happiness. +How is this brought about? The share of the Friar in rallying her +friends to be loyal, and the share of Beatrice in instituting a +counter-movement to the accusation combine to what effect? How does it +suit with the scheme of the action that the love of Benedicke and +Beatrice here attains its climax? + +What does scene ii accomplish for the plot? + +QUERIES FOR DISCUSSION + +Is the injection of tragedy at this Fourth Act into the Comedy +effective? Does it change the character of the Comedy or merely +intensify it? + +Does Beatrice ask an unreasonable deed of Benedicke when she says +"Kill Claudio"? Suppose it were to prove true, instead of to be +prevented as may be already guessed, by the defeat of Don John's false +witness and evil influence: Is Beatrice justified in refusing +Benedicke if he will not kill his friend because it shows "there is no +love" in him? + + +ACT V + +THE DOUBLE WEDDING + +The valor and humor of the two old men against the two young ones has +especial value in restoring the comic vein. How does this somewhat +belated loyalty of Leonato act upon our sympathy with him? Does the +forbearance of Claudio and the Prince toward the two men raise our +esteem of them or lead to further dislike? + +What effect has the mock heroics of their ineffective challenge on +Benedicke's earnest championship of Hero? Is the Prince's satiric +speech (V, i, 208-209) to be interpreted as complimentary to +Benedicke? Notice Claudio's next speech in comment upon it, and +explain the implications intended. + +What does Leonato mean by blaming Borachio less than the three nobles? +How far do you think him justified--the relations of master to man at +the time being considered? + +Was Margaret to blame? Why did she not make the cheat known? (Cf. V, +iv, 5-7 with V, i, 311-314). Is it worth while to spend much time on +making all minor details clear? + +Is Claudio's consent to a second marriage creditable, natural, or a +clumsy expedient which only the entire hollowness of the whole plot of +false noting as to Hero renders endurable? Can you imagine any way of +acting the part of Claudio that would make it seem attractive? + +Do you find it in character at the wedding that one couple says so +little, the other so much? + +QUERIES FOR DISCUSSION + +Is the ending of the Plot happily contrived in too forced and unreal a +way? + +Which is the most stirring scheme in the Play and why? + +Which is the funniest, and is it possible to say why? + +THE CHARACTERS + +Does this Play succeed in giving so extremely definite and varied an +impression of the characters that it is chiefly notable for that? To +bring out this idea of the plot as successful less in itself than +because it illuminates the quality and humor of the characters, +compare with the "Comedie of Errors" or any of the Plays where events +figure more prominently. Show how the events of this Play may be said +to be created by the Characters. The Prince and his Brother (and their +tools on each side who lend themselves to their plans with Dogberry, +the highly unconscious, and the Friar, the highly conscious character) +by being what they are constitute the diverse means of influencing the +whole turn of events. These persons may all be considered with +reference to what they are themselves, in character, and through that, +in relation to the other characters of the Comedy. + +BENEDICKE AND BEATRICE, CLAUDIO AND HERO + +These two loving couples reveal their special characters most vividly +by means of their contrasting and supplementary relations to each +other. Show how Benedicke and Beatrice do not throw Claudio and Hero +too much in the shade by their superior brilliancy, because through +the love of the minor couple their own love is enabled to ripen. Is +their character heightened or lessened in wit and individual interest +by love? + +The minor characters: Show how the adversity of the family brings out +the heroic element lying unobserved in Brother Anthony of the "dry +hand," and kindles his philosophy into something martial. + +The merry maids, Ursula and Margaret and their light-hearted parts in +the plot. + +QUERIES FOR DISCUSSION + +Beatrice "is a tarter,--and, if a natural woman, is not a pleasing +representative of her sex." She "will provoke her Benedicke to give +her much and just conjugal castigation," says Campbell. Is he right, +and will Benedicke feel so?--or is Swinburne right, who says she is "a +decidedly more perfect woman than could properly or permissibly have +trod the stage of Congreve or Molière" and who speaks of her "light +true heart"? + +Is the superficial Claudio worthy of Hero? + +Are the faults in the plot of the Play, such as are necessitated by +the design of using the characters themselves and their "noting" of +one another as the source of events, and, therefore, in the last +analysis not faults, a study of their relation to the design leading +us, as Hartley Coleridge puts it, never to censure Shakespeare without +finding reason to eat our words? + + + + +A MIDSOMMER NIGHTS DREAME + + +Having read "A Midsommer Nights Dreame" as a whole, if it be not +already fresh in the mind, or, if possible, having seen it acted, then +consider more carefully the characteristics of its dramatic structure, +studying the plot and progress of the story as it is unfolded act by +act, also the sources, the characters, and so forth, as suggested in +the following study. + + +ACT I + +THE CROSSED LOVERS + +Sum up the incidents and characters introduced in the first Act and +ascertain which are most important in influencing the rest of the +story. + +It may be noticed that Theseus and Hippolyta and their marriage +festivities are personages and events which make up a decorative +external sort of frame for the whole play, but that the centre of the +action takes its start, primarily, from the conflict of Hermia's love +for Lysander with her father's choice of Demetrius, and, secondarily, +from the clash of Helena's love for Demetrius with his suit for +Hermia. Show how the brisk bit of dialogue between Hermia and Lysander +(I. i. 141-166) implies the forthcoming plot. For example, it may be +shown that 'to be enthrall'd to love' (the first folio reading is +_love_ instead of _low_, which was an emendation of Theobald's,) +[Footnote: See foot note in First Folio edition.] and to have +'sympathy in choice' made as 'momentary as a sound, swift as a shadow, +short as any dream,' is to be the fate of all the lovers in the play, +except Theseus and Hippolyta, and to constitute the substance of the +action. + +Consider what relation the second scene has to the story. Is it more +extraneous to the movement than the scene presenting the Duke and his +bride? It is linked to the crossed lovers group, on the one side, by +the part the chief of the 'rude mechanicals,' Bottom, is to assume +with Titania, although this does not appear in the first Act, and +Shakespeare's intention to do something special with this character is +only shadowed forth here by its prominence. On the other side it is +linked to the ducal group still more superficially, merely by the +rehearsal of a piece to be played at the wedding. It may be contrasted +with the preparation in 'Hamlet' for a piece similarly played before +the Court, but which had a vital connection with the action and +characters which is lacking here. Can there be said to be an artistic +design, however, though of a more external sort, in the contrast +between the Court scene and the rehearsal scene, and the realistic +offset the latter scene supplies to the fairy fantasies that are to +follow in the next acts? For instance, it may be shown that the +merriment the clownish scene provides balances the dignity of the +ducal scene. His audience, having put a yoke upon the dramatists by +requiring a clown, his genius is betokened here by his making it an +artistic advantage. + +POINTS 1. 'The ancient privilege of Athens,' I. i. 49. What was the +position of the father toward the family in Attica? 2. 'On Dian's +altar to protest,' i. 98. Did the service of Diana offer women a +respite from masculine dictation? Compare the myth of Iphigenia's +salvation by Diana. 3. 'To that place the sharp Athenian law cannot +pursue,' i. 172. What Grecian states had laws more lenient to women? +4. What traces can be found in history or legend of the victory of +Theseus over the Amazons, and the rise of a new civic order on the +ruins of a matriarchate? 5. The story of Pyramus and Thisbe (see +Chaucer's 'Legend of Good Women' for an early English use of the +story). 6. Explanation of allusions to Phoebe, Cupid, Ercles, etc. + + +ACT I + +QUERIES FOR DISCUSSION + +Upon what does the interest centre in Act I? In the marriage of +Hippolyta and Theseus, or the love affairs of the four lovers? + +Is Hermia, whose determination not to be forced to marry starts the +plot, the best-drawn character in the first Act? + + +ACT II + +THE FAIRIES' QUARREL + +Show how in this Act a new agency of a fairies' quarrel is devised and +set forth. + +Point out how this is made to crystallize in Oberon's scheme for +revenge on Titania, and also how, in the course of disentangling their +own love-snarl, it is made to develop the conflict between the crossed +lovers. This, it may be emphasized, is the second step in the +movement, as Hermia's and Helena's love was the first, and these two +main factors of the action are taken up together in this act. + +Are the other two groups which were introduced in the first act, the +Duke's party and Bottom's set, interwoven with the new fairy group in +any way in this Act? See if the new fairy element now shows any +disposition in the person of Oberon to smooth out the difficulties of +the mortals. + +Oberon's intentions, however, were one thing, and his deeds another. +Through Puck as his instrument, his jealousy at once begins to make +matters worse instead of better for the lovers. Notice the delicate +appropriateness of Oberon's means of influence, namely Puck and the +two flowers, the first being 'Cupid's flower,'--Love in idleness--the +second 'Dian's bud,' introduced later to correct the influence of the +first. The first flower assists in the development of a plot which is +to enact the 'momentariness' of 'sympathy in choice.' The +cross-purpose, fostered by Puck's mistake, seems to provide the +comparatively grosser sort of merriment for this Act which Bottom and +his friends supplied for the first; and the dainty humor and sprightly +novelty attending the introduction of the fairies on the scene, the +description of their quarrel, and the foreshadowing of the influence +they are to have on the next stages of the story, may be shown to +occupy the chief place in the plot at this period, the crossed lovers, +who predominated in the first Act, now falling into a relatively +subordinate position. + +POINTS 1. Robin Goodfellow and the traditions about him. 2. Fairies +and changelings. 3. The stories of Theseus's loves. 4. Explanation of +allusions to nine men's morris, old Hiems, etc. 5. Account of theories +as to meaning of references to _the imperiall votresse, a little +westerne flower, a mearemaide on a dolphins backe_, etc. Warburton +says the mermaid was meant for Mary Queen of Scots. N.H. Halpin thinks +that by Cynthia is meant Queen Elizabeth; by Tellus, Lady Douglas; by +the little 'western flower,' Lettice, wife of Walter, Earl of Essex, +while Cupid is Leicester. (See "First Folio Edition" for particulars). +6. Explain use of 'Lob,' II. i. 15; 'wodde,' 200. 7. 'The starres shot +madly from their Spheares,' i. 159. Look up Ptolemaic system of +astronomy for explanation of the idea. Compare "Merchant of Venice," +V. i. 71-75, and notes on same in "First Folio Edition" of that play. +8. What is "Love in idleness"? (See Introduction to "First Folio +Edition" of "A Midsommer Nights Dreame" for references to this flower +in Chaucer's poem of "The Flower and the Leaf.") Compare "The Taming +of the Shrew," I. i. 156. 9. What are "Cankers" in the musk rosebuds? +II. ii. 4. + +QUERIES FOR DISCUSSION + +Is it probable that the various passages in this act said to allude to +current incidents were so intended? In that case what effect do they +have upon the beauty of a Play set in Athens? + +Is the interest of this Act a divided one? + + +ACT III + +CROSS-EFFECTS OF OBERON'S SPELL + +Analyze the scenes constituting this Act. Observe that scene i. takes +up Bottom and his fellows, the group not as yet brought into relation +with the fairy group, and initiates them in the magic of fairy land by +means of the new but appropriate head Puck bestows upon Bottom. Why is +Bottom picked out for this favor? The 'ass-head' as a symbolic piece +of stage furniture. Show how this transformation makes the mismating +of Titania with Bottom more gross and obvious to the audience; also +how this is the next direct effect of Oberon's revenge. + +Notice that scene ii. takes up the cross-effect already worked upon +Lysander by Puck's mistake, instead of on Demetrius, as Oberon +intended, and sets forth its further effects upon Helena and Hermia. +The dialogues between the two pairs of lovers now overheard by Oberon +makes the error clear, and so enables him to take the first step in +clearing up the tangle. Meantime, the poet and his audience agree with +Puck that they are so far 'glad it so did sort, As this their +jangling' is esteemed 'a sport.' + +POINTS 1. Explain 'It shall be written in eight and sixe,' III. i. +23-4. 2. The custom in Shakespeare's day as to the women's parts. +Would it have been as amusing to the audience then as it would be to +us when Quince says 'Robin Starveling, you play Thisbies mother'? 3. +Pyramus and Thisbe. This may have been derived from Ovid, or from +Chaucer's "Legend of Good Women," or C. Robinson's "Handful of +Pleasant Delights." (1504.) 4. Explain 'Two of the first like coats in +heraldry,' III. ii. 220. 5. Describe the personal appearance of the +heroines from the references made. + +QUERIES FOR DISCUSSION + +Is Puck or Bottom the presiding genius of this act? + +Does the jangling between the two women belittle them as heroines, and +is it, therefore, a blot upon the beauty of the play? + + +ACT IV + +HARMONIZING EFFECTS OF OBERON'S SPELL + +Trace throughout this act the smoothing-out process. + +Why does Oberon himself release Titania while Puck is made to minister +to the other victims of the charm? Is Oberon's explanation of the +Fairy Queen's sudden change of heart about the changeling quite +satisfactory, or does it simply appear so by a sort of artistic +sleight-of-hand characteristic of Shakespeare in small touches at the +close of a plot? + +Show how poetically suitable as a stage effect the entry of Theseus +and his huntsmen is,--shedding the first rays of morning on the +night-enchanted lovers. + +Why is Bottom made to waken last? Perhaps because he helps to denote +the prose of broad daylight. Show what relation scene ii. has to the +completion of the smoothing-out process. + +POINTS. 1. 'I was with Hercules and Cadmus once,' IV. i. 126. What +relation had Hippolyta to these Greek heroes? 2. Account of May-day +rites. 3. Traditions of St. Valentine. 4. Rites of Midsummer Eve. + +QUERIES FOR DISCUSSION + +Why is the choice of Hermia's father for her no longer supported by +the Duke? Does this imply a criticism on the inconsistency of allowing +men their choice, and their brides none, with which Shakespeare was in +sympathy, or is this only apparent to some modern minds? + + +ACT V + +THE THREEFOLD MASK + +If the central action of the play be considered as virtually concluded +with the fourth Act, what office is performed by the fifth Act? + +Notice that in it the three groups of characters constituting the +play--the court group with the lovers; the 'rude mechanicals' and +their 'tedious brief scene,' and the fairy train--are in this Act all +brought upon the stage, the whole spectacle being set in the palace at +Athens, in celebration of the wedding festivities of the ducal pair, +which, as before noticed, is used as a sort of decorative frame for +the play as a whole. + +Examine the working-out of this unified presentation of all the +personages. How are we to account for the silence of the women who +were made to do so much towards the institution of the action? Show +the poetic reasons for the entrance of Puck and the fairies last of +all, and when the stage is empty. + +POINTS. 1. Explanation of all mythical allusions. 2. Account of +theories as to meaning of 'The thrice three muses,' etc., V. i. 59. 3. +What is a 'Bergomask dance'? 4. The date and occasion of the play: +This play appears in Meres's list of 1598 and in the Quartos of 1600. +Titania's description of the unseasonable weather (II. i. 92, foll.) +may refer to the year 1594. Note that Chaucer in the 'Knight's Tale' +speaks of the tempest at Hippolyta's home-coming. Many critics have +believed that the play was written on the occasion of some marriage in +high life, but they do not agree as to whose it was. + +QUERIES FOR DISCUSSION + +Upon what does the interest of the last Act centre? How does the +ending suit the various threads of the Play? + +Is Theseus or Hippolyta the wiser critic of 'the story of the night'; +and which of them is the wiser critic of the play of Pyramus and +Thisbe? + +SOURCES OF THE PLAY + +1. WHERE SHAKESPEARE FOUND SUGGESTIONS FOR HIS MORTALS + +In Plutarch's 'Life of Theseus' will be found passages which furnished +Shakespeare with some points for his drama. Chaucer's 'Knight's Tale' +is also said to have given him material. The editor of the "First +Folio Edition" suggests in the introduction that a reading by +Shakespeare of a poem in his day supposed to be Chaucer's, 'The Flower +and the Leaf,' gave him an important hint for his plot. Examine for +yourself, and state what indebtedness you find in any of these +sources. In I. i. 20, Theseus says to Hippolyta, 'I woo'd thee with my +sword.' Compare this with the account given in Chaucer. According to +another version of the story Hercules gave Hippolyta to his kinsman +Theseus in marriage. Compare 'The Two Noble Kinsmen' and the 'Knight's +Tale' with Shakespeare's 'Dreame.' + + +2. WHERE SHAKESPEARE FOUND SUGGESTIONS FOR HIS FAIRIES + +The models in literature from which Shakespeare drew may have been +'Huon of Bordeaux,' where he got little, however, but the name Oberon. +The name Titania may have been derived from Ovid's 'Metamorphoses.' +The Fairy Queen in Shakespeare's day usually went by the name of Queen +Mab. Puck's characteristics seem to have been derived from the little +tract of 'Robin Goodfellow, His Mad Pranks and Merry Jests.' Rolfe, in +the notes to his edition of the play, says that White argues that this +was probably written after "A Midsommer Nights Dreame." Ward thinks +that the entire machinery of Oberon and his court may have been +derived from Greene's 'Scottish History of James IV,' and that Titania +may have been suggested by Chaucer's 'Wife of Bath's Tale.' He +probably owed his fairies in great measure to tradition or folk-lore. +The folk-lore of England was originally made up of Teutonic elements, +which have been modified by Danish and Norman invasions, by remnants +of old Keltic belief, and by the introduction of Christianity, which +last degraded the good fairies into mischievous elves. (See Hazlitt, +'Fairy Mythology of Shakespeare,' Halliwell's 'Illustrations of the +Fairy Mythology of Midsummer Night's Dream,' also _Poet-Lore_, April, +1891, 'Fairy-lore in Midsummer Night's Dream.') + +3. SOLAR ORIGIN OF THE FAIRIES + +According to some authorities the Teutonic mythology was of cosmic +origin. In the fairies may be seen many reflections of cosmic +characteristics. Oberon and Titania are fairies of the night, and the +old battle between light and darkness shows itself in the mad pranks +which they play on unsuspecting mortals. But as the daylight comes +they are obliged to flee. Puck reflects the characteristics of a wind +god. (See Cox, 'Myths of the Aryan Nations;' also Korner, 'Solar Myths +in Midsummer Night's Dream,' _Poet-Lore_, Jan., 1891). Compare his +character with that of Hermes in the Homeric Hymn to Hermes (Shelley's +Translation). + +SYMPOSIUM OF OPINION ON THE CHARACTERS + +1. THE LOVERS + +QUERIES FOR DISCUSSION + +1. Hermia and Helena are hardly worth considering, but if anything +Helena is to be preferred to Hermia because she is so humble, and +shows no sign of jealousy of Hermia. 2. If Hermia had been more +dignified when she found that both the lovers had turned their +attention to Helena, she would better have carried out the promise of +her character in the first Act when she declared she would rather die +than wed the man chosen by her father. + + +2. HIPPOLYTA AND THESEUS + +QUERIES FOR DISCUSSION + +1. The only indication we have of the character of Hippolyta is in the +last act, where she is so bored by the play of 'Pyramus and Thisbe.' +Does this show stupidity on her part or exceptional development? 2. Do +you agree with Dowden that there is no figure in the early drama of +Shakespeare so magnificent as Theseus? His insistence in Act I. that +Hermia should obey her father against her own inclinations is +certainly not very praiseworthy, but might be excused on the score of +the times in which he lived. 3. His complaisance toward Quince and his +companions has been considered an indication that he was a most +perfect gentleman; does he not rather conceitedly patronize them? + +3. THE FAIRIES + +QUERIES FOR DISCUSSION + +1. Have the Fairies any idea of morality? 2. Oberon was perfectly +justified in wishing to get the changeling from his wife, and shows +himself worthy of becoming a mortal for insisting on his rights as a +husband. 3. Titania is the most developed woman character in the play, +because she insists on her individual right to the changeling. 4. Is +Puck a more developed fairy than Ariel in 'The Tempest'? + +4. THE PLAYERS + +QUERIES FOR DISCUSSION + +1. Is Shakespeare making fun of the stupidity of Quince and his +companions, or is he gently satirizing the stage and the exaggerated +style of writing for the stage which prevailed at this time? 2. If the +last is true, is not Shakespeare in the last act making fun of the +audience, as well as of the players, who with a superior air pass +judgment upon the play and indulge in very lame wit, while the real +meaning of it quite escapes them. + +SYMPOSIUM OF OPINION ON FAVORITE PASSAGES + +Every member of the class or club should bring in a short paper giving +his favorite passage in the play and why he likes it, including his +criticism of the metre, of the metaphors and similes, and the thought +contained. + +QUERIES FOR DISCUSSION + +1. Which characters in the play are original with Shakespeare? 2. What +is to be thought of Shakespeare for bringing together in one play +Greek mythology, English folk-lore, and English workmen of his own +age? Does this commixture of elements make the Play seem unnatural or +incongruous? Has he skilfully harmonised these diverse elements by +giving the Play its dream-like character? 3. That this play is +charming cannot be disputed. Is its chief charm its humor, its fancy, +its dramatic construction, or subtle developments of character? + + + + +THE MERCHANT OF VENICE + + +Sufficiently indirect use of contemporary political events in a Play +was a cause of popularity without seeming dangerous to the State. + +As "Love's Labour's Lost" is an early example of a plot woven out of +masked allusions to current topics, so even as definitely plotted a +comedy as "The Merchant of Venice" here and there worked in an +animating shred of contemporary reference. + +After Dr. Roderigo Lopez, the Queen's physician, was accused by Don +Antonio of Portugal, and executed June 7, 1594, on the charge of being +bribed by the King of Spain to poison Queen Elizabeth, the story of a +Shylock's defeat and the rescue from his clutches of an Anthonio had +just enough relevance to be popular without definiteness enough to be +obtrusive. + + +ACT I + +SHYLOCK'S "MERRIE BOND" + +Why is Anthonio sad? Is it presentiment? Is it, despite his unselfish +willingness to furnish forth Bassanio to sue at Belmont for Portia, +some sense of loss in friendship through this love? Anthonio and +Bassanio may be considered as examples of that devoted friendship +illustrated by Valentine's feelings towards Protheus in "The Two +Gentlemen of Verona." + +The group of young and gay courtiers circling about the two friends +bring them into brighter relief. + +Unlike Protheus, though perhaps younger and less wrapped up in the +sense of friendship than Anthonio is, Bassanio is worthy of such +regard. Do the "faire speechless messages" he has received from +Portia's eyes and his praise of her as "nothing undervalued to +Brutus's Portia" tell the cause of his quest better than what is said +of her wealth? Notice that even what he says of that is as a mere +grace of her person: "her sunny locks Hang on her temples," etc. (I. +i. 177-181). + +What reasons had Shylock for hating Anthonio? + +Does Anthonio's demand that he lend the money to him as an enemy +justify the terms of the bond? + +Is Bassanio right in distrusting, and wrong in accepting such a bond? + +The long pedigree of Jewish and Christian antipathy and its +illustration in this bond by the characters that are its exemplars. + +What is to be gathered of Portia in this Act before she meets again +with Bassanio? + +QUERIES FOR DISCUSSION + +Are Anthonio and Shylock more individual than typical? + +Does the Act close with assurance of good luck or foreboding of bad? + +Is Bassanio a fortune hunter? + +Is he to blame for what follows? + + +ACT II + +PORTIA'S CASKETS + +Why is Jessica's story intertwined with Portia's? What dramatic +purposes does it serve? Are Jessica and Launce alike justified in +leaving Shylock? Why? (See Introduction to the Play in First Folio +Edition for suggestion). Is the Jew's lament for his daughter although +piteous, inadequate. + +Is the choice of the gold and the silver by the Moor and Spaniard +significant of their natures? + +What reason is there to find in the symbolism and the persuasion to +choice each suitor employs that Portia's father has used the wisdom of +a seer in prescribing the choice from the three caskets? + +QUERIES FOR DISCUSSION + +Do you like Jessica? Why? In what ways are Portia and Jessica alike in +the generousness of love though opposite in circumstances? + +Is Jessica's elopement to blame for her father's joy in the wreckage +of Anthonio's ships and his final exaction of the bond? Was it +introduced in the Plot for this purpose? + + +ACT III + +BASSANIO'S LUCK AND ANTHONIO'S LOSS + +Shakespeare's creed of love as engendered in the eyes may be +illustrated by passages in many other plays as well as this. What is +meant by it? + +Is Bassanio's daring in venturing so much for his chance with Portia +itself a sign of his fitness, or the reverse? How is his casket +significant of this test-stone--i.e., adventurousness? + +Is the match of Nerissa and Gratiano an irrelevance to Portia's and +Bassanio's courtship or an enhancement of their happiness? Show how +the two points of climax in event and feeling balance absolutely but +do not sacrifice each other? Are Shakespeare's experiments in bold +juxtaposition of extreme fortune and happiness and utterly +irretrievable devastation anywhere so poignant as the arrival of +Anthonio's letter at the betrothal of Bassanio and Portia? + +QUERIES FOR DISCUSSION + +Is the secret of Bassanio's adventurousness the supreme honor in which +he holds love? Nothing else being of so much consequence, he yields +everything to love. Does Jessica, also? + +The "manners" of Portia, according to Gildon, "are not always +agreeable or convenient to her Sex and Quality; particularly where she +scarce preserves her modesty in the expression." What is to be thought +of this? + +Is Anthonio's letter characteristic of his nobleness as a friend, or +is it too insistent upon bringing Bassanio to him, since to send such +a letter was equivalent to fetching him? + +Is it Portia's best warrant as a noble bride and wife that she +appreciates Anthonio's message and friendship? + + +ACT IV + +THE LUCK REDEEMS THE LOSS + +By means of Bassanio's luck in winning Portia's love and hand Shylock +is finally defeated of his malicious purpose. Portia considered as the +embodiment of Bassanio's luck and the instrument bringing Shylock to +confusion. + +Does it matter whether the law-point is disputable or not since the +traditional stories on which the Play is built up afford the +opportunity for its use? + +Does Shylock get Justice, since he had refused mercy? + +Illustrate the legal knowledge and studies of Italian women of the +Renaissance affording a parallel for Portia's sagacity and leadership. +(For hints see pp. 256-260 in "First Folio Edition.") + +QUERIES FOR DISCUSSION + +Do you think Shylock is wronged? + +Does Shylock so preponderate the Play as to destroy its balance, and +outweighing all other characters make them insignificant? + +Are Actors justified in acting the Play so as to dwarf the Love plot +and cut out Act V as needless? + +Is Portia the proper counterpart in consummate character creation to +Shylock? To whom does, if properly played, the ultimate interest of +the Play belong? + +Why does this position belong to no other character's part? + + +ACT V + +THE RINGS + +What is the business of Act V? + +How is it linked to the preceding Act? Since reunion and rejoicing are +not alone the business of the plot; since recognition and declaration +to the two husbands, and to Anthonio, especially, are needed, as well +as to the others, of the part played by the wives in solving the +difficulties of the plot, the Ring scenes constitute the due dramatic +conclusion of the Play. Note that the threat of quarrel over the +reluctant but requisite giving away of the rings in the preceding Act +makes a deceptively serious difficulty. It is happily to be solved as +a result of the wives' preceding action. This difficulty and this +solution at this final stage of the plot constitute a little character +play that is an epitome of the action. The whole is the more happily +and amusingly solved that the Audience is wise and the characters +still in the dark are really perplexed. + +Point out the value of the exchange of Rings as made clear in these +two ways, by bringing out the characters of Gratiano, Bassanio, and +especially of Anthonio as peace-maker; and by bringing out to them the +fact that to the wives' love and skill the victory over the +difficulties they suffered is due. + +Are the rings the sole test of this? + +What other news adds to the general denouement of all difficulties? + +Is the summing up of the Play a victory of love and intelligence over +hate and narrow-mindedness? + +Show how the rings symbolize this, and music and moonlight provide the +proper atmosphere for its operation. The appropriateness of the +moonlight for a calm out of strife, brought about by women, is matched +by the fitness of music and the reference to the harmony of the +spheres to suggest that earth-harmony to which Portia was presiding +Angel. + +QUERIES FOR DISCUSSION + +Is any incident of Act V without relevance to the plot? + +Is the Play the nobler or the weaker dramatically for the poetic and +symbolic influence shed upon it by Act V? + + + + +THE MERRY WIVES OF WINDSOR + + +If this Comedy was written, as tradition reports at the bidding of +Queen Elizabeth in order to show Falstaffe in love, it is interesting +to see that Shakespeare confines his love-making to mercenary motives, +and by causing him to make love to two at once renders him as a lover +merely a cheat. + +So keeping the word of promise to the ear, he obeys by breaking it to +the sense. To show Falstaffe as a lover amounts to showing him as no +lover at all. + +In this sense, the Play might be called a courteous satire upon the +Queen's request. + + +THE STORY OF ACT I + +FALSTAFFE IS FORCED TO "CONICATCH" + +How Falstaffe falls into trouble, turns away his followers and begins +a new enterprise: How do his followers take revenge? What light upon +this opening of the story do scenes i. and iii. show? + +What is the underplot as shown in scenes ii. and iv and a part of +scene i? + +Do they appear to have anything to do with each other? + +QUERIES FOR DISCUSSION + +Which of her suitors does Anne prefer? Which is to be preferred? + +Is the grievance of Shallow against Falstaffe a necessity of the plot +to show the fat knight in love, or an episode introduced out of +Shakespeare's grudge towards Sir Thomas Lucy? (See pp. 117-119, +138-141, etc., "First Folio Edition.") + + +THE STORY OF ACT II + +THE MERRY WIVES AND FORD LAY PLOTS + +In Act II a third under-intrigue that of Ford with Falstaffe is added +to the two before introduced. + +Show how the Merry Wives reveal their separate personalities in their +reception of the duplicate letters, and their plot to dupe Falstaffe. + +Contrast their two husbands as their natures and marital relations are +shown by their different manner of taking the information given them +by Nym and Pistol. Ford, considered as Shakespeare's first study of +jealousy. How does he compare with Leontes? + +How does Ford assist in the plot of the Play? + +What pertinence to Ford's jealousy is there in the allusion to Queen +Elizabeth's Sonnet? (II, ii, 199-200). + +The Sources of the Merry Wives' intrigue and what Shakespeare has done +with them. (See "Sources," First Folio Edition). How is the Duel scene +related to the underplot? + +What characters belong in common to plot and counterplot? + +QUERIES FOR DISCUSSION + +Does Falstaffe show any material differences in character as he +appears in this Play, in comparison with the way he appears in "Henry +IV?" + + +THE STORY OF ACT III + +THE DOUBLE DUPERY + +Contrast the feelings of Falstaffe before and after the Buckbasket +episode? + +In which scene is Ford the worst duped? + +Give an account of Dame Quickly's relations to the intrigues, and show +how her multitudinous offices as go-between interfere with each other +so that she is "slacke" in one of her errands. What is the effect of +her slackness on the contradictions in the time of the action. (See +Duration of the Action, in "First Folio Edition"). Are they only +seeming contradictions? The Sources of the Ford intrigue and what +Shakespeare has done with them. + +Anne and her father and mother as characterized in this act, with +relation to the suitors. + +QUERIES FOR DISCUSSION + +Is Anne the only character one can thoroughly sympathize with? + +Are the situations such as owe their fun largely to coincidence, like +those in the "Comedie of Errors," or to a teeming variousness in the +human naturalness of all the characters? + + +THE STORY OF ACT IV + +FORD'S ENLIGHTENMENT + +Why is the Old Woman of Brentford trick a climax upon that of the +Buckbasket? + +Falstaffe's wish that all the world might be cheated is true to the +method of the Play. Show in exemplification of this, how a fourth +intrigue grows out of the third, and is introduced as late as this +fourth Act. How is the joke of the Host against Dr. Caius and Sir Hugh +Evans avenged? Is this reference to the "three Cozen Jermans" that are +said to run away with the Host's horses, liklier to be an allusion +seriously made to a real event or to make use of it as an entirely +fictitious intrigue and practical joke in the Play? Is this mock +happening such as could be clear by the method of enacting it and one +entirely consonant with this Comedy as a farce-mosaic of laughable +tricks? (See pp. 120-121, 179-180, also Note on IV. iii. 6). Discuss +probabilities. The turn taken in the plot: Show how all combine +against Falstaffe; also the place of this intrigue in making material +for Act V. + +QUERIES FOR DISCUSSION + +Has the "Merry Wives" any serious or tragic moments such as belong +usually to Shakespeare's Comedies? + +Compare the jealousy of Ford with the jealousy of Adriana in the +"Comedie of Errors." Which exemplifies the riper treatment and why? + + +THE STORY OF ACT V + +THE DEFEAT OF MERCENARY LOVEMAKING + +Make clear the ins and outs of the Fairy trap, first for its actors, +then for the dupes? Can the apparent inconsistencies in the wearing of +green or white and the mention of "Quickly" for "Queene" be accounted +for on the supposition that everybody is deceived except Nan and +Fenton? (See Notes on V. v. 421, 205-209). + +The compliments to Queen Elizabeth in the Play: What are they and how +is their appropriateness to the Plot made good? + +Consider the "humors" of the Welsh and French speeches and episodes as +exploitations and developments of the similar humors of Fluellen and +the Frenchmen of "Henry V." + +The fairy scenes and effects of this Play compared with those of the +wedding night feast at the end of "A Midsommer Nights Dreame." + +What indications are there in the Falstaffe of "Henry IV." that he is +superficially affected by the Puritanism about him? Is he any more +deeply affected by it in the present Play? What is the difference in +his appearance in this Play with respect to Puritanic morals: Is he +more affected by them, at the last, when he is so grossly their +victim, or have they grown, and put him out of date in England except +as an atavism? + +Have Page and his Wife any loftier standpoint as to mercenary love +than Falstaffe himself? Is Fenton's speech (V. v. 225-235) the moral +of the last Act or is Ford's (237-238)? + +QUERIES FOR DISCUSSION + +Is the main design of the Play to "cure Ford of his unreasonable +jealousy," as Rowe says, or to dupe and reform Falstaffe? Is the total +aim sport to laugh over "by a Countrie fire?" Is it a Comedy of irony +turned against all mercenary motives in love? + + + + +AS YOU LIKE IT + +I + +THE DRAMATIC CONDUCT OF THE PLAY: THE WRESTLING MATCH + + +How much of the situation existing in the play comes out in Act I. i.? +And what action takes place? + +The strained relation existing between the brothers Orlando and Oliver +is revealed through Orlando's conversation with Adam and with his +brother Oliver. The situation at court is also revealed through the +conversation of Oliver with the wrestler Charles, and also the loving +relation existing between Celia and Rosalind; thus we are at once put +into the possession of three emotional or passional causes for +action--Oliver's hatred of his younger brother, the younger Duke's +hatred of his older brother, and the love of Celia for Rosalind. Of +these causes for action only one bears any fruit in this scene, +namely, Oliver arranges with the wrestler to kill Orlando. What are +the connections existing between sc. ii. and sc. i.? First there is a +picture of the loving relationship existing between Rosalind and Celia +(already mentioned by Oliver in sc. i.) which reveals very subtly +differences in their natures. The action set going by Oliver in sc. i. +is consummated in the wrestling match, but with a result different +from that hoped for by Oliver, thus leaving Oliver's hatred still +present as a cause of action. Out of the wrestling match what further +passional and emotional causes of action are set up? Duke Frederick's +hatred for Orlando is aroused because he learns he is the son of a man +he had considered his enemy, and action against him is the immediate +result. Orlando is warned by Le Beau that he is not safe at the court. +The Duke's hatred of his brother bears further fruit in its extension +to Rosalind. The meeting of Rosalind and Orlando brought about by the +wrestling match gives rise to a fresh emotional force in their budding +love for each other. In Sc. iii., the state of Rosalind's heart as to +Orlando, hinted at in sc. ii., is fully revealed; the Duke's hatred +takes shape in his sentence of banishment or death, giving rise to a +new direction for action, and the emotion of Celia's love for Rosalind +bears fruit in her determination to go with Rosalind into banishment. + + +II + +LIFE IN THE FOREST OF ARDEN + +In Act II. how are the elements of action, character delineation and +emotion intermingled? + +Sc. i. gives us a picture of the banished Duke and his followers in +the Forest of Arden, already prepared for in Act I., introduces us to +the personality of the Duke, and in the conversation with the lords +prepares us for coming delights in the personality of Jaques. It does +not advance the action, at all. In sc. ii., the result of Celia's act +in going with Rosalind is shown in the bad Duke's consternation, who +determines that they shall be found, thus starting another thread of +action to be developed later. Sc. iii. the passional cause of action +in Oliver's hatred of Orlando reaches a crisis; Orlando is obliged to +flee to save himself from death. Sc. iv. shows Celia and Rosalind +arrived at their journey's end in the Forest of Arden, and making +arrangements with a shepherd for a comfortable little house to +rusticate in; thus is closed the thread of action started by the Duke +in banishing Rosalind. In the conversation of their new companions, +Corin and Silvius, we learn of the love of Silvius for the scornful +Phebe, which is another emotional impulse to action, later blending +itself with the plot. In sc. v. we meet Jaques, already mentioned, and +get another glimpse of the pleasant company in the forest, but they +are still quite detached from the active elements of the play. Sc. vi. +shows us how far Orlando and Adam have gone in their flight, and sc. +vii. presents again the good Duke's court, develops further the +personality of Jaques, and prepares us, through his conversation about +the fool whom he had met in the forest, for the contact of one of the +threads of action with the element of inaction represented by this +good Duke's forest court, while in the sudden breaking in upon them of +Orlando it is brought into contact with another of the threads of +action. + + +III + +LOVE IN THE FOREST OF ARDEN + +At the opening of Act III. what results have been brought about by the +action so far? Everybody in the play except Oliver and the bad Duke +has arrived in the Forest of Arden. In sc. i. of Act III. the hatred +of the Duke is still active as a force, and Oliver through this means +is also sent off to finally bring up in the Forest of Arden. The +Duke's attitude as a motive force having worked itself out in its +relation to Orlando and Rosalind, the emotional cause of action in the +love of Rosalind and Orlando is free to develop, and the remainder of +Act III. is devoted chiefly to the presentation of the situation +between the lovers, which, owing to the disguise assumed by Rosalind, +gives rise to the charming inconsistencies attending the wooing of a +proxy Rosalind who is in reality Rosalind herself. Around these +central lovers, whose characters Shakespeare unfolds, revolve other +interesting personalities. Touchstone meets his fate in Audrey. Phebe +still scorns Corin and perversely falls in love with Ganymede. The +action is only advanced to the extent that Rosalind learns the state +of Orlando's mind while he still remains in ignorance as to hers. + + +IV + +HATRED BECOMES LOVE IN ARDEN + +Are there any fresh elements or developments in Act IV.? + +Sc. i. merely continues the love-making of Act III. Sc. ii. gives +another glimpse of the good Duke's court; in sc. iii. the love of +Phebe bears fruit in a letter to Ganymede, and Oliver finds his way to +the forest. The bad Duke's intentions toward Orlando in sending Oliver +after him are, however, frustrated by the sudden change of heart +against a bad Duke is a good Duke. Contrast their actions throughout +the play. Contrast also the two brothers, Orlando and Oliver. What are +the resemblances between the characters of Oliver and Duke +Frederick?--between Orlando and the banished Duke? Is Orlando's +rebellion against his brother's injustice or the banished Duke's +acceptance of _his_ brother's injustice the more to be praised? +Compare his attitude with that of Prospero under similar +circumstances. Whose repentance is the more sincere, Oliver's or Duke +Frederick's? Note that Oliver has lost all when he repents, while the +Duke gives up everything just as he is about to realize his aim. Is +the repentance of the usurping Duke merely a _ruse_ of Shakespeare's +to bring the play to a happy ending? In Lodge's story he does not +repent, but is proceeded against by his brother. Contrast Jaques and +Touchstone. Is Jaques's melancholy affected? What is the main +difference between Rosalind and Celia? Which is the more the friend of +the other? (For valuable suggestions on these points see 'Characters +in "As You Like It,"' _Poet-lore_, Vol. IV. pp. 31 and 81, Jan. and +Feb., 1892.) + +QUERIES FOR DISCUSSION + +Which is the better philosopher, Jaques or Touchstone, and which is +more closely related to the philosophy of the play? + +The characters of the two Dukes are not developed; they are merely +walking gentlemen, whose office it is to keep the play in motion. + +2. The Lovers of the Play. + +The Different Kinds of Love in 'As You Like It.' Examples of love at +first sight in Shakespeare. Note Orlando's surprise at the suddenness +of Oliver's and Celia's love. Was his own less sudden? Consider +Hymen's song and Jaques's remarks in the last scene as descriptive of +the various couples. Does the comic element of the play, as +represented by Touchstone, discredit sentiment in the play? Notice the +madrigal in Lodge's novel (given in _Poet-lore_, Vol. III., in the +article on Lodge, Dec, 1891), and consider whether Shakespeare has +borrowed anything from it in characterizing Rosalind's wooing? +Contrast Lodge's Montanus as a lover with Shakespeare's Silvius. Is +Montanus too much of a "tame snake" to be natural? Or does this +constancy in love make him a superior figure? Is it a sign of +Silvius's inferiority that love has its own way with him? Can love be +true that changes if it is unrequited? + +Are those actors right, do you think, who play Oliver as guessing who +Ganymede is when she swoons? Is Rosalind's conduct unwomanly? Is her +disguise unlikely? + +QUERIES FOR DISCUSSION + +It is best for the man to love the most; and therefore has Silvius and +Phebe's unequal love-match a better chance for happiness than +Rosalind's and Orlando's? + + +VII + +THE PASTORAL ELOPMENT + +The Rise of Pastoral Poetry, and Shakespeare's Use of it in 'As You +Like It.' + +Compare Spenser's 'Shepherd's Calendar,' Fletcher's 'Faithful +Shepherdess,' etc. Point out any differences you find between +Shakespeare's and Spenser's pastoral poetry. Modern literary use of +the pastoral element, Wordsworth's 'Michael.' Is the pastoral life of +literature always artificial? Can a progress toward realism be shown? +The humor of the play. Discuss in particular the humorous comments on +contrasts between court and country life. Compare modern instances of +the refinements and artifices of city life and the crudeness of work +and pleasure in the country. + +_Special Points_.--1. The Forest of Arden: Is it in England, France, +or Shakespeare's imagination? 2. "Old Robin Hood of England." What are +the legends concerning him? 3. The archaic words in the play. (See +Prof. Sinclair Korner's 'Shakespeare's Inheritance from the Fourteenth +Century,' in _Poet-lore_, Vol. II., p. 410, Aug., 1890.) + +QUERY FOR DISCUSSION + +Is the opposition shown in the play between life at court and in the +country truly shown to be to the advantage of the country. + + +VIII + +THE MORAL ELEMENT + +The moral side of the Play consists, according to the Introduction in +the First Folio Edition, in its persuasion toward an Arden of the +disposition, or a spirit of happy good will toward all men. How far +does this cover the lesson of the Play? + +What is to be thought of the idea in the 'Ethics of "As You Like It"' +(_Poet-lore_, Vol. III., p. 498, Oct., 1891), that Touchstone's +opinion of a shepherd's life (III. ii.) is the key-note of the play? +Are the references to fortune in the play significant? Dr. F.J. +Furnivall says: "What we most prize is misfortune borne with cheery +mind, the sun of man's spirit shining through and dispersing the +clouds which try to shade it. This is the spirit of the play." Of this +Dr. Ingleby says: "The moral of the play is much more concrete than +this. It is not how to bear misfortune with a cheery mind, but _how to +read_ the lessons in the vicissitudes of physical nature." C.A. +Wurtzburg says: "The deep truths that may be gathered from the play +are the innate dignity of the human spirit, before which every +conventionality of birth, rank, education, even of natural ties, must +give way." Give arguments drawn from the play in favor of or against +all of these suggestions. Is it an evidence of Shakespeare's intention +to be a moral teacher that he altered the fate of Duke Frederick? + +QUERY FOR DISCUSSION + +Has the play any moral that is not gently satirized in it? + + +IX + +THE SOURCE OF THE PLOT + +Shakespeare's Variations from Lodge. + +Compare Lodge's 'Rosalind' with 'As You Like It.' + +(For this story, see "Shakespeare's Library" or Extracts in Notes and +Comment in Sources in "First Folio Edition"). + +Is the story better without the parts Shakespeare leaves out (_e. g._, +Adam's proposal to Rosader to cut his veins and suck the blood; his +nose-bleed; the incident of the robbers accounting for Aliena's sudden +love, etc.)? Why is the "Green and gilded snake" added? Isn't the +"lioness" enough? Is Rosader or Orlando the finer character, and why? +The new characters introduced--Audrey and William--considered as +embodying real instead of ideal pastoral life. Do Shakespeare's +changes affect the plot, the characters, or the moral of the story? +(For an examination of the plot of the play, see 'An Inductive Study +of "As You Like It,"' in _Poet-lore_, Vol. III., p. 341.) + +A Sketch of Lodge's Life and Work. (See 'An Elizabethan Lyrist: Thomas +Lodge,' in _Poet-lore_, Vol. III., p. 593, Dec, 1891.) + +QUERY FOR DISCUSSION + +Is Shakespeare's framing of the plot of 'As You Like It' not to be +admired, because it is borrowed? + + +X + +THE MUSIC OF THE PLAY + +This may consist of a brief paper on the subject illustrated by a +program of the songs with the old and more modern settings. (See New +Shakespeare Society's Papers, on this subject; 'Shakespeare and +Music,' by E.W. Naylor.) + + + + +TWELFE NIGHT + + +The winsomeness of this poetic comedy rightly makes the reader or the +hearer hesitate to count its petals or scrutinize the stages of its +growth, which are marked by its acts as symmetrically as leaf buds are +ranged about a stalk. And yet, one may find that to take note of such +beautiful orderliness in the delicate structure and sprightly +blossoming of the poet's design enhances the appreciation of its +artistic quality. Regarding it first as a whole, sum up the stages of +the action, first; then the caprices its allusions denote; then the +characters; and finally the poetic fancy and wit exhaled by the whole +play like a fragrance. + + +I + +THE STORY OF THE PLAY + +Act I. scene i. puts us in possession of what facts concerning the +Duke and Olivia? What do we learn from the conversation of Viola and +the Captain in scene ii., and what course does Viola decide upon? What +do we discover from scene iii. in regard to the state of things in +Olivia's household? In scene iv., what relation has been established +between the Duke and Viola? What three new characters are introduced +in scene v., and what is the event of the scene? Act II. scene i.: +What is learned of Sebastian and his intentions? In scene ii., what +are shown to be the feelings of Olivia? In what previous scene was +this prepared for? Does scene iii. advance the story at all? What is +it taken up with? Does scene iv. advance the story? Of what scene is +it almost a repetition? If it does not advance the action, what does +it do? Of what previous scene is scene v. the result? What previous +scene leads up to scene i. of Act III? and of what scene is it in +purpose a repetition? What new turn is given to affairs in scene ii., +and through whom is it brought about? Whose doings do we get a glimpse +of in scene iii? Of whose plot do we see further developments in scene +iv? What other issues in the progress of events come to a climax in +this Act? Act IV. scene i.: Describe the complication of affairs which +arises in this scene. What previous scenes do we see the result of in +scene ii? and what happens that will bring about a change in the +situation? What important event occurs in this scene iii? Act V. scene +i.: Describe how in this scene all the complications are unravelled, +and by what means all the characters are brought upon the stage. What +do you think of the device to call Malvolio upon the stage? Does it +not seem rather clumsy, or do you think it a further humorous touch +that Viola should have to depend on Malvolio to find her 'woman's +weeds again'? + +What becomes evident after tracing the events of the play through in +this way? That the interest of the play does not depend so much upon +the story itself, as, first, upon the amusing situations resultant +from the story, and, second, upon the scenes which introduce the +characters in Olivia's household who are really not at all concerned +in the development of the plot, but who are the occasion of many added +amusing situations. + +What constitutes the real interest of the two short scenes between +Sebastian and Antonio? Their bearing, mainly, on scene iv. of Act III. +By means of them we are shown that Antonio has an enemy in Orsino, and +thus his arrest is prepared for, also how Antonio gives his purse to +Sebastian, the real purpose of the arrest being to bring about a +reason for Antonio's requiring his purse again from Cesario, whom he +takes for Sebastian, and so to add complication to the situation +arising from the resemblance between the brother and sister. + +What are the situations which the story gives Shakespeare a chance to +develop? On the one hand, is the Duke pouring out his love for another +woman to his supposed page, who is in love with him, and thus giving +rise to the series of scenes between the Duke and Viola. On the other +hand, is the supposed page pressing his master's suit to a woman who +loves the supposed page, and thus giving rise to the series of scenes +between Viola and Olivia. Out of this love of Olivia for Viola grows +the absurd situation of Viola's being obliged to fight a duel, which +is made still more ridiculous through the circumstance of her +challenger being a fool. Out of Viola's resemblance to her brother and +her disguise grows the absurd situation of Olivia's claiming her as a +husband, and that of Sir Andrew taking for his unwilling duellist the +all-too-willing Sebastian. + +To these situations which naturally result from the story, Shakespeare +has added in Olivia's household a set of characters whose personality +is such that amusing situations are multiplied. Thus we may say that +the play is one of situation rather than of action, since whatever of +action there is in it leads to situation, and whatever of character +there is in it leads also to situation. + +QUERIES FOR DISCUSSION + +1. If attention is constantly given to creating humorous situations, +will character-development necessarily suffer? 