"'^^^^. ."4^-^. .^.'' t^ ..SjeVT^- >- :^* - .:;^/;;. ^- ^. .:*"■ <- \.-^ * -"^^^ "O V .0^/ ^0-/ \/ 0' I'te*. '^ ^ ^',f^k^^". •>*„ »iv' r- "-#", 4 O '\ ^^ ^-.. '>'i^:' .0 ^ y , o « c ^ '<^^ ^.^^^^^-, 4^ .,. ^'^. ^-1°- ^°-n^, '^'■ .<^^% o '"*i'^J.'-"»^ ■" •^Ao^ OUTLINE STUDIES IN THE SHAKESPEAREAN DRAMA WITH AN INDEX TO THE CHARACTERS IN SHAKESPEARE'S PLAYS PREPARED FOR STUDENTS BY MARY E. FERRIS-GETTEMY, M. L. FORMER PRINCIPAL OF THE HIGH SCHOOL, GALESBURG, ILLINOIS CHICAGO A. FLANAGAN COMPANY USRARY of congress! Two Copies Received JAN 83 1907 Cooyrlffht Entry CLASS c<_XXc.,No. COPY B. jhakesp^f^^^ COPTRIGHT 1904 BY MARY E. FERRIS-GETTEM.T GALESBURG, ILLINOIS Copyright 1906 BY A.FLANAGAN COMPANY TO MY PUPILS WHO WERE A NEVER-FAILING INSPIRATION TO THEIR TEACHER IN SHAKESPEARE, THESE STUDIES ARE AFFECTION- ATELY DEDICATED CONTENTS Page Preface to Second Edition ii How TO Use the Book in Classes 13 I INTRODUCTORY STUDY The Drama Definition — Origin — Ethics of the Drama — Ethical conflict — Ethical World — Nemesis 21 The English Drama Mystery Plays — Morality Plays — The Interlude — Early com- edy — Early tragedy — Crudity of the early drama 24 The Theater in Shakespeare's Time Effect of the Reformation — Theaters built — Two classes — Performance of a play — The jig — Lack of scenery — Shakespeare's senior contemporaries 39 Shakespeare and His Dramas Scarcity of records — Early biographers — Biographers of our time — Facts — Shakespeare's birthplace — Birth — The name — His family — Boyhood and education — Dramatic at- mosphere of Stratford — Influence of nature — In London — Greene's jealousy — Recasting plays — Play-writing — Return to Stratford — Will and death — Testimony of con- temporaries — Translation — Shakespeareana — Disorder of his writings 45 5 6 CONTENTS Page Shakespeare as a Dramatist His strength— Three distinguishing points— Three distinct purposes — Shakespeare universal — Characterization — Shakespeare's women — Characters and plot — Justice to characters— Dramatic purpose of characters— The super- natural—Humor—Sympathy with the fool 70 Shakespeare's Prose Strength of prose — The prose drama Shakespeare's — Five styles of prose 82 Shakespeare as a Teacher Morals — Treatment of immoral characters — Institutions of the Family and the State — Religion — The Bible 87 Universal Knowledge Music — Law — Medical knowledge — Science — Nature — Animal life — Typography — Vocabulary 98 II PRINCIPLES AND STRUCTURE OF THE SHAKE- SPEAREAN DRAMA Its Ethics Ethical principles — Solution — Nemesis — The principle of sac- rifice — Cordelia — Lear — Retribution — Shakespeare's Ethi- cal World 103 Plan of Shakespeare's Ethical World Positive phase — Negative phase 107 The Plot Incidents of plot and of story— Purpose of characters- Sources of plot 113 CONTENTS T Page Dramatic Structure Threads — Movements 117 Mechanical Structure Framework — Acts — Scenes 122 Dramatic Classification Legendary — Historical — Tragedy and Comedy — Conflict double — Three phases of Comedy — Character and situ- ation — Comic action or structure — Real and Ideal — Pure and Tragi-comedy — Order of Historical plays — Snider's classification — Summary 124 HI THE STUDY OF SHAKESPEARE Suggestions Shakespeare's versatility — The study of an individual play.. 137 The Merchant of Venice sidelights Date of Play and Source of Plot 143 Theme : Shylock's wealth — Antonio's wealth — Portia's wealth — Religious conflict — Love theme — Theme traced. 144 .Structure: Threads — Movements — Comedy and Nemesis... 149 Analysis of Structure : Antonio's thread — Shylock's thread — Religious conflict — Love thread — Property thread 152 Some Legal Aspects 155 The Bible in The Merchant of Venice 157 development of the play Questions for Daily Lessons 161 General Questions 173 Scheme for Outline Book 17^ Suggestive Topics for Essays and Discussion 180 8 CONTENTS Page Julius C^sar sidelights Plot and Characters : Date of play — Source of plot — Shake- speare's Csesar — Caesar and Brutus — Institutional persons — Tragedy and Comedy i88 Ethical Standpoint of the Play: World spirit — ^The People in Julius CcBsar 192 The Csesar of History : In war— Works of peace — Personal characteristics 194 Structure : Threads — Movements 196 Time Analysis 197 CLASS STUDY Questions 199 Scheme for Outline Book 204 Suggestive Topics for Essays and Discussion 206 Macbeth sidelights Some Features of the Play: Dramatic action— Classification — Source of plot 210 The Subjective and the Objective 211 The Supernatural Element: Superstitions of the times- Weird Sisters — Hecate 212 The Porter 218 Theme 218 Basis of the Drama: Basis of action— Ethical standpoint- Nemesis 220 Structure : Second thread— Two strands 221 class STUDY Review 223 The Play 223 Supernatural Elements 224 Characterization 227 CONTENTS i^ Page Scheme for Outline Book 238 Suggestive Topics for Essays and Discussion 240 Hamlet sidelights The Fame of Hamlet: Its evohition — Shakespeare in the play — The Sphinx — Our interest in the play 249 Points of Interest : Length — Source of plot — Ghost — Na- tional characteristics — Play-acting — Phases of the drama — Insanity — Ethical principles 251 The Foreign Element : Fortinbras's rebellion — Fortinbras mediated — Fortinbras and the State — Fortinbras and the King — Fortinbras and Hamlet 254 The Family Institution: The royal family — The Polonius family 259 The Contradictory Hamlet: Outward Hamlet — Inner Ham- let — Effect of action 261 The Play: Basis — Hamlet's basis of action — Necessity of the Ghost — The King's basis of action — The crime — The revenge — Claim to the crown — Hamlet's position — Jus- tice of the demand — Obstacles to be overcome 264 The Conflict : Hamlet— The King 267 Nemesis : Polonius — Ophelia — The Queen — The King — Laertes — Hamlet — Rosencrantz and Guilderstern — Har- mony restored — Office of Horatio 269 Three Questions : Hamlet's insanity — The great question — The real tragedy 273 Structure : Threads — Subjective conflicts 276 CLASS STUDY Review • 277 The Play 277 Characterization 278 General Questions 298 10 CONTENTS Page Scheme for Outline Book 30i Suggestive Topics for Essays and Discussion 302 Comparative Study • 304 INDEX TO CHARACTERS Authority for Pronunciation 321 Diacritical Marks 321 A SMALL SHAKESPEAREAN LIBRARY Complete Works S'^S Life of Shakespeare '313 Dramatic Structure and Interpretative Criticism 314 For Reference Only 316 Development of the English Drama 316 GENERAL INDEX PREFACE TO SECOND EDITION As THE title of this volume indicates, the studies it contains are worked out from the dramatic standpoint. The book is designed to help both teachers and pupils in a systematic study of Shakespeare. It is to be used in connection with any edition of plays, and therefore no attempt is made to duplicate in it the valuable matter usually found in single-play school editions. The object of the Introductory Study is to bring together in compact form information which all students should have, and which ordinarily must be gleaned from reference books that are not always at hand. In Part II the effort is to present the.principles and structure of the Shakespearean drama in so definite a form that they may be readily grasped and applied to the study of any play. Part III contains an application of these principles to the study of The Merchant of Venice, Julius Ccesar, Macbeth and Hamlet. We believe our selection of dramas a good one for study in secondary schools, and feel that the order in which we consider the plays has its advantages. The plan of spreading the study over three years is very desirable : first-year pupils can be interested in The Merchant of Venice; Julitis Ccesar is much more likely to be appreciated after the study of Roman Histor} than before ; while by the third year the pupil is able to bring 11 12 PREFACE TO SECOND EDITION greater maturity of mind to bear upon the more subtle questions to be discussed in Macbeth and Hamlet. Character study is presented by means of questions rather than by written sketches, in order to stimulate the pupil to think for himself. An index to the characters in Shakespeare's plays has been compiled as a matter of convenience. The sidelights to the studies of the individual dramas are designed merely to awaken interest, to call attention to and throw light upon some special features of each play, and to suggest lines of study that may be applied to other plays. The work here presented has been tried with pupils in the classroom, and has been thoroughly enjoyed and appreciated by them. The master critics Gervinus, Ulrici, Coleridge, Dowden, Brandes, Hudson and others have so illumined the pages of Shakespeare that he who reads must see, and the rich treasures which they reveal are now con- sidered common property. It has been the aim through- out this volume to give credit for helpful suggestions received from these scholars. Especial thanks are due to Dr. Denton J. Snider, who granted me carte blanche in the use of his com- mentaries ; it is but just to him to say that without the inspiration received from his interpretation of the master mind, this little venture would never have been launched. If the book proves helpful to any in the study of the great searcher of the hearts and intents of men, its mission is accomplished. M. E. F.-G. Galesburg, Illinois, October, 1906. HOW TO USE THE BOOK IN CLASSES As STATED in the Preface, this book is intended as a basis of study to accompany any edition of Shakespeare's plays. Since it is to serve as a handbook for the teacher as well as for the pupil, the discussion of certain topics may be found rather beyond some pupils ; but a little help from the teacher will soon enable the pupil to develop the thought, and thereby gain mental grasp for himself. At the beginning of Part HI will be found some general suggestions for the study of any play, also for the especial plays which follow ; these suggestions, together with the questions on the text and on the plays, and the schemes for outline books, indicate to some extent how the book may be used, but it has been suggested that more specific hints may be needed by those who have had but little experience in teaching this subject. The studies of the four plays given are somewhat progressive, and should be pursued in the order here presented. FIRST YEAR Before reading the first play, it might be well to devote a few recitations to the first twenty-four pages of Part I, so that the pupils may gain an idea of the 13 14 HOW TO USE BOOK IN CLASSES growth of the English drama up to the time of Shake- speare, and become interested in the subject before beginning the study of the play. When the play is taken up, call attention to its mechanism; then refer to the topic "Mechanical Structure" (page 122). The pupils should learn this at once and carry it with them through the play ; they will then have no trouble in the future in tracing the development of any play. Portions of "Shakespeare and His Dramas" may be assigned daily in connection with the study of the play, a few minutes at the beginning of the recitation being spent in discussion of them. The topics in the remainder of the chapter may profitably be taken up as suggested by the text of the play. .The Merchant of Venice is especially suggestive on the topics of Religion and Music. What to do with "Ethical Principles" (Part II) with first-year pupils must depend somewhat upon the class ; if the teacher finds the subject too difficult for her pupils she should touch it lightly, first bringing out the thought in the study of the play, and gradually developing the principles. "The Dramatic Structure" is of great importance in getting a grasp of the play. The pupil should first read the play through by himself"^ : then, at the beginning of the class study, the topic "Structure" (Part II) should be taken up and applied to the play. (See suggestions on The Merchant of Venice, Part III.) If the threads and movements of the dramatic structure are constantly •If the pupils are beginners, who have never read a play of Shakespeare, it may be wise to read the first play with them. HOW TO USE BOOK IN CLASSES 15 referred to in the course of the study, they will soon give no more trouble than the mechanical structure of acts and scenes ; it will not be long before the pupil can give the office of any character in the play. By the assigning of one or two topics daily upon the "Classification of the Drama," this will soon be mas- tered. Always illustrate by the play in hand — First, Legendary and Historical ; which is The Merchant of J^cnicc? Second, Tragedy and Comedy; which is The Merchant of J^enicef Third, Real and Ideal; which is The MercJiaiit of ]\viice? Fourth, Pure or Tragi- comedy ; which is The Merchant of Venice? The pupil can now classify the drama thus : The Mercliant of Venice — Legendary ; Comedy ; Real ; Tragi-Comedy — and give reasons for the classification. While making a study of a Real Tragi-Comedy, it is well to assign for home reading a play of another class, to show the contrast ; a general favorite is the Ideal Pure Comedy As You Like It. Should there be time for more than one play, the Real Pure Comedy Twelfth Night, or the Ideal Tragi-Comedy Winter s Tale may be read. In the first year the historical division of the drama need not be dwelt upon to any extent. SECOND YEAR In connection with the Roman historical play Julius Ccesar, thoroughly review Parts I and II until mastered, emphasizing the features of the Historical Drama, and 16 HOW TO USE BOOK IN CLASSES bringing out the points of difference between it and the Legendary Drama. Call particular attention to the use of the supernatural element in the form of superstitious beliefs, omens, classical allusions, and so on. Notice that while threads and movements are readily traced, the dramatic structure is looser, while the mechanical structure shows the fidelity of the Legendary Drama. As suggested on page 13, by a little study on the part of the teacher the questions on the plays may be, easily traced by acts and scenes, and selections made to assign in advance, for each day's lesson. THIRD YEAR In connection with the Ideal Tragedies Macbeth and Hamlet, again thoroughly review Parts I and II, empha- sizing the ethical element of the authors works ; in fact, these two plays should be studied throughout from an ethical standpoint. Apply the classification given on page 132 to the plays. Show how Nemesis follows the guilty doer of an evil deed, bringing him to his destruc- tion. Call attention to "The Supernatural," ''Morals," and ''Religion" (Part I). The form and use of the supernatural is brought out in the studies of these plays in Part III. Show how these two plays in a certain sense form a connecting link between the historical and the legendary dramas. For home reading the pupil is now prepared to take up the Ideal Tragi-Comedy The Tempest, or any of the strong Real Tragedies. HOW TO USE BOOK IN CLASSES 17 Blank pages for notes have been inserted at the close of the study of each play. As in any other subject, so in the study of Shake- speare, nothing will awaken the interest and fire the enthusiasm of pupils like fresh coals from the altar of an enthusiastic teacher. I INTRODUCTORY STUDY INTRODUCTORY STUDY The Drama The Drama is that form of literature which repre- sents man in, action ; the characters manifest themselves through their own words and deeds ; we see them in the process of development. We see the motives prompting each act; we see man receiving the reward or the penalty of his own act as a natural consequence of the act itself. If the deed is evil, we see it working out its own destruction, and while we may feel sympathy for the individual, we rejoice in the ultimate destruction of the evil. The Drama shows man his own deed and its conse- quences in the form of the deed itself and its results; hence the Drama has truly been called the highest form of art, since it represents man, not in the cold pulseless marble of sculpture, nor in the artificial coloring of the canvas, but in the flesh and blood of actual life. Here we see the subjective conflicts of the passions of man worked out in the objective and often bloody conflicts of real life. All art has religious thought for its basis, and the Drama is no exception to this general rule. The early dramatic poetry of the Hindoos and the Persians was of a religious nature, while the best of the ancient 21 22 STUDIES IN SHAKESPEAREAN DRAMA dramas, the Greek, originated in religious festivals. The religious element is inherent in man. It was but natural that in the dim ages with this religious force struggling within him it should seek outward expression in the dramatic form. The Mass of the Roman Catholic Church is really only a drama portraying the fall and redemption of man. The history of fiction shows that instinctively man desires a grasp upon the whole of life at once ; time is too slow for him : the history of the Drama shows that he likes to see the life-problem worked out before his very eyes from beginning to end ; of this he never tires. In this inborn tendency of man's religious nature to express itself, and his desire to see the life-problem worked out, we have the reason why the Drama came to be, and why it has maintained itself through honor and through dishonor, during all the centuries. It is a necessity of man's nature. Ethics of the Drama. "Ethics is the science of human duty, or the science of morals."* Many of the higher animals manifest a wonderful intelligence, but no indication of a moral or spiritual nature has ever been discovered in any branch of the brute creation; man alone is endowed with an ethical nature. Life is but an ethical drama in the largest sense. Hence the Drama, to be true to life, must be ethical; that is, it must be based upon ethical or moral principles, and be worked out according to ethical or moral laws. Ethical Conflict. In the drama of life we see the ■Standard Dictionary. THE DRAMA 23 ethical forces of good and evil, right and wrong, arrayed against one another in constant conflict. Objectivelyf we see this conflict going on all about us ; we see avarice taking advantage of the weak and grinding the poor. Subjectively we realize in our own inner conflict that there is a law in our members that when we would do good, evil is present with us ; inclination urges us on ; duty holds us back. Wrong says, "Do this." Right says, *'No." Launcelot Gobbo says, "The fiend is at mine elbow and tempts me, saying to me, *. . . good Launcelot Gobbo, use your legs, take the start, run away.' My conscience says, *No ; take heed, . . . honest Launcelot Gobbo ; do not run ; scorn running with thy heels.' . . . *Budge,' says the fiend. 'Budge not,' says my conscience."''' And thus the conflict goes on. The result is with ourselves ; we must decide which shall triumph in the end, the fiend or conscience. The struggle is often fierce, and it is only by constantly overcoming that we at last gain that victory which brings peace in our own individual spir- itual realm. Ethical World. For convenience, this moral and spiritual realm or world in which these ethical forces are in conflict may be called the Ethical World. As we witness these forces at war, we intuitively feel that though the end may be long delayed, right and justice will surely triumph at last. Society demands this. If a man takes the life of his fellow man, society tObjectively objective : that which appeals to the mind from without. Subjective : that which originates and exists In the mind. See p. 211. * Merchant of Venice, ii, 2. 24 STUDIES IN SHAKESPEAREAN DRAMA demands that he shall suffer the penalty of his deed in order that it (society) can feel safe. His deed contains within it the elements of death which come back upon his own head and bring his destruction. When he has satisfied the law, harmony is restored, and society is at peace. Nemesis. Anciently, Nemesis was the goddess who kept things proportioned. If a man acquired an excess of property it was the business of Nemesis to see that he suffered loss. Later she became the goddess of retribu- tion. She crept into the art world and has become a favorite there. Moulton says that "in ancient thought Nemesis was an artistic bond between sin and retribu- tion." That is, she represents the simple principle, "Whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap" ; "He that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption." In other words, the fleshly deed contains within itself the elements of destruction, and the evil- doer suffers the penalty of his own deed. No more striking illustration of Nemesis can be given than the case of Shylock; hedged in at every turn by his own thought and word he is, Haman-like, hanged on his own gallows ; he becomes the avenger of his own evil thought. The English Drama Hudson says that the English Drama is not clearly traceable to any foreign source; that it was an original and independent growth.* Still, it also was of ecclesi- astical origin, having its rise in the Mass of the Church •Shakespeare : His Life, Art, and Character, vol. i, p. 53. THE DRAMA 23 of the early centuries. Its original object was religious instruction. In its early days there were almost no books ; the common people could not read : the play was a device of the clergy for instructing them in Bible truths and stories. As the new birth of religious thought and emotion in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries gave rise to new forms and subjects in art as expressed in painting and music, so the same thought became the mainspring of the Drama. The development of the modern English Drama may be traced through three quite distinct stages, although they naturally blend more or less one into another: the Miracle or Mystery Play, the Morality Play, and the Interlude. Originally, a distinction was made between Mystery Plays and Miracle Plays. The Mystery Play portra d Bible stories of the creation and fall of man, and his redemption, while the Miracle Plays, probably of later date, were based upon the legends of saints and martyrs. In England, however, one term usually suf- ficed for both. Mystery Plays. The Mystery Plays were based upon the idea of supernatural power. In the Introduction to his 'Tragedies," Dr. Denton J. Snider thus summarizes their general characteristics and plan: The Mystery Play seeks to give, in a religious frame-work, the entire history of man from the Creation till the Judgment Day, as it is presented in historic continuity by the Old and New Testaments. The Lord and the Devil are the two chief char- acters, who appear in person on the stage, and carry on their conflict. The Devil is comic in these old plays, so are all of his demons, cohorts, earthly representatives, such as Herod. To the 26 STUDIES IN SHAKESPEAREAN DRAMA simple minds of the people, the bad, in attempting to overthrow the good, is foolish, ludicrous, comic. Evil, in its complete circle, is self-destructive; so our ancestors laughed at the devil, on the stage at least. It often required several days to give an entire Mystery, which is not so much one play, as a series of plays; the Coventry Mystery, for example, ia composed of forty-two plays or, more properly, long dialogues. The dealings of Provi- dence with his children are the great fact which is emphasized; the side of divine order is presented overwhelmingly ; in it man is passive, or at best a child ; and future bliss is made the motive of this world's deed. In the Mystery Plays no attempt was made to portray humanity — only the spiritual conflict through which man passes to final redemption. These plays were at first written by the clergy and performed in abbeys or cathedrals; soon they were taken up by companies and performed in the open air on staging, then on platforms on wheels, moving from street to street and from town to town. For the performance of some Mysteries the carts had a series of three platforms, one above the other : the upper one represented Heaven, the middle one Earth, and the lower one Hell. Of course God and his angels occupied Heaven; the Devil and his demons occupied Hell, while poor humanity worked out its prob- lems between the two, often in danger of being dragged into the bottomless pit through the yawning dragon's mouth which formed the entrance, and which emitted smoke and flame whenever occasion required. A gor- geous Heaven was the pride of the company ; a company that could afford silk hangings and fruit-bearing trees was considered truly fortunate. As we can readily imagine, when these plays got out THE DRAMA 27 of the hands of the clergy and were performed on the street as moving pageants, passing from square to square, their sacred character was in danger. Still, however, the conditions of the times and the darkness from which the minds of the people had scarcely emerged, dulled even sensitive natures to what to us would be nothing more or less than absolute blasphemy. No one was in the least shocked by such items in the accounts of the companies as the following: Paid for a pair of gloves for God, Paid for gilding God's coat. Paid for keeping fyer at Hell's mouth iild. Soon, in order to enliven the play, coarse jesting scenes were introduced. In The Deluge Mrs. Noah is represented as a vixen who refuses to obey her husband, scolds him and has to be flogged ; refusing to leave her gossiping friends to go into the ark, she is at last dragged through water up to her neck by her husband and sons and forced to enter. The Play of the Blessed Sacrament These Mystery Plays were acted regularly at Christ- mas, Easter, and at the Corpus Christi festivals. \ curious specimen of the Corpus Christi play was dis- covered not long since in the library of Trinity College in Dublin ; it is supposed to date back to the reign of Edward IV, which closed in 1483. Hudson gives the following description of it: It is called The Play of the Blessed Sacrament, and is founded on a miracle alleged to have been wrought in the forest of 28 STUDIES IN SHAKESPEAREAN DRAMA Arragon, in 1461. In form it closely resembles the Miracle- Plays founded on Scripture, the Saviour being one of the char- acters, the others being five Jews, a bishop, a priest, a merchant, and a physician and his servant. The merchant, having the key of the church, steals the Host, and sells it to the Jews, who promise to turn Christians in case they find its miraculous power verified. They put the Host to various tests. Being stabbed with their daggers, it bleeds, and one of the Jews goes mad at the sight. They -next attempt nailing it to a post, when one of them has his hand torn off; whereupon the physician and his man come in to dress the wound, but after a long comic scene are driven out as quacks. The Jews then proceed to boil the Host, but the water forthwith turns blood-red. Finally, they cast it into a heated oven, which presently bursts asunder, and an image of the Saviour rises and addresses the Jews, who make good their promise upon the spot. The merchant confesses his theft, declares his penitence, and is forgiven.* The object of this play was to strengthen the people in the doctrine of the Church that the elements of the sacrament are converted into the actual body and blood of the Saviour — transubstantiation. Morality Plays. Naturally humanity must in time assert itself, and by degrees allegorical personages came to be mixed up with scriptural characters, enforcing moral lessons, until finally the whole play consisted of the virtues and vices as abstract principles arrayed against one another. In the conflict the virtues triumphed over the vices in the end ; the Drama now became ethical. The Devil was a favorite character in the Mysteries and was retained in the Moralities, while to strengthen the humorous element a character called the Vice was •Shakespeare : His Life, Art, and Cliaracters, vol. 1, p. 57. THE DRAMA 29 introduced. The Vice always accompanied the Devil; the two bore a leading part in the play. The Devil was usually made as evil-looking as possible, with a hideous face, horns, hoofs and a tail. The Mce followed him about the stage, tormenting him in every possible way, riding upon his back, beating him until he roared (and the louder he roared the better pleased was the audi- ence), until finally the Vice was carried ofi to Hell on the Devil's back. Ben Jonson, in his Staple of News, gives an imagi- nary conversation between acts, in which he amusingly illustrates the interest centered in these characters. Fearing there may be no Vice in the play, at the end of the first act Gossip Tattle thus relieves her mind : ''My husband, Timothy Tattle, God rest his poor soul, was wont to say there was no play without a Fool and a Devil in it ; he was for the Devil still, God bless him. The Devil for his money, he would say ; I would fain see the Devil." "But was the Devil a proper man?" was asked. Whereupon Gossip Mirth replies: "As fine a gentleman of his inches as ever I saw trusted to the stage or anywhere else ; and loved the commonwealth as well as ever a patriot of them all. He would carry away the Vice upon his back quickly to Hell wherever he came, and reform abuses." At the end of the second act, when asked, "How like you the Vice in the play?" Gossip Tattle complains : "But there is never a fiend to carry him away. Besides, he has never a wooden dagger. I would not give a rush for a Vice that has not a wooden dagger, to snap at everybody he meets." Mirth replies: "That was the old way, Gossip, when Iniquity came in 30 STUDIES IN SHAKESPEAREAN DRAMA like Hokus-Pokus in a juggler's jerkin, with false skirts, like the Knave of Clubs." It will readily be seen that the moral play must introduce entirely new features in the writing of a play : the story and characters must now be conceived, the plot originated. After a time historical characters were sub- stituted for abstract virtues, as when Aristides took the place of Justice. Then when the Reformation became of all-absorbing interest, the play began to take sides politically : real characters were shown through various slight disguises, and instead of the old allegorical plays we see the beginning of a drama of power. Man is shown in his conflict with the World, the Flesh, and the Devil; he is shown to be a responsible being morally, and the individual is moved from within. The play deals with motives as well as with acts. The conflict por- trayed is a moral one in which Virtue always triumphs over Vice. But as Snider says, ''the moral play is a bloodless allegory, it takes the moral substance by itself without sensible form." Everyman The Morality Everyman, published in London about the year 1500, furnishes a fine illustration of this blood- less allegory. The Dramatis Personse is in itself very suggestive : Messenger Cousin Beauty God Goods Strength Death Good Deeds Discretion Everyman Knowledge Five Wits Fellowship Confession Angel Kindred Doctor THE DRAMA 31 The play opens with a prologue by the Messenger in which he announces the theme : The summoning of Everyman called it is, For ye shall hear, how our Heaven King Calleth Everyman lo a 'general reckoning. Then God appears and charges all creatures with being drowned in sin — They be so encumbered with worldly riches, That 'needs on them I must do justice. He then commands Death to go to Everyman and show him the pilgrimage which he must take, Which he in no wise may escape. When Everyman receives the summons, he pleads unreadiness and begs for time, but Death is inexorable. Then Everyman begins to cast about for company to help him on his journey ; he calls in turn upon Fellow- ship and upon Kindred, who at first give a ready con- sent, but when they learn -that they are going upon a journey from which there is no returning, they forsake him. In his despair he recalls that All my life I have loved riches. lie now calls upon his Goods and Riches. Goods replies : I lie here in corners trussed and piled so high. And in chests T am locked so fast, Also sacked \n bags, thou niayest sec with thine eye I cannot stir. 32 STUDIES IN SHAKESPEAREAN DRAMA Nevertheless Everyman tells him that he is sent for, To give a straight account general Before the Highest Jupiter of all, and he begs Goods to go with him, For, peradventure, thou mayest before God Almighty My reckoning help to clean and purify. Goods informs him that My condition is man's soul to kill, If I save one, a thousand do I spill, and that it is only to Everyman's damnation that he has so loved Riches instead of giving part to the poor ; with a derisive laugh he then leaves the poor man to wail, Oh, to whom shall I make my moan. For to go with me on that heavy journey? At last he recalls his Good Deeds — But, alas ! she is so weak. Good Deeds replies : Here I lie in the cold ground ; Thy sins have me so sore bound, That I cannot stir. Good Deeds calls her sister Knowledge to their assistance ; she leads Everyman "to Confession, that cleansing river." Confession gives him "a precious jewel called penance." Through confession and penance Everyman gains absolution, and feels that he is now ready to go on his journey. By the advice of Good Deeds and Knowledge, Strength, Beauty, Discretion and THE DRAMA 33 Five Wits are now called in. Five Wits advises that the blessed sacrament be administered by the priest because No remedy find we under God. But only priesthood. Everyman then receives the sacrament and is in haste to go. Overcome with weakness he exclaims : Friends, let me not turn again to this land, Not for all the world's gold ; For into this cave must I creep, And turn to the earth, and there to sleep ; whereupon Discretion, Strength, Beauty and Five Wits desert him. Knowledge w^aits to see him depart. He now commends his soul to God and passes on, accom- panied by Good Deeds only. An Angel sings a song of welcome "into the heavenly sphere" ; the Doctor pro- nounces the epilogue in which he charges all to bear in mind ''that all at last do Everyman forsake, save his Good Deeds: [them he] there doth take."* The Interlude. Man naturally craves things tangible, and about the first of the sixteenth century the Drama began to take on a new form. This form had its origin in the natural desire for amusement. Short farces were introduced between the acts of the Miracle and ^lorality plays for the entertainment of the audience, and were also acted in the intervals of a banquet. This custom gave the term Interlude to these amusing pieces. John *TI)is old Morality has rPcoiUly been revivod, n'publislKMl. and again put upon the stago in Loudon. It has also received a hearty welcome in the United States, where it has been presented in the larger cities and in several of the universities. 34 STUDIES IN SHAKESPEAREAN DRAMA Heywood, jester of Henry VIII, seems to be the first to develop this idea into a complete drama. His char- acters were no longer qualities of mind or morals, but were taken from real life ; they were given the names of men and women. But the \Tce, who seemed quite indis- pensable, was retained as a personage. The Four P's Perhaps his most famous production was The Four P's, designed to illustrate the wit and- manners of the times : a Palmer, a Pardoner, a Poticary and a Peddler have a discussion as to who can practice the greatest frauds upon the credulous or the ignorant, and finally lay a wager as to wdio can tell the greatest lie. The Palmer says he has never seen a v/oman out of temper ; of course he is pronounced the greatest liar of all. At this time the influence of the Reformation was beginning to be felt in England and reverence for the Roman Church was weakening, so we must not l^e sur- prised to hear the Pardoner say : I say yet again, my pardons are such, That if there were a thousand souls upon a heap, I would bring them all to heaven as good sheep. With small cost without any pain, These pardons bring them to heaven plain : Give me but a penny or two-pence, And as soon as the soul departeth hence, In half an hour, or three-quarters at most The soul is in heaven with the Holy Ghost. He displays many relics, calling attention to one in the following language : THE DRAMA 35 Nay. sirs, here may ye see The great toe of the Trinity ; Who to this toe any money voweth ■ And once may roll it in his month. All his life after I nndertake He shall never he vexed with the toothache. To which the Poticary replies : I pray you turn that relic about ; Either the Trinity had the gout. Or else, because it is three toes in one, God made it as much as three toes alone. As may readily be seen, amusement is the sole object of the Interlude. The element of instruction, either spiritual or n^.oral, has dropped out; \Tce is enjoyed as much as \Trtue — nay, oftentimes more. When the play lias lost its ethical element, \vc must expect it to descend to a coarseness unendurable to the refined mind. SuiuiJiary For convenience, the chief points in these stages of the development of the English Drama may be briefly summarized as follows : The Mystery Play portrays the conflict between Good and Evil as abstract principles. The conflict is spiritual, (lood triumphs in the end. The object of the play is to instruct in Bible stories and the principles of religion, and to cultivate the spiritual nature in man. The Morality Play portrays the strife between the moral forces in man. Good triumphs over the Evil. Here, too, the primarA- object is to instruct, and to culti- vate the moral nature in man. 36 STUDIES IN SHAKESPEAREAN DRAMA The Interlude is decidedly human. It portrays the follies and passions of man in action ; the element of instruction drops" out. Amusement is the sole object ; it matters not whether Vice or A^irtue triumphs. The true Drama must reveal the divine order as shown in the Mystery Play, it must show the moral germ in the individual, as in the IMorality Play, it must show the purely human side of life, as in the Interlude. Ralph Roister Doister Early Comedy. It can readily be seen that from the Interlude to Comedy proper is but a step. In 1551 appeared a genuine comedy in five acts, divided into scenes. The play was entitled Ralph Roister Doister, and was written by Nicholas Udall, an educated man, at one time headmaster of Westminster School. His name is distinguished in the literature of his time. The names of the characters in this play show traces of the Morality. The hero and heroine are Ralph and a widow, Dame Custance. Ralph's friend Matthew Merrygreek plays an important part. Minor characters are Trupenny, Madge Mumblecrust, Talkapace, Alyface, Good Luck, etc. Ralph is desperately in love with the widow and writes her letters, which she returns. Matthew Merry- greek, evidently the Vice of the play, full of fun and merry mischief, plays the go-between, and at last per- suades the widow to listen to a letter from her admirer. As written by Ralph, the letter reads : THE DRAMA 37 Now by these presents I do you advertise That I am minded to marry you, in no wise For your goods and substance ; I could be content To take you as ye are ; if ye mind to be my wife, Ye shall be assured for the time of my life, I will keep ye right well : from good raiment and fare Ye shall not be kept ; but in sorrow and care Ye shall in no wise live ; at your own liberty, Do and say what ye lust ; ye shall never please me But when ye are merry ; I will be all sad When ye are sorry ; I will be very glad When ye seek your heart's ease ; I will be unkind At no time ; in me shall ye much gentleness find. The merry and fiui-loving Matthew sees in the writing a temptation which he is unahle to withstand, and this is what the fascinating widow listens to : Now by these presents I do you advertise That I am minded to marry you in no wise. For your goods and substance I could be content To take ye as you are. If ye mind to be my wife, Ye shall be assured, for the time of my life I will keep ye right well from good raiment and fare ; Ye shall not be kept but in sorrow and care. Ye shall in no wise live at your own liberty ; Do and say what ye lust, ye shall never please me ; But when ye are merry. I will be all sad ; When ye are sorry, I will be very glad ; When ye seek your heart's ease I will be unkind : At no time in me shall ye much gentleness find. It is needless to say that Ralph does not win the widow. She marries another suitor, Good Luck. The merit of this comedy marks the progress in the develop- ment of the Drama. 38 STUDIES IN SHAKESPEAREAN DRAMA Gorboduc Early Tragedy. Tragedy soon follows, in the play Gorboduc or Fcrrex and Porrcx, which was played before Queen Elizabeth in 1562. Gorboduc, King of Great Britain in 500 B.C., divides his kingdom between his two sons, Ferrex and Porrex. K quarrel ensues; Porrex kills Ferrex ; the mother avenges the murder by killing Porrex in his sleep ; war follows ; the country is wasted and the kingdom left without a head. The play was written at least in part by Thomas Sackville, about 1562. As a work of dramatic art, it is less faithful to real life than Udall's comedy, but still we see that the Drama is working up to its modern form. Crudity of the Early Drama. It, however, lacked the unity and artistic finish wdiich were left for Shakespeare's keen dramatic perception to bring forth. Sir Philip Sid- ney, who died in 1586, says in his Defense of Poetry: Our Tragedies and Comedies are not without cause cried out against, observing rules neither of honest civility nor skillful poetry. You shall have Asia of the one side and Afric of the other, and so many under-kingdoms that the player when he comes in must ever begin with telling where he is, or else the tale will not be conceived. Now you shall have three ladies walk to gather flowers, and then we must believe the stage to be a garden ; by and by we hear news of a shipwreck in the same place ; then we are to blame if we accept it not for a rock. Upon the back of that comes out a hideous monster with fire and smoke, and then the miserable beholders are bound to take it for a cave; while in the meantime two armies fly in, represented with four swords and bucklers and then what hard heart yet will not receive it for a pitched field? Now of time they are much more liberal. But besides these gross absurdities, ali THE THEATER IN SHAKESPEARE'S TIME 39 their plays be neither right tragedies nor right comedies, mingling kings and clowns not because the matter so carried it, but thrust in the clown by head and shoulders, to play a part in majestical matters with neither decency nor discretion. This statement not only shows the crude state of the Drama quite np to Shakespeare's time, but also gives some idea of the crudit}' of the stage itself — the lack of anything like scenery and of all the modern helps to the interpretation of a play. Sir Philip's keen perception of the faults of the Drama was almost prophetic of the wonderful order which was soon to be brought out of this chaos, but little he dreamed how soon! The Theater ix Shakespeare's Time The presentation of the Mystery and Morality plays inside and outside of chapels and cathedrals, and their street wanderings, have been spoken of. As the plavs for amusement became more popular, strolling bands of actors went about and played before courts or in the palaces of the nobility, especially during- the Lenten season when they were not allowed to play in the larger cities and towns. Choir boys and the young people of the guilds gave amateur performances in public halls, which, if WQ may believe Hamlet, caused some jealousy among- the professional actors. Finally nearly every court had its "blaster of Revels." Effect of the Reformation. As the Reformation began to take root in England, the Church began to look somewhat doubtfully upon dramatic performances, and finally Parliament forbade Miracle Plays lest something 40 STUDIES IN SHAKESPEAREAN DRAMA should be presented which would conflict with the doc- trines of the Church; Morality Plays, however, were permitted, and one can readily see that this tended to secularize the drama. With the change in religious thought, especially with the development of Puritanism, came a change in the attitude of the authorities toward amusements in general, and while Elizabeth in 1574 granted a permit to ''Lord Leicester's Servants" to play anywhere for the amusement of herself or her lieges, they were not permitted to play without the Lord Mayor's especial permit for every individual perform- ance. We can see that under these increasing restric- tions playwrights and actors were almost driven to take some steps toward greater independence. Theaters Bnilf. The play must have a house of its own, and in 1576, according to Halliwell, London's first theater, called The Theatre, was built. The Curtain was built soon after, and others followed in rapid succession. To escape restrictions, they were all located without the city corporation, on the marshy ground on the south side of the Thames but easily accessible from the city itself. Blackfriars, where many of Shakespeare's plays were first presented, was built not earlier than 1596, while The Globe was built in 1599 from the material of The Theatre, which had to be torn down. This was known as Shakespeare's theater, since he was a large share owner, and had control of it; it was doubtless built for him, and we always think of it as his theatrical home. In the immediate vicinity of the theaters were located all sorts of questionable places of amusement and dis- reputable houses. Brandes tells us that ''close to the THE THEATER IN SHAKESPEARE'S TIME 41 Globe Theatre lay the bear garden, the rank smell of which greeted the nostrils even before it came in sight. The famous bear, Sackerson, mentioned in the Merry Wives of Windsor, now and then broke his chain and put the female theater-goers shrieking with fright." Notwithstanding all of these disadvantages, the theater grew to be immensely popular and was patron- ized by all classes of people, from the nobility down to the ''groundlings," who paid a penny for standing room in the pit. Elizabeth, who was very fond of the play, did not go to the public theaters, but had her own court entertainments in the palace. During Shakespeare's own time the London theaters had increased to twelve or thirteen in number, but these were not all open at the same time — some only in summer, others in winter, some in the evening, the majority only in the day-time. Tivo Classes. Theaters were of two classes, public and private, but the term private did not at all imply an exclusive audience ; any nobleman could hire any theater for his own players to perform in. The chief difiference was one of construction, the public theater being on the old inn-yard plan, the roof covering only the stage, or at most extending over the scaffolding at the sides and thus providing for high-priced seats. The pit was exposed to sun and weather, and the floor was simply the hard earth, which fact gave rise to the term ''ground- lings" ; these theaters could be used only in summer and in the daytime. The private theaters were entirely enclosed and aft'orded entertainment in winter and in the evenings. Blackfriars was private, but The Globe 42 STUDIES IN SHAKESPEAREAN DRAMA was public. The latter was the plainest kind of struc- ture, octagonal in form and having very small windows. Performance of a Play. The performance began promptly at three o'clock and lasted without interruption from two to three hours. Black hangings on the stage indicated tragedy, blue hangings, comedy. There were no actresses in those days ; boys acted the parts of women. Women players did not appear on the stage until after the Restoration. Respectable women in the audience wore masks. Only the wealthy could afford seats in the boxes or little compartments at the side of the stage ; while the more favored occupied places on the stage itself, seated on stools''' or chairs or reclining on the rush-covered floor, over which they had spread their cloaks. Here might be seen nobles, fops and upstarts, also rival actors and dramatists to wdiom the courtesy of the- prof ession allowed free admission. Even this favored class talked, smoked and drank throughout the perform- ance, made sport of the actors, who had to work their way through the crowd to get to their places on the stage ; and yet Shakespeare's characters never smoke, and the habit of smoking is nowhere alluded to in his plays. The groundlings in the pit played cards, smoked, drank beer, cracked nuts and ate apples, often throwing the last-named at the more favored occupants of the stage seats. The Jig. We are told that "at the close of the piece it was customary for the clown in an after-play called *In Beaumont and Fletcher's The Knight of the Bnrninq Pestle a citizen and his wife have stools on the stage; thev assume in part to direct the play, which is constantly interrupted by their conversation. ' "^ THE THEATER IN SHAKESPEARE'S TIME 43 the Jig to give an exhibition of his skill, to dance, to sing, to make grimaces and, as an accompaniment, to improvise comic and not infrequently senseless verses." Lack of Scenery. Of real scenery there was none. The beginning of the performance was announced by the bugle ; at the third blast the curtain parted, disclosing a barren stage hung with a tapestry at the back, which served year in and year out, being patched in a rough way when necessary, or having the rents hidden by rude pictures. {A day scene was indicated by a light blue flag hanging from the roof, which was exchanged for a darker one to indicate night ; a table with pen and ink constituted a counting-room ; two chairs, and the scene changed to an inn ; a bed pushed forward and behold ! a sleeping apartment. We can thus see that the audience must depend entirely upon the acting for the bringing out of the play ; in fact the acting was everything and so v\'as in danger of being overdone. Shakespeare evidentlv gives his own idea of a correct performance in Hamlet's instructions to the players./ Inigo Jones, who died in 1562, was the first to introduce movable scenery. That Shakespeare had higher conceptions of what the stage should be, is evidenced in the prologue to Henry V, where he apologizes for the lack which he feels : Pardon, gentles all, The flat unraised spirit that hath dared On this unworthy scaffold to bring forth So great an object: can this cockpit hold The vastv fields of France? Let us, ciphers to this great accoinpt. On your imaginary forces work. 44 STUDIES IN SHAKESPEAREAN DRAMA Suppose within the girdle of these walls Are now confined two mighty monarchies. Some improvements were made in stage settings during the latter part of Shakespeare's time, but we fancy he would scarcely recognize his own plays in their gorgeous settings of to-day. Shakespeare's Senior Contemporaries. The three dramatists aside from Shakespeare who had most to do with bringing order out of this confusion were George Peele, Robert Greene and Christopher Marlowe. These were all university men. Peele took an Oxford 'degree in 1577, Greene boasted of a Cambridge degree received in 1578 and one conferred upon him by Oxford in 1588. Marlowe took Cambridge degrees in 1583 and 1587. Lack of space forbids any review of the works of these writers. Peele contributed but little of real value to the drama, if we except his first production, The Arraignment of Paris. He was a poet rather than an artistic dramatist, and we may say that his chief contribution to the drama was poetry. He lived a life of debauchery and riot. Greene wrote a number of plays of more or less merit, but none great enough to survive those of Shake- speare. He also lived a profligate life, and in 1592, deserted by all who had called themselves his friends, died a wretched death. Under the touch of ]\Iarlowe's genius the drama began to assume the form which was so soon to be brought to perfection by Shakespeare. In his Edzmrd II we get a breath of Shakespeare's English historical plays. His Faustus rises to the heroic; it is said that SHAKESPEARE AND HIS DRAMAS 45 Goethe in his admiration of it exclaimed : "How greatly it is all planned!" By some Marlowe is considered to be "the first of the English dramatists to understand that thought and expression should be in harmony." His genius was so great that it is to be regretted the tnan in him was not great enough to rise above the voluptuousness and infidelity of his environments. His tragic death occurred before his thirtieth birthday ; hence his work seems almost that of a prodigy. Thus was the dramatic soil of England cultivated and made rich and mellow for the growth of Shakespeare's marvelous genius, a genius which was all his own. Shakespeare and His Dramas All literature must in a certain sense reflect the age in which it is produced : Taine says : "This great age alone could have cradled such a child." Dowden says of Shakespeare, "If he became the most learned man of all generations in one department, the lore of passions, it was not because he was of this age or that." Rare old Ben Jonson immortalized himself rather than his friend when he said : "Shakespeare was not of an age, but for all time." Scarcity of Records. Strange indeed it seems that this man who has given the world the most marvelous revelations of the thoughts and intents of men, made no effort to record his own personal life. Not one letter of his own writing has been found, and only one written to him has come to light. It would seem as though this great soul, while revealing to men their own souls, were oblivious of its greatness. 