2. Do you agree with +the Shakespearian critic Verplanck that this play bears no indication +either of an original groundwork of incident, afterwards enriched by +the additions of a fuller mind, or of thoughts, situations, and +characters accidentally suggested, or growing unexpectedly out of the +story, as the author proceeded? + + +II + +THE WHIMSICAL AND OTHER ALLUSIONS IN THE PLAY + +Pick out and explain the curious allusions in the play, noticing that +these may be classed as geographical, mythological, astrological, or +referable to persons or customs of the time, or books of the day. For +examples of the latter class, note Sir Toby's 'diluculo surgere' (II. +iii.), for 'Saluberrimum est dilucolu surgere,' an adage from Lilly's +Grammar, doubtless one of Shakespeare's text-books at the Edward VI. +School in Stratford; and Viola's 'Some Mollification for your giant +sweet lady' (I. v.),--an allusion to the innumerable romances whose +fair ladies are guarded by giants; for Maria, being very small, Viola +ironically calls her giant, and asks Olivia to pacify her because she +has opposed her message. (For Shakespeare's education and +school-books, see Bayne's remarks on this subject in Brit. Encyc. art. +Shakespeare.) The whole incident of the 'possession' of Malvolio, and +the visit of Sir Topas, probably alludes to a tract published in 1599 +by Dr. Harsnett,--'A Discovery of the Fraudulent Practices of John +Darrel,'--in which is narrated how the Starkeys' children were +possessed by a demon, and how the Puritan minister, Mr. Darrel, was +concerned in it. For examples of allusions to contemporary customs, +see Sir Toby's mention of dances no longer known,--'Galliard,' +'Coranto,' etc. As an example of allusions to persons of that time, +Sir Toby's reference to 'Mistress Mall's picture,'--Mary Frith, born +in 1584, died in 1659, a notorious woman who used to go about in man's +clothing and was the target for much abuse. Astrological allusions: +'Were we not born under Taurus?' 'That's sides and hearts,' which +refers to the medical astrology still preserved in patent-medicine +almanacs, where the figure of a man has his various parts named by the +signs of the Zodiac. 'Diana's lip' (I. iv.), ('Arion on the Dolphin's +back' I. ii.), are examples of mythological allusions. Of the +geographical allusions there are two kinds, the real and the +sportive,--Illyria, an example of the one, the 'Vapians' and the +'Equinoctial of Queubus,' of the other. Go on through the play +classifying and commenting on the allusions. What was a 'catch'? Give +an example. + +QUERIES FOR DISCUSSION + +Are the odd allusions in the play a result of the corrupt text, +ignorance, ridicule of learning? Or are they introduced to give a +lively and contemporaneous effect? + + +III + +THE DUKE AND SEBASTIAN + +How does the play set off these two lovers against each other? Which +has the more constant nature? Note the evidences of the Duke's +restlessness and changeableness; how soon he tires of the music he +calls for, of the clown's song (II. iv.). Is his first speech to +Viola, on woman's constancy before the song, consistent with his +second, after it? Is his own report of himself true,--'Unstaid and +skittish in all motions else Save in the constant image of the one +beloved'? Is Olivia's unattainableness the main source of her +desirableness for him? How is it with Sebastian? Does his loyalty in +love seem to be of the sort that suffers impairment when he can win +love easily? The Duke craves excess in music in order that his +'appetite may sicken and so die;' Sebastian wishes 'to steep his soul +in Lethe.' Do you think Sebastian and Viola alike in more than +appearance? Which is the quicker-witted? Is the Duke's amicable +acceptance of the inevitable and transference of his love to Viola in +keeping with his character? Do you think Viola shows promise of +special facility for preventing the moody Duke from tiring of her? +Note that he calls her his 'fancy's queen.' + +QUERY FOR DISCUSSION + +Is the Duke important chiefly as the inspirer of Viola's devoted love? + + +IV + +VIOLA AND OLIVIA + +In what respects are the situations of Viola and Olivia alike? When +the play opens, both are mourning the loss of a brother, and while +this is made to point out the individuality of Olivia, after the first +few lines we hear little more of Viola's grief. Can you suggest any +reason for this? Does Viola's love for the Duke absorb her any more +than Olivia's love absorbs her when she comes to feel the same? Viola +and Olivia are also alike in giving their love without solicitation; +but Olivia woos directly, Viola, in disguise, implies her love, and +though her innuendoes are all understood by the audience, they are +unappreciated by the Duke. What justification can be made for the +unblushing love-making of Olivia? It could be justified by her rank, +which was so much higher than that of the supposed page that advances +should come from her. What signs are there that Viola's love was +superior to Olivia's? Olivia's seems to have been founded on external +liking, else she would not have been as satisfied with Sebastian as +with Cesario; while Viola's, though it may have had no deeper +foundation, was signalized by unselfishness, for she used every +eloquent art of which she was capable to urge her master's suit. +Notice in the first scene between Viola and the Duke how she tries to +get out of going to Olivia, doubting her own ability, etc. Do you +think she really doubted it, or that it was difficult for her on +account of her own love for the Duke? Notice in the scene with Olivia +her woman's anxiety to see her rival's face. What do you think +instigated her remark, 'Excellently done, if God did all.' Was it a +sudden touch of jealousy? It was clearly not the proper thing for an +ambassador pressing his master's suit to say. How is it with the rest +of the interview? Is her sarcastic tone judicious? Does it pique the +nonchalant Olivia? Does her eloquence later, when she is assured of +Olivia's obstinacy, reflect her own feelings for the Duke? What effect +does it have on Olivia? Is it well-calculated to arouse her interest? +In Act II. scene iv., which do you think had the right conception of +woman's love,--the Duke or Cesario? What do you think of Olivia's +saying that 'Love sought is good, but given unsought is better'? Which +of the two characters show the more humor? Notice Viola's readiness in +parrying questions that trench upon her sex. Olivia, on the other +hand, can hold her own in a bout of wit with the fool, but she is +perhaps not so quick-witted as Viola. We can imagine Viola at once +seeing through Malvolio's attempt at pleasing Olivia, instead of +taking him for mad, as Olivia did. + +QUERY FOR DISCUSSION + +Which is the best lover, the Duke, Sebastian, Olivia, or Viola? + + + +V + +SIR TOBY AND MARIA, AND THEIR BUTTS OR DUPES + +Show how the droll situations of the play are mainly contrived by some +of the characters in order to make others their laughing-stocks. Who +are Sir Toby's butts? Is Sir Toby attached to Sir Andrew, or does he +only make use of him for profit as well as fun? (See Sir Toby's reply +to Fabian (III. iii.)). Other instances to the same effect? Why does +Maria join forces with Sir Toby? Is she in fact the leader of the +scheme, or is Fabian's story of its origin true? What part does the +fool play in the game, and why? Note his private grudge against +Malvolio. Is it a dramatic mistake that even the heroine is made the +butt of these merry-makers? Trace Fabian's part in the duelling plot +against Sir Andrew and Viola. Do these plots recoil in any way against +the plotters? Sir Toby and Sir Andrew both get some home-truths from +Malvolio while they are eavesdropping, while for Fabian and Maria +these thrusts of Malvolio's are just as good fun as that which the +knights enjoy better. How does some of the later fun recoil against +Toby and Sir Andrew? Are the Puritans made fun of in Malvolio's +person? + +QUERY FOR DISCUSSION + +Are the characters least scathed by the fun for that reason superior +to the others? + + +VI + +MINOR CHARACTERS + +The fun of the play is capped by the presence of a particularly clever +fool whose function of making every one the butt of his wit makes one +of the least important of the characters represent the special +drollery of the whole play. The only grudge he bears is against the +man who does not appreciate fun--who calls him a 'barren rascal.' +Describe the passages in which he particularly shines. Of the minor +characters the fool is minor only through his station and unimportance +in the plot; he really occupies much space in the play and in fact +pervades it. How is Antonio connected with the plot? What traits of +his does the play bring out? Is his fondness for Sebastian unnatural? +How is he concerned in the foolery of the play? Is he necessary to the +plot? As the fool represents the merry-making spirit of the play, so +Malvolio stands for the dupes of it. Does any one sympathize with him? +Who shows the clearest understanding of his faults? (I. v.). What +signs are there in the play of Malvolio's being a Puritan? Is there +any evidence against it? Is Maria right, for example, when she says, +'The Devil a Puritan he is or anything constantly but a time-server,' +etc.? That the character of Malvolio was generally taken on the stage +as a portrait of the Puritan, and that Shakespeare must have known it +would borrow some of its popularity from being so considered, seems +not to be denied; on the other hand, it may hardly seem to be proven +that Shakespeare thought he was drawing a genuine Puritan. Show +Malvolio's character, his connection with the other characters and +with the plot and the foolery of the play, and state the argument for +and against Shakespeare's meaning to make fun of him as a Puritan. + +QUERIES FOR DISCUSSION + +Is it a defect in the play that the fool, who has less to do with the +plot, is more important than Antonio, who has somewhat more to do with +it? Does it show that the main interest of the play is in comic +situation rather than in character or dramatic motive? + + +VII + +THE POETIC FIGURES IN THE PLAY + +Observe the various figures used throughout the play, as to whether +they are drawn from nature or from other sources; for example, the +first speech of the Duke bristles with metaphor. Note that he speaks +of music as the _food_ of love, and bids the musicians play on that +the _appetite_ may have a _surfeit_, images drawn from physical +nature; then that the music came o'er his ear _like_ the _sweet sound_ +that _breathes_ upon a bank of violets, _stealing_ and _giving_ odor. +We should expect here some continuation in the language of sound; but +the Duke continues as if he had said _wind_ instead of sound, and then +wind is personified, for it _breathes_ instead of _blows_ on the bank +of violets, and it steals their odor and gives it to him,--the music +is so sweet that it seems as if its sounds came laden with the scent +of violets to his ear. Here sound is personified at first as merely +breathing, then it takes on moral attributes and steals and gives. +Pick out and explain other figures in the same way. Which of the +characters use the most beautiful imagery? Are there any who use none +at all? + +QUERIES FOR DISCUSSION + +Is there any special fitness in the imagery used to the character +using it? Does the imagery used help you to form an opinion of the +characters? + + +VIII + +THE WIT OF THE PLAY + +What are the main causes of amusement in the play? The audience, +notice, is not kept in the dark one instant about any of the +characters. Thus one of the sources of amusement lies in the fact that +while the audience occupies somewhat the attitude of omnipotence, it +has the pleasure of observing the characters of the play living their +lives in the purblind way usual to mortals. Lessing said that a comedy +should make us laugh at vices, but the vices must be those of +characters who have good qualities also. Does 'Twelfe Night' answer to +this description? Analyze the causes why the fun of the play is funny. + +QUERIES FOR DISCUSSION + +Which of the characters cause amusement as the result of circumstances +over which they have no control? How do each of these cause amusement +unconsciously? Which of the characters cause amusement through a +conscious intention of making fun? + + + + +THE TEMPEST + + +Until a few years ago no one had succeeded in finding the Play or +Novel on which the European part of the plot of "The Tempest" was +founded. + +An early German Play, "The Fair Sidea" had been brought forward on +account of some resemblances to "The Tempest." Yet it is obviously not +its source but rather an imitation or variant indirectly drawn from a +similar foundation story. + +Edmund Dorer, a special student of Spanish Literature first called +attention (Jan. 31, 1885,) to the story more closely resembling "The +Tempest" than any other, as it occurs in a collection of tales by +Antonio de Eslava, called _Las Noches de Invierno_, or "Winter +Nights," published in Madrid in 1609. + +Like other such collections of stories, such as the Italian collection +of Bandello, and the French of Belleforest, used by Shakespeare, +Eslava's collection was translated, and, in default of the original +from one of the later editions, as translated into German in 1683 +(_Noches de Invierno Winternachte aus dem Spanischen in die Deutsche +sprach versetzet_) a summary of this story was given in English for +the first time as a satisfactory source of "The Tempest" in the "First +Folio Edition" of the Play (see pp. 85-93 and Introduction; also for +an extract and summary of "The Fair Sidea," pp. 94-95). + +What may be called the American half of the plot evidently owes +suggestions to pamphlet accounts of the storm and wreck and other +experiences met with by Sir Thomas Gates, Sir George Sommers and +others during their voyage of discovery to the Bermudas in 1610 (see +pp. 92, 99, and Notes pp. 114, 125-127, etc., for extracts.) + +Gonzalo's speech, too, follows pretty closely a passage in Florio's +Montaigue. (For this passage see Note on II. i. 153-160). + + +ACT I + +THE SCHEMES OF PROSPERO. + +The first scene shows the storm in progress. Is there any clew given +to the reader that it is a magic tempest? What is Prospero's main +object in having the ship's crew and passengers cast upon his island? +Is it to wreak vengeance on his enemies, to work the charm of love +between Ferdinand and Miranda, or by means of that to reinstate +himself? In what way would this love work to his advantage? Notice the +natural way in which the reader is put in possession of the necessary +information about the past of Prospero and Miranda. Warburton says of +this that it is the finest example he knows of retrospective narration +for the sake of informing the audience of the plot. How much of the +plot is permitted to come out in this act? Why does Prospero so +repeatedly urge Miranda's attention? Is she abstracted, is he, or is +she already beginning to be drowsy? Why was Ferdinand the first to +quit the ship? Since Prospero already knows, why does he ask Ariel +what time it is? + +POINTS. 1. Explain the nautical terms. 'Master's whistle.' In +Shakespeare's time naval commanders wore great whistles of gold. A +modern boatswain's badge is a silver whistle suspended to the neck by +a lanyard. Holt extols the excellence of Shakespeare's sea-terms, but +makes an exception of Gonzalo's 'cable,' which he says is of no use +unless the ship is at anchor, and here it is plainly sailing; to which +Furness replies, Shakespeare anchors Gonzalo's hopes on the +boatswain's 'gallows complexion,' and the cable of that anchor was the +hangman's rope. 2. 'Washing of ten tides.' An allusion to the custom +of hanging pirates at low-water mark. (See Notes I. i. 67 First Folio +Edition). 3. Compare this storm with that in 'Pericles,'--'Do not +assist the storm,' etc., with 'Per.' III. i. 51-60. 4. Explain 'To +trash for over-topping,' I. ii. 98, which is a blending of two +metaphors. Trash refers to the habit of hanging a weight round the +neck of the fleetest of a pack of hounds, to keep him from getting +ahead of the rest; and 'overtopping' to trees shooting up above the +others in a grove, which have to be lopped to keep them even. 5. What +does Prospero mean by saying, 'Now I arise'? Simply, now I get up, and +now my fortunes change? 6. 'Still vex'd Bermoothes.' Bermudas, spelled +in several ways in Shakespeare's time, and called 'still vex'd,' from +accounts of tempests prevailing there. 7. 'Argier.' The name of +Algiers till after the Restoration. 8. 'One thing she did.' What? Are +we anywhere told what? + +QUERIES FOR DISCUSSION + +Does the long monologue of Prospero in this act detract from its +dramatic force? Did the arrangement of Shakespeare's stage make this +convenient. (See description of the threefold stage of the Globe +Theatre in "Anthonie and Cleopatra," pp. 172-173). Is the monologue +rightly disused in modern plays? Why? Compare Ibsen's plays in this +respect. + + +ACT II + +THE COUNTERPLOT + +Tell the story of Act II, showing how its main event is the conspiracy +of Antonio and Sebastian against Alonzo and Gonzalo. Is the issue left +undecided long, so that it threatens the result? How and why does +Ariel prevent the success of it? Might it not have been to Prospero's +advantage to have the King killed, since Ferdinand would then succeed +to the throne of Naples? Did Ariel's intervention kill the plot? What +light is thrown on the characters by scene i. of this act? Do you +think it is intended to be shown that Gonzalo is prosy and tiresome, +although good, or only that the lower and more frivolous characters +find him so? Which is the likelier, that Shakespeare intended the +dialogue about Gonzalo's ideal commonwealth to be a satire upon it, or +favorable to Utopian schemes? Which comes out the better at last in +the wit-combat,--the quick Antonio and Sebastian, or the thoughtful +Gonzalo? Is Sebastian's solicitude about Claribel a sign of a kindlier +nature than Antonio's? Are there any indications that Antonio's mind +is more alert than Sebastian's? What purposes of the action or plot +are served by the introduction of Claribel? Is the King's grief as +great for the daughter as for the son? How does his paternal affection +compare with Prospero's? Compare Antonio's speech, suggesting the +murder to Sebastian, with similar speeches in Shakespeare (Macbeth's, +King John's, Oliver's in 'As You Like It,' Claudius' in 'Hamlet'). In +the second scene of this act, how far is a second counter-plot +foreshadowed? + +POINTS. 1. The jokes of Act II: their explanation (_i.e._, 'dollar' +and 'dolour,' the 'eye of green,' etc.). 2. When were watches first +used in Europe? 3. Tell the story of Æneas and Dido. 4. What myth is +alluded to in 'his word is more than the miraculous harp'? 5. +Gonzalo's Commonwealth--its origin from Montaigne. It is commonly +supposed that Shakespeare must have borrowed this reference from the +translation. He may have taken it directly from the French. 6. Show +the bearing of Sebastian's phrase, 'I am standing water,' with its +context. (That is, at the turn of the tide between ebb and full.) 7. +'The man i' the moon,' and the folk-lore about it. 8. Natural history +on the island. (_Poet-Lore_, April, 1894. Notes and News). + +QUERY FOR DISCUSSION + +Is it a defect in the action of the play that the danger arising from +the most important counter-plot is allayed so soon? + + +ACT III + +NEW PLOTS AGAINST PROSPERO + +What new turns are given events in Act III? Scene i continues +Ferdinand's love-making, and shows no hinddrances there to Prospero's +plans; but scene ii develops Caliban's plot, and scene iii shows +Sebastian and Antonio making ready to carry out the purpose which had +at first been defeated. Give an account of the scene in Act II which +leads up to this plot in connection with its sequel in this act. Ariel +is baffled in his attempts to breed contention between the +conspirators by Trinculo's good nature, but finally he leads them off +with his music. Scene iii represents Alonzo and his courtiers +bewildered and tired by their fruitless tramps through the island, and +in just the temper to be confused by the dumb-show and the harpies. +Note the dependence placed, throughout 'The Tempest,' on the effect of +'solemn and strange music.' Antonio's plot, being resumed, is blocked +by Ariel's magic show and his accusation. Note how the supernatural +quality of the scene makes his speech affect their consciences as if +they were themselves accusing themselves, and how it drives them into +mental disorder. Dr. Bucknill, a specialist in brain disease, who has +commented on Shakespeare's knowledge of such maladies, explains that +Alonzo's frenzy leads him by an imaginative melancholy to the idea of +suicide, while the madness of Antonio and Sebastian expresses itself +in the idea of desperate fight. + +POINTS. 1. What is a 'catch,' a 'tabor'? Give an account of the music +in the play, and show the fitness of its different effects on the +different characters. 2. Explain the allusions, 'unicorns,' 'one tree, +the Phoenix throne,' 'mountaineers,' with 'wallets of flesh,' etc. 3. +What is a harpy? Give an account of the mention of harpies in Virgil +(Æneid, Book III), and 'Paradise Regained' (Book II). What +appropriateness to the purpose in this 'quaint device'? + +QUERY FOR DISCUSSION + +Do the counter-plots introduced in this act mainly affect events or +character? + + +ACT IV + +THE CONFUSION OF THE PLOTTERS + +Show how the story of Act IV consists in the smoothing down of all +that disturbs Prospero's designs, and foreshadows the complete +reconciliation of the last act. The lovers, whose readiness to fall in +with Prospero's plan has made his task light so far as they are +concerned, could only imperil his and their future by a premature +union; and Ferdinand, having stood the test of hard work, is now +induced, by an awed and holy mood, produced by art, to keep his good +resolutions. Describe the mask, and show its meaning and fitness for +Prospero's purposes. Why is Prospero so disturbed at the reminder of +so paltry a plot as that of Caliban and his associates? Is it likely +that these drunken fellows could frame any plot that would be but as +gossamer before his art? Is it natural that so low a creature as +Caliban should show more intelligence than Stephano and Trinculo in +disregarding Ariel's 'stale' set to catch them? How do you explain his +superior caution? Describe the device employed by Prospero and Ariel +to rout these plotters. Would it be effective on an English stage? + +POINTS. 1. Explanation of classical allusions. 'Hymen's lamps,' +'Phoebus' steeds,' Ceres, Iris, Juno, etc.; 'dusky Dis,' 'Paphos,' +etc. 2. The botany of Act IV. What is 'stover,' 'furze,' gorse? 3. Was +Prospero's 'line' a lime-tree or a clothes-line? 4. Explanation of the +jokes of the act. 5. Natural history on the island again: the 'blind +mole,' 'barnacles,' 'apes,' 'pard,' etc. + +QUERY FOR DISCUSSION + +Why is the punishment devised for the lesser plotters corporal and for +the greater ones psychical? + + +ACT V + +PROSPERO'S TRIUMPH + +Sum up the results consummated by Prospero's magic. Note Gonzalo's +account of the play, and show the ethical results, and Ariel's part in +Prospero's course of reconciliation. Explain how, if Prospero had +regained his dukedom, and yet, if 'all of us,' as Gonzalo says, had +not _found ourselves_, the triumph would have been material, not +ethical. Show how this effect is enhanced by the plan to awaken dismay +and remorse in the minds of the evil-doers and how the climax in +Prospero's triumph is reached by the victory wrought in his own mind +when he determines to take part with his 'nobler reason 'gainst his +fury' in order to restore his enemies to themselves. What indications +are there in the play that Prospero was high-strung and spirited,--a +revenge-loving Italian? Trace the effects of remorse on each of the +ill-doers. Is there any reason to suppose that Antonio, Stephano, or +Trinculo are repentant? Is it out of character for Caliban to be? + +POINTS. 1. The 'Faerie' of the play. Compare with that of 'Midsummer +Night's Dream.' (See 'Fairy-lore of Midsummer Night's Dream,' _Poet +Lore_, Vol. III, p. 177, April, 1891.) Victor Hugo notes the contrast +as follows: '"Midsummer Night's Dream" depicts the action of the +invisible world on man; "The Tempest" symbolizes the action of man on +the invisible world.' (See also the 'Supernatural in Shakespeare's +"Midsummer Night's Dream."' in _Poet Lore_, Vol. V, p. 490, October, +1893; in Shakespeare's 'Tempest,' p. 557, November, 1893.) + +2. The duration of the play. Explain how it follows the 'unities'; and +in this connection show the probable equality of 'three glasses' to +three hours, and Shakespeare's mistake. (Shakespeare's use of nautical +terms, approved by all seamen, seems to be here at fault in supposing +a 'glass' equal to one, instead of to a half, hour.) + +3. The game of chess and its pertinence here: Because so wise a father +would have taught his daughter so intellectual a game; because Queen +Elizabeth was fond of it, and it was _par excellence_ a 'royal game'; +or because Naples was the source and center of the chess _furore_ at +just this time? + +4. Where is the scene of the 'Tempest' laid? Is the island real or +unreal? (The main conjectures for a known place are Hunter's that it +was Lampedusa, and Elze's that it was Pantelaria. Both argue that each +island was so situated in the Mediterranean, between Milan or its port +and Algiers, whence the sailors landed Sycorax, as to suit the +requirements. Elze further urges the name of a town on the opposite +African coast, Calibia, as suggesting Caliban's name. For an argument +that the island is vaguely placed in the Mediterranean to suit the Old +World plot and yet by many details made suggestive of the New World, +see Introduction to 'The Tempest' in First Folio Edition.) + +5. The influence of the New World on the writing of 'The Tempest,' and +all allusions traceable to it. (See Notes of same edition for extracts +from pamphlets on America, etc.) + +QUERIES FOR DISCUSSION + +What constitutes the interest in 'The Tempest,'--character, dramatic +situations, movements, plot, poetry, or moral purpose? + + +VI + +CHARACTER STUDIES + +I. PROSPERO AND HIS SERVANTS + +With the first word Shakespeare introduces Prospero as one who can +raise and calm such a tempest as scene i describes, and the magician +admits the power Miranda ascribes to him. Show from the story what his +plans and motives were likely to prove. Would a sense of his own +former neglect of duty be likely to embitter him against his brother +or make him excuse him? Does he show signs of either? Prospero's +magic, his garment, books, staff. How far is his magic in accord with +the popular notions of such art? (See 'Prospero and Magic,' _Poet +Lore_, Vol. III, p. 144, March, 1891.) + +Show Ariel's qualities. What caused his first impatience? Is Prospero +unnecessarily harsh and imperious with him? Aside from the popular +supposition that spirits or familiars obeying magicians were always +reluctant to serve longer than one hour (and, therefore, says Scot's +'Discovery of Witchcraft,' 'the magician must be careful to dismiss +him'), how can you explain this quarrel,--as a dramatic expedient +giving occasion for telling Ariel's story, or revealing the characters +of both Prospero and Ariel? Note, also, its further use in introducing +Prospero's second servant, Caliban, and his story. How do you explain +Ariel's irrelevant rejoinder: 'Yes, Caliban, her son'; and Prospero's +angry, 'Dull thing, I say so,' etc.? Do you think Moulton right in +supposing that Prospero governs 'this incarnation of caprice by +outcapricing him'; Rolfe, in supposing that Prospero is irritable +because under the strain and suspense of conducting affairs within +three hours perfectly, and upon which accuracy hangs his future and +the happiness of his daughter? This was also his only chance of +retrieving his own past error. + +Contrast Ariel with Caliban. Show the skill of Caliban's first +appearance as some slow-moving thing, half of water, half of earth, in +contrast with Ariel's second appearance as a nymph. What may be +learned of Caliban's traits from Miranda's speech (as in the Folio, +but by various editors given to Prospero): 'Abhorred slave,' etc.? Do +you think this speech should be given to Prospero? What signs are +there of Caliban's having a good mind? Do you think Prospero's tyranny +over Caliban altogether justified? Is Caliban's penitence consistent +with his nature? How far does Ariel proceed independently of Prospero? +Is he really fond of him? + +QUERIES FOR DISCUSSION + +Is there any bond of love between Prospero and his servants? Do the +relations between them illustrate the impossibility of gratitude? + +2. THE LOVERS + +Is the love of Ferdinand and Miranda an enchantment caused by +Prospero, or an emotion he can help, but not cause? If not caused by +him, does Shakespeare depart from magic to the detriment of the play? +Would it be better, for example, if a love philter was introduced for +consistency's sake? (For literary use of the love philter, see +Tennyson's 'Lucretius.') Does it reflect against Ferdinand's courage +that he was first to quit the ship? Are Miranda's speeches about her +grandmother (I, ii, 140) and to Caliban inconsistent with the maidenly +innocence assumed to be characteristic of her? Do you consider her +talk with Ferdinand (III, i) in character? Is she undutiful to her +father? Unmaidenly in her speedy declaration of love (III, i, 67, 89, +94-106, 110)? Should she be represented as ignorant or innocent of the +world, or as in love? Describe the characters and relations to each +other of the lovers from all that is given about them. Compare with +Florizel and Perdita in 'The Winter's Tale.' + +QUERIES FOR DISCUSSION + +Are Miranda and Ferdinand undeveloped characters whose relation to +each other is more important to the play than they themselves are? + +3. THE MINOR CHARACTERS + +Which is the most important of the lesser characters and why? Is +Gonzalo blamable at all under the circumstances for following the +command to turn Prospero and Miranda adrift? Why is Gonzalo of better +cheer than his companions? What do you think of his philosophy in +itself and as an index to his character? Is his knowledge superior to +that of his companions? Does he suspect the evil intent of Antonio and +Sebastian? Show how his frankness and loyalty came out in Act III, and +how his uprightness is rewarded in Act V. Do you think it significant +that he closes the play? Francisco considered as the least important +personage in the play: should his speech describing Ferdinand's +swimming be given to Gonzalo? The sailors considered as examples of +Shakespeare's skill in outline portraits. Are Stephano and Trinculo +more highly developed types than Caliban? Would the play be better if +they were left out? + +QUERIES FOR DISCUSSION + +Is Gonzalo more like Polonius in 'Hamlet' or Rent in 'Lear'? + + +VII + +A STUDY OF ARTISTIC DESIGN + +THE SYMBOLISM OF 'THE TEMPEST' + +Did Shakespeare typify himself as Prospero? Prospero (says Montégut) +alludes to his own age, and intimates that the time has come for +retirement to private life. What indications can you find that +Prospero images Shakespeare? If he is so interpreted, what parts may +Ariel and Caliban be supposed to play? Is the history of the Enchanted +Island and the transformation wrought a parallel with the history of +the Stage and the transformation Shakespeare wrought? According to +Montégut, Caliban stands for Marlowe, Ariel for the English Genius +which Shakespeare frees from its barbaric prison. Dowden ('Mind and +Art of Shakespeare') fancies Prospero as the great artist lacking at +first in practical faculty, cast out therefore from practical worldly +success; but bearing with him Art in her infancy, the child Miranda, +finds at last an enchanted country where his arts can work their +magic, subduing the grosser appetites and passions (Caliban), and +commanding the offices of the imaginative genius of poetry (Ariel). He +supposes Ferdinand to be Shakespeare's heir as a playwright +(Fletcher). Lowell ('Among my Books') considers that the characters do +not illustrate a class of persons, but belong to universal +nature,--Imagination embodied in Prospero; Fancy in Ariel; brute +understanding in Caliban, who, with his wits liquor-warmed, plots +against his natural lord, the higher reason; Miranda, abstract +Womanhood; Ferdinand, Youth, compelled to drudge till sacrifice of +will and self win him the ideal in Miranda. Browning makes an +incidentally interesting contribution to this subject by symbolizing +in Caliban rudimentary theologizing man, in his poem 'Caliban.' (See +_Poet Lore_, Vol. V, p. 562, November, 1893.) + +QUERIES FOR DISCUSSION + +Is 'The Tempest' an allegory? Is it in any sense an autobiographical +play? Does its symbolism have much in common with that of modern +symbolistic plays, such as Maeterlinck's 'Joyzelle,' for example? In +what respects may it be said, do you think, as Maeterlinck himself has +informed us, that 'Joyzelle' grew from 'The Tempest?' + + + + +THE WINTER'S TALE + +CONSIDERED IN CONNECTION WITH GREENE'S 'PANDOSTO' AND THE 'ALKESTIS' +OF EURIPIDES + + +I + +SHAKESPEARE'S INDEBTEDNESS TO GREENE + +The story of 'Pandosto' falls into two distinct divisions; first, the +story of Pandosto and Bellaria; second, the story of Dorastus and +Fawnia. Compare each of these two stories with the two stories +interwoven in the play, noting all the analogous passages and the use +Shakespeare has made of them. (For Greene's 'Pandosto' or 'History of +Dorastus and Fawnia' see 'Shakespeare's Library,' or pp. 118-125 and +Notes in First Folio Edition.) + +QUERIES FOR DISCUSSION + +Do Shakespeare's borrowed and additional archaisms and his confusion +of names and places show carelessness? Is his continuation of the +story merely a playwright's device to join the two parts of the plot +and make a good stage piece end happily? (As to Coast of Bohemia see +_Poet Lore_, April, 1894), also in "First Folio Edition," pp. 176-177. + + +II + +THE RESEMBLANCES TO THE 'ALKESTIS' OF EURIPIDES + +In Greene and in Shakespeare the King wishes the Queen's death because +he is uncomfortable so long as she lives, and he prefers his comfort +to aught else, taking it as his conjugal right and royal prerogative. +(See ii. 3, 1 and 204.) The Queen, understanding this, says, "My life +stands in the level of your dreams, which I'll lay down." To her she +says, "can life be no commodity" when love, "the crown and comfort of +her life," is gone. So Alkestis (see any translation of Euripides, in +Bohn edition, literal prose translation, vol. i. p. 223) says she "was +not willing to live bereft" of Admetos, therefore she did not spare +herself to die for him, "though possessing the gifts of bloomy youth +wherein" she "delighted." This point of correspondence may have +occurred to Shakespeare and suggested his continuation of Greene's +novel. Admetos' image of his wife, that he would have made by the +cunning hands of artists, is possibly a prototype of the statue of the +Queen in 'The Winter's Tale,' the piece "newly performed by that rare +Italian master, Julio Romano." Compare also, Herakles' trial of +Admetos with Paulina's trial of Leontes (v. i); and Herakles' +restoration of the unknown Alkestis to her husband with Paulina's +bringing the statue of the Queen to life. + +QUERIES FOR DISCUSSION + +Is Shakespeare's use of a striking incident from the 'Alkestis' too +close not to have been suggested by it? Does it show his intention to +portray in Hermione a new Alkestis? + + +III + +SHAKESPEARE'S ORIGINALITY IN WORKING OVER HIS MATERIAL + +Note Shakespeare's departures from Greene and their significance. Do +they serve two ends,--make the play more effective for stage +representation, make the characters stronger? Does he make Leontes +more attractive than Greene does in the first part of the play? Does +he make him worse or better than Pandosto in the second part? What is +the sole trace left in Shakespeare of the father's guilty passion for +his daughter? Garinter, in Greene, dies without any cause. See +Shakespeare's explanation of this, also his use of the news of +Mamillius' death to strike shame to the king's heart. Greene makes the +king relent as soon as he hears the oracle. Contrast Shakespeare's +conduct of the scene at this point. + +Notice the difference in his treatment of the character of the +cup-bearer. Does he make it his chief care to enhance the character of +the Queen? Note the new characters introduced,--Paulina, Antigonus, +Autolycus, the clown (in place of the wife in Greene). Conjecture any +reason for his different names. The introduction of Autolycus makes +the play more amusing on the stage, but is his part as well planned as +Capnio's for leading up to the _dénouement_? Greene lets his mariners +off alive after they set Fawnia afloat. Shakespeare wrecks his, and +makes a bear eat Antigonus, to what end? What does Shakespeare gain by +prolonging the life of Hermione? + +QUERY FOR DISCUSSION + +Does Shakespeare's remodelling of Greene's story show chiefly a higher +ideal than Greene's of womanhood and of love? + + +IV + +THE ALKESTIS STORIES IN LITERATURE + +The sacrifice of the Queen to ease her husband, and the final +restoration, being the two main points of contact with Euripides' +version of the story, compare with these the stories of Alkestis told +by William Morris in 'The Earthly Paradise,'--'June'; 'The Love of +Alcestis,' by Emma Lazarus, in 'Admetos,'--'Poems,' vol. i.; by Robert +Browning in 'Balustion's Adventure;' by Longfellow in 'The Golden +Legend.' See also articles in _Poet-lore_,--'The Alkestis of Euripides +and of Browning,' July, 1890; 'Old and New Ideals of Womanhood'; 'The +Iphigenia' and 'Alkestis Stories,' May, 1891; 'Longfellow's Golden +Legend and its Analogues,' February, 1892. In comparing, note first +general resemblances, then slighter points of resemblance and of +difference. + +QUERIES FOR DISCUSSION + +Is development in literature of the ideal of womanhood away from +self-sacrifice and toward self-development? + +Is woman's task for the future a reconciliation of them? + + + +V + +THE OUTCAST CHILD IN CULTURE-LORE AND FOLK-LORE + +A few of the outcast children in culture-lore are Krishna, Zeus, +Paris, Oedipus, King Arthur, Claribel's child in the 'Faerie Queene' +(canto xii.), etc. For the stories in folk-lore, see the English +_Folk-lore Journal_. For the solar theory of the origin of this story, +see Cox, 'Mythology of the Aryan Nations.' + +QUERIES FOR DISCUSSION + +Collier says that Shakespeare changed Greene's pretty description of +turning Fawnia adrift in a boat because he had used much the same +incident in "The Tempest." Does Shakespeare's new treatment of +Greene's "pretty incident" add dramatic force and moral purpose to the +play? + + +VI + +CHARACTER STUDIES + + +1. PAULINA; LEONTES; HERMIONE + +Note Paulina's likeness to Emilia in "Othello." Jealousy in +Shakespeare: Resemblances in Leontes to Posthumus ("Cymbeline") and to +Othello. "The jealousy of Leontes," says Dowden, "is not a detailed +dramatic study like the love and jealousy of Othello. It is a gross +madness, which mounts to the brain and turns his whole nature into +unreasoning passion." Is Hermione more highly developed than others of +Shakespeare's suspected wives,--Desdemona, Imogen? Likeness or +superiority to Alkestis, Compare with Queen Katharine in 'Henry VIII.' +Is she hard, having made her husband do penance for sixteen years? +"Deep and even quick feeling never renders Hermione incapable of an +admirable justice," writes Dowden, "nor deprives her of a true sense +of pity for him who so gravely wrongs both her and himself." + +2. THE YOUNG LOVERS + +Notice the high and pure character of their love as shown in the facts +that Florizel did not find it fitting to buy pedler's "knacks" for +Perdita,--a trait not in Greene. Her independent and uncringing nature +as shown in another little touch of Shakespeare (see IV. iv. 492-497). +Compare these two lovers with Ferdinand and Miranda in "The Tempest." + +3. THE ORIGINALITY OF SHAKESPEARE'S AUTOLYCUS + +For suggestions see _Poet-lore_, April, 1891. ('Notes and News.') +Compare the Hermes of the Homeric Hymn with the Autolycus and Sisyphos +of mythology, also the folk-lore tales of the master-thief (Cox). To +discuss the probable originality with Shakespeare of a conception +which is one of the universal inheritances of the Aryan race is +futile; the type existed, and Shakespeare's part was to make an +individual of the type. + +QUERIES FOR DISCUSSION + +Is Leontes' jealousy too gross and unfounded to be likely? + +Is Hermione, not hard, but slow to be satisfied, because her love is +noble? + +Is Mamillus not too precocious to be natural? + + +VII + +A STUDY OF THE CONSTRUCTION OF THE PLOT + +Has Shakespeare welded the two parts of the story together in such a +way as to unify the plot? Does Autolycus contribute anything to the +development of the plot? How does it compare with "Julius Cæsar" or +"Macbeth," for example, in the construction of the plot? Is the +movement more rapid in the last half of the play or in the first? Note +the expedient introduced by Shakespeare to bridge over the lapse of +time between the first part and the last part; compare with other +examples of the same sort in Shakespeare. + +QUERY FOR DISCUSSION + +Does the dramatic interest of 'The Winter's Tale' suffer because the +plot is of less importance than the incidents and characters. + + +VIII + +SHAKESPEARE'S WORKMANSHIP IN "THE WINTER'S TALE" + +The versification is that of Shakespeare's latest group of plays. +Dowden says, "No five-measure lines are rhymed and run on lines, and +double endings are numerous." Give examples of the construction of the +lines from "Love's Labour's Lost" as an earlier play, "Merchant of +Venice" as a riper play. It has been said that the difficulties of +style in the play are accounted for by the endeavor of the author to +reflect the changing moods of Leontes. Compare with Prospero's diction +and construction in "The Tempest." Give examples of these. + +QUERIES FOR DISCUSSION + +Does the lawlessness of poetic workmanship in "The Winter's Tale," +together with the looseness of the dramatic construction, show a +deterioration from the ripe power of Shakespeare's middle period, or +that practised artistic mastery which is free from art by means of +perfect art? + + +IX + +PERDITA'S GARDEN + +The flower-imagery of "The Winter's Tale" compared with other +flower-scenes in Shakespeare,--in "A Midsommer Nights Dreame" and +"Hamlet." The classic and folk-lore allusions. The pastoral element in +"As you Like It" and "Winter's Tale." + +QUERIES FOR DISCUSSION + +The rustic scenes have little bearing on the play; are they necessary +to Shakespeare's art in order to throw a clear light on the character +of his protagonists? + + +X + +THE ETHICS OF "THE WINTER'S TALE" + +"The Winter's Tale" gives examples of meritorious actions losing their +virtue with the progress of ideas; for example, the civic virtue, +allegiance to the king, is what Leontes depends upon in his talk with +Camillo, with Antigonus, and the other lords. Note Camillo's reason +for not poisoning Polixenes to order,--that it is risky to kill a king +even at command of a king. That such a reason would be considered +small moral support to-day appears, for example, in the indignation or +amusement expressed in the newspapers on the German Emperor's address +to his army on the soldier's duty of obedience. In Shakespeare's day a +king had taken matters in his own hands in the trial of his wife, much +as Leontes did (see "Henry VIII".). The moral significance of +Hermione's patience under accusation appears in the long reparation +she requires. Paulina is made to speak for her during her seclusion. + +What are the "secret purposes" which Shakespeare makes her subserve? +Observe that, if the fulfilment of the oracle and the restoration of +the child were all Paulina anticipates, there would be no use in her +remonstrances against a second marriage and in her goading the king to +remorse. + +QUERIES FOR DISCUSSION + +Does Shakespeare's ideal of love and constancy, as revealed in 'The +Winter's Tale,' imply that second marriages are offences against the +first. Has the objection Paulina makes to his re-marriage such a cause +or is it a necessity of the plot? + +Does the way of telling "The Winter's Tale" indicate the passing away +of aristocratic and the formation of democratic ideals, and the +dawning change in the _status_ both of woman and the commoner? + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 14699 *** diff --git a/LICENSE.txt b/LICENSE.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6312041 --- /dev/null +++ b/LICENSE.txt @@ -0,0 +1,11 @@ +This eBook, including all associated images, markup, improvements, +metadata, and any other content or labor, has been confirmed to be +in the PUBLIC DOMAIN IN THE UNITED STATES. + +Procedures for determining public domain status are described in +the "Copyright How-To" at https://www.gutenberg.org. + +No investigation has been made concerning possible copyrights in +jurisdictions other than the United States. Anyone seeking to utilize +this eBook outside of the United States should confirm copyright +status under the laws that apply to them. diff --git a/README.md b/README.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..03c8b22 --- /dev/null +++ b/README.md @@ -0,0 +1,2 @@ +Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for +eBook #14699 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/14699) diff --git a/old/14699-8.txt b/old/14699-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..5aa69d6 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/14699-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,4169 @@ +The Project Gutenberg eBook, Shakespeare Study Programs; The Comedies, by +Charlotte Porter and Helen A. Clarke + + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + + + + +Title: Shakespeare Study Programs; The Comedies + +Author: Charlotte Porter and Helen A. Clarke + +Release Date: January 15, 2005 [eBook #14699] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + + +***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SHAKESPEARE STUDY PROGRAMS; THE +COMEDIES*** + + +E-text prepared bu Ted Garvin, Keith M. Eckrich, and the Project Gutenberg +Online Distributed Proofreading Team + + + +SHAKESPEARE STUDY PROGRAMS: THE COMEDIES + +by + +CHARLOTTE PORTER & HELEN A. CLARKE + +Authors of _The Tragedies_ +Editors of the _Pembroke Shakespeare_, the _First Folio Shakespeare_, +_Poet Lore_, etc. + +Boston: Richard G. Badger +Toronto: The Copp Clark Co., Limited +The Gorham Press, Boston, U.S.A. + + + + + + + +[Illustration: ARTI et VERITATI] + + + + +INTRODUCTORY NOTE + + +The Shakespeare Study Programs appeared originally in _Poet Lore_. +They have met with marked favor, and have been reprinted as the back +numbers went out of print. The steady demand for these programs +prompts the present issue in book-form. Several new programs have been +added, and those reprinted have been revised. + +The references in this volume are to the "First Folio Edition" of +Shakespeare, edited by Charlotte Porter. + + + + +"Criticism is the endeavour to find, to know, to love, to recommend +not only the best, but all the good that has been known and thought +and written in the world. ... It shows how to grasp and how to +enjoy;... it helps the ear to listen when the horns of England blow." + +--GEORGE SAINTSBURY, "History of Criticism." + + + + +CONTENTS + +The Comedie of Errors + +The Two Gentlemen of Verona + +The Taming of the Shrew + +Love's Labour's Lost + +Much Adoe About Nothing + +A Midsommer Nights Dreame + +The Merchant of Venice + +The Merry Wives of Windsor + +As You Like It + +Twelfe Night + +The Tempest + +The Winter's Tale + + + + + +THE COMEDIE OF ERRORS + + +In the Summer of 1594 a translation of a Latin Farce by the Roman +Dramatist, Plautus, was made ready for publication in London. It may +even have been published then, for, although the title page date is +1595, then, as often now, the issue was made in advance of date. +Circulation in MS., moreover, now unusual, was then common. + +This translation was registered, at any rate, for publication, June +16, 1594, as "A Booke entitled Menæchmi, being a pleasant and fine +conceited comedy taken out of the most wittie poet Plautus, chosen +purposely from out the rest as being the least harmful and most +delightful." + +Six months later, Shakespeare had made an English Farce out of this +Latin one. He invented several new characters, arranged many new +situations, and put a good deal more life-likeness in the relations of +the characters, while yet it may be seen that, his new play, "The +Comedie of Errors," was directly drawn from the old one by Plautus. + +The first record we have of Shakespeare as an actor before Queen +Elizabeth relates to the performance in Christmas week of this same +year of "twoe severall comedies." This record in the Accounts of the +Treasurer who paid out the money for the Plays acted before the Queen, +runs as follows: + +"To William Kempe, William Shakespeare, and Richard Burbage, servaunts +to the Lord Chamberleyn upon the Councelles warrant dated at Whitehall +xv. die. Marcij 1594 [1595], for twoe severall comedies or enterludes, +shewed by them before her Majestie in Christmas tyme laste paste, +viz., upon St. Stephen daye, [Dec. 26,] and Innocente's day, [Dec. +28,] xiii^{li} vi^{s} viij^{d} and by way of her Majesties rewarde +vi^{li} xiij^{s} iv^{d} in all xx^{li}." + +It is fair to infer that the "Comedie of Errors" was one of these two +comedies, for on the evening of the 28th of December, 1594, there +arose a sudden necessity to hire an entertainment to take the place at +Gray's Inn, one of the great Law Schools of London, of a Play by the +students which had gone to pieces. In lieu of this amateur play, for +which a great stage had been built in their Hall, it is recorded that +the great throng assembled were forced, first, to "content themselves +with ordinary dancing and revelling, and when that was over, with a +Comedy of Errors like to Plautus his Menoechmus, which was played by +the players." That these "players" were public players is shown in the +Gray's Inn account of these Christmas festivities by another reference +to this "company of base and common fellows" who were "foisted" in "to +make up our disorders with a play of Errors and Confusions." + +Since this substitution of the "players" Play for the Play by the +young gentlemen students was unexpected, we can be sure it was not +made for this occasion. It seems obvious that whatever comedy was +specially designed by Shakespeare and his fellow actors for their +Christmas performances before the Queen at Greenwich, would be apt to +be chosen for a sudden repetition at Gray's Inn the same evening. And +of course for such an institution of scholarly gentlemen as Gray's +Inn, a farce based on Plautus would be likely to be thought +appropriate. + +So Mrs. Charlotte Stopes argues, who brought into association these +facts and dates. She brings out also, another curious incident or two +concerning what we may take to be the earliest performances of "The +Comedie of Errors." One is that the mother of the Earl of +Southampton,--the young nobleman who was Shakespeare's patron and to +whom the Poet dedicated "Venus and Adonis" and "Lucrece,"--was then +acting officially for her late husband. Thus it fell to her care to +make up his accounts as Treasurer of the Chamber, and she it was who +wrote this particular notice of the acting of Shakespeare before Queen +Elizabeth. Others acting as Treasurer did not find it worth their +while to include the Actors' names in their accounts. This notice of +hers is the first and last to mention names in this way. Her son, +being a Gray's Inn man, would have been in a position to suggest the +substitution of Shakespeare's Play and as a friend of Shakespeare's +would desire to do so. + +The other incident of biographical interest is that the Gray's Inn +students were much mortified by the uproar which caused the failure of +the program of their chief of Revels called "The Prince of Purpoole," +and made it necessary for them to call in common players. The result +of their desire "to recover their lost honor with some graver +conceipt" was to give Jan. 3d, a learned Dialogue called "Divers Plots +and Devices." Bacon aided largely in this stately affair. In its +course six Councillors one after the other deliver speeches on +enrollment of Knights and Chivalry, the glory of War, the study of +Philosophy, etc. The scorn felt for Shakespeare's "Comedie" and the +contrast with this rival specimen of academic dramatics is +significant. + +Out of the comparatively simple plot of Plautus, Shakespeare developed +an amusing complexity of situations. These appear upon studying the +progress of the story, Act by Act, as follows: + + +ACT I + +THE ARRIVAL OF CERTAIN STRANGERS IN EPHESUS + +What has the arrest of the "Marchant" Egean to do with the rest of the +Story? How soon does any connection appear? + +The reference in scene ii, to the occurrence taking place in scene i, +suggests a somewhat odd chance coincidence in the arrival from +Syracuse on the same day of both of these strangers. By this casual +reference the seemingly unrelated scenes are so innocently linked +together that it rather blinds than opens the eyes of the audience to +the deeper links of connection. It also acts at once as a warning to +Antipholus, and explains why he also is not arrested under the same +law from which Egean suffered. + +The merchant who gives Antipholus this warning does not appear to be +at all an intimate friend. Yet he seems to have met the stranger upon +his arrival. Is this accounted for? What office does the scene show +that he bears toward him? How recent an institution is the Bank and +Letter of Credit for travellers? Was the lack of such facilities long +filled in the way here exemplified? + +Do these two men keep the appointment they made to meet at five +o'clock? Why is it made? Does it serve any need of the Play? + +The reference to Ephesus as a town given over to sorcery and +witchcraft assists in giving the impression that the time of the Play +falls within the Christian era, when the ancient customs of the Pagan +inhabitants gave the City a bad repute of this particular kind. Was it +derived from Plautus? Note whether sorcery and witchcraft are included +in his account of the discreditableness of Ephesus. What conclusions +may be gathered as to Shakespeare's account of it from a comparison +with the corresponding passage in Plautus (This extract is given in +Note on I, ii, 102-107 in the "First Folio" Edition of Shakespeare's +Play). Show how this statement is useful in throwing light upon the +character of Antipholus as well as on events. + +The first complication in scene ii arises from mistaking Dromio of +Ephesus for Dromio of Syracuse; but notice that this error is +accounted for by the second source of the errors of the play--belief +in witchcraft. + +QUERIES FOR DISCUSSION + +Is the audience as much in the dark over the first mystification as +Antipholus is? Should it be? Is the play the better or worse for not +being clear? If both Dromios are made to look exactly alike how can +the audience know? + + +ACT II + +ANTIPHOLUS THE STRANGER DINES AT HOME + +Notice how the last scene of the preceding Act is cleared up by the +first scene of the present Act. + +Are the errors of Act II the results of those of Act I? The errors of +Act I affect but a very few characters, but in Act II how many? A new +source of complication is brought forward in this Act, also. Show what +it is, and how it both adds to the interest of the Play as a story and +to the confusion begun by the mistaken identity and the witchcraft +elements of the Plot. + +The fooling dialogue of Scene ii gives the action pause. Is it +therefore useless, or a dramatic mistake? The ease with which the +right master and man fall into this talk after the earlier +cross-purposes with the wrong man, seems to betray the fact that they +do belong together. They are so readily familiar that the +cross-purposes making up the plot seem to be no longer troublesome +either to themselves or the audience. The interval of reassurance +makes the return of strangeness more unaccountable. Antipholus is also +now reassured about his gold, and the earlier cross-purpose seems only +a jest. + +Why does the mention of Dromio's name (II, ii, 156) cause both master +and man to exclaim? Why should it not have led them to guess the +truth? + +Would this scene with Adriana and Luciana have been equally mystifying +and skilful if the right master and man had not been together? + +QUERIES FOR DISCUSSION + +In the debate between the sisters upon patience in marriage is Adriana +or Luciana the more justifiable? Has their argument anything to do +with the plot? Is character interest or plot interest of the first +importance, and how are they apportioned in this play? + +Is Adriana's argument that she is bound to share morally herself in +the infidelity of her husband sophistical? Or has it a core of sound +ethical value? + + +ACT III + +ANTIPHOLUS THE NATIVE INVITES FRIENDS TO DINE WITH HIM + +How far are the errors of Act III new? From which element of the plot, +mistaken identity, or the domestic difficulties of the native-born +Antipholus do they arise? + +What effects are gained by bringing together in this Act the right +pairs of master and man? + +The closed door between the two groups, one within the house, the +other without, is the only barrier to such an exhibition of the double +resemblances as would clear up all difficulties immediately. Is the +humor of the situation the better for this slightness of the barrier, +or is it rendered altogether too unlikely by it? Notice also the +narrow escapes from meeting and being seen together which masters and +men are constantly making and the skill of the stage movements so +that, for example, while one pair of twins is in the house, the other +pair is absolutely unable to come there, and make clear the main cause +of the errors. + +What relation to the subordinate cause of the errors, i.e., the +domestic difficulties of Antipholus the Native--has the new source of +difficulty and bepuzzlement--the gold chain? Bring out the relation of +the dialogue (III, i, 23-35), between Antipholus and the friends he +invites, to the welcome they find and discuss later. The irony of his +confidence in welcome, at least, which is precisely what is lacking, +is peculiarly true to such disappointments in life. For the fun and +naturalness gained by it, therefore, the carefully planned arrangement +of the dialogue to lead up to it, does not seem to be artificial. What +would have happened to the plot if the plan proposed to force the door +with a crow-bar had been carried out? Since the dramatist was so +daring as to cause it to be suggested, it was incumbent upon him at +once to devise something to prevent it from being done. The way in +which he has accomplished this through Balthazar, puts both Antipholus +and his guest in an estimable light. Show its effect upon the present +scene and upon both the character-interest and the scenes to come in +which the Courtisan figures. What expense does Antipholus refer to +(III, i, 169)? + +Is Luciana's advice so good that it accounts for the attraction she +has for Antipholus the Stranger? Or do you think she is attractive in +spite of it? + +Is the dialogue in this Act between the right master and man as good +as that in Act II? Has it other excuse for being besides punning and +fooling? Examine its value as compared with the other in introducing a +new and amusing error, and educing puns that are suggested by this, +and therefore not independent of the plot. + +This Act closes with two new incidents of use in the sequel: What are +they? + +QUERIES FOR DISCUSSION + +Why has Shakespeare chosen to make Antipholus the Stranger abhor +Adriana, and be attracted to her sister instead? What is the result +for the plot? Is it a mistake that the promised match between Luciana +and the Stranger is not consummated at the close of the play? Is the +reference then made to it the best imaginable? How, if so, is it +reconcilable with the more rapid matches at the close of other plays, +e.g. Oliver and Celia in "As You Like It?" + + +ACT IV + +COMPLICATIONS GROW + +The errors of the early Acts begin simply and proceed by begetting +other errors and beginning, also, with but one of the twin masters and +one of the twin men-servants proceed by involving every one in each of +the two Antipholus groups. In this Act others outside the main groups +are continually being interwoven in the net of complications. In which +Act did these larger social complications arise, and how are they +carried on in the present Act. Show how by means of these larger +circles of complication, e.g., the arrests, the visits of the +Courtisan to Adriana in the attempt to get back her ring, the +conjurring scenes, etc., the confusion becomes extreme. And then show, +also, how by the very means of these larger circles of complication +the clearing up process is brought forward. To whom is the suggestion +due that Antipholus the Native has gone mad? What fitness is there in +that, especially in its being broached by a minor character? Trace the +relation of the Goldsmith, his delays and his debts to the Plot. How +does it come about effectively that in this Act the wrong master and +man are together, the opposite of what has prevailed, earlier? Show +how in the eagerness of Adriana to send the gold and the grief over +what she jealously suspects to be the cause of it, a tragic situation +is reached. In which scene is the most complex confusion reached. + +QUERIES FOR DISCUSSION + +Is the confusion of identity, the domestic discord or the bewitchment +and supposed lunacy the most powerful factor in the plot of error. +Which is the most comical and which the most tragic moment in this +Act? + + +ACT V + +SOLUTIONS MAKE ALL THE STRANGERS FEEL AT HOME + +The climax of bewilderment being reached in the evidence that the same +man is both out of the Priory and in it, solutions follow. Trace the +steps by which this is accomplished. + +Why is the attack upon Antipholus the Stranger assigned to the +Merchant who is the Goldsmith's creditor instead of to the Goldsmith? +Is it by chance or is there some reason for it? Why did not Antipholus +explain that he had the chain through no option of his own? By means +of the Merchant drawing his sword and detaining him, the scene with +Adriana at the close of the preceding Act when his flight prevented +her from having him bound as a mad man is carried on again, and refuge +in the Priory forced upon him. + +Why does the Abbess blame Adriana first because she did not find fault +with her husband and then because she did? Is her sudden harsh turn +against her explicable not as personal inconsistency or womanly +prejudice, but as due to a gleam of insight? What clew to the case +does Adriana's meekness afford? Or else of the relationship of the +Abbess to the twins? Why does she so peremptorily keep the man from +his wife? Is not this conduct devised to mystify the audience rather +than the characters? + +Notice that the Abbess is more of a surprise in her relation to the +plot than the condemned Egean is. The Abbess episode balances at the +close of the Play the Egean episode at the opening of the story. Trace +the links of connection with the main action of each and their +relation to each other, showing how they bind into an absolute unity a +peculiarly symmetrical plot. Why do the two Dromios end the Play +instead of the main characters? + +QUERIES FOR DISCUSSION + +Is this Play the better or worse farce for the serious domestic +situation and the pathos of the long separation of the shipwrecked +family? + + +VI + +CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT + +In what sense can there be said to be a development of character in +"The Comedie of Errors?" If no progress can be traced in the +standpoint of any one character of the Play, save possibly in that of +Adriana, is there yet not to be seen a gradual bringing forward of the +traits inwardly differentiating the two pairs of twins, and stamping +the personality of Adriana and Luciana and even in a slighter degree +of the Goldsmith, the Creditor Merchant, Egean, and the Abbess? + +Show what you deem this to be in each character, and by what means the +result in each is effected. + +Is Antipholus the Stranger of a gentler and more pious spirit than +Antipholus the Native? What signs of this impression can you cite? Was +Antipholus the Native popular in Ephesus? What calling had he +followed? Why do we learn more of Antipholus the Stranger at once than +of his brother? In what respects does this suit the plot and the +circumstances? + +Which Dromio do you think the wittier? Is one more a house servant and +less of a personal attendant and professional fool than the other? +Why, do you think, is Antipholus the Stranger made to beat his man so +often? Is his quick temper, or a sort of horse-play fun at the bottom +of it? Or is the ancient custom as to body servants exemplified? + +Which Antipholus has been the more independently reared and is this +signified in their characters? It has been supposed that Antipholus +the Native married at the Duke's bidding for money and not for love. +What reason does the Play give for this supposition? Is Adriana's +jealousy a reason, or is he fonder of her than she realizes? Which of +the Sisters do you like best, and why? + +Why would Antipholus the Native be better mated with one than the +other? In what respects of character would Luciana be apt to attract +Antipholus the Stranger more than Adriana would? Are there signs to +show that Adriana and her husband are the more stalwart pair? Show how +admirably the riper characters of the father and mother set off the +qualities and relationships of the younger group. + +QUERIES FOR DISCUSSION + +The resemblances of the twins externally are counter-balanced by +diversities that are internal, so that the possibilities of confusion +may be said to be only skin deep. Does this add to the improbableness +of the plot sufficiently to make it a questionable quality of the plot +that the characters are so much differentiated, or does it serve +rather to enrich the Play and make it far more interesting? Are there +signs of character in Adriana and her husband going to show that they +are destined to be happier in their relation to each other than ever +before? + + +VII + +SHAKESPEARE'S DEPARTURES FROM PLAUTUS + +The omissions and changes Shakespeare made from Plautus's plot are +almost as important in lending his Play a new effect as the additions +and entirely original inventions. + +Notice the entire omission of the borrowed cloak taken from his wife, +Mulier, by Menaechmus and given to the Courtisan, Erotium; also, of +the character of the parasite, Peniculus, by means of whom as a +spiteful informer the wife is told of her husband's relations with +Erotium and the dinner he proposes to take with her. Instead of +Mulier's father, Senex, Shakespeare creates the noble Egean, the +father of the Twins. Introducing his plot with the incident of his +arrest, he closes it with the still more notable character of the +mother whom he gives an important part to play in the happy solution +of the difficulties and the re-union. The part of the Duke and the +trade relations of the two cities, the city in Sicily as in Plautus, +the other Ephesus, instead of Epidamnum, as in Plautus, are ingenious +changes of an external sort. What is effected by them? The different +treatment of the dinner incident which causes the husband to mean to +dine at home, until he finds he cannot, when with others he invites +the courtisan to dine with them at an Inn, lends a different color to +the story. What do you think it effects as to character, amusingness, +and unity with the plot of mistaken identity? The courtisan's open +visit to the wife and direct effect upon the plot is in strong +contrast to the intrigue of which the wife is informed by a third +person. Bring this out, and show what the influence is. + +Compare the argument of Plautus (For this see "First Folio Edition" of +"Comedie of Errors," p. 76) with the opening scene wherein Shakespeare +causes Egean to tell the story out of which the Play grows. In what +respects is this an improvement? (See Extract from Ten Brink, p. 183). + +What is accomplished by the addition of the twin servants?--the two +Dromios? (for special assistance in a comparative appreciation of +Shakespeare's farce and that of Plautus see Introduction also Sources +in the "First Folio Edition" of this Play). + +QUERIES FOR DISCUSSION + +Is the complexity of Shakespeare's plot over that of Plautus a +disadvantage? If not, how does this fact agree with the common saying +that simplicity in Art is the highest Art? + +Are the farcical interest and the character interest carried on too +far not to be seen to be inconsistent interests? Or is the secret of +the Art of the Play the reconciliation and harmony of the farcical and +the serious? + + + + +THE TWO GENTLEMEN OF VERONA + + +The unusual in this Comedy is due to its reflection of the ideals and +manners of Chivalry in Love and Friendship as loyally professed by +Valentine and Silvia and outraged by Protheus. + +The plot is extremely simple and is carried on by means of causing its +main characters successively to dominate in their influence upon the +action. + + +ACT I + +VALENTINE VERSUS PROTHEUS AND JULIA + +Valentine's reasons for travel and those of Protheus for staying at +home separate the two friends. Compare Valentine's preference of +Honor, and that of Protheus for Love, with the opening of "Love's +Labour's Lost" and "Much Adoe." + +Show how the rest of the action, after the separation of the friends +to suit this double thesis of life, depends upon illustrating the +effect of Protheus's love upon Julia's fortunes, and of Valentine's +quest of honor upon the fortunes of Protheus. Notice how it happens +that his own deception has a direct influence upon his father, so that +his departure to join Valentine is as much due to his own lack of +firmness in his desire to stay on Julia's account, as to Valentine's +initiative in going. + +QUERIES FOR DISCUSSION + +Is Valentine's or Protheus's the more influential character upon the +course of events thus far? + + +ACT II + +VALENTINE AND SILVIA + +Tell the story of this Act. + +Explain the courtship scene with which this Act opens as illustrating +the service of love in systems of Chivalry. (For hints on this see +Introduction to the Play in "First Folio Edition" also Note on II, i, +97). + +Contrast the earnestness of Valentine's nature in this devotion to +Silvia with the fickleness of Protheus. + +The two servants, Speed and Launce, may be compared, their contrasts +to each other shown, and their general resemblance to a similarly +contrasted pair--the two Dromios in the "Comedie of Errors." + +QUERIES FOR DISCUSSION + +Is the love of Protheus for Silvia a reflex influence from Valentine's +extreme enthusiasm? + +Why does Lucetta distrust Protheus? + + +ACT III + +THE FALSE FRIEND + +What effect has the arrival of Protheus at the Milanese Court? How +does the new-comer manage to dominate this Act? Point out the skill of +Protheus in making his disclosure to the Duke seem to be reluctantly +wrung from him against the friendship he feels for Valentine and only +because of a sense of duty toward the Duke. + +What does this delicacy accomplish toward his own courtship of Silvia? +If he had seemed eager to tell his friend's secrets would not the Duke +distrust him and suspect some self-interest on his part? What did his +mention of Thurio's suit do for himself? + +Compare the nature of the two friends' talk; how that of Protheus +gives a better impression of himself than is true, that of Valentine, +a worse. Show the consistency in wile of Protheus in his conduct +toward the Duke, Thurio, Silvia, and Julia. Why does it succeed? +Wherein is it likely to fail? + +QUERIES FOR DISCUSSION + +Is Protheus impossibly false as a character? Or is his duplicity an +exemplification of the facility toward evil of this kind that is +natural to an extremely impressionable nature which lacks stability? + +In what does Valentine's superiority consist? Are the maxims for the +treatment of women which he gives the Duke due to artificial system +learned from others or a part of his own experience? + + +ACT IV + +SILVIA AND JULIA + +Tell the story of the Act. All the main characters and one new one +have their parts in the next steps in the plot? What are those parts? + +Valentine's fate and its result. + +Silvia's determination and its effect. Notice how her call upon +Eglamoure for knightly service brings the action into the province of +Chivalry again. + +Julia's office in the schemes of Protheus. + +Is this Act dominated in its drift by the two women? How do they put +their impress upon events? + +Show how the villain Protheus is instrumental in bringing these two +women together, and how this is equivalent to uniting against his evil +policy, the good forces of the Play. The loyalty of Silvia to Julia +considered as offsetting the falsity of Protheus to Valentine. + +QUERIES FOR DISCUSSION + +Is the most actively beneficial episode in this Act also the most +charming. + + +ACT V + +VALENTINE, SILVIA AND JULIA VERSUS PROTHEUS + +What are the results of Silvia's flight? + +Why does outlawry bring out the superiority of Valentine? + +Does it serve also to bring out the inferiority of Protheus? + +How does outlawry serve to defeat the purposes of the Duke and Thurio +and bring about the conquest over them of Valentine? + +How does Thurio's nature inure to the credit of Valentine's with the +Duke? + +Does outlawry here represent the injustices of civic life? To what +degree? Or the natural life beneficent and innocent of Arden Forest in +"As You Like It?" To what degree is this true? + +QUERIES FOR DISCUSSION + +Why did Julia swoon? Was the repentance of Protheus genuine?--and +natural? What does Valentine mean by his forgiveness of Protheus and +his proof of it--"All that was mine, in Silvia, I give thee?" could he +give her, personally, against her will, in Chivalry? Or in true love? +How could he mean anything then, but proving by this entrusting of her +to his friend his belief in his loyalty and purity? + +Why is Silvia silent? (See Introduction to the Play in "First Folio +Edition," also Selected Criticism and Notes on V, iv, 91, for hints on +these latter queries). + + + + +THE TAMING OF THE SHREW + + +A Play or mask within the Play is not uncommon in Shakespeare. A Play +outside the Play especially distinguishes the arrangement of this +Comedy. + +Perhaps it serves to indicate that the theme of the taming of a wife +is crude and primitive folk-farce, particularly suited to the taste of +the drunken tinker before whom it is played. + +Shakespeare's handling of the tinker's subject, however, like other +rude and homely matters taken up by an acute mind is such as to fasten +deeper attention and to overgo a tinker's appreciation. + + +I + +THE PLAY OUTSIDE THE PLAY + +The effect of the Induction in dramatic presentation is not easy to +estimate. Since there is no direct connection between it and the Play +itself what do you see that it could be made to do for the action? Is +it like a frame for a picture adapted to give the theme remoteness? Is +this appropriate? Is it otherwise a mere cause for confusion? Or is it +intended to add one more thread of amusement? Why does Shakespeare in +"The Shrew" drop the tinker interregnum dialogue recurring regularly +in "A Shrew?" May Shakespeare, therefore, be cited as finding only a +limited use for "the Play outside the Play," deeming it in the way +later? How has he arranged for its gradual disappearance from +attention? Is there a stage reason alone enough to account for it? +(See suggestions in Notes on I, i, 266, and IV, iii, i, "First Folio +Edition"). Compare the Tinker scenes in the version of 1594. (For +these see Extracts in Sources, pp. 105-110, in "First Folio Edition"). +Do the Slie of "A Shrew" and Christophero Sly of "The Shrew" differ as +characters? As to their opinion of the Play: Are their between-the-act +dialogues materially different? + +What is the relation to the source and what has been altered from the +old tale. + +The local Warwickshire touches in the Induction and their explanation. +(For these see "Story of the Induction" in the Play). + +QUERIES FOR DISCUSSION + +Ought the Induction play to be left out? How might it be made more +effective by special treatment on the stage? Should the additional +scenes be interpolated as was the stage custom, or should +Shakespeare's diminishing notice of them be adopted to produce the +most artistic effect? + + +II + +THE DOUBLE PLOT OF THE MAIN PLAY + +In "A Shrew" and "The Shrew": Show how the story, with respect to the +Taming scenes, is the same substantially, with comparatively minor +differences, except for the characterization. But with respect to the +Bianca scenes it has been expanded and altered. This suggests, most +naturally, that the part Shakespeare did not write or answer for in "A +Shrew" was merely the Bianca scenes, and that his task in "The Shrew" +was to cut out and rewrite the scenes that were not his so as to be +unhampered with the disharmony of the two parts of the plot as it +appears in the Quarto of 1594. + +The story of the Play as it now stands consists of an interweaving of +the Taming story and the story of Bianca's Courtship in such a way +that while they keep their separateness of necessity, they balance +better in interest and are more continually brought to bear upon each +other from time to time. What are their points of contact in each Act? +The sisters with relation to their father and their suitors in Act I: +How does this initiate the action? + +With relation to each other and the Music Master in Act II: How does +this separate the action into two lines of Courtship. + +After Katherine's marriage in Act III the interest divides between the +Taming of Katherine and the Courtship of Bianca. + +In Act IV two or three points of contact are arranged by means of the +journey and what two characters? + +In Act V how is contact both objective and moral obtained? + +Alternative interest in the Bianca Courtship after Kate's marriage and +taming is attained by the elaborate scheme to make Lucentio the most +successful suitor and the droll surprises and difficulties met with in +the process. + +QUERIES FOR DISCUSSION + +Is the lack of unity in the Play sufficiently remedied by enriching +the Bianca counterplot and arranging for alternate interest first in +the plot and then in the counterplot, or is the original difficulty +irremediable? + +In which story is plot or else character the supreme interest? + +Is the Bianca story or the Katherine story the more entertaining? Why? + + +III + +BIANCA AND HER SUITORS + +Lucentio's errand in Padua, his breeding and relations to his servant +qualify him as quite the conventional hero of a romantic love-story. +How does he compare with the young noblemen of "Love's Labour's Lost?" +What part of the study of Philosophy does he specially desire to take +up and how does his temper toward learning fall in with theirs? + +What light does Bianca on her appearance throw upon herself? Through +the testimony of her sister and her father and the two suitors what +else is to be gathered? + +Her effect upon Lucentio: The parallelism with "A Midsommer Nights +Dreame" (I, i, 156, and see p. 134 in the First Folio Edition of "The +Shrew") not appearing in "A Shrew," considered as indicative of the +favorite method of Shakespearian lovers in falling in love at first +sight. + +Katherine's effect upon Tranio, lost upon Lucentio, in his daze over +Bianca, leads to what plan of action? How does the part Hortensio and +Gremio play in this reinforce the plot, and combine them all to +instigate Petruchio to woo Katherine? How does the contest for the +best sale of Bianca when Katherine is out of the way lead to a new +plot? The money-contest of the suitors, judged by the father is +supplemented by the mock teaching-contest of the lovers of which +Bianca herself is the judge. Show how this constitutes the second step +in the action and what complications and simplifications it prepares. +Lucentio's studies in the hedonistic Philosophy he professes and its +victory over Music and Hortensio. + +What is Bianca's contribution to the gossip excited by Katherine's +wedding, and what impression does Act III give you altogether of +Bianca's character? Is the bad report of it in Act IV, made by +Hortensio, as the Musician, Lisio, with Tranio, quite fair to her? + +The abusive opinion and jealousy of Hortensio assisted by the supposed +Lucentio narrow down the uncertainties of the courtship so as to +concentrate interest on the new scheme of the supposed father. How is +this worked out? Explain the conflict with the arrival of the true +father, and the amusing counter-play. + +QUERIES FOR DISCUSSION + +Why does Lucentio's suit excel that of any other in interest? + +Is Bianca wrong in acting independently of her father? + + +IV + +THE SHREW AND HER TAMER + +Does the Shrew justify her reputation on her first appearance? What is +said of her compared with what she does then and in Act II? Why is +Petruchio's first approach with a combat of wit and a great bluff of +compliment effective? Is Kate really impressed by it, or only fearful +that she is being fooled? How do you account for her denial of him and +his suit to her father in Act II and her mortification when he does +not arrive till late in Act III? Does Petruchio's speech to the others +and before them (II, i, 328-350) account for the change? His arrival +at the wedding in such shabby attire and with so wretched an +appearance as to retinue, with his sorry horse and man-servant +contrasts strongly with the promises held out in this speech. What is +the effect on Kate and why does it serve his purpose? + +Is Kate's entreaty to stay, or her action in showing her bridegroom +the door the climax of the wedding scene? What is the point in the +stage business of Petruchio's speech warning others not to touch his +chattel? Is she really being befriended by the bystanders when she +declares they must go "forward to the bridall dinner" or is she so +entirely alone in her opposition to Petruchio's command to go, that +his speech is the keenest satire upon her defencelessness in every +direction but through him? + +Is Petruchio's conduct at home and the servants' comment upon it such +as to make Kate's two entreaties explicable? + +What light does Petruchio's own account (IV, i, 183-207) of his method +throw upon it? + +In the eating and haberdasher scene (IV, iii) what is it Kate +learns--merely that she cannot command by force and can have what she +wants by another method? What is the secret of her tractableness in +Scene v? + +QUERIES FOR DISCUSSION + +Are Katherine and Petruchio the most interesting characters in the +Play? Why? + +Is their prominence due to their personal attractiveness or to the +Dramatist's skill? + + +V + +THE TRIPLE MARRIAGE AND THE MORAL + +Why should the Play not end with Act IV? + +What does Act V add? + +Is the quality of the table-talk in keeping with the plot and +characters? + +The husbands' talk and wager turns on what point, obedience to the +husband, or agreement of husband and wife as mutually to their +interest? + +Show the drift of Kate's expression of the moral of the Play, and +state your own way of looking at it. + +QUERIES FOR DISCUSSION + +Did Petruchio and Kate give an impromptu performance of conjugal +felicity, or one decided upon beforehand? + +Was Kate quick-witted enough to guess there was money in it, or was +she really, once of a different mind and reformed. + + +VI + +THE FOLK ORIGIN OF THE TAMING + +Trace the antiquity of this schooling of a wife, and the resemblances +and contrasts in the chief variants of the story (for help in this see +Sources in "First Folio Edition"). + +Is there any progress to be discerned in the degree of bodily force +deemed expedient? + +Is any such scheme of the marriage-relation compatible with advanced +civilization, or is it peculiar to crude notions of life in a taming +age? + +QUERIES FOR DISCUSSION + +Is the folk-legend indicative of an inherent relation in marriage of +the male and female natures, or is it merely an expression of +established custom and legalized institution upon gaining for each the +aims and line of conduct desired? If so, is the result of the process +to gain a ground of mutual compromise and accommodation and a division +of labor in joint life which will enable the process itself to fall +into disuse. + +Is coercion of others consistent with a high grade of individuality? + +Did Petruchio play the Tamer in a "Pickwickian sense" and the whole +thing being a bit of acting, did Kate see through it, finally, and +play her part too? + +The use of finesse in the Play (see Introduction to the Play "First +Folio Edition"). + +Does Shakespeare's way of handling the characters and the process of +taming materially differ from the way prevailing both in the crude +folk tales and in "A Shrew?" + +Does he suggest that in both Petruchio's and Kate's case they are +merely bent upon their own individual emotions until closer relation +makes them join forces? + +What is the modern bearing of Shakespeare's way of putting the story? + +Partnership and co-operation _versus_ autocratic rule: Are the +administrative advantages of the latter consonant with the good will +and continual psychical development furthered by the former? + +Does the intellectual advantage rest with the user of force or with +the mind that accommodates itself to force by gaining its ends by +stratagem and other indirect policies? + +Is coercion as wise as persuasion which has no such penalties to pay? + + + + +LOVE'S LABOUR'S LOST + + +Shakespeare makes us laugh in "Love's Labour's Lost" at the futility +of the attempt of ascetic and academic men to shut out love and women +from their schemes of life and study. + +His early work in putting the past history of England into dramatic +form may possibly have suggested to him to put more recent history on +the stage by means of this Comedy. Light as it is, the point of it is +to satirize the monastic and exclusive element in current educational +schemes. Fictitious as the story is, it touches upon names and +incidents belonging to actual history. So familiar were these actual +happenings of the day to his audience that it could especially enjoy +these veiled allusions to them. + +The main idea of the plot of the Comedy--the "Academe," was one that +had a bearing upon various similarly named educational projects of +that time in England. + +One such scheme was drawn up about 1570, by Sir Humphrey Gilbert, Sir +Walter Raleigh's half-brother, for the "education of her Majeste's +Wardes and others the youths of nobility and gentlemen." This plan +was, like Shakespeare's arranged for a "three yeeres terme" (I, i, 20) +and at the end of "every three years" some book was to be published +which would represent the fruit of the Academy's study during that +period. Merely the title of this scheme--"Queen Elizabethes Achademy" +may have suggested Shakespeare's "Achademe" (I, i, 17). Of course, +however, both Gilbert's and Shakespeare's adoption of the name are +examples of the appropriation by educational groups of the classic +academes of the Philosophers of Athens and their student followers. +Another educational plan "for the bringing up in vertue and learning +of the Queenes Majestis Wardes," was devised by Sir Nicholas Bacon, in +1561. Later, in the reign of James I, the establishment of the +"Academe Royal" by Bolton, is an example of the early vogue of the +name, which has since become familiar everywhere, for educational and +learned institutions. + +A less important element in the formation of the plot is the allusion +to current French politics which the situation of the characters of +the Play suggests. + +A King of Navarre and a Princess of France conferring in treaty over a +disputed province and a claim of allowance for services rendered is an +incident constituting a reference to a state of things in France then +closely concerning England. The succession to the throne of France of +Henry of Navarre, the champion of the Huguenots of France, was long +contested. England was friendly to Navarre, the object of her foreign +policy being to counterpoise the power of Spain and the Catholics of +France, with whom Queen Elizabeth's most formidable rival, Mary +Stuart, was allied in interest. + +No king of Navarre was ever named Ferdinand. Yet by making an entirely +fictitious hero a king of Navarre and the suitor of a princess of +France, the relationship of Henry of Navarre to dominance in France +was suggested in an unobjectionable and amusing way. And the death of +the King of France introduced at the close of the Play, involving the +prospect as a probability that the hero might then succeed to the +throne of France, could scarcely fail to remind Shakespeare's audience +of the actual struggle of the King of Navarre for the French crown, +and also of the fact that on the death of the French King in August, +1589, Navarre then became heir presumptive, and after the battle of +Ivry in 1590 Spain delayed but could not long obstruct his complete +success. + +In 1593 the most important cities of the Kingdom yielded him +allegiance and in the Spring of 1594 Paris herself opened her gates to +him. These dates 1589-1594 indicate the time, also, when "Love's +Labour's Lost" is likely to have been timely in these references, and +yield a clew to its date of composition. + +The effect of these allusions to French political affairs, made more +piquant by the downfall of Spain in her political opposition both to +England and the party of Henry of Navarre, was intensified in +Shakespeare's Play by the names given to Navarre's lords. _Berowne_, +as the name appears in the Folio, is an English spelling of the French +name _Biron_, to which it is changed in modernized editions of +Shakespeare. _Longavill_ is an English equivalent of _Longueville_, +and _Dumaine_ or _Dumane_ of De Mayenne, names which also are changed +in the modernized editions, although not consistently. All these names +are associated with Navarre's struggles in France. The Maréchal de +Biron and the Duc de Longueville fought prominently on Navarre's side. +The Duc de Mayenne, brother of Henry of Guise, fought on the opposite +side. The Duc d'Alençon long a suitor for the hand of Queen Elizabeth, +is mentioned as the father of Rosaline. + +Another veiled reference to a Russian suitor of the Queen's seems to +be made in the incident introduced in the last Act. This scene of the +wooing of the King and his lords when disguised as Russians makes fun, +perhaps, of an actual embassy of Russians to the Court of Elizabeth, +in 1583, when the Queen had arranged to put upon Lady Mary Hastings +the suit which the Czar Ivan had originally hoped to proffer to the +Queen herself. (For information upon these and other incidents of the +period that may be used in the plot see Sources, pp. 106-116 also +Notes in the "First Folio Edition" of this Play). + + +ACT I + +THE VOW AND ITS FIRST ANTAGONISTS + +The theme of the Comedy--the exclusion of love for the sake of winning +fame for learning, is made clear by the first speaker. The opposition +Love will make to this is next expressed through another speaker, and +then embodied in a practical example. Bring out the argument, in full, +on both sides, as expressed by the King and his lords, on the one +side, and by one lord who is less subservient on the other side. What +does Berowne object to in the King's idea about study and fame? He +says, practically, that fame is a mere expression of opinion, and that +as anybody can give anyone the name of being learned or the name of +being anything, fame may be given by those who have very little notion +of any real knowledge. Superficial knowledge is knowledge of names but +real knowledge is that which names mean. In a word, we but dull our +minds and blind our eyes in poring over the outsides of things, unless +we study to understand life and act a beneficent part in it. + +As children we are rightly put to task work in order to get the means +to go on independently using life and all the products of life +including books, in order to minister toward independent thought and +life. But to start in with rules and restrictions when we are older +and life itself is opening before us, is like climbing over a house to +unlock the gate before it. Their artificial arrangements are not +fitted to meet actual experience. Actual experience is bound to laugh +at their exclusion of life. How does the message brought by Costard +and Clowne bear on the argument? The fooling seems to be the dominant +interest in Scene ii. Is it, nevertheless, only the vehicle by which +the theme is developed? Show how also not alone by the confession +Armado makes but also by the words in which he expressed it, the theme +of the conflict of Love against the vow foreswearing it is made clear. +Notice, too, that the symptom, so to speak, of the labour of Love or +Cupid as opposed to the Herculean labor of "warre against your owne +affections" is at once made evident in Armando. This symptom is the +desire to write a Sonnet. In what way, then, does it appear from the +Story of Act I, that witness will be borne to the success of love's +labor over the vow of the _Achademe_? + +Does the sprightliness of the second scene obscure the scheme of the +play advantageously or disadvantageously? + + +ACT II + +THE EMBASSY _versus_ THE VOW + +How is it made apparent that the effect of the Embassy of France to +Navarre will be on the side of Love against the Vow? The ladies' +remarks upon the students of the _Achademe_ throw light upon +themselves and the drift of the story as well as upon their subjects. +Show what may be gathered from their speeches? What does the Princess +gather from them? + +The King does not invite the Princess to his Court, and declares he +will not violate his vow. Nevertheless he does do so. In what respect? +Boyet's observation of him goes still farther. What is this? And how +does it seem to be justified? Is Boyet's conclusion that "Navar is +affected," more a means of telling the Audience what is about to +happen, than comment on what is to be seen? Or is it of use to show +the Actor of the King's part how he must bear himself? How does it fit +with the name and scheme of the Play that Boyet who thinks the King +has already fallen in love should be called Cupid's grandfather? + +QUERIES FOR DISCUSSION + +Why does the Princess discount Boyet's remarks and accuse him of +joking? Does she give any clew to her own feelings? + + +ACT III + +THE CLOWN AS A LETTER-CARRIER + +Why is it in keeping with the Play that Berowne should be the first of +the Lords to be foresworn? + +In making Armado the keeper of Costard, the Clown's breaking of the +vow has already been satirized by the King's own act. Armado now takes +his next turn at making Costard's sentence a hollow mockery by sending +him as a messenger to Jacquenetta. How is this first letter-carrying +made to lead to a second, doubling the mockery and promising new +confusions? + +Has Moth anything to do with the scheme of the Play? + +Who is the "Boy" of whom Berowne speaks repeatedly in his speech +concluding this Act? What is the bearing of the reference to him upon +the Play? + +How is the joke of the rhyme in which the Boy got the better of his +Master by selling him the "Goose" to be explained? It is commonly +supposed that the interpolation from the Quarto, i.e., the lines put +between brackets in the "First Folio Edition" (p. 31) are necessary. +It is better however, to leave them out, as they are left out in the +Folio text, if it is understood that the Boy Moth, repeats ll. 91-92, +after Armado has said them. Then Armado begins the "lenvoy" with the +intention that the Boy will also repeat that and that being the end, +turn the laugh on himself by calling himself the Goose. But the Boy is +too clever. He says it ends where it should. Costard declares the Boy +has sold him, and both laugh to the bewilderment of Armado. If the +Page added the "lenvoy" as the Quarto puts it the joke would already +have been turned against him. The explanation has to be very elaborate +and the poor little joke is too thin to stand it, if both texts be +followed. It is easy to see that the repetition by the Page of ll. 91 +and 92, on the stage, confused the hearer who set it down for the +publisher of the Quarto, and also that the repetition would be a part +of the stage business and the lines might not appear twice therefore +in the MS. of the Play itself. The question growing out of this +is--Ought not the bracketed part of the text to be left out? + +QUERIES FOR DISCUSSION + +Why does Berowne say that he loves "the worst of all" (III, i, 193)? +Is this true? Does he think it true? Does it refer to her looks, or +her disposition, or her brain? Is it said of her because she is the +cleverest, and does Berowne really share the common prejudice of the +male against a superior woman or only pretend to? + + +ACT IV + +BEROWNE HEARS SOME SONNETS AND THE KING RECEIVES A LETTER + +Does the Princess guess the truth of the matter when Costard delivers +the wrong letter for Rosaline? + +What relation has the second scene of Act IV to the Play? Of what use +to the preceding action, and to the present? Of what use are all these +new characters to the Plot? One has been before heard from, but is he +of the most or least use here? Are they of use to the story in any +other way, later? In what respects do their tricks of speech and +affectation of learning suit the aim of the Comedy? Show how the +Sonnet-writing is made the means of unmasking the lovers to each other +and all of them to Berowne. Are the sonnets suited to the characters +of the writers? Contrast the King's and Berowne's in this respect. +Does the King suspect Berowne before Jaquenetta brings her letter? Why +does Jaquenetta say it was treason? Would Berowne have confessed if he +were not forced to? After having so unmercifully followed the example +of the others in condemning them for doing what each was equally +involved in, the climax of forced confession from him is more amusing +than if any one of them had unmasked him, as Longaville did Dumain, +the King Longaville, and Berowne the King. What special fitness was +there in making Dumane find out that the torn letter was in Berowne's +hand and bore his signature? + +QUERIES FOR DISCUSSION + +Is Berowne's speech to "salve" their "perjury" (IV, iii, 309-383) the +moral of the piece? If so why should not the Play end here? How does +Berowne's final speech in this Act foreshadow the conclusion of the +Play? + + +ACT V + +SPORT IS BY SPORT OVERTHROWN + +What were the main events of the last Act and of this one, and how do +they bear upon one another? Why is the revenge planned by the Princess +both fair and prudent? Are the men more in earnest than they seem? Do +the women seem less in earnest than they are? Which man first draws a +lesson from being outwitted, and how is it justified? Show how this +lesson suits the trend of the Play, and advances upon the outcome of +the preceding Act. To whom is Berowne's line (V, ii, 477)--"Speake for +yourselves, my wit is at an end"--addressed? How is the King brought +to confusion? Is the Princess too hard upon him? Why does Berowne +scoff so fiercely at Boyet? + +Is the presentation of the Nine Worthies too absurd in itself to mix +well with the courtliness, learning, and elaborate wit of the rest of +the Play? Note Berowne's defence of it (V, ii, 569-571) and his rebuke +to the King for despising it? The Princess's defence of it and its +correspondence with that of Theseus for the show of the "base +mechanicals" in the "Midsommer Nights Dreame." How does Berowne's +humility in accepting the parallel with their own wit-overthrown mask +agree with his boisterous jeering at the mask of the Nine Worthies +later? How does the attitude of the ladies toward it compare with that +of the men and what comment upon it does it constitute in your +opinion? How does it all prepare the way for the sudden sad message, +and also for the decision of the Ladies to rebuff love that is not +serious? What special point is there in the kind of trial Rosaline and +her mistress each specially propose for Berowne and the King? Has it +any relation to what has just been shown of each of them in their +attitude towards others with respect to the humble performers of the +Mask of the Nine Worthies? What makes wit an unalloyed pleasure? + +QUERIES FOR DISCUSSION + +Is the serious ending of this Comedy a disappointment? Is seriousness +an ending artistically called for by this plot, or only morally called +for? Compare with the serious strain in the "Comedie of Errors." What +does the contradictory little final dialogue between Winter and Spring +add to the significance of the Play? + + +VI + +THE WIT OF THE PLAY + +This has been called by Armitage Brown, "A Comedy of Conversation"; +and the quibbles in which the Play abounds have been supposed by Dr. +Johnson to give the Author "such delight, that he was content to +sacrifice reason propriety and truth" for their sake. How far do these +observations justly apply to the Play? + +In what degree is the extravagant banter of the Play itself an +imitation of current fashions of speech and itself an object of +ridicule? + +Its relations to Lyly and Euphuism. (See Extracts from Ward and from +Landmann in "Selected Criticism," in First Folio Edition of the Play). + +Make a study of the lesser and larger wit of the play, showing how the +former is merely incidental to the latter. + +In what respects is the whimsical talk of the Play suited to certain +groups and to special characters, so that there is more variety in it +than appears at first. + +QUERIES FOR DISCUSSION + +Does the master wit of the Play consist in any one class of fun, as +verbal conceits in the punning line; practical jokes; Euphuism, +so-called; banter in speech and retort, versemaking and sonneteering, +learned quips, or in the use of all these combined in a way to bring +out the point of the Play--the clash of natural with artificial +methods. + +Is wit or purpose dominant in the Play? + +Which is the wittiest scene? Is it also the most morally significant? + + +VII + +THE CHARACTERS + +Three groups of characters appear in the play--the main group +belonging to the Court; the learned group, Armado, the, schoolmaster, +and the Curate; and the native group, Costard, Jaquenetta, Dull, and +Moth. The two latter subordinate groups add much to the Play. Show in +what respects: as to Plot interest what do they add? As to merriment +and significance? Is the morality and wit of the Play contributed to +by them? Are they of interest in themselves, apart from their relation +to the other characters? Are Costard and Jaquenetta the only happy +lovers in the Play? Why? + +Is the King, kingly? In what respects, do you think, does he evince +youth and inexperience? When does he begin seriously to be in love? Is +the Princess justified in disciplining him? How much of her discipline +is due to the event that cuts short the Play? Judging from his +character, do you think he will stand the "twelvemonth" test? + +Is Berowne the oldest as well as the deepest and wisest of the men? +How does he show all this? + +Why does Rosaline discipline him? Is she in insight superior to him as +the Princess is to the King? Are the other court ladies equally wise +in the probation period they allot? + +Are all the men--Costard included--so much a prey to a sort of foppery +of expression and love of animal spirits as to be properly subject to +the satire the play provides for them? Are the women more sane in this +respect, despite their wit, or not? + +Is Shakespeare apparently on the women's side? + +QUERIES FOR DISCUSSION + +Is Costard the bumpkin the best actor in the Mask of the Worthies? +Why? Why is Jaquenetta the least and Moth the most discomfitted of the +third group of characters? + +Dowden says the women of the Play "have not the entire advantage on +their side." What do they lack? He also says, to bear this out, that +"Berowne is yet a larger nature than the Princess or Rosaline." What +has this to do with their relative advantage in the Play itself, as +Shakespeare shows it? + +Who are the critics of the falseness of artifice in the Play? Is +Berowne on the women's side in the criticism which gives them their +advantage? + + +VIII + +THE MORAL OF THE PLAY + +Is there a moral against the current educational methods and the +affectations social and literary of Shakespeare's time? The monastic +and aristocratic elements in education considered as opposed to the +progress of Women and the People. Show the general conditions of +education prevailing after the Middle Ages, and the new spirit of the +Renascence making itself felt, also the degree in which this appears +in this plot. If Shakespeare's spirit, as manifested in this Play, had +been more influential practically, do you think a different road would +have been taken? (For hints upon this line of thought see Introduction +in the "First Folio Edition"). How far is Berowne to be taken as the +spokesman of Shakespeare? Note what Pater says of him as "a reflex of +Shakespeare himself," and trace the truth of this as concerns the fact +that he is never "quite in touch" with the level of the understanding +shown by others of the Play, and state the bearing this has upon the +Moral of the Play. (See Pater's "Appreciations" or extract from same +in "Selected Criticism," pp. 242-248, "First Folio Edition"). + +Why does so frolicsome a Comedy end so seriously? Does that make it +funnier? + +QUERIES FOR DISCUSSION + +Is there really a moral in the Play in favor of nature and sincerity +or is it merely read into it? + +Is Dowden right, who says "there is a serious intention in the play," +or Barrett Wendell who says: "like modern comic opera, such +essentially lyric work as this has no profound meaning; its object is +just to delight, to amuse; whoever searches for significance in such +literature misunderstands it." + +In comparison with other comedies of Shakespeare, is a serious +undercurrent discernible in all of them, but none in this? + + +IX + +SHAKESPEARE'S PLAY AND TENNYSON'S POEM ("THE PRINCESS") UPON EDUCATION +OF MEN AND WOMEN + +Summarize story and outcome of Play and Poem in comparison and in +contrast. Does Shakespeare's exposition of the contemporary view of +education account for the condition Tennyson criticises? If so, are +women to blame for it? If not, how much does this modify Tennyson's +criticism of the educational exclusion that is the scheme of the +College in "The Princess?" Shakespeare seems to point his moral +against his male characters for their exclusiveness, Tennyson against +his women characters? Which one goes the deeper? Wherein do they agree +and disagree? How may they be made to supplement each other? Has +Tennyson's poem presented any phase of the question touching upon +popular interest in exclusive educational schemes? Is Shakespeare, +considering his time, the more democratic in his views of life, as +shown by this Play, in comparison with those brought out in Tennyson's +Poem. Why does Shakespeare leave the women in moral and actual command +of the situation? + +QUERIES FOR DISCUSSION + +Is co-education the right conclusion to draw from the exposition by +the Poets of educational restraints and the relation of men and women +to life? + +What ideals of life as to Nature and Education must be included in +educational schemes? Why does the Play not end with as many marriages +as there are lovers? Is it possibly because Shakespeare did not mean +to bring forward love between man and woman as if it were the only +thing in life but as the typical experience of life that should open +up the depths of knowledge not of love alone but of death and +suffering in relation to it. + + + + +MUCH ADOE ABOUT NOTHING + + +The title of this Comedy broadly describes its character, and is based +upon the double meaning of "Nothing." The events that constitute the +plot are the result of "note-ing" or overhearing and so taking note of +events which are deceptive in some way. Hence, in all the "note-ing" +that takes place, there is, after all "nothing," and the whole amusing +plot constitutes much ado about nothing. The letter "h" in _Nothing_ +was often silent in Elizabethan pronunciation. The "h" in "Moth" in +"Love's Labour's Lost" is another example. + +Noting or overhearing as a factor of the plot is introduced also in +"Love's Labour's Lost." It is one of several links in workmanship with +that Play and its use there may have suggested the production of a +Play almost altogether built, as this is, on overhearing or taking +critical notice such as Benedicke and Beatrice take of each other. + +The part of the plot that is based on an already existent story does +not develop this noteing element particularly. For that reason it is +the likelier that it is a device of Shakespeare's to make up his +Comedy. + + +ACT I + +CLAUDIO NOTES HERO WITH FAVOR AND IS NOTED WITH DISFAVOR + +The Story of Act I results, on the arrival of the Prince and his +suite, in making it known that Claudio has noted Hero as "the sweetest +Ladie" that ever he "lookt on." Show how it also comes out in Scene i +that a noting of a severer kind has passed between Benedicke and +Beatrice. The two kinds of special interest--the openly admiring +noting of Claudio, and the captious notice of each other shown by +Beatrice and Benedicke, initiate the two channels of action in which +the plot will run. The normal sex-agreement of the one pair of +characters is varied by contrast with the more unusual sex-warfare +that asserts itself humorously both