46 STUDIES IN SHAKESPEAREAN DRAMA In giving the absolutely known facts of Shake- speare's life, gathered from records, it should be borne in mind that the actual records of the lives of private individuals are always few, even in our own day ; and Shakespeare was only a private individual. He was never engaged in affairs of Church or of State. He was in mature life simply an actor, a theatrical manager and a playwright : he belonged to a profession which was frowned upon by a very large and constantly increasing branch of the Church — the Puritans. A ban was laid upon the theaters and they must be built without the pale of the city of London. Early Biographers. Notwithstanding the apparent scarcity of reliable material, the biographers of Shake- speare are legion. It will serve our purpose to mention here a few of the earliest and the latest of the great number. John Aubrey (1626-1697), an English antiquary who was exceedingly fond of hunting up old books and curious legends and traditions, visited Stratford prob- ably about 1680, to collect material for a sketch of Shakespeare for his "Lives of Eminent Men." His chief source of information is said to have been William Beeston, an aged actor who died in 1682. Aubrey has been called an arch-gossip, but while he is considered very unreliable, later research has confirmed many of his statements. Ninety-three years after Shakespeare's death, Nicholas Rowe^= (1673-1718), dramatist, poet and trans- •Edited Shakespeare's works in 1700. SHAKESPEARE AND HIS DRAMAS 47 lator, published the first real biography of the great dramatist. This consisted in large measure of traditions gathered by Betterton, a famous actor of Shakespeare's plays, who visited Stratford for the express purpose of learning all of fact or fancy that he could concerning his great master. Betterton lived from 1635 to 17 10, close to Shakespeare's time ; Judith Quiney, Shake- speare's younger daughter, lived until 1662, and Lady Barnard (nee Elizabeth Hall), his granddaughter, until 1670. Betterton was an actor in a theater the manager of which was Sir William Devenant, who in his youth had known Shakespeare personally. Edmund Malone (1741-1812), a highly cultured and scholarly man and a very careful and industrious Shake- spearean student, thoroughly investigated all public and private records of Stratford and official papers preserved in London offices, and thereby not only brought to light nuich valuable matter concerning Shakespeare and his family, but also exposed forgeries which had been foisted upon an over-credulous public. These constitute the principal earlier sources of information. Biographers of Our Time. It has been left for our own age to do a more valuable work than has hitherto been accomplished. James Orchard Halliwell-Phillipps (1820-1889), an English antiquarian and famous Shake- spearean scholar, through his indefatigable research and labor has laid all lovers of the World Poet under lasting obligations. The latest edition of his "Outlines of the Life of Shakespeare" consists of a thousand pages, and 48 STUDIES IN SHAKESPEAREAN DRAMA contains a reprint of all extant archives and legal docu- ments which throw light upon the great dramatist's career. Another very patient and devoted Shakespearean student, Sidney Lee, has carefully gone over the entire ground of former research, has thoroughly investigated all obtainable records, both public and private, has sifted former biographies and has studied the conditions and modes of thought of the times in which Shakespeare lived. The result is "A Life of William Shakespeare," a modest book of only four hundred and forty-five pages including the appendix, which contains much valuable matter. Mr. Lee's work shows a spirit of interested but perfectly honest investigation, and his book is written in a candid, unimpassioned manner that renders it entirely trustworthy. It is the biography of fact with but little of embellishment; from it the material for this brief sketch has been largely gleaned. In 1900 Hamilton Wright Mabie, a charming writer of our own country, published a delightful story of ''Shakespeare: Poet, Dramatist and Man." To begin to read it means to finish it. We must ever be grateful to Mr. Mabie for securing the many interesting and val- uable photographs which make his book so realistic. From the evidence of those who have with faithful care searched the records of the past, the following items may be relied on as a basis of fact upon which to construct a sketch of the life of our William Shake- speare : Facts. Baptized in Stratford-on-Avon, Warwickshire, Eng- land, April 26, 1564. SHAKESPEARE AND HIS DRAMAS 49 Parents, John and Mary Arden Shakespeare, Attended Grammar School in Stratford, 1571 (?) — 1577 (?). Bond against impediments of marriage to Anne Hathaway given by Funk Sandells and John Richardson, 1582. Susanna, daughter of WiUiam and Anne Hathaway Shake- speare, baptized May 26, 1583. Hamnet and Judith, twins, son and daughter of WiHiam and Anne Shakespeare, baptized February 2, 1585. From 1585 to 1596 only one mention of Shakespeare's name occurs in the Stratford records; this is in connection with a mortgage of Asbies, a property in which he had an interest. Left Stratford and drifted to London, 1586 (?). Was soon associated with Richard Field, a native of Stratford, as author and publisher. In December, 1594, was a member of a very influential company of players, originally licensed as "Earl of Leicester's Company," promoted to "The King's Player" in 1603. In May, 1603, he was one of its leaders. Under the auspices of this company Shakespeare's plays were first presented to the public. In 1599 the Globe Theatre was built on the Bankside, Southw^ark, and was occupied by Shakespeare's company until his retirement. He was a share-owaier in the profits of this theater. In 1609-10 his company also played in Blackfriars.* Began to write plays about 1591 and continued to do so for some twenty years. "Venus and Adonis" published 1593. Purchased New Place, Stratford, May 4, 1597. From that time onw-ard he continued to buy valuable property in and about Stratford. Paid .:|4o£ for unexpired term of tithes, 1605. Obtained coat of arms. 1599. Purchased property in London, 1613. Spent his last years in Stratford. Signed his will March, 1616. ♦Shakespeare's company played in many important towns in England. On page 40 of Mr. Lee's lile of Sliaki-speare lie gives an itinerary from 15"J8 to 1614 deduced, be says, from a work of Ilalli- well Phillipps. 50 STUDIES IN SHAKESPEAREAN DRAMA Died April 23 (O. S.), 1616. Buried in the Church of the Holy Trinity, Stratford, Apr.i 25, 1616. When these dry bones of fact are jointed together, rounded out and clothed with the flesh and blood of legend, tradition, ancestry, environment, and the customs and modes of thought of the times, and the great dram- atist himself has breathed into the body the breath of life, we can but feel that Mr. Corson is justified in saying that we really do know a great deal about Shakespeare. The marvel is not that we know so little, but that we know so much about the real man. Shakespeare s Birthplace. A noted English poet, Michael Drayton (1563-1631), a native of Warwickshire and a personal friend of Shakespeare, styled Warwick- shire "the heart of England." Through this heart flows the Avon, upon whose banks reposes old Stratford, as peaceful .as the gentle river made so memorable by her famous Bard. Hamilton Mabie says : "The charm of Stratford-on- Avon is two-fold ; it is enfolded by some of the loveliest and most characteristic scenery, and it is the homiC of the greatest English literary tradition." In "Shakespeare's England" William Winter writes: 'The luxuriance of the country — its fertile fields, its brilliant foliage, its myriads of wild flowers, its pomp of color, and of physical vigor and bloom, do not fail to announce to every mind, how-so-ever heedless, that this is a fit place for the birth and nurture of a great man." Birth. In the midst of this wealth of natural beauty William Shakespeare was born, presumably on April 2^ SHAKESPEARE AND HIS DRAMAS 51 (O. S.), 1564, for by custom the sacrament of baptism was administered on the third day after birth. Notwith- standing the fact that the room in which the great poet first saw the Hght is shown to visitors, it is not definitely known in which of the two Henley Street houses the important event actually occurred. The Name. Shakespeare was a very common name in Warwickshire. Mr. Lee makes this statement : "The archives of no less than twenty-four towns and villages there contain notices of Shakespeare families in the sixteenth century, and as many as thirty-four Warwick- shire towns or villages were inhabited by Shakespeare families in the seventeenth century. Among them all William was a common Christian name."* He tells us that "the name of the poet's father is entered sixty-six times in the council books of Strat- ford, and is spelt in sixteen ways : the commonest form is 'Shaxpeare' "; and also that ''the name has been I)roved capable of four thousand variations" ;t he fur- ther states that of the three signatures to the poet's will, the first two have faded almost beyond recognition, but that the third is "Shakespeare" ; also that " 'Shakespeare' was the form adopted in the full signature appended to the dedicatory epistles of the 'Venus and Adonis' of 1593 and the 'Lucrece' of 1594, which were produced under the poet's supervision. "'^'=' His Family. There is every reason to believe that Shakespeare's ancestors for several generations were *Lifo of William Shakespeare, p. 2. tP. 284. **Life of William Shakespeare, pp. 284. 285. 52 STUDIES IN SHAKESPEAREAN DRAMA good, substantial yeomen, well-to-do land-owners. It is not strange that among so many Warwickshire Shake- speares, so many Richards, Johns, Williams, and so on, his lineage cannot be traced with absolute certainty. There is no doubt that his father was John Shakespeare, who moved to Stratford from Snitterfield about 155 1. According to tradition, he was engaged in various kinds of trades and business, and in early life was very pros- perous ; he bought the Henley Street property and another with "garden and croft."* He was a highly respected citizen, and at various times filled nearly all the offices of the town. Later, a turn in the tide of his affairs brought great pecuniary embarrassment. John Shakespeare's wife, Mary Arden, was the daughter of a wealthy farmer of Wilmcote, a nearby parish. Her family was one of the oldest and most highly respected in Warwickshire ; it is said that she could trace her lineage back for six centuries. At her father's death she came in possession of a handsome property. Very little is known of the personality of Mary Arden Shakespeare. Her death on September 9, 1608, is recorded in the parish register, and it is pleasant to think she lived to realize that her son William was on the highroad to honor and success. We feel that she was a beautiful type of pure, sweet womanhood ; surely, no one had higher ideals of women than her illustrious son. It is scarcely a stretch of the imagination to fancy that Hamlet's ideal mother was none other than Mary Arden, and that Brutus's Portia might have been the ►Croft : A small enclosed field. SHAKESPEARE AND HIS DRAMAS 53 wife of John Shakespeare; somewhere in Shakespeare's life must have come the woman almost to be reverenced. Boyhood and Education. The death in infancy of two sisters left William the eldest of a family of four boys and one girl. His brothers were Gilbert, Richard and Edmund, and his sister, Joan ; another sister, Anne, died at the age of seven. Of his boyhood but little is really known. There is abundant evidence that he had at least a fair education for those times when men prominent in public affairs so frequently had to make their mark in signing public documents. He attended the grammar school of Stratford, probably from about the age of seven to fourteen years, when the father's failing fortunes made it necessary for the boy to leave school in order to assist in the support of the family. The quality of this grammar school is known. The chief instruction was in Latin and literature. The method was such that bright boys acquired a fair knowledge of many Latin authors, and we may well fancy that the brilliant mind of William Shakespeare let nothing slip. In the preface to his "Studies in Shakespeare," the English critic Churton Collins says that for many years the Greek dramatists and Shakespeare have been his most intimate companions. We may feel that he speaks with authority when he says that internal evidence 'Shows Shakespeare was perfectly at home with the Latin authors, and that he must have been familiar with the Greek — possibly through Latin, into which many of the Greek dramas had been translated. There is no other way of accounting for the numerous and striking analo- 54 STUDIES IN SHAKESPEAREAN DRAMA gies between Shakespeare's dramas and these old classics, many of which were at that time to be found only in the original or in Latin translations. Mr. Collins quotes some seventy-five of these parallel passages, thus making his argument entirely convincing. He further says that fortunately we have proof that the boys of the Stratford grammar school knew Latin; a letter written in Latin by Richard Quiney at the age of eleven years has been preserved, as well as one written to him by Abraham Sturley, afterward an alderman of Stratford. These boys were contemporary with Shake- speare in the Stratford school, and if he did not leave school with a good knowledge of Latin and possibly some knowledge of Greek, he must have been either lazy or stupid, neither of which his students will be willing to admit. Dramatic Atmosphere of Stratford. His education was by no means confined to his schooling. In 1568, when he was but four years of age, his father, serving as bailiff and chief alderman, welcomed to Stratford the actors of the Earl of Worcester's company and those of the Queen Elizabeth's company. The people of Strat- ford seem to have been lovers of the drama, and it is said that they enjoyed frequent visits from traveling companies of actors. The town was small and the coming of the players would be looked forward to and talked about with great interest ; this naturally created a dramatic atmosphere about the wide-awake growing boy. Kenilworth, the residence of the queen's favorite, the SHAKESPEARE AND HIS DRAMAS 65 Earl of Leicester, was only fifteen miles distant; what more natural than for John Shakespeare to take his bright boy of eleven to witness the open-air festivities, the pageants, the masques, and so forth, which were given to entertain Elizabeth during her visit to the castle in July, 1575. Some critics have thought that they could detect the influence of these fantastic gaieties in The Midstimnicr A^ight's Dream (Act 11. Scene 2). Influence of Nature. Shakespeare's dramas give abundant evidence that his boyish eyes were ever open to the richness and beauty of his natural surroundings. He knew by name and habit every plant and animal that adorned and animated his native town and the surround- ing country. He was thoroughly familiar with all of the games and sports of English youth and manhood. His wr'<-ings all bear undeniable testimony to the fact that everything which came into the life of the develop- ing youth was educating; nothing escaped his keen observation. He speaks unadvisedly who writes Shakespeare down as uneducated because his education was largely ob- tained in the broad university of nature and of human nature. No other school could have endowed him with the ability to read and to touch the human mind and soul through all the ages as long as the heart of human- ity shall throb. The Poaching Legend. Of his youthful pranks we have no reliable evidence ; no doubt they were as numerous as those of the average bright, active lad, but few stories of them have come down to us, and thev are 56 STUDIES IN SHAKESPEAREAN DRAMA merely recorded legends. We are indebted to Rowe for the well known poaching story. He says that ''Shake- speare fell into the company of some wild fellows who were in the habit of stealing deer, and who drew him into robbing a park owned by Sir Thomas Lucy of Charlecote, Stratford; being prosecuted for this, he lampooned Sir Thomas in some bitter verses which made the Knight so sharp after him that he had to steal ofif and take shelter in London." These verses have not been found, notwithstanding the humorous lines quoted by some biographers beginning, A parliament member, a justice of peace, At home a poore scarecrowe, in London an asse, If Lucy is Lowsie, as some volke miscall it, Synge Lowsie Lucy, whatever befall it. Mr. Lee says : ''No authenticity can be allowed the worthless lines beginning 'A parliament member.' " We are also told that "the record of the names of them that made riot upon Sir Thomas Lucy, Esq., fails to reveal any Shakespeare." Many credit the story, many do not. There was a law of Parliament against deer-stealing, with penalty attached, and it is stated that after his premises were invaded Sir Thomas had still more strin- gent poaching laws enacted. However, in those days poaching was Considered more in the light of a lawless sport than a flagrant crime, as is evidenced from the fact that it was of such common occurrence. Even could the legend be proved to be fact, it could scarcely be written down against the culprit's character in riper years; he was doubtless guilty of boyish indiscretions i SHAKESPEARE AND HTS DRAMAS 67 (who can plead not guilty?), otherwise he would not have been the perfectly natural character which he depicts. We only waste words in discussing these idle though possibly credible tales ; what should concern us is not *'Did he never fall?" but ''How did he overcome?" What is the product of his years of discretion? Most truly Dowden ^ays : "In the characters of the weak or the wicked whom he condemns, Shakspere denies no beautiful or tender trait."* Surely the tolerance and charity which he everywhere shows toward all of his characters should be a mantle large enough to cover his own youthful shortcomings. Marriage. That Shakespeare early lost his heart is evidenced by the fact of his marriage before he was nineteen years of age to Anne Hathaway of Shottery, a nearby hamlet. She died in August, 1623, and the in- scription on her tombstone states that she was aged sixty- seven years, which would make her eight years older than her husband. Romance hovers over the Anne Hathaway cottage and the footpath winding through meadows that were flower gardens, or overhung by the white blooming chestnut, which young William followed from Stratford to Shottery. Very Jittle is known of the personality of Anne Hathaway Shakespeare. Her father seems to have been a well-to-do yeoman who died shortly before this daughter's marriage, leaving a will in which the widow and all of the seven children were remembered. Every- thing actually known indicates that the Hathaways were good, respectable people, and on the most friendly terms with the Shakespeares. ♦Shakspere— His Mind and Art, p. in." : 0th od.. 1R80. 58 STUDIES IN SHAKESPEAREAN DRAMA Children. The parish register records the baptism of Susanna, daughter of WilHam and Anne Shakespeare, on May 26, 1583. The other children of the marriage were Hamnet and Judith, twins, christened February 2, 1585. Hamnet died eleven years later. Susanna was married to Dr. John Hall, June 5, 1607 ; the following year the poet's only granddaughter, Elizabeth Hall, was born. On February 10, 1616, Judith married Thomas Quiney, a wine merchant of Stratford, who was four years younger than she ; there is no evidence that her father objected to the marriage on this account. The children of this marriage were three sons ; the eldest died in infancy; the second and third each lived to be about twenty years of age. Judith herself lived to be nearly seventy-seven years of age. Dr. Hall died Novem- ber 25, 1635. Mrs. Hall was buried beside her husband in the Stratford churchyard : the inscription on her tombstone reads : Here lyeth ye body of Susanna Hall, wife to John Hall, Gent, ye daughter of William Shakespeare, Gent. She deceased ye nth July, A. D. 1649, aged 66. Witty above her sex, but that's got all. Wise to Salvation was good Mistress Hall, Something of Shakespeare was in that, but this Wholy of him with whom she's now in blisse. Then, passenger, ha'st ne're teare, To weepe with her that wept with all? That wept, yet set herself to cheere Him up with comforts cordiall. Her love shall live, his mercy spread When thou hast ne're a teare to shed. SHAKESPEARE AND HIS DRAMAS 59 Elizabeth Hall married Thomas Nash, a man of prop- erty, who died April 4, 1647, leaving no children. Two years later the widow married John Barnard, who was afterward knighted by Charles II, after which she was known as Lady Barnard ; she died childless in 1669 or 1670, and thus the immediate family of the great poet became extinct. IN LONDON It is evident that Shakespeare early fell in with the strolling players who visited Stratford and its vicinity, and thus his dramatic instinct was awakened. His father's failing fortunes and an opportunity to earn in London a better livelihood for his family than Stratford afforded were sufficient reasons for his turning his atten- tion to the city as a business point: just when he went is not certainly known, probably about 1586. Aubrey says that "William, being naturally inclined to poetry and acting, came to London and was actor in one of the play houses and did act exceeding well. He began early to make essays in dramatic poetry, which at that time was very low, and his plays took w^ell. He was a hand- some, well-shaped man, very good company, and of ever ready and pleasant, smooth wit. Ben Jonson and he did gather humours of men daily wdierever they came." Hudson says : ''As for the well-known story of his being reduced to the extremes of picking up a little money by taking care of gentlemen's horses that came to the play, I cannot perceive the slightest likelihood of truth in it."* Coleridge says: 'That Shakespeare never turned his *Life, Art and Character, vol. I, p. 29. GO STUDIES IN SHAKESPEAREAN DRAMA genius to stage- writing, as Theobald* phrases it, before he became an actor, is an assertion of about as much authority as the precious story that he left Stratford for deer stealing and that he lived by holding gentlemen's horses at the door of the theatre and other trash of that arch-gossip Aubrey." Greene's Jealousy. It is quite probable that Shake- speare began by serving as a sort of apprentice to some actor, which was a common custom at that time. At all events, he early worked his way into his legitimate pro- fession: what was in him would out. Everything goes to show that about 1590, when he was twenty-six years of age, the foundations of his future were well laid, and that shortly after, his senior contemporaries began to show themselves jealous of his performances. Robert Greene in his Groatszvorth of Wit denounces "certain gentlemen who spend their wits in making plays," and says : "Yes, trust them not, for there is an upstart Crow among them beautified by our feathers, that with his tyger's heart wrapt in a player's hide, supposes he is as well able to bombast out a blanke verse as the best of you ; and being an absolute Johannes Factotum, is in his owne conceit the only Shakescene in the countrie." Greene's publisher, Henry Chettle, in a preface to his Kind Hartes Dreame thus apologizes for this unkind fling at Shakespeare: 'T am as sorry as if the original fault had beene my fault, because myselfe have scene his [i. e. Shakespeare] demeanour, no lesse civil than he [is] excellent in the qualitie he professes, besides divers ♦Theobald: An English playwright and Shakespearean com- mentator; edited Shalsespeare in 1733. SHAKESPEARE AND HIS DRAMAS 61 of worship have reported his uprightness of deahng, which argues his honesty, and his facetious grace in writ- ing that approves his art." There is certainty on some points, for instance, that he soon acted parts on the stage and that he soon began to recast and to write plays. There is evidence that he enacted some of the characters in his own plays ; the Ghost in Hamlet and Adam in As Yoii Like It have been mentioned as parts played by him. He soon acquired stock in the players' company. Recasting Plays. It was the custom of companies to buy outright the plays from the dramatic writers; thus the dramas passed entirely out of the control of the authors and became the absolute property of the com- panies, and hence could be retouched and recast at the will of the manager. This remodeling was sometimes done before the play was put upon the stage at all, and often with each subsequent performance. This kind of work naturally furnished a fine apprenticeship for a dra- matic genius like Shakespeare, and accounts for the questionable authorship of so many of the plays which bear his name. It is thought that he began by retouch- ing the second and third parts of Henry VI. The Alte- mus edition underscores the lines attributed to this new dramatic light : even at this early date in his history there is little mistaking Shakespearean earmarks. Play JVriting. Shakespeare first tried his hand at genuine comedy, and Love's Labou/s Lost is generally conceded to be his first entirely original drama. This is a light, humorous play, but shows that the author was a keen observer of contemporary life in all its phases. In 62 STUDIES IN SHAKESPEAREAN DRAMA Romeo and Juliet, his first tragedy, he shows his master hand ; if his place as a dramatist was not assured before, it was unquestioned from this time on. The Tempest is generally supposed to be his last complete play ; it was performed in 1613, but was probably written some time before. It is impossible in a brief sketch to follow Shakespeare through his London life. It is known that he resided near the theaters : a memorandum of the famous actor Alley n (quoted by Malone) states that in 1596 he lodged near the Bear Garden in Southwark; still he counted noblemen among his friends. As his mind became more centered upon play-writ- ing, the business of acting grew distasteful to him ; it is probable that he retired from the stage about 1604. Return to Sratford. His interest in Sratford never ceased, and it is thought that notwithstanding the incon- veniences of travel he made yearly visits to his early home. Everything goes to show that he was provident and a good business manager, and when he accumulated money it was to Stratford that he turned for investment, showing that he looked upon the home of his boyhood as the home of riper years. In 1597, but little more than a decade after he left his native place with no capital but an active mind, he returned and bought New Place, one of the finest properties in Stratford ; he gradually fitted it up, and finally was able to place his family in a home which meant luxury. After this purchase, he continued to make investments in and about Stratford. His towns- men began to look upon him as their monied man; the SHAKESPEARE AND HIS DRAMAS 63 only letter extant addressed to him contains the request for a loan. His financial prosperity was the legitimate result of his theatrical business : he accumulated because he was not a charlatan, a debauchee and a spendthrift, like the majority of his dramatic contemporaries. He relieved his father from financial embarrassment, and in 1599 succeeded in obtaining from the College of Heraldry a coat of arms, for which his father had for some time been striving. His social position was now secure. As early as 1608 he stood godfather to the son of a friend in Stratford. In September, 161 1, the principal men of the town raised a fund for the purpose of getting a bill through Parliament for improving the condition of the highways : Shakespeare's name appeared among the donors ; by this time he had fully identified himcclf with the interests of the community and settled down in what may be termed active retirement. He gathered his family about him in New Place, where he entertained not only his friends but notables who came to the town. Here Judith was married shortly before her father's death, and here Mrs. Susanna Hall lived and cared for her mother until the latter's death in 1623 ; from here she buried her husband in 1635, and from here her own remains were carried to be laid by his side in Trinity Churchyard in 1649, when the home reverted to Lady Barnard, who by her will ordered the place to be sold. Death and Will. In January, 1616, Shakespeare felt his health failing and made his will, but it remained un- signed until the following March ; by it his daughter 64 STUDIES IN SHAKESPEAREAN DRAMA Susanna was made mistress of New Place in strict en- tail, with the care of her mother, and was also given the greater portion of the entire estate. He passed away on April 23, 1616, his fifty-second birthday ( ?), and was buried near the north wall of the chancel in the Church of the Holy Trinity, Stratford, April 25th. There his remains have lain undisturbed ; undoubtedly they would long ere this have been removed to repose with the illustrious dead of Westminster had it not been for a superstitious fear inspired by the following inscription carved in the stone tablet above his*tomb: Good Frend for Jesus' Sake forbeare To digg the dust encloased heare ; Blest be ye man yt spares these stones, And curst be he yt moves my bones. In 1 741 a monumental statue of Shakespeare was placed in the Poets' Corner in Westminster Abbey, the expenses being defrayed by public subscription.* The immediate cause of Shakespeare's death is un- known. Mr. Winter says: "The story that he died of drinking too hard at a merry meeting with Drayton and Ben Jonson is idle gossip." Mr. Lee says that "the popu- lar legends of his achievements as a hard drinker may be dismissed as unproven." We know that he died in honor and affluence, in the luxury of his own home and sur- rounded by his family, and had the right, as part owner of tithes and lay-rector, to claim burial within the church of his native town — facts that can be stated of but few of his literary contemporaries. •*For an account of autographs, portraits, memorials, etc., see Lee s Life of William Shakespeare, chap, xviil. SHAKESPEARE AND HIS DRAMAS 65 Testimony of Contoiiporarics. While Shakespeare':', fame increases with the centuries, there were by no means wanting those of his own day to appreciate the character and genius of their great contemporary. He is always spoken of as genial and gentle in manner, mild in temper, a strong, firm friend, but no bitter foe. Rowe records the tradition that wdien Ben Jonson in 1598, at the age of tw^enty-five, offered his first corned}'. Every Man in His Huinor, to the actors' company, it was re- jected ; Shakespeare, who was nine years Jonson's senior, with a reputation fairly w^ell established, got the decision reversed, and himself took the character of Old Knoweli in the play when it was put upon the stage. He rose superior to the contentions of contemporary drama- tists and in the War of the Theaters he took no part. In 1598 Francis Meres, a very learned divine, in his Pal I ad is Tamia, names Shakespeare as the greatest lit- erary man of the day. He says : "The muses would speak Shakespeare's fine filed phrase if they could speak English." Richard Barnfield, a rival poet, writes: And Shakespeare, thou whose honey flowing vein thy praises doth obtain. Thy name in Fame's immortal Book have placed, Live ever yon, at least in fame live ever ; Well may the body die, but fame dies never. Kempe, a fellow actor, in speaking of the university dramatists, says : **Why, here's our fellow Shakespeare puts them all down." In 1664 the Duchess of Newcastle writes: *'Shak»?- 66 STUDIES IN SHAKESPEAREAN DRAMA. speare had a clear judgment, a quick wit, a subtile ob- servation, a deep apprehension and a most eloquent elocution. A poet by nature, he defied the laws of classic art, and created a dramatic world of his own." In 1676 Dry den wrote: But Shakespeare's Magic could not copied be; Within that circle none durst walk but he. Before his collected dramas were published in 1623, the elaborate Gerard Johnson monument was erected to Shakespeare's memory, in the chancel of the Stratford church, and Leonard Diggs wrote that Shakespeare's works would be alive when Time dissolves thy Stratford monument. Time has not yet entirely dissolved the Stratford monument, and appreciation of Shakespeare's works is ''widening with the process of the suns." Translations. Mr. Lee tells us that "the Bible alone of all literary compositions has been translated more fre- quently or into a greater number of languages than the works of Shakespeare." The different editions of Com- plete Shakespeare number hundreds, while those of indi- vidual plays can scarcely be estimated. Shakespeareana. Besides the various editions, the volumes of Shakespeareana are almost numberless. The Birmingham (England) memorial Shakespeare library, which was destroyed by fire in 1879 and restored in 1882, now contains, it is said, nearly ten thousand vol- SHAKESPEARE AND HIS DRAMAS 67 limes. The McMillan Shakespeare library in the library of the University of Michigan contains five thousand and eighty-two volumes ; it is kept locked, and is accessible to students only by special permit. Little Shakespeare the myriad-minded realized that he was putting the world's verdict of himself into the mouth of Hamlet when he made his sad hero say of man: 'TIow noble in reason ! how infinite in faculty ; in appreciation how like a god !" Disorder of His Writings. It is said that, indifferent to fame, Shakespeare never signed his name to his dramas. His writings were left carelessly scattered. Some plays found their way into print, but it was left for his actor friends John Heminge and Henry Condell to assume the responsibility of preserving this precious world literature in its first complete edition the famous First Folio of 1623.* Date of Plays. It is impossible to fix with certainty the date of the composition of the individual dramas, as none were published until long after they were written. The companies, fearing that publication would lessen in- terest in the performance, did all in their power to keep the plays from the public eye. The following table, modeled upon that given by Dowden in "Shakspere, His ]\Iind and Art," is probably as authentic as any, and is of value as possibly showing the poet's periods of mental growth. ♦In 1903 was begun the publication of a charmina; single-volume edition prepared by Charlotte I'orter and Helen (Mark, which places for the first time a reprint of the First Folio in th<^ hands of ordi- nary readers. It contains, besides the text, a great deal of very valuable matter. 68 STUDIES IN SHAKESPEAREAN DRAMA I Pre-Shakespearean Group (Touched by Shakespeare) 1588-1590 Titns Andronicus 1590-1591 I Henry VI 2 Early Comedy 1590 Love's Labour's Lost 1591 Comedy of Errors 1592-1593 Two Gentlemen of Verona 1593-1594 Midsummer Night's Dream 3 MaRLOWE-S BAKES PEARE GrOUP Early History 1591-1592 2, 3 Henry VI 1593 Richard HI 4 Early Tragedy ?i59i, 1597 (two dates) . . . Romeo and Juliet 5 Middle History 1594 Richard II 1595 King John 6 Middle Comedy 1596 ^Merchant of Venice 7 Later LI i story History and Comedy United 1597-1598 I, 2 Henry IV 1599 Henry V 8 Later Comedy (a) Rough and Boisterous Comedy ?1597 Taming of the Shrew ?I598 Merry Wives of Windsor SHAKESPEARE AND HIS DRAMAS 69 (b) Joyous, Refined, Romantic 1598 Much Ado about Nothing 1599 As You Like It 1600-1601 Twelfth Night (c) Serious, Dark, Ironical ^ ?i6oi-i6o2 All's Well that Ends Well 1603 Measure for Measure ?l6o3 (revised 1607? ) Troilus and Cressida 9 Middle Tragedy 1601 Julius Caesar 1602 Hamlet 10 Later Tragedy 1604 Othello 1605 King Lear 1606 Macbeth 1607 Antony and Cleopatra 1608 Coriolanus 1607-1608 Timon of Athens 11 Romanxes 1608 Pericles 1609. > Cymbeline 1610 .*. . .The Tempest 1610-1611 Winter's Tale 12 Fragments 1612 , Two Noble Kinsmen 1612-1613 Henry \'III Poems ?r592 Venus and Adonis 1593-1594 Lucrece ?i595-i6o5 ^. . . . Sonnets* •For the latest and undoubtedly the most correct interpretation Of the Sonnets see Sidney Lee's Life of William Shakespeare. 70 STUDIES IN SHAKESPEAREAN DRAMA Shakespeare as a Dramatist A noted critic has said: "If an academy of immortals chosen from all ages could be formed, there is no doubt that a plebiscite of the English speaking peoples would send Shakespeare as their representative to that august assembly."* His Strength. The volumes that have been written upon the marvelous genius and art of this master-mind but echo this expression of appreciation. With reason we may ask why the crown of kingship is so universally conceded to this man. Others have surpassed him in lit- erary form ; others in mastery of language, in beauty of imagery, in fact in all that goes to make up literary art as commonly understood. Then why? Shakespeare lives with ever increasing life because he has put into his works more of nature, more of human nature and more of the divine nature combined, than any other poet. Dumas Pere said that ''Shakespeare, after God, created most." Snider answers the question thus : ''There can be no doubt in the statement that the unique and all surpassing greatness of Shakespeare lies in his comprehension of the ethical order of the world." Many things are felt without being analyzed and understood ; while this cor- nerstone of Shakespeare's greatness has not always been emphasized by Shakespearean critics, it has been felt by Shakespearean readers. Shakespeare's greatness grows in the minds of men because they see in his characters •Edward Dowden In Warner's Library, p. 13167. SHAKESPEARE AS A DRAMATIST 71 the reflection of themselves. The ambitious, unprincipled plotter and schemer, seeking only his own selfish ends, sees not King Claudius but himself. He who would wade through blood to accomplish his purpose sees not Rich- ard III but himself. The narrow, wily, scheming politi- cian sees not Polonius but himself. Shakespeare is rather a character revealer than a character builder. Three Distinguishing Points. Saintsbury says: "Three chief distinguishing points in Shakespeare are restraint in the use of sympathy with suffering; restraint in the use of voluptuous excess, and humor. These points are not found in any of his contemporaries." Every thoughtful reader of Shakespeare will recognize the truth of these statements. Even in Ophelia's pathetic case no effort is made to work up sympathy for her, or to harrow the feelings of the audience or of the reader ; the pathos of the situation re- sults from the character itself. Ophelia is innocent, pure and lovable, but weak ; she has no force of character to resist a great strain, and consequently when the strain comes she gives way. Shakespeare does not make her give way for the sake of effect. Shakespeare never makes voluptuous excess attractive ; voluptuousness is always manifested by voluptuous char- acters who work out their own punishment through their own misdeeds. Vice may be portrayed, but one cannot imagine any reader of Shakespeare's plays being so at- tracted by the vicious characters as to wish to follow in their footsteps ; even the greatest admirer of the inimita- l)le Falstaff can see that he comes to his miserable end 72 STUDIES IN SHAKESPEAREAN DRAMA as the natural result of his life, and this surely does not make such a life attractive. In like manner Shakespeare's humorous characters and scenes account for themselves. Gratiano does not say witty things just for the sake of amusing his hear- ers, but because his humor is inherent, and he can no more help giving vent to it than Hamlet can help show- ing by his outward manner that his inky cloak is truly a symbol of his inner heart-grief; while it may be ''but the trappings and the suits of woe," he has ''that within him which passeth show." Grave-digging is a mere matter of business with the grave-diggers in Hamlet, and to them calls for no more solemnity than the digging of a well to a well-digger. The man who is by nature a wit or a humorist carries his natural characteristics along with him as easily and as readily as though they were entirely appropriate to the occasion. These characters come into the plays perfectly naturally; they are never dragged in for effect. At the same time, when they ap- pear in tragedy, they usually do come in just when the audience or the reader feels the need of relief from the strain of the tragic, and here Shakespeare shows his marvelous genius. Three Distinct Purposes. Saintsbury says also that Shakespeare's works show three distinct purposes: "First, to tell in every play a dramatically complete story ; second, to work that story out by means of purely human and probable characters ; third, to give such form and ornaments to the working out of the play as might please the playgoers of his day. In pursuing the first SHAKESPEARE AS A DRAAIATIST 73 two, he was the poet and dramatist of all time. In pur- suing- the third he was the intellectual playwright."