in Beatrice and Benedicke. Bring +out pertinent examples of their defiance of love and marriage. What +is to be gathered of Hero and her point of view from this Act? How +much from others, from little from herself? And how much from her of +others? Contrast with hers the witness given of herself by Beatrice. +Is Claudio taciturn, too, when compared with Benedicke? + +What noting goes on in scene ii? Is it in accordance with what has +already taken place between Claudio and the Prince? What additional +noting comes out in Sc. iii. Is this in accordance with Scene i or +Scene ii? Act I closes with a sense of some confusion which Act II is +required to clear up. In addition to the inconsistency, notice Don +John's enmity to Claudio, and its menace of disaster. + +QUERIES FOR DISCUSSION + +Is the inconsistency of the last three scenes misleading and puzzling +rather than alluring to the curiosity of the reader? + +Could it be made more interesting on the stage by the way of enacting +the part of Brother Anthony? + + +ACT II + +THE PRINCE PLOTS FOR TRUE NOTING AND HIS BROTHER FOR FALSE + +Tell the story of the masked ball. What new light is thrown, first, on +the characters and, then, on the plot by means of these fragmentary +bits of dialogue heard as the revellers pass on and off stage +together. + +Is Don John really misled as to his Brother's intentions toward Hero? + +What does Hero herself think? + +Does Don Pedro himself show that he is acting for another--that the +god, Love, dwells beneath his visor? The modernized edition spoils one +of the references to this office in which the Prince labors for Love +and does a labor of love in whose disinterestedness some doubt is +expressed. By changing Love to Jove (in II, i, 92) a literal +correction is made in accord with the legend referred to, but in +entire destruction of the point made by the Prince, if Shakespeare +means to adapt the allusion to his special purpose. Note also +Benedicke's name for Claudio (II, iii, 34). What is your opinion of +this? (See Note on II, i, 91, in "First Folio Edition"). Compare +another instance where the Prince shows that he is acting for Cupid +(II, i, 358-367). Is Don Pedro the most active spirit in the plot? +Show how in Acts I and II, it is made clear that the plot will consist +in the prevalence of either a favorable or unfavorable influence upon +the happiness of the characters. Who represents each influence? + +Notice that the favorable influence in its first action in favor of +Claudio's happiness is misunderstood, discounted and disbelieved in +several directions. Is Claudio led to distrust of the Prince by others +or by his own jealousy? + +In the second action of the favorable influence initiated by the +Prince, which of the characters share? Does the unfavorable influence +work against Benedicke's happiness? + +What is Borachio's place in the action of the unfavorable influence? + +QUERIES FOR DISCUSSION + +Noteing or overhearing is itself nothing or has a large element of the +deceptive in it. How is it made to work well in Benedicke's case? Is +the element of truth the only one that is effective? + + +ACT III + +THE NOTE-ING IS NOTED + +Show that the action taking the Story on consists in the "note-ing" +already planned being enacted and being noted as true. How does this +work with Beatrice in Scene i? + +In Scene ii the unfavorable influence makes its preparation to carry +on the plot disastrously by the same method. How is this made clear? + +In Scene iii the "note-ing" is as effective for evil as that in scene +i, is for good. But a counter influence is brought to bear upon it +which consists in "noteing" the falsity of the first "noteing." Show +how this is arranged and promises to solve all difficulty. But the +marriage is shown next to be in active preparation, and then the +promise of intervention in time to frustrate Hero's disgrace is in +scene v itself frustrated by the bestowal of all Dogberry's +"tediousness" upon Leonato and by his own impatience. Show the place +in the action of the hurrying on of scene iv, and the tediousness of +scene v, and of both on the humor of the Play. + +QUERIES FOR DISCUSSION + +Are the Prince and Claudio justified in the action they propose? + +Is the element of chance, which both destroys the falseness of the +evidence by means of Borachio's talk, and prevents it from being known +by Dogberry's, especially fitting? Why? + + +ACT IV + +HERO IS REPUDIATED AND BEFRIENDED + +Does Claudio's demeanor in the repudiation scene betray the violence +of love? + +What is to be inferred from the Prince's words and those of his +bastard brother Don John? + +Is it natural for Leonato to be convinced and to know his daughter no +better? + +Why is the Friar on her side? Notice how the Friar represents the +Church as Dogberry does the Law. As institutional forces of civic +life, outside the circle of the central group of characters, they +intervene in the action of the drama when it is properly amenable to +outside influences and civic instrumentalities. And both are brought +into the sphere of the Play by a means in sympathy with the artistic +method belonging to it. Observe how Dogberry is made humorously to +desire to have everything noted down, and how the Friar has come to +the conclusion that Hero is innocent "by noting of the Ladie." With +the Friar on her side, Hero and her one staunch friend--Beatrice are +enabled to follow a policy of resistance to her disgrace and of +re-establishment, first, of her good fame and, then, of her happiness. +How is this brought about? The share of the Friar in rallying her +friends to be loyal, and the share of Beatrice in instituting a +counter-movement to the accusation combine to what effect? How does it +suit with the scheme of the action that the love of Benedicke and +Beatrice here attains its climax? + +What does scene ii accomplish for the plot? + +QUERIES FOR DISCUSSION + +Is the injection of tragedy at this Fourth Act into the Comedy +effective? Does it change the character of the Comedy or merely +intensify it? + +Does Beatrice ask an unreasonable deed of Benedicke when she says +"Kill Claudio"? Suppose it were to prove true, instead of to be +prevented as may be already guessed, by the defeat of Don John's false +witness and evil influence: Is Beatrice justified in refusing +Benedicke if he will not kill his friend because it shows "there is no +love" in him? + + +ACT V + +THE DOUBLE WEDDING + +The valor and humor of the two old men against the two young ones has +especial value in restoring the comic vein. How does this somewhat +belated loyalty of Leonato act upon our sympathy with him? Does the +forbearance of Claudio and the Prince toward the two men raise our +esteem of them or lead to further dislike? + +What effect has the mock heroics of their ineffective challenge on +Benedicke's earnest championship of Hero? Is the Prince's satiric +speech (V, i, 208-209) to be interpreted as complimentary to +Benedicke? Notice Claudio's next speech in comment upon it, and +explain the implications intended. + +What does Leonato mean by blaming Borachio less than the three nobles? +How far do you think him justified--the relations of master to man at +the time being considered? + +Was Margaret to blame? Why did she not make the cheat known? (Cf. V, +iv, 5-7 with V, i, 311-314). Is it worth while to spend much time on +making all minor details clear? + +Is Claudio's consent to a second marriage creditable, natural, or a +clumsy expedient which only the entire hollowness of the whole plot of +false noting as to Hero renders endurable? Can you imagine any way of +acting the part of Claudio that would make it seem attractive? + +Do you find it in character at the wedding that one couple says so +little, the other so much? + +QUERIES FOR DISCUSSION + +Is the ending of the Plot happily contrived in too forced and unreal a +way? + +Which is the most stirring scheme in the Play and why? + +Which is the funniest, and is it possible to say why? + +THE CHARACTERS + +Does this Play succeed in giving so extremely definite and varied an +impression of the characters that it is chiefly notable for that? To +bring out this idea of the plot as successful less in itself than +because it illuminates the quality and humor of the characters, +compare with the "Comedie of Errors" or any of the Plays where events +figure more prominently. Show how the events of this Play may be said +to be created by the Characters. The Prince and his Brother (and their +tools on each side who lend themselves to their plans with Dogberry, +the highly unconscious, and the Friar, the highly conscious character) +by being what they are constitute the diverse means of influencing the +whole turn of events. These persons may all be considered with +reference to what they are themselves, in character, and through that, +in relation to the other characters of the Comedy. + +BENEDICKE AND BEATRICE, CLAUDIO AND HERO + +These two loving couples reveal their special characters most vividly +by means of their contrasting and supplementary relations to each +other. Show how Benedicke and Beatrice do not throw Claudio and Hero +too much in the shade by their superior brilliancy, because through +the love of the minor couple their own love is enabled to ripen. Is +their character heightened or lessened in wit and individual interest +by love? + +The minor characters: Show how the adversity of the family brings out +the heroic element lying unobserved in Brother Anthony of the "dry +hand," and kindles his philosophy into something martial. + +The merry maids, Ursula and Margaret and their light-hearted parts in +the plot. + +QUERIES FOR DISCUSSION + +Beatrice "is a tarter,--and, if a natural woman, is not a pleasing +representative of her sex." She "will provoke her Benedicke to give +her much and just conjugal castigation," says Campbell. Is he right, +and will Benedicke feel so?--or is Swinburne right, who says she is "a +decidedly more perfect woman than could properly or permissibly have +trod the stage of Congreve or Molière" and who speaks of her "light +true heart"? + +Is the superficial Claudio worthy of Hero? + +Are the faults in the plot of the Play, such as are necessitated by +the design of using the characters themselves and their "noting" of +one another as the source of events, and, therefore, in the last +analysis not faults, a study of their relation to the design leading +us, as Hartley Coleridge puts it, never to censure Shakespeare without +finding reason to eat our words? + + + + +A MIDSOMMER NIGHTS DREAME + + +Having read "A Midsommer Nights Dreame" as a whole, if it be not +already fresh in the mind, or, if possible, having seen it acted, then +consider more carefully the characteristics of its dramatic structure, +studying the plot and progress of the story as it is unfolded act by +act, also the sources, the characters, and so forth, as suggested in +the following study. + + +ACT I + +THE CROSSED LOVERS + +Sum up the incidents and characters introduced in the first Act and +ascertain which are most important in influencing the rest of the +story. + +It may be noticed that Theseus and Hippolyta and their marriage +festivities are personages and events which make up a decorative +external sort of frame for the whole play, but that the centre of the +action takes its start, primarily, from the conflict of Hermia's love +for Lysander with her father's choice of Demetrius, and, secondarily, +from the clash of Helena's love for Demetrius with his suit for +Hermia. Show how the brisk bit of dialogue between Hermia and Lysander +(I. i. 141-166) implies the forthcoming plot. For example, it may be +shown that 'to be enthrall'd to love' (the first folio reading is +_love_ instead of _low_, which was an emendation of Theobald's,) +[Footnote: See foot note in First Folio edition.] and to have +'sympathy in choice' made as 'momentary as a sound, swift as a shadow, +short as any dream,' is to be the fate of all the lovers in the play, +except Theseus and Hippolyta, and to constitute the substance of the +action. + +Consider what relation the second scene has to the story. Is it more +extraneous to the movement than the scene presenting the Duke and his +bride? It is linked to the crossed lovers group, on the one side, by +the part the chief of the 'rude mechanicals,' Bottom, is to assume +with Titania, although this does not appear in the first Act, and +Shakespeare's intention to do something special with this character is +only shadowed forth here by its prominence. On the other side it is +linked to the ducal group still more superficially, merely by the +rehearsal of a piece to be played at the wedding. It may be contrasted +with the preparation in 'Hamlet' for a piece similarly played before +the Court, but which had a vital connection with the action and +characters which is lacking here. Can there be said to be an artistic +design, however, though of a more external sort, in the contrast +between the Court scene and the rehearsal scene, and the realistic +offset the latter scene supplies to the fairy fantasies that are to +follow in the next acts? For instance, it may be shown that the +merriment the clownish scene provides balances the dignity of the +ducal scene. His audience, having put a yoke upon the dramatists by +requiring a clown, his genius is betokened here by his making it an +artistic advantage. + +POINTS 1. 'The ancient privilege of Athens,' I. i. 49. What was the +position of the father toward the family in Attica? 2. 'On Dian's +altar to protest,' i. 98. Did the service of Diana offer women a +respite from masculine dictation? Compare the myth of Iphigenia's +salvation by Diana. 3. 'To that place the sharp Athenian law cannot +pursue,' i. 172. What Grecian states had laws more lenient to women? +4. What traces can be found in history or legend of the victory of +Theseus over the Amazons, and the rise of a new civic order on the +ruins of a matriarchate? 5. The story of Pyramus and Thisbe (see +Chaucer's 'Legend of Good Women' for an early English use of the +story). 6. Explanation of allusions to Phoebe, Cupid, Ercles, etc. + + +ACT I + +QUERIES FOR DISCUSSION + +Upon what does the interest centre in Act I? In the marriage of +Hippolyta and Theseus, or the love affairs of the four lovers? + +Is Hermia, whose determination not to be forced to marry starts the +plot, the best-drawn character in the first Act? + + +ACT II + +THE FAIRIES' QUARREL + +Show how in this Act a new agency of a fairies' quarrel is devised and +set forth. + +Point out how this is made to crystallize in Oberon's scheme for +revenge on Titania, and also how, in the course of disentangling their +own love-snarl, it is made to develop the conflict between the crossed +lovers. This, it may be emphasized, is the second step in the +movement, as Hermia's and Helena's love was the first, and these two +main factors of the action are taken up together in this act. + +Are the other two groups which were introduced in the first act, the +Duke's party and Bottom's set, interwoven with the new fairy group in +any way in this Act? See if the new fairy element now shows any +disposition in the person of Oberon to smooth out the difficulties of +the mortals. + +Oberon's intentions, however, were one thing, and his deeds another. +Through Puck as his instrument, his jealousy at once begins to make +matters worse instead of better for the lovers. Notice the delicate +appropriateness of Oberon's means of influence, namely Puck and the +two flowers, the first being 'Cupid's flower,'--Love in idleness--the +second 'Dian's bud,' introduced later to correct the influence of the +first. The first flower assists in the development of a plot which is +to enact the 'momentariness' of 'sympathy in choice.' The +cross-purpose, fostered by Puck's mistake, seems to provide the +comparatively grosser sort of merriment for this Act which Bottom and +his friends supplied for the first; and the dainty humor and sprightly +novelty attending the introduction of the fairies on the scene, the +description of their quarrel, and the foreshadowing of the influence +they are to have on the next stages of the story, may be shown to +occupy the chief place in the plot at this period, the crossed lovers, +who predominated in the first Act, now falling into a relatively +subordinate position. + +POINTS 1. Robin Goodfellow and the traditions about him. 2. Fairies +and changelings. 3. The stories of Theseus's loves. 4. Explanation of +allusions to nine men's morris, old Hiems, etc. 5. Account of theories +as to meaning of references to _the imperiall votresse, a little +westerne flower, a mearemaide on a dolphins backe_, etc. Warburton +says the mermaid was meant for Mary Queen of Scots. N.H. Halpin thinks +that by Cynthia is meant Queen Elizabeth; by Tellus, Lady Douglas; by +the little 'western flower,' Lettice, wife of Walter, Earl of Essex, +while Cupid is Leicester. (See "First Folio Edition" for particulars). +6. Explain use of 'Lob,' II. i. 15; 'wodde,' 200. 7. 'The starres shot +madly from their Spheares,' i. 159. Look up Ptolemaic system of +astronomy for explanation of the idea. Compare "Merchant of Venice," +V. i. 71-75, and notes on same in "First Folio Edition" of that play. +8. What is "Love in idleness"? (See Introduction to "First Folio +Edition" of "A Midsommer Nights Dreame" for references to this flower +in Chaucer's poem of "The Flower and the Leaf.") Compare "The Taming +of the Shrew," I. i. 156. 9. What are "Cankers" in the musk rosebuds? +II. ii. 4. + +QUERIES FOR DISCUSSION + +Is it probable that the various passages in this act said to allude to +current incidents were so intended? In that case what effect do they +have upon the beauty of a Play set in Athens? + +Is the interest of this Act a divided one? + + +ACT III + +CROSS-EFFECTS OF OBERON'S SPELL + +Analyze the scenes constituting this Act. Observe that scene i. takes +up Bottom and his fellows, the group not as yet brought into relation +with the fairy group, and initiates them in the magic of fairy land by +means of the new but appropriate head Puck bestows upon Bottom. Why is +Bottom picked out for this favor? The 'ass-head' as a symbolic piece +of stage furniture. Show how this transformation makes the mismating +of Titania with Bottom more gross and obvious to the audience; also +how this is the next direct effect of Oberon's revenge. + +Notice that scene ii. takes up the cross-effect already worked upon +Lysander by Puck's mistake, instead of on Demetrius, as Oberon +intended, and sets forth its further effects upon Helena and Hermia. +The dialogues between the two pairs of lovers now overheard by Oberon +makes the error clear, and so enables him to take the first step in +clearing up the tangle. Meantime, the poet and his audience agree with +Puck that they are so far 'glad it so did sort, As this their +jangling' is esteemed 'a sport.' + +POINTS 1. Explain 'It shall be written in eight and sixe,' III. i. +23-4. 2. The custom in Shakespeare's day as to the women's parts. +Would it have been as amusing to the audience then as it would be to +us when Quince says 'Robin Starveling, you play Thisbies mother'? 3. +Pyramus and Thisbe. This may have been derived from Ovid, or from +Chaucer's "Legend of Good Women," or C. Robinson's "Handful of +Pleasant Delights." (1504.) 4. Explain 'Two of the first like coats in +heraldry,' III. ii. 220. 5. Describe the personal appearance of the +heroines from the references made. + +QUERIES FOR DISCUSSION + +Is Puck or Bottom the presiding genius of this act? + +Does the jangling between the two women belittle them as heroines, and +is it, therefore, a blot upon the beauty of the play? + + +ACT IV + +HARMONIZING EFFECTS OF OBERON'S SPELL + +Trace throughout this act the smoothing-out process. + +Why does Oberon himself release Titania while Puck is made to minister +to the other victims of the charm? Is Oberon's explanation of the +Fairy Queen's sudden change of heart about the changeling quite +satisfactory, or does it simply appear so by a sort of artistic +sleight-of-hand characteristic of Shakespeare in small touches at the +close of a plot? + +Show how poetically suitable as a stage effect the entry of Theseus +and his huntsmen is,--shedding the first rays of morning on the +night-enchanted lovers. + +Why is Bottom made to waken last? Perhaps because he helps to denote +the prose of broad daylight. Show what relation scene ii. has to the +completion of the smoothing-out process. + +POINTS. 1. 'I was with Hercules and Cadmus once,' IV. i. 126. What +relation had Hippolyta to these Greek heroes? 2. Account of May-day +rites. 3. Traditions of St. Valentine. 4. Rites of Midsummer Eve. + +QUERIES FOR DISCUSSION + +Why is the choice of Hermia's father for her no longer supported by +the Duke? Does this imply a criticism on the inconsistency of allowing +men their choice, and their brides none, with which Shakespeare was in +sympathy, or is this only apparent to some modern minds? + + +ACT V + +THE THREEFOLD MASK + +If the central action of the play be considered as virtually concluded +with the fourth Act, what office is performed by the fifth Act? + +Notice that in it the three groups of characters constituting the +play--the court group with the lovers; the 'rude mechanicals' and +their 'tedious brief scene,' and the fairy train--are in this Act all +brought upon the stage, the whole spectacle being set in the palace at +Athens, in celebration of the wedding festivities of the ducal pair, +which, as before noticed, is used as a sort of decorative frame for +the play as a whole. + +Examine the working-out of this unified presentation of all the +personages. How are we to account for the silence of the women who +were made to do so much towards the institution of the action? Show +the poetic reasons for the entrance of Puck and the fairies last of +all, and when the stage is empty. + +POINTS. 1. Explanation of all mythical allusions. 2. Account of +theories as to meaning of 'The thrice three muses,' etc., V. i. 59. 3. +What is a 'Bergomask dance'? 4. The date and occasion of the play: +This play appears in Meres's list of 1598 and in the Quartos of 1600. +Titania's description of the unseasonable weather (II. i. 92, foll.) +may refer to the year 1594. Note that Chaucer in the 'Knight's Tale' +speaks of the tempest at Hippolyta's home-coming. Many critics have +believed that the play was written on the occasion of some marriage in +high life, but they do not agree as to whose it was. + +QUERIES FOR DISCUSSION + +Upon what does the interest of the last Act centre? How does the +ending suit the various threads of the Play? + +Is Theseus or Hippolyta the wiser critic of 'the story of the night'; +and which of them is the wiser critic of the play of Pyramus and +Thisbe? + +SOURCES OF THE PLAY + +1. WHERE SHAKESPEARE FOUND SUGGESTIONS FOR HIS MORTALS + +In Plutarch's 'Life of Theseus' will be found passages which furnished +Shakespeare with some points for his drama. Chaucer's 'Knight's Tale' +is also said to have given him material. The editor of the "First +Folio Edition" suggests in the introduction that a reading by +Shakespeare of a poem in his day supposed to be Chaucer's, 'The Flower +and the Leaf,' gave him an important hint for his plot. Examine for +yourself, and state what indebtedness you find in any of these +sources. In I. i. 20, Theseus says to Hippolyta, 'I woo'd thee with my +sword.' Compare this with the account given in Chaucer. According to +another version of the story Hercules gave Hippolyta to his kinsman +Theseus in marriage. Compare 'The Two Noble Kinsmen' and the 'Knight's +Tale' with Shakespeare's 'Dreame.' + + +2. WHERE SHAKESPEARE FOUND SUGGESTIONS FOR HIS FAIRIES + +The models in literature from which Shakespeare drew may have been +'Huon of Bordeaux,' where he got little, however, but the name Oberon. +The name Titania may have been derived from Ovid's 'Metamorphoses.' +The Fairy Queen in Shakespeare's day usually went by the name of Queen +Mab. Puck's characteristics seem to have been derived from the little +tract of 'Robin Goodfellow, His Mad Pranks and Merry Jests.' Rolfe, in +the notes to his edition of the play, says that White argues that this +was probably written after "A Midsommer Nights Dreame." Ward thinks +that the entire machinery of Oberon and his court may have been +derived from Greene's 'Scottish History of James IV,' and that Titania +may have been suggested by Chaucer's 'Wife of Bath's Tale.' He +probably owed his fairies in great measure to tradition or folk-lore. +The folk-lore of England was originally made up of Teutonic elements, +which have been modified by Danish and Norman invasions, by remnants +of old Keltic belief, and by the introduction of Christianity, which +last degraded the good fairies into mischievous elves. (See Hazlitt, +'Fairy Mythology of Shakespeare,' Halliwell's 'Illustrations of the +Fairy Mythology of Midsummer Night's Dream,' also _Poet-Lore_, April, +1891, 'Fairy-lore in Midsummer Night's Dream.') + +3. SOLAR ORIGIN OF THE FAIRIES + +According to some authorities the Teutonic mythology was of cosmic +origin. In the fairies may be seen many reflections of cosmic +characteristics. Oberon and Titania are fairies of the night, and the +old battle between light and darkness shows itself in the mad pranks +which they play on unsuspecting mortals. But as the daylight comes +they are obliged to flee. Puck reflects the characteristics of a wind +god. (See Cox, 'Myths of the Aryan Nations;' also Korner, 'Solar Myths +in Midsummer Night's Dream,' _Poet-Lore_, Jan., 1891). Compare his +character with that of Hermes in the Homeric Hymn to Hermes (Shelley's +Translation). + +SYMPOSIUM OF OPINION ON THE CHARACTERS + +1. THE LOVERS + +QUERIES FOR DISCUSSION + +1. Hermia and Helena are hardly worth considering, but if anything +Helena is to be preferred to Hermia because she is so humble, and +shows no sign of jealousy of Hermia. 2. If Hermia had been more +dignified when she found that both the lovers had turned their +attention to Helena, she would better have carried out the promise of +her character in the first Act when she declared she would rather die +than wed the man chosen by her father. + + +2. HIPPOLYTA AND THESEUS + +QUERIES FOR DISCUSSION + +1. The only indication we have of the character of Hippolyta is in the +last act, where she is so bored by the play of 'Pyramus and Thisbe.' +Does this show stupidity on her part or exceptional development? 2. Do +you agree with Dowden that there is no figure in the early drama of +Shakespeare so magnificent as Theseus? His insistence in Act I. that +Hermia should obey her father against her own inclinations is +certainly not very praiseworthy, but might be excused on the score of +the times in which he lived. 3. His complaisance toward Quince and his +companions has been considered an indication that he was a most +perfect gentleman; does he not rather conceitedly patronize them? + +3. THE FAIRIES + +QUERIES FOR DISCUSSION + +1. Have the Fairies any idea of morality? 2. Oberon was perfectly +justified in wishing to get the changeling from his wife, and shows +himself worthy of becoming a mortal for insisting on his rights as a +husband. 3. Titania is the most developed woman character in the play, +because she insists on her individual right to the changeling. 4. Is +Puck a more developed fairy than Ariel in 'The Tempest'? + +4. THE PLAYERS + +QUERIES FOR DISCUSSION + +1. Is Shakespeare making fun of the stupidity of Quince and his +companions, or is he gently satirizing the stage and the exaggerated +style of writing for the stage which prevailed at this time? 2. If the +last is true, is not Shakespeare in the last act making fun of the +audience, as well as of the players, who with a superior air pass +judgment upon the play and indulge in very lame wit, while the real +meaning of it quite escapes them. + +SYMPOSIUM OF OPINION ON FAVORITE PASSAGES + +Every member of the class or club should bring in a short paper giving +his favorite passage in the play and why he likes it, including his +criticism of the metre, of the metaphors and similes, and the thought +contained. + +QUERIES FOR DISCUSSION + +1. Which characters in the play are original with Shakespeare? 2. What +is to be thought of Shakespeare for bringing together in one play +Greek mythology, English folk-lore, and English workmen of his own +age? Does this commixture of elements make the Play seem unnatural or +incongruous? Has he skilfully harmonised these diverse elements by +giving the Play its dream-like character? 3. That this play is +charming cannot be disputed. Is its chief charm its humor, its fancy, +its dramatic construction, or subtle developments of character? + + + + +THE MERCHANT OF VENICE + + +Sufficiently indirect use of contemporary political events in a Play +was a cause of popularity without seeming dangerous to the State. + +As "Love's Labour's Lost" is an early example of a plot woven out of +masked allusions to current topics, so even as definitely plotted a +comedy as "The Merchant of Venice" here and there worked in an +animating shred of contemporary reference. + +After Dr. Roderigo Lopez, the Queen's physician, was accused by Don +Antonio of Portugal, and executed June 7, 1594, on the charge of being +bribed by the King of Spain to poison Queen Elizabeth, the story of a +Shylock's defeat and the rescue from his clutches of an Anthonio had +just enough relevance to be popular without definiteness enough to be +obtrusive. + + +ACT I + +SHYLOCK'S "MERRIE BOND" + +Why is Anthonio sad? Is it presentiment? Is it, despite his unselfish +willingness to furnish forth Bassanio to sue at Belmont for Portia, +some sense of loss in friendship through this love? Anthonio and +Bassanio may be considered as examples of that devoted friendship +illustrated by Valentine's feelings towards Protheus in "The Two +Gentlemen of Verona." + +The group of young and gay courtiers circling about the two friends +bring them into brighter relief. + +Unlike Protheus, though perhaps younger and less wrapped up in the +sense of friendship than Anthonio is, Bassanio is worthy of such +regard. Do the "faire speechless messages" he has received from +Portia's eyes and his praise of her as "nothing undervalued to +Brutus's Portia" tell the cause of his quest better than what is said +of her wealth? Notice that even what he says of that is as a mere +grace of her person: "her sunny locks Hang on her temples," etc. (I. +i. 177-181). + +What reasons had Shylock for hating Anthonio? + +Does Anthonio's demand that he lend the money to him as an enemy +justify the terms of the bond? + +Is Bassanio right in distrusting, and wrong in accepting such a bond? + +The long pedigree of Jewish and Christian antipathy and its +illustration in this bond by the characters that are its exemplars. + +What is to be gathered of Portia in this Act before she meets again +with Bassanio? + +QUERIES FOR DISCUSSION + +Are Anthonio and Shylock more individual than typical? + +Does the Act close with assurance of good luck or foreboding of bad? + +Is Bassanio a fortune hunter? + +Is he to blame for what follows? + + +ACT II + +PORTIA'S CASKETS + +Why is Jessica's story intertwined with Portia's? What dramatic +purposes does it serve? Are Jessica and Launce alike justified in +leaving Shylock? Why? (See Introduction to the Play in First Folio +Edition for suggestion). Is the Jew's lament for his daughter although +piteous, inadequate. + +Is the choice of the gold and the silver by the Moor and Spaniard +significant of their natures? + +What reason is there to find in the symbolism and the persuasion to +choice each suitor employs that Portia's father has used the wisdom of +a seer in prescribing the choice from the three caskets? + +QUERIES FOR DISCUSSION + +Do you like Jessica? Why? In what ways are Portia and Jessica alike in +the generousness of love though opposite in circumstances? + +Is Jessica's elopement to blame for her father's joy in the wreckage +of Anthonio's ships and his final exaction of the bond? Was it +introduced in the Plot for this purpose? + + +ACT III + +BASSANIO'S LUCK AND ANTHONIO'S LOSS + +Shakespeare's creed of love as engendered in the eyes may be +illustrated by passages in many other plays as well as this. What is +meant by it? + +Is Bassanio's daring in venturing so much for his chance with Portia +itself a sign of his fitness, or the reverse? How is his casket +significant of this test-stone--i.e., adventurousness? + +Is the match of Nerissa and Gratiano an irrelevance to Portia's and +Bassanio's courtship or an enhancement of their happiness? Show how +the two points of climax in event and feeling balance absolutely but +do not sacrifice each other? Are Shakespeare's experiments in bold +juxtaposition of extreme fortune and happiness and utterly +irretrievable devastation anywhere so poignant as the arrival of +Anthonio's letter at the betrothal of Bassanio and Portia? + +QUERIES FOR DISCUSSION + +Is the secret of Bassanio's adventurousness the supreme honor in which +he holds love? Nothing else being of so much consequence, he yields +everything to love. Does Jessica, also? + +The "manners" of Portia, according to Gildon, "are not always +agreeable or convenient to her Sex and Quality; particularly where she +scarce preserves her modesty in the expression." What is to be thought +of this? + +Is Anthonio's letter characteristic of his nobleness as a friend, or +is it too insistent upon bringing Bassanio to him, since to send such +a letter was equivalent to fetching him? + +Is it Portia's best warrant as a noble bride and wife that she +appreciates Anthonio's message and friendship? + + +ACT IV + +THE LUCK REDEEMS THE LOSS + +By means of Bassanio's luck in winning Portia's love and hand Shylock +is finally defeated of his malicious purpose. Portia considered as the +embodiment of Bassanio's luck and the instrument bringing Shylock to +confusion. + +Does it matter whether the law-point is disputable or not since the +traditional stories on which the Play is built up afford the +opportunity for its use? + +Does Shylock get Justice, since he had refused mercy? + +Illustrate the legal knowledge and studies of Italian women of the +Renaissance affording a parallel for Portia's sagacity and leadership. +(For hints see pp. 256-260 in "First Folio Edition.") + +QUERIES FOR DISCUSSION + +Do you think Shylock is wronged? + +Does Shylock so preponderate the Play as to destroy its balance, and +outweighing all other characters make them insignificant? + +Are Actors justified in acting the Play so as to dwarf the Love plot +and cut out Act V as needless? + +Is Portia the proper counterpart in consummate character creation to +Shylock? To whom does, if properly played, the ultimate interest of +the Play belong? + +Why does this position belong to no other character's part? + + +ACT V + +THE RINGS + +What is the business of Act V? + +How is it linked to the preceding Act? Since reunion and rejoicing are +not alone the business of the plot; since recognition and declaration +to the two husbands, and to Anthonio, especially, are needed, as well +as to the others, of the part played by the wives in solving the +difficulties of the plot, the Ring scenes constitute the due dramatic +conclusion of the Play. Note that the threat of quarrel over the +reluctant but requisite giving away of the rings in the preceding Act +makes a deceptively serious difficulty. It is happily to be solved as +a result of the wives' preceding action. This difficulty and this +solution at this final stage of the plot constitute a little character +play that is an epitome of the action. The whole is the more happily +and amusingly solved that the Audience is wise and the characters +still in the dark are really perplexed. + +Point out the value of the exchange of Rings as made clear in these +two ways, by bringing out the characters of Gratiano, Bassanio, and +especially of Anthonio as peace-maker; and by bringing out to them the +fact that to the wives' love and skill the victory over the +difficulties they suffered is due. + +Are the rings the sole test of this? + +What other news adds to the general denouement of all difficulties? + +Is the summing up of the Play a victory of love and intelligence over +hate and narrow-mindedness? + +Show how the rings symbolize this, and music and moonlight provide the +proper atmosphere for its operation. The appropriateness of the +moonlight for a calm out of strife, brought about by women, is matched +by the fitness of music and the reference to the harmony of the +spheres to suggest that earth-harmony to which Portia was presiding +Angel. + +QUERIES FOR DISCUSSION + +Is any incident of Act V without relevance to the plot? + +Is the Play the nobler or the weaker dramatically for the poetic and +symbolic influence shed upon it by Act V? + + + + +THE MERRY WIVES OF WINDSOR + + +If this Comedy was written, as tradition reports at the bidding of +Queen Elizabeth in order to show Falstaffe in love, it is interesting +to see that Shakespeare confines his love-making to mercenary motives, +and by causing him to make love to two at once renders him as a lover +merely a cheat. + +So keeping the word of promise to the ear, he obeys by breaking it to +the sense. To show Falstaffe as a lover amounts to showing him as no +lover at all. + +In this sense, the Play might be called a courteous satire upon the +Queen's request. + + +THE STORY OF ACT I + +FALSTAFFE IS FORCED TO "CONICATCH" + +How Falstaffe falls into trouble, turns away his followers and begins +a new enterprise: How do his followers take revenge? What light upon +this opening of the story do scenes i. and iii. show? + +What is the underplot as shown in scenes ii. and iv and a part of +scene i? + +Do they appear to have anything to do with each other? + +QUERIES FOR DISCUSSION + +Which of her suitors does Anne prefer? Which is to be preferred? + +Is the grievance of Shallow against Falstaffe a necessity of the plot +to show the fat knight in love, or an episode introduced out of +Shakespeare's grudge towards Sir Thomas Lucy? (See pp. 117-119, +138-141, etc., "First Folio Edition.") + + +THE STORY OF ACT II + +THE MERRY WIVES AND FORD LAY PLOTS + +In Act II a third under-intrigue that of Ford with Falstaffe is added +to the two before introduced. + +Show how the Merry Wives reveal their separate personalities in their +reception of the duplicate letters, and their plot to dupe Falstaffe. + +Contrast their two husbands as their natures and marital relations are +shown by their different manner of taking the information given them +by Nym and Pistol. Ford, considered as Shakespeare's first study of +jealousy. How does he compare with Leontes? + +How does Ford assist in the plot of the Play? + +What pertinence to Ford's jealousy is there in the allusion to Queen +Elizabeth's Sonnet? (II, ii, 199-200). + +The Sources of the Merry Wives' intrigue and what Shakespeare has done +with them. (See "Sources," First Folio Edition). How is the Duel scene +related to the underplot? + +What characters belong in common to plot and counterplot? + +QUERIES FOR DISCUSSION + +Does Falstaffe show any material differences in character as he +appears in this Play, in comparison with the way he appears in "Henry +IV?" + + +THE STORY OF ACT III + +THE DOUBLE DUPERY + +Contrast the feelings of Falstaffe before and after the Buckbasket +episode? + +In which scene is Ford the worst duped? + +Give an account of Dame Quickly's relations to the intrigues, and show +how her multitudinous offices as go-between interfere with each other +so that she is "slacke" in one of her errands. What is the effect of +her slackness on the contradictions in the time of the action. (See +Duration of the Action, in "First Folio Edition"). Are they only +seeming contradictions? The Sources of the Ford intrigue and what +Shakespeare has done with them. + +Anne and her father and mother as characterized in this act, with +relation to the suitors. + +QUERIES FOR DISCUSSION + +Is Anne the only character one can thoroughly sympathize with? + +Are the situations such as owe their fun largely to coincidence, like +those in the "Comedie of Errors," or to a teeming variousness in the +human naturalness of all the characters? + + +THE STORY OF ACT IV + +FORD'S ENLIGHTENMENT + +Why is the Old Woman of Brentford trick a climax upon that of the +Buckbasket? + +Falstaffe's wish that all the world might be cheated is true to the +method of the Play. Show in exemplification of this, how a fourth +intrigue grows out of the third, and is introduced as late as this +fourth Act. How is the joke of the Host against Dr. Caius and Sir Hugh +Evans avenged? Is this reference to the "three Cozen Jermans" that are +said to run away with the Host's horses, liklier to be an allusion +seriously made to a real event or to make use of it as an entirely +fictitious intrigue and practical joke in the Play? Is this mock +happening such as could be clear by the method of enacting it and one +entirely consonant with this Comedy as a farce-mosaic of laughable +tricks? (See pp. 120-121, 179-180, also Note on IV. iii. 6). Discuss +probabilities. The turn taken in the plot: Show how all combine +against Falstaffe; also the place of this intrigue in making material +for Act V. + +QUERIES FOR DISCUSSION + +Has the "Merry Wives" any serious or tragic moments such as belong +usually to Shakespeare's Comedies? + +Compare the jealousy of Ford with the jealousy of Adriana in the +"Comedie of Errors." Which exemplifies the riper treatment and why? + + +THE STORY OF ACT V + +THE DEFEAT OF MERCENARY LOVEMAKING + +Make clear the ins and outs of the Fairy trap, first for its actors, +then for the dupes? Can the apparent inconsistencies in the wearing of +green or white and the mention of "Quickly" for "Queene" be accounted +for on the supposition that everybody is deceived except Nan and +Fenton? (See Notes on V. v. 421, 205-209). + +The compliments to Queen Elizabeth in the Play: What are they and how +is their appropriateness to the Plot made good? + +Consider the "humors" of the Welsh and French speeches and episodes as +exploitations and developments of the similar humors of Fluellen and +the Frenchmen of "Henry V." + +The fairy scenes and effects of this Play compared with those of the +wedding night feast at the end of "A Midsommer Nights Dreame." + +What indications are there in the Falstaffe of "Henry IV." that he is +superficially affected by the Puritanism about him? Is he any more +deeply affected by it in the present Play? What is the difference in +his appearance in this Play with respect to Puritanic morals: Is he +more affected by them, at the last, when he is so grossly their +victim, or have they grown, and put him out of date in England except +as an atavism? + +Have Page and his Wife any loftier standpoint as to mercenary love +than Falstaffe himself? Is Fenton's speech (V. v. 225-235) the moral +of the last Act or is Ford's (237-238)? + +QUERIES FOR DISCUSSION + +Is the main design of the Play to "cure Ford of his unreasonable +jealousy," as Rowe says, or to dupe and reform Falstaffe? Is the total +aim sport to laugh over "by a Countrie fire?" Is it a Comedy of irony +turned against all mercenary motives in love? + + + + +AS YOU LIKE IT + +I + +THE DRAMATIC CONDUCT OF THE PLAY: THE WRESTLING MATCH + + +How much of the situation existing in the play comes out in Act I. i.? +And what action takes place? + +The strained relation existing between the brothers Orlando and Oliver +is revealed through Orlando's conversation with Adam and with his +brother Oliver. The situation at court is also revealed through the +conversation of Oliver with the wrestler Charles, and also the loving +relation existing between Celia and Rosalind; thus we are at once put +into the possession of three emotional or passional causes for +action--Oliver's hatred of his younger brother, the younger Duke's +hatred of his older brother, and the love of Celia for Rosalind. Of +these causes for action only one bears any fruit in this scene, +namely, Oliver arranges with the wrestler to kill Orlando. What are +the connections existing between sc. ii. and sc. i.? First there is a +picture of the loving relationship existing between Rosalind and Celia +(already mentioned by Oliver in sc. i.) which reveals very subtly +differences in their natures. The action set going by Oliver in sc. i. +is consummated in the wrestling match, but with a result different +from that hoped for by Oliver, thus leaving Oliver's hatred still +present as a cause of action. Out of the wrestling match what further +passional and emotional causes of action are set up? Duke Frederick's +hatred for Orlando is aroused because he learns he is the son of a man +he had considered his enemy, and action against him is the immediate +result. Orlando is warned by Le Beau that he is not safe at the court. +The Duke's hatred of his brother bears further fruit in its extension +to Rosalind. The meeting of Rosalind and Orlando brought about by the +wrestling match gives rise to a fresh emotional force in their budding +love for each other. In Sc. iii., the state of Rosalind's heart as to +Orlando, hinted at in sc. ii., is fully revealed; the Duke's hatred +takes shape in his sentence of banishment or death, giving rise to a +new direction for action, and the emotion of Celia's love for Rosalind +bears fruit in her determination to go with Rosalind into banishment. + + +II + +LIFE IN THE FOREST OF ARDEN + +In Act II. how are the elements of action, character delineation and +emotion intermingled? + +Sc. i. gives us a picture of the banished Duke and his followers in +the Forest of Arden, already prepared for in Act I., introduces us to +the personality of the Duke, and in the conversation with the lords +prepares us for coming delights in the personality of Jaques. It does +not advance the action, at all. In sc. ii., the result of Celia's act +in going with Rosalind is shown in the bad Duke's consternation, who +determines that they shall be found, thus starting another thread of +action to be developed later. Sc. iii. the passional cause of action +in Oliver's hatred of Orlando reaches a crisis; Orlando is obliged to +flee to save himself from death. Sc. iv. shows Celia and Rosalind +arrived at their journey's end in the Forest of Arden, and making +arrangements with a shepherd for a comfortable little house to +rusticate in; thus is closed the thread of action started by the Duke +in banishing Rosalind. In the conversation of their new companions, +Corin and Silvius, we learn of the love of Silvius for the scornful +Phebe, which is another emotional impulse to action, later blending +itself with the plot. In sc. v. we meet Jaques, already mentioned, and +get another glimpse of the pleasant company in the forest, but they +are still quite detached from the active elements of the play. Sc. vi. +shows us how far Orlando and Adam have gone in their flight, and sc. +vii. presents again the good Duke's court, develops further the +personality of Jaques, and prepares us, through his conversation about +the fool whom he had met in the forest, for the contact of one of the +threads of action with the element of inaction represented by this +good Duke's forest court, while in the sudden breaking in upon them of +Orlando it is brought into contact with another of the threads of +action. + + +III + +LOVE IN THE FOREST OF ARDEN + +At the opening of Act III. what results have been brought about by the +action so far? Everybody in the play except Oliver and the bad Duke +has arrived in the Forest of Arden. In sc. i. of Act III. the hatred +of the Duke is still active as a force, and Oliver through this means +is also sent off to finally bring up in the Forest of Arden. The +Duke's attitude as a motive force having worked itself out in its +relation to Orlando and Rosalind, the emotional cause of action in the +love of Rosalind and Orlando is free to develop, and the remainder of +Act III. is devoted chiefly to the presentation of the situation +between the lovers, which, owing to the disguise assumed by Rosalind, +gives rise to the charming inconsistencies attending the wooing of a +proxy Rosalind who is in reality Rosalind herself. Around these +central lovers, whose characters Shakespeare unfolds, revolve other +interesting personalities. Touchstone meets his fate in Audrey. Phebe +still scorns Corin and perversely falls in love with Ganymede. The +action is only advanced to the extent that Rosalind learns the state +of Orlando's mind while he still remains in ignorance as to hers. + + +IV + +HATRED BECOMES LOVE IN ARDEN + +Are there any fresh elements or developments in Act IV.? + +Sc. i. merely continues the love-making of Act III. Sc. ii. gives +another glimpse of the good Duke's court; in sc. iii. the love of +Phebe bears fruit in a letter to Ganymede, and Oliver finds his way to +the forest. The bad Duke's intentions toward Orlando in sending Oliver +after him are, however, frustrated by the sudden change of heart +against a bad Duke is a good Duke. Contrast their actions throughout +the play. Contrast also the two brothers, Orlando and Oliver. What are +the resemblances between the characters of Oliver and Duke +Frederick?--between Orlando and the banished Duke? Is Orlando's +rebellion against his brother's injustice or the banished Duke's +acceptance of _his_ brother's injustice the more to be praised? +Compare his attitude with that of Prospero under similar +circumstances. Whose repentance is the more sincere, Oliver's or Duke +Frederick's? Note that Oliver has lost all when he repents, while the +Duke gives up everything just as he is about to realize his aim. Is +the repentance of the usurping Duke merely a _ruse_ of Shakespeare's +to bring the play to a happy ending? In Lodge's story he does not +repent, but is proceeded against by his brother. Contrast Jaques and +Touchstone. Is Jaques's melancholy affected? What is the main +difference between Rosalind and Celia? Which is the more the friend of +the other? (For valuable suggestions on these points see 'Characters +in "As You Like It,"' _Poet-lore_, Vol. IV. pp. 31 and 81, Jan. and +Feb., 1892.) + +QUERIES FOR DISCUSSION + +Which is the better philosopher, Jaques or Touchstone, and which is +more closely related to the philosophy of the play? + +The characters of the two Dukes are not developed; they are merely +walking gentlemen, whose office it is to keep the play in motion. + +2. The Lovers of the Play. + +The Different Kinds of Love in 'As You Like It.' Examples of love at +first sight in Shakespeare. Note Orlando's surprise at the suddenness +of Oliver's and Celia's love. Was his own less sudden? Consider +Hymen's song and Jaques's remarks in the last scene as descriptive of +the various couples. Does the comic element of the play, as +represented by Touchstone, discredit sentiment in the play? Notice the +madrigal in Lodge's novel (given in _Poet-lore_, Vol. III., in the +article on Lodge, Dec, 1891), and consider whether Shakespeare has +borrowed anything from it in characterizing Rosalind's wooing? +Contrast Lodge's Montanus as a lover with Shakespeare's Silvius. Is +Montanus too much of a "tame snake" to be natural? Or does this +constancy in love make him a superior figure? Is it a sign of +Silvius's inferiority that love has its own way with him? Can love be +true that changes if it is unrequited? + +Are those actors right, do you think, who play Oliver as guessing who +Ganymede is when she swoons? Is Rosalind's conduct unwomanly? Is her +disguise unlikely? + +QUERIES FOR DISCUSSION + +It is best for the man to love the most; and therefore has Silvius and +Phebe's unequal love-match a better chance for happiness than +Rosalind's and Orlando's? + + +VII + +THE PASTORAL ELOPMENT + +The Rise of Pastoral Poetry, and Shakespeare's Use of it in 'As You +Like It.' + +Compare Spenser's 'Shepherd's Calendar,' Fletcher's 'Faithful +Shepherdess,' etc. Point out any differences you find between +Shakespeare's and Spenser's pastoral poetry. Modern literary use of +the pastoral element, Wordsworth's 'Michael.' Is the pastoral life of +literature always artificial? Can a progress toward realism be shown? +The humor of the play. Discuss in particular the humorous comments on +contrasts between court and country life. Compare modern instances of +the refinements and artifices of city life and the crudeness of work +and pleasure in the country. + +_Special Points_.--1. The Forest of Arden: Is it in England, France, +or Shakespeare's imagination? 2. "Old Robin Hood of England." What are +the legends concerning him? 3. The archaic words in the play. (See +Prof. Sinclair Korner's 'Shakespeare's Inheritance from the Fourteenth +Century,' in _Poet-lore_, Vol. II., p. 410, Aug., 1890.) + +QUERY FOR DISCUSSION + +Is the opposition shown in the play between life at court and in the +country truly shown to be to the advantage of the country. + + +VIII + +THE MORAL ELEMENT + +The moral side of the Play consists, according to the Introduction in +the First Folio Edition, in its persuasion toward an Arden of the +disposition, or a spirit of happy good will toward all men. How far +does this cover the lesson of the Play? + +What is to be thought of the idea in the 'Ethics of "As You Like It"' +(_Poet-lore_, Vol. III., p. 498, Oct., 1891), that Touchstone's +opinion of a shepherd's life (III. ii.) is the key-note of the play? +Are the references to fortune in the play significant? Dr. F.J. +Furnivall says: "What we most prize is misfortune borne with cheery +mind, the sun of man's spirit shining through and dispersing the +clouds which try to shade it. This is the spirit of the play." Of this +Dr. Ingleby says: "The moral of the play is much more concrete than +this. It is not how to bear misfortune with a cheery mind, but _how to +read_ the lessons in the vicissitudes of physical nature." C.A. +Wurtzburg says: "The deep truths that may be gathered from the play +are the innate dignity of the human spirit, before which every +conventionality of birth, rank, education, even of natural ties, must +give way." Give arguments drawn from the play in favor of or against +all of these suggestions. Is it an evidence of Shakespeare's intention +to be a moral teacher that he altered the fate of Duke Frederick? + +QUERY FOR DISCUSSION + +Has the play any moral that is not gently satirized in it? + + +IX + +THE SOURCE OF THE PLOT + +Shakespeare's Variations from Lodge. + +Compare Lodge's 'Rosalind' with 'As You Like It.' + +(For this story, see "Shakespeare's Library" or Extracts in Notes and +Comment in Sources in "First Folio Edition"). + +Is the story better without the parts Shakespeare leaves out (_e. g._, +Adam's proposal to Rosader to cut his veins and suck the blood; his +nose-bleed; the incident of the robbers accounting for Aliena's sudden +love, etc.)