* Shakespeare Universal. At the same time the critic calls attention to the fact that tlie third point never in any sense interferes with the other two, that even here Shakespeare is universal. While almost all the plays of the other old dramatists have entirely ceased to be acted, or at least are acted onl\' as mere curiosities, no generation since his death has had the slightest difficulty in adapting nearly all of Shakespeare's plays to the stage of its own time. In studying Shakespeare's plays as literature, we must always bear in mind that the author's primary object was to write a play to be acted on the stage, and not to write a literary work to be read and which would be- come classic. Surely only the master-mind could so suc- cessfully accomplish both ends. Up to the time of Shakespeare the play lacked the unity and beauty of the dramatic art ; it was his work to build upon the founda- tions laid -that perfect dramatic structure which has sur- vived the centuries and stands to-day superior to all others. CHARACTERIZATION What a character is to us depends upon our point of view, the light in which we place it. Shakespeare sees his characters from all points of view. Shakespearean students generally agree that he has put less of him.self into his characters than most other authors. Hudson ♦History of Elizal)Ptlian Literature, pp. 168-170. (In tiuiying a play keep tliese points in mind.) 74 STUDIES IN SHAKESPEAREAN DRAMA thinks that Shakespeare's own moral soul is reflected in Henry V; this he considers an exception. Shakespeare's characters are true to themselves ; having once disclosed themselves, we always know where to find them, what to expect of them. Shakespeare's Women. How w^onderfully is his fine conception of womanhood expressed in his beautiful women ! With what dignity and true wifely affection Portia asserts her equality with Brutus and claims her right to know his secrets ! Life is not worth living with- out him. Imogen is "of too pure eyes to behold iniquity," so pure, innocent and faithful that she cannot suspect the possibility of evil in others. Queen Katherine when cast off still remains faithful to the dissolute Henry VHI. So certain of herself does Rosalind feel that it never once occurs to her that donning man's attire may subject her to unpleasant situations. Characters and Plots. The perfection of Shake- speare's characters lies in the fact of their perfect natural- ness ; they are the actual men and women whom we have known, with whom, we can converse as in daily life, and not simply men and women in a book. His admirable characters are not too near perfection to be human ; his base characters are not too base to be reclaimed; even old Jack Falstaff died "a babbled of green fields. "'•' We constantly find our interest centered more and more in the characters than in the plot.- The plot is a background to bring out the characters, instead of the characters being the mere instruments used in working J *Said to be an insertion of Theobald. (See note, p. 60.) SHAKESPEARE AS A DRAMATIST 75 out the plot, as with many other playwrights and story- tellers. Still, while Shakespeare does not sacrifice character- painting to plot, neither does he sacrifice plot to charac- ter-painting ; what he does do is to so blend the two so that they strengthen each other and produce a perfect whole. We find no really weak characters ; even the fool is always a good fool and strong in his way, and his wit often contains the wisest sayings : the serving maid, ^laria, is quick-witted enough to write the letter which entraps Malvolio and which contains the oft repeated truism, "Some are born great, some achieve greatness, and some have greatness thrust upon them." In Loves Labour's Lost, how quickly Moth, in his very first ap- pearance, awakens our sympathy and draws us to him ; one must read his whole conversation with Armado fully to appreciate his quick wit. Justice to Characters. Shakespeare's justice to his characters is shown in his treatment of King Claudius, whose deep-seated villainy is disclosed only to be de- spised ; at the same time his business ability is shown throughout the play, and his able statesmanship is so clearly brought out in the affair with Norway that if it were possible for a man utterly devoid of moral char- acter to be a good king, Denmark would have no reason to complain of her sovereign. Ulrici thinks that it is impossible for a man either from his own knowledge of the world or from his own individual experience to have so deep an insight into character of all kinds, from the normal to the more abnormal and unusual states of mind, 76 STUDIES IN SHAKESPEAREAN DRAMA such as madness, idiocy and so on, as Shakespeare shows: he says it can only be the result of "deep poet- ical insight into human nature and life in general." Is it not by reason of this deep poetical insight that as ^Ye read we see the characters only, and for the time lose sight of the worker in the magnificent results of his workmanship ? If Shakespeare determined all cases for us, his char- acters and his plays would soon lose their interest. It must be that he does not tell us whether Hamlet was really insane or only feigning insanity, or else after a lapse of three hundred years the ablest critics would not still be discussing the question. Dvamatic Purpose of Characters. Shakespeare's char- acters all serve a definite purpose ; when this is accom- plished they are not allowed to drag on through the play, but drop out. The dramatic purpose of Falstaff is to throw light upon the conduct of Henry, and when he is cast off by the prince there is no further occasion for the existence of this grotesque individual ; his mission is accomplished, and he cannot consistently appear as a character in Henry V, but as if to satisfy us concerning his end, Mistress Ouickly-Pistol gives a most pathetic account of his death, in which she would have us feel that at last his soul is at rest from its wanderings, safe in "Arthur's bosom," by no means in hell. No stud\' is more interesting than that of Shakespeare's characters and his method of handling them. SHAKESPEARE AS A DRAMATIST 77 THE SUPERNATURAL The unseen, the mysterious, the supernatural, has always had a wonderful fascination for the human mind. In Shakespeare's time the beHef that the affairs of men were greatly affected by supernatural influences still pre- vailed ; ghosts still walked, witches tantalized, teased and took possession of men, women and children ; porten- tous events were heralded by convulsions and strange manifestations of nature. Small wonder, then, that our great dramatist, with his keen insight into human nature, should make so wonderful a use of the supernatural in his plays. Did Shakespeare himself believe strongly in the supernatural? Was he himself a ghost-seer? Had he the Weird Sisters within him? Were all his life's discords and conflicts harmonized in the Forest of Arden? We may not probe too deeply into his soul ex- periences, but we certainly find in his works nearly every phase of the mysterious realm and its influences upon the minds and affairs of men ; he seems to comprehend the supernatural world quite as fully as the natural. He calls up ghosts, spirits, wraiths, hobgoblins at will, and makes them vital elements of his dramas. There could be no Hamlet without the ghost of his father to urge him on to revenge. The true character of Macbeth could be revealed only by means of the Weird Sisters. The greatness of Caesar and the un justness of his assas- sination were impressed upon the minds of the people by means of the strange and supernatural signs and mani- festations of nature ; the ghost of the murdered man haunts Brutus. The not quite smothered conscience of 78 STUDIES IN SHAKESPEAREAN DRAMA Richard III summons the disembodied spirits of those whom he has foully murdered. In the field of Comedy, Nature seems to be the great healer. All differences are adjusted in the ideal realm of the Forest of Arden. The problem of Imogen and her lost brothers is worked out in Nature's forests, away from the habitations of men, where discords do not jar. In Midsummer Nighfs Dream fantasy holds sway. And what shall be said of The Tempest? It seems the super- natural world itself dramatized ; it is almost too ideal for human interpretation. Some believe that this play was Shakespeare's last work ; certain it is that it was written after he had passed through the most of life's conflicts. Had he, like Prospero, fled with his intellect from the outer world of discord? Could he with magical -power command the forces of the spiritual and mental realm and make them obey him? Had he subdued the sensual Caliban in his nature ? Could he control the sprite Ariel, and make him work out everything for good and bring all into harmony at last ? However we may answer these questions, surely in The Tempest Shakespeare shows himself master of the ideal realms : some think that here he has reached the spiritual heights, where he can look down and see himself working out his own dramas and his own problems. Certain it is that he now revels in the supernatural world ; he manipulates its powers and forces at will ; in fact, it is his own world ; he peoples it with the creatures of his own imagination and possibly his experiences. Eliminate the supernatural element from Shakespeare, and Shakespeare's charm would be gone. No longer could he be truly called the myriad-minded. SHAKESPEARE AS A DRAMATIST 79 Still we may ask, as. a motive power in the movement of the play, how is this element used, what power has it? In Hamlet the Ghost reveals the deed and charges Hamlet to revenge it ; but is the influence of the Ghost strong enough to impel Hamlet to action? Macbeth consults the Weird Sisters, but when they do not echo his own evil thoughts and desires, he exclaims : Infected be the air whereon they ride ; And damn'd all those that trust in them! The ghosts of the victims of Richard HI simply fore- tell the issue of the morrow's battle. In his "Moral System of Shakespeare" (pages 302 to 306) Richard Moulton lays down three propositions: I Supernatural agency in Shakespeare has no power to influence events unless by influencing persons. II The supernatural has no power over men except by their own consent. Ill The influence in Shakespeare of the supernatural on persons is seen to emphasise and assist, but never to initiate or alter, a course of action. Mr. Moulton sums up his chapter on this topic as follows : "Supernatural agency has a place in the world of Shakespeare. Among the forces of life, it has nc* power except to accentuate what already exists ; but it has great power to illuminate life for those who are life's spectators."* *It is well to bear these statements in mind while reading not only the Ideal Dramas but others which are tinged with the super- natural element. 80 . STUDIES IN SHAKESPEAREAN DRAMA Forms of the Supernatural in Shakespeare. Qhost — a Objective, or reembodied spirit, b Subjective, or disembodied spirit, jN.Iay influence for good or evil. Witches — Unnatural beings, never human, ugly, always intent upon evil, leading men to destruction. Portents — Convulsions in nature ; portending dire evils .or accompanying them. Fairies — Fanciful creations of dreamland. Daint}' little creatures who wage war upon the ugly ; intent upon pranks, trying to tease, not criminal. Hold sw^ay in the court of love. Sprites — Like Ariel, whose mission is to transform every- thing into good. The opposite is seen in Caliban. Angels — Ministering spirits from the unseen world. (As in Henry VIII.) Ideal Realms, where all discords are harmonized, as the Forest of Arden. Oracles, gods and goddesses of- the classical drama. Fiends that appear to La Pucelle. HUMOR Shakespeare's humor is never-failing. It has been well said that *'the humor of Shakespeare is more than a laughter-producing power ; it is a presence ancl pre- vading influence throughout his most earnest creations.""-''' The humor of youth manifests itself in fun, appre- ciates the ridiculous, and too frequently enjoys the wit which is unkind ; the maturitv of vears tones down these 'Dowden. Shakspere — His Mind and Art— p. .316 (.3d ed.). SHAKESPEARE AS A DRAMATIST 81 tendencies to an appreciation of that genuine humor which is never personal and cannot be unkind. It seems that with experience Shakespeare grew to reahze more and more the universahty of humor ; that the human heart has by nature, and must have, a deep vein of humor in it to keep it sweet and fresh ; to keep it from becoming- Corroded by the vexations, cares and stern reaHties of Hfe. ]\Iany suppose that Love's Labour's Lost was Shake- speare's first play ; it is rollicking fun from beginning to end, pure and innocent. Every situation is so humor- ous that it seems to say: '1 am here just for the fun of it, just because I cannot help it." In the plays of his later years the humor is different, more quaint perhaps, but never entirely absent, not even in his most serious tragedies ; the heart would break under a constant strain of tears, unrelieved by the laugh which must at least temporarily dispel the clouds. A German poet says: "Shakespeare inoculates his tragedy with a comic virus, and thus it is preserved from the great disease of absurdity.'' Sympathy z^'ith the Fool. His humor is by no means confined to the fool and the clown, but often manifests itself in the gravest characters : even the somber Hamlet is not devoid of it: when the King asks him, "Where is Polonius?" he replies, "In heaven, send thither to see; if your messenger find him not there, seek him i' the other place yourself." We are as truly in sympathy with the clown as with the crown ; we never feel contempt for the man who makes the fun : as Hudson truly says : '*A fellow-feeling springs up between us and them ; . . . 82 STUDIES IN SHAKESPEAREAN DRAMA we are far more inclined to laugh with them than at them; and even when we laugh at them we love them the more for that which is laughable in them. ■ So that our intercourse with them proceeds under the great law of kindness and charity. . . . And so the pleasure we have in them is altogether social in its nature, and humanizing in its effect, ever knitting more widely the bands of sympathy."* We feel safe in saying that Shakespeare's peculiar method of handling humor is all his own. We seek in vain for it in other authors. Melancholy as is the grave-diggers' scene in Hamlet, both in subject and in situation, there seems nothing in- congruous in the quaint humor of the grave-diggers themselves, and we feel the mind somewhat relieved from the tension which it has so long sustained. Shakespeare's humor never descends to unkind wit, to that sarcasm and irony which cuts undeservedly and hence disgusts us. The chief objects of his mirth are the follies and foibles of the times, and not the misfor- tunes or weaknesses of individuals ; even from this point of view his good friend Ben Jonson could still call him "Gentle Will." Shakespeare's Prose Dramatic art is poetic, and naturally seeks poetic forms of expression. Marlowe burst the shackles of rhyme and gave the drama the freedom, of blank verse ; but while this form seems to be the natural vehicle of 'Shakespeare: His Life, Art, and Characters, vol. i, p. 185. SHAKESPEARE'S PROSE 83 expression lor the drama, so comprehensive is dramatic Hterature that the master playwrights find prose better adapted to express the dignity of certain types of thought and the easy colloquial flow required for the con- versations of the common people, clowns, fools and cer- tain others. StreiigfJi of Prose. Poetic as is Hamlet's wonderful tribute to man, ''What a piece of w^ork is man ! how noble in reason ! how infinite in faculties," one instinctively shrinks at the thought of attempting to throw it into any form of poetic expression ; or Shylock's equally wonder- ful and heartrending portrayal of the humanity of the Jew and the insults heaped upon him by the Christian: "I am a Jew. Hath not a Jew eyes? Hath not a Jew hands, organs, dimensions, senses, affections, passions? . . . If you prick us, do we not bleed? If you tickle us, do we not laugh? If you poison us, do we not die? If you wrong us, shall we not revenge? If we are like you in the rest, we will resemble you in that.'' Launce- lot's dialogue with his conscience could not be translated into poetic form ; and who could imagine Old Gobbo speaking in anything but prose ? Shakespeare's discernment ahvays selected the best, and wath his experience and mental development we find the rhyme-ending of the lines in his earlier plays grad- ually dropping out, until his masterpieces express them- selves in the freedom of blank verse interspersed w'ith the still less hampered prose. The value of prose in dra- matic expression seemed to grow upon him ; in the very earliest plays we find none ; then it is sparingly intro- 84 STUDIES IN SHAKESPEAREAN DRAMA duced ; then the two forms are nearly equally balanced ; in Much Ado and As You Like It prose outweighs verse, while in Merry Wives and Tzvclftli Night we searcli almost in vain for verse. The Prose Drama Shakespeare's. As Marlowe gave the drama the freedom of blank verse, so Shakespeare gave it the freedom of prose ; in fact the prose drama was Shakespeare's own creation, and the interested stu- dent of the master-poet is amazed not only by the w^on- derful effectiveness with which prose is introduced into the poetic drama, but by the w^onderful prose itself ; and still, while much has been wTitten about Shakespeare's prose, how^ seldom do we find his most ardent admirers discussing him as a prose wTiter. The English critic Churton Collins is an exception ; he has made a very thorough study of the poet's prose. In his admirable essay on this subject he says: What did Shakespeare do for English prose? He was the creator of colloquial prose, of the prose most appropriate for the drama. He showed for the first time how that prose conld be dignified without being pedantic ; how it could be full and mas- sive without subordinating the Saxon to the Latin element ; how it could be stately without being involved ; how it could be musical without borrowing its rhythm and its cadence from the rhetoricians of Rome. He made it plastic. He taught it to assume with propriety every tone ; he showed its capacity for dialectics, for expression, for narrative, for soliloquy. He puri- fied it from archaisms. Indeed, his diction often differs little from that of the best writers in the eighteenth century. Mr. Collins cites the epilogue to Henry IV as an illus- tration of purity, rhythm and composition. i STTAKKSPKARES PROSE 85 He further says : Shakespeare's prose is a phenomenon as remarkable as his verse. In one way. indeed, it is still more remarkable ; the prose of Shakespeare stands alone. . . . For every other form of composition he had models, . . . but his prose is essentially original ; and how greatly he contributed to the development of this important branch of rhetoric will be at once apparent if we compare his prose diction with the 'diction both of those vvho preceded and of those who followed him. Fiz'c Styles of Prose. Mr. Collins has discovered five distinct styles in Shakespeare's prose, although he says these styles by no means classify all of the poet's prose, they simply constitute an aid for those who would study the great poet-prose writer. These styles he terms the euphuistic, the colloquial, modeled on the language of vulgar life ; the prose of higher comedy ; prose pro- fessedly rhetorical, and highly wrought poetical prose. ]\Ir. Collins cites copious illustrations of the first style ; he says Love's Labour s Lost is from beginning to end one mass of euphuism ; some of the dialogues in As Yon Like It and IVinfer's Tale express themselves in this style. Osric in Hamlet is evidently intended to ridicule Lily's young gentlemen. . . . Shakespeare's satirical parodies proved that he fully recognized the puerility of euphuism, and directly imitates it, generally speaking, for the purpose of laughing at it. The colloquial prose is the language of the baser characters, of Touchstone, of Bottom, of Mrs. Quickly, "and of the rabble when the rabble are brought on the stage ;" and it is seen in perfection in the pot-house scenes in Henry IV, or in Kent's onslaught on the sr, STUDIES IN SHAKESPEAREAN DRAMA steward in Lear. In Shakespeare the colloquial prose is simply the natural language of the characters themselves. Of the third style, that of "higher comedy," Mr. Collins says : This is a style of which Shakespeare was the absolute and immortal creator, a style in which he has never been surpassed. This is the diction of his ladies and gentlemen when they do not express themselves in rhyme or blank verse. ... It abounds in wit and epigram. ... It reflects every shade and every tone of thought with exact fidelity. As the vehicle of light and playful irony it is eminently happy. Mr. Collins cites many passages in illustration of these points ; for example, Jaques's speech beginning, *'I have neither the scholar's melancholy, which is emu- lation." Orlando says: "Forever and a day." Rosa- lind replies : "Say 'a day' without the 'ever.' No, no, Orlando. Men are April when they woo, December when they wed." In closing his remarks upon this point Mr. Collins says : In this particular style of Shakespeare's prose there is one very obvious peculiarity. In addition to the colloquial ease which marks it, there is seldom wanting a sort of literary eloquence, as though he were creating a language which is at once real and ideal, at once the speech of beings among whom we are moving here, and of the beings of that world which exists only in the imagination of the poet. And yet the two styles are in perfect unison with each other. The illustrations of the prose professedly rhetorical are fewer because this style rather infringes upon the province of blank verse, and it is often a little difficult to see why the poet has not made use of the poetic form. SHAKESPEARE AS A TEACHER 87 Brutus's speech over the body of C?esar is an ilhistration. Of the last style, ''the highly wrought poetical prose," the author says : This is the style where Shakespeare has raised prose to the siiblimest pitch of verse, and it is. it must be confessed, the rarest of all his modes of expression. . In illustration he quotes Hamlet's statement of his loss of interest in the world, which contains his well- known magnificent exclamation on the grandeur of man, and says: It would be hard to cull from the whole body of our prose literature a passage which should demonstrate more strikingly the splendor and the majesty of our language, when freed from the shackles of verse. Shakespeare is the universally acknowledged master of dramatic verse, but a study of his prose reveals his wonderful genius quite as much as the study of his verse. Admirers of our greatest poet-prose writer will enjoy the careful reading not only of Mr. Collins's essay on "Shakespeare as a Prose Writer" but also of the other very scholarly essays in his "Studies in Shakespeare." Shakespeare as a Teacher Morals. In order to understand and appreciate the Shakespearean drama one must know Shakespeare's England, the temperament of her people, their mind and mode of thought, their attitude toward the theater, and the conditions under which plays were presented. Some of these points have been touched upon and cannot be discussed at length here. We can only say that the low plane of thought, prevailing from the Commons to the 88 STUDIES IN SHAKESPEAREAN DRAMA Court, which investigation reveals is simply astounding; the gross immoral conditions about the theaters vras not confined to the outward surroundings, but this low life, which was nothing short of vice itself, was carried on inside the theater by the playgoers themselves. It was for audiences of this character that Shake- speare had to write his plays ; it was before audiences of this character that he had to present them. His tragedies were to entertain people who could be expected to be entertained only by tragedies that were tragic to the extent of being horrible ; his comedies were to amuse those who were most amused by coarseness and vulgar- ity ; refined wit was beyond their appreciation. Treatinoit of humoral Characters. V\lien studied in the light of his own times, Shakespeare stands forth as a great n:oral teacher. That he is a moralizer no one will claim ; that he is thoroughl}' moral we think must be evident to every careful student. If he is to paint life universal and complete, he cannot eschevv' immoral characters, but he can and does show; his morality in the handling of these characters ; he never paints them in colors so attractive as to make them models for imita- tion. In each case the character must sustain itself ; as Ian jMaclaren says, "If Posty \\\\\ tell lies, I cannot help it." If it is necessary to e-xpose a hideous phase of life, that it may be condemned and thus serve as a lesson, Shake- speare does not hesitate to expose it. \'ice may be par- doned, but not condoned. Even in his liberality, which the extremely fastidious might fancy tends to looseiiess, he never confounds vice with virtue — SHAKESPEARE AS A TEACHER 89 But virtue, as it ucvcr will be moved, Though lewdness court it in a shape of heaven, So lust, though to a radiant angel link'd. Will sate itself in a celestial bed, And prey on garbage. Hamlet, i. 5. Dowden says : "The central principle of Falstafif's method of living is that tlie facts and laws of the world may be evaded or set at defiance, if only the resources of inexhaustible wit be called upon to supply bv brilliant ingenuity wdiatever deficiencies may be found in char- acter and conduct. Therefore Shakspere condemned Falstail inexorably."''-' And again, "The supremacy of the moral laws of the world was acknowledged by Shak- spere in the minutest as well as in the greatest concerns of life. He ixaches the ultimate truths of human life and of character through a supreme and individual en- ergy of love, imagination and thought;." His dramatic contemporaries show traces of gross immoralit} ; Shakespeare never does. Even Antonv, while still in the toils of the bewitching Cleopatra, curses himself and his charmer — Oh. thy vile lady; She hath robbed me of my sword. She hath betrayed me, and shall die the death. .-Intoity and Cleopatra, ?':'. 12. Having "lived in such dishonour that the gods detest my baseness," he begs his faithful friend to take his life. lago says 'tis public!}- riunoured that Othello has vio- lated the sanctity of his (Tago's) home: he gets his revenge by undermining Othello's confidence in Desde- ♦Shaksporo— His Mind and Art. p. .SO.'. 90 STUDIES IN SHAKESPEAREAN DRAMA inona, so that Othello at last takes her life and then his own. If Othello has been guilty, he dearly pays the penalty. Gervinus says : "The relation of Shakespeare's poetry to morality and to moral influence upon men is most per- fect.'"'' Coleridge says : "Shakespeare has no innocent vice ; he never renders that amiable which religion and reason alike teach us to detest, or clothes impurity in the garb of virtue like Beaumont and Fletcher. Even the letters of women of high rank in his age were often coarser than his writings. "f Hence we see that the tend- ency of his work was to uplift and purify the moral atmosphere of his times. Institutions of Family and State. Shakespeare is always loyal to the institutions of the Family and the State. The theme of Much Ado About Nothing is the permanence of the Family Institution : Beatrice and Benedick are led to found a family against their original will ; while that arch-enemy of the f-amily, Don John, after all of his fiendish plots, is finally thwarted by the marriage of Claudio and Hero. Macbeth, wdio describes himself as having In blood Stepped in so far that, should I wade no more, Returning were as tedious as go o'er, Macbeth, Hi, 4. in order to get and keep the crown simply to satisfy his own ambition, is finally overtaken by Nemesis, and the crown passes to the son of the gentle Duncan. When *Shakespeare Commentaries, p. 890. tShakespeare and Other Dramatists, p. 62. SHAKESPEARE AS A TEACHER 91 the members of the whole royal family of Denmark are swept out by their own deeds, Fortinbras, the mediated individual, is proclaimed king and the government suf- fers no disturbance. The fittest always survive. This moral system runs through all of the great poet's dramas, binding them into one whole."^ Hudson says : "Shakespeare found the English drama a low, foul, dis- reputable thing, chiefly in the hands of profligate adven- turers, and he lifted it out of the mire, breathed strength and sweetness into it, and made it clean, fair and honor- able ; a structure all alive with beauty and honest delec- tation." RELIGION As Shakespeare is not a moralizer, neither is he a preacher, but Dowden says : *Tf we recognize in a moral order of the world a divine presence, then the divine presence is never absent from the Shaksperian world." And again, '*To many, at the present time, the sanity and the strength of Shakspere would assuredly be an influence that might well be called religious."^* To what extent Shakespeare's own personal religious beliefs or soul experiences are reflected in the character of his plays, it would be unwise to attempt to conjecture. While the poet's will opens with a common legal form, w-e have no right to question his sincerity when he savs : ♦The iinitv of Shakespeare's works Is admirably brought out by Richard G. Moulton in his very heipful book entitled "The Moral System of Shakespeare." Applying Cnrlyle's test "that the only speech that is worth listening to is that which throws light on the matter." this book should be read by all who would understand Shakespeare. ** Shakspere — His Mind and Art, pp. 24, 29. 92 STUDIES IN SHAKESPEAREAN DRAMA First, I commend my soule into the handes of God my Cre- ator, hoping and assuredlie believing through thonelie merrittes of Jesus Christe my Saviour, to be made partaker of lyfe ever- lastinge, and my bodye to the earth whereof yt ys made. That he was a student of rehgious subjects, his works well show. Hamlet is studied by specialists of the sub- ject- of insanity, but it may almost be considered a work of rehgious intensity. Hamlet himself is completely under the control of his religious conscience until after he is guilty of killing Polonius. Claudius, wicked as he is, cannot shut his eyes to what true repentance consists in ; Horatio has overcome the world and has risen to a state of perfection attained by few mortals — for thou hast been As one, in suffering all. that suffers nothing; A man that fortune's buffets and rewards Hath ta'en with equal thanks. Hamlet. Hi. 2. The Bible. It has been said that if the Bible were totally destroyed, more of it could be reproduced from the pages of Shakespeare's dramas than from any other source. With the incoming of the Reformation, followed closely by the Puritan movement, the Bible became an object of general interest. It began to be thought that what was good for the priest was good for the people. From the middle of the sixteenth century onward num- bers of translations and editions of parts, sometimes of the whole Bible, were printed. "The Geneva version was imported during the early years of Elizabeth's reign SHAKESPEARE AS A TEACHER 93 and was printed in England in 1561. Between 1568 and 161 1 eighty editions were printed, some complete. "=^ "Efforts were made to promote the reading of the Scriptures among the common people. Bishop's trans- lation was read in the churches, the Geneva translation was generally read in families. "'"==•' "It became at once the people's book in England and Scotland ; this was the cherished volume in all Covenanting and Puritan households."! Shakespeare, growing up during this time of awaken- ing interest in the Bible, would naturally acquire famil- iarity with it by a kind of absorption, if in no other way — enough, at least, to attract him to it as a field of study in maturity, when he realized what a power it would be in the development of his characters and in the work- ing out of his plays ; this his writings abundantly show.f This docs not necessarily imply that he was especiallv religiously inclined ; that he had more than a superficial knowledge of the Bible nuist be evident to any who will take the trouble to look up the scriptural references in which his works are so rich. In many instances the deli- cacy with which scriptural thought is interwoven with the expressions of the characters is trul}' remarkable. A few quotations will suffice for illustration : Hamlet says : For murder, though it have no tongue, will speak With most miraculous organ. Hamlet, it. 2. ♦Encyclopaedia of Biblical Literature, McClintoclj and Strong. Vol. Ill, p. 215. **lIistoiy of the Bible, Kitto, p. 34. tEadies Engli.sh Bible. Vol. 11, p. l.j : quoted in Bible Encydo- poedia (Bishop I-'allo\vs). Vol. t, p. 270. iJSee The liible iu Shakespeare, by William Burgess (1003). 94 STUDIES IN SHAKESPEAREAN DRAMA Be sure your sin will find you out. Num. xxxii. 23. The devil hath power To assume a pleasing shape. Hamlet, ii. 2. Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light. Cor. xi. 14. There is special providence in the fall of a sparrow. Hamlet, v. 2. Are not two sparrows sold for a farthing? and one of them shall not fall on the ground without your Father. Matt. x. 2g. Hamlet is full of Scriptural allusions. In Richard II, Act v, Scene 2, read the speech of York beginning, As in a theatre the eyes of men, Closing with But heaven hath a hand in these events, To whose high will we bound our calm contents. To Bolingbroke are we sworn subjects now, Whose state and honour I for aye allow. For promotion cometh neither from the east, nor from the west, nor from the south. But God is the judge: he putteth down one and setteth up another. Ps. Ixxv. 6, 7. He removeth kings, and setteth up kings. Dan. ii. 21. In Measure for Measure, Act i. Scene 2, we read: The words of heaven — on whom it will, it will ; On whom it will not, so; yet still 'tis just. I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion. Rom. ix. 15. See also Exod. xxxiii 19. SHAKESPEARE AS A TEACHER 95 In Act II. Scene 2, Isabella says : Alas, alas ! Why, all the souls that were were forfeit once; And He that might the vantage best have took Found out the remedy. How would you be, If He, which is the top of judgment, should But judge you as you are? O, think on that, And mercy then will breathe within your lips, Like man new made ! For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God. Rom. Hi. 23. If thou. Lord, shouldest mark iniquity, O Lord, who shall stand? Ps. cxxx. 3. For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son. that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. John Hi. 16. And be renewed in the spirit of your mind ; And that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness. Eph. iv. 23, 24. In All's Well That Ends Well, Act 11, Scene i, Helena says : He that of greatest works is finisher Oft does them by the weakest minister : So holy writ in babes hath judgment shown. When judges have been babes. Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings hast thou ordained strength. Ps. vUi. 2. Thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes. Matt. xi. 2^. God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty. -f Cor. i. 27. Great floods have flown From simple sources. 96 STUDIES IN SHAKESPEAREAN DRAMA Thou shalt smite the rock, and there shall come water out of it, that the people may drink. And Moses did so in the sight of the elders of Israel. Exod. xvii. 6. and great seas have dried When miracles have by the greatest been denied. And Moses stretched out his hand over the sea; and the Lord . . . made the sea dry land. Exod. xiv. 21. These few illustrations sufiBce to show Shakespeare's wonderful knowledge of the Bible, and there is really no limit to the use which he makes of It throughout his works. One who has made a special study along this line says that the names of God and Christ appear eight hundred and fifty-seven times in Shakespeare's works. The Tatler III says of Shakespeare : 'This admirable author, as well as the best and greatest men of all ages and of all nations, seems to have had his mind thor- oughly seasoned with religion." Music. Before the advent of Puritanism music was a prominent feature of the daily life in England. The spinet was the favorite instrument, from the Crown to the common people. Queen Elizabeth herself played the spinet and the lute. We are told that the barber-shops frequently contained a spinet for the amusement of its waiting customers. Shakespeare had every opportunity for hearing music, and if he did not understand its tech- nique, his soul certainly responded to its soul. Speak- ing through Lorenzo, he says : The man that hath no music in himself, Nor is not moved with concord of sweet sounds, Is fit for treasons, stratagems, and spoils. Let no such man be trusted. Merchant of Venice, v: i. SHAKESPEARE AS A TEACHER 97 Surely he who gave utterance to those Hues had music in himself, or he could never have shown such wonder- ful appreciation of the influence of the harmony of sound. The Merchant of Venice alone speaks volumes on this subject. The untamed herds Or any air of music touch their ears, You shall perceive them make a mutual stand, Their savage eyes turned to a modest gaze By the sweet power of music. Portia would have Bassanio thrown under the spell of music while he makes the choice of the caskets. Then if he lose, he makes a swan-like end, Fading in music. The poor old mad King Lear is lulled to sleep by soft music ; gentle, distracted Ophelia gives vent to her feel- ings in snatches of song. As You Like It is full of song. Jaques calls for it; he says: 'T can suck melancholy out of a song as a weasel sucks eggs. More, I prithee, more." The Duke Senior would have song while poor starved Adam feeds. Let the reader follow the play through to the end, where the clown closes with a song. Thus we might trace this sweetest of all arts through play after play ; but as these studies are designed to be merely suggestive, Vv'e leave the student to follow these hints for himself. Enough has been said to show that music in the great dramatist's plays is no accident. It must have come from the soul, or it would not have been of such constant recurrence. 98 STUDIES IN SHAKESPEAREAN DRAMA Universal Knowledge* The general knowledge shown in Shakespeare's works is almost as remarkable as his general insight into the human mind and heart. Attention has already been called to his knowledge of the Bible. Bishop Charles Wordsworth has written an entire book upon the subject. Lazv. Lord Campbell, an eminent lawyer, has writ- ten a work entitled ''Shakespeare's Legal Acquirements." He says, "He knows to a nicety the technicalities of the bar, the formulas of the bench." In fact, his legal knowl- edge seems so great that some have thought that at some time he must have served time in a lawyer's office. John Shakespeare was so constantly engaged in public affairs that his son doubtless learned much of legal matters and terms while assisting him. Medical Knou'ledge. Shakespeare's knowledge of the human mechanism is the astonishment of the medical fraternity. There are in his works more than seventy references to the circulation of the blood, although Har- vey did not publish his treatise on the subject until 1628. He could tell from the appearance whether a body gave evidence of natural death or death by violence. In Henry VI, Act in. Scene 2, Warwick discusses the death of Duke Humphrey : Oft have I seen a timely-parted ghost, Of ashy semblance, meager, pale, and bloodless, . . . But see, his face is black, and full of blood. The full description is very graphic. I 'See Brandes's William Shakespeare, chap. xlv. UNIVERSAL KNOWLEDGE 99 He seemed to have the knowled^i^e of an expert of the working of the insane mind in all its varions phases. Science. He evidently accepted the, at that time, dimly conceived idea of gravitation, although the clearly defined laws of Newton and Kepler were not given to the world until after his death. In Troilus and Cressida, Act IV, Scene 2, we read : The strong base and budding of my love Is as the very centre of the earth, Drawing all things to it. Nature. Shakespeare's knowledge of nature was marvelous ; he certainly held communion with her visible forms and to him she spoke a various language. One who has taken the trouble to count says that the poet makes mention of no less than two hundred kinds of flowers, herbs, etc. Even this must be a low estimate, since nearly fifty forms of plant life are in some way alluded to in Midsummer Night's Dream alone. What wonderful Shakespearean bouquets could be gathered, and what Shakespearean banquets could be served ! And then Perdita and Ophelia can give us the language of tlowers. The latter says : 'There's rosemary, that's for remembrance, . . . and there is pansies, that's for thoughts." (Hamlet, Act iv. Scene 5.) The ideas that rosemary strengthened the memory and that pansies were emblems of sad thoughts were of very ancient origin. Falstaff says (Merry Wives) : "Let the sky rain potatoes," and it is interesting to note that this is prob- ably the first mention of the potato after its introduction into Ireland by Sir Walter Raleigh in 1584. 100 STUDIES IN SHAKESPEAREAN DRAMA Animal Life. Shakespeare's knowledge of Jiisect life and the characteristics and habits of birds and the larger animals, especially of dogs and horses, seems inexhaust- ible. Whole books have been written upon this subject. As a boy living in the country, he certainly must have made good use of his eyes. The ordinary reader is liable to overlook many of these points by reason of his own ignorance. How many know that the greyhound is the only dog that can catch its prey while running at full speed? "Thy wit is as great as the greyhound's mouth; it catches." {Much Ado About Nothing, Act V, Scene 2.) Space forbids multiplying references; look for them. They are not like Gratiano's reasons — two grains of wheat hid in two bushels of chafT. When you have them they are well worth the search. Typography. An English printer named Blades in 1872 published a book entitled "Shakespeare and Typography," in which is shown that Shakespeare was perfectly familiar with everything pertaining to the printing-office. So well versed was he in the idiomatic language of the printer that he might have been a "printer's devil." Some believe that at one time he had a pecuniary interest in a publishing house. Vocabulary. It is said that Shakespeare's vocabulary contains 15,000 words, while the Old Testament contains but 5,642, and, as has been stated, his v/orks have been translated into more languages and tongues than any other book except the Bible. II PRINCIPLES AND STRUCTURE OF THE SHAKESPEAREAN DRAMA 1 II PRINCIPLES AND STRUCTURE OF THE SHAKESPEAREAN DRAMA* Its Ethics Ethical Principles. First, the Shakespearean drama is ethical. It portrays a world of conflict — principles in conflict. The dramatic collision is the collision of ethical principles ; the individual is the bearer of these prin- ciples, he is imbued with them. Man is controlled from within, he is responsible for his own acts, he works out his own destruction or salvation as the case may be. In his subjective conflicts he must compel the subordina- tion of the Bad to the Good or be crushed in the struggle. Solution. Secondly, the Shakespearean drama finally brings all conflicting elements into harmony : peace always follows war. This peace may be brought about in different ways, for the drama is realistic, it is true to life. The discordant element must be destroyed. If the individual does not repent he nmst die, as in Tragedy. The element of mediation may enter ; the individual repents, harmony is restored without the necessity of death, and the play becomes Comedy. In Pure Comedv discord may be caused by absurdities or 'Based primarily upon Snider's Commentaries. 