? Why is the "Green and gilded snake" added? Isn't the +"lioness" enough? Is Rosader or Orlando the finer character, and why? +The new characters introduced--Audrey and William--considered as +embodying real instead of ideal pastoral life. Do Shakespeare's +changes affect the plot, the characters, or the moral of the story? +(For an examination of the plot of the play, see 'An Inductive Study +of "As You Like It,"' in _Poet-lore_, Vol. III., p. 341.) + +A Sketch of Lodge's Life and Work. (See 'An Elizabethan Lyrist: Thomas +Lodge,' in _Poet-lore_, Vol. III., p. 593, Dec, 1891.) + +QUERY FOR DISCUSSION + +Is Shakespeare's framing of the plot of 'As You Like It' not to be +admired, because it is borrowed? + + +X + +THE MUSIC OF THE PLAY + +This may consist of a brief paper on the subject illustrated by a +program of the songs with the old and more modern settings. (See New +Shakespeare Society's Papers, on this subject; 'Shakespeare and +Music,' by E.W. Naylor.) + + + + +TWELFE NIGHT + + +The winsomeness of this poetic comedy rightly makes the reader or the +hearer hesitate to count its petals or scrutinize the stages of its +growth, which are marked by its acts as symmetrically as leaf buds are +ranged about a stalk. And yet, one may find that to take note of such +beautiful orderliness in the delicate structure and sprightly +blossoming of the poet's design enhances the appreciation of its +artistic quality. Regarding it first as a whole, sum up the stages of +the action, first; then the caprices its allusions denote; then the +characters; and finally the poetic fancy and wit exhaled by the whole +play like a fragrance. + + +I + +THE STORY OF THE PLAY + +Act I. scene i. puts us in possession of what facts concerning the +Duke and Olivia? What do we learn from the conversation of Viola and +the Captain in scene ii., and what course does Viola decide upon? What +do we discover from scene iii. in regard to the state of things in +Olivia's household? In scene iv., what relation has been established +between the Duke and Viola? What three new characters are introduced +in scene v., and what is the event of the scene? Act II. scene i.: +What is learned of Sebastian and his intentions? In scene ii., what +are shown to be the feelings of Olivia? In what previous scene was +this prepared for? Does scene iii. advance the story at all? What is +it taken up with? Does scene iv. advance the story? Of what scene is +it almost a repetition? If it does not advance the action, what does +it do? Of what previous scene is scene v. the result? What previous +scene leads up to scene i. of Act III? and of what scene is it in +purpose a repetition? What new turn is given to affairs in scene ii., +and through whom is it brought about? Whose doings do we get a glimpse +of in scene iii? Of whose plot do we see further developments in scene +iv? What other issues in the progress of events come to a climax in +this Act? Act IV. scene i.: Describe the complication of affairs which +arises in this scene. What previous scenes do we see the result of in +scene ii? and what happens that will bring about a change in the +situation? What important event occurs in this scene iii? Act V. scene +i.: Describe how in this scene all the complications are unravelled, +and by what means all the characters are brought upon the stage. What +do you think of the device to call Malvolio upon the stage? Does it +not seem rather clumsy, or do you think it a further humorous touch +that Viola should have to depend on Malvolio to find her 'woman's +weeds again'? + +What becomes evident after tracing the events of the play through in +this way? That the interest of the play does not depend so much upon +the story itself, as, first, upon the amusing situations resultant +from the story, and, second, upon the scenes which introduce the +characters in Olivia's household who are really not at all concerned +in the development of the plot, but who are the occasion of many added +amusing situations. + +What constitutes the real interest of the two short scenes between +Sebastian and Antonio? Their bearing, mainly, on scene iv. of Act III. +By means of them we are shown that Antonio has an enemy in Orsino, and +thus his arrest is prepared for, also how Antonio gives his purse to +Sebastian, the real purpose of the arrest being to bring about a +reason for Antonio's requiring his purse again from Cesario, whom he +takes for Sebastian, and so to add complication to the situation +arising from the resemblance between the brother and sister. + +What are the situations which the story gives Shakespeare a chance to +develop? On the one hand, is the Duke pouring out his love for another +woman to his supposed page, who is in love with him, and thus giving +rise to the series of scenes between the Duke and Viola. On the other +hand, is the supposed page pressing his master's suit to a woman who +loves the supposed page, and thus giving rise to the series of scenes +between Viola and Olivia. Out of this love of Olivia for Viola grows +the absurd situation of Viola's being obliged to fight a duel, which +is made still more ridiculous through the circumstance of her +challenger being a fool. Out of Viola's resemblance to her brother and +her disguise grows the absurd situation of Olivia's claiming her as a +husband, and that of Sir Andrew taking for his unwilling duellist the +all-too-willing Sebastian. + +To these situations which naturally result from the story, Shakespeare +has added in Olivia's household a set of characters whose personality +is such that amusing situations are multiplied. Thus we may say that +the play is one of situation rather than of action, since whatever of +action there is in it leads to situation, and whatever of character +there is in it leads also to situation. + +QUERIES FOR DISCUSSION + +1. If attention is constantly given to creating humorous situations, +will character-development necessarily suffer? 2. Do you agree with +the Shakespearian critic Verplanck that this play bears no indication +either of an original groundwork of incident, afterwards enriched by +the additions of a fuller mind, or of thoughts, situations, and +characters accidentally suggested, or growing unexpectedly out of the +story, as the author proceeded? + + +II + +THE WHIMSICAL AND OTHER ALLUSIONS IN THE PLAY + +Pick out and explain the curious allusions in the play, noticing that +these may be classed as geographical, mythological, astrological, or +referable to persons or customs of the time, or books of the day. For +examples of the latter class, note Sir Toby's 'diluculo surgere' (II. +iii.), for 'Saluberrimum est dilucolu surgere,' an adage from Lilly's +Grammar, doubtless one of Shakespeare's text-books at the Edward VI. +School in Stratford; and Viola's 'Some Mollification for your giant +sweet lady' (I. v.),--an allusion to the innumerable romances whose +fair ladies are guarded by giants; for Maria, being very small, Viola +ironically calls her giant, and asks Olivia to pacify her because she +has opposed her message. (For Shakespeare's education and +school-books, see Bayne's remarks on this subject in Brit. Encyc. art. +Shakespeare.) The whole incident of the 'possession' of Malvolio, and +the visit of Sir Topas, probably alludes to a tract published in 1599 +by Dr. Harsnett,--'A Discovery of the Fraudulent Practices of John +Darrel,'--in which is narrated how the Starkeys' children were +possessed by a demon, and how the Puritan minister, Mr. Darrel, was +concerned in it. For examples of allusions to contemporary customs, +see Sir Toby's mention of dances no longer known,--'Galliard,' +'Coranto,' etc. As an example of allusions to persons of that time, +Sir Toby's reference to 'Mistress Mall's picture,'--Mary Frith, born +in 1584, died in 1659, a notorious woman who used to go about in man's +clothing and was the target for much abuse. Astrological allusions: +'Were we not born under Taurus?' 'That's sides and hearts,' which +refers to the medical astrology still preserved in patent-medicine +almanacs, where the figure of a man has his various parts named by the +signs of the Zodiac. 'Diana's lip' (I. iv.), ('Arion on the Dolphin's +back' I. ii.), are examples of mythological allusions. Of the +geographical allusions there are two kinds, the real and the +sportive,--Illyria, an example of the one, the 'Vapians' and the +'Equinoctial of Queubus,' of the other. Go on through the play +classifying and commenting on the allusions. What was a 'catch'? Give +an example. + +QUERIES FOR DISCUSSION + +Are the odd allusions in the play a result of the corrupt text, +ignorance, ridicule of learning? Or are they introduced to give a +lively and contemporaneous effect? + + +III + +THE DUKE AND SEBASTIAN + +How does the play set off these two lovers against each other? Which +has the more constant nature? Note the evidences of the Duke's +restlessness and changeableness; how soon he tires of the music he +calls for, of the clown's song (II. iv.). Is his first speech to +Viola, on woman's constancy before the song, consistent with his +second, after it? Is his own report of himself true,--'Unstaid and +skittish in all motions else Save in the constant image of the one +beloved'? Is Olivia's unattainableness the main source of her +desirableness for him? How is it with Sebastian? Does his loyalty in +love seem to be of the sort that suffers impairment when he can win +love easily? The Duke craves excess in music in order that his +'appetite may sicken and so die;' Sebastian wishes 'to steep his soul +in Lethe.' Do you think Sebastian and Viola alike in more than +appearance? Which is the quicker-witted? Is the Duke's amicable +acceptance of the inevitable and transference of his love to Viola in +keeping with his character? Do you think Viola shows promise of +special facility for preventing the moody Duke from tiring of her? +Note that he calls her his 'fancy's queen.' + +QUERY FOR DISCUSSION + +Is the Duke important chiefly as the inspirer of Viola's devoted love? + + +IV + +VIOLA AND OLIVIA + +In what respects are the situations of Viola and Olivia alike? When +the play opens, both are mourning the loss of a brother, and while +this is made to point out the individuality of Olivia, after the first +few lines we hear little more of Viola's grief. Can you suggest any +reason for this? Does Viola's love for the Duke absorb her any more +than Olivia's love absorbs her when she comes to feel the same? Viola +and Olivia are also alike in giving their love without solicitation; +but Olivia woos directly, Viola, in disguise, implies her love, and +though her innuendoes are all understood by the audience, they are +unappreciated by the Duke. What justification can be made for the +unblushing love-making of Olivia? It could be justified by her rank, +which was so much higher than that of the supposed page that advances +should come from her. What signs are there that Viola's love was +superior to Olivia's? Olivia's seems to have been founded on external +liking, else she would not have been as satisfied with Sebastian as +with Cesario; while Viola's, though it may have had no deeper +foundation, was signalized by unselfishness, for she used every +eloquent art of which she was capable to urge her master's suit. +Notice in the first scene between Viola and the Duke how she tries to +get out of going to Olivia, doubting her own ability, etc. Do you +think she really doubted it, or that it was difficult for her on +account of her own love for the Duke? Notice in the scene with Olivia +her woman's anxiety to see her rival's face. What do you think +instigated her remark, 'Excellently done, if God did all.' Was it a +sudden touch of jealousy? It was clearly not the proper thing for an +ambassador pressing his master's suit to say. How is it with the rest +of the interview? Is her sarcastic tone judicious? Does it pique the +nonchalant Olivia? Does her eloquence later, when she is assured of +Olivia's obstinacy, reflect her own feelings for the Duke? What effect +does it have on Olivia? Is it well-calculated to arouse her interest? +In Act II. scene iv., which do you think had the right conception of +woman's love,--the Duke or Cesario? What do you think of Olivia's +saying that 'Love sought is good, but given unsought is better'? Which +of the two characters show the more humor? Notice Viola's readiness in +parrying questions that trench upon her sex. Olivia, on the other +hand, can hold her own in a bout of wit with the fool, but she is +perhaps not so quick-witted as Viola. We can imagine Viola at once +seeing through Malvolio's attempt at pleasing Olivia, instead of +taking him for mad, as Olivia did. + +QUERY FOR DISCUSSION + +Which is the best lover, the Duke, Sebastian, Olivia, or Viola? + + + +V + +SIR TOBY AND MARIA, AND THEIR BUTTS OR DUPES + +Show how the droll situations of the play are mainly contrived by some +of the characters in order to make others their laughing-stocks. Who +are Sir Toby's butts? Is Sir Toby attached to Sir Andrew, or does he +only make use of him for profit as well as fun? (See Sir Toby's reply +to Fabian (III. iii.)). Other instances to the same effect? Why does +Maria join forces with Sir Toby? Is she in fact the leader of the +scheme, or is Fabian's story of its origin true? What part does the +fool play in the game, and why? Note his private grudge against +Malvolio. Is it a dramatic mistake that even the heroine is made the +butt of these merry-makers? Trace Fabian's part in the duelling plot +against Sir Andrew and Viola. Do these plots recoil in any way against +the plotters? Sir Toby and Sir Andrew both get some home-truths from +Malvolio while they are eavesdropping, while for Fabian and Maria +these thrusts of Malvolio's are just as good fun as that which the +knights enjoy better. How does some of the later fun recoil against +Toby and Sir Andrew? Are the Puritans made fun of in Malvolio's +person? + +QUERY FOR DISCUSSION + +Are the characters least scathed by the fun for that reason superior +to the others? + + +VI + +MINOR CHARACTERS + +The fun of the play is capped by the presence of a particularly clever +fool whose function of making every one the butt of his wit makes one +of the least important of the characters represent the special +drollery of the whole play. The only grudge he bears is against the +man who does not appreciate fun--who calls him a 'barren rascal.' +Describe the passages in which he particularly shines. Of the minor +characters the fool is minor only through his station and unimportance +in the plot; he really occupies much space in the play and in fact +pervades it. How is Antonio connected with the plot? What traits of +his does the play bring out? Is his fondness for Sebastian unnatural? +How is he concerned in the foolery of the play? Is he necessary to the +plot? As the fool represents the merry-making spirit of the play, so +Malvolio stands for the dupes of it. Does any one sympathize with him? +Who shows the clearest understanding of his faults? (I. v.). What +signs are there in the play of Malvolio's being a Puritan? Is there +any evidence against it? Is Maria right, for example, when she says, +'The Devil a Puritan he is or anything constantly but a time-server,' +etc.? That the character of Malvolio was generally taken on the stage +as a portrait of the Puritan, and that Shakespeare must have known it +would borrow some of its popularity from being so considered, seems +not to be denied; on the other hand, it may hardly seem to be proven +that Shakespeare thought he was drawing a genuine Puritan. Show +Malvolio's character, his connection with the other characters and +with the plot and the foolery of the play, and state the argument for +and against Shakespeare's meaning to make fun of him as a Puritan. + +QUERIES FOR DISCUSSION + +Is it a defect in the play that the fool, who has less to do with the +plot, is more important than Antonio, who has somewhat more to do with +it? Does it show that the main interest of the play is in comic +situation rather than in character or dramatic motive? + + +VII + +THE POETIC FIGURES IN THE PLAY + +Observe the various figures used throughout the play, as to whether +they are drawn from nature or from other sources; for example, the +first speech of the Duke bristles with metaphor. Note that he speaks +of music as the _food_ of love, and bids the musicians play on that +the _appetite_ may have a _surfeit_, images drawn from physical +nature; then that the music came o'er his ear _like_ the _sweet sound_ +that _breathes_ upon a bank of violets, _stealing_ and _giving_ odor. +We should expect here some continuation in the language of sound; but +the Duke continues as if he had said _wind_ instead of sound, and then +wind is personified, for it _breathes_ instead of _blows_ on the bank +of violets, and it steals their odor and gives it to him,--the music +is so sweet that it seems as if its sounds came laden with the scent +of violets to his ear. Here sound is personified at first as merely +breathing, then it takes on moral attributes and steals and gives. +Pick out and explain other figures in the same way. Which of the +characters use the most beautiful imagery? Are there any who use none +at all? + +QUERIES FOR DISCUSSION + +Is there any special fitness in the imagery used to the character +using it? Does the imagery used help you to form an opinion of the +characters? + + +VIII + +THE WIT OF THE PLAY + +What are the main causes of amusement in the play? The audience, +notice, is not kept in the dark one instant about any of the +characters. Thus one of the sources of amusement lies in the fact that +while the audience occupies somewhat the attitude of omnipotence, it +has the pleasure of observing the characters of the play living their +lives in the purblind way usual to mortals. Lessing said that a comedy +should make us laugh at vices, but the vices must be those of +characters who have good qualities also. Does 'Twelfe Night' answer to +this description? Analyze the causes why the fun of the play is funny. + +QUERIES FOR DISCUSSION + +Which of the characters cause amusement as the result of circumstances +over which they have no control? How do each of these cause amusement +unconsciously? Which of the characters cause amusement through a +conscious intention of making fun? + + + + +THE TEMPEST + + +Until a few years ago no one had succeeded in finding the Play or +Novel on which the European part of the plot of "The Tempest" was +founded. + +An early German Play, "The Fair Sidea" had been brought forward on +account of some resemblances to "The Tempest." Yet it is obviously not +its source but rather an imitation or variant indirectly drawn from a +similar foundation story. + +Edmund Dorer, a special student of Spanish Literature first called +attention (Jan. 31, 1885,) to the story more closely resembling "The +Tempest" than any other, as it occurs in a collection of tales by +Antonio de Eslava, called _Las Noches de Invierno_, or "Winter +Nights," published in Madrid in 1609. + +Like other such collections of stories, such as the Italian collection +of Bandello, and the French of Belleforest, used by Shakespeare, +Eslava's collection was translated, and, in default of the original +from one of the later editions, as translated into German in 1683 +(_Noches de Invierno Winternachte aus dem Spanischen in die Deutsche +sprach versetzet_) a summary of this story was given in English for +the first time as a satisfactory source of "The Tempest" in the "First +Folio Edition" of the Play (see pp. 85-93 and Introduction; also for +an extract and summary of "The Fair Sidea," pp. 94-95). + +What may be called the American half of the plot evidently owes +suggestions to pamphlet accounts of the storm and wreck and other +experiences met with by Sir Thomas Gates, Sir George Sommers and +others during their voyage of discovery to the Bermudas in 1610 (see +pp. 92, 99, and Notes pp. 114, 125-127, etc., for extracts.) + +Gonzalo's speech, too, follows pretty closely a passage in Florio's +Montaigue. (For this passage see Note on II. i. 153-160). + + +ACT I + +THE SCHEMES OF PROSPERO. + +The first scene shows the storm in progress. Is there any clew given +to the reader that it is a magic tempest? What is Prospero's main +object in having the ship's crew and passengers cast upon his island? +Is it to wreak vengeance on his enemies, to work the charm of love +between Ferdinand and Miranda, or by means of that to reinstate +himself? In what way would this love work to his advantage? Notice the +natural way in which the reader is put in possession of the necessary +information about the past of Prospero and Miranda. Warburton says of +this that it is the finest example he knows of retrospective narration +for the sake of informing the audience of the plot. How much of the +plot is permitted to come out in this act? Why does Prospero so +repeatedly urge Miranda's attention? Is she abstracted, is he, or is +she already beginning to be drowsy? Why was Ferdinand the first to +quit the ship? Since Prospero already knows, why does he ask Ariel +what time it is? + +POINTS. 1. Explain the nautical terms. 'Master's whistle.' In +Shakespeare's time naval commanders wore great whistles of gold. A +modern boatswain's badge is a silver whistle suspended to the neck by +a lanyard. Holt extols the excellence of Shakespeare's sea-terms, but +makes an exception of Gonzalo's 'cable,' which he says is of no use +unless the ship is at anchor, and here it is plainly sailing; to which +Furness replies, Shakespeare anchors Gonzalo's hopes on the +boatswain's 'gallows complexion,' and the cable of that anchor was the +hangman's rope. 2. 'Washing of ten tides.' An allusion to the custom +of hanging pirates at low-water mark. (See Notes I. i. 67 First Folio +Edition). 3. Compare this storm with that in 'Pericles,'--'Do not +assist the storm,' etc., with 'Per.' III. i. 51-60. 4. Explain 'To +trash for over-topping,' I. ii. 98, which is a blending of two +metaphors. Trash refers to the habit of hanging a weight round the +neck of the fleetest of a pack of hounds, to keep him from getting +ahead of the rest; and 'overtopping' to trees shooting up above the +others in a grove, which have to be lopped to keep them even. 5. What +does Prospero mean by saying, 'Now I arise'? Simply, now I get up, and +now my fortunes change? 6. 'Still vex'd Bermoothes.' Bermudas, spelled +in several ways in Shakespeare's time, and called 'still vex'd,' from +accounts of tempests prevailing there. 7. 'Argier.' The name of +Algiers till after the Restoration. 8. 'One thing she did.' What? Are +we anywhere told what? + +QUERIES FOR DISCUSSION + +Does the long monologue of Prospero in this act detract from its +dramatic force? Did the arrangement of Shakespeare's stage make this +convenient. (See description of the threefold stage of the Globe +Theatre in "Anthonie and Cleopatra," pp. 172-173). Is the monologue +rightly disused in modern plays? Why? Compare Ibsen's plays in this +respect. + + +ACT II + +THE COUNTERPLOT + +Tell the story of Act II, showing how its main event is the conspiracy +of Antonio and Sebastian against Alonzo and Gonzalo. Is the issue left +undecided long, so that it threatens the result? How and why does +Ariel prevent the success of it? Might it not have been to Prospero's +advantage to have the King killed, since Ferdinand would then succeed +to the throne of Naples? Did Ariel's intervention kill the plot? What +light is thrown on the characters by scene i. of this act? Do you +think it is intended to be shown that Gonzalo is prosy and tiresome, +although good, or only that the lower and more frivolous characters +find him so? Which is the likelier, that Shakespeare intended the +dialogue about Gonzalo's ideal commonwealth to be a satire upon it, or +favorable to Utopian schemes? Which comes out the better at last in +the wit-combat,--the quick Antonio and Sebastian, or the thoughtful +Gonzalo? Is Sebastian's solicitude about Claribel a sign of a kindlier +nature than Antonio's? Are there any indications that Antonio's mind +is more alert than Sebastian's? What purposes of the action or plot +are served by the introduction of Claribel? Is the King's grief as +great for the daughter as for the son? How does his paternal affection +compare with Prospero's? Compare Antonio's speech, suggesting the +murder to Sebastian, with similar speeches in Shakespeare (Macbeth's, +King John's, Oliver's in 'As You Like It,' Claudius' in 'Hamlet'). In +the second scene of this act, how far is a second counter-plot +foreshadowed? + +POINTS. 1. The jokes of Act II: their explanation (_i.e._, 'dollar' +and 'dolour,' the 'eye of green,' etc.). 2. When were watches first +used in Europe? 3. Tell the story of Æneas and Dido. 4. What myth is +alluded to in 'his word is more than the miraculous harp'? 5. +Gonzalo's Commonwealth--its origin from Montaigne. It is commonly +supposed that Shakespeare must have borrowed this reference from the +translation. He may have taken it directly from the French. 6. Show +the bearing of Sebastian's phrase, 'I am standing water,' with its +context. (That is, at the turn of the tide between ebb and full.) 7. +'The man i' the moon,' and the folk-lore about it. 8. Natural history +on the island. (_Poet-Lore_, April, 1894. Notes and News). + +QUERY FOR DISCUSSION + +Is it a defect in the action of the play that the danger arising from +the most important counter-plot is allayed so soon? + + +ACT III + +NEW PLOTS AGAINST PROSPERO + +What new turns are given events in Act III? Scene i continues +Ferdinand's love-making, and shows no hinddrances there to Prospero's +plans; but scene ii develops Caliban's plot, and scene iii shows +Sebastian and Antonio making ready to carry out the purpose which had +at first been defeated. Give an account of the scene in Act II which +leads up to this plot in connection with its sequel in this act. Ariel +is baffled in his attempts to breed contention between the +conspirators by Trinculo's good nature, but finally he leads them off +with his music. Scene iii represents Alonzo and his courtiers +bewildered and tired by their fruitless tramps through the island, and +in just the temper to be confused by the dumb-show and the harpies. +Note the dependence placed, throughout 'The Tempest,' on the effect of +'solemn and strange music.' Antonio's plot, being resumed, is blocked +by Ariel's magic show and his accusation. Note how the supernatural +quality of the scene makes his speech affect their consciences as if +they were themselves accusing themselves, and how it drives them into +mental disorder. Dr. Bucknill, a specialist in brain disease, who has +commented on Shakespeare's knowledge of such maladies, explains that +Alonzo's frenzy leads him by an imaginative melancholy to the idea of +suicide, while the madness of Antonio and Sebastian expresses itself +in the idea of desperate fight. + +POINTS. 1. What is a 'catch,' a 'tabor'? Give an account of the music +in the play, and show the fitness of its different effects on the +different characters. 2. Explain the allusions, 'unicorns,' 'one tree, +the Phoenix throne,' 'mountaineers,' with 'wallets of flesh,' etc. 3. +What is a harpy? Give an account of the mention of harpies in Virgil +(Æneid, Book III), and 'Paradise Regained' (Book II). What +appropriateness to the purpose in this 'quaint device'? + +QUERY FOR DISCUSSION + +Do the counter-plots introduced in this act mainly affect events or +character? + + +ACT IV + +THE CONFUSION OF THE PLOTTERS + +Show how the story of Act IV consists in the smoothing down of all +that disturbs Prospero's designs, and foreshadows the complete +reconciliation of the last act. The lovers, whose readiness to fall in +with Prospero's plan has made his task light so far as they are +concerned, could only imperil his and their future by a premature +union; and Ferdinand, having stood the test of hard work, is now +induced, by an awed and holy mood, produced by art, to keep his good +resolutions. Describe the mask, and show its meaning and fitness for +Prospero's purposes. Why is Prospero so disturbed at the reminder of +so paltry a plot as that of Caliban and his associates? Is it likely +that these drunken fellows could frame any plot that would be but as +gossamer before his art? Is it natural that so low a creature as +Caliban should show more intelligence than Stephano and Trinculo in +disregarding Ariel's 'stale' set to catch them? How do you explain his +superior caution? Describe the device employed by Prospero and Ariel +to rout these plotters. Would it be effective on an English stage? + +POINTS. 1. Explanation of classical allusions. 'Hymen's lamps,' +'Phoebus' steeds,' Ceres, Iris, Juno, etc.; 'dusky Dis,' 'Paphos,' +etc. 2. The botany of Act IV. What is 'stover,' 'furze,' gorse? 3. Was +Prospero's 'line' a lime-tree or a clothes-line? 4. Explanation of the +jokes of the act. 5. Natural history on the island again: the 'blind +mole,' 'barnacles,' 'apes,' 'pard,' etc. + +QUERY FOR DISCUSSION + +Why is the punishment devised for the lesser plotters corporal and for +the greater ones psychical? + + +ACT V + +PROSPERO'S TRIUMPH + +Sum up the results consummated by Prospero's magic. Note Gonzalo's +account of the play, and show the ethical results, and Ariel's part in +Prospero's course of reconciliation. Explain how, if Prospero had +regained his dukedom, and yet, if 'all of us,' as Gonzalo says, had +not _found ourselves_, the triumph would have been material, not +ethical. Show how this effect is enhanced by the plan to awaken dismay +and remorse in the minds of the evil-doers and how the climax in +Prospero's triumph is reached by the victory wrought in his own mind +when he determines to take part with his 'nobler reason 'gainst his +fury' in order to restore his enemies to themselves. What indications +are there in the play that Prospero was high-strung and spirited,--a +revenge-loving Italian? Trace the effects of remorse on each of the +ill-doers. Is there any reason to suppose that Antonio, Stephano, or +Trinculo are repentant? Is it out of character for Caliban to be? + +POINTS. 1. The 'Faerie' of the play. Compare with that of 'Midsummer +Night's Dream.' (See 'Fairy-lore of Midsummer Night's Dream,' _Poet +Lore_, Vol. III, p. 177, April, 1891.) Victor Hugo notes the contrast +as follows: '"Midsummer Night's Dream" depicts the action of the +invisible world on man; "The Tempest" symbolizes the action of man on +the invisible world.' (See also the 'Supernatural in Shakespeare's +"Midsummer Night's Dream."' in _Poet Lore_, Vol. V, p. 490, October, +1893; in Shakespeare's 'Tempest,' p. 557, November, 1893.) + +2. The duration of the play. Explain how it follows the 'unities'; and +in this connection show the probable equality of 'three glasses' to +three hours, and Shakespeare's mistake. (Shakespeare's use of nautical +terms, approved by all seamen, seems to be here at fault in supposing +a 'glass' equal to one, instead of to a half, hour.) + +3. The game of chess and its pertinence here: Because so wise a father +would have taught his daughter so intellectual a game; because Queen +Elizabeth was fond of it, and it was _par excellence_ a 'royal game'; +or because Naples was the source and center of the chess _furore_ at +just this time? + +4. Where is the scene of the 'Tempest' laid? Is the island real or +unreal? (The main conjectures for a known place are Hunter's that it +was Lampedusa, and Elze's that it was Pantelaria. Both argue that each +island was so situated in the Mediterranean, between Milan or its port +and Algiers, whence the sailors landed Sycorax, as to suit the +requirements. Elze further urges the name of a town on the opposite +African coast, Calibia, as suggesting Caliban's name. For an argument +that the island is vaguely placed in the Mediterranean to suit the Old +World plot and yet by many details made suggestive of the New World, +see Introduction to 'The Tempest' in First Folio Edition.) + +5. The influence of the New World on the writing of 'The Tempest,' and +all allusions traceable to it. (See Notes of same edition for extracts +from pamphlets on America, etc.) + +QUERIES FOR DISCUSSION + +What constitutes the interest in 'The Tempest,'--character, dramatic +situations, movements, plot, poetry, or moral purpose? + + +VI + +CHARACTER STUDIES + +I. PROSPERO AND HIS SERVANTS + +With the first word Shakespeare introduces Prospero as one who can +raise and calm such a tempest as scene i describes, and the magician +admits the power Miranda ascribes to him. Show from the story what his +plans and motives were likely to prove. Would a sense of his own +former neglect of duty be likely to embitter him against his brother +or make him excuse him? Does he show signs of either? Prospero's +magic, his garment, books, staff. How far is his magic in accord with +the popular notions of such art? (See 'Prospero and Magic,' _Poet +Lore_, Vol. III, p. 144, March, 1891.) + +Show Ariel's qualities. What caused his first impatience? Is Prospero +unnecessarily harsh and imperious with him? Aside from the popular +supposition that spirits or familiars obeying magicians were always +reluctant to serve longer than one hour (and, therefore, says Scot's +'Discovery of Witchcraft,' 'the magician must be careful to dismiss +him'), how can you explain this quarrel,--as a dramatic expedient +giving occasion for telling Ariel's story, or revealing the characters +of both Prospero and Ariel? Note, also, its further use in introducing +Prospero's second servant, Caliban, and his story. How do you explain +Ariel's irrelevant rejoinder: 'Yes, Caliban, her son'; and Prospero's +angry, 'Dull thing, I say so,' etc.? Do you think Moulton right in +supposing that Prospero governs 'this incarnation of caprice by +outcapricing him'; Rolfe, in supposing that Prospero is irritable +because under the strain and suspense of conducting affairs within +three hours perfectly, and upon which accuracy hangs his future and +the happiness of his daughter? This was also his only chance of +retrieving his own past error. + +Contrast Ariel with Caliban. Show the skill of Caliban's first +appearance as some slow-moving thing, half of water, half of earth, in +contrast with Ariel's second appearance as a nymph. What may be +learned of Caliban's traits from Miranda's speech (as in the Folio, +but by various editors given to Prospero): 'Abhorred slave,' etc.? Do +you think this speech should be given to Prospero? What signs are +there of Caliban's having a good mind? Do you think Prospero's tyranny +over Caliban altogether justified? Is Caliban's penitence consistent +with his nature? How far does Ariel proceed independently of Prospero? +Is he really fond of him? + +QUERIES FOR DISCUSSION + +Is there any bond of love between Prospero and his servants? Do the +relations between them illustrate the impossibility of gratitude? + +2. THE LOVERS + +Is the love of Ferdinand and Miranda an enchantment caused by +Prospero, or an emotion he can help, but not cause? If not caused by +him, does Shakespeare depart from magic to the detriment of the play? +Would it be better, for example, if a love philter was introduced for +consistency's sake? (For literary use of the love philter, see +Tennyson's 'Lucretius.') Does it reflect against Ferdinand's courage +that he was first to quit the ship? Are Miranda's speeches about her +grandmother (I, ii, 140) and to Caliban inconsistent with the maidenly +innocence assumed to be characteristic of her? Do you consider her +talk with Ferdinand (III, i) in character? Is she undutiful to her +father? Unmaidenly in her speedy declaration of love (III, i, 67, 89, +94-106, 110)? Should she be represented as ignorant or innocent of the +world, or as in love? Describe the characters and relations to each +other of the lovers from all that is given about them. Compare with +Florizel and Perdita in 'The Winter's Tale.' + +QUERIES FOR DISCUSSION + +Are Miranda and Ferdinand undeveloped characters whose relation to +each other is more important to the play than they themselves are? + +3. THE MINOR CHARACTERS + +Which is the most important of the lesser characters and why? Is +Gonzalo blamable at all under the circumstances for following the +command to turn Prospero and Miranda adrift? Why is Gonzalo of better +cheer than his companions? What do you think of his philosophy in +itself and as an index to his character? Is his knowledge superior to +that of his companions? Does he suspect the evil intent of Antonio and +Sebastian? Show how his frankness and loyalty came out in Act III, and +how his uprightness is rewarded in Act V. Do you think it significant +that he closes the play? Francisco considered as the least important +personage in the play: should his speech describing Ferdinand's +swimming be given to Gonzalo? The sailors considered as examples of +Shakespeare's skill in outline portraits. Are Stephano and Trinculo +more highly developed types than Caliban? Would the play be better if +they were left out? + +QUERIES FOR DISCUSSION + +Is Gonzalo more like Polonius in 'Hamlet' or Rent in 'Lear'? + + +VII + +A STUDY OF ARTISTIC DESIGN + +THE SYMBOLISM OF 'THE TEMPEST' + +Did Shakespeare typify himself as Prospero? Prospero (says Montégut) +alludes to his own age, and intimates that the time has come for +retirement to private life. What indications can you find that +Prospero images Shakespeare? If he is so interpreted, what parts may +Ariel and Caliban be supposed to play? Is the history of the Enchanted +Island and the transformation wrought a parallel with the history of +the Stage and the transformation Shakespeare wrought? According to +Montégut, Caliban stands for Marlowe, Ariel for the English Genius +which Shakespeare frees from its barbaric prison. Dowden ('Mind and +Art of Shakespeare') fancies Prospero as the great artist lacking at +first in practical faculty, cast out therefore from practical worldly +success; but bearing with him Art in her infancy, the child Miranda, +finds at last an enchanted country where his arts can work their +magic, subduing the grosser appetites and passions (Caliban), and +commanding the offices of the imaginative genius of poetry (Ariel). He +supposes Ferdinand to be Shakespeare's heir as a playwright +(Fletcher). Lowell ('Among my Books') considers that the characters do +not illustrate a class of persons, but belong to universal +nature,--Imagination embodied in Prospero; Fancy in Ariel; brute +understanding in Caliban, who, with his wits liquor-warmed, plots +against his natural lord, the higher reason; Miranda, abstract +Womanhood; Ferdinand, Youth, compelled to drudge till sacrifice of +will and self win him the ideal in Miranda. Browning makes an +incidentally interesting contribution to this subject by symbolizing +in Caliban rudimentary theologizing man, in his poem 'Caliban.' (See +_Poet Lore_, Vol. V, p. 562, November, 1893.) + +QUERIES FOR DISCUSSION + +Is 'The Tempest' an allegory? Is it in any sense an autobiographical +play? Does its symbolism have much in common with that of modern +symbolistic plays, such as Maeterlinck's 'Joyzelle,' for example? In +what respects may it be said, do you think, as Maeterlinck himself has +informed us, that 'Joyzelle' grew from 'The Tempest?' + + + + +THE WINTER'S TALE + +CONSIDERED IN CONNECTION WITH GREENE'S 'PANDOSTO' AND THE 'ALKESTIS' +OF EURIPIDES + + +I + +SHAKESPEARE'S INDEBTEDNESS TO GREENE + +The story of 'Pandosto' falls into two distinct divisions; first, the +story of Pandosto and Bellaria; second, the story of Dorastus and +Fawnia. Compare each of these two stories with the two stories +interwoven in the play, noting all the analogous passages and the use +Shakespeare has made of them. (For Greene's 'Pandosto' or 'History of +Dorastus and Fawnia' see 'Shakespeare's Library,' or pp. 118-125 and +Notes in First Folio Edition.) + +QUERIES FOR DISCUSSION + +Do Shakespeare's borrowed and additional archaisms and his confusion +of names and places show carelessness? Is his continuation of the +story merely a playwright's device to join the two parts of the plot +and make a good stage piece end happily? (As to Coast of Bohemia see +_Poet Lore_, April, 1894), also in "First Folio Edition," pp. 176-177. + + +II + +THE RESEMBLANCES TO THE 'ALKESTIS' OF EURIPIDES + +In Greene and in Shakespeare the King wishes the Queen's death because +he is uncomfortable so long as she lives, and he prefers his comfort +to aught else, taking it as his conjugal right and royal prerogative. +(See ii. 3, 1 and 204.) The Queen, understanding this, says, "My life +stands in the level of your dreams, which I'll lay down." To her she +says, "can life be no commodity" when love, "the crown and comfort of +her life," is gone. So Alkestis (see any translation of Euripides, in +Bohn edition, literal prose translation, vol. i. p. 223) says she "was +not willing to live bereft" of Admetos, therefore she did not spare +herself to die for him, "though possessing the gifts of bloomy youth +wherein" she "delighted." This point of correspondence may have +occurred to Shakespeare and suggested his continuation of Greene's +novel. Admetos' image of his wife, that he would have made by the +cunning hands of artists, is possibly a prototype of the statue of the +Queen in 'The Winter's Tale,' the piece "newly performed by that rare +Italian master, Julio Romano." Compare also, Herakles' trial of +Admetos with Paulina's trial of Leontes (v. i); and Herakles' +restoration of the unknown Alkestis to her husband with Paulina's +bringing the statue of the Queen to life. + +QUERIES FOR DISCUSSION + +Is Shakespeare's use of a striking incident from the 'Alkestis' too +close not to have been suggested by it? Does it show his intention to +portray in Hermione a new Alkestis? + + +III + +SHAKESPEARE'S ORIGINALITY IN WORKING OVER HIS MATERIAL + +Note Shakespeare's departures from Greene and their significance. Do +they serve two ends,--make the play more effective for stage +representation, make the characters stronger? Does he make Leontes +more attractive than Greene does in the first part of the play? Does +he make him worse or better than Pandosto in the second part? What is +the sole trace left in Shakespeare of the father's guilty passion for +his daughter? Garinter, in Greene, dies without any cause. See +Shakespeare's explanation of this, also his use of the news of +Mamillius' death to strike shame to the king's heart. Greene makes the +king relent as soon as he hears the oracle. Contrast Shakespeare's +conduct of the scene at this point. + +Notice the difference in his treatment of the character of the +cup-bearer. Does he make it his chief care to enhance the character of +the Queen? Note the new characters introduced,--Paulina, Antigonus, +Autolycus, the clown (in place of the wife in Greene). Conjecture any +reason for his different names. The introduction of Autolycus makes +the play more amusing on the stage, but is his part as well planned as +Capnio's for leading up to the _dénouement_? Greene lets his mariners +off alive after they set Fawnia afloat. Shakespeare wrecks his, and +makes a bear eat Antigonus, to what end? What does Shakespeare gain by +prolonging the life of Hermione? + +QUERY FOR DISCUSSION + +Does Shakespeare's remodelling of Greene's story show chiefly a higher +ideal than Greene's of womanhood and of love? + + +IV + +THE ALKESTIS STORIES IN LITERATURE + +The sacrifice of the Queen to ease her husband, and the final +restoration, being the two main points of contact with Euripides' +version of the story, compare with these the stories of Alkestis told +by William Morris in 'The Earthly Paradise,'--'June'; 'The Love of +Alcestis,' by Emma Lazarus, in 'Admetos,'--'Poems,' vol. i.; by Robert +Browning in 'Balustion's Adventure;' by Longfellow in 'The Golden +Legend.' See also articles in _Poet-lore_,--'The Alkestis of Euripides +and of Browning,' July, 1890; 'Old and New Ideals of Womanhood'; 'The +Iphigenia' and 'Alkestis Stories,' May, 1891; 'Longfellow's Golden +Legend and its Analogues,' February, 1892. In comparing, note first +general resemblances, then slighter points of resemblance and of +difference. + +QUERIES FOR DISCUSSION + +Is development in literature of the ideal of womanhood away from +self-sacrifice and toward self-development? + +Is woman's task for the future a reconciliation of them? + + + +V + +THE OUTCAST CHILD IN CULTURE-LORE AND FOLK-LORE + +A few of the outcast children in culture-lore are Krishna, Zeus, +Paris, Oedipus, King Arthur, Claribel's child in the 'Faerie Queene' +(canto xii.), etc. For the stories in folk-lore, see the English +_Folk-lore Journal_. For the solar theory of the origin of this story, +see Cox, 'Mythology of the Aryan Nations.' + +QUERIES FOR DISCUSSION + +Collier says that Shakespeare changed Greene's pretty description of +turning Fawnia adrift in a boat because he had used much the same +incident in "The Tempest." Does Shakespeare's new treatment of +Greene's "pretty incident" add dramatic force and moral purpose to the +play? + + +VI + +CHARACTER STUDIES + + +1. PAULINA; LEONTES; HERMIONE + +Note Paulina's likeness to Emilia in "Othello." Jealousy in +Shakespeare: Resemblances in Leontes to Posthumus ("Cymbeline") and to +Othello. "The jealousy of Leontes," says Dowden, "is not a detailed +dramatic study like the love and jealousy of Othello. It is a gross +madness, which mounts to the brain and turns his whole nature into +unreasoning passion." Is Hermione more highly developed than others of +Shakespeare's suspected wives,--Desdemona, Imogen? Likeness or +superiority to Alkestis, Compare with Queen Katharine in 'Henry VIII.' +Is she hard, having made her husband do penance for sixteen years? +"Deep and even quick feeling never renders Hermione incapable of an +admirable justice," writes Dowden, "nor deprives her of a true sense +of pity for him who so gravely wrongs both her and himself." + +2. THE YOUNG LOVERS + +Notice the high and pure character of their love as shown in the facts +that Florizel did not find it fitting to buy pedler's "knacks" for +Perdita,--a trait not in Greene. Her independent and uncringing nature +as shown in another little touch of Shakespeare (see IV. iv. 492-497). +Compare these two lovers with Ferdinand and Miranda in "The Tempest." + +3. THE ORIGINALITY OF SHAKESPEARE'S AUTOLYCUS + +For suggestions see _Poet-lore_, April, 1891. ('Notes and News.') +Compare the Hermes of the Homeric Hymn with the Autolycus and Sisyphos +of mythology, also the folk-lore tales of the master-thief (Cox). To +discuss the probable originality with Shakespeare of a conception +which is one of the universal inheritances of the Aryan race is +futile; the type existed, and Shakespeare's part was to make an +individual of the type. + +QUERIES FOR DISCUSSION + +Is Leontes' jealousy too gross and unfounded to be likely? + +Is Hermione, not hard, but slow to be satisfied, because her love is +noble? + +Is Mamillus not too precocious to be natural? + + +VII + +A STUDY OF THE CONSTRUCTION OF THE PLOT + +Has Shakespeare welded the two parts of the story together in such a +way as to unify the plot? Does Autolycus contribute anything to the +development of the plot? How does it compare with "Julius Cæsar" or +"Macbeth," for example, in the construction of the plot? Is the +movement more rapid in the last half of the play or in the first? Note +the expedient introduced by Shakespeare to bridge over the lapse of +time between the first part and the last part; compare with other +examples of the same sort in Shakespeare. + +QUERY FOR DISCUSSION + +Does the dramatic interest of 'The Winter's Tale' suffer because the +plot is of less importance than the incidents and characters. + + +VIII + +SHAKESPEARE'S WORKMANSHIP IN "THE WINTER'S TALE" + +The versification is that of Shakespeare's latest group of plays. +Dowden says, "No five-measure lines are rhymed and run on lines, and +double endings are numerous." Give examples of the construction of the +lines from "Love's Labour's Lost" as an earlier play, "Merchant of +Venice" as a riper play. It has been said that the difficulties of +style in the play are accounted for by the endeavor of the author to +reflect the changing moods of Leontes. Compare with Prospero's diction +and construction in "The Tempest." Give examples of these. + +QUERIES FOR DISCUSSION + +Does the lawlessness of poetic workmanship in "The Winter's Tale," +together with the looseness of the dramatic construction, show a +deterioration from the ripe power of Shakespeare's middle period, or +that practised artistic mastery which is free from art by means of +perfect art? + + +IX + +PERDITA'S GARDEN + +The flower-imagery of "The Winter's Tale" compared with other +flower-scenes in Shakespeare,--in "A Midsommer Nights Dreame" and +"Hamlet." The classic and folk-lore allusions. The pastoral element in +"As you Like It" and "Winter's Tale." + +QUERIES FOR DISCUSSION + +The rustic scenes have little bearing on the play; are they necessary +to Shakespeare's art in order to throw a clear light on the character +of his protagonists? + + +X + +THE ETHICS OF "THE WINTER'S TALE" + +"The Winter's Tale" gives examples of meritorious actions losing their +virtue with the progress of ideas; for example, the civic virtue, +allegiance to the king, is what Leontes depends upon in his talk with +Camillo, with Antigonus, and the other lords. Note Camillo's reason +for not poisoning Polixenes to order,--that it is risky to kill a king +even at command of a king. That such a reason would be considered +small moral support to-day appears, for example, in the indignation or +amusement expressed in the newspapers on the German Emperor's address +to his army on the soldier's duty of obedience. In Shakespeare's day a +king had taken matters in his own hands in the trial of his wife, much +as Leontes did (see "Henry VIII".). The moral significance of +Hermione's patience under accusation appears in the long reparation +she requires. Paulina is made to speak for her during her seclusion. + +What are the "secret purposes" which Shakespeare makes her subserve? +Observe that, if the fulfilment of the oracle and the restoration of +the child were all Paulina anticipates, there would be no use in her +remonstrances against a second marriage and in her goading the king to +remorse. + +QUERIES FOR DISCUSSION + +Does Shakespeare's ideal of love and constancy, as revealed in 'The +Winter's Tale,' imply that second marriages are offences against the +first. Has the objection Paulina makes to his re-marriage such a cause +or is it a necessity of the plot? + +Does the way of telling "The Winter's Tale" indicate the passing away +of aristocratic and the formation of democratic ideals, and the +dawning change in the _status_ both of woman and the commoner? + + + +***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SHAKESPEARE STUDY PROGRAMS; THE +COMEDIES*** + + +******* This file should be named 14699-8.txt or 14699-8.zip ******* + + +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: +https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/4/6/9/14699 + + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + + + + +Title: Shakespeare Study Programs; The Comedies + +Author: Charlotte Porter and Helen A. Clarke + +Release Date: January 15, 2005 [eBook #14699] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-646-US (US-ASCII) + + +***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SHAKESPEARE STUDY PROGRAMS; THE +COMEDIES*** + + +E-text prepared bu Ted Garvin, Keith M. Eckrich, and the Project Gutenberg +Online Distributed Proofreading Team + + + +SHAKESPEARE STUDY PROGRAMS: THE COMEDIES + +by + +CHARLOTTE PORTER & HELEN A. CLARKE + +Authors of _The Tragedies_ +Editors of the _Pembroke Shakespeare_, the _First Folio Shakespeare_, +_Poet Lore_, etc. + +Boston: Richard G. Badger +Toronto: The Copp Clark Co., Limited +The Gorham Press, Boston, U.S.A. + + + + + + + +[Illustration: ARTI et VERITATI] + + + + +INTRODUCTORY NOTE + + +The Shakespeare Study Programs appeared originally in _Poet Lore_. +They have met with marked favor, and have been reprinted as the back +numbers went out of print. The steady demand for these programs +prompts the present issue in book-form. Several new programs have been +added, and those reprinted have been revised. + +The references in this volume are to the "First Folio Edition" of +Shakespeare, edited by Charlotte Porter. + + + + +"Criticism is the endeavour to find, to know, to love, to recommend +not only the best, but all the good that has been known and thought +and written in the world. ... It shows how to grasp and how to +enjoy;... it helps the ear to listen when the horns of England blow." + +--GEORGE SAINTSBURY, "History of Criticism." + + + + +CONTENTS + +The Comedie of Errors + +The Two Gentlemen of Verona + +The Taming of the Shrew + +Love's Labour's Lost + +Much Adoe About Nothing + +A Midsommer Nights Dreame + +The Merchant of Venice + +The Merry Wives of Windsor + +As You Like It + +Twelfe Night + +The Tempest + +The Winter's Tale + + + + + +THE COMEDIE OF ERRORS + + +In the Summer of 1594 a translation of a Latin Farce by the Roman +Dramatist, Plautus, was made ready for publication in London. It may +even have been published then, for, although the title page date is +1595, then, as often now, the issue was made in advance of date. +Circulation in MS., moreover, now unusual, was then common. + +This translation was registered, at any rate, for publication, June +16, 1594, as "A Booke entitled Menaechmi, being a pleasant and fine +conceited comedy taken out of the most wittie poet Plautus, chosen +purposely from out the rest as being the least harmful and most +delightful." + +Six months later, Shakespeare had made an English Farce out of this +Latin one. He invented several new characters, arranged many new +situations, and put a good deal more life-likeness in the relations of +the characters, while yet it may be seen that, his new play, "The +Comedie of Errors," was directly drawn from the old one by Plautus. + +The first record we have of Shakespeare as an actor before Queen +Elizabeth relates to the performance in Christmas week of this same +year of "twoe severall comedies." This record in the Accounts of the +Treasurer who paid out the money for the Plays acted before the Queen, +runs as follows: + +"To William Kempe, William Shakespeare, and Richard Burbage, servaunts +to the Lord Chamberleyn upon the Councelles warrant dated at Whitehall +xv. die. Marcij 1594 [1595], for twoe severall comedies or enterludes, +shewed by them before her Majestie in Christmas tyme laste paste, +viz., upon St. Stephen daye, [Dec. 26,] and Innocente's day, [Dec. +28,] xiii^{li} vi^{s} viij^{d} and by way of her Majesties rewarde +vi^{li} xiij^{s} iv^{d} in all xx^{li}." + +It is fair to infer that the "Comedie of Errors" was one of these two +comedies, for on the evening of the 28th of December, 1594, there +arose a sudden necessity to hire an entertainment to take the place at +Gray's Inn, one of the great Law Schools of London, of a Play by the +students which had gone to pieces. In lieu of this amateur play, for +which a great stage had been built in their Hall, it is recorded that +the great throng assembled were forced, first, to "content themselves +with ordinary dancing and revelling, and when that was over, with a +Comedy of Errors like to Plautus his Menoechmus, which was played by +the players." That these "players" were public players is shown in the +Gray's Inn account of these Christmas festivities by another reference +to this "company of base and common fellows" who were "foisted" in "to +make up our disorders with a play of Errors and