103 104 STUDIES IN SHAKESPEAREAN DRAMA blunders, which, exposed, give way to harmony, when the play becomes farcical. In Tragedy harmony is restored through the fundamental principle of Nemesi-s or the return of the deed upon the doer. Some critics do not accept this theory in its fullest extent, but we believe that we are not misrepresenting Shakespeare when we say that harmony, once disturbed, is in the end always restored in the particular form of the Ethical World through which the drama moves, either through retribution or through mediation, or, as in some of the lighter comedies, through the clearing of the atmos- phere of misunderstanding or blunders. Nemesis. Further, when the return of the deed upon the doer is stated as a fundamental principle or law of the Shakespearean drama, wx understand that this law applies and works out as in real life. A corrupt heart and mind cannot develop a moral life — the wages of sin is death. But while Nemesis follows the evil-doer and retribution seems to be the general law of the universe, all forces, both moral and physical, combine to make one whole, and an individual may become involved in a great catastrophe and thereby meet a violent death which is by no means the result of an evil deed of his own. Every violent death is not necessarily a tragic death in the dramatic sense, "^^ The Principle of Sacrifice. We must not overlook the principle of sacrifice, which is often extremely pathetic. Is not this the principle of redemption through *In the dramatic sense, the tragic death is the result of the evil deed. STRUCTURE 105 Christ, who manifested himself to the world in the person of Jesus, suffering death on the cross for the sins of humanity? This principle of sacrifice, or death of the innocent for the guilty, is always pathetic. Some- times the effort may fail, as in the case of Cordelia, who failed to save her father, but lost her own life in the attempt. Cordelia. From an ethical standpoint, Cordelia's pathetic end is variously accounted for by different and we may say equally sympathetic interpreters. One tells us that her great devotion to the Family brings her into collision with the State, which is a higher principle. In order to save her father, she invades his country with a French army, thus sinning against patriotism, and she pays the penalty by a tragic death. Another thinks that she is quite justifiable in bringing a foreign army to resist her wicked sisters, and sees in her violent death the "dramatic motive of pathos" ; she devotes herself to her father and her life is sacrificed in her effort to save him. This certainly is a beautiful interpretation, and the pathos of her death is intensified by the fact that her father has so unjustly banished her from his heart and from his kingdom. Lear. But this drama is primarily the drama of Lear. Lear disturbs the harmony of the ethical institu- tions of both State and Family. Long )ears of absolute power have developed the tyrant dominated by selfish- ness. Weary of care, he would shirk the responsibilities of government but retain the pleasures of its outward show. He forsakes reason and suffers the penalty of 106 STUDIES IN SHAKESPEAREAN DRAMA being forsaken by reason. The State is nothing to him ; he would throw government aside Uke a cast-off gar- ment. His daughter Cordelia cannot play false like her treacherous sisters, and he thrusts her from him as an impatient child tosses away the toy which cannot obey his bidding. If she goes with some bitterness in her heart, her inherent love of truth develops into the truth of love, and she returns, only to be sacrificed. Retribution. Since Lear's sin is so great that Nemesis will be satisfied only with his tragic end, his deed returns upon his own head. Nemesis follows Regan and Goneril, and they suffer the penalty of their own wicked deeds. If we see in Cordelia's violent death only dramatic pathos, this by no means infringes upon the general law of retribution, but simply shows that while evil deeds bring their own punishment, all mis- fortune is not necessarily the result of wrong-doing. Shakespeare's Ethical World. In Shakespeare the dramatic collision is not necessarily a collision between absolute wrong and absolute right. Rather, his Ethical World is peopled with a gradation of principles. It nevertheless holds true that the lower is always subordi- nated to the higher. The soul, often perplexed, may find it difficult to decide which is higher and which is lower: this it is the province of the Dramatic Solution to deter- mine. Shakespeare's individuals, like individuals in the everyday world, are not always controlled by the abstract principles of right and wrong, but often by their own ideas of right and duty; hence let us bear in mind that. STRUCTURE 107 in this study we must consider the word ethical as not exactly synonymous with the word moral in the abstract. Notwithstanding this, Shakespeare always treats man as a responsible being, and holds him accountable for his deed, and the principles of his Ethical World accord with the divine decree that the evil deed shall contain within itself the elements of destruction, and hence the deed returns upon the doer, and harmony can be restored in the end only by the destruction of the individual, as in Tragedy, or by the destruction of the discord, as in Comedy. What Marlowe only vaguely felt — that the hero was the author of his own catastrophe — Shakespeare clearly perceived and distinctly expressed.* If we would understand Shakespeare, the greatest of all dramatists, we must study his work in this light, and not as a mere plaything to amuse and while away the passing hour. Plan of Shakespeare's Ethical World Shakespeare's Ethical World presents two sides or phases, the positive and the negative. The positive phase shows two grand divisions running through all of his dramas, the Institutional or Objective and the Moral or Subjective. POSITIVE phase I Institutional : While institutions seem to be external to man, and 'The Drama, vol. xiii^ p. 54. 108 STUDIES IN SHAKESPEAREAN DRAMA to hold him subject to their laws, they are really created by him, and while they impose upon him certain restric- tions, they do so only to make possible his larger liberty. It is only through institutions that man rises out of himself and becomes a part of universal life ; but har- mony with institutions usually implies conflict passed through. The Shakespearean drama deals mainly with two institutions, the Family and the State. In the legendary drama the outward collision is primarily in the Family, while in the historical drama it is in the State. (a) The Family: Love is the great life-giving principle of the world ; it is the divinely ordered basis of the Family. The love of the man and the woman leads to the establishment of the Family, which gives rise to the family relation — love of husband and wife, of parent and child, of brother and sister. In the institution of the Family collision occurs between parents and lovers, as in The Merchant of Venice; between husband and wife, as in Othello; between parents and children and between sisters, as m King Lear. It is interesting to note that when parental authority collides with the child's right of love, Shake- speare almost invariably decides in favor of the child, as in the case of Shylock and Jessica. (h) The State: As institutions, the Family and the State are interde- pendent. In points of time and importance in the social organism, the Family stands first. The object of the State is to secure justice among men ; it is organized to STRUCTURE 109 protect society; it legalizes and thereby establishes the Family and hence must protect it. Thus politically the State is above the Family: the Family may be invaded in order to preserve the State; the husband and father may be torn from the Family to defend the State. Hence the collision of the State may be, First, with the individual or the family ; Secondly, internal ; that is, between political factions ; Thirdly, external ; that is, with another State. These two ethical institutions, the State and the Family, constitute the foundation of all of Shakespeare's plays and may be considered a basis for the classification of his dramas. (c) Property: A minor ethical institution is Property, which may be sordid as a principle, but still has its rights which may not be ruthlessly violated, as shown in the Merchant of Venice. (d) World Spirit: Above these institutions rises a fourth. The principle that Nemesis follows the evil-doer holds true with nations as well as with individuals. It is right that the human race should be grouped in nations. Nations organize government as a means of protection to their members ; the true government must protect the weak against the selfishness and tyranny of the strong; when it fails to do so, it must sufifer the penalty. The world's history teaches this truth. We see nations rise and fall. Why? Some power brings them no STUDIES IN SHAKESPEAREAN DRAMA into existence because they have a right to exist ; when they have violated the principles upon which their existence was based, the same power operates to make them face their deeds and suffer the penalty. Rome from a small village on the Tiber grew to be the Mistress of the World. Rome had a right to exist ; by uniting under one government the small nations of southern Europe and the Mediterranean she forwarded the civilization of the world and paved the way for the spread of Christianity when the time came. But when she became corrupt and ceased to fulfill her mission, she fell ; broken into fragments, she lost her place among nations. France would not heed her warning and had to wade through streams of blood to solve her problem. The United States, whose corner-stone was liberty, allowed herself to enslave a race, and the blood of her sons was spilled in the breaking of the shackles. Russia is to-day* working out her problem. Thus we see an ethical force at work, above and greater than the State, calling the State into existence, and in turn calling it to account for the manner in which it holds its trust. What is this force? How shall we name it? Is it the spirit of justice, which compels our inner conscious- ness to recognize that God has created all men equal in their right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness ? Is it the spirit of love, which compels justice to grant to all mankind the liberty to exist, and to exist under as comfortable conditions as possible? Name it as we •1906~ STRUCTURE 111 will, the world's history tells us that this force has been the ruling power over nations from their beginning ; and that it ever sounds its note of warning to nations in their days of great prosperity when they begin to entrench themselves in selfishness and greed, and grind the help- less. For want of a better term we may call this great controlling force the World Historical Spirit, or simply the World Spirit. This spirit declares that in the end the best must survive. (e) The Church: Stiir another institution, which has been a great force in the world, is the Church. Of this mere mention is necessary, since Shakespeare deals with it only inci- dentally. 2 Moral or Subjective. The law of the Moral or Subjective division of Shakespeare's Ethical World is the subordination of the low^er to the higher, which is the internal law of duty. 'The individual has within himself the absolute test of conduct, the law of conscience." Since men differ in opinion, it will readily be seen that this law may conflict with institutions. This fact was illustrated in America in ante-bellum days, when the conscience of the North- ern individual rebelled against the Southern institution of slavery, and in violation of the law of the State he aided slaves in their escape to freedom. Now Shake- speare is decidedly institutional, and when the Moral colHdes with the Institution, the latter prevails, as in ■Airs Well That Ends Well. Morality is sacrificed in 112 STUDIES IN SHAKESPEAREAN DRAMA order to preserve the institution of the Family, and while we maintain that Shakespeare is a moral writer, still we cannot help wishing that in this instance he had found other means of securing the Family. As an institutional writer he certainly is moral. NEGATIVE PHASE The negative phase shows the individual imbued with this spirit to be hostile to both institutions and morals ; he is always a disturbing element and seems to be devoid of conscience. First, we see the indifferent bad person. He is governed only by his own bad passions ; he is utterly indififerent to both institutions and morals, and is constantly in collision with them. Murderers merely hired to kill care nothing for the State nor for human life ; they care only for the paltry sum of money offered as the price for the deed. Caliban seems utterly devoid of ethical principles. Secondly, there is the active bad person, who con- stantly plans the destruction of both institutions and morals : in him we see the true villain. No better illus- tration can be cited than Richard III. To accomplish his own selfish purpose he utterly disregards both insti- tutions and morals ; but as he would crush both, his deeds return upon his own head, and he dies an igno- minious death. Sumniiwy For convenience we may tabulate a summary of these points in their ethical order : Ethical World ^ STRUCTURE 113 r I World Spirit Institutional | 2 State (Objective) 1 3 Family r Positive \ I 4 Property . Moral j (Subjective)] ^^^^ "^ Conscience I Indifferent [ Bad Person [ In the working out of the drama, these principles take possession of the individual and become the main- spring of all his actions, and we see the Institutional person, the Moral person, and the Negative person ; these principles collide and the play begins. In Julius Cccsar Cassius the Institutional person represents the old Roman spirit of opposition to the one-man power. Opposed to him is Caesar the Institutional person, embodying the spirit of the one-man power, the monarch of the State. These two collide, and the play is started. The Plot Incidents of Plot and of Story. The plot consists of the successive steps in the plan by which the final result is obtained. The incidents constituting these steps may be called incidents of plot. An incident by which an incident of plot is worked out may be called an incident of story. Hamlet's father. King of Denmark, meets a mysterious death. Hamlet suspects foul play, but there is no external evidence. The ghost of the dead man reveals the deed ; this is an incident of plot. Claudius 114 STUDIES IN SHAKESPEAREAN DRAMA suspects that Hamlet thinks him guilty, and therefore feels that the young man is dangerous and must be put out of the way. How is this removal to be accom- plished? Claudius will prove Hamlet insane, but how? He will have Rosencrantz and Guildenstern entrap him: their efforts to do so are incidents of story. The incident of the bond by which Shylock can claim a pound of Antonio's flesh, in case he fails to pay the borrowed money when it becomes due, is an incident of plot; the lovemaking and the marriage of Gratiano and Nerissa are incidents of story. Purpose of Characters. In every well-constructed drama each character has its own definite dramatic pur- pose. When this purpose is served, the character drops •out. If it serves a single purpose, or is simply inci- dentally woven in with the incidents of story, its office may be slight, and the individual need not be accounted for personally. The play of Hamlet is introduced by Francisco on guard during the first watch. When he is relieved by Bernardo and Marcellus his purpose is served and we have no further interest in him ; he is in no way connected with the working out of the plot and does not have to be accounted for personally. If, however, a character is a vital factor of the plot or in the working out of the plot, the outcome of th^ drama must account for him and show the effect of his actions upon himself as an individual. Hamlet gives us to understand that Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are guilty accomplices of the King, and they must suffer the penalty of their deed, although this may be their only STRUCTURE 115 crime. If the final outcome of this play did not bring all of the guilty individuals to their natural tragic end, the strength of the drama would be lost. In The Merchant of J^enice Salanio and Salarino serve as a background to bring out Antonio ; and by occasionally filling in and giving information to the audience aid in the forward movement of the play, though they are not connected with the plot, and when they drop out they are not missed. Shylock pursues to the bitter end his hatred of Antonio as a Christian and as a gratuitous money-lender, and when he is caught in his own trap his life is spared only on condition that he renounce his religion and accept Christianity, and at his death bestow all that of which he dies possessed upon his runaway daughter and her Christian husband. Thus he sufifers the penalty of his hatred, both of the Christian and of the gratuitous money-lender. Nemesis is satisfied and Shylock is disposed of ; the only dis- cordant element in the play has no place in the atmos- phere of love and harmony which reigns in Portia's veritable "Forest of Arden" in Belmont, where at last — uncertainties, strains and trials over — the lovers all find themselves, together with Antonio, the tie which binds together all the elements of the play, reveling in the delights of moonshine, music and love. Sources of Plot. Shakespeare, following the custom of his time, made no pretense to originality in the sources of his plots. In his English historical series, he follows Holinshed's chronicles more or less closely as suits his purpose, but it must be borne in mind that 116 STUDIES IN SHAKESPEAREAN DRAMA Holinshed's chronicles are by no means reliable history, that the chronicles in some instances contain more fable than actual history. Someone has said that Shakespeare has done more than any other author toward making a knowledge of English history widespread. While this may be true, we should remember that Shakespeare's object was, primarily, to write a good drama, one which could be effectively played upon the English stage in his own time, and not to write a history to be read and stand the test of critics as to accuracy. Consequently dates, ages, situations, and so on, are often greatly distorted. King John affords an excellent illustration of this ; it serves the dramatic purpose better to make Prince Arthur much younger than the Arthur of history. His- tory tells us that when Portia heard of the death of Brutus she suffocated herself with hot coals; in the drama of Julius CcEsar the close of the quarrel between Brutus and Cassius is made more pathetic by Brutus's announcement of Portia's death — "O Cassius ! I am sick of many griefs. . . . Portia is dead. . . . Im- patient of my absence . . . she fell distract, and . . . swallowed fire." We may, however, safely rely, upon Shakespeare for a picture of the manners, customs and characters of the times. The foreign plays follow North's Plutarch closely.* The Legendary plays are nearly all based upon legends that were familiar in Shakespeare's time; some think that the plot of Loves Labour's Lost, so far as it *For excellent articles on this point, we refer the stuaenr to Snidei-'s Commentaries on the Histories, Hudson's Introduction to King John, and Neilson's Introduction to Macheth in the Lakeside Classics i Scott, Foresman & Co.). STRUCTURE 117 may be said to have a plot, is Shakespeare's own. But it would seem that these borrowed plots were, after all, only suggestive to the great dramatist; he changed the situations, the characters and their motives, to suit his own dramatic purpose. In the old story lago kills Desdemona. Shakespeare makes her die at the hands of Othello. Merely taking his cue from a legend, he revivifies the whole story, giving it such new motives, life and purpose that the old is lost and he works out a play that is all his own. Snider says: As in the Tragedies and Comedies, so also in the Histories, Shakespeare takes his materials wherever he can lay his hands on them, in drama, chronicle, biography; they are his by divine right of poetic seizure. He does not invent them any more than he invents the English language v^hich he uses. He orders, transforms, deepens incidents and characters, plots are furnished him from the storehouse of Time, where lies also his inheritance ; these he takes and transforms into poetry. His originality is shown in the right use of his materials; his creative power is the poetic transfiguration of all that he touches.* Dramatic Structure Shakespeare's forces and characters work in groups. These various groups work together for the accomplish- ment of a purpose; they work up to a climax, and then down to the close. For convenience. Snider calls these groups and phases of action Threads and Movements. Threads. The Threads may vary in number and complexity, but for a good understanding of a play it is essential to get them fixed in the mind. The Threads in •Histories, Introduction, p. v. 118 STUDIES IN SHAKESPEAREAN DRAMA Hamlet are easily traced. Claudius secretly kills his brother, the King, marries his widow, and becomes king himself. He must conceal his crime. Hamlet suspects foul play ; his suspicions are confirmed by the revelation of the ghost, who charges him to revenge the deed. Claudius suspects that Hamlet suspects him, and the two are arrayed against each other, and the conflict begins. Hamlet and those who in any way sympathize with him or assist him in carrying out his purpose, constitute the Hamlet Thread; the King and those who assist him in carrying out his purposes constitute the King's Thread. According to their importance, these Threads naturally fall into groups. Polonius's work is quite different from that of a mere messenger who simply executes a com- mand of the king: hence he would fall in a leading group, while the messenger would be placed in a subor- dinate group. The King, the Queen, the Polonius family, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, and the rest, according to the character of their work can be arranged in groups, a, b, c, and so on. Still another group, that of the State, consists of the courtiers Voltimand and Cornelius, and any others who have to do only with affairs of State, but have nothing whatever to do with anything relating to the deed which forms the basis of the drama. In Romeo and Juliet the principal Threads are Hatred and Love, which we may follow out thus : [ Montagues j" jy^^^^^^^^^ ^^ Institutions ; both of I Hatred. and Family and of State. Capulets J STRUCTURE il9 f Builders of Institutions by { Romeo, a Montague | union through love. Would 2 Love < and \ establish the Family. Thus 1^ Juliet, a Capulet harmony would be restored I to the State. 3 The State — Represented by the Prince. The third Thread, thoiigli not prominent, is not unimportant; the Prince appears only three times, but always as a mediator trying to reconcile the discord between the two houses ; this Thread is finely interwoven with the two principal Threads. Hatred is so intense that it places itself above Institutions ; it would destroy the Family and even the State to satisfy its enmity. Love — represented by Romeo and Juliet, a Montague and a Capulet of the younger generation — is so intense that it overcomes the hatred of the ancient houses and establishes the Family. In the end the Love Thread triumphs ; for while the individuals are sacrificed, in the presence of the dead bodies of Romeo and Juliet the lieads of the ancient houses become reconciled. The third Thread, that of the Prince, here weaves, as a con- necting link, into the two principal Threads. Prince. Where be these enemies? Capulet! Montague! See, what a scourge is laid upon your hate. That heaven finds means to kill your joys with love! Capulet. O brother Montague, give me thy hand; This my daughter's jointure, for no more Can I demand. Montague. But I can give thee more: For I will raise her statue in pure gold ; That while Verona by that name is known, 120 STUDIES IN SHAKESPEAREAN DRAMA There shall no figure at such rate be set As that of true and faithful Juliet. Capulet. As rich shall Romeo by his lady lie; Poor sacrifices of our enmity ! In each of the Threads may be traced subordinate groups consisting of those who assist in carrying out the plans of the leaders. Movements. Through the first phase of action in Hamlet the King is continually trying by various means to find out to what extent Hamlet is dangerous. He determines that his safety lies in getting rid of his brother's son. He must now add a second crime to the first, but here, conscience not being entirely smothered, he pauses; he is confronted with his original deed. (Act III, Scene 2.) He discusses repentafice, of which he has a true conception. Genuine repentance would necessi- tate the giving up of all that he had gained by his deed — his crown, his queen and his ambition. He decides he cannot make the sacrifice. He can, then, only plunge deeper into crime, in order to make himself secure. This decision constitutes the climax for the King and of the play, for he is the doer of the deed. Just at this point Hamlet kills Polonius, and becomes a guilty individual himself. When he sees an opportunity to kill the King, he cannot do so, and thus he reaches his climax. This, then, constitutes the first Movement, or Guilt. The consequences of the King's decision, or the Retribution, now follow and y^ork on to the close, where in the final grand tragedy the guilty sufifer the penalty of their own deeds: this constitutes the second Move- ment. STRUCTURE 121 Macbeth, until he reads his doom in the show of kings, is apparently dominated by the supernatural element in the form of the Weird Sisters. This super- natural world opens the play. Macbeth at once responds to their touch, their prophetic suggestions urge him on. We get the real spirit and motive of the play better by considering the Threads to consist of the natural and the supernatural worlds. They seem in conflict through- out. The first Movement, or Guilt, works up to a climax in Act iii, Scene 4, where Macbeth in despair determines again to consult the Weird Sisters. He is confronted by his deed and decides that, I am in blood Stepp'd in so far that, should I wade no more, Returning were as tedious as go o'er. ***** We are yet but young in deed. He will consult the Weird Sisters. He falls under the spell of Hecate, the queen of the witches, and the second Movement is worked out. From these illustrations we may derive our defini- tions : Dramatic Threads are groups of forces or characters, working together through one phase of action to accom- plish a common purpose. Dramatic Movement is the dramatic conflict of the various Threads w^orking through one phase of action to a climax, where there is a change of thought or purpose. There may be two or more ]\Iovements with two or more Threads in each; the final ^Movement works out 122 STUDIES IN SHAKESPEAREAN DRAMA harmony in the final solution. In general, Shakespeare's tragedies require two Movements, Guilt and Retribution ; while the comedies move through three phases of action, requiring three Movements — i. Collision or Separation; 2, Meditation; 3. Return or Solution. Mechanical Structure Framework. Besides this dramatic structure a play has what may be termed the framework of acts and scenes. The various steps in the development of the plot give rise to the division into acts. Every one of Shakespeare's plays contains five acts.* These have been described by the significant terms, Exposition, Growth, Climax, Consequence, and Close. Situation is given. Principal characters are introduced. Act I Key-notes of characters are given. We can Exposition usually determine their ofifice or dramatic purpose in the play. Groundwork of the plot is laid. Leading threads may be determined. Plot is more fully developed. Act II Characters are more fully developed. Growth Motives are revealed. New characters are often introduced. Turning point of the play. First movement is worked out in Tragedy or Tragi-Comedy. Plot works up to a crisis where the guilty individual must face his own deed. Re- •The division Into acts and scenes was hot made until after Shakespeare's death. The plays in the First Folio have five acts each. Play convicts Ki z o I- u < King nolconvinced Opheli thinks Hamlet insane Polonius attennpts to con vicl Hamlet by means I Ophelia, cause love Rosencrantz and Guilden- stem fail to convict Ham- let of insanity Hamlet decides on play to catch the conscience of the King ■2.= - Hamlet's inaction Players am Hamlet baffles Rosencrant and Guildenstern Polonius tries to prove Hamlet insane by means of Ophelia. Fortmbras mediated Rosencrantz and Guil- denstern called by King to watch Hamtet Ophelia's evidence^ 01 ° » Hamlet will put an anlic disposition on Ghost reveals the deed Charges Hamlet to revenge Hamlet sees Ghos Ophelia's relations to Ham- III let. Laertes returns to France. Hamlet informed of Ghost. Voltimand and Cornelii sent to Norway King faces his deed He , repent King's climax Will send Hamlet to England Hamlet will not kill King Hamlet's climax Hamlet kills Polonius Be- comes guilty individual Makes Queen face her deed Queen will not re- pent Climax Ghost appears Queen informs King death of Polonius 3 ^ S-'^a Hamlet outwits Rosen- I crantz and Guildenstern. 1 '' King decides to send Ham- 'et to England with hie m S 3 m Fortinbras goes to regain patch of ground fronn Polacks. Hamlet's irresolution Ophelia insane. Laertes returns in arms. Witnesses her condition Hamlet's letter of expla tion to Horatio Hamlet's letter to King an- nouncing his return to England King and Laertes plan to kill Hamlet. Ophelia drowned JD C m 2 o 1 ^ \^ H Grave-digger's scene Hamlet and Horatio appear Ophelia's funeral Hamlet justifies hii Horatio ;lf to Combat with foils between Hamlet and Laertes Laertes' foil poisoned Laertes stabs Hamlet- Hamlet stabs Laertes with Laertes' foil Queen drinks poisoned cup and dies Laertes exposes plot Hamlet stabs King King dies Laertes dies Hamlet dies Fortinbras made King ■J) n 5 m V Harmony in the Ethical World restored through the destruction of all the discordant element.s, and to the Kingdom of Denmark through Fortinbras, the mediated mdividual MECHANICAL STRUCTURE 123 Act III pcntance is offered. If he repent, the seeming Climax Tragedy is turned to a Comedy. Example— Winter's Tale, Act in. Scene 3: Repentance of Leontes. If he does not repent, he must go on to the bitter end and the play is a Tragedy. This ends the first movement. This act works out the consequences of the re- sults of the decision in Act iii. Act IV New characters may be introduced to work out Consequences the second movement. In Hamlet Laertes takes the place of Polonius. In Tragedy the guilty doer of the deed plunges deeper and deeper into crime. The plot works to the final close: justice pre- Act V vails, the discordant element is destroyed ; harmony Qose is restored either through the destruction of the individual, as in Tragedy, or through conformity to the laws of the Ethical World, as in Comedy. Scenes. Changes of place naturally divide the acts into scenes. Originally, in some of Shakespeare's earliest plays, there were no scenes, doubtless because of the barrenness of the stage. As stage scenery was intro- duced, the plays were recast and arranged in scenes. In a few instances the arrangement of scenes in the acts dififers in different editions. In Hamlet Hudson places seven scenes in Act iii and four in Act iv, while Rolfc puts four in Act iii and seven in Act iv. We prefer the latter arrangement, as the first JMovement evidently closes with the closet scene. A graphic illustration of the plot brings it out vividly. One of Hamlet is here presented. 124 STUDIES IN SHAKESPEAREAN DRAMA Dramatic Classification Shakespeare's dramas are frequently classified chronologically, thereby showing his mental growth and why some of his plays are so much deeper and more perfect than others. Dowden's classification has pre- viously been given/'^ Since we are studying these plays from a dramatic standpoint, we shall follow Snider's classification, based upon the classes and form of the drama. The drama proper portrays life ; it shows man work- ing out his own destiny according to the divine decree. It must be universal; and while incidentally it must be given time and place, it cannot be hampered by time and place, neither can it be limited by historical fact. While the life of nations offers a tempting field for the drama- tist, it by no means satisfies the province of the drama. We have seen that for the basis of his plots Shakespeare selects either some old legend or romance or some story from history ; hence his plays naturally fall under the general heads of Legendary or Romantic, and His- torical. Omitting Pericles, the authenticity of which is so generally questioned, there are twenty-one Legendary and fifteen Historical plays. Legendary. The Legendary plays are based chiefly upon legend ; still, legend is frequently so blended with historical fact that the form of the play and the manner of treatment must to some extent determine its place. Macbeth has a partial basis of history, but the manner of treatment places it with the Legendary plays. As *Pp. 68, 69. DRAMATIC CLASSIFICATION 125 the Legendary is to portray the life of man, it is essen- tially domestic, and in general the collision is primarily in the Family, with the State in the background. In Hamlet one might at first question this point, since the murdered man was not only husband and father but king, but Hamlet himself treats the collision as domestic. He is trying to revenge the death of his father, rather than the death of the King of Denmark. He constantly grieves over the conduct of Gertrude because she is a woman and his mother, not because she is Queen of Denmark. The Legendary drama is not limited by time and has a tendency to complete itself in a single play. The termination is quite definite : the individual works out the result of his own deed, and in the end perishes, or is saved through mediation, and the play has either a tragic ending or a happy one. Historical. "The Historical drama is the drama of nationality : it deals with the institutions of the State ; and for its material looks to the records of the nation and to the deeds of the national heroes ; hence the emotion to which it appeals is patriotism." The His- torical drama then, is based upon historical fact. The collision is in the State, with the Family in the back- ground. The drama is necessarily limited by time and place, and only as it manifests the World Spirit can it be considered universal. As it deals with the life of the State, the complete drama may require more than a single play ; the Lancastrian and Yorkian tetralogies require a consecutive series. Again, the termination is 126 STUDIES IN SHAKESPEAREAN DRAMA often double, Tragedy and Comedy combined ; one party fails, the other succeeds. Since the law of history does not always coincide with the law of the drama, we must expect the structure of the Historical drama to be somewhat looser than that of the Legendary drama ; however, since there is always conflict, threads can be readily traced, and usually a little study will reveal the movements, although the climax is not always quite so evident. In King John we readily trace the English thread and the French thread. In the first movement the conflict is external ; England is victorious over France. In Arthur in England John sees a foe to his crown, and the struggle is now internal ; the m.otive changes and the second movement begins. In Julius Ccesar the first movement shows the internal conflict in Rome and the struggle against the man Caesar. The man out of the way, in the second movement the conflict is external and against the spirit of Caesar. Just before he falls on his sword Brutus exclaims; O Julius Caesar, thou art mighty yet : Thy spirit walks abroad and turns our swords In our own proper entrails. The Legendary and Historical are so closely related that there may be a difference of opinion as to exactly where the line is to be drawn. The old Roman story of Coriolanus is probably a myth, but the theme of the drama is political and represents an epoch of Roman history, and is treated in a political way. It is readily seen that the Family is sacrificed for the State. Snider says: "The chief characteristic of the Historical drama DRAMATIC CLASSIFICATION 127 ^s that it rises above the mere individual and shows the guilt and punishment of whole nations and whole epochs, thus manifesting how the deed in history returns to the land with a whip of scorpions, even after the lapse of generations." Tragedy and Comedy. The difference between Legendary and Historical dramas shows that it is the Legendary w^hich gives rise to true Tragedy and Comedy. According to the law of the Ethical World, which is also the law of the drama, discord must be destroyed and harmony restored. This law may be fulfilled in either of two ways. If the motive of the foul deed so takes possession of the guilty doer that he pur- sues his purpose to the bitter end, that end must bring death to him. Nemesis follows him, his deed must return upon his head, and the play becomes Tragedy. If, however, wdien brought face to face w^ith his deed, he sees it in all its enormity and repents, he need not perish ; harmony is restored without the necessity of the death of the individual ; the discordant principle is destroyed while the individual is saved, and the play turns to Comedy. Hence we see that the principle of Comedv is mediation, which implies salvation. This principle con- stitutes the real difference betw^een Tragedy and true Comedy. "The best thought of the modern world is salvation which springs from the mediatorial spirit." Comedy, then, in a way, may be as serious as Tragedy, and the term must not be interpreted as s^non^nious with comical in its limited sense of "funny"; farcical it may be, but farce is only a light phase of Comedy. 128 STUDIES IN SHAKESPEAREAN DRAMA Conflict Double. In both Tragedy and Comedy the conflict is double, internal as well as external. In the internal conflict, when the individual passes through that "sorrow of the soul" resulting in true repentance which drives him to forsake sin and rise from the conflict glorified, we have Comedy. Hamlet says to Horatio: Thou hast been As one, in suffering all, that suffers nothing; A man that fortune's buffets and rewards Hath ta'en with equal thanks — Hamlet, Hi, 2. a man who has fought the battles of life and has come out triumphant over all — in short a perfect, mediated character, man redeemed. When King Claudius is passing through this internal conflict, he discusses repentance and thoroughly compre- hends what it signifies when he says: Forgive me my foul murder? That cannot be, as I am still possessed Of those effects for which I did the murder, My crown, mine own ambition, and my queen. May one be pardoned and still retain th' offence? * * * Try what repentance £an : what can it not ? Yet what can it when one cannot repent? Hamlet, Hi, 3. And so he moves on to death. Had the King repented and made restoration, the play would have turned to Comedy. Three Phases of Comedy. This serious phase of Comedy portrays harmony disturbed by foul deeds, but DRAMATIC CLASSIFICATION 129 restored through the struggle which ends in repentance and forgiveness. There is a second phase, which does not imply crime; harmony may be disturbed through caprice or folly which may be disciplined out of a man, harmony thus being restored. In All's Well Bertram is disciplined out of his caprice and the family relation is re-established. A third phase of Comedy shows the individual as the victim of blunder or misunderstanding, and harmony is restored by having the ethical atmos- phere cleared of the confusion arising therefrom, as in the Comedy of Errors, where all the trouble arises through mistaken identity. Of course the situations are comical in the extreme ; we can say that this phase gives rise to the modern farce, wdiere comedy becomes indeed ''comic'' in the commonly accepted sense of the word. In all cases harmony is restored without the destruction of the individual. Character and Situation. According to the basis of the action, we have Comedy of Character and Comedy of Situation ; the first is subjective, having its origin in the mind ; the second is objective, having its origin in external conditions or situations. (See page 211.) The audience is supposed to understand the situations, while the individual may or may not understand them ; the voluntary individual does understand them and carries his part through, joining the audience in the laugh. It is readily seen that Comedy of Situation requires no really strong characters ; we must look elsewhere for character study. Comic Action or Structure. As in Tragedy, so in 130 STUDIES IN SHAKESPEAREAN DRAMA Comedy there is collision or conflict, and the action is carried on by means of threads and movements. The comic individual and his assistants form one thread ; his opponents usually group about a central figure and form another thread. Always two and sometimes more threads may be traced. These threads m.ove through one phase of action, the collision, which constitutes the first move- ment. Mediation now steps in and a transition to another phase of action takes place, and we have a second movement. Mediation accomplished, we meet its results worked out in a third movement or solution, in which all discordant elements disappear and harmony is restored; broken families are restored as in Comedy of Errors; delusions vanish, as in Midsummer Night's Dream; blunders and errors are rectified, as in Winter s Tale. In some instances all of these points combine in one play. We may trace Nemesis in Comedy as well as in Tragedy, where we also see both punishments and rewards. The outcome of Comedy is "the destruction not of the individual, but of his deceptions, and the dissolution of his whims and absurdities." Real and Ideal Both Tragedy and Comedy contain natural or real elements brought into play with the supernatural or ideal elements ; this gives rise to the division of the play into Real and Ideal. (a) Tragedy. When the motives and actions are confined to the natural or real world, as in Romeo and Juliet, we have Real Tragedy. "When Tragedy seeks the realm of the supernatural DRAMATIC CLASSIFICATION 131 in order to express and develop the motives of the tragic individual we term the play Ideal." The Ghost urges Hamlet to action and pushes him on. Macbeth is con- stantly under the spell of the Weird Sisters. (b) Comedy. In Comedy mediation may be confined to the real or natural world, as when Portia in the Merchant of Venice saves Antonio in the realm of real life where the conflict takes place ; while in As You Like It, in the ideal realm of the Forest of Arden, all discordant elements disap- pear, all become reconciled and harmony is restored, then all return to the real or institutional world. Pure and Tragi-Conicdy. Comedy of Situation and Comedy of Character give rise to Pure Comedy and Tragi-Comedy. Sometimes the humorous or comic pre- vails altogether ; the individual through accident, caprice or folly becomes entangled in a maze of difficult or ridiculous situations, without any crime or real guilt ; this gives rise to Pure Comedy. When a dark thread of guilt runs through the first movement, but the mind and the hand of the prospective criminal are arrested, media- tion enters, and that which at the outset promised Tragedy is converted into Comedy. Sometimes that which began in folly deepens to crime and the outlook is tragic, mediation steps in and saves the individual ; thus we have Tragi-Comedy. The climax shows whether the guilty doer of the deed will repent and determines the play to be Tragedy or Tragi-Comedy. The middle movement shows whether mediation takes place in the Real or in the Ideal realm, 132 STUDIES IN SHAKESPEAREAN DRAMA and determines the Comedy to be Real or Ideal; the threads show whether it is Pure or Tragi-Comedy ; one dark thread of guilt throws the play out of the realm of Pure Comedy. This classification may be tabulated as follows : Legendary Tragedy Comedy Real Ideal r Real I Ideal Pure Tragi-Comedy Pure Tragi-Comedy Order of Historical Plays. Shakespeare did not write his historical plays in chronological order ; he most naturally began with an epoch in the life of his own nation. Catching the World Spirit, he went back in time into the world's history, and the Roman plays are the result. We see that he recognized the continuity of history and we classify the historical plays in chrono- logical order. At first it seems a little difficult to know just where to place Troilus and Cressida. The basis of the drama is the Trojan War, and Homer's story is legend. Some would make Homer himself a myth, but how feeble would be our understanding of the Grecian heart and mind of the heroic age without the Homeric stories ! In them we feel the. pulse of early Greek life and history, and thus Snider very appropriately considers this play as the connecting link between the Legendary and His- torical plays. Then follows the Roman series in their order. DRAMATIC CLASSIFICATION 133 The proper place for Titus Androniciis has also been questioned. Indeed, some consider the authorship so very doubtful that they would throw the play out alto- gether. Accepting it as Shakespeare's work, where shall we place it ? Snider says : Its historical setting is manifest, — the action occurs in an his- torical state, in an historical period, amid a great historical con- flict ; yet the history as such seems to be wholly legendary. But the political element equals, if it does not overtop, the domestic element ; that is the essential test of an historical play. After all that may be said against it, the play of Titus Andronicus, with its accumulated horrors, gives a true reflex idea of the end of Roman History.* Ulrici devotes twenty pages to the discussion of the authenticity of Pericles, and still one is left with a feel- ing of doubt as to whether Shakespeare's work on the play was more than a slight retouching of an old drama. Coleridge's notes on the different plays do not include Pericles. Snider considers the evidence of Shakespeare's work so doubtful that he rejects the play. With these explanations we give Snider's classifica- tion and leave the student to apply the principles and determine for himself whether they justify this arrange- ment. ♦Histories, pp. 270 and 271. 134 STUDIES IN SHAKESPEAREAN DRAMA Sistider's Classification 36 plays Legendarj 21 ^ Tragedy Comedy 15 Real 4 Ideal 2 Real 7 Ideal 8 Macbeth Hamlet Timon of Athens < Collision ] Property ^"^ Juner'^ ] Collision j Family ; lovers Othello ] Collision ll^f'^^i,^'''^^''^ SC Family ; parent Collision < and child ; sis- ( ter against sister Supernatural J Weird Sisters Element | start action Supernatural j Ghost starts Element I action Comedy of Errors Taming of the Shrew Twelfth Night Merry Wives of Windsor Much Ado About Nothing All's Well that Ends Well Merchant of Venice f Love's Labour's Lost i Two Gentlemen of Verona I As You Like It [ Midsummer Night's Dream f Measure for Measure Winter's Tale Pure 4 Tragi- comedy 3 Pure 4 Tragi- comedy 4 Cymbeline t The Tempest Historical 15 Greek 1 Roman Trollus i Transition to Historical Drama ( Cressida f Prologue Coriolanus ^TrflPifw' From Republic j Julius Caesar ^ 4^ M to Empire | Antony and Cleopatra t Epilogue Titus Andronicus f Prologue King John ( Richard II English I Lancastrian Tetralogy < Henry IV 2 parts (Mediated) i ( Henry V 1« I Yorkian Tetralogy ] gS/lII ^^'*' L Epilogue Henry VIII Ill THE STUDY OF SHAKESPEARE Ill THE STUDY OF SHAKESPEARE Suggestions One may enjoy a picture without knowing the principles of art, or a selection from Wagner without understanding the principles of music, but the true appreciation which gives a joy at times rising to ecstasy is granted only to those who understand the principles upon which the art is based, that which makes the won- derful production possible. So one may enjoy Shakespeare in a w^ay without knowing the principles of dramatic art, by simply giving his plays a casual reading ; but the wonders of the great dramatist are comprehensible only to the mind of him who is interested enough to give the individual plavs a careful and thorough study. Shakespeare's Versatility. Lawyers read Shakespeare for law, physicians for medical science, statesmen for lessons in statesmanship ; here theologians may find the theory of salvation, rhetoricians may learn how to write, 'orators may study their art, society may find its standard of conduct, women may find the standard of true wife- hood and womanhood. To know Shakespeare is to know man, to know society in all its grades and phases — in fact to know the world. Then is it not worth while to make a careful study of this Prince of Authors? 