Confusions." + +Since this substitution of the "players" Play for the Play by the +young gentlemen students was unexpected, we can be sure it was not +made for this occasion. It seems obvious that whatever comedy was +specially designed by Shakespeare and his fellow actors for their +Christmas performances before the Queen at Greenwich, would be apt to +be chosen for a sudden repetition at Gray's Inn the same evening. And +of course for such an institution of scholarly gentlemen as Gray's +Inn, a farce based on Plautus would be likely to be thought +appropriate. + +So Mrs. Charlotte Stopes argues, who brought into association these +facts and dates. She brings out also, another curious incident or two +concerning what we may take to be the earliest performances of "The +Comedie of Errors." One is that the mother of the Earl of +Southampton,--the young nobleman who was Shakespeare's patron and to +whom the Poet dedicated "Venus and Adonis" and "Lucrece,"--was then +acting officially for her late husband. Thus it fell to her care to +make up his accounts as Treasurer of the Chamber, and she it was who +wrote this particular notice of the acting of Shakespeare before Queen +Elizabeth. Others acting as Treasurer did not find it worth their +while to include the Actors' names in their accounts. This notice of +hers is the first and last to mention names in this way. Her son, +being a Gray's Inn man, would have been in a position to suggest the +substitution of Shakespeare's Play and as a friend of Shakespeare's +would desire to do so. + +The other incident of biographical interest is that the Gray's Inn +students were much mortified by the uproar which caused the failure of +the program of their chief of Revels called "The Prince of Purpoole," +and made it necessary for them to call in common players. The result +of their desire "to recover their lost honor with some graver +conceipt" was to give Jan. 3d, a learned Dialogue called "Divers Plots +and Devices." Bacon aided largely in this stately affair. In its +course six Councillors one after the other deliver speeches on +enrollment of Knights and Chivalry, the glory of War, the study of +Philosophy, etc. The scorn felt for Shakespeare's "Comedie" and the +contrast with this rival specimen of academic dramatics is +significant. + +Out of the comparatively simple plot of Plautus, Shakespeare developed +an amusing complexity of situations. These appear upon studying the +progress of the story, Act by Act, as follows: + + +ACT I + +THE ARRIVAL OF CERTAIN STRANGERS IN EPHESUS + +What has the arrest of the "Marchant" Egean to do with the rest of the +Story? How soon does any connection appear? + +The reference in scene ii, to the occurrence taking place in scene i, +suggests a somewhat odd chance coincidence in the arrival from +Syracuse on the same day of both of these strangers. By this casual +reference the seemingly unrelated scenes are so innocently linked +together that it rather blinds than opens the eyes of the audience to +the deeper links of connection. It also acts at once as a warning to +Antipholus, and explains why he also is not arrested under the same +law from which Egean suffered. + +The merchant who gives Antipholus this warning does not appear to be +at all an intimate friend. Yet he seems to have met the stranger upon +his arrival. Is this accounted for? What office does the scene show +that he bears toward him? How recent an institution is the Bank and +Letter of Credit for travellers? Was the lack of such facilities long +filled in the way here exemplified? + +Do these two men keep the appointment they made to meet at five +o'clock? Why is it made? Does it serve any need of the Play? + +The reference to Ephesus as a town given over to sorcery and +witchcraft assists in giving the impression that the time of the Play +falls within the Christian era, when the ancient customs of the Pagan +inhabitants gave the City a bad repute of this particular kind. Was it +derived from Plautus? Note whether sorcery and witchcraft are included +in his account of the discreditableness of Ephesus. What conclusions +may be gathered as to Shakespeare's account of it from a comparison +with the corresponding passage in Plautus (This extract is given in +Note on I, ii, 102-107 in the "First Folio" Edition of Shakespeare's +Play). Show how this statement is useful in throwing light upon the +character of Antipholus as well as on events. + +The first complication in scene ii arises from mistaking Dromio of +Ephesus for Dromio of Syracuse; but notice that this error is +accounted for by the second source of the errors of the play--belief +in witchcraft. + +QUERIES FOR DISCUSSION + +Is the audience as much in the dark over the first mystification as +Antipholus is? Should it be? Is the play the better or worse for not +being clear? If both Dromios are made to look exactly alike how can +the audience know? + + +ACT II + +ANTIPHOLUS THE STRANGER DINES AT HOME + +Notice how the last scene of the preceding Act is cleared up by the +first scene of the present Act. + +Are the errors of Act II the results of those of Act I? The errors of +Act I affect but a very few characters, but in Act II how many? A new +source of complication is brought forward in this Act, also. Show what +it is, and how it both adds to the interest of the Play as a story and +to the confusion begun by the mistaken identity and the witchcraft +elements of the Plot. + +The fooling dialogue of Scene ii gives the action pause. Is it +therefore useless, or a dramatic mistake? The ease with which the +right master and man fall into this talk after the earlier +cross-purposes with the wrong man, seems to betray the fact that they +do belong together. They are so readily familiar that the +cross-purposes making up the plot seem to be no longer troublesome +either to themselves or the audience. The interval of reassurance +makes the return of strangeness more unaccountable. Antipholus is also +now reassured about his gold, and the earlier cross-purpose seems only +a jest. + +Why does the mention of Dromio's name (II, ii, 156) cause both master +and man to exclaim? Why should it not have led them to guess the +truth? + +Would this scene with Adriana and Luciana have been equally mystifying +and skilful if the right master and man had not been together? + +QUERIES FOR DISCUSSION + +In the debate between the sisters upon patience in marriage is Adriana +or Luciana the more justifiable? Has their argument anything to do +with the plot? Is character interest or plot interest of the first +importance, and how are they apportioned in this play? + +Is Adriana's argument that she is bound to share morally herself in +the infidelity of her husband sophistical? Or has it a core of sound +ethical value? + + +ACT III + +ANTIPHOLUS THE NATIVE INVITES FRIENDS TO DINE WITH HIM + +How far are the errors of Act III new? From which element of the plot, +mistaken identity, or the domestic difficulties of the native-born +Antipholus do they arise? + +What effects are gained by bringing together in this Act the right +pairs of master and man? + +The closed door between the two groups, one within the house, the +other without, is the only barrier to such an exhibition of the double +resemblances as would clear up all difficulties immediately. Is the +humor of the situation the better for this slightness of the barrier, +or is it rendered altogether too unlikely by it? Notice also the +narrow escapes from meeting and being seen together which masters and +men are constantly making and the skill of the stage movements so +that, for example, while one pair of twins is in the house, the other +pair is absolutely unable to come there, and make clear the main cause +of the errors. + +What relation to the subordinate cause of the errors, i.e., the +domestic difficulties of Antipholus the Native--has the new source of +difficulty and bepuzzlement--the gold chain? Bring out the relation of +the dialogue (III, i, 23-35), between Antipholus and the friends he +invites, to the welcome they find and discuss later. The irony of his +confidence in welcome, at least, which is precisely what is lacking, +is peculiarly true to such disappointments in life. For the fun and +naturalness gained by it, therefore, the carefully planned arrangement +of the dialogue to lead up to it, does not seem to be artificial. What +would have happened to the plot if the plan proposed to force the door +with a crow-bar had been carried out? Since the dramatist was so +daring as to cause it to be suggested, it was incumbent upon him at +once to devise something to prevent it from being done. The way in +which he has accomplished this through Balthazar, puts both Antipholus +and his guest in an estimable light. Show its effect upon the present +scene and upon both the character-interest and the scenes to come in +which the Courtisan figures. What expense does Antipholus refer to +(III, i, 169)? + +Is Luciana's advice so good that it accounts for the attraction she +has for Antipholus the Stranger? Or do you think she is attractive in +spite of it? + +Is the dialogue in this Act between the right master and man as good +as that in Act II? Has it other excuse for being besides punning and +fooling? Examine its value as compared with the other in introducing a +new and amusing error, and educing puns that are suggested by this, +and therefore not independent of the plot. + +This Act closes with two new incidents of use in the sequel: What are +they? + +QUERIES FOR DISCUSSION + +Why has Shakespeare chosen to make Antipholus the Stranger abhor +Adriana, and be attracted to her sister instead? What is the result +for the plot? Is it a mistake that the promised match between Luciana +and the Stranger is not consummated at the close of the play? Is the +reference then made to it the best imaginable? How, if so, is it +reconcilable with the more rapid matches at the close of other plays, +e.g. Oliver and Celia in "As You Like It?" + + +ACT IV + +COMPLICATIONS GROW + +The errors of the early Acts begin simply and proceed by begetting +other errors and beginning, also, with but one of the twin masters and +one of the twin men-servants proceed by involving every one in each of +the two Antipholus groups. In this Act others outside the main groups +are continually being interwoven in the net of complications. In which +Act did these larger social complications arise, and how are they +carried on in the present Act. Show how by means of these larger +circles of complication, e.g., the arrests, the visits of the +Courtisan to Adriana in the attempt to get back her ring, the +conjurring scenes, etc., the confusion becomes extreme. And then show, +also, how by the very means of these larger circles of complication +the clearing up process is brought forward. To whom is the suggestion +due that Antipholus the Native has gone mad? What fitness is there in +that, especially in its being broached by a minor character? Trace the +relation of the Goldsmith, his delays and his debts to the Plot. How +does it come about effectively that in this Act the wrong master and +man are together, the opposite of what has prevailed, earlier? Show +how in the eagerness of Adriana to send the gold and the grief over +what she jealously suspects to be the cause of it, a tragic situation +is reached. In which scene is the most complex confusion reached. + +QUERIES FOR DISCUSSION + +Is the confusion of identity, the domestic discord or the bewitchment +and supposed lunacy the most powerful factor in the plot of error. +Which is the most comical and which the most tragic moment in this +Act? + + +ACT V + +SOLUTIONS MAKE ALL THE STRANGERS FEEL AT HOME + +The climax of bewilderment being reached in the evidence that the same +man is both out of the Priory and in it, solutions follow. Trace the +steps by which this is accomplished. + +Why is the attack upon Antipholus the Stranger assigned to the +Merchant who is the Goldsmith's creditor instead of to the Goldsmith? +Is it by chance or is there some reason for it? Why did not Antipholus +explain that he had the chain through no option of his own? By means +of the Merchant drawing his sword and detaining him, the scene with +Adriana at the close of the preceding Act when his flight prevented +her from having him bound as a mad man is carried on again, and refuge +in the Priory forced upon him. + +Why does the Abbess blame Adriana first because she did not find fault +with her husband and then because she did? Is her sudden harsh turn +against her explicable not as personal inconsistency or womanly +prejudice, but as due to a gleam of insight? What clew to the case +does Adriana's meekness afford? Or else of the relationship of the +Abbess to the twins? Why does she so peremptorily keep the man from +his wife? Is not this conduct devised to mystify the audience rather +than the characters? + +Notice that the Abbess is more of a surprise in her relation to the +plot than the condemned Egean is. The Abbess episode balances at the +close of the Play the Egean episode at the opening of the story. Trace +the links of connection with the main action of each and their +relation to each other, showing how they bind into an absolute unity a +peculiarly symmetrical plot. Why do the two Dromios end the Play +instead of the main characters? + +QUERIES FOR DISCUSSION + +Is this Play the better or worse farce for the serious domestic +situation and the pathos of the long separation of the shipwrecked +family? + + +VI + +CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT + +In what sense can there be said to be a development of character in +"The Comedie of Errors?" If no progress can be traced in the +standpoint of any one character of the Play, save possibly in that of +Adriana, is there yet not to be seen a gradual bringing forward of the +traits inwardly differentiating the two pairs of twins, and stamping +the personality of Adriana and Luciana and even in a slighter degree +of the Goldsmith, the Creditor Merchant, Egean, and the Abbess? + +Show what you deem this to be in each character, and by what means the +result in each is effected. + +Is Antipholus the Stranger of a gentler and more pious spirit than +Antipholus the Native? What signs of this impression can you cite? Was +Antipholus the Native popular in Ephesus? What calling had he +followed? Why do we learn more of Antipholus the Stranger at once than +of his brother? In what respects does this suit the plot and the +circumstances? + +Which Dromio do you think the wittier? Is one more a house servant and +less of a personal attendant and professional fool than the other? +Why, do you think, is Antipholus the Stranger made to beat his man so +often? Is his quick temper, or a sort of horse-play fun at the bottom +of it? Or is the ancient custom as to body servants exemplified? + +Which Antipholus has been the more independently reared and is this +signified in their characters? It has been supposed that Antipholus +the Native married at the Duke's bidding for money and not for love. +What reason does the Play give for this supposition? Is Adriana's +jealousy a reason, or is he fonder of her than she realizes? Which of +the Sisters do you like best, and why? + +Why would Antipholus the Native be better mated with one than the +other? In what respects of character would Luciana be apt to attract +Antipholus the Stranger more than Adriana would? Are there signs to +show that Adriana and her husband are the more stalwart pair? Show how +admirably the riper characters of the father and mother set off the +qualities and relationships of the younger group. + +QUERIES FOR DISCUSSION + +The resemblances of the twins externally are counter-balanced by +diversities that are internal, so that the possibilities of confusion +may be said to be only skin deep. Does this add to the improbableness +of the plot sufficiently to make it a questionable quality of the plot +that the characters are so much differentiated, or does it serve +rather to enrich the Play and make it far more interesting? Are there +signs of character in Adriana and her husband going to show that they +are destined to be happier in their relation to each other than ever +before? + + +VII + +SHAKESPEARE'S DEPARTURES FROM PLAUTUS + +The omissions and changes Shakespeare made from Plautus's plot are +almost as important in lending his Play a new effect as the additions +and entirely original inventions. + +Notice the entire omission of the borrowed cloak taken from his wife, +Mulier, by Menaechmus and given to the Courtisan, Erotium; also, of +the character of the parasite, Peniculus, by means of whom as a +spiteful informer the wife is told of her husband's relations with +Erotium and the dinner he proposes to take with her. Instead of +Mulier's father, Senex, Shakespeare creates the noble Egean, the +father of the Twins. Introducing his plot with the incident of his +arrest, he closes it with the still more notable character of the +mother whom he gives an important part to play in the happy solution +of the difficulties and the re-union. The part of the Duke and the +trade relations of the two cities, the city in Sicily as in Plautus, +the other Ephesus, instead of Epidamnum, as in Plautus, are ingenious +changes of an external sort. What is effected by them? The different +treatment of the dinner incident which causes the husband to mean to +dine at home, until he finds he cannot, when with others he invites +the courtisan to dine with them at an Inn, lends a different color to +the story. What do you think it effects as to character, amusingness, +and unity with the plot of mistaken identity? The courtisan's open +visit to the wife and direct effect upon the plot is in strong +contrast to the intrigue of which the wife is informed by a third +person. Bring this out, and show what the influence is. + +Compare the argument of Plautus (For this see "First Folio Edition" of +"Comedie of Errors," p. 76) with the opening scene wherein Shakespeare +causes Egean to tell the story out of which the Play grows. In what +respects is this an improvement? (See Extract from Ten Brink, p. 183). + +What is accomplished by the addition of the twin servants?--the two +Dromios? (for special assistance in a comparative appreciation of +Shakespeare's farce and that of Plautus see Introduction also Sources +in the "First Folio Edition" of this Play). + +QUERIES FOR DISCUSSION + +Is the complexity of Shakespeare's plot over that of Plautus a +disadvantage? If not, how does this fact agree with the common saying +that simplicity in Art is the highest Art? + +Are the farcical interest and the character interest carried on too +far not to be seen to be inconsistent interests? Or is the secret of +the Art of the Play the reconciliation and harmony of the farcical and +the serious? + + + + +THE TWO GENTLEMEN OF VERONA + + +The unusual in this Comedy is due to its reflection of the ideals and +manners of Chivalry in Love and Friendship as loyally professed by +Valentine and Silvia and outraged by Protheus. + +The plot is extremely simple and is carried on by means of causing its +main characters successively to dominate in their influence upon the +action. + + +ACT I + +VALENTINE VERSUS PROTHEUS AND JULIA + +Valentine's reasons for travel and those of Protheus for staying at +home separate the two friends. Compare Valentine's preference of +Honor, and that of Protheus for Love, with the opening of "Love's +Labour's Lost" and "Much Adoe." + +Show how the rest of the action, after the separation of the friends +to suit this double thesis of life, depends upon illustrating the +effect of Protheus's love upon Julia's fortunes, and of Valentine's +quest of honor upon the fortunes of Protheus. Notice how it happens +that his own deception has a direct influence upon his father, so that +his departure to join Valentine is as much due to his own lack of +firmness in his desire to stay on Julia's account, as to Valentine's +initiative in going. + +QUERIES FOR DISCUSSION + +Is Valentine's or Protheus's the more influential character upon the +course of events thus far? + + +ACT II + +VALENTINE AND SILVIA + +Tell the story of this Act. + +Explain the courtship scene with which this Act opens as illustrating +the service of love in systems of Chivalry. (For hints on this see +Introduction to the Play in "First Folio Edition" also Note on II, i, +97). + +Contrast the earnestness of Valentine's nature in this devotion to +Silvia with the fickleness of Protheus. + +The two servants, Speed and Launce, may be compared, their contrasts +to each other shown, and their general resemblance to a similarly +contrasted pair--the two Dromios in the "Comedie of Errors." + +QUERIES FOR DISCUSSION + +Is the love of Protheus for Silvia a reflex influence from Valentine's +extreme enthusiasm? + +Why does Lucetta distrust Protheus? + + +ACT III + +THE FALSE FRIEND + +What effect has the arrival of Protheus at the Milanese Court? How +does the new-comer manage to dominate this Act? Point out the skill of +Protheus in making his disclosure to the Duke seem to be reluctantly +wrung from him against the friendship he feels for Valentine and only +because of a sense of duty toward the Duke. + +What does this delicacy accomplish toward his own courtship of Silvia? +If he had seemed eager to tell his friend's secrets would not the Duke +distrust him and suspect some self-interest on his part? What did his +mention of Thurio's suit do for himself? + +Compare the nature of the two friends' talk; how that of Protheus +gives a better impression of himself than is true, that of Valentine, +a worse. Show the consistency in wile of Protheus in his conduct +toward the Duke, Thurio, Silvia, and Julia. Why does it succeed? +Wherein is it likely to fail? + +QUERIES FOR DISCUSSION + +Is Protheus impossibly false as a character? Or is his duplicity an +exemplification of the facility toward evil of this kind that is +natural to an extremely impressionable nature which lacks stability? + +In what does Valentine's superiority consist? Are the maxims for the +treatment of women which he gives the Duke due to artificial system +learned from others or a part of his own experience? + + +ACT IV + +SILVIA AND JULIA + +Tell the story of the Act. All the main characters and one new one +have their parts in the next steps in the plot? What are those parts? + +Valentine's fate and its result. + +Silvia's determination and its effect. Notice how her call upon +Eglamoure for knightly service brings the action into the province of +Chivalry again. + +Julia's office in the schemes of Protheus. + +Is this Act dominated in its drift by the two women? How do they put +their impress upon events? + +Show how the villain Protheus is instrumental in bringing these two +women together, and how this is equivalent to uniting against his evil +policy, the good forces of the Play. The loyalty of Silvia to Julia +considered as offsetting the falsity of Protheus to Valentine. + +QUERIES FOR DISCUSSION + +Is the most actively beneficial episode in this Act also the most +charming. + + +ACT V + +VALENTINE, SILVIA AND JULIA VERSUS PROTHEUS + +What are the results of Silvia's flight? + +Why does outlawry bring out the superiority of Valentine? + +Does it serve also to bring out the inferiority of Protheus? + +How does outlawry serve to defeat the purposes of the Duke and Thurio +and bring about the conquest over them of Valentine? + +How does Thurio's nature inure to the credit of Valentine's with the +Duke? + +Does outlawry here represent the injustices of civic life? To what +degree? Or the natural life beneficent and innocent of Arden Forest in +"As You Like It?" To what degree is this true? + +QUERIES FOR DISCUSSION + +Why did Julia swoon? Was the repentance of Protheus genuine?--and +natural? What does Valentine mean by his forgiveness of Protheus and +his proof of it--"All that was mine, in Silvia, I give thee?" could he +give her, personally, against her will, in Chivalry? Or in true love? +How could he mean anything then, but proving by this entrusting of her +to his friend his belief in his loyalty and purity? + +Why is Silvia silent? (See Introduction to the Play in "First Folio +Edition," also Selected Criticism and Notes on V, iv, 91, for hints on +these latter queries). + + + + +THE TAMING OF THE SHREW + + +A Play or mask within the Play is not uncommon in Shakespeare. A Play +outside the Play especially distinguishes the arrangement of this +Comedy. + +Perhaps it serves to indicate that the theme of the taming of a wife +is crude and primitive folk-farce, particularly suited to the taste of +the drunken tinker before whom it is played. + +Shakespeare's handling of the tinker's subject, however, like other +rude and homely matters taken up by an acute mind is such as to fasten +deeper attention and to overgo a tinker's appreciation. + + +I + +THE PLAY OUTSIDE THE PLAY + +The effect of the Induction in dramatic presentation is not easy to +estimate. Since there is no direct connection between it and the Play +itself what do you see that it could be made to do for the action? Is +it like a frame for a picture adapted to give the theme remoteness? Is +this appropriate? Is it otherwise a mere cause for confusion? Or is it +intended to add one more thread of amusement? Why does Shakespeare in +"The Shrew" drop the tinker interregnum dialogue recurring regularly +in "A Shrew?" May Shakespeare, therefore, be cited as finding only a +limited use for "the Play outside the Play," deeming it in the way +later? How has he arranged for its gradual disappearance from +attention? Is there a stage reason alone enough to account for it? +(See suggestions in Notes on I, i, 266, and IV, iii, i, "First Folio +Edition"). Compare the Tinker scenes in the version of 1594. (For +these see Extracts in Sources, pp. 105-110, in "First Folio Edition"). +Do the Slie of "A Shrew" and Christophero Sly of "The Shrew" differ as +characters? As to their opinion of the Play: Are their between-the-act +dialogues materially different? + +What is the relation to the source and what has been altered from the +old tale. + +The local Warwickshire touches in the Induction and their explanation. +(For these see "Story of the Induction" in the Play). + +QUERIES FOR DISCUSSION + +Ought the Induction play to be left out? How might it be made more +effective by special treatment on the stage? Should the additional +scenes be interpolated as was the stage custom, or should +Shakespeare's diminishing notice of them be adopted to produce the +most artistic effect? + + +II + +THE DOUBLE PLOT OF THE MAIN PLAY + +In "A Shrew" and "The Shrew": Show how the story, with respect to the +Taming scenes, is the same substantially, with comparatively minor +differences, except for the characterization. But with respect to the +Bianca scenes it has been expanded and altered. This suggests, most +naturally, that the part Shakespeare did not write or answer for in "A +Shrew" was merely the Bianca scenes, and that his task in "The Shrew" +was to cut out and rewrite the scenes that were not his so as to be +unhampered with the disharmony of the two parts of the plot as it +appears in the Quarto of 1594. + +The story of the Play as it now stands consists of an interweaving of +the Taming story and the story of Bianca's Courtship in such a way +that while they keep their separateness of necessity, they balance +better in interest and are more continually brought to bear upon each +other from time to time. What are their points of contact in each Act? +The sisters with relation to their father and their suitors in Act I: +How does this initiate the action? + +With relation to each other and the Music Master in Act II: How does +this separate the action into two lines of Courtship. + +After Katherine's marriage in Act III the interest divides between the +Taming of Katherine and the Courtship of Bianca. + +In Act IV two or three points of contact are arranged by means of the +journey and what two characters? + +In Act V how is contact both objective and moral obtained? + +Alternative interest in the Bianca Courtship after Kate's marriage and +taming is attained by the elaborate scheme to make Lucentio the most +successful suitor and the droll surprises and difficulties met with in +the process. + +QUERIES FOR DISCUSSION + +Is the lack of unity in the Play sufficiently remedied by enriching +the Bianca counterplot and arranging for alternate interest first in +the plot and then in the counterplot, or is the original difficulty +irremediable? + +In which story is plot or else character the supreme interest? + +Is the Bianca story or the Katherine story the more entertaining? Why? + + +III + +BIANCA AND HER SUITORS + +Lucentio's errand in Padua, his breeding and relations to his servant +qualify him as quite the conventional hero of a romantic love-story. +How does he compare with the young noblemen of "Love's Labour's Lost?" +What part of the study of Philosophy does he specially desire to take +up and how does his temper toward learning fall in with theirs? + +What light does Bianca on her appearance throw upon herself? Through +the testimony of her sister and her father and the two suitors what +else is to be gathered? + +Her effect upon Lucentio: The parallelism with "A Midsommer Nights +Dreame" (I, i, 156, and see p. 134 in the First Folio Edition of "The +Shrew") not appearing in "A Shrew," considered as indicative of the +favorite method of Shakespearian lovers in falling in love at first +sight. + +Katherine's effect upon Tranio, lost upon Lucentio, in his daze over +Bianca, leads to what plan of action? How does the part Hortensio and +Gremio play in this reinforce the plot, and combine them all to +instigate Petruchio to woo Katherine? How does the contest for the +best sale of Bianca when Katherine is out of the way lead to a new +plot? The money-contest of the suitors, judged by the father is +supplemented by the mock teaching-contest of the lovers of which +Bianca herself is the judge. Show how this constitutes the second step +in the action and what complications and simplifications it prepares. +Lucentio's studies in the hedonistic Philosophy he professes and its +victory over Music and Hortensio. + +What is Bianca's contribution to the gossip excited by Katherine's +wedding, and what impression does Act III give you altogether of +Bianca's character? Is the bad report of it in Act IV, made by +Hortensio, as the Musician, Lisio, with Tranio, quite fair to her? + +The abusive opinion and jealousy of Hortensio assisted by the supposed +Lucentio narrow down the uncertainties of the courtship so as to +concentrate interest on the new scheme of the supposed father. How is +this worked out? Explain the conflict with the arrival of the true +father, and the amusing counter-play. + +QUERIES FOR DISCUSSION + +Why does Lucentio's suit excel that of any other in interest? + +Is Bianca wrong in acting independently of her father? + + +IV + +THE SHREW AND HER TAMER + +Does the Shrew justify her reputation on her first appearance? What is +said of her compared with what she does then and in Act II? Why is +Petruchio's first approach with a combat of wit and a great bluff of +compliment effective? Is Kate really impressed by it, or only fearful +that she is being fooled? How do you account for her denial of him and +his suit to her father in Act II and her mortification when he does +not arrive till late in Act III? Does Petruchio's speech to the others +and before them (II, i, 328-350) account for the change? His arrival +at the wedding in such shabby attire and with so wretched an +appearance as to retinue, with his sorry horse and man-servant +contrasts strongly with the promises held out in this speech. What is +the effect on Kate and why does it serve his purpose? + +Is Kate's entreaty to stay, or her action in showing her bridegroom +the door the climax of the wedding scene? What is the point in the +stage business of Petruchio's speech warning others not to touch his +chattel? Is she really being befriended by the bystanders when she +declares they must go "forward to the bridall dinner" or is she so +entirely alone in her opposition to Petruchio's command to go, that +his speech is the keenest satire upon her defencelessness in every +direction but through him? + +Is Petruchio's conduct at home and the servants' comment upon it such +as to make Kate's two entreaties explicable? + +What light does Petruchio's own account (IV, i, 183-207) of his method +throw upon it? + +In the eating and haberdasher scene (IV, iii) what is it Kate +learns--merely that she cannot command by force and can have what she +wants by another method? What is the secret of her tractableness in +Scene v? + +QUERIES FOR DISCUSSION + +Are Katherine and Petruchio the most interesting characters in the +Play? Why? + +Is their prominence due to their personal attractiveness or to the +Dramatist's skill? + + +V + +THE TRIPLE MARRIAGE AND THE MORAL + +Why should the Play not end with Act IV? + +What does Act V add? + +Is the quality of the table-talk in keeping with the plot and +characters? + +The husbands' talk and wager turns on what point, obedience to the +husband, or agreement of husband and wife as mutually to their +interest? + +Show the drift of Kate's expression of the moral of the Play, and +state your own way of looking at it. + +QUERIES FOR DISCUSSION + +Did Petruchio and Kate give an impromptu performance of conjugal +felicity, or one decided upon beforehand? + +Was Kate quick-witted enough to guess there was money in it, or was +she really, once of a different mind and reformed. + + +VI + +THE FOLK ORIGIN OF THE TAMING + +Trace the antiquity of this schooling of a wife, and the resemblances +and contrasts in the chief variants of the story (for help in this see +Sources in "First Folio Edition"). + +Is there any progress to be discerned in the degree of bodily force +deemed expedient? + +Is any such scheme of the marriage-relation compatible with advanced +civilization, or is it peculiar to crude notions of life in a taming +age? + +QUERIES FOR DISCUSSION + +Is the folk-legend indicative of an inherent relation in marriage of +the male and female natures, or is it merely an expression of +established custom and legalized institution upon gaining for each the +aims and line of conduct desired? If so, is the result of the process +to gain a ground of mutual compromise and accommodation and a division +of labor in joint life which will enable the process itself to fall +into disuse. + +Is coercion of others consistent with a high grade of individuality? + +Did Petruchio play the Tamer in a "Pickwickian sense" and the whole +thing being a bit of acting, did Kate see through it, finally, and +play her part too? + +The use of finesse in the Play (see Introduction to the Play "First +Folio Edition"). + +Does Shakespeare's way of handling the characters and the process of +taming materially differ from the way prevailing both in the crude +folk tales and in "A Shrew?" + +Does he suggest that in both Petruchio's and Kate's case they are +merely bent upon their own individual emotions until closer relation +makes them join forces? + +What is the modern bearing of Shakespeare's way of putting the story? + +Partnership and co-operation _versus_ autocratic rule: Are the +administrative advantages of the latter consonant with the good will +and continual psychical development furthered by the former? + +Does the intellectual advantage rest with the user of force or with +the mind that accommodates itself to force by gaining its ends by +stratagem and other indirect policies? + +Is coercion as wise as persuasion which has no such penalties to pay? + + + + +LOVE'S LABOUR'S LOST + + +Shakespeare makes us laugh in "Love's Labour's Lost" at the futility +of the attempt of ascetic and academic men to shut out love and women +from their schemes of life and study. + +His early work in putting the past history of England into dramatic +form may possibly have suggested to him to put more recent history on +the stage by means of this Comedy. Light as it is, the point of it is +to satirize the monastic and exclusive element in current educational +schemes. Fictitious as the story is, it touches upon names and +incidents belonging to actual history. So familiar were these actual +happenings of the day to his audience that it could especially enjoy +these veiled allusions to them. + +The main idea of the plot of the Comedy--the "Academe," was one that +had a bearing upon various similarly named educational projects of +that time in England. + +One such scheme was drawn up about 1570, by Sir Humphrey Gilbert, Sir +Walter Raleigh's half-brother, for the "education of her Majeste's +Wardes and others the youths of nobility and gentlemen." This plan +was, like Shakespeare's arranged for a "three yeeres terme" (I, i, 20) +and at the end of "every three years" some book was to be published +which would represent the fruit of the Academy's study during that +period. Merely the title of this scheme--"Queen Elizabethes Achademy" +may have suggested Shakespeare's "Achademe" (I, i, 17). Of course, +however, both Gilbert's and Shakespeare's adoption of the name are +examples of the appropriation by educational groups of the classic +academes of the Philosophers of Athens and their student followers. +Another educational plan "for the bringing up in vertue and learning +of the Queenes Majestis Wardes," was devised by Sir Nicholas Bacon, in +1561. Later, in the reign of James I, the establishment of the +"Academe Royal" by Bolton, is an example of the early vogue of the +name, which has since become familiar everywhere, for educational and +learned institutions. + +A less important element in the formation of the plot is the allusion +to current French politics which the situation of the characters of +the Play suggests. + +A King of Navarre and a Princess of France conferring in treaty over a +disputed province and a claim of allowance for services rendered is an +incident constituting a reference to a state of things in France then +closely concerning England. The succession to the throne of France of +Henry of Navarre, the champion of the Huguenots of France, was long +contested. England was friendly to Navarre, the object of her foreign +policy being to counterpoise the power of Spain and the Catholics of +France, with whom Queen Elizabeth's most formidable rival, Mary +Stuart, was allied in interest. + +No king of Navarre was ever named Ferdinand. Yet by making an entirely +fictitious hero a king of Navarre and the suitor of a princess of +France, the relationship of Henry of Navarre to dominance in France +was suggested in an unobjectionable and amusing way. And the death of +the King of France introduced at the close of the Play, involving the +prospect as a probability that the hero might then succeed to the +throne of France, could scarcely fail to remind Shakespeare's audience +of the actual struggle of the King of Navarre for the French crown, +and also of the fact that on the death of the French King in August, +1589, Navarre then became heir presumptive, and after the battle of +Ivry in 1590 Spain delayed but could not long obstruct his complete +success. + +In 1593 the most important cities of the Kingdom yielded him +allegiance and in the Spring of 1594 Paris herself opened her gates to +him. These dates 1589-1594 indicate the time, also, when "Love's +Labour's Lost" is likely to have been timely in these references, and +yield a clew to its date of composition. + +The effect of these allusions to French political affairs, made more +piquant by the downfall of Spain in her political opposition both to +England and the party of Henry of Navarre, was intensified in +Shakespeare's Play by the names given to Navarre's lords. _Berowne_, +as the name appears in the Folio, is an English spelling of the French +name _Biron_, to which it is changed in modernized editions of +Shakespeare. _Longavill_ is an English equivalent of _Longueville_, +and _Dumaine_ or _Dumane_ of De Mayenne, names which also are changed +in the modernized editions, although not consistently. All these names +are associated with Navarre's struggles in France. The Marechal de +Biron and the Duc de Longueville fought prominently on Navarre's side. +The Duc de Mayenne, brother of Henry of Guise, fought on the opposite +side. The Duc d'Alencon long a suitor for the hand of Queen Elizabeth, +is mentioned as the father of Rosaline. + +Another veiled reference to a Russian suitor of the Queen's seems to +be made in the incident introduced in the last Act. This scene of the +wooing of the King and his lords when disguised as Russians makes fun, +perhaps, of an actual embassy of Russians to the Court of Elizabeth, +in 1583, when the Queen had arranged to put upon Lady Mary Hastings +the suit which the Czar Ivan had originally hoped to proffer to the +Queen herself. (For information upon these and other incidents of the +period that may be used in the plot see Sources, pp. 106-116 also +Notes in the "First Folio Edition" of this Play). + + +ACT I + +THE VOW AND ITS FIRST ANTAGONISTS + +The theme of the Comedy--the exclusion of love for the sake of winning +fame for learning, is made clear by the first speaker. The opposition +Love will make to this is next expressed through another speaker, and +then embodied in a practical example. Bring out the argument, in full, +on both sides, as expressed by the King and his lords, on the one +side, and by one lord who is less subservient on the other side. What +does Berowne object to in the King's idea about study and fame? He +says, practically, that fame is a mere expression of opinion, and that +as anybody can give anyone the name of being learned or the name of +being anything, fame may be given by those who have very little notion +of any real knowledge. Superficial knowledge is knowledge of names but +real knowledge is that which names mean. In a word, we but dull our +minds and blind our eyes in poring over the outsides of things, unless +we study to understand life and act a beneficent part in it. + +As children we are rightly put to task work in order to get the means +to go on independently using life and all the products of life +including books, in order to minister toward independent thought and +life. But to start in with rules and restrictions when we are older +and life itself is opening before us, is like climbing over a house to +unlock the gate before it. Their artificial arrangements are not +fitted to meet actual experience. Actual experience is bound to laugh +at their exclusion of life. How does the message brought by Costard +and Clowne bear on the argument? The fooling seems to be the dominant +interest in Scene ii. Is it, nevertheless, only the vehicle by which +the theme is developed? Show how also not alone by the confession +Armado makes but also by the words in which he expressed it, the theme +of the conflict of Love against the vow foreswearing it is made clear. +Notice, too, that the symptom, so to speak, of the labour of Love or +Cupid as opposed to the Herculean labor of "warre against your owne +affections" is at once made evident in Armando. This symptom is the +desire to write a Sonnet. In what way, then, does it appear from the +Story of Act I, that witness will be borne to the success of love's +labor over the vow of the _Achademe_? + +Does the sprightliness of the second scene obscure the scheme of the +play advantageously or disadvantageously? + + +ACT II + +THE EMBASSY _versus_ THE VOW + +How is it made apparent that the effect of the Embassy of France to +Navarre will be on the side of Love against the Vow? The ladies' +remarks upon the students of the _Achademe_ throw light upon +themselves and the drift of the story as well as upon their subjects. +Show what may be gathered from their speeches? What does the Princess +gather from them? + +The King does not invite the Princess to his Court, and declares he +will not violate his vow. Nevertheless he does do so. In what respect? +Boyet's observation of him goes still farther. What is this? And how +does it seem to be justified? Is Boyet's conclusion that "Navar is +affected," more a means of telling the Audience what is about to +happen, than comment on what is to be seen? Or is it of use to show +the Actor of the King's part how he must bear himself? How does it fit +with the name and scheme of the Play that Boyet who thinks the King +has already fallen in love should be called Cupid's grandfather? + +QUERIES FOR DISCUSSION + +Why does the Princess discount Boyet's remarks and accuse him of +joking? Does she give any clew to her own feelings? + + +ACT III + +THE CLOWN AS A LETTER-CARRIER + +Why is it in keeping with the Play that Berowne should be the first of +the Lords to be foresworn? + +In making Armado the keeper of Costard, the Clown's breaking of the +vow has already been satirized by the King's own act. Armado now takes +his next turn at making Costard's sentence a hollow mockery by sending +him as a messenger to Jacquenetta. How is this first letter-carrying +made to lead to a second, doubling the mockery and promising new +confusions? + +Has Moth anything to do with the scheme of the Play? + +Who is the "Boy" of whom Berowne speaks repeatedly in his speech +concluding this Act? What is the bearing of the reference to him upon +the Play? + +How is the joke of the rhyme in which the Boy got the better of his +Master by selling him the "Goose" to be explained? It is commonly +supposed that the interpolation from the Quarto, i.e., the lines put +between brackets in the "First Folio Edition" (p. 31) are necessary. +It is better however, to leave them out, as they are left out in the +Folio text, if it is understood that the Boy Moth, repeats ll. 91-92, +after Armado has said them. Then Armado begins the "lenvoy" with the +intention that the Boy will also repeat that and that being the end, +turn the laugh on himself by calling himself the Goose. But the Boy is +too clever. He says it ends where it should. Costard declares the Boy +has sold him, and both laugh to the bewilderment of Armado. If the +Page added the "lenvoy" as the Quarto puts it the joke would already +have been turned against him. The explanation has to be very elaborate +and the poor little joke is too thin to stand it, if both texts be +followed. It is easy to see that the repetition by the Page of ll. 91 +and 92, on the stage, confused the hearer who set it down for the +publisher of the Quarto, and also that the repetition would be a part +of the stage business and the lines might not appear twice therefore +in the MS. of the Play itself. The question growing out of this +is--Ought not the bracketed part of the text to be left out? + +QUERIES FOR DISCUSSION + +Why does Berowne say that he loves "the worst of all" (III, i, 193)? +Is this true? Does he think it true? Does it refer to her looks, or +her disposition, or her brain? Is it said of her because she is the +cleverest, and does Berowne really share the common prejudice of the +male against a superior woman or only pretend to? + + +ACT IV + +BEROWNE HEARS SOME SONNETS AND THE KING RECEIVES A LETTER + +Does the Princess guess the truth of the matter when Costard delivers +the wrong letter for Rosaline? + +What relation has the second scene of Act IV to the Play? Of what use +to the preceding action, and to the present? Of what use are all these +new characters to the Plot? One has been before heard from, but is he +of the most or least use here? Are they of use to the story in any +other way, later? In what respects do their tricks of speech and +affectation of learning suit the aim of the Comedy? Show how the +Sonnet-writing is made the means of unmasking the lovers to each other +and all of them to Berowne. Are the sonnets suited to the characters +of the writers? Contrast the King's and Berowne's in this respect. +Does the King suspect Berowne before Jaquenetta brings her letter? Why +does Jaquenetta say it was treason? Would Berowne have confessed if he +were not forced to? After having so unmercifully followed the example +of the others in condemning them for doing what each was equally +involved in, the climax of forced confession from him is more amusing +than if any one of them had unmasked him, as Longaville did Dumain, +the King Longaville, and Berowne the King. What special fitness was +there in making Dumane find out that the torn letter was in Berowne's +hand and bore his signature? + +QUERIES FOR DISCUSSION + +Is Berowne's speech to "salve" their "perjury" (IV, iii, 309-383) the +moral of the piece? If so why should not the Play end here? How does +Berowne's final speech in this Act foreshadow the conclusion of the +Play? + + +ACT V + +SPORT IS BY SPORT OVERTHROWN + +What were the main events of the last Act and of this one, and how do +they bear upon one another? Why is the revenge planned by the Princess +both fair and prudent? Are the men more in earnest than they seem? Do +the women seem less in earnest than they are? Which man first draws a +lesson from being outwitted, and how is it justified? Show how this +lesson suits the trend of the Play, and advances upon the outcome of +the preceding Act. To whom is Berowne's line (V, ii, 477)--"Speake for +yourselves, my wit is at an end"--addressed? How is the King brought +to confusion? Is the Princess too hard upon him? Why does Berowne +scoff so fiercely at Boyet? + +Is the presentation of the Nine Worthies too absurd in itself to mix +well with the courtliness, learning, and elaborate wit of the rest of +the Play? Note Berowne's defence of it (V, ii, 569-571) and his rebuke +to the King for despising it? The Princess's defence of it and its +correspondence with that of Theseus for the show of the "base +mechanicals" in the "Midsommer Nights Dreame." How does Berowne's +humility in accepting the parallel with their own wit-overthrown mask +agree with his boisterous jeering at the mask of the Nine Worthies +later? How does the attitude of the ladies toward it compare with that +of the men and what comment upon it does it constitute in your +opinion? How does it all prepare the way for the sudden sad message, +and also for the decision of the Ladies to rebuff love that is not +serious? What special point is there in the kind of trial Rosaline and +her mistress each specially propose for Berowne and the King? Has it +any relation to what has just been shown of each of them in their +attitude towards others with respect to the humble performers of the +Mask of the Nine Worthies? What makes wit an unalloyed pleasure? + +QUERIES FOR DISCUSSION + +Is the serious ending of this Comedy a disappointment? Is seriousness +an ending artistically called for by this plot, or only morally called +for? Compare with the serious strain in the "Comedie of Errors." What +does the contradictory little final dialogue between Winter and Spring +add to the significance of the Play? + + +VI + +THE WIT OF THE PLAY + +This has been called by Armitage Brown, "A Comedy of Conversation"; +and the quibbles in which the Play abounds have been supposed by Dr. +Johnson to give the Author "such delight, that he was content to +sacrifice reason propriety and truth" for their sake. How far do these +observations justly apply to the Play? + +In what degree is the extravagant banter of the Play itself an +imitation of current fashions of speech and itself an object of +ridicule? + +Its relations to Lyly and Euphuism. (See Extracts from Ward and from +Landmann in "Selected Criticism," in First Folio Edition of the Play). + +Make a study of the lesser and larger wit of the play, showing how the +former is merely incidental to the latter. + +In what respects is the whimsical talk of the Play suited to certain +groups and to special characters, so that there is more variety in it +than appears at first. + +QUERIES FOR DISCUSSION + +Does the master wit of the Play consist in any one class of fun, as +verbal conceits in the punning line; practical jokes; Euphuism, +so-called; banter in speech and retort, versemaking and sonneteering, +learned quips, or in the use of all these combined in a way to bring +out the point of the Play--the clash of natural with artificial +methods. + +Is wit or purpose dominant in the Play? + +Which is the wittiest scene? Is it also the most morally significant? + + +VII + +THE CHARACTERS + +Three groups of characters appear in the play--the main group +belonging to the Court; the learned group, Armado, the, schoolmaster, +and the Curate; and the native group, Costard, Jaquenetta, Dull, and +Moth. The two latter subordinate groups add much to the Play. Show in +what respects: as to Plot interest what do they add? As to merriment +and significance? Is the morality and wit of the Play contributed to +by them? Are they of interest in themselves, apart from their relation +to the other characters? Are Costard and Jaquenetta the only happy +lovers in the Play? Why? + +Is the King, kingly? In what respects, do you think, does he evince +youth and inexperience? When does he begin seriously to be in love? Is +the Princess justified in disciplining him? How much of her discipline +is due to the event that cuts short the Play? Judging from his +character, do you think he will stand the "twelvemonth" test? + +Is Berowne the oldest as well as the deepest and wisest of the men? +How does he show all this? + +Why does Rosaline discipline him? Is she in insight superior to him as +the Princess is to the King? Are the other court ladies equally wise +in the probation period they allot? + +Are all the men--Costard included--so much a prey to a sort of foppery +of expression and love of animal spirits as to be properly subject to +the satire the play provides for them? Are the women more sane in this +respect, despite their wit, or not? + +Is Shakespeare apparently on the women's side? + +QUERIES FOR DISCUSSION + +Is Costard the bumpkin the best actor in the Mask of the Worthies? +Why? Why is Jaquenetta the least and Moth the most discomfitted of the +third group of characters? + +Dowden says the women of the Play "have not the entire advantage on +their side." What do they lack? He also says, to bear this out, that +"Berowne is yet a larger nature than the Princess or Rosaline." What +has this to do with their relative advantage in the Play itself, as +Shakespeare shows it? + +Who are the critics of the falseness of artifice in the Play? Is +Berowne on the women's side in the criticism which gives them their +advantage? + + +VIII + +THE MORAL OF THE PLAY + +Is there a moral against the current educational methods and the +affectations social and literary of Shakespeare's time? The monastic +and aristocratic elements in education considered as opposed to the +progress of Women and the People. Show the general conditions of +education prevailing after the Middle Ages, and the new spirit of the +Renascence making itself felt, also the degree in which this appears +in this plot. If Shakespeare's spirit, as manifested in this Play, had +been more influential practically, do you think a different road would +have been taken? (For hints upon this line of thought see Introduction +in the "First Folio Edition"). How far is Berowne to be taken as the +spokesman of Shakespeare? Note what Pater says of him as "a reflex of +Shakespeare himself," and trace the truth of this as concerns the fact +that he is never "quite in touch" with the level of the understanding +shown by others of the Play, and state the bearing this has upon the +Moral of the Play. (See Pater's "Appreciations" or extract from same +in "Selected Criticism," pp. 242-248, "First Folio Edition"). + +Why does so frolicsome a Comedy end so seriously? Does that make it +funnier? + +QUERIES FOR DISCUSSION + +Is there really a moral in the Play in favor of nature and sincerity +or is it merely read into it? + +Is Dowden right, who says "there is a serious intention in the play," +or Barrett Wendell who says: "like modern comic opera, such +essentially lyric work as this has no profound meaning; its object is +just to delight, to amuse; whoever searches for significance in such +literature misunderstands it." + +In comparison with other comedies of Shakespeare, is a serious +undercurrent discernible in all of them, but none in this? + + +IX + +SHAKESPEARE'S PLAY AND TENNYSON'S POEM ("THE PRINCESS") UPON EDUCATION +OF MEN AND WOMEN + +Summarize story and outcome of Play and Poem in comparison and in +contrast. Does Shakespeare's exposition of the contemporary view of +education account for the condition Tennyson criticises? If so, are +women to blame for it? If not, how much does this modify Tennyson's +criticism of the educational exclusion that is the scheme of the +College in "The Princess?" Shakespeare seems to point his moral +against his male characters for their exclusiveness, Tennyson against +his women characters? Which one goes the deeper? Wherein do they agree +and disagree? How may they be made to supplement each other? Has +Tennyson's poem presented any phase of the question touching upon +popular interest in exclusive educational schemes? Is Shakespeare, +considering his time, the more democratic in his views of life, as +shown by this Play, in comparison with those brought out in Tennyson's +Poem. Why does Shakespeare leave the women in moral and actual command +of the situation? + +QUERIES FOR DISCUSSION + +Is co-education the right conclusion to draw from the exposition by +the Poets of educational restraints and the relation of men and women +to life? + +What ideals of life as to Nature and Education must be included in +educational schemes? Why does the Play not end with as many marriages +as there are lovers? Is it possibly because Shakespeare did not mean +to bring forward love between man and woman as if it were the only +thing in life but as the typical experience of life that should open +up the depths of knowledge not of love alone but of death and +suffering in relation to it. + + + + +MUCH ADOE ABOUT NOTHING + + +The title of this Comedy broadly describes its character, and is based +upon the double meaning of "Nothing." The events that constitute the +plot are the result of "note-ing" or overhearing and so taking note of +events which are deceptive in some way. Hence, in all the "note-ing" +that takes place, there is, after all "nothing," and the whole amusing +plot constitutes much ado about nothing. The letter "h" in _Nothing_ +was often silent in Elizabethan pronunciation. The "h" in "Moth" in +"Love's Labour's Lost" is another example. + +Noting or overhearing as a factor of the plot is introduced also in +"Love's Labour's Lost." It is one of several links in workmanship with +that Play and its use there may have suggested the production of a +Play almost altogether built, as this is, on overhearing or taking +critical notice such as Benedicke and Beatrice take of each other. + +The part of the plot that is based on an already existent story does +not develop this noteing element particularly. For that reason it is +the likelier that it is a device of Shakespeare's to make up his +Comedy. + + +ACT I + +CLAUDIO NOTES HERO WITH FAVOR AND IS NOTED WITH DISFAVOR + +The Story of Act I results, on the arrival of the Prince and his +suite, in making it known that Claudio has noted Hero as "the sweetest +Ladie" that ever he "lookt on." Show how it also comes out in Scene i +that a noting of a severer kind has passed between Benedicke and +Beatrice. The two kinds of special interest--the openly admiring +noting of Claudio, and the captious notice of each other shown by +Beatrice and Benedicke, initiate the two channels of action in which +the plot will run. The normal sex-agreement of the one pair of +characters is varied by contrast with the more unusual sex-warfare +that asserts itself humorously both in Beatrice and Benedicke. Bring +out pertinent examples of their defiance of love and marriage. What +is to be gathered of Hero and her point of view from this Act? How +much from others, from little from herself? And how much from her of +others? Contrast with hers the witness given of herself by Beatrice. +Is Claudio taciturn, too, when compared with Benedicke? + +What noting goes on in scene ii? Is it in accordance with what has +already taken place between Claudio and the Prince? What additional +noting comes out in Sc. iii. Is this in accordance with Scene i or +Scene ii? Act I closes with a sense of some confusion which Act II is +required to clear up. In addition to the inconsistency, notice Don +John's enmity to Claudio, and its menace of disaster. + +QUERIES FOR DISCUSSION + +Is the inconsistency of the last three scenes misleading and puzzling +rather than alluring to the curiosity of the reader? + +Could it be made more interesting on the stage by the way of enacting +the part of Brother Anthony? + + +ACT II + +THE PRINCE PLOTS FOR TRUE NOTING AND HIS BROTHER FOR FALSE + +Tell the story of the masked ball. What new light is thrown, first, on +the characters and, then, on the plot by means of these fragmentary +bits of dialogue heard as the revellers pass on and off stage +together. + +Is Don John really misled as to his Brother's intentions toward Hero? + +What does Hero herself think? + +Does Don Pedro himself show that he is acting for another--that the +god, Love, dwells beneath his visor? The modernized edition spoils one +of the references to this office in which the Prince labors for Love +and does a labor of love in whose disinterestedness some doubt is +expressed. By changing Love to Jove (in II, i, 92) a literal +correction is made in accord with the legend referred to, but in +entire destruction of the point made by the Prince, if Shakespeare +means to adapt the allusion to his special purpose. Note also +Benedicke's name for Claudio (II, iii, 34). What is your opinion of +this? (See Note on II, i, 91, in "First Folio Edition"). Compare +another instance where the Prince shows that he is acting for Cupid +(II, i, 358-367). Is Don Pedro the most active spirit in the plot? +Show how in Acts I and II, it is made clear that the plot will consist +in the prevalence of either a favorable or unfavorable influence upon +the happiness of the characters. Who represents each influence? + +Notice that the favorable influence in its first action in favor of +Claudio's happiness is misunderstood, discounted and disbelieved in +several directions. Is Claudio led to distrust of the Prince by others +or by his own jealousy? + +In the second action of the favorable influence initiated by the +Prince, which of the characters share? Does the unfavorable influence +work against Benedicke's happiness? + +What is Borachio's place in the action of the unfavorable influence? + +QUERIES FOR DISCUSSION + +Noteing or overhearing is itself nothing or has a large element of the +deceptive in it. How is it made to work well in Benedicke's case? Is +the element of truth the only one that is effective? + + +ACT III + +THE NOTE-ING IS NOTED + +Show that the action taking the Story on consists in the "note-ing" +already planned being enacted and being noted as true. How does this +work with Beatrice in Scene i? + +In Scene ii the unfavorable influence makes its preparation to carry +on the plot disastrously by the same method. How is this made clear? + +In Scene iii the "note-ing" is as effective for evil as that in scene +i, is for good. But a counter influence is brought to bear upon it +which consists in "noteing" the falsity of the first "noteing." Show +how this is arranged and promises to solve all difficulty. But the +marriage is shown next to be in active preparation, and then the +promise of intervention in time to frustrate Hero's disgrace is in +scene v itself frustrated by the bestowal of all Dogberry's +"tediousness" upon Leonato and by his own impatience. Show the place +in the action of the hurrying on of scene iv, and the tediousness of +scene v, and of both on the humor of the Play. + +QUERIES FOR DISCUSSION + +Are the Prince and Claudio justified in the action they propose? + +Is the element of chance, which both destroys the falseness of the +evidence by means of Borachio's talk, and prevents it from being known +by Dogberry's, especially fitting? Why? + + +ACT IV + +HERO IS REPUDIATED AND BEFRIENDED + +Does Claudio's demeanor in the repudiation scene betray the violence +of love? + +What is to be inferred from the Prince's words and those of his +bastard brother Don John? + +Is it natural for Leonato to be convinced and to know his daughter no +better? + +Why is the Friar on her side? Notice how the Friar represents the +Church as Dogberry does the Law. As institutional forces of civic +life, outside the circle of the central group of characters, they +intervene in the action of the drama when it is properly amenable to +outside influences and civic instrumentalities. And both are brought +into the sphere of the Play by a means in sympathy with the artistic +method belonging to it. Observe how Dogberry is made humorously to +desire to have everything noted down, and how the Friar has come to +the conclusion that Hero is innocent "by noting of the Ladie." With +the Friar on her side, Hero and her one staunch friend--Beatrice are +enabled to follow a policy of resistance to her disgrace and of +re-establishment, first, of her good fame and, then, of her happiness. +How is this brought about? The share of the Friar in rallying her +friends to be loyal, and the share of Beatrice in instituting a +counter-movement to the accusation combine to what effect? How does it +suit with the scheme of the action that the love of Benedicke and +Beatrice here attains its climax? + +What does scene ii accomplish for the plot? + +QUERIES FOR DISCUSSION + +Is the injection of tragedy at this Fourth Act into the Comedy +effective? Does it change the character of the Comedy or merely +intensify it? + +Does Beatrice ask an unreasonable deed of Benedicke when she says +"Kill Claudio"? Suppose it were to prove true, instead of to be +prevented as may be already guessed, by the defeat of Don John's false +witness and evil influence: Is Beatrice justified in refusing +Benedicke if he will not kill his friend because it shows "there is no +love" in him? + + +ACT V + +THE DOUBLE WEDDING + +The valor and humor of the two old men against the two young ones has +especial value in restoring the comic vein. How does this somewhat +belated loyalty of Leonato act upon our sympathy with him? Does the +forbearance of Claudio and the Prince toward the two men raise our +esteem of them or lead to further dislike? + +What effect has the mock heroics of their ineffective challenge on +Benedicke's earnest championship of Hero? Is the Prince's satiric +speech (V, i, 208-209) to be interpreted as complimentary to +Benedicke? Notice Claudio's next speech in comment upon it, and +explain the implications intended. + +What does Leonato mean by blaming Borachio less than the three nobles? +How far do you think him justified--the relations of master to man at +the time being considered? + +Was Margaret to blame? Why did she not make the cheat known? (Cf. V, +iv, 5-7 with V, i, 311-314). Is it worth while to spend much time on +making all minor details clear? + +Is Claudio's consent to a second marriage creditable, natural, or a +clumsy expedient which only the entire hollowness of the whole plot of +false noting as to Hero renders endurable? Can you imagine any way of +acting the part of Claudio that would make it seem attractive? + +Do you find it in character at the wedding that one couple says so +little, the other so much? + +QUERIES FOR DISCUSSION + +Is the ending of the Plot happily contrived in too forced and unreal a +way? + +Which is the most stirring scheme in the Play and why? + +Which is the funniest, and is it possible to say why? + +THE CHARACTERS + +Does this Play succeed in giving so extremely definite and varied an +impression of the characters that it is chiefly notable for that? To +bring out this idea of the plot as successful less in itself than +because it illuminates the quality and humor of the characters, +compare with the "Comedie of Errors" or any of the Plays where events +figure more prominently. Show how the events of this Play may be said +to be created by the Characters. The Prince and his Brother (and their +tools on each side who lend themselves to their plans with Dogberry, +the highly unconscious, and the Friar, the highly conscious character) +by being what they are constitute the diverse means of influencing the +whole turn of events. These persons may all be considered with +reference to what they are themselves, in character, and through that, +in relation to the other characters of the Comedy. + +BENEDICKE AND BEATRICE, CLAUDIO AND HERO + +These two loving couples reveal their special characters most vividly +by means of their contrasting and supplementary relations to each +other. Show how Benedicke and Beatrice do not throw Claudio and Hero +too much in the shade by their superior brilliancy, because through +the love of the minor couple their own love is enabled to ripen. Is +their character heightened or lessened in wit and individual interest +by love? + +The minor characters: Show how the adversity of the family brings out +the heroic element lying unobserved in Brother Anthony of the "dry +hand," and kindles his philosophy into something martial. + +The merry maids, Ursula and Margaret and their light-hearted parts in +the plot. + +QUERIES FOR DISCUSSION + +Beatrice "is a tarter,--and, if a natural woman, is not a pleasing +representative of her sex." She "will provoke her Benedicke to give +her much and just conjugal castigation," says Campbell. Is he right, +and will Benedicke feel so?--or is Swinburne right, who says she is "a +decidedly more perfect woman than could properly or permissibly have +trod the stage of Congreve or Moliere" and who speaks of her "light +true heart"? + +Is the superficial Claudio worthy of Hero? + +Are the faults in the plot of the Play, such as are necessitated by +the design of using the characters themselves and their "noting" of +one another as the source of events, and, therefore, in the last +analysis not faults, a study of their relation to the design leading +us, as Hartley Coleridge puts it, never to censure Shakespeare without +finding reason to eat our words? + + + + +A MIDSOMMER NIGHTS DREAME + + +Having read "A Midsommer Nights Dreame" as a whole, if it be not +already fresh in the mind, or, if possible, having seen it acted, then +consider more carefully the characteristics of its dramatic structure, +studying the plot and progress of the story as it is unfolded act by +act, also the sources, the characters, and so forth, as suggested in +the following study. + + +ACT I + +THE CROSSED LOVERS + +Sum up the incidents and characters introduced in the first Act and +ascertain which are most important in influencing the rest of the +story. + +It may be noticed that Theseus and Hippolyta and their marriage +festivities are personages and events which make up a decorative +external sort of frame for the whole play, but that the centre of the +action takes its start, primarily, from the conflict of Hermia's love +for Lysander with her father's choice of Demetrius, and, secondarily, +from the clash of Helena's love for Demetrius with his suit for +Hermia. Show how the brisk bit of dialogue between Hermia and Lysander +(I. i. 141-166) implies the forthcoming plot. For example, it may be +shown that 'to be enthrall'd to love' (the first folio reading is +_love_ instead of _low_, which was an emendation of Theobald's,) +[Footnote: See foot note in First Folio edition.] and to have +'sympathy in choice' made as 'momentary as a sound, swift as a shadow, +short as any dream,' is to be the fate of all the lovers in the play, +except Theseus and Hippolyta, and to constitute the substance of the +action. + +Consider what relation the second scene has to the story. Is it more +extraneous to the movement than the scene presenting the Duke and his +bride? It is linked to the crossed lovers group, on the one side, by +the part the chief of the 'rude mechanicals,' Bottom, is to assume +with Titania, although this does not appear in the first Act, and +Shakespeare's intention to do something special with this character is +only shadowed forth here by its prominence. On the other side it is +linked to the ducal group still more superficially, merely by the +rehearsal of a piece to be played at the wedding. It may be contrasted +with the preparation in 'Hamlet' for a piece similarly played before +the Court, but which had a vital connection with the action and +characters which is lacking here. Can there be said to be an artistic +design, however, though of a more external sort, in the contrast +between the Court scene and the rehearsal scene, and the realistic +offset the latter scene supplies to the fairy fantasies that are to +follow in the next acts? For instance, it may be shown that the +merriment the clownish scene provides balances the dignity of the +ducal scene. His audience, having put a yoke upon the dramatists by +requiring a clown, his genius is betokened here by his making it an +artistic advantage. + +POINTS 1. 'The ancient privilege of Athens,' I. i. 49. What was the +position of the father toward the family in Attica? 2. 'On Dian's +altar to protest,' i. 98. Did the service of Diana offer women a +respite from masculine dictation? Compare the myth of Iphigenia's +salvation by Diana. 3. 'To that place the sharp Athenian law cannot +pursue,' i. 172. What Grecian states had laws more lenient to women? +4. What traces can be found in history or legend of the victory of +Theseus over the Amazons, and the rise of a new civic order on the +ruins of a matriarchate? 5. The story of Pyramus and Thisbe (see +Chaucer's 'Legend of Good Women' for an early English use of the +story). 6. Explanation of allusions to Phoebe, Cupid, Ercles, etc. + + +ACT I + +QUERIES FOR DISCUSSION + +Upon what does the interest centre in Act I? In the marriage of +Hippolyta and Theseus, or the love affairs of the four lovers? + +Is Hermia, whose determination not to be forced to marry starts the +plot, the best-drawn character in the first Act? + + +ACT II + +THE FAIRIES' QUARREL + +Show how in this Act a new agency of a fairies' quarrel is devised and +set forth. + +Point out how this is made to crystallize in Oberon's scheme for +revenge on Titania, and also how, in the course of disentangling their +own love-snarl, it is made to develop the conflict between the crossed +lovers. This, it may be emphasized, is the second step in the +movement, as Hermia's and Helena's love was the first, and these two +main factors of the action are taken up together in this act. + +Are the other two groups which were introduced in the first act, the +Duke's party and Bottom's set, interwoven with the new fairy group in +any way in this Act? See if the new fairy element now shows any +disposition in the person of Oberon to smooth out the difficulties of +the mortals. + +Oberon's intentions, however, were one thing, and his deeds another. +Through Puck as his instrument, his jealousy at once begins to make +matters worse instead of better for the lovers. Notice the delicate +appropriateness of Oberon's means of influence, namely Puck and the +two flowers, the first being 'Cupid's flower,'--Love in idleness--the +second 'Dian's bud,' introduced later to correct the influence of the +first. The first flower assists in the development of a plot which is +to enact the 'momentariness' of 'sympathy in choice.' The +cross-purpose, fostered by Puck's mistake, seems to provide the +comparatively grosser sort of merriment for this Act which Bottom and +his friends supplied for the first; and the dainty humor and sprightly +novelty attending the introduction of the fairies on the scene, the +description of their quarrel, and the foreshadowing of the influence +they are to have on the next stages of the story, may be shown to +occupy the chief place in the plot at this period, the crossed lovers, +who predominated in the first Act, now falling into a relatively +subordinate position. + +POINTS 1. Robin Goodfellow and the traditions about him. 2. Fairies +and changelings. 3. The stories of Theseus's loves. 4. Explanation of +allusions to nine men's morris, old Hiems, etc. 5. Account of theories +as to meaning of references to _the imperiall votresse, a little +westerne flower, a mearemaide on a dolphins backe_, etc. Warburton +says the mermaid was meant for Mary Queen of Scots. N.H. Halpin thinks +that by Cynthia is meant Queen Elizabeth; by Tellus, Lady Douglas; by +the little 'western flower,' Lettice, wife of Walter, Earl of Essex, +while Cupid is Leicester. (See "First Folio Edition" for particulars). +6. Explain use of 'Lob,' II. i. 15; 'wodde,' 200. 7. 'The starres shot +madly from their Spheares,' i. 159. Look up Ptolemaic system of +astronomy for explanation of the idea. Compare "Merchant of Venice," +V. i. 71-75, and notes on same in "First Folio Edition" of that play. +8. What is "Love in idleness"? (See Introduction to "First Folio +Edition" of "A Midsommer Nights Dreame" for references to this flower +in Chaucer's poem of "The Flower and the Leaf.") Compare "The Taming +of the Shrew," I. i. 156. 9. What are "Cankers" in the musk rosebuds? +II. ii. 4. + +QUERIES FOR DISCUSSION + +Is it probable that the various passages in this act said to allude to +current incidents were so intended? In that case what effect do they +have upon the beauty of a Play set in Athens? + +Is the interest of this Act a divided one? + + +ACT III + +CROSS-EFFECTS OF OBERON'S SPELL + +Analyze the scenes constituting this Act. Observe that scene i. takes +up Bottom and his fellows, the group not as yet brought into relation +with the fairy group, and initiates them in the magic of fairy land by +means of the new but appropriate head Puck bestows upon Bottom. Why is +Bottom picked out for this favor? The 'ass-head' as a symbolic piece +of stage furniture. Show how this transformation makes the mismating +of Titania with Bottom more gross and obvious to the audience; also +how this is the next direct effect of Oberon's revenge. + +Notice that scene ii. takes up the cross-effect already worked upon +Lysander by Puck's mistake, instead of on Demetrius, as Oberon +intended, and sets forth its further effects upon Helena and Hermia. +The dialogues between the two pairs of lovers now overheard by Oberon +makes the error clear, and so enables him to take the first step in +clearing up the tangle. Meantime, the poet and his audience agree with +Puck that they are so far 'glad it so did sort, As this their +jangling' is esteemed 'a sport.' + +POINTS 1. Explain 'It shall be written in eight and sixe,' III. i. +23-4. 2. The custom in Shakespeare's day as to the women's parts. +Would it have been as amusing to the audience then as it would be to +us when Quince says 'Robin Starveling, you play Thisbies mother'? 3. +Pyramus and Thisbe. This may have been derived from Ovid, or from +Chaucer's "Legend of Good Women," or C. Robinson's "Handful of +Pleasant Delights." (1504.) 4. Explain 'Two of the first like coats in +heraldry,' III. ii. 220. 5. Describe the personal appearance of the +heroines from the references made. + +QUERIES FOR DISCUSSION + +Is Puck or Bottom the presiding genius of this act? + +Does the jangling between the two women belittle them as heroines, and +is it, therefore, a blot upon the beauty of the play? + + +ACT IV + +HARMONIZING EFFECTS OF OBERON'S SPELL + +Trace throughout this act the smoothing-out process. + +Why does Oberon himself release Titania while Puck is made to minister +to the other victims of the charm? Is Oberon's explanation of the +Fairy Queen's sudden change of heart about the changeling quite +satisfactory, or does it simply appear so by a sort of artistic +sleight-of-hand characteristic of Shakespeare in small touches at the +close of a plot? + +Show how poetically suitable as a stage effect the entry of Theseus +and his huntsmen is,--shedding the first rays of morning on the +night-enchanted lovers. + +Why is Bottom made to waken last? Perhaps because he helps to denote +the prose of broad daylight. Show what relation scene ii. has to the +completion of the smoothing-out process. + +POINTS. 1. 'I was with Hercules and Cadmus once,' IV. i. 126. What +relation had Hippolyta to these Greek heroes? 2. Account of May-day +rites. 3. Traditions of St. Valentine. 4. Rites of Midsummer Eve. + +QUERIES FOR DISCUSSION + +Why is the choice of Hermia's father for her no longer supported by +the Duke? Does this imply a criticism on the inconsistency of allowing +men their choice, and their brides none, with which Shakespeare was in +sympathy, or is this only apparent to some modern minds? + + +ACT V + +THE THREEFOLD MASK + +If the central action of the play be considered as virtually concluded +with the fourth Act, what office is performed by the fifth Act? + +Notice that in it the three groups of characters constituting the +play--the court group with the lovers; the 'rude mechanicals' and +their 'tedious brief scene,' and the fairy train--are in this Act all +brought upon the stage, the whole spectacle being set in the palace at +Athens, in celebration of the wedding festivities of the ducal pair, +which, as before noticed, is used as a sort of decorative frame for +the play as a whole. + +Examine the working-out of this unified presentation of all the +personages. How are we to account for the silence of the women who +were made to do so much towards the institution of the action? Show +the poetic reasons for the entrance of Puck and the fairies last of +all, and when the stage is empty. + +POINTS. 1. Explanation of all mythical allusions. 2. Account of +theories as to meaning of 'The thrice three muses,' etc., V. i. 59. 3. +What is a 'Bergomask dance'? 4. The date and occasion of the play: +This play appears in Meres's list of 1598 and in the Quartos of 1600. +Titania's description of the unseasonable weather (II. i. 92, foll.) +may refer to the year 1594. Note that Chaucer in the 'Knight's Tale' +speaks of the tempest at Hippolyta's home-coming. Many critics have +believed that the play was written on the occasion of some marriage in +high life, but they do not agree as to whose it was. + +QUERIES FOR DISCUSSION + +Upon what does the interest of the last Act centre? How does the +ending suit the various threads of the Play? + +Is Theseus or Hippolyta the wiser critic of 'the story of the night'; +and which of them is the wiser critic of the play of Pyramus and +Thisbe? + +SOURCES OF THE PLAY + +1. WHERE SHAKESPEARE FOUND SUGGESTIONS FOR HIS MORTALS + +In Plutarch's 'Life of Theseus' will be found passages which furnished +Shakespeare with some points for his drama. Chaucer's 'Knight's Tale' +is also said to have given him material. The editor of the "First +Folio Edition" suggests in the introduction that a reading by +Shakespeare of a poem in his day supposed to be Chaucer's, 'The Flower +and the Leaf,' gave him an important hint for his plot. Examine for +yourself, and state what indebtedness you find in any of these +sources. In I. i. 20, Theseus says to Hippolyta, 'I woo'd thee with my +sword.' Compare this with the account given in Chaucer. According to +another version of the story Hercules gave Hippolyta to his kinsman +Theseus in marriage. Compare 'The Two Noble Kinsmen' and the 'Knight's +Tale' with Shakespeare's 'Dreame.' + + +2. WHERE SHAKESPEARE FOUND SUGGESTIONS FOR HIS FAIRIES + +The models in literature from which Shakespeare drew may have been +'Huon of Bordeaux,' where he got little, however, but the name Oberon. +The name Titania may have been derived from Ovid's 'Metamorphoses.' +The Fairy Queen in Shakespeare's day usually went by the name of Queen +Mab. Puck's characteristics seem to have been derived from the little +tract of 'Robin Goodfellow, His Mad Pranks and Merry Jests.' Rolfe, in +the notes to his edition of the play, says that White argues that this +was probably written after "A Midsommer Nights Dreame." Ward thinks +that the entire machinery of Oberon and his court may have been +derived from Greene's 'Scottish History of James IV,' and that Titania +may have been suggested by Chaucer's 'Wife of Bath's Tale.' He +probably owed his fairies in great measure to tradition or folk-lore. +The folk-lore of England was originally made up of Teutonic elements, +which have been modified by Danish and Norman invasions, by remnants +of old Keltic belief, and by the introduction of Christianity, which +last degraded the good fairies into mischievous elves. (See Hazlitt, +'Fairy Mythology of Shakespeare,' Halliwell's 'Illustrations of the +Fairy Mythology of Midsummer Night's Dream,' also _Poet-Lore_, April, +1891, 'Fairy-lore in Midsummer Night's Dream.') + +3. SOLAR ORIGIN OF THE FAIRIES + +According to some authorities the Teutonic mythology was of cosmic +origin. In the fairies may be seen many reflections of cosmic +characteristics. Oberon and Titania are fairies of the night, and the +old battle between light and darkness shows itself in the mad pranks +which they play on unsuspecting mortals. But as the daylight comes +they are obliged to flee. Puck reflects the characteristics of a wind +god. (See Cox, 'Myths of the Aryan Nations;' also Korner, 'Solar Myths +in Midsummer Night's Dream,' _Poet-Lore_, Jan., 1891). Compare his +character with that of Hermes in the Homeric Hymn to Hermes (Shelley's +Translation). + +SYMPOSIUM OF OPINION ON THE CHARACTERS + +1. THE LOVERS + +QUERIES FOR DISCUSSION + +1. Hermia and Helena are hardly worth considering, but if anything +Helena is to be preferred to Hermia because she is so humble, and +shows no sign of jealousy of Hermia. 2. If Hermia had been more +dignified when she found that both the lovers had turned their +attention to Helena, she would better have carried out the promise of +her character in the first Act when she declared she would rather die +than wed the man chosen by her father. + + +2. HIPPOLYTA AND THESEUS + +QUERIES FOR DISCUSSION + +1. The only indication we have of the character of Hippolyta is in the +last act, where she is so bored by the play of 'Pyramus and Thisbe.' +Does this show stupidity on her part or exceptional development? 2. Do +you agree with Dowden that there is no figure in the early drama of +Shakespeare so magnificent as Theseus? His insistence in Act I. that +Hermia should obey her father against her own inclinations is +certainly not very praiseworthy, but might be excused on the score of +the times in which he lived. 3. His complaisance toward Quince and his +companions has been considered an indication that he was a most +perfect gentleman; does he not rather conceitedly patronize them? + +3. THE FAIRIES + +QUERIES FOR DISCUSSION + +1. Have the Fairies any idea of morality? 2. Oberon was perfectly +justified in wishing to get the changeling from his wife, and shows +himself worthy of becoming a mortal for insisting on his rights as a +husband. 3. Titania is the most developed woman character in the play, +because she insists on her individual right to the changeling. 4. Is +Puck a more developed fairy than Ariel in 'The Tempest'? + +4. THE PLAYERS + +QUERIES FOR DISCUSSION + +1. Is Shakespeare making fun of the stupidity of Quince and his +companions, or is he gently satirizing the stage and the exaggerated +style of writing for the stage which prevailed at this time? 2. If the +last is true, is not Shakespeare in the last act making fun of the +audience, as well as of the players, who with a superior air pass +judgment upon the play and indulge in very lame wit, while the real +meaning of it quite escapes them. + +SYMPOSIUM OF OPINION ON FAVORITE PASSAGES + +Every member of the class or club should bring in a short paper giving +his favorite passage in the play and why he likes it, including his +criticism of the metre, of the metaphors and similes, and the thought +contained. + +QUERIES FOR DISCUSSION + +1. Which characters in the play are original with Shakespeare? 2. What +is to be thought of Shakespeare for bringing together in one play +Greek mythology, English folk-lore, and English workmen of his own +age? Does this commixture of elements make the Play seem unnatural or +incongruous? Has he skilfully harmonised these diverse elements by +giving the Play its dream-like character? 3. That this play is +charming cannot be disputed. Is its chief charm its humor, its fancy, +its dramatic construction, or subtle developments of character? + + + + +THE MERCHANT OF VENICE + + +Sufficiently indirect use of contemporary political events in a Play +was a cause of popularity without seeming dangerous to the State. + +As "Love's Labour's Lost" is an early example of a plot woven out of +masked allusions to current topics, so even as definitely plotted a +comedy as "The Merchant of Venice" here and there worked in an +animating shred of contemporary reference. + +After Dr. Roderigo Lopez, the Queen's physician, was accused by Don +Antonio of Portugal, and executed June 7, 1594, on the charge of being +bribed by the King of Spain to poison Queen Elizabeth, the story of a +Shylock's defeat and the rescue from his clutches of an Anthonio had +just enough relevance to be popular without definiteness enough to be +obtrusive. + + +ACT I + +SHYLOCK'S "MERRIE BOND" + +Why is Anthonio sad? Is it presentiment? Is it, despite his unselfish +willingness to furnish forth Bassanio to sue at Belmont for Portia, +some sense of loss in friendship through this love? Anthonio and +Bassanio may be considered as examples of that devoted friendship +illustrated by Valentine's feelings towards Protheus in "The Two +Gentlemen of Verona." + +The group of young and gay courtiers circling about the two friends +bring them into brighter relief. + +Unlike Protheus, though perhaps younger and less wrapped up in the +sense of friendship than Anthonio is, Bassanio is worthy of such +regard. Do the "faire speechless messages" he has received from +Portia's eyes and his praise of her as "nothing undervalued to +Brutus's Portia" tell the cause of his quest better than what is said +of her wealth? Notice that even what he says of that is as a mere +grace of her person: "her sunny locks Hang on her temples," etc. (I. +i. 177-181). + +What reasons had Shylock for hating Anthonio? + +Does Anthonio's demand that he lend the money to him as an enemy +justify the terms of the bond? + +Is Bassanio right in distrusting, and wrong in accepting such a bond? + +The long pedigree of Jewish and Christian antipathy and its +illustration in this bond by the characters that are its exemplars. + +What is to be gathered of Portia in this Act before she meets again +with Bassanio? + +QUERIES FOR DISCUSSION + +Are Anthonio and Shylock more individual than typical? + +Does the Act close with assurance of good luck or foreboding of bad? + +Is Bassanio a fortune hunter? + +Is he to blame for what follows? + + +ACT II + +PORTIA'S CASKETS + +Why is Jessica's story intertwined with Portia's? What dramatic +purposes does it serve? Are Jessica and Launce alike justified in +leaving Shylock? Why? (See Introduction to the Play in First Folio +Edition for suggestion). Is the Jew's lament for his daughter although +piteous, inadequate. + +Is the choice of the gold and the silver by the Moor and Spaniard +significant of their natures? + +What reason is there to find in the symbolism and the persuasion to +choice each suitor employs that Portia's father has used the wisdom of +a seer in prescribing the choice from the three caskets? + +QUERIES FOR DISCUSSION + +Do you like Jessica? Why? In what ways are Portia and Jessica alike in +the generousness of love though opposite in circumstances? + +Is Jessica's elopement to blame for her father's joy in the wreckage +of Anthonio's ships and his final exaction of the bond? Was it +introduced in the Plot for this purpose? + + +ACT III + +BASSANIO'S LUCK AND ANTHONIO'S LOSS + +Shakespeare's creed of love as engendered in the eyes may be +illustrated by passages in many other plays as well as this. What is +meant by it? + +Is Bassanio's daring in venturing so much for his chance with Portia +itself a sign of his fitness, or the reverse? How is his casket +significant of this test-stone--i.e., adventurousness? + +Is the match of Nerissa and Gratiano an irrelevance to Portia's and +Bassanio's courtship or an enhancement of their happiness? Show how +the two points of climax in event and feeling balance absolutely but +do not sacrifice each other? Are Shakespeare's experiments in bold +juxtaposition of extreme fortune and happiness and utterly +irretrievable devastation anywhere so poignant as the arrival of +Anthonio's letter at the betrothal of Bassanio and Portia? + +QUERIES FOR DISCUSSION + +Is the secret of Bassanio's adventurousness the supreme honor in which +he holds love? Nothing else being of so much consequence, he yields +everything to love. Does Jessica, also? + +The "manners" of Portia, according to Gildon, "are not always +agreeable or convenient to her Sex and Quality; particularly where she +scarce preserves her modesty in the expression." What is to be thought +of this? + +Is Anthonio's letter characteristic of his nobleness as a friend, or +is it too insistent upon bringing Bassanio to him, since to send such +a letter was equivalent to fetching him? + +Is it Portia's best warrant as a noble bride and wife that she +appreciates Anthonio's message and friendship? + + +ACT IV + +THE LUCK REDEEMS THE LOSS + +By means of Bassanio's luck in winning Portia's love and hand Shylock +is finally defeated of his malicious purpose. Portia considered as the +embodiment of Bassanio's luck and the instrument bringing Shylock to +confusion. + +Does it matter whether the law-point is disputable or not since the +traditional stories on which the Play is built up afford the +opportunity for its use? + +Does Shylock get Justice, since he had refused mercy? + +Illustrate the legal knowledge and studies of Italian women of the +Renaissance affording a parallel for Portia's sagacity and leadership. +(For hints see pp. 256-260 in "First Folio Edition.") + +QUERIES FOR DISCUSSION + +Do you think Shylock is wronged? + +Does Shylock so preponderate the Play as to destroy its balance, and +outweighing all other characters make them insignificant? + +Are Actors justified in acting the Play so as to dwarf the Love plot +and cut out Act V as needless? + +Is Portia the proper counterpart in consummate character creation to +Shylock? To whom does, if properly played, the ultimate interest of +the Play belong? + +Why does this position belong to no other character's part? + + +ACT V + +THE RINGS + +What is the business of Act V? + +How is it linked to the preceding Act? Since reunion and rejoicing are +not alone the business of the plot; since recognition and declaration +to the two husbands, and to Anthonio, especially, are needed, as well +as to the others, of the part played by the wives in solving the +difficulties of the plot, the Ring scenes constitute the due dramatic +conclusion of the Play. Note that the threat of quarrel over the +reluctant but requisite giving away of the rings in the preceding Act +makes a deceptively serious difficulty. It is happily to be solved as +a result of the wives' preceding action. This difficulty and this +solution at this final stage of the plot constitute a little character +play that is an epitome of the action. The whole is the more happily +and amusingly solved that the Audience is wise and the characters +still in the dark are really perplexed. + +Point out the value of the exchange of Rings as made clear in these +two ways, by bringing out the characters of Gratiano, Bassanio, and +especially of Anthonio as peace-maker; and by bringing out to them the +fact that to the wives' love and skill the victory over the +difficulties they suffered is due. + +Are the rings the sole test of this? + +What other news adds to the general denouement of all difficulties? + +Is the summing up of the Play a victory of love and intelligence over +hate and narrow-mindedness? + +Show how the rings symbolize this, and music and moonlight provide the +proper atmosphere for its operation. The appropriateness of the +moonlight for a calm out of strife, brought about by women, is matched +by the fitness of music and the reference to the harmony of the +spheres to suggest that earth-harmony to which Portia was presiding +Angel. + +QUERIES FOR DISCUSSION + +Is any incident of Act V without relevance to the plot? + +Is the Play the nobler or the weaker dramatically for the poetic and +symbolic influence shed upon it by Act V? + + + + +THE MERRY WIVES OF WINDSOR + + +If this Comedy was written, as tradition reports at the bidding of +Queen Elizabeth in order to show Falstaffe in love, it is interesting +to see that Shakespeare confines his love-making to mercenary motives, +and by causing him to make love to two at once renders him as a lover +merely a cheat. + +So keeping the word of promise to the ear, he obeys by breaking it to +the sense. To show Falstaffe as a lover amounts to showing him as no +lover at all. + +In this sense, the Play might be called a courteous satire upon the +Queen's request. + + +THE STORY OF ACT I + +FALSTAFFE IS FORCED TO "CONICATCH" + +How Falstaffe falls into trouble, turns away his followers and begins +a new enterprise: How do his followers take revenge? What light upon +this opening of the story do scenes i. and iii. show? + +What is the underplot as shown in scenes ii. and iv and a part of +scene i? + +Do they appear to have anything to do with each other? + +QUERIES FOR DISCUSSION + +Which of her suitors does Anne prefer? Which is to be preferred? + +Is the grievance of Shallow against Falstaffe a necessity of the plot +to show the fat knight in love, or an episode introduced out of +Shakespeare's grudge towards Sir Thomas Lucy? (See pp. 117-119, +138-141, etc., "First Folio Edition.") + + +THE STORY OF ACT II + +THE MERRY WIVES AND FORD LAY PLOTS + +In Act II a third under-intrigue that of Ford with Falstaffe is added +to the two before introduced. + +Show how the Merry Wives reveal their separate personalities in their +reception of the duplicate letters, and their plot to dupe Falstaffe. + +Contrast their two husbands as their natures and marital relations are +shown by their different manner of taking the information given them +by Nym and Pistol. Ford, considered as Shakespeare's first study of +jealousy. How does he compare with Leontes? + +How does Ford assist in the plot of the Play? + +What pertinence to Ford's jealousy is there in the allusion to Queen +Elizabeth's Sonnet? (II, ii, 199-200). + +The Sources of the Merry Wives' intrigue and what Shakespeare has done +with them. (See "Sources," First Folio Edition). How is the Duel scene +related to the underplot? + +What characters belong in common to plot and counterplot? + +QUERIES FOR DISCUSSION + +Does Falstaffe show any material differences in character as he +appears in this Play, in comparison with the way he appears in "Henry +IV?" + + +THE STORY OF ACT III + +THE DOUBLE DUPERY + +Contrast the feelings of Falstaffe before and after the Buckbasket +episode? + +In which scene is Ford the worst duped? + +Give an account of Dame Quickly's relations to the intrigues, and show +how her multitudinous offices as go-between interfere with each other +so that she is "slacke" in one of her errands. What is the effect of +her slackness on the contradictions in the time of the action. (See +Duration of the Action, in "First Folio Edition"). Are they only +seeming contradictions? The Sources of the Ford intrigue and what +Shakespeare has done with them. + +Anne and her father and mother as characterized in this act, with +relation to the suitors. + +QUERIES FOR DISCUSSION + +Is Anne the only character one can thoroughly sympathize with? + +Are the situations such as owe their fun largely to coincidence, like +those in the "Comedie of Errors," or to a teeming variousness in the +human naturalness of all the characters? + + +THE STORY OF ACT IV + +FORD'S ENLIGHTENMENT + +Why is the Old Woman of Brentford trick a climax upon that of the +Buckbasket? + +Falstaffe's wish that all the world might be cheated is true to the +method of the Play. Show in exemplification of this, how a fourth +intrigue grows out of the third, and is introduced as late as this +fourth Act. How is the joke of the Host against Dr. Caius and Sir Hugh +Evans avenged? Is this reference to the "three Cozen Jermans" that are +said to run away with the Host's horses, liklier to be an allusion +seriously made to a real event or to make use of it as an entirely +fictitious intrigue and practical joke in the Play? Is this mock +happening such as could be clear by the method of enacting it and one +entirely consonant with this Comedy as a farce-mosaic of laughable +tricks? (See pp. 120-121, 179-180, also Note on IV. iii. 6). Discuss +probabilities. The turn taken in the plot: Show how all combine +against Falstaffe; also the place of this intrigue in making material +for Act V. + +QUERIES FOR DISCUSSION + +Has the "Merry Wives" any serious or tragic moments such as belong +usually to Shakespeare's Comedies? + +Compare the jealousy of Ford with the jealousy of Adriana in the +"Comedie of Errors." Which exemplifies the riper treatment and why? + + +THE STORY OF ACT V + +THE DEFEAT OF MERCENARY LOVEMAKING + +Make clear the ins and outs of the Fairy trap, first for its actors, +then for the dupes? Can the apparent inconsistencies in the wearing of +green or white and the mention of "Quickly" for "Queene" be accounted +for on the supposition that everybody is deceived except Nan and +Fenton? (See Notes on V. v. 421, 205-209). + +The compliments to Queen Elizabeth in the Play: What are they and how +is their appropriateness to the Plot made good? + +Consider the "humors" of the Welsh and French speeches and episodes as +exploitations and developments of the similar humors of Fluellen and +the Frenchmen of "Henry V." + +The fairy scenes and effects of this Play compared with those of the +wedding night feast at the end of "A Midsommer Nights Dreame." + +What indications are there in the Falstaffe of "Henry IV." that he is +superficially affected by the Puritanism about him? Is he any more +deeply affected by it in the present Play? What is the difference in +his appearance in this Play with respect to Puritanic morals: Is he +more affected by them, at the last, when he is so grossly their +victim, or have they grown, and put him out of date in England except +as an atavism? + +Have Page and his Wife any loftier standpoint as to mercenary love +than Falstaffe himself? Is Fenton's speech (V. v. 225-235) the moral +of the last Act or is Ford's (237-238)? + +QUERIES FOR DISCUSSION + +Is the main design of the Play to "cure Ford of his unreasonable +jealousy," as Rowe says, or to dupe and reform Falstaffe? Is the total +aim sport to laugh over "by a Countrie fire?" Is it a Comedy of irony +turned against all mercenary motives in love? + + + + +AS YOU LIKE IT + +I + +THE DRAMATIC CONDUCT OF THE PLAY: THE WRESTLING MATCH + + +How much of the situation existing in the play comes out in Act I. i.? +And what action takes place? + +The strained relation existing between the brothers Orlando and Oliver +is revealed through Orlando's conversation with Adam and with his +brother Oliver. The situation at court is also revealed through the +conversation of Oliver with the wrestler Charles, and also the loving +relation existing between Celia and Rosalind; thus we are at once put +into the possession of three emotional or passional causes for +action--Oliver's hatred of his younger brother, the younger Duke's +hatred of his older brother, and the love of Celia for Rosalind. Of +these causes for action only one bears any fruit in this scene, +namely, Oliver arranges with the wrestler to kill Orlando. What are +the connections existing between sc. ii. and sc. i.? First there is a +picture of the loving relationship existing between Rosalind and Celia +(already mentioned by Oliver in sc. i.) which reveals very subtly +differences in their natures. The action set going by Oliver in sc. i. +is consummated in the wrestling match, but with a result different +from that hoped for by Oliver, thus leaving Oliver's hatred still +present as a cause of action. Out of the wrestling match what further +passional and emotional causes of action are set up? Duke Frederick's +hatred for Orlando is aroused because he learns he is the son of a man +he had considered his enemy, and action against him is the immediate +result. Orlando is warned by Le Beau that he is not safe at the court. +The Duke's hatred of his brother bears further fruit in its extension +to Rosalind. The meeting of Rosalind and Orlando brought about by the +wrestling match gives rise to a fresh emotional force in their budding +love for each other. In Sc. iii., the state of Rosalind's heart as to +Orlando, hinted at in sc. ii., is fully revealed; the Duke's hatred +takes shape in his sentence of banishment or death, giving rise to a +new direction for action, and the emotion of Celia's love for Rosalind +bears fruit in her determination to go with Rosalind into banishment. + + +II + +LIFE IN THE FOREST OF ARDEN + +In Act II. how are the elements of action, character delineation and +emotion intermingled? + +Sc. i. gives us a picture of the banished Duke and his followers in +the Forest of Arden, already prepared for in Act I., introduces us to +the personality of the Duke, and in the conversation with the lords +prepares us for coming delights in the personality of Jaques. It does +not advance the action, at all. In sc. ii., the result of Celia's act +in going with Rosalind is shown in the bad Duke's consternation, who +determines that they shall be found, thus starting another thread of +action to be developed later. Sc. iii. the passional cause of action +in Oliver's hatred of Orlando reaches a crisis; Orlando is obliged to +flee to save himself from death. Sc. iv. shows Celia and Rosalind +arrived at their journey's end in the Forest of Arden, and making +arrangements with a shepherd for a comfortable little house to +rusticate in; thus is closed the thread of action started by the Duke +in banishing Rosalind. In the conversation of their new companions, +Corin and Silvius, we learn of the love of Silvius for the scornful +Phebe, which is another emotional impulse to action, later blending +itself with the plot. In sc. v. we meet Jaques, already mentioned, and +get another glimpse of the pleasant company in the forest, but they +are still quite detached from the active elements of the play. Sc. vi. +shows us how far Orlando and Adam have gone in their flight, and sc. +vii. presents again the good Duke's court, develops further the +personality of Jaques, and prepares us, through his conversation about +the fool whom he had met in the forest, for the contact of one of the +threads of action with the element of inaction represented by this +good Duke's forest court, while in the sudden breaking in upon them of +Orlando it is brought into contact with another of the threads of +action. + + +III + +LOVE IN THE FOREST OF ARDEN + +At the opening of Act III. what results have been brought about by the +action so far? Everybody in the play except Oliver and the bad Duke +has arrived in the Forest of Arden. In sc. i. of Act III. the hatred +of the Duke is still active as a force, and Oliver through this means +is also sent off to finally bring up in the Forest of Arden. The +Duke's attitude as a motive force having worked itself out in its +relation to Orlando and Rosalind, the emotional cause of action in the +love of Rosalind and Orlando is free to develop, and the remainder of +Act III. is devoted chiefly to the presentation of the situation +between the lovers, which, owing to the disguise assumed by Rosalind, +gives rise to the charming inconsistencies attending the wooing of a +proxy Rosalind who is in reality Rosalind herself. Around these +central lovers, whose characters Shakespeare unfolds, revolve other +interesting personalities. Touchstone meets his fate in Audrey. Phebe +still scorns Corin and perversely falls in love with Ganymede. The +action is only advanced to the extent that Rosalind learns the state +of Orlando's mind while he still remains in ignorance as to hers. + + +IV + +HATRED BECOMES LOVE IN ARDEN + +Are there any fresh elements or developments in Act IV.? + +Sc. i. merely continues the love-making of Act III. Sc. ii. gives +another glimpse of the good Duke's court; in sc. iii. the love of +Phebe bears fruit in a letter to Ganymede, and Oliver finds his way to +the forest. The bad Duke's intentions toward Orlando in sending Oliver +after him are, however, frustrated by the sudden change of heart +against a bad Duke is a good Duke. Contrast their actions throughout +the play. Contrast also the two brothers, Orlando and Oliver. What are +the resemblances between the characters of Oliver and Duke +Frederick?