137 138 STUDIES IN SHAKESPEAREAN DRAMA To beginners we would suggest, begin by reading some of the lighter comedies, as Love's Labour's Lost, or As You Like It, simply to become interested in Shake- speare and to familiarize yourself with his style. If you can appreciate the play better by reading the story first and learning something of the characters, by all means do so. Lamb's Tales from Shakespeare tell the stories of the legendary plays. If you would know Shakespeare even a little, make a thorough study of a few of the. stronger dramas, as The Merchant of Venice, Julius Cccsar, and Hamlet. Once having made the study, you can get very much more out of other plays by a mere reading. Whether or not you pursue this more thorough study further will depend largely upon how greatly interested you have become in the work, and somewhat upon the time which you have at your disposal. Professor William Taylor Thom says: ''For a class of boys or girls, I hold that the most effectual and rapid and profitable method of studying Shakespeare is for them to learn one play as thoroughly as their teacher can make them do it. Then they can read other plays with a profit and a pleasure unknown and unknowable without such a previous drill and study." Some suggestions may be given to aid in the study of an individual play, but even these must be modified somewhat to suit different plays, and the different classes of plays (Tragedy, Comedy, Historical). Also, the dramas of Shakespeare's early years are as a whole much looser in structure than those of his riper years. In this outline of study we make no attempt to construct a SUGGESTIONS FOR STUDY 139 Procrustean bed to which every play must be fitted ; our purpose is to make suggestions which may be helpful to pupils, and to teachers whose time is overcrowded, or to those studying without a teacher. THE STUDY OF AN INDIVIDUAL PLAY I Provide yourself with a notebook and blank-book for written analysis outline. II Read the play through carefully for pleasure, and to learn the story, cast of characters, and situations. III Classify the play, in each case giving the rea- sons for your classification. Your first reading doubtless will enable you to do this. l\ A diagram showing the entrance and exits of the characters is a great aid in gaining a grasp of the entire play ; it should be made in full at the beginning of the study, the names entered as the characters appear in the play, and followed out. To illustrate, the diagram on page 182 carries the characters in The Merchant of Venice through two acts. The vertical columns show the characters in each scene ; the horizontal lines trace them through the entire play. The lines by their length indicate approximately the time each character is in the scene. We do not advise entering the names in the diagram until the second reading. I Uust ration — Merchant of Venice. 1 Legendary. (State why.) 2 Comedy. (State why.) 3 Real. (State why.) 140 STUDIES IN SHAKESPEAREAN DRAMA 4 Tragi-comedy. (State why.) 5 State the theme of the play. 6 Give the legendary sources of plot. 7 Scenes of action. (Where do the principal scenes of action take place?) 8 Class of society chiefly involved? 9 Time, or probable time? lo Basis of the play — Bassanio's indebtedness. 11. Action Conflict Media- torial Action Religious Conflict Ethical Objective j Between the right of property and ( the existence of the individual. Between Shylock and Antonio : Antonio's bond to the Jew. Antonio saved by Portia, the representative of the family. Family established by An- tonio's money. Conflict between the practical Jewish world and the practical Christian world of the time. £.2 3 OB Oj > (H O OS pirgt I Antonio's Thread: i strand 1. Portia Second Thread : cSmsIon 1 2- Jessica. Antonio : Bassanio. Gratiano ; Salarino ; Salanio. Leonardo. J a Shylock. Tubal. Portia; Bassanio; Antonio (indirectly). Prince of Morocco. Prince of Arragon. Xerissa. a Jessica ; Lorenzo. h Lauucelot. c Gratiano ; Masquers, etc. a Shylock. & Tubal. 1 6 (a ) b r Christian I strand I Jewish L strand fe Third I Thread : Religious I Conflict j Jewish L L strand Nerissa j a Xerissa ; Gratiano. r [a Antonio; Bassanio. I Christian J b Jessica ; Lorenzo. I strand 1 c Launcelot. i Id Old Gobbo. a Shylock. 6 Tubal. Solution (To be tabulated by the student.) Second Movement : Mediation Third ( Movement: j No collision. (Group characters together.) SUGGESTIONS FOR STUDY 14i In tracing the characters in the various threads they are grouped according to their importance, as Group a. Group b, and so on. The plot may be traced through the various acts and scenes by the aid of a graphic ihustration. Make a time analysis if you can. Make a list of the characters, tracing the dramatic purpose or office of each in the play, as — Portia, mediator in the property conflict. In the family thread show the triumph of love as the basis of marriage over the claims of title or wealth. The play may then be followed out, each act by scenes, tracing the characters and their motives, their play upon each other, and so on, showing the inter-play of the incidents of the story with the incidents of the plot in the working out of the final result. It is very interesting to search for Biblical allusions. Note the use of music. Make a list of quota- tions on different topics. Write character sketches. The field is so rich that there is almost no limit to the lines of thought which may be worked out. STUDIES OF SPECIAL PLAYS In preparing these studies, it is presumed that if the plays here presented are studied in the high school, they will be taken in the order given, and that the pupils in the second and third years are prepared to discuss more thoroughly the principles and structure of the Drama and its different forms than are the first-year pupils. The text of Parts I and 11* should be thoroughly reviewed with the study of each play. "More especially Part II. 142 STUDIES IN SHAKESPEAREAN DRAMA We would again emphasize the advantage to be gained by the pupil in making a table of the entrance and exits of characters. By means of this table a char- acter can always be located in the play. The graphic illustration of plot enables one to get the structure of the play at a glance. Outline books may be made very attractive and inter- esting by putting in pictures illustrating the subject; these may often be found in old magazines. The beau- tiful Perry pictures and the Brown pictures are easily obtained — large sizes for a penny, small sizes for a half-penny each. Except in the case of The Merchant of Venice questions on the play by acts and scenes are not given because it is thought best to leave the matter in the hands of the teacher. By a little study of the questions given, the teacher will be able to trace them through the acts and scenes and assign them as a study for daily lessons. For the same reason only a limited number of schemes for outline books is presented. The questions on the various plays furnish abundant material, by way of suggestion, for as many different schemes as may be required for a large school. If other plays are studied, those given are suggestive of a line of procedure, THE MERCHANT OF VENICE Sidelights date of play and source of plot This play probably was written about 1596 or 1597. By this time Shakespeare had become a prosperous busi- ness man ; his mind was occupied with money affairs. He bought New Place in Stratford in 1597. The Mer- chant of Venice deals with the wealthy classes. Brandes suggests that the play was the natural product of the poet's trend of mind at that time. Shakespeare weaves his plot from two old, old stories. The story of the pound of flesh may be traced back to the dim past of the oriental myths. Coming into Europe, the laws of the Twelve Tables of Ancient Rome savorpf it: we are told that they gave the creditor the right to take payment in the flesh of the insolvent debtor, and in case there were several creditors, the flesh could be divided pro rata ; if one got more than his share he forfeited all. This exaction of payment in flesh was an ancient custom of other nations than the Romans. The casket story has been traced back to the Greek writings of a Syrian monk, about the year 800 A.D. It also had various literary wanderings, and probably Shakespeare was not the first to combine it with the bond story. Aside from these two stories, the play is enlivened by two episodes, the elopement of Jessica, nud 143 144 STUDIES IN SHAKESPEAREAN DRAMA the ring episode ; these also were old ; but under the magic touch of the master-mind how skillfully all are woven together, and what a wonderful creation we have ! THEME The theme of the play is the relation of man to prop- erty ; this gives rise to the Property conflict. Money is the real basis of action; the drama hinges, as it were, upon Antonio's money. So long as he is considered solvent all goes well. When his argosies are believed to be lost, the dramatic action changes and works out the result of this supposed loss. The play deals with three typical forms of property in the possession of three leading characters, while a fourth character, Bassanio, is the spendthrift who cannot keep money at all, and has to depend upon borrowing from friends, which causes all the difficulty. Shylock's Wealth. Shylock's wealth consists of money and jewels — easily secreted, easily transported, insecure because it presents great temptations to the thief — money always at command to be loaned and reloaned, offering a temptation to take advantage of another's necessities ; jewels, which always have a high market price. This form of property typifies the miser who hoards for the sake of hoarding, who loves money for the sake of money, not for the comfort that it will buy, not for the sake of trade or commerce, nor for culture, not even for the happiness of the home. Antonio's Wealth. Antonio's wealth is invested in his argosies, subject to losses at sea from storms and THE MERCHANT OF VENICE 145 from pirates ; he carries on trade with all nations and comes in touch with the whole commercial world. This form of property should typify breadth of mind and a spirit of generosity, as it does in Antonio's case. Portia's Wealth. Portia's wealth consists of landed estates and palaces, the inheritance of generations — not easily transported, not especially subject to loss. Thieves cannot rob her nor storms dispossess her to any appre- ciable extent. Wealth and culture form her natural atmosphere. She can dispense her ducats as lavishly as she chooses and feel no deprivation. This form of wealth typifies permanence, refinement, culture. Religious Conflict. A secondary theme is the relation of Judaism to Christianity ; of the Jew of that age to the Christian of that age. This gives rise to the Religious conflict. In this conflict Shylock is a type of Judaism under the old Mosaic law which demanded justice to the exact letter of the law, ''An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth."* Antonio is a type of Mediaeval Christianity, in which hatred of the Jew manifests itself in the spirit of persecution. Portia typifies the spirit of true Christian- ity — love, and justice tempered with mercy. f Love Theme. The theme of love hovers over the entire drama like an enveloping action : it relieves the strain of the tragic element, and sweetens and enlivens the entire play from its beginning to its end, where it closes in the very ecstasy of the unalloyed joy of perfect love. •Merchant of Venice, iv. 1. Exod., xxi, 24. Lev., xxlv, 20. t/&id., Iv, 1. Matt., V, 38, 39. 146 STUDIES IN SHAKESPEAREAN DRAMA As previously stated* love is the divinely ordered basis of the Family. The love theme in this play clearly shows the power of love over accident or chance, and over money, in the establishment of the Family. By her father's decree Portia is to be won by the mere hazard of the choice of the caskets ; this she keenly feels, but Nerissa cheers her by the assurance: "The lottery . . . will, no doubt, never be chosen by any rightly but one who you shall rightly love," and the sequel proves the truth of the prophecy, for love triumphs over chance. When Bassanio hears of the loss of Antonio's argo- sies, his speech to Portia clearly indicates that he feels he must now abandon his suit, but Portia assures him that the money shall be doubled, and again doubled, and then trebled. Before a friend of this description Shall lose a hair through Bassanio's fault. First go with me to church and call me wife, And then away to Venice to your friend. Portia's love will run no risk of separation or delay, and the institution of the Family is established. Gold becomes as light as a feather when thrown in the balance with true love, which thus shows its superiority over mere chance or m.oney as a basis for the Family. Theme Traced. Notwithstanding all of this promi- nence, from the dramatic standpoint love is reallv a minor theme. In the first place, by her father's decree Portia is to be won by the choice of the caskets, not by *See (a) The Family^ p. 108. THE MERCHANT OF VENICE 147 actual love. Secondly, Bassanio has squandered bor- rowed money, and must devise some means of relief from pecuniary obligations. He says : 'Tis not unknown to you, Antonio, How much I have disabled mine estate. My chief care Is to come fairly off from the great debts Wherein my time, something too prodigal, Hath left me gaged. To you, Antonio, I owe the most, in money and in love. And from your love I have a warranty To unburthen all my plots and purposes. How to get clear of all the debts I owe. * * * In Belmont is a lady richly left ; * * * And many Jasons come in quest of her. my Antonio, had I but the means To hold a rival place with one of them, 1 have a mind presages me such thrift That I should questionless be fortunate. Evidently Bassanio's primary object in striving to win Portia is to secure the means with which to discharge his pecuniary obligations. He feels encouraged to make the efifort because he and she have incidentally met once (we have no reason to suppose more than once), when, he tells Antonio, from her eyes I did receive fair speechless messages. But The four winds blow in from every coast Renowned suitors. The Princes of the Earth come from all directions with 148 STUDIES IN" SHAKESPEAREAN DRAMA their magnificent retinues, to win the lovely lady ; for she is not only richly left but she is fair and, fairer than that word, Of wondrous virtues : * * * Her name is Portia; nothing undervalued To Cato's daughter, Brutus' Portia. It will take much money To hold a rival place with one of them. Bassanio is in dire need of the material wealth which a marriage with Portia will bring ; since in addition to this, if he win her, his life will be enriched by union with a wealth of character and love, what an unanswerable argument accompanies the request for a loan ! He is already heavily in debt to Antonio. If his friend will but provide him with the means to join the royal suitors for fair Portia's hand and heart, he feels confident of success, but if he does not win, Antonio will suffer no further loss ; That which I owe is lost; but if you please To shoot another arrow that self way Which you did shoot the first, I do not doubt, As I will watch the aim, or to find both Or bring your latter hazard back again, And thankfully rest debtor for the first. So Antonio will run no risk in making this loan, and if Bassanio's "plots and purposes how to get clear of all the debts" he owes succeed, as he has a mind they will, then he can pay all. Thus we see that while Bassanio wishes to borrow money to enable him to ply his suit THE MERCHANT OF VENICE 149 for Portia, he desires to win Portia primarily to get money which will enable him to discharge his debts. Jessica is prompted to elope with Lorenzo quite as much to escape the tyranny of her father as for love. The love of Gratiano and Nerissa is an incident of story and not of plot. With what wonderful skill our artist weaves the cli- max of the threads of the charming love theme into that of the money theme, making one complete whole ! Bas- sanio wins his Portia; at the same time Gratiano and Nerissa pledge their troth. They have scarcely had time to announce their triumph of love when Salerio arrives from Venice, bringing a letter from Antonio which tells of his losses. Lorenzo and Jessica, who have made good their escape from Venice, with no intention of following Bassanio, appear at the same time. Lorenzo explains : Meeting with Salerio by the way, He did entreat me, past all saying nay, To come with him along. Salerio confirms Lorenzo's statement, saying, And I have reason for it. Signor Antonio Commends him to you. Thus we see the last of the three pairs of lovers brought to Portia's house by Antonio, who is the link uniting all of the various threads of the play, and upon whom the entire dramatic action depends. STRUCTURE Threads. As dramatic characters, the individuals ar- range themselves in groups or threads, working together 150 STtlDIES IN SHAKESPEAREAN DRAMA to accomplish a common purpose* ; the endeavor to trace a line of thought and action running through a move- ment or phase of action in a play throws a flood of Hght upon its development which more than repays the effort. The principal characters arrange themselves differ- ently, according to the view-point which we take of them ; thus : Importance in Story: Bassanio, Antonio, Shylock, Portia. Dramatic Importance: Antonio, Shylock, Portia, Bassanio. Strength of Character: Shylock, Portia, Antonio, Bassanio. Beauty of Character: Portia, Antonio, Bassanio, Shylock. Portia serves the dramatic purpose of mediator, and forms the connecting link between the business world and the family. Jessica and Launcelot seem to form the connecting link between the Jewish religion and the Christian, by deserting the one for the other. Movements. In the first movement all seems to go well. Bassanio, with no money to enable him to ply his suit of love at Belmont, feels no hesitancy in applying to his friend Antonio, to whom he is already greatly in- debted. From Shylock the money is obtained on the strength of Antonio's bond ; here the Religious conflict first manifests itself. Bassanio gains his bride through the right choice of caskets. All is dependent, primarily, on the wealth of Antonio's argosies at sea ; the news of Antonio's loss changes the whole action of the play. The first movement depends upon the existence of Antonio's *See "Threads," pp. 117, 121. THE MERCHANT OF VENICE 151 property; hence the supposed loss of the argosies con- stitutes the cHmax. The second movement, Mediation, depends upon the supposed loss of Antonio's property. Here Portia, as mediator, saves the Hfe of Antonio, thereby preventing the play from becoming Tragedy. Thus in the Property conflict the life of man triumphs over property: Shy- lock is compelled to leave his wealth to Jessica in the end. In the Religious conflict he is forced to become a Christian, and Christianity triumphs. Here Shylock, the only discordant element in the play, drops out. The third movement, the Solution, deals only with the theme of love. All meet in Portia's house in Bel- mont, where the various tricks which have caused mo- mentary discords are exposed, identities are revealed, and all revel in the harmonious atmosphere of moon- shine, music and love. Comedy and Nemesis. It will readily be seen that in the Property conflict the play is Comedy, since not only the individual is saved, but the property also. In the Religious conflict it is Comedy for Christianity, since Shylock is compelled to become a Christian. In the Love conflict the comedy is self-evident. Nemesis follows Shylock, but not to the extent of taking his life. His deeds return upon his own head ; his life is spared through enforced surrender of his property at his death, and the renouncement of his religion. However much we may despise his spirit of revenge and his love of his ducats, which exceeds his love for his daughter, we cannot but feel that his end is pathetic. 132 STUDIES IN SHAKESPEAREAN DRAMA ANALYSIS OF STRUCTURE First Movement — Collision In the action of the play the religious conflict is so closely interwoven with the Property conflict that these two threads may almost be traced together. Each is composed of two strands or threads of its own, in colli- sion — Antonio and Shylock in conflict. Antonio's Thread. In the first movement Antonio and Bassanio are so intimately concerned that they form a group by themselves, group a* Salanio, Salarino and Gratiano, as friends of Antonio and Bassanio, assist in carrying on their side of the action, and form a secon- dary group, group b; while Leonardo as Bassanio's servant performs a still more inferior part and may be designated as c. In the movement of the Property conflict, and also of the Religious conflict, these groups of characters work together to accomplish a common purpose, and constitute Antonio's strand or thread. Shylock's Thread. Throughout the entire play, op- posed to Antonio stands Shylock almost alone ; there is no one to associate with him in group a. Tubal, as a friend, aids incidentally, first as one upon whom Shylock can call for ready money, and later in the search for the lost ducats and the runaway daughter. He also stands alone, group h. Religions Conflict. A secondary manifestation of the Religious conflict weaves in with the love thread in ■See diagrams, p. 141. THE MERCHANT OF VENICE 163 the elopement of Jessica with Lorenzo, and Launcelot's desertion. We first find Jessica as daughter and Launce- lot as servant in Shylock's home, but in a state of rebel- Hon, both planning to make their escape from the Jew, whom they simultaneously desert for the Christian. This places them in the Christian strand or thread of the Re- ligious conflict, together wath Lorenzo, Jessica's Chris- tian lover, with whom she elopes. They may be ar- ranged, after Antonio and Bassanio, as group c, Jessica, Lorenzo; d, Launcelot; e, Old Gobbo, who performs a very incidental part. Love Thread. In the love thread the collision seems to be between mere chance, rank, money and parental authority and love as the basis of the Family, but love triumphs over all. Portia is actuated only by love throughout the entire play : every breath that she draws is a breath of love ; every move that she makes is prompted by love. She would be true to parental author- ity. She surrounds Bassanio with a very halo of love, his choice falls upon the casket containing her portrait, and love triumphs over chance without the necessity of sacrificing parental authority. The wealth and rank erf the princes of the earth are nothing to Portia ; her love for Bassanio, the penniless lord, with no distinction but his too good-natured prodigality, outweighs all. In this most important strand of the love thread, Portia leads with Bassanio in group a; the Princes of IMorocco and Arragon, h: Nerissa, c. Bassanio seems to form a link betw^een the Property collision and the Love collision, since his first object in seeking Portia is money, but as soon as their thoughts are turned toward 154 STUDIES IN SHAKESPEAREAN DRAMA each other the Httle spark of admiration implanted long ago is fanned into a flame of intense love on the part of both. In what may be termed a religious strand of the love conflict Jessica and Lorenzo, working together to estab- lish the Family upon the basis of love in opposition to parental authority, inherited religion and money, from group a of the Christian strand ; Launcelot assisting, group b; with the masquers, Gratiano and others, group c. Opposed to them, Shylock, a, assisted by Tubal, b, constitute the Jewish strand. The third strand consists simply of the little love episode of Gratiano and Nerissa, which flows on without a ripple, showing that it is possible for the course of true love to run smooth. It seems to be woven in to enliven the movement of the play, and as a support to Portia in carrying out her plans. In the Religious conflict Antonio and Shylock stand out in bold relief, practically alone, pitted against each other to fight out the ancient grudge.* Second Movement — Mediation When all are happy in the turn aflfairs have taken in Portia's home, news comes of the loss of Antonio's argosies : the whole action of the play changes and the second movement. Mediation, sets in. The love question being settled by the three marriages, the action is left free to work out the Property conflict, strengthened by the Religious conflict. *For minor groups see diagrams, p. 141. THE MERCHANT OF VENICE 155 Property Thread. The action of this movement is confined to the courtroom. The property thread shows three strands or threads of its own. Shylock carries his own thread, absolutely unsupported. Antonio, standing alone as the defendant in the case, simply acquiesces in the judgment of the court. In the mediatorial strand Portia leads, assisted by the Duke, forming group a; Nerissa, Bassanio, Gratiano form group b; Salanio, Sa- larino and others, group c. Third Movement — The Solution. This movement is confined to Act v. All come to- gether at last in Portia's home ; here there is no colli- sion — simply a clearing of the atmosphere by little play- ful intrigues, ending in unalloyed love. The three love strands, formed by Portia and Bassanio, Jessica and Lorenzo, Nerissa and Gratiano, weave together in the action with Antonio as a link. He says : I am the unhappy subject of these quarrels. * * * Sweet lady, you have given me life and living; For here I read* for certain that my ships Are safely come to road. The life is saved ; the property is saved ; the lovers are all happy, and the Comedy is evident. SOME LEGAL ASPECTS Much criticism has been passed upon the method of conductim-- the trial in Tlic Merchant of Venice; claim In a letter given him by Portia. 156 STUDIES IN SHAKESPEAREAN DRAMA has been made that it conforms to no court practice, and that such violation of court procedure, though it may be only for dramatic effect, is scarcely excusable, even in Shakespeare. Shakespeariana for January, 1893, contains a very interesting experience of Mr. John T. Doyle, which throws new light on this point. It was published at the request of Mr. Lawrence Barrett, who considered it of too great value to be lost. It first appeared in the Over- land Monthly for July, 1886. Mr. Furness has repro- duced it in his Variorum edition.* The chief criticisms passed upon the trial in The Merchant of Venice are that no jury is impaneled and that no witnesses are called. The presiding Duke is fully informed of all of the facts in the case before hand, and has sent them to Bellario of Padua, and called upon him to come and render judgment — certainly very strange proceedings according to our modern courts of justice. Mr. Doyle states that in 185 1- 1852 he spent several months in Nicaragua, probably at that time the least known and least frequented of the Spanish-American states, quite cut off from the rest of the world, it doubt- less kept up the old Spanish court practices. The affairs of his company were in a much entangled condition, and he soon found himself involved in half a dozen lawsuits. One day in Grenada a dapper little man accosted him on the street, saying, "The Alcalde sends for you" ; he paid little attention, when a bystander told him that he had received a legal summons to court, and that he would See The Merchant of Venice, p. 417. THE MERCHANT OF VENICE 157 better go at once, which he did. When he arrived at court, the Alcalde had the plaintiff summoned, who made his charges against the company, and the court proceed- ings were almost identical with the case of Shylock, even from the summons on the street to the collection of the fee. The decision was in Mr. Doyle's favor. Soon after, he received an ''intimation" that Don Buenaventura (the Dr. Bellario in the case) expected a "gratification" of probably two hundred dollars ; this was simply the fee, which in practice was always collected from the winner in the case. His other cases proceeded in the same manner. Mr. Doyle says that after this experience he reread the case of Shylock and concluded that Shakespeare was perfectly familiar with old Spanish court customs, and that those of Venice were probably the same, as they came originally from the same source. At least it was no strain of poetic license to transfer Spanish customs to Venice for dramatic eft'ect. Mr. Doyle further states that the disposition of Shylock's estate was still a stum- bling block to him, but that later he witnessed a case in a Mexican court which was settled in a manner quite like that of Shylock, and he then felt that Shakespeare knew perfectly well what he was about, and that we need no longer feel that in this case he shows a lack of knowl- edge of correct legal proceedings. THE BIBLE IN THE MERCHANT OF VENICE Find in the play passages corresponding to the fol- lowing Biblical quotations and references, or which were evidently suggested by a knowledge of the Bible : 158 STUDIES IN SHAKESPEAREAN DRAMA Act I, Scene i. ' 1 Whosoever will save his life shall lose it. Luke ix. 24. (Matt. x. 39.) 2 Whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment: and whoever shall say to his brother, Raca [vain fellow], shall be in danger of the council : but whosoever shall say, Thou fool, shall be in danger of hell fire. Matt. v. 22. 3 See story of Jonathan shooting the arrows. / Sam. XX. 18-22; 35-38. Scene 3. 4 And forthwith Jesus gave them leave. And the unclean spirits went out, and entered unto the swine. Mark V. 13. (Luke viii. 33.) 5 Abraham begat Isaac ; and Isaac begat Jacob. Matt. i. 2. For the mother's trick to secure first place for her favorite son, and this son's trick to get the best of the bargain with his uncle Laban see Gen. xxvii; Gen. xxx. 25-43. 6 Then the devil . . . saith ... It is written. He shall give his angels charge concerning thee. Matt. iv. 5, 6. (Ps. xci. 11, 12.) 7 Ye make clean the outside of the cup and of the platter, but within they are full of extortion and excess. Matt, xxiii. 25. (Luke xi. 39.) 8 For calling names, see again Matt. v. 22. 9 If a man say, I love God, and hateth his brother, he is a liar. I John iv. 20. 10 Whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them. Matt. vii. 12. (Luke vi. 31.) Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. Lev. xix. 18. Act II, Scene 2. 11 How to perform that which is good I find not. For the good that I would I do not. . . . When I would do good, evil is present with me. Rom. vii. 18-21. THE MERCHANT OF VENICE 159 Scene 3. 12 Honour thy father and thy mother. Exod. xx. 12. Cursed be he that setteth light by his father or his mother. Deut. xxvii. 16. (xxi. 18-21.) Scene 5. 13 They that plow iniquity, and sow wickedness, reap the sartie. Job. iv. 8. (Prov. xxii. 8; Hos. x. 13; Gal. vi. 7.) 14 With my staff I passed over this Jordan ; and now I am become two bands [symbol of increase or thrift]. Gen. xxxii. 10. Scene 6. 15 Who can find a virtuous woman? for her price is far above rubies. Prov. xxxi. lO, II. Scene 7. 16 Be not wise in your own conceits. Rom. xii. 16. Scene 8. 17 The soul of Jonathan was knit with the soul of David, and Jonathan loved him as his own soul. / Sam. xviii. i. 18 Thy love to me was wonderful, passing the love of women. 2 Sam. i. 26. Scene 9. 19 The words of the Lord are pure words : as silver tried in a furnace of earth, purified seven times. Ps. xii. 6. 20 A prating fool shall fall. Prov. x. 8-10. Act ill, Scene 5. 21 I the Lord thy God am a jealous God. visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children. Exod. xx. 5. 22 And the swine. ... Of their tlesli shall yc not eat. and their carcase shall ye not touch: they nre unclean to you. Lev. xi. 7<8. (Dent, xh: 8.) 160 STUDIES IN SHAKESPEAREAN DRAMA Act IV, Scene i. 23 Whosoever hateth his brother is a murderer. I John in. 5. 24 And if any mischief follow, then thou shalt give life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, burning for burning, wound for wound, stripe for stripe. Exod. xxi. 23-25. (Lev. xxiv. 17-22.) Ye have heard that it hath been said. An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth : but I say unto you, That ye resist not evil : but whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also. Matt. v. 38, 39. 25 With the merciful thou wilt show thyself merciful. 2 Sam. xxii. 26. Blessed are the merciful : for they shall obtain mercy. Matt. V. 7. (Ps. xli. I.) 26 He shall come down like rain upon the mown grass: as showers that water the earth. Ps. Ixxii. 6. (Deut. xxxii. 2; Ps. Ixv. lO.) 27 By the works of the law shall no flesh be justified. Gal. ii. 16. 28 And the Lord shall return his blood upon his own head. I Kings a. 32. (Deut. xix. lo; Josh. ii. ig\ 2 Sam. i. 16. (Matt, xxvii. 25.) 29 For the love of Jonathan and David see again I Sam. xviii. i. 30 Now Barrabas was a robber. John xviii. 40. 31 And Daniel convicted them of false witness. And from that day forth was Daniel in great reputation. Apocrypha : Siis. 61-64. 32 For by thy words thou shalt be justified, and by thy words thou shalt be condemned. Matt. xii. 37. Act V, Scene i. 33 The heavens declare the glory of God ; and the firmament showeth his handiwork. . . , There is no speech nor lan- guage, where their voice is not heard. Ps. xix. 1-3. When the morning stars sang together, Job xx xviii. 7, THE MERCHANT OF VENICE 161 34 Neither do men light a candle and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick ; and it giveth light unto all that are in the house. Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works. Matt. v. 15-16. They which enter in may see the light. Luke viii. 16. 35 And when the dew fell upow the camp in the night, the manna fell upon it. Ni^m. xi. 9. Our fathers did eat manna in the desert. JoJm vi. 31. (Ps. Ixxviii. 24, 25.) 36 Compare the friendship of Antonio for Bassanio with that of Jonathan for David. 7 Sam. xviii, 1-4; xix, 1-7; XX, 4-22; 2 Sam. i. 26. Z7 Compare Portia with the virtuous woman in Proverbs. Prov. xxxi. 10-31. Development of the Play questions for daily lessons* Hints 1 Note how the scenes alternate from Venice to Behnont. Why are the business scenes laid in Venice and the love scenes in Belmont? State where each scene is laid, what characters ap- pear in it, and if any new ones are introduced. 2 Mark quotations in each scene as you read. 3 Trace scriptural parallels in each scene, and note what characters most frequently weave them into their speech. (See page 158-9.)' 4 N-ote in what connection nuisic is introduced or referred to and bv whom. *To be assigned in advance. 162 STUDIES IN SHAKESPEAREAN DRAMA First Movement — Collision Act I — E^' position I What should be accomplished in Act i? (See page 122.) Keep these points in mind and trace thein. through each scene. Make a summary at the close of the act. Scene i. 1 Who are the principal and who the subordinate characters in this scene? As you read, see if you can discover the keynote to the characters ; if so, give it. 2 In what mental mood is Antonio at the opening of the play ? 3 Explain the following words and phrases in Sa- larino's speeches : argosies, signiors, rich burghers, pageants, two-headed Janus, Nestor. 4 In this scene what is the dramatic purpose of Salarino and Salanio ? What do you learn from them ? 5 Why do Lorenzo and Gratiano come in here with Bassanio, when they leave so soon? What do you think of Gratiano ? Why do all go out and leave Antonio and Bassanio alone? 6 What do you learn from the conversation between Antonio and Bassanio? For what purpose does Bas- sanio wish to borrow money? What is his avowed ob- ject in wishing to win Portia? 7 Interpret classical allusions. 8 What is Portia's complexion? 9 How much of the work laid down for Act i (page 122) is accomplished in this scene? THE MERCHANT OF VENICE 163 ro The object or dramatic purpose of this scene is to show at the very outset the financial condition of Bas- sanio and Antonio, which forms tlie basis of the entire action of the play. See if you can now trace the object of the scenes as they follow one another. Scene 2. 1 In what frame of mind is Portia at the openini^ of this scene? Compare her words with Antonio's first speech. 2 By what method is Portia to win a husband, and how does it please her? 3 Name and locate the various countries from which her various suitors come, and give Portia's esti- mate of each. 4 Why do they go away without choosing? Why does Nerissa at this point recall Bassanio's former visit? 5 In these two scenes how much of situation and plot do you find? Scene j. 1 In this scene why return to Venice instead of going right on with the story of the choice of the cas- kets? 2 Where was business largely transacted in Ven- ice ? What was the value of a ducat ? 3 Where are Antonio's argosies? Why does Shy- lock hesitate? Why will he not accept the invitation to dinner? 4 Why does he make this (aside) speech? What do you learn from it? 5 What collision begins in this scene? 164 STUDIES IN SHAKESPEAREAN DRAMA 6 Why does Shylock hate Antonio? Does Antonio deny Shylock's charges? How does Shylock justify himself for taking usury ? 7 What was the Rialto ? 8 Compare Antonio's treatment of Shylock with Shylock's treatment of Antonio. 9 What has been accomplished in situation and plot in this act? Act II — Grozvth Scene i. J Who is Morocco, and how does he present him- self? 2 What is learned from his first statement? Is there any evidence that he is a man of education? 3 State and interpret classical allusions in this scene. 4 Is any further light thro^vn upon the plan of Portia's father? Why does not Morocco make his choice at once? 5 How do you account for the lack of scriptural allusions in this scene? Scene 2. 1 Who is Launcelot? What is his subjective* con- flict? Who is carrying on this conversation? Since it takes place entirely in Launcelot's mind, why does he speak aloud on the stage? 2 What is the dramatic purpose in having Launce- lot desert Shylock for Bassanio ? 3 In which of the three collisions does this incident of story belong? *See p. 211. THE MERCHANT OF VENICE 165 4 This is the only place in the play in which Old Gobbo appears ; why introduce him at all ? that is, what dramatic purpose does he serve? 5 Why does not Bassanio wish Gratiano to p^o to Belmont with him ? 6 How does this scene further the action of the play ? Scene J. 1 In this scene what do we learn of Shylock as a father and a home-maker? 2 How does Jessica appear as a daughter? 3 What dramatic purpose does this short scene serve? To which of the three threads does it belong? Scene 4. 1 What is this masque which is to take place, and why is it planned? Does it take place? 2 To what stor\' does it belong? Scene 5. 1 This is the only place in the play in which Shy- lock appears personally in the home. State the traits which he displays. 2 What is Shylock's estimate of Launcelot? Why does he seem willing to part with him ? Scene 6. 1 Do you think Jessica does right in thus deserting her father and leaving him entirely alone in the home ? 2 Is she justifiable in robbing him of his ducats and his jewels? 166 STUDIES IN SHAKESPEAREAN DRAMA 3 Why does the masque not take place? What is the dramatic purpose of planning it, when it is not to take place? Scene 7. 1 Where did we leave Portia and Morocco? What do we learn new about the caskets ? 2 What is Morocco's reasoning? Which casket does he choose, and why? What does he find within? Why, do you think, is this placed in the golden casket? 3 Is Portia harsh with him? Scene 8. 1 Why is the story of the caskets interrupted by this short scene in Venice? 2 What purpose does it serve? Bring out four dis- tinct points. 3 Can you see what part Salanio and Salarino take all the way through the play ? Scene p. 1 Can you see anything different in Arragon's man- ner and choice from Morocco's? 2 Do we learn from Arragon anything further con- cerning the decree of Portia's father? 3 What was the Prince's reasoning ; and why does he choose the silver casket ? 4 Does Portia know the contents of the caskets? 5 "There be fools alive, I wis." Look in the dic- tionary for *'wis" — "I wis." 6 Who is the "young Venetian"? 7 What has been the development or growth of the play through this act? THE MERCHANT OF VENICE 167 Act III— Climax Scene /.* 1 Where is the scene? What is the news on the Rialto? Who tells it? 2 When Shylock first comes in, what is on his mind ? 3 Why does Salanio immediately suggest Antonio's losses ? 4 What are Shylock's arguments for Jewish rights in the speech beginning "To bait fish withal"? Does he prove his point? 5 What is the object in having Tubal come in as the others pass out? 6 Which loss does Shylock feel more keenly — that of his ducats or that of his daughter? 7 Why does Tubal alternate from Shylock's loss to Antonio's loss? Does he show the sympathy of a true friend for Shylock? 8 Why are we told of Antonio's losses before Bas- sanio hears of them? Scene 2. 1 In point of time is this scene after Scene i ? 2 Why does Portia wish Bassanio to wait before making his choice? She seemed in haste for the others to choose. Why does she call for music ? 3 What are Bassanio's arguments over the thrc^ caskets? What does he mean by "hard food for Midas"? 4 Do you think Portia in any way. intentionally or otherwise, influences Bassanio's choice? Has she any right to do so? ♦rjive a name to these Bcenea. 168 STUDIES IN SHAKESPEAREAN DRAMA 5 How does Bassanio ex'press himself when he opens the leaden casket ? 6 How does Portia rate herself and how does she rate Bassanio when she surrenders herself to him ? How complete is the surrender? Do you think her vmmaid- enly? Who gives the ring? What is Bassanio's pledge with the ring ? 7 What surprise has Gratiano for his friends? In what way does this episode add to the play? 8 How does it happen that the runaway Jessica and Lorenzo drift to Belmont, and that they arrive just at this time? 9 Who is Salerio, and what news does he bring? (Note here how Antonio comes in as a link: Salerio says, "Signior Antonio commends him to you.") 10 In what light does Salerio place Shylock? What is Jessica's testimony concerning her father? Through- out the play does Jessica manifest any filial affection? 11 How does Bassanio receive the announcement of Antonio's losses? How does Portia receive the news? 12 Why will she have the marriages take place be- fore Bassanio and Gratiano leave? Is not this rather im- modest haste? How would Portia's conduct in the whole affair be viewed nowadays? This forms the climax of the love collision, which certainly is Comedy in its most perfect sense. Since the whole action of the play depends upon the fact of Antonio's money, when it is believed that his argosies are lost and that all is gone, the entire action changes. In the Shakespearean drama the climax or turning"- THE MERCHANT OF VENICE 169 ; - - i * 1 < I i 3 8 - " - u > > := ■•= % - 1 > o O X __ ' 1 \u '? 1 ■> 1 H < "? [ziiiii:: T > "Tniiii K ^ > ::]]::]:: ( := ___._____„ U4 2 ::: 1 "f Ill - -— i-i. 1 li :H ittti t T := . ] -• - :t]]1m__:' > O h y Characters. Antonio Salarino Salanio Bassanio Lorenzo Gratiano Portia, Nerissa Servant Shylock...; Morocco Launcelot Gobbo Leonardo Jessica Arragon 182 NOTES 183 184 NOTES NOTES 185 186 NOTES NOTES 187 JULIUS C^SAR Sidelights plot and characters In his three Roman plays Shakespeare shows Roman hfe dramatized : Coriolanus portrays the struggle of classes ; Julius Ca:sar the struggle of principles ; Antony and Cleopatra the struggle of individuals; still, in all of these plays the characters are so marvelously drawn that our interest centers in them rather than in the State. Julius Ccesar is a drama of the State. It portrays a conflict between the worn-out Republic and the incoming one-man power. Its theme is "Down with tyranny and the tyrant." Brutus hates tyranny ; Cassius hates the tyrant. Date of Play. The play was probably written about 1601, or just about the time of the conspiracy of Essex and Southampton against the life of Elizabeth, for which Essex lost his head and Southampton was sent to the Tower ; Brandes thinks these events may have directed Shakespeare's thoughts to political intrigues and sug- gested the writing of Julius Ccesar. Source of Plot. In this drama Shakespeare has almost transcribed Plutarch ; in none of his other plays has he followed the source of his plot so closely. If 188 JULIUS C^SAR 189 the student will read the lives of Caesar and Brutus in North's Plutarch, =^ and then read Julius Cccsar, he will find that in the latter not only Plutarch's story is given, but the incidents with a few variations, the supersti- tions, the omens, and in many cases the very language of the Greek writer. But what a transformation ! The great master has endowed the narrative of Plutarch with dramatic life ; the characters are no longer men in a book, but are alive before us, speaking for themselves. No more striking illustration can be found of the con- trast between the narrative and the dramatic form of literature. Shakespeare's Cccsar. That Shakespeare has chosen here to present Plutarch's weak Caesar instead of the grand Caesar of history has been ever a puzzle to critics. Some have even gone so far as to say that he could have had no just conception of this world-hero. A care- ful study of this play, and allusions to Caesar in other plavs, shows the incorrectness of this conclusion. Ham- let, philosophizing upon the return of the body to Mother Earth, says : Imperious Caesar, dead and turned to clay, Might stop a hole to keep the wind away: O, that that earth, which kept the world in awe, Should patch a wall t' expel the winter's flaw ! Here Shakespeare recognizes the man who could keep the world in awe, and surely such a man could be no weakling. George Brandes thinks that had Shake- speare made the Caesar of history the real hero of the *See Shakespeare's I'lutarch, Skeat (Macmillan). 