--between Orlando and the banished Duke? Is Orlando's +rebellion against his brother's injustice or the banished Duke's +acceptance of _his_ brother's injustice the more to be praised? +Compare his attitude with that of Prospero under similar +circumstances. Whose repentance is the more sincere, Oliver's or Duke +Frederick's? Note that Oliver has lost all when he repents, while the +Duke gives up everything just as he is about to realize his aim. Is +the repentance of the usurping Duke merely a _ruse_ of Shakespeare's +to bring the play to a happy ending? In Lodge's story he does not +repent, but is proceeded against by his brother. Contrast Jaques and +Touchstone. Is Jaques's melancholy affected? What is the main +difference between Rosalind and Celia? Which is the more the friend of +the other? (For valuable suggestions on these points see 'Characters +in "As You Like It,"' _Poet-lore_, Vol. IV. pp. 31 and 81, Jan. and +Feb., 1892.) + +QUERIES FOR DISCUSSION + +Which is the better philosopher, Jaques or Touchstone, and which is +more closely related to the philosophy of the play? + +The characters of the two Dukes are not developed; they are merely +walking gentlemen, whose office it is to keep the play in motion. + +2. The Lovers of the Play. + +The Different Kinds of Love in 'As You Like It.' Examples of love at +first sight in Shakespeare. Note Orlando's surprise at the suddenness +of Oliver's and Celia's love. Was his own less sudden? Consider +Hymen's song and Jaques's remarks in the last scene as descriptive of +the various couples. Does the comic element of the play, as +represented by Touchstone, discredit sentiment in the play? Notice the +madrigal in Lodge's novel (given in _Poet-lore_, Vol. III., in the +article on Lodge, Dec, 1891), and consider whether Shakespeare has +borrowed anything from it in characterizing Rosalind's wooing? +Contrast Lodge's Montanus as a lover with Shakespeare's Silvius. Is +Montanus too much of a "tame snake" to be natural? Or does this +constancy in love make him a superior figure? Is it a sign of +Silvius's inferiority that love has its own way with him? Can love be +true that changes if it is unrequited? + +Are those actors right, do you think, who play Oliver as guessing who +Ganymede is when she swoons? Is Rosalind's conduct unwomanly? Is her +disguise unlikely? + +QUERIES FOR DISCUSSION + +It is best for the man to love the most; and therefore has Silvius and +Phebe's unequal love-match a better chance for happiness than +Rosalind's and Orlando's? + + +VII + +THE PASTORAL ELOPMENT + +The Rise of Pastoral Poetry, and Shakespeare's Use of it in 'As You +Like It.' + +Compare Spenser's 'Shepherd's Calendar,' Fletcher's 'Faithful +Shepherdess,' etc. Point out any differences you find between +Shakespeare's and Spenser's pastoral poetry. Modern literary use of +the pastoral element, Wordsworth's 'Michael.' Is the pastoral life of +literature always artificial? Can a progress toward realism be shown? +The humor of the play. Discuss in particular the humorous comments on +contrasts between court and country life. Compare modern instances of +the refinements and artifices of city life and the crudeness of work +and pleasure in the country. + +_Special Points_.--1. The Forest of Arden: Is it in England, France, +or Shakespeare's imagination? 2. "Old Robin Hood of England." What are +the legends concerning him? 3. The archaic words in the play. (See +Prof. Sinclair Korner's 'Shakespeare's Inheritance from the Fourteenth +Century,' in _Poet-lore_, Vol. II., p. 410, Aug., 1890.) + +QUERY FOR DISCUSSION + +Is the opposition shown in the play between life at court and in the +country truly shown to be to the advantage of the country. + + +VIII + +THE MORAL ELEMENT + +The moral side of the Play consists, according to the Introduction in +the First Folio Edition, in its persuasion toward an Arden of the +disposition, or a spirit of happy good will toward all men. How far +does this cover the lesson of the Play? + +What is to be thought of the idea in the 'Ethics of "As You Like It"' +(_Poet-lore_, Vol. III., p. 498, Oct., 1891), that Touchstone's +opinion of a shepherd's life (III. ii.) is the key-note of the play? +Are the references to fortune in the play significant? Dr. F.J. +Furnivall says: "What we most prize is misfortune borne with cheery +mind, the sun of man's spirit shining through and dispersing the +clouds which try to shade it. This is the spirit of the play." Of this +Dr. Ingleby says: "The moral of the play is much more concrete than +this. It is not how to bear misfortune with a cheery mind, but _how to +read_ the lessons in the vicissitudes of physical nature." C.A. +Wurtzburg says: "The deep truths that may be gathered from the play +are the innate dignity of the human spirit, before which every +conventionality of birth, rank, education, even of natural ties, must +give way." Give arguments drawn from the play in favor of or against +all of these suggestions. Is it an evidence of Shakespeare's intention +to be a moral teacher that he altered the fate of Duke Frederick? + +QUERY FOR DISCUSSION + +Has the play any moral that is not gently satirized in it? + + +IX + +THE SOURCE OF THE PLOT + +Shakespeare's Variations from Lodge. + +Compare Lodge's 'Rosalind' with 'As You Like It.' + +(For this story, see "Shakespeare's Library" or Extracts in Notes and +Comment in Sources in "First Folio Edition"). + +Is the story better without the parts Shakespeare leaves out (_e. g._, +Adam's proposal to Rosader to cut his veins and suck the blood; his +nose-bleed; the incident of the robbers accounting for Aliena's sudden +love, etc.)? Why is the "Green and gilded snake" added? Isn't the +"lioness" enough? Is Rosader or Orlando the finer character, and why? +The new characters introduced--Audrey and William--considered as +embodying real instead of ideal pastoral life. Do Shakespeare's +changes affect the plot, the characters, or the moral of the story? +(For an examination of the plot of the play, see 'An Inductive Study +of "As You Like It,"' in _Poet-lore_, Vol. III., p. 341.) + +A Sketch of Lodge's Life and Work. (See 'An Elizabethan Lyrist: Thomas +Lodge,' in _Poet-lore_, Vol. III., p. 593, Dec, 1891.) + +QUERY FOR DISCUSSION + +Is Shakespeare's framing of the plot of 'As You Like It' not to be +admired, because it is borrowed? + + +X + +THE MUSIC OF THE PLAY + +This may consist of a brief paper on the subject illustrated by a +program of the songs with the old and more modern settings. (See New +Shakespeare Society's Papers, on this subject; 'Shakespeare and +Music,' by E.W. Naylor.) + + + + +TWELFE NIGHT + + +The winsomeness of this poetic comedy rightly makes the reader or the +hearer hesitate to count its petals or scrutinize the stages of its +growth, which are marked by its acts as symmetrically as leaf buds are +ranged about a stalk. And yet, one may find that to take note of such +beautiful orderliness in the delicate structure and sprightly +blossoming of the poet's design enhances the appreciation of its +artistic quality. Regarding it first as a whole, sum up the stages of +the action, first; then the caprices its allusions denote; then the +characters; and finally the poetic fancy and wit exhaled by the whole +play like a fragrance. + + +I + +THE STORY OF THE PLAY + +Act I. scene i. puts us in possession of what facts concerning the +Duke and Olivia? What do we learn from the conversation of Viola and +the Captain in scene ii., and what course does Viola decide upon? What +do we discover from scene iii. in regard to the state of things in +Olivia's household? In scene iv., what relation has been established +between the Duke and Viola? What three new characters are introduced +in scene v., and what is the event of the scene? Act II. scene i.: +What is learned of Sebastian and his intentions? In scene ii., what +are shown to be the feelings of Olivia? In what previous scene was +this prepared for? Does scene iii. advance the story at all? What is +it taken up with? Does scene iv. advance the story? Of what scene is +it almost a repetition? If it does not advance the action, what does +it do? Of what previous scene is scene v. the result? What previous +scene leads up to scene i. of Act III? and of what scene is it in +purpose a repetition? What new turn is given to affairs in scene ii., +and through whom is it brought about? Whose doings do we get a glimpse +of in scene iii? Of whose plot do we see further developments in scene +iv? What other issues in the progress of events come to a climax in +this Act? Act IV. scene i.: Describe the complication of affairs which +arises in this scene. What previous scenes do we see the result of in +scene ii? and what happens that will bring about a change in the +situation? What important event occurs in this scene iii? Act V. scene +i.: Describe how in this scene all the complications are unravelled, +and by what means all the characters are brought upon the stage. What +do you think of the device to call Malvolio upon the stage? Does it +not seem rather clumsy, or do you think it a further humorous touch +that Viola should have to depend on Malvolio to find her 'woman's +weeds again'? + +What becomes evident after tracing the events of the play through in +this way? That the interest of the play does not depend so much upon +the story itself, as, first, upon the amusing situations resultant +from the story, and, second, upon the scenes which introduce the +characters in Olivia's household who are really not at all concerned +in the development of the plot, but who are the occasion of many added +amusing situations. + +What constitutes the real interest of the two short scenes between +Sebastian and Antonio? Their bearing, mainly, on scene iv. of Act III. +By means of them we are shown that Antonio has an enemy in Orsino, and +thus his arrest is prepared for, also how Antonio gives his purse to +Sebastian, the real purpose of the arrest being to bring about a +reason for Antonio's requiring his purse again from Cesario, whom he +takes for Sebastian, and so to add complication to the situation +arising from the resemblance between the brother and sister. + +What are the situations which the story gives Shakespeare a chance to +develop? On the one hand, is the Duke pouring out his love for another +woman to his supposed page, who is in love with him, and thus giving +rise to the series of scenes between the Duke and Viola. On the other +hand, is the supposed page pressing his master's suit to a woman who +loves the supposed page, and thus giving rise to the series of scenes +between Viola and Olivia. Out of this love of Olivia for Viola grows +the absurd situation of Viola's being obliged to fight a duel, which +is made still more ridiculous through the circumstance of her +challenger being a fool. Out of Viola's resemblance to her brother and +her disguise grows the absurd situation of Olivia's claiming her as a +husband, and that of Sir Andrew taking for his unwilling duellist the +all-too-willing Sebastian. + +To these situations which naturally result from the story, Shakespeare +has added in Olivia's household a set of characters whose personality +is such that amusing situations are multiplied. Thus we may say that +the play is one of situation rather than of action, since whatever of +action there is in it leads to situation, and whatever of character +there is in it leads also to situation. + +QUERIES FOR DISCUSSION + +1. If attention is constantly given to creating humorous situations, +will character-development necessarily suffer? 2. Do you agree with +the Shakespearian critic Verplanck that this play bears no indication +either of an original groundwork of incident, afterwards enriched by +the additions of a fuller mind, or of thoughts, situations, and +characters accidentally suggested, or growing unexpectedly out of the +story, as the author proceeded? + + +II + +THE WHIMSICAL AND OTHER ALLUSIONS IN THE PLAY + +Pick out and explain the curious allusions in the play, noticing that +these may be classed as geographical, mythological, astrological, or +referable to persons or customs of the time, or books of the day. For +examples of the latter class, note Sir Toby's 'diluculo surgere' (II. +iii.), for 'Saluberrimum est dilucolu surgere,' an adage from Lilly's +Grammar, doubtless one of Shakespeare's text-books at the Edward VI. +School in Stratford; and Viola's 'Some Mollification for your giant +sweet lady' (I. v.),--an allusion to the innumerable romances whose +fair ladies are guarded by giants; for Maria, being very small, Viola +ironically calls her giant, and asks Olivia to pacify her because she +has opposed her message. (For Shakespeare's education and +school-books, see Bayne's remarks on this subject in Brit. Encyc. art. +Shakespeare.) The whole incident of the 'possession' of Malvolio, and +the visit of Sir Topas, probably alludes to a tract published in 1599 +by Dr. Harsnett,--'A Discovery of the Fraudulent Practices of John +Darrel,'--in which is narrated how the Starkeys' children were +possessed by a demon, and how the Puritan minister, Mr. Darrel, was +concerned in it. For examples of allusions to contemporary customs, +see Sir Toby's mention of dances no longer known,--'Galliard,' +'Coranto,' etc. As an example of allusions to persons of that time, +Sir Toby's reference to 'Mistress Mall's picture,'--Mary Frith, born +in 1584, died in 1659, a notorious woman who used to go about in man's +clothing and was the target for much abuse. Astrological allusions: +'Were we not born under Taurus?' 'That's sides and hearts,' which +refers to the medical astrology still preserved in patent-medicine +almanacs, where the figure of a man has his various parts named by the +signs of the Zodiac. 'Diana's lip' (I. iv.), ('Arion on the Dolphin's +back' I. ii.), are examples of mythological allusions. Of the +geographical allusions there are two kinds, the real and the +sportive,--Illyria, an example of the one, the 'Vapians' and the +'Equinoctial of Queubus,' of the other. Go on through the play +classifying and commenting on the allusions. What was a 'catch'? Give +an example. + +QUERIES FOR DISCUSSION + +Are the odd allusions in the play a result of the corrupt text, +ignorance, ridicule of learning? Or are they introduced to give a +lively and contemporaneous effect? + + +III + +THE DUKE AND SEBASTIAN + +How does the play set off these two lovers against each other? Which +has the more constant nature? Note the evidences of the Duke's +restlessness and changeableness; how soon he tires of the music he +calls for, of the clown's song (II. iv.). Is his first speech to +Viola, on woman's constancy before the song, consistent with his +second, after it? Is his own report of himself true,--'Unstaid and +skittish in all motions else Save in the constant image of the one +beloved'? Is Olivia's unattainableness the main source of her +desirableness for him? How is it with Sebastian? Does his loyalty in +love seem to be of the sort that suffers impairment when he can win +love easily? The Duke craves excess in music in order that his +'appetite may sicken and so die;' Sebastian wishes 'to steep his soul +in Lethe.' Do you think Sebastian and Viola alike in more than +appearance? Which is the quicker-witted? Is the Duke's amicable +acceptance of the inevitable and transference of his love to Viola in +keeping with his character? Do you think Viola shows promise of +special facility for preventing the moody Duke from tiring of her? +Note that he calls her his 'fancy's queen.' + +QUERY FOR DISCUSSION + +Is the Duke important chiefly as the inspirer of Viola's devoted love? + + +IV + +VIOLA AND OLIVIA + +In what respects are the situations of Viola and Olivia alike? When +the play opens, both are mourning the loss of a brother, and while +this is made to point out the individuality of Olivia, after the first +few lines we hear little more of Viola's grief. Can you suggest any +reason for this? Does Viola's love for the Duke absorb her any more +than Olivia's love absorbs her when she comes to feel the same? Viola +and Olivia are also alike in giving their love without solicitation; +but Olivia woos directly, Viola, in disguise, implies her love, and +though her innuendoes are all understood by the audience, they are +unappreciated by the Duke. What justification can be made for the +unblushing love-making of Olivia? It could be justified by her rank, +which was so much higher than that of the supposed page that advances +should come from her. What signs are there that Viola's love was +superior to Olivia's? Olivia's seems to have been founded on external +liking, else she would not have been as satisfied with Sebastian as +with Cesario; while Viola's, though it may have had no deeper +foundation, was signalized by unselfishness, for she used every +eloquent art of which she was capable to urge her master's suit. +Notice in the first scene between Viola and the Duke how she tries to +get out of going to Olivia, doubting her own ability, etc. Do you +think she really doubted it, or that it was difficult for her on +account of her own love for the Duke? Notice in the scene with Olivia +her woman's anxiety to see her rival's face. What do you think +instigated her remark, 'Excellently done, if God did all.' Was it a +sudden touch of jealousy? It was clearly not the proper thing for an +ambassador pressing his master's suit to say. How is it with the rest +of the interview? Is her sarcastic tone judicious? Does it pique the +nonchalant Olivia? Does her eloquence later, when she is assured of +Olivia's obstinacy, reflect her own feelings for the Duke? What effect +does it have on Olivia? Is it well-calculated to arouse her interest? +In Act II. scene iv., which do you think had the right conception of +woman's love,--the Duke or Cesario? What do you think of Olivia's +saying that 'Love sought is good, but given unsought is better'? Which +of the two characters show the more humor? Notice Viola's readiness in +parrying questions that trench upon her sex. Olivia, on the other +hand, can hold her own in a bout of wit with the fool, but she is +perhaps not so quick-witted as Viola. We can imagine Viola at once +seeing through Malvolio's attempt at pleasing Olivia, instead of +taking him for mad, as Olivia did. + +QUERY FOR DISCUSSION + +Which is the best lover, the Duke, Sebastian, Olivia, or Viola? + + + +V + +SIR TOBY AND MARIA, AND THEIR BUTTS OR DUPES + +Show how the droll situations of the play are mainly contrived by some +of the characters in order to make others their laughing-stocks. Who +are Sir Toby's butts? Is Sir Toby attached to Sir Andrew, or does he +only make use of him for profit as well as fun? (See Sir Toby's reply +to Fabian (III. iii.)). Other instances to the same effect? Why does +Maria join forces with Sir Toby? Is she in fact the leader of the +scheme, or is Fabian's story of its origin true? What part does the +fool play in the game, and why? Note his private grudge against +Malvolio. Is it a dramatic mistake that even the heroine is made the +butt of these merry-makers? Trace Fabian's part in the duelling plot +against Sir Andrew and Viola. Do these plots recoil in any way against +the plotters? Sir Toby and Sir Andrew both get some home-truths from +Malvolio while they are eavesdropping, while for Fabian and Maria +these thrusts of Malvolio's are just as good fun as that which the +knights enjoy better. How does some of the later fun recoil against +Toby and Sir Andrew? Are the Puritans made fun of in Malvolio's +person? + +QUERY FOR DISCUSSION + +Are the characters least scathed by the fun for that reason superior +to the others? + + +VI + +MINOR CHARACTERS + +The fun of the play is capped by the presence of a particularly clever +fool whose function of making every one the butt of his wit makes one +of the least important of the characters represent the special +drollery of the whole play. The only grudge he bears is against the +man who does not appreciate fun--who calls him a 'barren rascal.' +Describe the passages in which he particularly shines. Of the minor +characters the fool is minor only through his station and unimportance +in the plot; he really occupies much space in the play and in fact +pervades it. How is Antonio connected with the plot? What traits of +his does the play bring out? Is his fondness for Sebastian unnatural? +How is he concerned in the foolery of the play? Is he necessary to the +plot? As the fool represents the merry-making spirit of the play, so +Malvolio stands for the dupes of it. Does any one sympathize with him? +Who shows the clearest understanding of his faults? (I. v.). What +signs are there in the play of Malvolio's being a Puritan? Is there +any evidence against it? Is Maria right, for example, when she says, +'The Devil a Puritan he is or anything constantly but a time-server,' +etc.? That the character of Malvolio was generally taken on the stage +as a portrait of the Puritan, and that Shakespeare must have known it +would borrow some of its popularity from being so considered, seems +not to be denied; on the other hand, it may hardly seem to be proven +that Shakespeare thought he was drawing a genuine Puritan. Show +Malvolio's character, his connection with the other characters and +with the plot and the foolery of the play, and state the argument for +and against Shakespeare's meaning to make fun of him as a Puritan. + +QUERIES FOR DISCUSSION + +Is it a defect in the play that the fool, who has less to do with the +plot, is more important than Antonio, who has somewhat more to do with +it? Does it show that the main interest of the play is in comic +situation rather than in character or dramatic motive? + + +VII + +THE POETIC FIGURES IN THE PLAY + +Observe the various figures used throughout the play, as to whether +they are drawn from nature or from other sources; for example, the +first speech of the Duke bristles with metaphor. Note that he speaks +of music as the _food_ of love, and bids the musicians play on that +the _appetite_ may have a _surfeit_, images drawn from physical +nature; then that the music came o'er his ear _like_ the _sweet sound_ +that _breathes_ upon a bank of violets, _stealing_ and _giving_ odor. +We should expect here some continuation in the language of sound; but +the Duke continues as if he had said _wind_ instead of sound, and then +wind is personified, for it _breathes_ instead of _blows_ on the bank +of violets, and it steals their odor and gives it to him,--the music +is so sweet that it seems as if its sounds came laden with the scent +of violets to his ear. Here sound is personified at first as merely +breathing, then it takes on moral attributes and steals and gives. +Pick out and explain other figures in the same way. Which of the +characters use the most beautiful imagery? Are there any who use none +at all? + +QUERIES FOR DISCUSSION + +Is there any special fitness in the imagery used to the character +using it? Does the imagery used help you to form an opinion of the +characters? + + +VIII + +THE WIT OF THE PLAY + +What are the main causes of amusement in the play? The audience, +notice, is not kept in the dark one instant about any of the +characters. Thus one of the sources of amusement lies in the fact that +while the audience occupies somewhat the attitude of omnipotence, it +has the pleasure of observing the characters of the play living their +lives in the purblind way usual to mortals. Lessing said that a comedy +should make us laugh at vices, but the vices must be those of +characters who have good qualities also. Does 'Twelfe Night' answer to +this description? Analyze the causes why the fun of the play is funny. + +QUERIES FOR DISCUSSION + +Which of the characters cause amusement as the result of circumstances +over which they have no control? How do each of these cause amusement +unconsciously? Which of the characters cause amusement through a +conscious intention of making fun? + + + + +THE TEMPEST + + +Until a few years ago no one had succeeded in finding the Play or +Novel on which the European part of the plot of "The Tempest" was +founded. + +An early German Play, "The Fair Sidea" had been brought forward on +account of some resemblances to "The Tempest." Yet it is obviously not +its source but rather an imitation or variant indirectly drawn from a +similar foundation story. + +Edmund Dorer, a special student of Spanish Literature first called +attention (Jan. 31, 1885,) to the story more closely resembling "The +Tempest" than any other, as it occurs in a collection of tales by +Antonio de Eslava, called _Las Noches de Invierno_, or "Winter +Nights," published in Madrid in 1609. + +Like other such collections of stories, such as the Italian collection +of Bandello, and the French of Belleforest, used by Shakespeare, +Eslava's collection was translated, and, in default of the original +from one of the later editions, as translated into German in 1683 +(_Noches de Invierno Winternachte aus dem Spanischen in die Deutsche +sprach versetzet_) a summary of this story was given in English for +the first time as a satisfactory source of "The Tempest" in the "First +Folio Edition" of the Play (see pp. 85-93 and Introduction; also for +an extract and summary of "The Fair Sidea," pp. 94-95). + +What may be called the American half of the plot evidently owes +suggestions to pamphlet accounts of the storm and wreck and other +experiences met with by Sir Thomas Gates, Sir George Sommers and +others during their voyage of discovery to the Bermudas in 1610 (see +pp. 92, 99, and Notes pp. 114, 125-127, etc., for extracts.) + +Gonzalo's speech, too, follows pretty closely a passage in Florio's +Montaigue. (For this passage see Note on II. i. 153-160). + + +ACT I + +THE SCHEMES OF PROSPERO. + +The first scene shows the storm in progress. Is there any clew given +to the reader that it is a magic tempest? What is Prospero's main +object in having the ship's crew and passengers cast upon his island? +Is it to wreak vengeance on his enemies, to work the charm of love +between Ferdinand and Miranda, or by means of that to reinstate +himself? In what way would this love work to his advantage? Notice the +natural way in which the reader is put in possession of the necessary +information about the past of Prospero and Miranda. Warburton says of +this that it is the finest example he knows of retrospective narration +for the sake of informing the audience of the plot. How much of the +plot is permitted to come out in this act? Why does Prospero so +repeatedly urge Miranda's attention? Is she abstracted, is he, or is +she already beginning to be drowsy? Why was Ferdinand the first to +quit the ship? Since Prospero already knows, why does he ask Ariel +what time it is? + +POINTS. 1. Explain the nautical terms. 'Master's whistle.' In +Shakespeare's time naval commanders wore great whistles of gold. A +modern boatswain's badge is a silver whistle suspended to the neck by +a lanyard. Holt extols the excellence of Shakespeare's sea-terms, but +makes an exception of Gonzalo's 'cable,' which he says is of no use +unless the ship is at anchor, and here it is plainly sailing; to which +Furness replies, Shakespeare anchors Gonzalo's hopes on the +boatswain's 'gallows complexion,' and the cable of that anchor was the +hangman's rope. 2. 'Washing of ten tides.' An allusion to the custom +of hanging pirates at low-water mark. (See Notes I. i. 67 First Folio +Edition). 3. Compare this storm with that in 'Pericles,'--'Do not +assist the storm,' etc., with 'Per.' III. i. 51-60. 4. Explain 'To +trash for over-topping,' I. ii. 98, which is a blending of two +metaphors. Trash refers to the habit of hanging a weight round the +neck of the fleetest of a pack of hounds, to keep him from getting +ahead of the rest; and 'overtopping' to trees shooting up above the +others in a grove, which have to be lopped to keep them even. 5. What +does Prospero mean by saying, 'Now I arise'? Simply, now I get up, and +now my fortunes change? 6. 'Still vex'd Bermoothes.' Bermudas, spelled +in several ways in Shakespeare's time, and called 'still vex'd,' from +accounts of tempests prevailing there. 7. 'Argier.' The name of +Algiers till after the Restoration. 8. 'One thing she did.' What? Are +we anywhere told what? + +QUERIES FOR DISCUSSION + +Does the long monologue of Prospero in this act detract from its +dramatic force? Did the arrangement of Shakespeare's stage make this +convenient. (See description of the threefold stage of the Globe +Theatre in "Anthonie and Cleopatra," pp. 172-173). Is the monologue +rightly disused in modern plays? Why? Compare Ibsen's plays in this +respect. + + +ACT II + +THE COUNTERPLOT + +Tell the story of Act II, showing how its main event is the conspiracy +of Antonio and Sebastian against Alonzo and Gonzalo. Is the issue left +undecided long, so that it threatens the result? How and why does +Ariel prevent the success of it? Might it not have been to Prospero's +advantage to have the King killed, since Ferdinand would then succeed +to the throne of Naples? Did Ariel's intervention kill the plot? What +light is thrown on the characters by scene i. of this act? Do you +think it is intended to be shown that Gonzalo is prosy and tiresome, +although good, or only that the lower and more frivolous characters +find him so? Which is the likelier, that Shakespeare intended the +dialogue about Gonzalo's ideal commonwealth to be a satire upon it, or +favorable to Utopian schemes? Which comes out the better at last in +the wit-combat,--the quick Antonio and Sebastian, or the thoughtful +Gonzalo? Is Sebastian's solicitude about Claribel a sign of a kindlier +nature than Antonio's? Are there any indications that Antonio's mind +is more alert than Sebastian's? What purposes of the action or plot +are served by the introduction of Claribel? Is the King's grief as +great for the daughter as for the son? How does his paternal affection +compare with Prospero's? Compare Antonio's speech, suggesting the +murder to Sebastian, with similar speeches in Shakespeare (Macbeth's, +King John's, Oliver's in 'As You Like It,' Claudius' in 'Hamlet'). In +the second scene of this act, how far is a second counter-plot +foreshadowed? + +POINTS. 1. The jokes of Act II: their explanation (_i.e._, 'dollar' +and 'dolour,' the 'eye of green,' etc.). 2. When were watches first +used in Europe? 3. Tell the story of AEneas and Dido. 4. What myth is +alluded to in 'his word is more than the miraculous harp'? 5. +Gonzalo's Commonwealth--its origin from Montaigne. It is commonly +supposed that Shakespeare must have borrowed this reference from the +translation. He may have taken it directly from the French. 6. Show +the bearing of Sebastian's phrase, 'I am standing water,' with its +context. (That is, at the turn of the tide between ebb and full.) 7. +'The man i' the moon,' and the folk-lore about it. 8. Natural history +on the island. (_Poet-Lore_, April, 1894. Notes and News). + +QUERY FOR DISCUSSION + +Is it a defect in the action of the play that the danger arising from +the most important counter-plot is allayed so soon? + + +ACT III + +NEW PLOTS AGAINST PROSPERO + +What new turns are given events in Act III? Scene i continues +Ferdinand's love-making, and shows no hinddrances there to Prospero's +plans; but scene ii develops Caliban's plot, and scene iii shows +Sebastian and Antonio making ready to carry out the purpose which had +at first been defeated. Give an account of the scene in Act II which +leads up to this plot in connection with its sequel in this act. Ariel +is baffled in his attempts to breed contention between the +conspirators by Trinculo's good nature, but finally he leads them off +with his music. Scene iii represents Alonzo and his courtiers +bewildered and tired by their fruitless tramps through the island, and +in just the temper to be confused by the dumb-show and the harpies. +Note the dependence placed, throughout 'The Tempest,' on the effect of +'solemn and strange music.' Antonio's plot, being resumed, is blocked +by Ariel's magic show and his accusation. Note how the supernatural +quality of the scene makes his speech affect their consciences as if +they were themselves accusing themselves, and how it drives them into +mental disorder. Dr. Bucknill, a specialist in brain disease, who has +commented on Shakespeare's knowledge of such maladies, explains that +Alonzo's frenzy leads him by an imaginative melancholy to the idea of +suicide, while the madness of Antonio and Sebastian expresses itself +in the idea of desperate fight. + +POINTS. 1. What is a 'catch,' a 'tabor'? Give an account of the music +in the play, and show the fitness of its different effects on the +different characters. 2. Explain the allusions, 'unicorns,' 'one tree, +the Phoenix throne,' 'mountaineers,' with 'wallets of flesh,' etc. 3. +What is a harpy? Give an account of the mention of harpies in Virgil +(AEneid, Book III), and 'Paradise Regained' (Book II). What +appropriateness to the purpose in this 'quaint device'? + +QUERY FOR DISCUSSION + +Do the counter-plots introduced in this act mainly affect events or +character? + + +ACT IV + +THE CONFUSION OF THE PLOTTERS + +Show how the story of Act IV consists in the smoothing down of all +that disturbs Prospero's designs, and foreshadows the complete +reconciliation of the last act. The lovers, whose readiness to fall in +with Prospero's plan has made his task light so far as they are +concerned, could only imperil his and their future by a premature +union; and Ferdinand, having stood the test of hard work, is now +induced, by an awed and holy mood, produced by art, to keep his good +resolutions. Describe the mask, and show its meaning and fitness for +Prospero's purposes. Why is Prospero so disturbed at the reminder of +so paltry a plot as that of Caliban and his associates? Is it likely +that these drunken fellows could frame any plot that would be but as +gossamer before his art? Is it natural that so low a creature as +Caliban should show more intelligence than Stephano and Trinculo in +disregarding Ariel's 'stale' set to catch them? How do you explain his +superior caution? Describe the device employed by Prospero and Ariel +to rout these plotters. Would it be effective on an English stage? + +POINTS. 1. Explanation of classical allusions. 'Hymen's lamps,' +'Phoebus' steeds,' Ceres, Iris, Juno, etc.; 'dusky Dis,' 'Paphos,' +etc. 2. The botany of Act IV. What is 'stover,' 'furze,' gorse? 3. Was +Prospero's 'line' a lime-tree or a clothes-line? 4. Explanation of the +jokes of the act. 5. Natural history on the island again: the 'blind +mole,' 'barnacles,' 'apes,' 'pard,' etc. + +QUERY FOR DISCUSSION + +Why is the punishment devised for the lesser plotters corporal and for +the greater ones psychical? + + +ACT V + +PROSPERO'S TRIUMPH + +Sum up the results consummated by Prospero's magic. Note Gonzalo's +account of the play, and show the ethical results, and Ariel's part in +Prospero's course of reconciliation. Explain how, if Prospero had +regained his dukedom, and yet, if 'all of us,' as Gonzalo says, had +not _found ourselves_, the triumph would have been material, not +ethical. Show how this effect is enhanced by the plan to awaken dismay +and remorse in the minds of the evil-doers and how the climax in +Prospero's triumph is reached by the victory wrought in his own mind +when he determines to take part with his 'nobler reason 'gainst his +fury' in order to restore his enemies to themselves. What indications +are there in the play that Prospero was high-strung and spirited,--a +revenge-loving Italian? Trace the effects of remorse on each of the +ill-doers. Is there any reason to suppose that Antonio, Stephano, or +Trinculo are repentant? Is it out of character for Caliban to be? + +POINTS. 1. The 'Faerie' of the play. Compare with that of 'Midsummer +Night's Dream.' (See 'Fairy-lore of Midsummer Night's Dream,' _Poet +Lore_, Vol. III, p. 177, April, 1891.) Victor Hugo notes the contrast +as follows: '"Midsummer Night's Dream" depicts the action of the +invisible world on man; "The Tempest" symbolizes the action of man on +the invisible world.' (See also the 'Supernatural in Shakespeare's +"Midsummer Night's Dream."' in _Poet Lore_, Vol. V, p. 490, October, +1893; in Shakespeare's 'Tempest,' p. 557, November, 1893.) + +2. The duration of the play. Explain how it follows the 'unities'; and +in this connection show the probable equality of 'three glasses' to +three hours, and Shakespeare's mistake. (Shakespeare's use of nautical +terms, approved by all seamen, seems to be here at fault in supposing +a 'glass' equal to one, instead of to a half, hour.) + +3. The game of chess and its pertinence here: Because so wise a father +would have taught his daughter so intellectual a game; because Queen +Elizabeth was fond of it, and it was _par excellence_ a 'royal game'; +or because Naples was the source and center of the chess _furore_ at +just this time? + +4. Where is the scene of the 'Tempest' laid? Is the island real or +unreal? (The main conjectures for a known place are Hunter's that it +was Lampedusa, and Elze's that it was Pantelaria. Both argue that each +island was so situated in the Mediterranean, between Milan or its port +and Algiers, whence the sailors landed Sycorax, as to suit the +requirements. Elze further urges the name of a town on the opposite +African coast, Calibia, as suggesting Caliban's name. For an argument +that the island is vaguely placed in the Mediterranean to suit the Old +World plot and yet by many details made suggestive of the New World, +see Introduction to 'The Tempest' in First Folio Edition.) + +5. The influence of the New World on the writing of 'The Tempest,' and +all allusions traceable to it. (See Notes of same edition for extracts +from pamphlets on America, etc.) + +QUERIES FOR DISCUSSION + +What constitutes the interest in 'The Tempest,'--character, dramatic +situations, movements, plot, poetry, or moral purpose? + + +VI + +CHARACTER STUDIES + +I. PROSPERO AND HIS SERVANTS + +With the first word Shakespeare introduces Prospero as one who can +raise and calm such a tempest as scene i describes, and the magician +admits the power Miranda ascribes to him. Show from the story what his +plans and motives were likely to prove. Would a sense of his own +former neglect of duty be likely to embitter him against his brother +or make him excuse him? Does he show signs of either? Prospero's +magic, his garment, books, staff. How far is his magic in accord with +the popular notions of such art? (See 'Prospero and Magic,' _Poet +Lore_, Vol. III, p. 144, March, 1891.) + +Show Ariel's qualities. What caused his first impatience? Is Prospero +unnecessarily harsh and imperious with him? Aside from the popular +supposition that spirits or familiars obeying magicians were always +reluctant to serve longer than one hour (and, therefore, says Scot's +'Discovery of Witchcraft,' 'the magician must be careful to dismiss +him'), how can you explain this quarrel,--as a dramatic expedient +giving occasion for telling Ariel's story, or revealing the characters +of both Prospero and Ariel? Note, also, its further use in introducing +Prospero's second servant, Caliban, and his story. How do you explain +Ariel's irrelevant rejoinder: 'Yes, Caliban, her son'; and Prospero's +angry, 'Dull thing, I say so,' etc.? Do you think Moulton right in +supposing that Prospero governs 'this incarnation of caprice by +outcapricing him'; Rolfe, in supposing that Prospero is irritable +because under the strain and suspense of conducting affairs within +three hours perfectly, and upon which accuracy hangs his future and +the happiness of his daughter? This was also his only chance of +retrieving his own past error. + +Contrast Ariel with Caliban. Show the skill of Caliban's first +appearance as some slow-moving thing, half of water, half of earth, in +contrast with Ariel's second appearance as a nymph. What may be +learned of Caliban's traits from Miranda's speech (as in the Folio, +but by various editors given to Prospero): 'Abhorred slave,' etc.? Do +you think this speech should be given to Prospero? What signs are +there of Caliban's having a good mind? Do you think Prospero's tyranny +over Caliban altogether justified? Is Caliban's penitence consistent +with his nature? How far does Ariel proceed independently of Prospero? +Is he really fond of him? + +QUERIES FOR DISCUSSION + +Is there any bond of love between Prospero and his servants? Do the +relations between them illustrate the impossibility of gratitude? + +2. THE LOVERS + +Is the love of Ferdinand and Miranda an enchantment caused by +Prospero, or an emotion he can help, but not cause? If not caused by +him, does Shakespeare depart from magic to the detriment of the play? +Would it be better, for example, if a love philter was introduced for +consistency's sake? (For literary use of the love philter, see +Tennyson's 'Lucretius.') Does it reflect against Ferdinand's courage +that he was first to quit the ship? Are Miranda's speeches about her +grandmother (I, ii, 140) and to Caliban inconsistent with the maidenly +innocence assumed to be characteristic of her? Do you consider her +talk with Ferdinand (III, i) in character? Is she undutiful to her +father? Unmaidenly in her speedy declaration of love (III, i, 67, 89, +94-106, 110)? Should she be represented as ignorant or innocent of the +world, or as in love? Describe the characters and relations to each +other of the lovers from all that is given about them. Compare with +Florizel and Perdita in 'The Winter's Tale.' + +QUERIES FOR DISCUSSION + +Are Miranda and Ferdinand undeveloped characters whose relation to +each other is more important to the play than they themselves are? + +3. THE MINOR CHARACTERS + +Which is the most important of the lesser characters and why? Is +Gonzalo blamable at all under the circumstances for following the +command to turn Prospero and Miranda adrift? Why is Gonzalo of better +cheer than his companions? What do you think of his philosophy in +itself and as an index to his character? Is his knowledge superior to +that of his companions? Does he suspect the evil intent of Antonio and +Sebastian? Show how his frankness and loyalty came out in Act III, and +how his uprightness is rewarded in Act V. Do you think it significant +that he closes the play? Francisco considered as the least important +personage in the play: should his speech describing Ferdinand's +swimming be given to Gonzalo? The sailors considered as examples of +Shakespeare's skill in outline portraits. Are Stephano and Trinculo +more highly developed types than Caliban? Would the play be better if +they were left out? + +QUERIES FOR DISCUSSION + +Is Gonzalo more like Polonius in 'Hamlet' or Rent in 'Lear'? + + +VII + +A STUDY OF ARTISTIC DESIGN + +THE SYMBOLISM OF 'THE TEMPEST' + +Did Shakespeare typify himself as Prospero? Prospero (says Montegut) +alludes to his own age, and intimates that the time has come for +retirement to private life. What indications can you find that +Prospero images Shakespeare? If he is so interpreted, what parts may +Ariel and Caliban be supposed to play? Is the history of the Enchanted +Island and the transformation wrought a parallel with the history of +the Stage and the transformation Shakespeare wrought? According to +Montegut, Caliban stands for Marlowe, Ariel for the English Genius +which Shakespeare frees from its barbaric prison. Dowden ('Mind and +Art of Shakespeare') fancies Prospero as the great artist lacking at +first in practical faculty, cast out therefore from practical worldly +success; but bearing with him Art in her infancy, the child Miranda, +finds at last an enchanted country where his arts can work their +magic, subduing the grosser appetites and passions (Caliban), and +commanding the offices of the imaginative genius of poetry (Ariel). He +supposes Ferdinand to be Shakespeare's heir as a playwright +(Fletcher). Lowell ('Among my Books') considers that the characters do +not illustrate a class of persons, but belong to universal +nature,--Imagination embodied in Prospero; Fancy in Ariel; brute +understanding in Caliban, who, with his wits liquor-warmed, plots +against his natural lord, the higher reason; Miranda, abstract +Womanhood; Ferdinand, Youth, compelled to drudge till sacrifice of +will and self win him the ideal in Miranda. Browning makes an +incidentally interesting contribution to this subject by symbolizing +in Caliban rudimentary theologizing man, in his poem 'Caliban.' (See +_Poet Lore_, Vol. V, p. 562, November, 1893.) + +QUERIES FOR DISCUSSION + +Is 'The Tempest' an allegory? Is it in any sense an autobiographical +play? Does its symbolism have much in common with that of modern +symbolistic plays, such as Maeterlinck's 'Joyzelle,' for example? In +what respects may it be said, do you think, as Maeterlinck himself has +informed us, that 'Joyzelle' grew from 'The Tempest?' + + + + +THE WINTER'S TALE + +CONSIDERED IN CONNECTION WITH GREENE'S 'PANDOSTO' AND THE 'ALKESTIS' +OF EURIPIDES + + +I + +SHAKESPEARE'S INDEBTEDNESS TO GREENE + +The story of 'Pandosto' falls into two distinct divisions; first, the +story of Pandosto and Bellaria; second, the story of Dorastus and +Fawnia. Compare each of these two stories with the two stories +interwoven in the play, noting all the analogous passages and the use +Shakespeare has made of them. (For Greene's 'Pandosto' or 'History of +Dorastus and Fawnia' see 'Shakespeare's Library,' or pp. 118-125 and +Notes in First Folio Edition.) + +QUERIES FOR DISCUSSION + +Do Shakespeare's borrowed and additional archaisms and his confusion +of names and places show carelessness? Is his continuation of the +story merely a playwright's device to join the two parts of the plot +and make a good stage piece end happily? (As to Coast of Bohemia see +_Poet Lore_, April, 1894), also in "First Folio Edition," pp. 176-177. + + +II + +THE RESEMBLANCES TO THE 'ALKESTIS' OF EURIPIDES + +In Greene and in Shakespeare the King wishes the Queen's death because +he is uncomfortable so long as she lives, and he prefers his comfort +to aught else, taking it as his conjugal right and royal prerogative. +(See ii. 3, 1 and 204.) The Queen, understanding this, says, "My life +stands in the level of your dreams, which I'll lay down." To her she +says, "can life be no commodity" when love, "the crown and comfort of +her life," is gone. So Alkestis (see any translation of Euripides, in +Bohn edition, literal prose translation, vol. i. p. 223) says she "was +not willing to live bereft" of Admetos, therefore she did not spare +herself to die for him, "though possessing the gifts of bloomy youth +wherein" she "delighted." This point of correspondence may have +occurred to Shakespeare and suggested his continuation of Greene's +novel. Admetos' image of his wife, that he would have made by the +cunning hands of artists, is possibly a prototype of the statue of the +Queen in 'The Winter's Tale,' the piece "newly performed by that rare +Italian master, Julio Romano." Compare also, Herakles' trial of +Admetos with Paulina's trial of Leontes (v. i); and Herakles' +restoration of the unknown Alkestis to her husband with Paulina's +bringing the statue of the Queen to life. + +QUERIES FOR DISCUSSION + +Is Shakespeare's use of a striking incident from the 'Alkestis' too +close not to have been suggested by it? Does it show his intention to +portray in Hermione a new Alkestis? + + +III + +SHAKESPEARE'S ORIGINALITY IN WORKING OVER HIS MATERIAL + +Note Shakespeare's departures from Greene and their significance. Do +they serve two ends,--make the play more effective for stage +representation, make the characters stronger? Does he make Leontes +more attractive than Greene does in the first part of the play? Does +he make him worse or better than Pandosto in the second part? What is +the sole trace left in Shakespeare of the father's guilty passion for +his daughter? Garinter, in Greene, dies without any cause. See +Shakespeare's explanation of this, also his use of the news of +Mamillius' death to strike shame to the king's heart. Greene makes the +king relent as soon as he hears the oracle. Contrast Shakespeare's +conduct of the scene at this point. + +Notice the difference in his treatment of the character of the +cup-bearer. Does he make it his chief care to enhance the character of +the Queen? Note the new characters introduced,--Paulina, Antigonus, +Autolycus, the clown (in place of the wife in Greene). Conjecture any +reason for his different names. The introduction of Autolycus makes +the play more amusing on the stage, but is his part as well planned as +Capnio's for leading up to the _denouement_? Greene lets his mariners +off alive after they set Fawnia afloat. Shakespeare wrecks his, and +makes a bear eat Antigonus, to what end? What does Shakespeare gain by +prolonging the life of Hermione? + +QUERY FOR DISCUSSION + +Does Shakespeare's remodelling of Greene's story show chiefly a higher +ideal than Greene's of womanhood and of love? + + +IV + +THE ALKESTIS STORIES IN LITERATURE + +The sacrifice of the Queen to ease her husband, and the final +restoration, being the two main points of contact with Euripides' +version of the story, compare with these the stories of Alkestis told +by William Morris in 'The Earthly Paradise,'--'June'; 'The Love of +Alcestis,' by Emma Lazarus, in 'Admetos,'--'Poems,' vol. i.; by Robert +Browning in 'Balustion's Adventure;' by Longfellow in 'The Golden +Legend.' See also articles in _Poet-lore_,--'The Alkestis of Euripides +and of Browning,' July, 1890; 'Old and New Ideals of Womanhood'; 'The +Iphigenia' and 'Alkestis Stories,' May, 1891; 'Longfellow's Golden +Legend and its Analogues,' February, 1892. In comparing, note first +general resemblances, then slighter points of resemblance and of +difference. + +QUERIES FOR DISCUSSION + +Is development in literature of the ideal of womanhood away from +self-sacrifice and toward self-development? + +Is woman's task for the future a reconciliation of them? + + + +V + +THE OUTCAST CHILD IN CULTURE-LORE AND FOLK-LORE + +A few of the outcast children in culture-lore are Krishna, Zeus, +Paris, Oedipus, King Arthur, Claribel's child in the 'Faerie Queene' +(canto xii.), etc. For the stories in folk-lore, see the English +_Folk-lore Journal_. For the solar theory of the origin of this story, +see Cox, 'Mythology of the Aryan Nations.' + +QUERIES FOR DISCUSSION + +Collier says that Shakespeare changed Greene's pretty description of +turning Fawnia adrift in a boat because he had used much the same +incident in "The Tempest." Does Shakespeare's new treatment of +Greene's "pretty incident" add dramatic force and moral purpose to the +play? + + +VI + +CHARACTER STUDIES + + +1. PAULINA; LEONTES; HERMIONE + +Note Paulina's likeness to Emilia in "Othello." Jealousy in +Shakespeare: Resemblances in Leontes to Posthumus ("Cymbeline") and to +Othello. "The jealousy of Leontes," says Dowden, "is not a detailed +dramatic study like the love and jealousy of Othello. It is a gross +madness, which mounts to the brain and turns his whole nature into +unreasoning passion." Is Hermione more highly developed than others of +Shakespeare's suspected wives,--Desdemona, Imogen? Likeness or +superiority to Alkestis, Compare with Queen Katharine in 'Henry VIII.' +Is she hard, having made her husband do penance for sixteen years? +"Deep and even quick feeling never renders Hermione incapable of an +admirable justice," writes Dowden, "nor deprives her of a true sense +of pity for him who so gravely wrongs both her and himself." + +2. THE YOUNG LOVERS + +Notice the high and pure character of their love as shown in the facts +that Florizel did not find it fitting to buy pedler's "knacks" for +Perdita,--a trait not in Greene. Her independent and uncringing nature +as shown in another little touch of Shakespeare (see IV. iv. 492-497). +Compare these two lovers with Ferdinand and Miranda in "The Tempest." + +3. THE ORIGINALITY OF SHAKESPEARE'S AUTOLYCUS + +For suggestions see _Poet-lore_, April, 1891. ('Notes and News.') +Compare the Hermes of the Homeric Hymn with the Autolycus and Sisyphos +of mythology, also the folk-lore tales of the master-thief (Cox). To +discuss the probable originality with Shakespeare of a conception +which is one of the universal inheritances of the Aryan race is +futile; the type existed, and Shakespeare's part was to make an +individual of the type. + +QUERIES FOR DISCUSSION + +Is Leontes' jealousy too gross and unfounded to be likely? + +Is Hermione, not hard, but slow to be satisfied, because her love is +noble? + +Is Mamillus not too precocious to be natural? + + +VII + +A STUDY OF THE CONSTRUCTION OF THE PLOT + +Has Shakespeare welded the two parts of the story together in such a +way as to unify the plot? Does Autolycus contribute anything to the +development of the plot? How does it compare with "Julius Caesar" or +"Macbeth," for example, in the construction of the plot? Is the +movement more rapid in the last half of the play or in the first? Note +the expedient introduced by Shakespeare to bridge over the lapse of +time between the first part and the last part; compare with other +examples of the same sort in Shakespeare. + +QUERY FOR DISCUSSION + +Does the dramatic interest of 'The Winter's Tale' suffer because the +plot is of less importance than the incidents and characters. + + +VIII + +SHAKESPEARE'S WORKMANSHIP IN "THE WINTER'S TALE" + +The versification is that of Shakespeare's latest group of plays. +Dowden says, "No five-measure lines are rhymed and run on lines, and +double endings are numerous." Give examples of the construction of the +lines from "Love's Labour's Lost" as an earlier play, "Merchant of +Venice" as a riper play. It has been said that the difficulties of +style in the play are accounted for by the endeavor of the author to +reflect the changing moods of Leontes. Compare with Prospero's diction +and construction in "The Tempest." Give examples of these. + +QUERIES FOR DISCUSSION + +Does the lawlessness of poetic workmanship in "The Winter's Tale," +together with the looseness of the dramatic construction, show a +deterioration from the ripe power of Shakespeare's middle period, or +that practised artistic mastery which is free from art by means of +perfect art? + + +IX + +PERDITA'S GARDEN + +The flower-imagery of "The Winter's Tale" compared with other +flower-scenes in Shakespeare,--in "A Midsommer Nights Dreame" and +"Hamlet." The classic and folk-lore allusions. The pastoral element in +"As you Like It" and "Winter's Tale." + +QUERIES FOR DISCUSSION + +The rustic scenes have little bearing on the play; are they necessary +to Shakespeare's art in order to throw a clear light on the character +of his protagonists? + + +X + +THE ETHICS OF "THE WINTER'S TALE" + +"The Winter's Tale" gives examples of meritorious actions losing their +virtue with the progress of ideas; for example, the civic virtue, +allegiance to the king, is what Leontes depends upon in his talk with +Camillo, with Antigonus, and the other lords. Note Camillo's reason +for not poisoning Polixenes to order,--that it is risky to kill a king +even at command of a king. That such a reason would be considered +small moral support to-day appears, for example, in the indignation or +amusement expressed in the newspapers on the German Emperor's address +to his army on the soldier's duty of obedience. In Shakespeare's day a +king had taken matters in his own hands in the trial of his wife, much +as Leontes did (see "Henry VIII".). The moral significance of +Hermione's patience under accusation appears in the long reparation +she requires. Paulina is made to speak for her during her seclusion. + +What are the "secret purposes" which Shakespeare makes her subserve? +Observe that, if the fulfilment of the oracle and the restoration of +the child were all Paulina anticipates, there would be no use in her +remonstrances against a second marriage and in her goading the king to +remorse. + +QUERIES FOR DISCUSSION + +Does Shakespeare's ideal of love and constancy, as revealed in 'The +Winter's Tale,' imply that second marriages are offences against the +first. Has the objection Paulina makes to his re-marriage such a cause +or is it a necessity of the plot? + +Does the way of telling "The Winter's Tale" indicate the passing away +of aristocratic and the formation of democratic ideals, and the +dawning change in the _status_ both of woman and the commoner? + + + +***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SHAKESPEARE STUDY PROGRAMS; THE +COMEDIES*** + + +******* This file should be named 14699.txt or 14699.zip ******* + + +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: +https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/4/6/9/14699 + + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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