190 STUDIES IN SHAKESPEAREAN DRAMA play he would have given us a far more wonderful drama, and that in not doing so he lost a great oppor- tunity. Other critics think quite the opposite. Since the great dramatist takes his material from whatever source he pleases, and handles it as he pleases, we shall treat the play in this study as though it were all his own : we will study it as Shakespeare, and not as Plutarch. Ccusar and Bnitiis. In the play Caesar appears only three times : in Act i. Scene 2, he appears in a public place to witness the race; in Act 11, Scene 2, we see him in his home; in Act iii. Scene i, he goes to the Senate House, where he is assassinated. Throughout the entire play the interest centers in Brutus; it almost seems as though the drama must have been written to show how this man of high ideals and noble impulses is at last vanquished through over-confidence in his ideals, and in men's acceptance of them, and a lack of political insight or judgment ; he can theorize, but when he comes to deal with men in the outside world he fails. A care- ful reading shows that the conflict is not with Caesar the individual but with Caesar the ''Institutional person," and that the spirit of Caesar is more powerful after the assassination than before. Brutus sounds the keynote when he says: We all stand up against the spirit of Caesar, And in the spirit of men there is no blood; O, that we then could come by Caesar's spirit, And not dismember Caesar ! Institutional Persons, Thus we see that Brutus and Cassius, the Institutional persons, stand for the Repub- JULIUS C^SAR 191 lie, the government in which the people have a voice. Caesar the Institutional person stands for the one-man power. Or may we not feel that the Caesar of history saw the failure of the Republic and realized that the sal- vation of Rome lay in the better government which could be obtained only by taking the power out of the hands of factions which were using it only for self-aggrandize- ment, and placing it in the hands of one man who would study the good of the State. History shows that Caesar was cut down in the midst of the grandest plans for the State, and the golden age of Rome was the age of Augustus, when the spirit of the great Julius reigned. Tragedy and Comedy. The life which moves through struggle to the repose of peace is Comedy. Studying the play in this light, we see that while it is a great tragedy for individuals, as a drama of government, it is really a great comedy for the State of Rome : the mis- rule of the Republic has been crushed, and harmony is restored through Octavius, the bearer of Caesar's spirit ; for a short while, until this spirit is violated, Rome is at rest under the rule of the Empire. The gates of the Temple of Janus, which were kept open in time of war and were closed in time of peace, were shut three times during the reign of Augustus, while in the entire pre- vious history of the State they had been closed but twice, so constantly had she been at war; and as Rome was Mistress of the World, this meant that peace prevailed throughout the entire civilized world. What a fitting time to usher in the Prince of Peace, who was born dur- ing the reign of Augustus ! 192 STUDIES IN SHAKESPEAREAN DRAMA . ETHICAL STANDPOINT OF THE PLAY This drama has full sweep in Shakespeare's Ethical World. Domestic life, or the Institution of the Family, has but small place here, but it is shown in its most beau- tiful, most perfect form in the relations between Brutus and Portia. The great conflict is in the State — seem- ingly between two factions, really between the spirit of the old Republic, which has degenerated into the misrule of factions and anarchy, and the Phoenix which is to rise from its ashes in the form of a wise government, al- though administered by one man. World Spirit. This spirit of the survival of the fittest, which we see triumphing in the rise and fall of nations, is the World Spirit of Shakespeare's Ethical World.* Some individual must be the bearer of this spirit, but back of the individual must be a greater power — The People. The cornerstone in the foundation of our own national structure was the spirit of freedom. This spirit could not endure the enslaving of man by his fellow man. When the final conflict came, Abraham Lincoln was the bearer of this spirit, but back of him was The People; without this support he would have been power- less. The mortal Lincoln, like Caesar, suffered martyr- dom at the hands of misled fanaticism, but the spirit of Lincoln, the World Spirit of freedom and justice, lives on and can never die. What was it but the cry of The People that settled the great conflict caused by the coal strike in 1902? Both capital and labor had to make concessions at the demand of The People, *See "World Spirit," p. 109. JULIUS C/ESAR 193 The People in Julius Cccsar. In this most popular of Shakespeare's historical dramas we must by no means overlook this most powerful element, Tlie People. Notice how careful Caesar is to keep in touch with The People when he refuses the crown. After the assassina- tion the first thought of Brutus and Cassius is to pacify The People. Antony is so successful in his appeal to The People that Brutus and Cassius are compelled to flee, and why? because the spirit of Caesar and the spirit of The People are one. After the misrule, the blood- shed, the anarchy of the worn-out Republic, the time has come for this World-Historical-Spirit to assert itself, and bring peace and rest to Rome. Perhaps this may explain why Shakespeare chose to begin his drama with the very last events of Caesar's life ; to show that he was mightier in his death than in his life. The poet's object seems to have been not to write a drama of the objective events of the life of this great man but to show him as the bearer of this great World Spirit before which gov- ernments rise and fall. Rome has always hated the name King: this World Spirit of freedom was right, but Rome had failed in execution. The spirit of freedom, if it does not produce the best government for the people, results either in the tyranny of factions, or in that license which finally ends in an- archy. The politician Cassius in his hatred of the tyrant utterly fails to comprehend the needs of Rome ; perhaps he is too narrow to comprehend anything so broad. Brutus in his hatred of tyranny fails also. for. while he recognizes Caesar as only the bearer of a spirit, his vision 194 STUDIES IN SHAKESPEAREAN DRAMA is not clear, and he does not recognize in this spirit the great World Spirit of history ; he fancies that by killing the body he can kill the spirit. Naturally hating blood- shed, how gladly would he kill the spirit and not dis- member Caesar, were it possible. He strikes the blow that awakens the spirit of Caesar within The People, for Antony only arouses to action the World Spirit already there. Brutus and Cassius, having arrayed themselves against this spirit, meet their fate at Philippi, and thus the deed returns upon the doer, and Nemesis is satisfied. THE C^SAR OF HISTORY In War. When only eighteen years of age Caesar commanded the fleet that blockaded Mit}'lene, and by his personal bravery won the crown of oak leaves. At the age of twenty-four years he was captured by pirates, obtained his release by payment of fifty talents, provided himself with a fleet and captured and crucified the pirates, as he had told tfiem he would do. At twenty-six years of age he was made Military Tribune, and at thirty-six Pontifex Maximus. When Catiline was charged with conspiracy, Caesar opposed the death sentence without trial, and his life was threatened. Victorious in Spain, upon his return he was elected Consul in 60 b. c. He now outgeneraled the Senate, by securing the passage of an agrarian law which provided for the veterans of Pompey's army and gave land to needy citizens, and also relieved the tax collectors, who had paid too high for their privileges. Thus he showed JULIUS C^SAR 195 his statesmanship by satisfying his rival, Pompey, pleas- ing the people, reconciling the capitalists, and weakening the power of a despotic Senate. At the expiration of his term of office he was given command in Gaul with three legions. Now began his famous Gallic campaigns, which were marked by per- sonal bravery and wise judgment. Always victorious, he made a friend of the enemy, created new Roman provinces, and when ordered to lay down his command, dared to brave the Senate and cross the Rubicon with his army, which made him in the eyes of Rome a traitor to his country. Succeeding in making himself master of Rome, he defeated Pompey at Pharsalia in 48 b. c. ; crushed the rebellion of Pharnaces, and defeated Cato and Scipio in Africa in 46 b. c, and Pompey's sons at Munda in Spain in March, 45 b. c. In September he was made dictator for life, and March 15, 44 b. c, was assassinated. His assassination has been termed "The most brutal and the most pathetic scene that profane history has to record." Goethe calls it "the most sense- less deed that ever was done." Works of Peace. The decaying Republic was C?esar's opportunity. Instead of standing for liberty, for free- dom, it meant only anarchy. When Caesar took the helm, Rome w^as still reeking with the blood of proscriptions; no life was really safe ; the populace consisted of slaves and hordes of captives taken in war from all the tribes of Europe, Asia and Africa surrounding the Mediter- ranean: all of these swarms of captives, freedmen and slaves, without thought of labor, were fed at the public 196 STUDIES IN SHAKESPEAREAN DRAMA crib. Caesar at once planned great works of public con- struction and improvements, thus reducing pauperism by giving employment to the idle. He encouraged agricul- tural colonies in the newly acquired territory. He passed bankruptcy laws which relieved the debtor and at the sam€ time spared the creditor. Personal Characteristics. Caesar is said to have been an lathlete in early life, very fond of the bath, enjoying a plunge in the Tiber. An expert horseman, in his Gallic campaigns he rode a horse which no one else could mount. He enjoyed excellent health until the last year of his life, when he became a victim of the "falling sick- ness" to which Brutus alludes. History writes him down as a humanitarian, and as an author worthy of imita- tion. ''No military narrative has approached the excel- lence of the history of the war in Gaul." He was a wise statesman, one of the world's most famous generals, and as generous in peace as he was brave in war. No blood flowed in Rome by his direction. He was great enough to forgive his enemies, a thing in that age of the world unexampled in history. STRUCTURE Threads. The structure of the play is simple and easily traced. The suggestions already given disclose the threads. The first is the World Spirit represented by Caesar and his friends. Antony's friendship is purely for the individual Caesar; he has no conception of the spirit Caesar represents, which fact is shown by his later life and by his death ; still, he forms the connecting link JULIUS C.ICSAR 197 between Ccxsar and Octavius, the l)carcr of Caesar's spirit. The second thread consists of the conspirators who array themselves in opposition to the World Spirit, led by Cassius and Brutus. For convenience we may call the threads Caesar's Thread and the Conspirator's Thread. Movements. As in most of Shakespeare's tragedies, the first movement is stronger than the second, "the or- ganization and the action more complete." As the play works up to the climax, each step links into the preced- ing with an intensity of interest, while the consequences which follow the climax, in the fourth and fifth acts, are more disjointed, looser in structure, and hence the intensity of interest lags a trifle. In the first movement the action is in Rome, portraying her internal conflict ; the movement ends in the assassination of Caesar ; the spirit of Caesar drives the conspirators out. The second movement is external to Rome ; when outside of the state the conspirators fight the spirit of Caesar until, overcome, they fall upon their own swords and die by their own hands. These points are only suggestive ; the pupil should work out the movements more fully, and complete the threads. TIME ANALYSIS According to history, Caesar's last triumph was cele- "brated in October, 45 p.. c. The feast of Lupercal oc- curred February 15, 44 b. c. The assassination of Caesar was on March 15, 44 b. c. ; his funeral on March 19th or 20th. Octavius arrived at Rome in JNIay; the Trium- 198 STUDIES IN SHAKESPEAREAN DRAMA virate was not formed until November, 43 b. c. ; a year later, in October, 42 b. c, two battles were fought at Philippi, twenty days apart. The play opens with the feast of Lupercal, February 15, 44 B. c, and closes with the battle of Philippi, in October, 42 b. c, covering a period of two and a half years. One of the Commoners says : "We make holiday to see Caesar and rejoice in his triumph." It is usually inferred that Shakespeare combines the October triumph with the feast of Lupercal. He combines the two battles of Philippi and makes the other events follow in rapid succession. Mr. Daniels finds that the action on the stage covers six days with intervals. The action in Scene 3, Act I, evidently occurs on the same night as that in Scene i, Act 11, in which Lucius says, "March is wasted fourteen days" ; hence the interval between Scenes 2 and 3, Act I, must have been one m.onth. Act iii follows on the next day without interruption. Then follows a con- siderable time between Act iii and Scene i, Act iv. Dur- ing the spring and summer of 42 b. c. Brutus and Cassius were in Asia Minor, in Sardis and its vicinity ; there must have been another long interval between Scenes I and 2 and between Acts iv and v, as long enough time must have elapsed for the army to march from Sardis to Philippi. This time analysis may be presented to the eye in tabular form : JULIUS C^.SAR 199 JULIUS C.*:SAR TIMB ANALYSIS DATS ACT SCENE 1 1 1-2 February 15, 44 b.c. Feast of Lupercal. Interval-one month. 2 I 3 March 15, 44 b.c. Early morning. 3 II-III March 16, 44 b.c. Ides. Assassination. Historical interval— one year, eight months. 4 IV 1 November, 43 b.c. Meeting of Triumvirate. Interval— several months. 5 IV 2-3 Sardis, 42 b.c. Interval— at least long enough for the army to march from Sardis to Phlllppl. G V October, 42 b. c. Battle of Philippl. Class Study QUESTIONS 1 What period of Roman history does this drama represent ? 2 What is the theme of the play? 3 What is the real conflict? 4 If Shakespeare designed to make this a drama of Julius Caesar, why did he simply make use of Cnesar's death instead of his life? 5 Do you think the play is properly called Julius Ccusar? Why, or why not? 6 Why does the play open with The People? 200 STUDIES IN SHAKESPEAREAN DRAMA 7 Name the places in the play in which The People appear, and show the dramatic purpose which they serve. 8 Compare Calpurnia and Portia in their domestic relations and character. 9 What dramatic purpose do they serve? [p Does Portia betray her secret? 11 Portia has been called Shakespeare's most mod- ern woman. Why? 12 The Supernatural Element. 1 What use is made of the supernatural in the play? Is it introduced merely for enlivenment and to awaken interest, or has it a dramatic purpose in the movement of the play ? If so, what ? 2 How does nature seem to sympathize with the spirit of the play ? 5 Make a list of the supernatural manifestations, omens, and so forth, and state where found, and who speaks of them or sees them. 4 Can you feel that the whole atmosphere of the play is electrical? 13 Cassius and the Conspiracy. 1 Why does Cassius plan the conspiracy? 2 Make a list of the steps and arguments by which Cassius wins Brutus. J By which he wins Casca. 4 Compare Brutus and Casca and show why each was necessary to make the conspiracy a success. 5 How does Cassius show his ability in making up the band of conspirators ? 6 Is he a true patriot ? 7 Estimate his character as a man. JULIUS C/ESAR 201 14 Brutus. 1 At the very opening of the play, to which party does he belong? 2 Why does Cassius select Brutus as the first to be persuaded to join him ? J What traits of character does Brutus show in his conversation with Cassius in Act i. Scene 2? 4 In discussing plans with the conspirators (Act II, Scene i ) what characteristics does he show ? 5 What reasons does he give for joining the conspirators ? 6 After the assassination does he manifest the spirit shown in his words, *'0, that we could come by Caesar's spirit and not dismember Caesar"? 7 What effect did joining the conspirators have upon Brutus as a man? 8 According to Titinius, whose fault was it that the battle of FMiilippi was lost? p In his famous oration, to what elements in The People does Brutus appeal ? 10 Is he a politician? Give reasons. 11 Is he a statesman ? Give reasons. 12 Is he a general? Give reasons. Jj Is he a true patriot ? Give reasons. 14 What characteristics does he show in his atti- tude toward Portia? 75 What in his treatment of the boy Lucius all through the play? 16 What is Brutus's philosophy concerning sui- cide ? According to his own theory, is he courageous or cowardly to take his own life? 202 STUDIES IN SHAKESPEAREAN DRAMA 7/ Brutus is usually considered the great char- acter of the play ; is his life a failure or a success ? Why? i8 Brutus has been called the Sphinx of the play. Why? ig> Make a list of the contradictions in his char- acter. 20 Make a synopsis of his oration. 21 What point do you think had the greatest ef- fect upon The People? 22 Brutus says : "As I slew my best lover for the good of Rome, I have the same dagger for myself when it shall please my country to need my death." Is this his reason for falling upon his sword after the battle of Philippi ? 15 Make a list of the points upon which Cassius and Brutus differ. Who always yields to the other? Whose judgment is better? 16 The tent scene, or quarrel between Brutus and Cassius, has ever been considered one of the finest scenes in the play. Can you see why? What is the object of it? How does it bring out each of the characters? Does it forward the dramatic movement of the play ? 17 According to history, Portia suffocated herself with hot coals on account of grief on hearing of the death of Brutus. Do you see any dramatic purpose in placing her death first (in the play) ? 18 Make a list in parallel columns of the character- istics of Brutus and Cassius. JULIUS CESAR 203 19 Antony. 1 What traits of Antony's character are revealed at the opening of the play ? 2 What traits does he display in conversation with Brutns and Cassiiis after Caesar's death ? J When Antony speaks of Caesar's spirit lonii^in.i; for revenge, does he comprehend that Caesar's spirit is the World Spirit of history which cannot be crushed ? 4 In his famous oration, to what did he appeal in The People? 5 Give the steps and arguments by which he reached his result. 6 When Brutus appealed to The People, he car- ried them with him. When x\ntony followed, he immediately w^on them to his side. Had Anton \- have spoken first, would they have turned from An- tony to Brutus ? / In settling affairs in the triumvirate (Act iv, Scene i), what traits of character does Antony show? 8 What traits does he show when he finds Brutus slain by his own hand? 9 Antony could win The People. Could he win individual men ? Cassius could win individual men ; could he sway The People? 10 Was Antony a true patriot? 20 Who is the political man of the play? The moral man? The non-moral man? 21 What is the dramatic purpose of Act 111, Scene 3? 204 STUDIES IN SHAKESPEAREAN DRAMA 22 The word "Honor" in the play. 1 By whom and when are this word and its derivatives, honest, Honorable, and so forth, used in the play? To whom does the word seem to belong? 2 While reading the play, count the number of times this word is used. 22i The word "Spirit" in the play. 1 Trace this word in the play and show its sig- nificance; could it be left out or anything substituted for it? 2 Count the number of times it occurs. 24 Why does the ghost of Csesar appear to Brutus before the battle of Philippi? 25 Can you see that this drama is Comedy for Rome? 26 How is Nemesis satisfied? 27 If you think that Brutus' career was a constant fall, so represent it and state each downward step. Brutus at the opening of the play, Death by his own hand. Suit your figure to the character chosen. Scheme for Outline Book The Drama. 1 Define and give origin. 2 In parallel columns state the distinctive features of the Legendary and the Historical drama. 3 Define the term World Spirit, JULIUS C^SAR • 205 II Julius CcBsar. 1 Make a table of the entrance and exit of twenty- five of the most important characters, inckiding the Tribunes who open the play. 2 Make a list of the supernatural manifestations, omens, and so forth, in the play, stating who sees them or speaks of them. Give act and scene. 3 Make a list of the events in the play which differ from the events in history. 4 Give an analysis of Antony's oration, and show his method of moving the people. 5 Show the course of Brutus in the play by graphic illustration. 6 Give at least two quotations from each of the following persons which indicate their ' char- acter : C?esar, Cassius, Brutus, Portia, Antony. Give act and scene. 7 Give at least three estimates each of Caesar and Brutus from the mouths of others. Give act and scene. III Home reading — Coriolaniis. 1 Write in the classroom the story of the play. 2 Give the theme. 3 State the place of Coriolaniis in Roman history. 4 State the importance of the domestic, or Family thread in the play. 5 From Volumnia give two quotations showing strength ; two from Coriolanus. 6 Why do both of these plays open with The People? 206 STUDIES IN SHAKESPEAREAN DRAMA Suggestive Topics for Essays and Discussion 1 The People in the play. 2 The Supernatural in the play. 3 Portia and Calpurnia. 4 Cassius and the conspiracy. 5 Caesar in the play. 6 The Csesar of history, and Shakespeare's Caesar. 7 Brutus the Sphinx of the play. 8 Csesar the patriot. 9 Brutus and Cassius as patriots. 10 Antony as a patriot. 11 Portia the woman. 12 The word Honor in the play. 13 The word Spirit in the play. 14 The Man Antony, compared with the Man Brutus. 15 Calpurnia's and Caesar's superstitions. 16 Brutus as an orator compared with Antony. 17 Lepidus — his character and dramatic purpose in the drama. 18 Caesar's treatment of his enemies. 19 Caesar's attitude toward the people. 20 The elements of the drama of Julius Caesar which make it so popular. 21 Quarrel between Cassius and Brutus. 22 Brutus's inconsistencies. 22f The significance of the assassination of political leaders. 24 xAn estimate of the drama Julius Ccesar, 20^ MOTES NOTES 209 MACBETH Sidelights some features of the play This drama was probably written about 1606. It •breathes forth the atmosphere of Scotland. Possibly the spirit of the times suggested to Shakespeare the writing of this his only Scottish play ; the crowns of England and Scotland had recently been united in James I. The mutilated condition of the text as it appeared first in the folio of 1623, doubtless accounts for some apparent faults in the artistic work of the drama. Dramatic Action. The dramatic action is so rapid that although the play contains so much, it is one of the shortest written by Shakespeare*; it contains only 2,109 lines, while Hamlet contains 3,930. The interest so centers in Macbeth and Lady Macbeth that it almost seems a play of but two characters ; and yet in the first or vital act Macbeth speaks only 26 times, and in all but 878 words. Lady Macbeth speaks only 14 times, 864 words in all. In the entire play she speaks less than 60 times and Macbeth less than 150; many of these speeches are very short, sometimes consisting of only a word. We marvel at the ability which develops two of the most wonderful characters in all literature in so short a space. *The Comedy of Errors is the shortest play, consisting of 1,778 lines. (Globe Edition.) 210 MACBETH 211 Classification. This drama has so stroni^ a historical background that at first one is ahnost inchned to classify it as Historical, but the treatment is purely diat of Ideal Tragedy, which takes it out of the realm of history. Source of Plot. For his historical material, as in his English plays, Shakespeare draws upon Holinshed. As the story is given in most of the school editions of the play, we will not repeat it here. The poet's handling of his material is a constant source of wonderment and admiration. What action he puts into every dry bone ; what dramatic life into every character, until the effect of the whole seems nothing short of electrical ! SUBJECTIVE AND OBJECTIVE The Subjective is that which originates in the mind and works outward to the object. The Objective is that whicli first appeals to the mind from without ; the mind gets its first conception from the object. The idea of the cotton gin originated in the mind of Eli Whitney ; to him it was at first simply a mental picture. From this mental picture he modeled his machine and others saw the object; their first mental conception of the machine was received from the object, the mind was first appealed to from without. To Whit- ney the idea of the cotton gin was subjective : to others it was objective. The purely subjective is seen with the mental eye only; the objective is seen with the physical eye. An idea prevails of a spiritual realm peopled with two classes of beings called angels— those whose exist- 212 STUDIES IN SHAKESPEAREAN DRAMA i ence has always been confined to the spiritual world, and the spirits of those who have once occupied bodies in this life. When these disembodied spirits again mani- fest themselves, they are called ghosts. The subjective ghost is simply the disembodied spirit ; its only existence is in the mind of the beholder; to Brutus, the Ghost of Caesar was simply a vivid mental conception. In the superstitious age a belief prevailed that the disembodied spirit could again assume the body and become visible to the physical eye; this re-embodied spirit was an objective ghost. The belief also prevailed that while this objective ghost might be seen by anyone, it would speak only to the learned or to those for whom it had a special message. THE SUPERNATURAL ELEMENT Hamlet and Macbeth are Shakespeare's only Ideal Tragedies — that is, the only tragedies in which the supernatural enters as an element by which "to express and develop the motives of the tragic individual." It is only in these dramas that the supernatural is objective. The disembodied spirit of the murdered King Hamlet again assumes the body, and the guards and Horatio see the ghost walking, but it has no message for them, it will speak only to the wronged son. Banquo says to the witches, ''To me you speak not," although before they disappear they drop the word which rankles in the heart of Macbeth until it sends Banquo to his death. The drama of Macbeth is dominated by the super- natural from the very beginning until in the second movement Macbeth parts from the Weird Sisters with a MACBETH 218 curse; in fact, the conflict seems to be between the natural and the supernatural elements — the real and the ideal — so much so that they may be considered the two th eads of the play. Superstitions of the Times. We can get but little idea of the true significance of this play without making a special study of this supernatural element. Wc must bear in mind that when this drama was written the English as well as the Scottish people still believed in all sorts of supernatural manifestations. They believed that evil spirits caused storms at sea and convulsions of nature on land; that they took possession of human beings and caused them to commit crimes and destroy the peace of families. If Queen Elizabeth's stomach did not behave well and kept her avv^ake at nio:ht, it was because she had fallen under the spell of witchcraft. King James was so firm a believer in this form of superstition that he wrote ''A Textbook of Witchcraft and Its Developments," and before he came to the throne of England he had caused no less than six hundred old women to be burned as witches. Witches were sup- posed to guide the afifairs of men; they were often pic- tured as inhuman hags, brewing all sorts of hideous mixtures in hellish cauldrons. And so when Shakespeare introduces this form of the supernatural in Macbeth, he is only making the play more efifective by the use of the common superstitions of the times. Weird Sisters. At its very opening, the play is thrown under the spell of the Weird Sisters. In a desert place, with the elements of nature in commotion, they 214 STUDIES IN SHAKESPEAREAN DRAMA meet to sound the keynote of the drama ; to announce that their next meeting will be to meet Macbeth upon the heath. When the battle's lost and won. . . . Fair is foul, and foul is fair. To Banquo the Weird Sisters are only objective. To Macbeth they are subjective as well as objective ; he already has them within himself. His first words in the play, just as he is about to meet the witches on the heath, So foul and fair a day I have not seen, indicate his kinship with them. They do not drop the seeds of temptation into his mind, but only start into active life what is already there ; these evil creatures are only typical of the nest of vipers which Macbeth is nursing to life in his own breast. They met me in the day of success ; having crushed a rebellion, he is possessed by an unholy ambition, and becomes a rebel at heart. The thought of wearing the crown is by no means new to him ; the Weird Sisters make the possibility a reality. The mur- der of Duncan will hasten kingship; the resolution is taken and the plan laid. While waiting for the bell to call him to the deed (Act ii, Scene i), he sees a dagger with the handle toward him ; he denies its reality and muses : Now o'er the one half world Nature seems dead, and wicked dreams abuse The curtained sleep ; witchcraft celebrates Pale Hecate's offerings. MACBETH 215 Hecate. The appearance of Hecate, the queen of the witches, has caused much critical comment ; by some it is considered quite unnecessary, while others go so far as to say that this feature of the play cannot be Shake- speare's own work. Since the critics dififer so widely in their views and interpretations, we may be allowed to interpret for ourselves. The first mention of Hecate in the play is made by Macbeth himself. In the speech from which we quote above he first suggests her existence. When he has a moment's pause, his thoughts turn to the witches ; but now that he has kingship in view, Hecate, queen of the witches, naturally appeals to his soul. Again in Act iii. Scene 2, he refers to her : O, full of scorpions is my mind, dear wife! Thou know'st that Banquo. and his Fleance. live. * ♦ ♦ There's comfort yet ; they are assailable. ♦ ♦ * Ere to black Hecate's summons The shard-borne beetle with his drowsy hums Hath rung night's yawning peal, there shall be done A deed of dreadful note. Here again, when he sees a possible future obstacle, with murder in his heart, his mind calls up the queen of the witches. Has not Macbeth himself prepared us for her appearance at the next meeting of these uncanny creatures? Has she a mission? First she chides them for daring To trade and traffic with Macbeth In riddles and affairs of death, without calling upon her. Then mark her words, ^16 STUDIES IN SHAKESPEAREAN DRAMA And, which is worse, all you have done Hath been but for a wayward son, Spiteful and wrathful ; who, as others do, Loves for his own ends, not for you. Here she gives Macbeth his place ; she proclaims him a son, one of themselves. What could be more definite? She it is who foresees his next coming and plans for it ; she charges them to be ready with their vessels and charms, for on the following day he will come to know his destiny. Then she will away to prepare for the greav business of the morrow, to raise such artificial sprites As by the strength of their illusion Shall draw him on to his confusion. He shall spurn fate, scorn death, and bear His hopes 'bove wisdom, grace, and fear; And, you all know, security Is mortals' chiefest enemy. Hecate it is who, as Queen of Evil, plans Macbeth's final destruction ; she gives the keynote to the announcements made by the apparitions as they rise one after the other from the cauldron, all of which only tend to make him feel secure, a fact that indeed proves 4iis chiefest enemy. How perfectly Macbeth recognizes the spirits of dark- ness when he addresses them as "secret, black, and mid- night hags," and asks them what they do ; and how truly they echo back his own black heart when they make reply, A deed without a name.- Having been made to feel secure, Macbeth still will not be satisfied until he has an answer to his question, MACBETH 217 Shall Banquo's issue ever Reign in this kingdom ? and when they bid him "seek to know no more," and he persists, they show him that which they predict will grieve his heart, and the apparition of eight kings with Banquo's ghost following passes before his horrified eyes. He would still be reassured, and asks, "What, is this so?" Whereupon they assure him that it is, and with a dance vanish in air with Hecate. How in the dance they deride him as they disappear, making further questioning impossible ! Macbeth has been drawn on to his confusion, has been doomed to work out his own complete destruction by Hecate and her subjects ; and now leaving him to himself, having accomplished their work, they vanish to appear no more. Can we feel that Hecate is an accident, that she has no dramatic purpose in this wonderful drama which is based upon the realm of blackest darkness of which she is queen? Some have thought the contents of the cauldron too hellish for Shakespeare's work ; but are they any blacker than the heart which, not satisfied with the blood already shed, finding that Macduff has fled to England, will give to the edge of the sword His wife, his babes, and all unfortunate souls That trace him in his line. No boasting like a fool ; This deed I'll do before this purpose cool. But no more sights ! He now has the contents of the cauldron all within his own black heart ; he can without hesitation take the life-blood of innocent women and babes, and needs no 218 STUDIES IN SHAKESPEAREAN DRAMA longer call upon the demons of darkness for informati or for help. THE PORTER Not only Hecate, but the maudlin, half-drunken Porter, has been criticised as a character unworthy of Shakespeare, and quite out of place in the play. But there's method in the Porter. Though he does not com- prehend the situation in his mind, he seems to realize it intuitively in his soul, as he seems to fancy himself porter at hell-gate, and that he is to admit to the ever- lasting bonfire one ''who committed treason enough for God's sake, yet could not equivocate to heaven." Now between the time of the first knocking and the entrance of Macduff and Lenox it is necessary that Macbeth and his wife shall have time to cleanse themselves of the evidence of their guilt ; they must wash off their blood stains and undress ; Lady Macbeth says to her husband : Get on your nightgown, lest occasion call us And show us to be watchers. The Porter must be a half-witted fellow who was slow to act ; had he been bright and wideawake, attending promptly to his business, the visitors would have been admitted long before the evidence of guilt could be washed away or concealed, and the drama must have ended. Has not, then, the foolish Porter a decided dramatic purpose? THEME Every great deed brings with it a great responsibility and a great temptation which the doer of the deed must MACBETH 219 meet. If the man is greater than his deed, he comes out a hero ; if the deed is too great for the man, he yields to the temptation, his course is downward, and, unless arrested, Nemesis follows him until his end is that of a tragic individual. Macbeth's deed is greater than the man, and he cannot withstand the temptation. A laud- able deed has implanted an unlaudable ambition ; he says : I have no spur To prick the sides of my intent, but only Vaulting ambition, which o'erleaps itself And falls on the other. Subjective conflicts he has, it is true, but they are prompted by fear of the evil that may result rather than by his love of the good — That but this blow Might be the be-all and the end-all. Here, , But here, upon this bank and school of time, We'd jump the life to come. While haunted by the ghost of Banquo, his words declare that he is a man so bold as to "dare look on that which might appal the devil." He reaches his climax and is given over to the spirit of evil, and declares : I will to-morrow And betimes I will, to the weird sisters: More shall they speak ; for now I am bent to know, By the worst means, the worst. And thus we see in Macbeth a noble though morally weak character, wrecked by an unholy ambition and ])ride. Dowden calls this "the tragedy of the twilight and the setting in of thick darkness upon a human soul." 220 STUDIES IN SHAKESPEAREAN DRAMA BASIS OF THE DRAMA Basis of Action. Before the play opens, Macbeth has performed a worth}^ deed and an unholy ambition has been implanted in his heart; this forms a basis for the dram.a. The ambition is still shadowy in the mind of Macbeth ; he must have something to give it definiteness. This is the mission of the Weird Sisters. They meet him in the day of success and foretell his future greatness, and the thought begins to take form and gives him a basis of action. He at once informs Lady Macbeth, and with her thought immediately takes the form of action; there is no hesitancy here, and the action of the drama starts with full force. The foul deed is done, and the harmony of the Ethical World is disturbed. The deed contains within itself the elements of death ; harmony must be restored either through the repentance of the doer of the evil deed, or he must move on to destruction. When brought face to face with his deed and contem- plating further action, Macbeth is ready to call upon the powers of darkness — I will to-morrow (And betimes I will) to the weird sisters: More shall they speak : for now I am bent to know. By the worst means the worst, for mine own good, All causes shall give way. I am in blood Stept in so far, that, should I wade no more, Returning were as tedious as go o'er. Nemesis. And so he madly rushes on to his death ; and the law of Tragedy, which declares that man must live in accord with the Ethical World or perish, is satis- MACBETH 221 fied. Harmony is restored to the State in the person of Alalcohn, the rightful claimant of the crown. Thus the drama, which is Tragedy for the individual, results in Comedy for the State. STRUCTURE* One who has studied the foregoing plays should now be able to trace the structure of a Shakespearean drama. A few hints upon this play have already been given. The movements, Guilt and Retribution, are not difficult. The supernatural thread is easily traced. The second thread, that of the natural world, at first thought seems a little involved. Second Thread. Before the play opens, an heroic and laudable deed has been done. Macbeth is the hero. Aided by Banquo, he has put down a rebellion ; he has seen retribution follow the rebel. He is a man of courage and of action ; he is stronger than the weak King whom he serves, but he is not greater than his deed ; having crushed a rebel, he in turn becomes a rebel, and an unholy ambition takes possession of his soul ; he is ready to respond to the witches : So foul and fair a day I have not seen. The crown of Scotland was elective within the hereditary nobility. Macbeth is first cousin to Duncan and as near the throne by blood as he. Are not his claims as strong by blood, and by right of manhood stronger ? The thought of kingship is not new to him ; ■See Snlder's Commentary on Macbeth. 222 STUDIES IN SHAKESPEAREAN DRAMA he has thought that at least he may be made Prince of Cumberland, that is Crownprince. Two Strands. In tracing the second thread, that of the natural world, we see that it starts in this heroic deed with two strands: first the temptation which the great act brings with it, and secondly, opposed to this^ the penalty, or retribution as shown in the fate of the Thane of Cawdor. Macbeth must believe in both; we see how he yields to the first, and as a necessary conse- quence works out the second. He is by his very nature a man of action ; he says : ''The very firstlings of my heart shall be the firstlings of my hand." The reflective Hamlet could never, like Macbeth, have so rushed on to blood. 'Tis true, that not being yet entirely given over to the Evil One, Macbeth pauses a moment; the subjective conflict begins: If chance will have me king, why, chance may crown me. But he has not the moral courage to follow the prompt- ings of his better nature. The first strand of this thread of the natural world consists of the deed which involves Macbeth, Lady Macbeth, and indirectly Banquo. Note that Fleance scarcely appears as an active character in the play ; he speaks only twice, and then of a matter of no importance. Still, Fleance forbodes trouble. The second strand, the retribution, involves Duncan, as the victim, and the other characters are easily traced. With these suggestions the threads should be fully traced and the action worked out through the movements. MACBETH 223 Class Study REVIEW 1 Define Tragedy. State its law. 2 Define Ideal Tragedy. 3 Define Ethics. 4 Explain the term Ethical World. 5 Give the principles of Shakespeare's Ethical World. 6 Show how these points apply to this drama. THE PLAY 1 Where is the scene of the play laid? 2 Make a map of Scotland showing the scene of the tragedy.* 3 Give the historical basis of the plot. 4 With what class of society does the play deal ? 5 What is the ethical basis of the drama? 6 What is the basis of the action? 7 In this drama, how is the harmony of the Ethical World disturbed? How restored? How is harmony restored to the State? 8 Why does the drama open on a desolate, barren heath, with nature in commotion? 9 Time analysis. Mr. Daniel gives: "Time of the play, nine days represented on the stage, and intervals. See if you can trace them. lo Give a name or title to each act. *An exccllrnt ono is piveu in Marhitli <.f tli'- Silver srrios of English Classics, Silver, Bui'dett & Co. 224 STUDIES IN SHAKESPEAREAN DRAMA^ SUPERNATURAL ELEMENTS First Movement — Guilt (a) The Weird Sisters: the tempters. 1 What is the dramatic purpose of the opening scene? Why not leave it out and first introduce the reader and the audience to the witches in Scene 3, when the hags first appear to Macbeth and Banquo? 2 What is the significance of the witches' closing speech ? 3 How do you interpret their conversation in Scene 3, before Macbeth and Banquo appear? 4 Can you see any reason for making the witches sexless ? 5 Banquo sees them first and addresses them, but they do not speak until Macbeth questions them. Why do they not reply to Banquo? 6 What is their mission in this first movement which drives Macbeth to guilt? What office do they perform ? 7 At what time in Macbeth's career do they appear to him? 8 What is the effect of their visitation? 9 When they vanish, what is Macbeth's attitude toward them ? How does Banquo regard them ? (b) The Dagger. 1 When does Macbeth see the air-drawn dagger? Why does he see it? 2 How is he affected by it? 3 How does he interpret it? MACBETH 225 4 Is there any particular significance in his refer- ence to Hecate at this point? 5 What is the dramatic purpose of the dagger? (c) The Ghost. 1 At what point in Macbeth 's career does he see ghosts ? 2 Why is he not haunted by the ghost of Duncan as well as by that of Banquo? 3 Why does Banquo's ghost appear a second time? Is it subjective or objective? 4 How is Macbeth aiTected by it? 5 Is there any dramatic purpose in having this manifestation at the banquet in the presence of the nobility ? 6 Do you think Macbeth betrays his guilt? (d) Nature, omens, etc. 1 Make a list of the disturbances of nature, in this movement, stating when they occur and by whom they are mentioned. 2 Make a list of the birds of omen, stating by whom mentioned and when. 3 In what connection and by whom is the owl mentioned ? 4 What is the dramatic purpose of Scene i. Act II? Why does the Old Man appear? 5 Do you see any special significance in Duncan's horses ? 6 Give any other superstitious allusions. 226 STUDIES IN SHAKESPEAREAN DRAMA Second Movement — Retribution 1 This movement is introduced by Hecate's appear- ance, Act III, Scene 5 ; then follows the cavern scene, Act IV, Scene i. The first Movement is introduced by the witch scene. Act i. Scene i ; in Scene 3 the witches again appear and have their conversation before Macbeth and Banquo arrive. Can you trace any similarity of method in these scenes in the two movements? 2 Compare the introductory conversation of the witches in the two scenes ; can you see any reason why the second is so much more fiendish than the first? 3 The witches' first meeting with Macbeth was on a desolate, barren heath, their second in a cavern. Why? 4 What is the significance and dramatic purpose of Hecate? Is she an avenger? How will she punish Macbeth? When and by whom is she first mentioned in the play? 5 Give her plan. Does she utter any words of truth ? 6 Can you see any dramatic purpose in the hellish contents of the cauldron? 7 Make a list of its contents, the animals men- tioned in a separate list. 8 Is there any significance in the mention of the Jew, Turk, Tartar and "birth-strangled babe"? 9 Interpret the apparitions : First, "An armed head"; secondly, "A bloody child"; thirdly, "A child crowned, with a tree in his hand." 10 At this point in Macbeth's career he dares defy these fiendish creatures.. Why? MACBETH 227 11 Why is he so horrified at the show of Kings? 12 Some interpret the hnes Some I see That two-fold balls and treble scepters carry, as referring to the union of the English and Scottish crowns and the subjugation of Ireland. Can you see any reason for this interpretation? 13 Why do the witches deride Macbeth at the last? Why is this their last appearance? 14 Why does the supernatural element drop out of the play entirely at this point? General Questions 1 Why do the Weird Sisters or subjects in the witch-world lead in the temptation to Guilt in the first movement, while Hecate the Queen plans the Retribu- tion in the second? 2 Trace the course of the Weird Sisters consecu- tively through the play as a dramatic element. 3 How does this element add to the interest of the play? Suppose it w^ere left out, and Macbeth were influenced and impelled simply by natural impulses, what would be the effect upon the play? CHARACTERIZATION / Macbeth First Movement I In this movement, from first to last, Macbeth is under the spell of the supernatural. He responds to the 228 STUDIES IN SHAKESPEAREAN DRAMA witches; not satisfied with what they tell him, he asks for more. When they have vanished he says : ''Would they h.ad stayed." He sees the air-drawn dagger. He hears the voice cry: "Sleep no more, Macbeth does murther sleep"; "Macbeth shall sleep no more." To him the ghost of Banquo appears. Why is this? Is it due to any natural characteristic of heart or mind? 2 Macbeth calls the witches Weird Sisters ; they call themselves Weird Sisters ; otherwise they are spoken of as witches. Can you see any significance in this? 3 Why does he so immediately respond to the Weird Sisters ? In what lies the secret of their influence over him? 4 Had Macbeth any claim to the Scottish crown? Is the thought of the murder of Duncan new to him ? 5 Interpret his speech (aside) beginning, "Two truths are told." (Act i. Scene 3.) 6 'Tf chance will have me king, why, chance may crown me, without my stir." What subjective conflict^ is he having? 7 What obstacles does he see lying in his way to the crown? Yet let that be Which the eye fears, when il; is done, to see. Interpret. Does the time come when he is afraid to think what he has done and does not dare "look on't again"? 8 Why does he hasten to confide the news to Lady Macbeth by letter, instead of waiting to tell her when he is to see her so soon? Do you see any dramatic purpose in this? MACBETH 229 9 Does the promise of the crown at all imply the necessity of the murder of the king? 10 What are his arguments against committing the deed? What does he acknowledge to be his only cause? 11 How does he argue with Lady Macbeth? 12 Give the steps in his subjective conflict, from his first meeting with the Weird Sisters until Macdufif and Lenox enter after the murder. Does he in any way hold the Weird Sisters responsible for what he does? 13 Having performed a laudable deed, why does he yield to this black temptation instead of responding to Duncan's spirit of love and gratitude? 14 In Act II, Scene 2, where is Macbeth wlien he calls ''Who's there? What, ho!" Why does he call? Is it before or -after he has committed the deed? 15 Would he have committed the deed had it not been for Lady Macbeth? 16 Is his subjective conflict caused by remorse or fear of consequences? If the latter, w^ould you call it conscience? 17 "Wake Duncan with thy knocking! I would thou couldst!" Is Macbeth sincere? 18 In Act II, Scenes 2 and 3, compare Macbeth and Lady Macbeth. 9 When, Lady Macbeth calls for help, how does Alacbeth respond? How do you account for his indif- ference ? 20 Can you see that at the banquet Macbeth calls up the spirit of Banquo both times that it appears ? 21 Seated upon the throne with but little opposition, whv does Macbeth not rest? 1 230 STUDIES IN SHAKESPEAREAN DRAMA There's not a one of them but in his house I keep a servant fee'd. Explain. What state of mind does this show? Second Movement 1 At the opening of the play or first movement which develops guilt, the Weird Sisters met Macbeth in the day of his success. He has now all that they prom- ised, he is King, with seemingly but little opposition. Banquo is dead ; Fleance has not been heard from ; Duncan's sons have exiled themselves. But Macduff, the powerful Thane "of Fife, refuses to respond to his bidding, at least Macbeth hears so. The King's peace of mind is disturbed ; he resolves to consult the Weird Sisters, and the second Movement, Retribution, begins. Evidently the first meeting with these creatures of darkness is objective; that is, it comes to him from without, he does not consciously will it, although he has that within which responds to their call. The second is subjective ; the thought originates in his mind, the inter- view is of his own seeking. Why? » 2 How does Macbeth know where to find the Weird Sisters? 3 He visits them in their cavern. When the inter- view closes they vanish. He says : "Where have they gone ?" Evidently hearing some one, he calls : "Come in, without there!" and Lenox enters. Macbeth is sure Lenox must have seen them as they passed, but, "No, indeed, my lord." Where is Macbeth? 4 What point in his mental career has Macbeth reached when he can give utterance to the following? — MACBETH 231 I am in blood Stepp'd in so far. that, should T wade no more. Returning were as tedious as go o'er. 5 In this final interview, what are the two prophe- cies which finally, By the strength of their illusion . . . draw him on to his confusion? 6 When the prophecies of the Weird Sisters accord with Macbeth's desires, what is his attitude toward them? When contrary to his desires, what does he do? 7 Compare the two interviews. What docs the first predict? What the second? 8 When and why does he discard the Weird Sisters altogether? Has he made his own witch-world? 9 After the final interview he hears no more voices, he sees no ghosts, the supernatural world seems to have lost its hold upon him. Why? 10 After the interview what does he do? 11 Compare his attitude toward Lady Macbeth in the second movement with that in the first. How is he afifected by her death? 12 Why does he murder Lady Macdufif and her children? Does he give a reason? 13 At what point in his career does he resolve to murder them? 14 Is the rebelHon against him a natural outcome of his course of conduct? From an ethical standpoint show how it must follow. 15 In what does he put confidence at last? 232 STUDIES IN SHAKESPEAREAN DRAMA i6 Why does the news of the Queen's death come in conjunction with the news of the approaching army? 17 How is he affected by the news that "Birnam wood now is moving"? 18 What does he mean by ''they have tied me to a stake"? Who has tied him? 19 Does he fear Macduff? 20 Does Macbeth reach a point where he defies retribution? What is the spiritual condition of a man who reaches this point? 21 Is there any ethical reason why Macbeth should come to his death at the hands of Macduff? 22 Show in Macbeth's case how the deed returns upon the doer and the law of Tragedy is fulfilled. General Questions 1 Trace Macbeth's career and his subjective con- flicts through the first movement and through the second and compare. 2 Is he suspected of the murder of Duncan? If you think so, give your proof. 3 Is he suspected of the murder of Banquo? 4 He is willing to use the murderers for his own purposes; at the same time in what catalogue does he class them? 5 Make a list of the murders committed by Mac- beth, which take place in the presence of the audience. Why are not Duncan and the grooms murdered on the stage ? 6 He "murthers sleep." Is he guilty of any other subjective murders? MACBETH 233 7 What is Macbeth's philosophy of hfe and death? References: Act i, Scene 7; Act 11, Scene 3; Act iii, Scene 2 ; Act v, Scenes 3 and 5. 8 What is the lesson of Macbeth's life and death? 9 Which shows the greater affection the one for the other, Macbeth or Lady Macbeth? 10 Make a list of the times Macbeth uses the word fear or alludes to fear in the play. 1 1 How many times does he use the word hlood or hloodyf 12 How many times is the word used by Lady Macbeth? How many by others? // Lady Macbeth First Movement 1 We are first introduced to Lady Macbeth reading the letter from her husband. In her remarks, how does she interpret him, and what does she determine to do? 2 From this can you determine her function or dramatic purpose in the play? Dramatically, in what relation does she stand to Macbeth and the Weird Sisters ? 3 The Weird Sisters are not objective to Lady Macbeth ; that is, she does not see them physically as Macbeth does. Are they subjective? Are they within her? 4 Does she work in conjunction with them or in opposition to them? 5 Her first speech, as a keynote to her character, indicates what? 234 STUDIES IN SHAKESPEAREAN DRAMA 6 In her next soliloquy, upon what spirits does she call? When she would unsex herself what does she really become? 7 Interpret her greeting of Macbeth. 8 How does Macbeth greet her? Compare. 9 What responsibility does Lady Macbeth crave? 10 Has she a conscience? 11 Compare Macbeth's first greeting of his wife with the speech beginning, "Bring forth men-children only." Is there any change in his attitude toward her? In the last speech do you think he shows real admiration for her? 12 Does she show courage? If so, what kind? At what point does she begin to show nervousness? When does she first use an endearing term for Macbeth? 13 How does she bear herself after the deed has been committed? 14 Macduff says: "Our royal master's murdered," and Lady Macbeth replies : "Woe, alas ! What, in our house"? Interpret. 15 How do you account for her fainting and having to be carried out? 16 She next appears when Macbeth is planning the murder of Banquo. Does she comprehend him? Why does he not, as before, seek her aid in his plans? ly What characteristics does she show in the ban- quet scene? Compare with the "knocking at the gate" scene. Does she know of Banquo's murder? 18 Why, the first time that Macbeth sees the ghost, does she quiet the guests and urge them to sit, and the second time urge them to go? MACBETH 235 19 When Macbeth decides to visit the Weird Sisters, and discusses his crime, how does she meet him? 20 Compare her attitude toward Macbeth before and after the murder. 21 By the close of the first movement do you notice any softening of her nature? Second Movement 1 Lady Macbeth has no active part in this move- ment ; can you explain why she so suddenly drops out ? 2 What dramatic purpose does she serve in Act v? 3 Why does the Gentlewoman refuse to tell the doctor what Lady Macbeth says in her night-walking? 4 What has brought Lady Macbeth into this con- dition? 5 Give the points which she is evidently reviewing in her mind. 6 Is there any evidence that she is implicated in any of the murders except that of Duncan ? 7 Compare Lady IMacbeth after the murder of Duncan with herself before the murder. 8 Scene i, Act v, is called the "night-walking scene." Name it from Lady Macbeth's mental condi- tion ; what does it portray ? General Questions 1 Make lists of Lady Macbeth's characteristics as shown before and after the murder, placing the strongest first. 2 In preparation for her bloody work. Lady Mac- 236 STUDIES IN SHAKESPEAREAN DRAMA beth calls upon the spirits to unsex her ; here she murders her womanhood. Complete the list of these subjective murders. 3 From the characteristics shown in the first move- ment, would you expect Lady Macbeth to break down unto death as she does at the last? Why does Shake- speare make her do so? 4 Does Lady Macbeth truly repent ? If so, why is she not saved? Do you find any evidence of conscience conflict ? 5 From an ethical standpoint, what brings her to her tragic end? Is it love for her husband, or ambition for herself, or what is it? What do you think of her as a wife? 6 Show in Lady Macbeth's case how the deed returns upon the doer, 'and the law of Tragedy is ful- filled. 7 What is the first really womanly expression that Lady Macbeth utters? 8 Does she take her own life? Is there any evi- dence ? /// Banquo 1 What is Banquo's first impression of the witches ? He sees them, hence they are objective; are they sub- jective also? 2 What is his attitude toward them? Is he quite sure himself? Discuss his speech beginning, "Good Sir, why do you start"? 3 Interpret their message, ''Lesser than Macbeth," etc. MACBETH 237 4 Interpret his speech, 'That trusted home." etc. Do you see any evidence that Banquo thinks the message of the Weird Sisters may tempt Macbeth to crime? 5 A heavy summons lies like lead upon me, And yet I could not sleep. Merciful powers, Restrain in me the cursed thoughts that nature Gives v^^ay to in repose ! What cursed thoughts? Why does he dream of the witches ?♦ 6 Act III, Scene i : Does Banquo suspect Mac- beth 's guilt? What is his attitude now toward the witches ? What does he mean by, "But hush ! no more" ? 7 Is it a natural thing for a man to use his last hour before a royal banquet for a ride? What is the dramatic purpose of Banquo's ride? 8 In Act III, Scene 3, why introduce the Third Murderer? Some think it is Macbeth himself. Do you see any evidence? If so, is he recognized by the others, and is there a dramatic purpose in it? 9 What is the dramatic purpose in having Fleance escape ? 10 From the ethical standpoint of Tragedy, can you see why Banquo should come to this tragic end? Of what has he been guilty? 11 Had he conquered the cursed thoughts to which he referred in Act 11, Scene i ? 12 If we know that a crime has been committed, are we held accountable if we take no steps to expose it? 13 Discuss sins of omission and sins of commission. 238 STUDIES IN SHAKESPEAREAN DRAMA General Questions 1 Is it wise of Malcolm and Donalbain to flee the country ? 2 In Act IV, Scene 3, what is the object of the conversation between the doctor, Malcolm and Macduff just before Ross enters? 3 What is Macduff's greatest inspiration to lead an army against Macbeth? 4 What dramatic purpose does Ross play? Does he seem to have any especial mission? 5 Is the play relieved by any trace of sweetness, or charms of nature, any traces of humor or of religion? Find the word angel. How many times does it occur? 6 Compare the night of the murder with the night before the assassination of Caesar. 7 Compare the motives for the killing of Caesar and the killing of Duncan. 8 By whom is the institution of the Family repre- sented in this play? Compare the domestic relations of the families of Brutus and Macbeth. 9 Compare Macbeth and Lady . Macbeth with Brutus and Portia. 10 What is the moral lesson of the drama? SCHEME FOR OUTLINE BOOK I The Drama. 1 Define Tragedy. State its law. 2 Define Real and Ideal Tragedy. 3 Define Ethics. Explain the term Ethical World. MACBETH 239 4 Give the principles of Shakespeare's Ethical World and show how this drama illustrates them. (See pages 23, 103, 106.) II The Play. 1 Classify, and give reasons for classification. 2 State the basis of the plot and of the action. 3 The first act or the Exposition may be called 'The Temptation." Name the other acts. 4 Work out the plot by means of a graphic illustra- tion. 5 Make a diagram of the entrance and exit of characters. 6 Trace the supernatural element through the play and show how Macbeth is influenced by it, 7 Trace the steps in Macbeth's career of crime, showing how he is afifected by the murder of Duncan, 8 Make lists of the characteristics of Macbeth and Lady Macbeth. 9 What is the theme of the play? The moral? 10 In the drama, how is the harmony of the Ethical World disturbed? How restored? How is harmony restored to the state? 11 Give five quotations from Macbeth which show his misgivings concerning his deed. Give five from Lady Macbeth showing her will-power, and that she herself is a Weird Sister. Give five common sayings. III Home Reading. I Romeo and Juliet. 240 STUDIES IN SHAKESPEAREAN DRAMA 2 Much Ado About Nothing. 3 A Winter's Tale. 4 7. Henry IV. ' In each of these state 1 What is the deed which causes disturbance in the Ethical World? Who commits it? 2 The result of bringing the individual face to face with his deed. 3 One quotation from each act of the play. SUGGESTIVE TOPICS FOR ESSAYS AND DISCUSSION 1 The supernatural as an element in the play. 2 Macbeth, his relations to the supernatural. 3 Lady Macbeth's relation to the Weird Sisters. 4 Banquo the Man, and his relation to the Weird Sisters. 5 Macbeth the Man. 6 Lady Macbeth the Woman. 7 The cauldron and the apparitions. 8 History at the time of the action of the play. 9 History at the time of the writing of the play. 10 Duncan, the Man, King and Victim. 11 Macbeth and Banquo compared. 12 Macbeth; his ambition; his deed and its effect upon him. 13 Macbeth and Lady Macbeth compared. 14 Macbeth before and after the Deed. 15 Lady Macbeth before and after the Deed. 16 The first and second prophecies of the Weird Sisters. MACBETH 241 ly Blood in the play. 1 8 Fear in the play. 19 Sympathy for Macbeth and for Lady Macbeth. 20 Macduff and his family. 21 Macbeth's philosophy of life and death. 22 The supernatural elements in Macbeth and Julius Cccsar compared — that is, convulsions in nature, appari- tions, omens, etc. 23 The night-walking scene. 24 The rapid action of the play. 25 The moral lesson of the play. 26 The merits of the play as a drama. 2y Nemesis in the play. (Contrast the manner of Macbeth's death and that of Lady Macbeth.) 28 Motives for killing Caesar and Duncan compared. 29 Shakespeare's knowledge of animal life as shown in the drama of Macbeth. (Comparative allusions to animals and plants.) 242 NOTES NOTES 243 2U MOTES NOTES 245 246 NOTES NOTES 247 248 NOTES HAMLET Sidelights the fame of hamlet Not Denmark's famous astronomer Tycho Brahe, nor her great sculptor Thorvaldsen, nor her deservedly celebrated writer Hans Christian Andersen — no, not all combined, have contributed so much to make her world- renowned as her Hamlet, whose only existence is in Shakespeare's wonderful drama. It is safe to say that more has been written upon Hamlet than upon any other one piece of the world's literature: indeed, it has been stated that the Hanilct literature equals the entire litera- ture of some of the smaller European peoples.* Its Evolution. Hamlet, Shakespeare's most psycho- logical drama, evidently went through many changes before it reached its present form. Entered at the Stationers in 1602, it was printed in 1603, and the title- page of the edition of 1604 bears the words "enlarged to almost as much again as it was." Shakespeare in the Play. By this time the poet had reached his maturity in every sense of the term ; he had accumulated a competence and had settled his family in New Place, Stratford. He had not passed thus far through life free from heart sorrow: his only son, •See Brandes's Shakespeare. 249 250 STUDIES IN SHAKESPEAREAN DRAMA \ Hamnet, died in 1596; the death of his father in 1601 must naturally have turned his thoughts to the life beyond the grave. His contact with the outside world had disclosed life in all its phases in an age when scan- dals in high life were by no means rare ; he was now passing through the disappointing experience of all who have high ideals in youth, to whom the world, when they first step out into its activities, looks fair and trustworthy. To what extent his own soul-experiences, combined with the immoral atmosphere of his environments, may have caused the mental mood which gave birth to this won- derful reflective drama, is of course mere conjecture, but at the same time it is not without interest. This we know, that the poet is now in his most reflective mood; his mind is attuned to the creation of the reflective Hamlet. How much of his own soul- questionings upon purity, life, death and immortality he has put into this play, we may feel rather than know ; certain it is, we find here what we find in no other play. One critic says that what Shakespeare gave Hamlet of his own nature was its unfathomable depth. The Sphinx. Hamlet has been called the Sphinx of Literature, but its riddle has never been solved, and therein lies the charm ; when a riddle is solved it has lost its interest. The most profound minds have brought their keenest insight to bear upon Hamlet the Man and Hamlet the Drama, but they can agree only upon the most vital points, if indeed they agree upon these, and hence it is well to read with caution the criticisms which some even eminent critics pass upon others who differ from them in interpretation or methods. HAMLET 251 Oivr Interest, The play -is always new ; it never grows old, because it grows along with us. In youth as we read it we feel within us the quick blood of the impulsive Hamlet. As we see more of life, we ourselves become reflective Hamlets, and we turn to the play again and again, and it unfolds to us its depths of the philos- ophy of life and immortality with an interest and a beauty heretofore unthought of. Helps we may have, and helps we may need, to enable us to delve below the surface and to read between the lines of this most pro- found of Shakespeare's dramas, and then each must solve the riddle for himself. Barrett Wendell well says : "After all, the chief thing is not that we should define the play, but that we should know it; and Hamlet is a play which everybody ought to know. It is surely the work in English litera- utre to which allusions are most constant and most widely intelligible."* Hence we may say : *'The play's the thing to study." POINTS OF INTEREST ABOUT THE PLAY Length. This is Shakespeare's longest drama. It contains 3,930 lines (Globe Edition) — is more than twice the length of the shortest play, Comedy of Errors, with its 1,778 lines. Of these lines Hamlet speaks 1,420, or more than one-third of the entire play, and almost three-fourths as many lines as the entire play of Mac- beth. Besides his aside remarks, he reflects in seven solilociuies, ranging in length from 12 to 58 lines each; ♦William Shakspere, p. 251. 252 STUDIES IN SHAKESPEAREAN DRAMA he also expresses himself to others in many long speeches. Source of Plot. Suggestions for the plot of Hamlet are found in the legend of Hamblet in Saxo Gram- maticus, and in other old tragedies. The legend is usually given in the school editions of the play. Former reference to Shakespeare's use of materials renders it unnecessary to say more on this point here; an illustra- tion, however, is interesting: In the Saxon story this reflection is voiced upon the hasty marriage of the widow : "Thus it is with all the promises of women ; they are scattered like chaff before the wind, and pass away like waves of the sea. Who then will trust to a woman's heart, which changes as flowers shed their leaves, as seasons change, and as new events wipe out the traces of those that went before?" Shakespeare says: "Frailty, thy name is woman!" Ghost. This is the only play in which Shakespeare has introduced the objective ghost — that is, in which the disembodied spirit again assumes its body and is seen by those for whom it has no special message. The poet has taken great pains to make the Ghost objective. Act I contains the accumulated ghost-lore of the ages. National Characteristics. In Hamlet we are shown the manners and customs of Denmark, and have a good picture of life at the Danish court. The political rela- tions of Denmark with Norway and with England, and the weak condition of Poland are made clear to us. French thought and life are brought out in contrast with HAMLET 253 German thought and Hfe: Laertes in Paris meets the *Mive-for-to-day" theory of Hfe, which is typically French ; Tolonius's advice to his son is purely worldly- wise ; while Hamlet's views of life, death and immor- tality are from the Christian German standpoint, and show the influence of the Reformation. Play-Acting. Hamlet's instructions to the players show Shakespeare's idea of the proper acting of a play. The dramatist gives some London customs of his own time. Theaters were closed during Lent in those days, and players traveled about the country, performing at courts and wdierever they had opportunity. Young people of the guilds gave dramatic entertainments which grew to be so popular that they became a menace to the profession. Phases of the Drama. The play itself is Ideal Trag- edy. When Fortinbras is called to account by his old uncle and immediately repents, the drama of his indi- vidual life becomes Comedy; mediation takes place in the realm of real life, where the offence has been com- mitted. Here is a Real Comedy within our Ideal Tragedy. Again the play within the play, which Hamlet has enacted at court, to convict the King, is Real Tragedy. Insanity. The play shows two phases of insanity. Hamlet's, if feigned so closely resembles that form which manifests itself in melancholy moods that it is studied by physicians as genuine. Of the insanity of Ophelia there is no question ; this form manifests itself in pathetic 254 STUDIES IN SHAKESPEAREAN DRAMA snatches of song, a passion for flower decorations and in incoherent talk, and leads finally to the poor girl's death. Ethical Principles. In the King we see how un- bridled lust and ambition drive the individual on to the worst crime; the voice of conscience silenced, the guilty individual hesitates at nothing, until finally he is caught in his own trap, his deed returns upon his own head, and he meets his tragic end. In the Queen we see how virtue, simply as a negative quality, is only sham, becomes the victim of hypocrisy and lust, and through lack of vital principle is overpowered and works out its own destruction. Again, in Ophelia we see how love and purity, unsupported by conscience and strength, neglect- ing opportunities to act, fall an easy prey to the worldly- wise and the schemer, cannot harmonize with their environments, and go out in darkness. Thus even the highest principles must be active ; when merely passive they are not self-sustaining. The soul is held just as strongly responsible for omission as for commission. In ethical elements, we find the Institutional person ; the Moral person ; a whole family utterly devoid of con- science: the mediated Institutional person, and the per- fectly mediated Moral person, who has fought life's battles and so completely overcome that he has put all things under his feet and risen to the heights where in suffering all he suffers nothing. THE FOREIGN ELEMENT Norway Represented by Fortinbras. The foreign element hovers over the drama from beginning to cud. HAMLET 255 although Fortinbras the individual appears only twice. The play opens amid the din of warlike preparations "whose sore task does not divide the Sunday from the week" ; This sweaty haste Doth make the night joint-labourer with the day. It devolves upon Horatio, "who knows things," to explain the state of affairs, and we learn that the Prince of Norway, young Fortinbras, "of unimproved mettle hot and full, hath in the skirts of Norway here and there sharked up a list of lawless resolutes," and comes in warlike array against Denmark to recover certain lands won from his father by King Hamlet in a dared combat in which the elder Fortinbras was slain. There is no just cause for the Prince's action, however, because the provisions of the combat were perfectly fair to both sides ; according to the laws of heraldry the victor re- ceived the reward. Fortinbras in Rebellion. Norway, Fortinbras' old bedridden uncle, who during the minority of the young man is in authority, is quite ignorant of what his hot- headed nephew is about. Thus we see that Fortinbras, first, is in rebellion against his own government, and secondly, is hostile to Denmark without cause, since in making the invasion he is violating the law of compact. King Claudius, who always plans doubly, makes prepa- rations to meet Fortinbras on the field of battle, but meanwhile, diplomat that he is. ho sends ambassadors to old Norway to see if the matter cannot be settled peaceably. 256 STUDIES IN SHAKESPEAREAN DRAMA , Fortinbras Mediated. Here we see a fine stroke of dramatic purpose on the part of the poet. Rebel that the young hot-head is, we should expect that when called to account by the uncle he would in defiance of authority pursue his own course, but no — he, in brief, obeys, Receives rebuke from Norway, and in fine Makes vow before his uncle never more To give th' assay of arms against your majesty. Whereon old Norway, overcome with joy, Gives him three thousand crowns in annual fee, and shows such implicit faith in the young man's sin- cerity that he allows him to keep his armed soldiers to go against the Poles, and entreats the King to give the Prince quiet pass through Denmark on his way to Poland. By giving this permit Claudius, also, shows faith in the young man. Thus Fortinbras, who has caused discord in the Ethi- cal World by his hostility to existing peaceful conditions, restores harmony by his repentance ; he becomes a medi- ated character, and is thereby fitted to restore harmony to the State of Denmark by accepting her crown when the final grand catastrophe robs her of both King and Prince. We see that if Fortinbras had not repented, but had invaded Denmark, the King must have given his attention to war instead of to Hamlet, and the drama must have ended, or the plot have been constructed on an entirely different basis. Let us now look back a little, and see how this Fortinbras, who scarcely appears as a personality in the HAMLET 257 play, is linked with the State, with the King, and with Hamlet. Fortinbras and the State. A king must be active, not a mere figurehead, or things will go wrong, as is showi: in the case of old Norway. The very activity of Fortin- bras brings him into conflict with the State of Denmark : his repentance restores harmony both in the Ethical World and in the external world, and he thus becomes fitted to bring peace to Denmark in the end. Fortinbras and the King. It is through the trouble with Fortinbras that the King is enabled to show his diplomatic statesmanship ; thus in the drama Fortinbras links Claudius with the affairs of State. This is the only instance in which the poet has shown the King in purely State relations ; everywhere else his acts in some way relate to Hamlet. We are first introduced to the King in the room of State, where he has come to give audience to three groups of persons — Voltimand and Cornelius, who are there strictly on business of State ; Laertes, who has a |)ersonal request to make ; and Hamlet, a member of the family. The King shows his businesslike mind by ad- dressing himself to business first ; he gives the ambassa- dors their commission to old Norway — Giving to yon no further personal power To business with the king more than the scope Of these dilated articles allow. They are by no means to be ministers plenijiotcntiary ; he will be everv inch a king. He will trv what diplomacy 258 STUDIES IN SHAKESPEAREAN DRAMA will do toward the settlement of the difficulty before resorting to force of arms. Fortinhras' and Hamlet. Fortinbras is preeminently an Institutional person; his spirit is primarily the spirit of nationality, of government, consequently he is a man of action; he will fight for what he beheves to be the rights of the State, although the gain may not be worth the powder spent in acquiring it. In the combat by which Norway lost the land, Norway lost her King, and Fortinbras lost his father ; Fortinbras seems not to think of his father, he cares only to regain the lost ground for the State. As the Institutional person whose mind is wholly centered upon affairs of State, and who carries this thought into violent actior^, Fortinbras presents a marked contrast to Hamlet. Denmark's King and Flamlet's father has been murdered ; but the lost crown is only a secondary consideration with Hamlet, and the murder of his father he can never gain the courage to revenge ; he cannot act. Fortinbras first appears in person to claim "the conveyance of a promised march" through Claudius's kingdom. We notice that the poet has brought him in just as Hamlet is about to embark for England, with the King still alive. His coming to Denmark at this time serves only to set up a glass in which Hamlet can see the inmost part of himself ; the Dane's soliloquy at this point shows how painful a reminder Fortinbras is of his own inaction. He here recognizes the man who possesses the qualities which he lacks — the active man of the State ; the man with the ability to govern — and he HAMLET 259 boards the vessel with his mind full of bloody thoughts, but weary, weary of his burdens. Idic poet brings I-'ort- inbras back from Poland just in time to receive Hamlet's dying blessing upon his election to the crown of Den- mark, which Hamlet foresees. It is readily seen that this foreign element serves a very important dramatic purpose in the play. THE FAMILY INSTITUTION The Royal Family. In Hamlet the institution of the Family is represented first by the royal family, and sec- ondl}- by the Polonius family. Between these two fami- ilies there is a marked contrast. The members of the royal family are all guilty of crime, from the King, who hesitates at nothing in order to accomplish his purpose, to Hamlet, who acts upon the impulse of the moment and kills Polonii>s ; but even in the vile King the voice of conscience still speaks, and the Queen sees in her soul such black and grained spots As will not leave their tinct. Gertrude's mother-instinct has not been entirely crushed by her lack of moral principle ; in fact, it is her one redeeming trait. Hamlet is the victim of conscience. The Polonius Family. The Polonius family, on the contrary, commit no great crime ; they all make a fair outward showing to the world. lUit they are utterly devoid of true moral principle ; of conscience they have none. Even Polonius's advice to Laertes, which on the surface appears good, contains not a line which if closely ^60 STUDIES IN SHAKESPEAREAN DRAMA followed would make the young man a nobler moral character. From his charges to Reynaldo we may infer that Polonius would not be in the least shocked should his unwilling spy find Laertes indulging in the very vices of which the father suggests that Reynaldo shall accuse him. He can malign Hamlet, use Ophelia as a snare to entrap her lover, give his own daughter lessons in de- ceit, but conscience never gives him a prick, and he goes on until lack of principle works out his destruction. Laertes is the true son of his father; he, too, can malign Hamlet; he can raise an armed rebellion upon the mere suspicion of the King's guilt ; he can at once fall in with the King's plot to take Hamlet's life, and to make assurance doubly sure he can poison his own foil ; but all of these things are not near his conscience, for of conscience he has none. Alas ! that poor Ophelia, sweet and gentle, should have been so unfortunate as to have her lot cast in this conscienceless family ! But here we find her ; she can hear her father and brother besmirch Hamlet's character and scarcely utter a protest ; she cannot even defend her lover, in whom she herself sees no fault ; she can become a tool in the hands of her father to bring Hamlet to destruction. At last her mind gives way under the strain of her great loss, but her broken, pathetic snatches of song contain no hint of remorse for her unjust treat- ment of Hamlet ; of conscience-conflict there is none. In this family the mother-element is entirely lacking ; this fact calls forth our sympathy for Oplielia, and we feel like condoning what we otherwise could not excuse. The redeeming quality of this family is the devotion of HAMLET 261 the members to one anotlier ; the son and daughter, having no higher ideals than the father, are devoted to him, obedient and ever ready to defend him. P,ut we can readily see how selfishness and cunning without conscience can work only destruction in the end. THE CONTRADICTORY HAMLET In the wide range of literature, where can be found a character which is indeed such a sphinx as Hamlet? one who is so constantly contradictory? He is sane and he is insane. He is active and he is inactive. He is strong of purpose, and he is w^ak of will. He loves Ophelia, but he is cruel to her. He recoils against blood- shed, but he can kill Polonius and send Rosencrantz and Guildenstern to their death. He is impulsive, yet he is reftective and deliberate. He has a quick wit. is a merry jester and a profound theologian. Small wonder that the subjective conflict rages so fiercely. His outward appearance is by no means uniform. Hamlet's various phases are so distinct that they may be classified. Outward Hamlet Inner Hamlet r I As he appears to the world before his father's -! death. I 2 As he appears at court after his mother's marriage. 1 The Instinctive or Impulsive. 2 The Imaginative. 3 The Moral and Religious. 4 The Intellectual or Reflective. The inner or subjective Hamlet manifests four phases ; he comes strongly under the spell of first one characteristic and then of another, thus seemingly con- 262 STUDIES IN SHAKESPEAREAN DRAMA tradicting himself when in reaHty he is perfectly natural. It almost seems that the poet wishes to present in Ham- let the whole range of the human mind. The Impulsive Hamlet would haste to know the cir- icumstances of his father's murder — "that I," he says, with wings as swift As meditation or the thoughts of love, May sweep to my revenge. The Imaginative Hamlet thinks he sees his father — In my mind's eye, Horatio. The Moral Hamlet is so crushed by the conduct of his mother that he wishes that the Everlasting had not fixed His canon 'gainst self-slaughter! But since the Everlasting has fixed this law, the Re- ligious Hamlet withholds his hand and refrains from taking his own life. The Moral Hamlet conflicts with the outer world, he finds the time is out of joint, and when he realizes that to set it right devolves upon him, he rebels. The Reflective Hamlet cannot act. Thus conscience does make cowards of us all, And thus the native hue of resolution Is sicklied o'er with the pale cast of thought. And enterprises of great pith and moment With this regard their currents turn away And lose the name of action. When the Impulsive Hamlet stops to argue with the Reflective Hamlet, the latter always gets the better of HAMLET 263 the arg-ument and action is cither delayed or altogether prevented. The Impulsive Hamlet can act. The Reflective Ham- let, though he cannot plan deliberate action for himself, can thwart the plans of others. Even the deep-laid schemes of the King and those of the wily Polonius fail through the Intellectual Hamlet's keen insight and quick wit ; he seems to read their very minds. Effect of Action. Notice the effect of action upon the Inactive Hamlet. It seems as though he were stand- ing at one side and watching the drama of his own life enacted. He determines to put an antic disposition on and then it seems sport to him to work out the result. He so enjoys baffling the King that for the time he seems to lose sight of his original intent. It is such a pleasure to throw sand in the eyes of Polonius that he tantalizes the tedious old fool just for the pleasure of watching his bewilderment. He sets up a glass for his mother where she may see the inmost part of her, and the active mill grinds until the Ghost must appear to stop it. He kills Polonius, and the Impulsive Hamlet has at last overcome the Re- flective Hamlet and conscience conflicts are done with — Let it work ; For 'tis the sport to have the enginer Hoist with his own petar : and 't shall go hard But I will delve one yard below their mines, And blow them at the moon. O. 'tis most sweet When in one line two crafts directly meet. And so he can send Rosencrantz and Guildenstem to death and sav, "Thev are not near mv conscience" ; and 264 STUDIES IN SHAKESPEAREAN DRAMA n he can at last face death itself feeling that "there's a special providence in the fall of a sparrow. If it be now, 'tis not to come ; if it be not to come, it will be now ; if it be not now, yet it will come ; the readiness is all." THE PLAY " Basis. Before the play opens a foul and horrible deed has been committed ; the Ethical World is disturbed, its harmony must be restored : this forms the basis for a drama. The manner of the deed is such that no positive evidence of it exists ; mystery begins the play. We may say that even the deed itself is not objective. The sud- den and mysterious death of the King and the hasty marriage of the Queen give the only objective basis for a plot. Hamlet seems to be the only one upon whom these events have made any very decided impression. Hamlet's Basis of Action. The mystery connected with the death of Hamlet's father must be revealed in order to give a basis for any action ; the Ghost reveals the truth to Hamlet and charges him to revenge the deed. Hamlet now has a starting-point from which to work. Necessity of the Ghost. The Ghost not only re- veals the deed to Hamlet, but he makes the whole situa- tion clear to the audience, thus showing a second neces- sity for an objective ghost. He gives the keynote to the characters of the King and Queen, and even starts the line of thought on the life to come, upon which Hamlet is so cotistantls' pondering all through the play. HAMLET 265 King's Basis of Action. The King's guilty con- science and Hamlet's peculiar behavior cause him to feel that the same young man suspects him of foul plav ; this belief gives him a basis for action. Hamlet and the King are now arrayed against each other and action begins. The Crime. The crime is both regicide and fratri- cide ; the King of Denmark has been murdered ; the brother, the husband and father has been murdered. Claudius states his motive for the <\qq(\ he has com- mitted — those effects tor which I did the murder, My crown, mine own ambition and my queen. He was impelled by both ambition and lust. The Revenge. Hamlet is to revenge the crime. Which crime? — Regicide or fratricide? Is his grief caused by the facts that the King has been niun:lered, and his uncle has by his marriage defrauded him of the throne, or is it due to the murder of his father, and his mother's having been false to her marriage vows? The answer to this question is not difficult to find, and it gives the keynote to Hamlet's character. King's Claim to the Cronm. The liereditary right to the throne lies in Gertrude. The King's claim is by right of marriage ; consequently, Claudius's claims, as Gertrude's husband, are as just as were those of her former husband. Had she remained a widow, Hamlet would undoubtedly have succeded his father, since the crown is to a certain extent elective, and TTamlct is a great favorite. It is not till the very end of the i)Iay, 266 STUDIES IN SHAKESPEAREAN DRAMA when he is trying to justify himself in having changed the commission, thus sending Rosencrantz and Guilden- stern to their death, that he says: He that hath killed my king, and stained, my mother; Popped in between the election and my hopes. It is readily seen all through the first movement that it is Hamlet's moral nature which is stirred to its very depths ; ambition for power nowhere appears. Hamlet's Position. When the Ghost reveals to Ham- let the manner of his father's death and charges him to revenge the deed, he at the same time imposes two re- strictions which must be observed no matter what method may be taken to accomplish the work — first, "taint not thy mind," and secondly, "nor let thy soul con- trive against thy mother aught." He must do nothing which he cannot justify before the people, and, we think we are safe in saying, nothing which will involve his conscience. Nor must he in any way implicate his mother ; she must be left to her conscience, which will sufficiently prick and sting her. If we observe care- fully, we see that Hamlet is pretty thoroughly hedged in. Justice of the Demand. There is no court of justice before which Claudius can be arraigned; as King, he himself forms the highest court. If the murder is to be avenged or revenged, it devolves upon Hamlet, as the nearest of kin, to make the murderer pay the penalty for his crime. We must then take the position that the deed required of Hamlet is justifiable; not only the Ghost but justice requires him to kill Claudius. HAMLET 267 Obstacles to he Overcome. Two obstacles He in his way, one objective and the other subjective. First there are the restrictions imposed : how can he kill his uncle, having no external evidence that Claudius murdered the King, and justify himself in the eyes of the people of Denmark? Secondly, how can he, mentally and physi- cally constituted as he is, deliberately plan in cool blood to take the life of another, even though justice demands the act? The impulsive Hamlet can thrust his dagger through the arras ; the reflective Hamlet cannot shed blood. Careful study of the play shows that Hamlet never discusses the first proposition : we may see that the poet never gives him an opportunity to meet the requirements of the Ghost. Indeed, we almost feel that the impossible has been laid upon him ; since Hamlet himself does not seem to worry about this side of the question, we will consider his course of action through the play from his own standpoint, the subjective ; in doing so put yourself in his place ; try, for the time being, to be Hamlet. THE CONFLICT Hamlet. Every, drama of character implies a double conflict — the internal or subjective, and the" '^Kternal or objective. The objective conflict, "r the action of this play is necessarily slow, since it depends u])on Hamlet to take the decisive step, and the reflective man always acts deliberately: the more reflective he is the greater is his deliberation. In this objective conflict Hamlet shows his inaction. 268 STUDIES IN SHAKESPEAREAN DRAMA What a contrast we see here to Macbeth, who, when he decides to put to death the entire family of Macduff, says : From this moment, The very firstlings of my heart shall be The firstlings of my hand. And even now, To crown my thoughts with acts, be it thought and done, and messengers are dispatched immediately, ''before this purpose cool," to the castle of Macduff, to do their hor- rible work. The Impulsive Hamlet declares that he will act; but the Reflective Hamlet holds him back ; when he does act, his action is prompted by circumstances rather than by any deliberate planning on his own part. It is inter- esting to note that while the King plans and sets in- fluences to work, Hamlet allows influences to work upon him, but at the same time he manages to thwart them before they culminate in results. Seemingly that we may see this character more clearly, the poet has in the external conflict made Hamlet stand absolutely alone ; he has no helpers, no one upon whom he can shift the slightest responsibility for the success or failure of any plan. Horatio is a dear friend and sympathizer. Hamlet could not well do without him ; the play could not do without him. He helps to bring out Hamlet, and through him we learn much. But he does not play the part of an adviser. He never helps Hamlet in any way to plan or to executg any act which will aid him in revenging the murder of his father ; he aids only at the outset in bringing Hamlet and the Ghost together, that action may be started, and, HAMLET 269 when all is over, in setting Hamlet right before the world. The subjective conflict in this play is drawn with wonderful clearness. In fact, we feel that the play itself is Hamlet's subjective conflict; in this conflict the inter- est centers. Volumes have been written upon this topic alone, and as we read the views of the many critics and see how they dififer, we feel that the mystery is still a mystery. < The King. The King also has his subjective con- flict, but his mind is quite transparent ; we can easily read him. His conscience makes him feel that Hamlet is dangerous, and he never wavers from his fixed pur- pose to get rid of his nephew. His method is the same from his first deed to the last ; he always plans to cover his tracks, to execute the deed in such a way that his guilt cannot be suspected. But Murder though it have no tongue, will speak With most miraculous organ, and Justice is not to be defrauded because the deed has been committed in tho dark and retribution entrusted to one unfitted for the task. NEMESIS Polonius. In no other of the great dramatist's trag- edies can we trace the unrelenting hand of Nemesis more surely holding the evil-doer to the result of his deed than in this soul-searching drama. The wily, plotting, schem- ing Polonius comes to his death at the hand of tlie Im- pulsive Hamlet early in the play, simply as a result of 270 STUDIES IN SHAKESPEAREAN DRAMA letting his brain hunt the trail of policy a little too sure. Ophelia. Poor Ophelia's moral courage and charac- ter are too weak to stand a great strain, and while her end is extremely pathetic, we do not for a moment feel that it is unjust. The Queen. Nowhere in the world of literature do we find an example of such wonderful retribution as in the final grand tragedy. First we may say that the Queen is the original cause of the crime; by allowing herself to receive the unlawful attentions of Claudius, she drops into his mind the seeds of temptation, which result in the murder of her husband. As the primal cause was in her, so she is the first to fall, and from the cup poisoned by the hand of the murderer for her son to drink. The King. Next the guilty doer of the deed himself receives from the hand of him whose death he has been plotting throughout the entire play the stab from the foil poisoned to make sure the death of his victim, and is then forced by the same hand to drink of his own pois- oned cup. Laertes says: '*He is justly served; it is a poison tempered by himself." Laertes. And now Laertes, having received from the hand of Hamlet the stab from his own foil, poisoned by himself in order to make sure the death of Hamlet, ex- claims : the foul practice Hath turned itself on me; lo, here I lie, Never to rise again. HAMLET 271 Hamlet. Last of all, Hamlet, who in the impulse of the moment slew Laertes's father, yields to the effect of Laertes's poisoned foil and dies, but with his moral na- ture shining out bright and clear above all other elements of his character when he begs Horatio to set him right before the world : O, good Horatio, what a wounded name. Things standing thus unknown, shall live behind me! If thou didst ever hold me in thy heart. Absent thee from felicity a whde. And in this harsh world draw thy breath in pain, To tell my story. As though to make the retribution still more com- plete, in the final tragedy the guilty all come to their deaths by means employed in the original crime — poison.* In one fell swoop, Denmark has lost her corrupt king and queen, her courtier, who would have usurped the crown, and her prince, who was unfitted for govern- ment. Rosencrantz and Giiildcnstern. When Handet is tell- ing Horatio of having changed the commission to make it pass death sentence upon Rosencrantz and Guilden- stern, instead of himself, he says : Why, man, they did make love to this employment : They are not near my conscience; their debate Doth by their own insinuation grow. ♦Some critics think that Hamlefs sword-thrust kllh^d the King, that the latter died before the poison had had time to take effect. Hamlet says, "The point enveuom'd too !— 'I'licn. venom, do thy work. Hudson says the King did not drink from the cup. La.-rles says: He is justly served : It Is a poison tempered by himself. 272 STUDIES IN SHAKESPEAREAN DRAMA Too late for Hamlet to know comes the news that his commandment is fulfilled, That Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are dead. Harmony Restored. Thus the retribution is com- plete ; the guilty all suffer the penalty of their own deeds, and bring upon themselves their own tragic deaths. The law of Tragedy is fulfilled ; harmony is restored in the Ethical World by the destruction of all of the discordant elements ; while in the political world it is restored by the election of Fortinbras, the perfectly mediated char- acter, to the crown of Denmark, which Hamlet foresees and sanctions with his dying voice. At last the guilty king is slain by the Impulsive Ham- let — the elder Hamlet is revenged, but how different is the end from what he would have planned ! In order that his injunction to Hamlet — "Taint not thy mind" — may be carried out, Horatio is left to speak to th' yet unknowing world How these things came about : so shall you hear Of carnal, bloody and unnatural acts, Of accidental judgments, casual slaughters, Of deaths put on by cunning and forced cause. And, in this upshot, purposes mistook Fall'n on th' inventors' heads : all this can I Truly deliver. "Carnal, bloody and unnatural acts" refers, of course, to the deeds of Claudius and the Queen — the murder of the King, Gertrude's disloyalty to her husband, and her unduly hasty marriage to his murderer. "Accidental judgments" doubtless refers to Hamlet's remark, "I took HAMLET 273 thee for thy better," when he discovered that his thrust through the arras had killed Polonius, and "casual slaughters" to the deed itself. "Deaths put on by cun- ning and forced cause" can refer only to the deaths of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern. "In this upshot," or final grand tragedy, "purposes mistook" cause the evil deeds to fall "on th' inventors' heads." Office of Horatio. Thus Horatio is able to clear Hamlet of guilt in the eyes of the world by showing that the Queen, the King and Laertes all have come at last to their own tragic deaths as the result of their own deeds, although Hamlet himself has had to suffer the same penalty. Horatio evidently feels that in his summmg up he must account to the people of Denmark for all of the tragic deaths. Perhaps he does not think it necessary to account for Ophelia's sad end, and many do not con- sider her death tragic in the dramatic sense. It may be thought straining a point to interpret "accidental judg- ments" as referring to Ophelia ; and still the term might be so construed; Horatio has referred to events in their order of occurrence, which would give this place to Ophelia's death, and she certainly allowed herself to be- come the victim of accidental or mis judgments. THREE QUESTIONS Hamlet's Insanity. Some questions are still queries. Hamlet's insanity has been thoroughly discussed by the ablest critics. Three theories have been advanced : 274^ STUDIES IN SHAKESPEAREAN DRAMA I. That he was insane. 11. That he was sane but feigned insanity. III. That he was sane and did not feign insanity. Those who hold the last have a good deal in the play to account for. Those who hold the second must show what was gained or what was to be gained by feigning insanity. Of critics who hold the first we would ask : Would a master of dramatic art attempt to base an artistic drama upon the vagaries of an insane mind? The Great Question. Much has also been said of Hamlet as a man of action. He could act, and he could not act. Was his conflict with his will, or was it with his conscience — his moral and religious nature? The an- swer to this would throw light upon what is perhaps, after all, the great question — Why did not Hamlet kill the King? This question should be considered from two viewpoints, the dramatic and the psychological. The first has been touched upon. The keenest minds have pon- dered the second ; the results of their insight vary so greatly that the query still stands for each individual reader to answer for himself. If you ask Hamlet, he tells you that he does not know. (Act IV, Scene i.) Did Shakespeare himself know, I wonder? If you ask me I must answer, 'T do not know," but after reading the opinions of the various critics I always find myself coming to the same conclusion — per- haps it is rather an intuition — that Hamlet's moral nature was stronger than any other element of his character ; his reflective mind was a natural result of his thoroughly . HAMLET 275 moral temperament; the moral man must be reflective. When contemplating a deed so revolting to his every nat- ural instinct, he exclaimed, The time is out of joint: O cursed spite, That ever I was born to set it right ! And it was impossible for him to "screw" his "courage to the sticking-place," and so he continued to "live to sa>' this thing's to do," notwithstanding he had "cause and will and strength and means to do 't." The Real Tragedy. After all, wherein lies the real tragedy of this wonderful drama? Is it in this final grand catastrophe which sweeps out all of these dis- cordant elements, or is it in the subjective tragedy of Hamlet's life? Was the life of this young man of noble impulses and grand qualities wrecked because he was re- quired to perform a deed which was so revolting to his moral nature that he could not make his reason and his will drive him to do it? Does Schlegel rightly call Ham- let "a tragedy of thought" ? However we may interpret it, this is the play of all plays which possesses the greatest fascination for all Shakespearean lovers and Shakespearean readers, and their name is legion. We read it. We study it. It never grows old. We turn to it again and again with renewed interest, because we always feel the desire to know it, and the fascination abides because we still feel that, after all, we really do not know it. The riddle of the Sphinx remains unsolved. 276 STUDIES IN SHAKESPEAREAN DRAMA STRUCTURE . The structure of Hamlet is not difficult to trace; only a few points need be added to the hints already given. Hamlet kills Polonius ; he commits the very deed he is trying to avenge — he kills a father. He thus makes him- self a guilty individual. After the deed, in the second movement, note the great change in Hamlet. Threads. In the Hamlet thread, Hamlet stands al- most alone so far as actual assistance is concerned. Still there are those who are naturally grouped in his thread of the play. The King has more active workers ; the threads should be grouped according to the importance of the function of these helpers in the working out of their thread. To illustrate : First movement. King's thread : Group a, Claudius and Gertrude. Group b, The Polonius family. Other groups follow. This grouping refers to the deed. A group simply for the purpose of State is readily seen — the courtiers who have little or nothing to do with Hamlet. In the second movement it will be seen that Laertes takes the place of Polonius. Subjective Conflicts. Since Hamlet's subjective con- flict is as strong as, if not stronger than, his external conflict, we may consider that his thread in the first movement has an internal phase. Again, we find two strands in the external set of influences, one driving him on to revenge his father ; the other, the lack of external evidence, withholding him. These conflict with the in- HAMLET 277 ternal influences, his moral and spiritual nature, and the subjective conflict is at times so strong as well-nigh to drive him to suicide. The King has not only his external conflict with Hamlet, but his internal conflict with himself. The threads in the subjective conflicts may be traced as clearly as those in the external conflicts. The student should by all means work out the threads and movements fully, showing the dramatic purpose or the part which each character serves in the play. Class Study REVIEW 1 Define Nemesis. 2 The modern English Drama combines the princi- ples of the Mystery and Morality plays and the Inter- lude ; trace these three elements through the Hamlet drama. 3 State changes which have taken place in the man- ner of presentation of a drama since Shakespeare's time. 4 According to Saintsbury, what are the three dis- tinguishing points in Shakespeare? 5 What are his three distinct purposes? 6 Review carefully the Principles and Structure of the Shakespearean Drama. THE PLAY 1 Classify the play, giving reasons for classification. 2 How is the Ethical World disturbed ? 3 How is its harmony restored? 278 STUDIES IN SHAKESPEAREAN DRAMA 4 State the basis of the plot. 5 Give the basis of Hamlet's action and of the King's action. 6 Group the principal characters according to their relation to the State, the Family, the deed committed, the Ethical World, in the following outline form: Characters State Family Deed Ethical World Ghost Former King Husband to Gertrude Father to Hamlet Victim Plans restoration of Harmony Claudius King Husband to Gertrude Uncle and Step- father to Hamlet Guilty Doer Disturber of Harmony 8 Work out the structure of the play fully. 9 Act I is very remarkable in its fullness, the groundwork of the play is so elaborately laid,* so much information is given, the keynote of the characters is so thoroughly sounded. Work the act out carefully with reference to these points. 10 Work out the plot by movements, acts and scenes by means of graphic illustration. CHARACTERIZATION /. The Ghost First Movement — Guilt The first act has well been called the Ghost's Act. While the groundwork of the play is very fully laid in HAMLET 279 this act, this groundwork depends upon the revelation of the Ghost, and the interest centers in him. 1 The poet has taken great pains to make the Ghost objective ; it appears twice to the guards, but has no message for them ; to Horatio the scholar, friend of Hamlet, it will not speak. Why is this? Is there any especial purpose in it? 2 What is the office of the Ghost in the play ? 3 When the Ghost reveals the deed, which does he emphasize, his murder as a King or the moral question of virtue ? 4 Why does Horatio link the appearance of the Ghost with affairs of State, while Hamlet at once sus- pects some foul play, evidently with reference to his father ? 5 What character does the Ghost give himself? 6 Why does he command Hamlet to revenge his murder, instead of requiring him to bring Claudius to justice? Were revenge and justice synonymous terms in those days? 7 After the Ghost disappears in Scene i, notice the change in the mental attitude of the Ghost-seers ; how they lapse into a poetic frame of mind, and Marcellus recalls the beautiful Christmas legend, which seems to clarify the atmosphere, both mental and physical, and introduces the religious thought which to a great extent colors the whole play. How can you account for this change ? 8 Make a list of the beliefs concerning ghosts. 9 What revelations does the Ghost make to Ham- let? Make a list of twelve points brought out. 280 STUDIES IN SHAKESPEAREAN DRAMA "! 10 When Hamlet is making Horatio and Marcellus'' swear secrecy, why does the poet have the Ghost follow them in the cellerage, requiring them to swear? 11 Why does the subjective Ghost appear to Ham- let in the closet scene? Why is it not objective then as well as in the opening of the play? 12 Why does, not the Queen hear it speak? 13 Would you have the Ghost in this scene objec- tive to the audience? 14 What would be the effect if it were objective to the Queen? Second Movement Why does the Ghost not appear in this movement? // Horatio and the Ghost 1 Why is Horatio called watch for the Ghost? 2 EIow does the poet pave the way for Horatio to tell Hamlet of the appearance of the Ghost? 3 Is it dramatically necessary that Bernardo should go with Horatio. and Marcellus when they go to inform Hamlet of the Ghost's appearance ? 4 Why will not the Ghost talk to Hamlet in the presence of Horatio and Marcellus? 5 Why is Horatio afraid to let Hamlet go away alone with the Ghost? 6 What is Horatio's mental attitude towards Ghosts at first? 7 How does this attitude change after the appear- ance of the Ghost ? HAMLET 281 /// Hamlet and the Ghost 1 In what frame of mind is Hamlet when Horatio and the others enter to inform him of the appearance of the Ghost? Can you see any dramatic purpose in having them enter just at this time? 2 In what expression does Hamlet first show that he has the ghost within him, ready to meet the objective Ghost? How does he show this all through the conver- sation in Act i^ Scene 2 ? 3 Does he show any fear? 4 Why does he at once enjoin secrecy? 5 Interpret the last four lines of this scene. 6 Note the perfectly natural conversation with which Scene 4 in Act i opens. 7 What is Hamlet's attitude toward the Ghost when he first sees it? Does he recognize it? Interpret his first expression. Does he express fear, or reverence, or irreverence ? 8 Interpret his speech, "I do not set my life at a pin's fee." 9 Show how in the latter part of the scene the Ghost takes complete possession of him. 10 In Scene 5, why does Hamlet say, 'Til go no further"? 11 In calling upon Hamlet to revenge him, to what element in Hamlet's nature does the Ghost first appeal? 12 In what state of mind does the Ghost leave Ham- let? 13 Give Hamlet's vow and study it carefully. 282 STUDIES IN SHAKESPEAREAN DRAMA 14 The strict keeping of this vow will change his life in what particulars? 15 In what frame of mind does he meet Horatio a| and Marcellus? 16 Does he show any indication that his reason is affected by his interview with the Ghost? 17 Why will he not tell Horatio and Marcellus what ihe Ghost has revealed? 18 Why is he so anxious for secrecy? 19 How do you interpret the following speech? How strange or odd soe'er I bear myself, As I perchance hereafter shall think meet To put an antic disposition on. 20 His final conclusion is, The time is out of joint: O cursed spite, That ever I was born to set it right ! Interpret this speech. Does it shed any light on his future action? 21 Is it any indication of his character? IV Hamlet mid the King First Movement — Guilt 1 Note that we are first introduced to Hamlet in the family relation. In what frame of mind is he? 2 He begins by talking in riddles. Interpret his first two remarks if you can. 3 What is the King's attitude toward Hamlet? The Queen's? Are they sincere? 4 What is Hamlet's philosophy of grief? What the King's? HAMLET 283 5 Does the Queen in any way sound the keynote to the King's speech? 6 Is the King sincere? Does he really wish Hamlet to remain at home? 7 What would have been the result had Hamlet returned to Wittenberg? 8 Does the King at first think his nephew insane? 9 What means does he take to find out positively? 10 How^ does Hamlet appear and talk to the King? Does he talk like a really insane man? 11 Does he read the King's mind? 12 How does he plan to entrap the King? 13 Who shows the greater system and deliberation in planning, Hamlet or the King? Which succeeds? 14 Why does the King "fright with false fire"? 15 Do you see any evidence that after the play tht King is convinced with regard to Hamlet's insanity? 16 Why does not Hamlet kill the King when he finds him alone on his knees? 17 Is Hamlet sincere when he decides not To take him in the purging of his soul, When he is fit and season'd for his passage, or is he trying to excuse himself? Second Movement — Retribution 1 Give the King's reasoning about sending Hamlet to England. 2 Interpret Hamlet's talk to the King about the body of Polonius. 3 What excuse does the King make to I lamlel f : sending him to England? 284 STUDIES IN SHAKESPEAREAN DRAMA 4 When in the Queen's closet, how does Hamlet know that he is to be sent to England? 5 Interpret "I see a cherub that sees them." 6 At the close of this conversation, why, when Rosencrantz and Guildenstern have passed out, does the King disclose his plans for the death of Hamlet? 7 What effect does the news of Hamlet's return have upon Laertes in his relation to the King? 8 Is there any evidence that the King has fore- stalled Hamlet's possible return by another plan to get rid of him? 9 Do you find any evidence that Hamlet sees the King, as he says, to ''recount the occasion of my sudden and more strange return," or that he ever has any real conversation with him after his return ? 10 How many times do they come into actual per- sonal contact? On what occasions? 11 What has the King planned to do in case the scheme with Laertes fails? 12 Would the King's plans have succeeded without Laertes's poisoned foil? 13 All through the play we see that the King depends on his plans and Hamlet depends on his wits. Which o'er master the other, the plans or the wits? V Hamlet and His Mother 1 How is Hamlet affected by the discovery that his mother has been false to his father and to her true womanhood ? 2 How many times in this play does Hamlet meet his mother, and under what conditions? HAMLET » 285 3 Who plans the closet scene, and for what pur- pose? 4 In what mood is Hamlet when he goes to his mother's closet? 5 Does he obey the injunction of the Ghost to leave her to heaven, And to those thorns that in her bosom lodge, To prick and sting her? 6 Is she afraid of him? When he says, And — would it were not so ! — you arc my mother, what are his inmost thoughts and feelings? 7 Wlien Hamlet thrusts through the arras, does he really think he is going to kill the King? Must he not recognize Polonius's voice when the old man calls for help? 8 When Hamlet sets up to his mother a glass where she may see the inmost part of her, how does he succeed? What ability does he show? Do you think he would be able to convince a jury now^adays? 9 When she confesses that he has turned her eyes into her very soul, and begs him to speak no more, why does he not stop? 10 Why does the Ghost appear to Hamlet at this point ? 1 1 What effect does Hamlet's vision have upon the Queen ? 12 What does the Queen mean when she says This bodiless creation ecstasy Is very cunning in? 286 STUDIES IN SHAKESPEAREAN DRAMA 13 Do you notice any change in Hamlet's attitude toward his mother after the visitation of the Ghost? 14 How does he feel toward her at the close of this part of the conversation? 15 Do you consider his last charge to his mother an evidence of sanity or of insanity? 16 Do you think the Queen believes him insane? 17 Does she keep her pledge to Hamlet? 18 When she realizes that she is dying, to whom does she give her last thought? 19 Does Hamlet truly love his mother? 20 Does she truly love him? 21 Does he forgive her? 22 He so sweetly and tenderly says, And when you are desirous to be blest I'll blessing beg of you. Does she give him the opportunity? VI Hamlet mid Ophelia First Movement 1 Study carefully Hamlet's vow after the Ghost leaves him ; do you find in it any key to his treatment of Ophelia ? 2 Is Hamlet's personal appearance when he visits Ophelia in her closet any evidence of insanity? 3 Is he trying to make her think him insane? 4 For symptoms of love, refer to the conversation between Rosalind and Orlando in As Yoti Like It, in the last part of Scene 2, Act iii. HAMLET 287 5 Account for Hamlet's letters to Ophelia. Do they sound like Hamlet, the intellectual scholar from Wittenberg ? 6 As shown by the interview between Hamlet and Ophelia, planned by Polonius, in what mood is Hamlet when Ophelia enters? 7 How do you interpret Hamlet in this interview? Does he really love Ophelia ? How do you account for his severe talk? Is he gentlemanly? Can you read between the lines and trace any evidence of tenderness? Some think he is heartbroken because he knows that he must give her up. and at her treatment of him. and that he is forcing himself to go to these extremes in order to keep up and not break down completely. What do you think of this view? 8 Why does he suddenly interrupt himself with the inquiry, "Where's your father?" 9 Interpret his speech beginning "I have heard of vour paintings too." What has made him mad? ' 10 In "All but one shall live," to whom does he refer? 11 Does he wish to make Ophelia believe him insane ? 12 Does she believe him insane? 13 Has Polonius succeeded in convincing the King that Hamlet is mad because of neglected love? 14 Is it natural for Hamlet to seek Ophelia's com- pany at the play? 15 Does he show any evidence of insanity here? Does Ophelia really love Hamlet? Give her estimate of him. 288 STUDIES IN SHAKESPEAREAN DRAMA Second Movement In the second movement, Ophelia has lost both father and lover — the father slain by the lover's hand, and Hamlet sent from the country. Left thus alone, she is unable to bear the strain of her environments, and her mind completely gives way. The poet leaves us in no doubt about her mental condition. 1 Is there any dramatic purpose in having her brought to the Queen by Horatio? 2 What is the burden of her song? Why did not the poet make her sing of her lover? 3 How are the King and Queen affected by her condition ? 4 Can you see any dramatic purpose in having her brought to them in this condition at this time? 5 What is the dramatic purpose in bringing in Laertes in armed rebellion at this point, and of having him confront Ophelia? 6 Can you see any dramatic purpose in having the news of her death brought to Laertes just as the King has finished disclosing his plot to take Hamlet's life? 7 Is Ophelia's death accidental or does she commit suicide ? 8 Do you find anything in her songs or her talk which indicate that her insanity will take the form of suicidal intent? 9 In his remarks at the grave does the Priest show the spirit of true Christianity, or that of religious formalism ? TO How do you account for Hamlet's leap into the HAMLET 289 grave and his struggle with Laertes? Do you regard it as evidence of great love for Ophelia? II Which of the four inner Hamlets is manifested here? VII Hamlet and Polonius Polonius sounds the keynote to his own character in his interview wdth Reynaldo, when he says: Your bait of falsehood takes this carp of truth, And thus do we of wisdom and of reach, With windlass and with assays of bias. By indirections find directions out. He is the scheming, witty politician, utterly devoid of conscience or of true moral principles. Cunning is his only basis of action. And I do think, or else this brain of mine Hunts not the trail of policy so sure As I have us'd to do — that I have found The very cause of Hamlet's lunacy. This is the man who is prying out Hamlet's secret — one who has nothing whatever in common with Handet's nature. 1 \Miy does Polonius warn Ophelia against Llandet ? 2 Do you find any evidence that Polonius is justifialde in slurring Hamlet's character as he does? 3 Does Polonius think Handet's i)ersonal appear- ance, when he visits Ophelia in her closet, an evidence of insanity or of intense love? 4 Do you think Polonius justifiable in finally con- 290 STUDIES IN SHAKESPEAREAN DRAMA eluding that Hamlet is insane, and because Ophelia has repulsed him? 5 What do you think of his 'plans for detecting Hamlet? 6 Why does Hamlet call him a fishmonger? 7 Does Hamlet read Polonius? Why does he ask, "Have you a daughter ?" before Polonius mentions Ophelia ? 8 He talks in riddles until Polonius leaves him, when he speaks of "these tedious old fools" ; what does he mean by this? 9 Compare Hamlet and Polonius in this conver- sation. 10 Has Polonius accomplished anything in this interview^ ? 11 AVhen giving Ophelia directions about meeting Hamlet, he says: We're oft to blame in this . . . that with devotion's visage And pious action we do sugar o'er The devil himself. What does he mean? Is there any dramatic purpose in putting these words into his mouth at this time? 12 What underhanded cunning does he now show? 13 Which has outwitted the other, Hamlet or Polo- nius? 14 Do you find any evidence that Polonius is doubt- ful about Hamlet's insanity? 15 Does Polonius succeed in convincing the King? 16 Do you think the. King really believes Hamlet at all insane? HAMLET 291 17 What is Polonius's next plan? 18 Interpret the conversation between Hamlet and Polonius after the play, when i*olonius conies in to tell Hamlet that the Queen would speak to him. 19 Interpret, "They fool me to the top of my bent." 20 Wliy does the poet have Hamlet left alone at this point? Read carefully Hamlet's short soliloquv. Note his frame of mind when he sees the king on his knees, and when he goes to meet his mother. 21 In the closet scene, which Polonius thinks he has so cunningly planned, do you think that Hamlet really expects to kill any one when he makes a pass through the arras, or is it simply a random thrust niade in the heat of the moment? 22 Do you see any object in having Polonius killed at the very beginning of this interview ? Whv not carry him through the play? 23 Does Hamlet show any regret for what he has done? Note that he has just refused to kill the King when he found him alone. Take thy fortune ; Thou find'st to be too busy is some danger Interpret. Do you agree with Hamlet? 24 Does Polonius deserve his fate? 25 Can you justify Hamlet? VIII Hamlet and Rosencrant- and Guihicnstcru First Movement 1 How does Hamlet receive Rosencrantz and Guildenstcrn at first? What seems to be his spirit?^ 292 STUDIES IN SHAKESPEAREAN DRAMA 2 Compare the way in which he handles them with his handhng of Polonius. 3 What does he mean when he says : ''By my fay I cannot reason," and "I am most dreadfully attended"? Has he assumed an unnatural role until he is at last in a maze of doubt about himself? ' 4 Why does he make Rosencrantz and Guilden- stern confess that, they have been sent for by the King? Are they keen enough for him? 5 Why does not Hamlet m.ake them tell why they were sent for instead of telling why himself? (Note how naturally the coming of the players is introduced.) 6 When Polonius enters, Hamlet foresees his errand. Why does he say: "When Roscius was an actor at Rome"? 7 Why does he refer to Jephthah? 8 Thus far have Rosencrantz and Guildenstern accomplished anything ? 9 In the conversation after the play, does Hamlet show any desire to make Rosencrantz and Guildenstern think him insane? lo Compare his talk with them with his talk with Polonius. What is his real state of mind? Second Movement 1 Hamlet is now sent to England in charge of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern. Why at the time of starting does he send them ''a little before"? 2 What does he mean when he tells the Queen, "Let it work; for 'tis sport," etc. (last of closet scene) ? HAMLET 293 3 Does Hamlet suspect the contents of the com- mission ? 4 How can the Hamlet who could not kill the King when he found him alone deliberately send his two friends (?) to their death? 5 Does he have any conscience conflict over this? 6 Do Rosencrantz and Guildenstern know the contents of the commission? 7 Does Horatio condemn Hamlet for the deed? 8 Why did not the poet allow him to live to hear of their death? 9 Do )'ou think Hamlet was justifiable in thus changing the commission? IX Hamlet and Horatio 1 What is the real dramatic purpose of Horatio in the play? 2 What really active part does he take? 3 Is he a man of action in the play? 4 Note his appearance in the play : First Movement First, at the opening of the play, as a connecting link between the objective Ghost and the subjective ghost in Hamlet. Secondly, in the middle of the play, to witness the play to ''catch the conscience of the King." Second Movement First, merely to introduce Ophelia in Act iv in her wrecked mental condition. 294 STUDIES IN SHAKESPEAREAN DRAMA Secondly, accompanying Hamlet through Act v to the final grand tragedy. 5 He appears only once except in connection with Hamlet. How does he aid Hamlet? 6 Has Hamlet confided to him the secret of his father's murder? 7 Does he aid Hamlet in laying any plans for revenge? Does he make any suggestions? 8 Do we learn anything of Hamlet's experience that is of dramatic value, which without Horatio we should have no good way of finding out? 9 Why is he so sure that Hamlet will lose the wager with Laertes? 10 How do you account for the visit of Hamlet and Horatio to the churchyard? 11 Why was it dramatically necessary that Horatio should survive the grand catastrophe? 12 Show that Horatio is a perfectly mediated char- acter — that his life is a life of triumph — that he is not, as some would have it, good simply because he is too weak to be anything else. 13 Can you see that his office at the last is to aid in restoring harmony to the state of Denmark, which, according to the ethics of the Drama, only a mediated character can do? 14 Give Hamlet's estimate of Horatio. X Hamlet's Character In answering the following points, quote references, giving author, act and scene: HAMLET 295 Outward j i His appearance before his father's death; Hamlet | 2 After his mother's marriage. j I The Instinctive or Impulsive. Inner j 2 The Imaginative. Hamlet 3 The Moral and Religious. 4 The Intellectual or Reflective. 1 Trace each, of these Hamlets individually through the play. 2 In the subjective conflicts, which of them finally gets the mastery, and determines the final issue of Hamlet's life? 3 Is Hamlet a well-balanced character? 4 Is his life a failure? Why, or why not? 5 Between Hamlet's meeting with the Ghost and the play there is supposed to be an interval of about two months ; what is he doing all this time, when he has declared himself so anxious to sweep to his revenge? 6 Were Hamlet actuated by ambition for his lost crown, would he hesitate to kill the King? 7 Does ambition for worldly honors contain the seeds of death? 8 Hamlet is the chief "soliloquizer" of all of Shakespeare's characters. Why is this? 9 Trace Hamlet through his soliloquies, giving the circumstances, theme and arguments of each. 10 How many times and under what circumstances does he chide himself for inaction? What reasons does he give? Is he just to himself? 1 1 For how many deaths is Hamlet responsible ? Do you think he is in any way responsible for Ophelia's sad end? If so. in what wav? 296 STUDIES IN SHAKESPEAREAN DRAMA 12 From an ethical standpoint, does Hamlet come to his tragic end because he does not kill the King or because he kills Polonius? 13 Make a list of Hamlet's characteristics. Give references. 14 Does he always appear the same to the same persons? To whom is he always rational? To whom does he feign insanity? 15 Who believes him insane? Who believes him sane? What does he think about it himself? 16 What did Shakespeare think his condition of mind to be? What is your own opinion? 17 What would be the effect upon the drama to leave out the insane element entirely, and have Hamlet work against the King in a perfectly rational way, as the King plans against Hamlet? Do you think it would in any way detract from the interest? If so, how? 18 Try to prove: 1 That he was insane. 2 That he feigned insanity. 3 That he was rational and did not feign insanity. 19 One never knows what turn the insane mind may take at any moment. Do you think an artist could base an artistically constructed drama upon the vagaries of an insane man? XI The King 1 What statesmanlike ability does Claudius show ? 2 What incidents in the play bring out his ability? 3 Were it not for his corrupt moral character, HAMLET 297 what kind of a King do you think Claudius would make ? Compare Hamlet with him in this particular. 4 When we are first introduced to the King, why does he preface business by such extended remarks about his family affairs? Do you see any special sig- nificance in it? Show how this entire speech gives the keynote to his character. 5 Does Gertrude know of the character of her first husband's death? 6 Does Claudius advise with Gertrude in the mak- ing of his plans? (Compare him with Macbeth.) 7 What purpose does Gertrude serve in the play? How is she related to the State? How is she linked with the acts of Claudius? To what extent is she his partner in crime? 8 In planning, how does Claudius always try to make sure of success in the end? 9 Has he great confidence in Polonius? TO What do you think of his plan to bring Rosen- crantz and Guildernstern to court? 11 Since Hamlet is so little disposed to act, why should the King fear him so much? 12 Analyze carefully the King's discussion of his crime, of prayer, of repentance. What is his theory of each? 13 What difference does he see between courts of justice in this world and above? 14 What is the result of his conscience conflict? 15 Do you see any evidence that, after all he. like the drowninsar, Octavius, afterward triumvir. Caesar, Octavius, triumvir. Caithness, (kath'ness) nobleman of Scot- land. Caius, (ka'yus) Dr., French physician. Calchas, (kal'kas) Trojan priest taking part with Greeks. Caliban, (kal'i-ban) a savage deformed slave. Calpurnia, (kal-per'ni-a) wife to Caesar. Cambridge, (kam'brij) Earl of, Camillo, (ka-mil'o) Sicilian lord. Campeius, Cardinal. Canidius, (ka-nid'-us) lient. -general to An- tony. Canterbury, (kan'ter-ber-i) Archbishop of, Caphis, (ka'fis) servant to Timon's credi- tors. Capucius, (ka-piVshius) ambassador from Charles V. Capulet, (kap'u-let) Lord. Capulet, Lady, his wife. Carlisle, (kar'lll') Bishop of, Casca, (kas'k//) a conspirator. Cassandra, (ka-san'dra) daughter to Priam. Cassio, (kash'io) lieutenant to Othello. Cassius, (kash'i-us) leading conspirator. Catesby, (kats'bi) Sir William. Cato, (ka'to) young friend to Brutus. Celia, (se'li-o) daughter to Frederick. Ceres, (se'rez) a spirit. Cerimon, (ser'i-mon) a lord of Ephesus. 2 Henry VI. Julius Ca?sar. Julius Ca>sar. Antony and Cleopatra. Macbeth. Merry Wives of Windsor. Troilus and Cressida. The Tempest. Julius Caesar. Henry V. Winter's Tale. Henry VIII. Antony and Cleopatra. Henry V. Timon of Athens. Henry VIII. Romeo and Juliet. Romeo and Juliet. Richard II, Julius Caesar. Troilus and Cressida. Othello. Julius Caesar. Richard III. Julius Ca\sar. As You Like It. The Tempest. Pericles. 328 STUDIES IN SHAKESPEAREAN DRAMA Charles VI, (charlz) King of France. Charles, Dauphin of France. Charles, the wrestler. Charmian, (char'mi-an) attendant on Cleo- patra. Chatham, (chat'am) clerk of, Chatillon, (sha-te-yori) Ambassador from France. Chiron, (kl'ron) son to Tamora. Cicero, (sis'e-ro) a senator. Cimber, (sim'ber) (S) Metullus, conspira- tor. Cinna, (sin'a) a conspirator. Cinna, a poet. Claudio, (kla'di-o) a young gentlemen. Claudio, a young lord of Florence. Claudius, (klaMi-us) servant to Brutus. Claudius, King of Denmark, uncle to Hamlet. Cleomenes, (kle-om'e-nez) a Sicilian lord. Cleon, (kle'on) governor of Tharsus. Cleopatra, (kle-6-pa'tra) Queen of Egypt. Clifford, (khf'ord)_Lord. Clifford, his son. Clitus, (kli'tus) servant to Brutus. Cloten, (klo'ten) son to Queen; step-son to Cymbeline. Cobweb, (kob'web) a fairy. Coleville, Sir John. Cominius, general against Volscians. Conrade, (kon'rad) follower of Don John. Constable, (kun'sta-bl) of France. Constance, (kon'stans) mother to Prince Arthur. Cordelia, (kor-deFia) daughter to Lear. Henry V. 1 Henry VI. As You Like It. Antony and Cleopatra. 2 Henry VI. King John. Titus Andronicus. Julius Csesar. Julius Csesar. Julius Caesar. Julius Csesar. Measure for Measure. Much Ado About Nothing. Julius Csesar. Hamlet. Winter's Tale. Pericles. Antony and Cleopatra. 2, 3 Henry VI. 2 Henry VI. Julius Csesar. Cymbeline. Midsummer-Night's Dream. 2 Henry IV. Coriolanus. Much Ado About Nothing. Henry V. King John. King Lear. INDEX TO CHARACTTERS 329 Corin, (ko'rin) a shepherd. Coriolaniis, (ko"n-o-la'niis) a noble Roman. Cornelius, (kor-ne'lius) a physician. Cornelius, a courtier. Ambassador to Nor- way. Cornwall, (k6rn^val) Duke of, Costard, (kos'tard) a clown. Court; (kort) a soldier in King's army. Cranmer, (kran'mer) Archbishop of Can- terbury. Cressida, (kres'i-da) daughter to Calchas. Cromwell, (krum'wel or krom'wel) servant to Wolsey. Curan, (kur'an) a courtier. Curio, (ku'ri-o) attendant to the Duke. Curtis, (ker'tis) servant to Petruchio. As Yo»i Like It. Coriolanus. Cymbeline. Hamlet. King Lear. Love's Labour's Lost. Henry V. Henry VIIL Troilus and Cressida. Henry VIII. King Lear. Twelfth Night. Taming of the Shrew, Cymbeline, (sim'be-lin) King of Britain. Cymbeline. DARDANIUS, (dar-da'ni-us) servant to Brutus. Davy, (da'vi) servant to Shallow. Deiphobus, (de-if'o-bus) son to Priam. Demetrius, (de-me'tri-us) son to Tamora. Demetrius, friend to Antony. Demetrius, in love with Hermia. Dennis, (den'is) servant to Oliver, Denny, Sir Anthony. Dercetas, (der'se-tas) friend to Antony. Desdemona, (dez-de-mo'nd) daughter to Brabantio. Diana, (di-an'a or di-a'na) Diana, daughter to the Widow. Dick, (dik) follower of Jack Cade. Julius Caesar. 2 Henry IV. Troilus and Cressida. .Titus Andronicus. Antony and Cleopatra. Midsummer-Night 's Dream. As You Like It. Henry VIII. Antony and Cleopatra. Othello. Pericles. All's Well That Ends Well. 2 Henry VI. 330 STUDIES IN SHAKESPEAREAN DRAMA Diomedes, (di-6-me'dez) Grecian com- mander. Diomedes, attendant on Cleopatra. Dion, (di'on; Sicilian lord. Dionyza, (di-o-nl'za) wife to Cleon. Dogberry, (dog'ber-i) foolish officer. Dolabella, (dol-a-bel'la) friend to Caesar. Donalbain, (don'al-ban) son of Duncan. Don Pedro, (pe'dro) Prince of Arragon. Don John, (jon) his bastard brother. Dorcas, (dor'kas) a shepherdess. Dorset, (dor'set) Marquis of, son to Lady Grey. Dromio, (dro'mi-o) (W) f *™ brothers, of Ephesus. ] servants Dromio, of Syracuse, ^° ^^^ ^^^ [ Antipholus's. Duke, (duke) (W) in exile. Duke of Austria. Duke of Florence. Duke of Milan, father to Silvia. Duke of Venice. Duke of Venice. Dull, (dul) a constaWe. Dumain, (du-man') attendant on King. Duncan, (dung'kan) King of Scotland. Troilus and Cressida. Antony and Cleopatra. Winter's Tale. Pericles. Much Ado About Nothing. Antony and Cleopatra. Macbeth. Much Ado About Nothing. Much Ado About Nothing. Winter's Tale. Richard III. Comedy of Errors. As You Like It. King John. All's Well That Ends Well. Two Gentlemen of Verona. Merchant of Venice. Othello. Love's Labour's Lost. Love's Labour's Lost. Macbeth. EDGAR, (ed'gar) son to Gloster. King Lear. Edmund, (ed'mund) bastard son to Gloster. King Lear. Edmund, of Langley, uncle to King. Richard II. Edmund, Earl of Rutland; son of Richard Plantagenet. 3 Henry VI. INDEX TO CIIAIUCTERS 33i Edward, (ed'ward) Earl of March, son of Richard Phmtageiiet. 2, 3 Henry VI. Edward, Prince of Wales, son to Henry VI. 3 Henry VI. Edward IV., King of England, (Earl of March). Richard III. Edward, Prince of Wales, (Edward \). Richard III. Egeus, (e-je'us) father to Hermia. Midsunimer-Xight's l)ream. Eglamour, (egTa-mor). Two Gentlemen of Verona. Elbow, (ei'bo) a simple constable. Measure for Measure. Eleanor, (el'a-nor) Duchess of Gloster. 2 Henry VI. Elinor, (e-li-nor) (W) mother to King John. King John. Elizabeth, (e-liz'a-beth) Queen of Edward IV, Lady Grey. Richard III. Ely, (e'li) Bishop of, Henry V. Emilia, (e-mil-ia) attendant on Queen. Winter's Tale. Emilia, wife to lago. Othello. Enobarbus, (en-6-bar'bus) friend to An- Antony and tony. Cleopatra. Eros, (e'ros) friend to Antony. Antony and Cleopatra. Erpingham, Sir Thomas, officer in King's army. Henry V. Escalus, (es'ka-lus) Prince of Verona. Romeo and Juliet. Escalus, ancient lord. Measure for Measure. Escanes, (es'ka-nez) lord of Tyre. Pericles. Euphronius, (u-fro'ni-us) ambassador from Antony and Antony to Ca:sar. Cleopatra. Evans, (ev'anz) Hugh, a Welsh priest. Merry Wives of Windsor. Exeter, (eks'e-ter) Duke of, uncle to King. Henry V. Exeter, Duke of, on Henry's side. 3 Henry VI. FABIAN, (fa'bi-an) servant to Olivia. Twelfth Night f 1, 2 Henry IV Falstaff (fal'siaf), Sir John. ] Merry Wives of Windsor. 332 STUDIES IN SHAKESPEAREAN DRAMA Fang (fang), sheriff's officer. Fastolfe (fas'tolf), Sir John. Faulconbridge (fa'kn-brij), Robert. Faulconbridge, PhiHp, bastard son to King Richard I. Faulconbridge, Lady, mother to Robert and Phihp. Feeble (fe'bl), a recruit. Fenton (fen'ton), a courtier. Ferdinand, (fer'di-nand) King of Navarre. Ferdinand, son of King of Naples. Feste, (fes'te) Olivia's clown. Fitz-Peter, Geffrey, Earl of Essex. Fitzwater, Lord. Flaminius, (fia-min'i-us) servant to Timon, Flavins, (fia'vi-us) steward to Timon. Flavins, Tribune. Fleance, (fle'ans) son to Banquo. Florizel, (flor'i-zel) son to Polixenes. Fluellen, (flo-el'en) officer in King's army. Flute, (flot) the bellows-mender. Ford, (ford) Master Francis. Ford, Mistress, his wife. Fortinbras, (for'tin-bras) Prince of Nor- way. France, (frans) King of, France, King of, France, Princess of, Francisca, (fran-sis'ka) a nun. Francisco, (fran-sis'ko) soldier on guard. Francisco, Lord. Frederick, (fred'er-ik) usurper, brother to Duke. Friar John, (jon). Friar Lawrence, (la'rens). Froth, (froth) a foolish gentleman. 2 Henry IV. 1 Henry VI. King John. King John. King John. 2 Henry IV. Merry Wives of Windsor. Love's Labour's Lost. The Tempest. Twelfth Night. King John. Richard II. Timon -of Athens. Timon of Athens. Julius Caesar. Macbeth. Winter's Tale. Henry V. Midsummer-Night 's Dream. Merry Wives of Windsor. Hamlet. All's Well That Ends Well. King Lear. Love's Labour's Lost. Measure for Measure, Hamlet. The Tempest. As You Like it. Romeo and Juliet. Romeo and Juliet. Measure for Measure. INDEX TO CHARACTERS 333 GADSHILL, (gadz'hil). Gallus, (gal'iis) friend to Csesar. Gardiner, (gard'ner)[Bishop of Winchester. Gargrave, Sir Thomas. Garter, King-at-arms. George, (jorj) follower of Jack Cade. George, afterward Duke of Clarence Gertrude, (ger'trod) Queen of Denmark, mother of Hamlet. Ghost of Hamlet's father. Glansdale, Sir Wm. Glendower, (glen'dor) Owen. Gloster, (glos'ter) Earl of, Gloster, Duchess of, Gloster, Duke of, brother to King. Gloster, Duke of, uncle to King and Pro- tector. Gobbo, (gob'bo) Launcelot, servant to Shylock. Gobbo, Old, father to Launcelot. Goneril, (gon'er-il) daughter to Lear. Gonzalo, (gon'za'lo) an honest old counsel- lor of Naples. Gower, (gou'er) of King's party. Gower, officer in King's army. Gower, as chorus. Grand-pre, (gron-pra') a French Lord. Gratiano, (gra-shi-a'no) brother to Bra- bantio. Gratiano, friend to Antonio and Bassanio. Grave-diggers. Green, (gren) servant to King Richard. Gregory, (greg'o-ri) servant to Capulet. Greniio, (grc'mi-6) suitor to Bianca. Grey, (gra) Sir Thomas, against the Kmg. Grey, Lady, wife of Edward IV. Grey, Lord, son to Lady Grey. 1 Henry IV. Antony and Cleopatra. Henry VIII. 1 Henry VI. Henry VIII. 2 Henry VI. 2, 3 Henry VI. Richard III. Hamlet. Hamlet. 1 Henry VI. 1 Henry IV. King Lear. Richard II. Henry V. 1, 2 Henry VI. Merchant of Venice. Merchant of Venice. King Lear. The Tempest. 2 Henry IV. Heniy V. Pericles. Henry V. Othello. Merchant of Venice. Hamlet. Richard II. Romeo and Juliet. Taming of the Shrew. Henry V. 3 Henry VI. Richard III. 334 STUDIES IN SHAKESPEAREAN DRAMA Griffith, (grif'ith) usher to Queen Kather- ine. Grumio, (gro'mi-o) servant to Petruchio. Guiderius, (gwi-de'ri-us) son to Cymbehne, supposed son to Balarius. Guildenstern, (gil'den-stern) (W) courtier. Guilford, (gil'ford) Sir Henry. Gurney, (ger'ni) JameS; servant to Lady Faulconbridge. Henry VIII. Taming of the Shrew. Cymbehne. Hamlet. Henry VIII King John. HAMLET, (ham'let) son to former King, nephew to Claudius. Harcourt, (har'kort) of King's party. Harfleur, (ar-fler') Governor of, Hastings, (hast'ingz) Lord, Hecate, (hek'a-te) Queen of Witches. Hector, (hek'tor) son to Priam. Helen, (hel'en) wife to Menelaus. Helen, woman to Imogen. Helena, (here-na) protege of Countess. Helena, an Athenian lady in love with De- metrius. Helenus, (hel'e-nus) son to Priam. Hehcanus, (hel-i-ka'nus) lord of Tyre. Henry, (hen'ri) Prince, son of John of Gaunt, afterward King Henry IV. Henry IV, King of England. Henry, Prince of Wales (Hal in Henry V). Henry V, King of England. Henry VI, King of England. Henry. Earl of Richmond, a youth. Henry (Bolinbroke) afterward King Heniy IV. Henry, Earl of Richmond, (Henry VII). Henry VIII, King of England. Hamlet. 2 Henry IV. Henry V. 2 Henry IV. 3 Henry VI. Richard III. Macbeth. Troilus and Cressida. Troilus and Cressida. Cymbeline. All's Well That Ends Well. Midsummer-Night 's Dream, Troilus and Cressida. Pericles. King John. 1, 2 Henry IV. 1, 2 Henry IV. Henry V. 1, 2, 3 Henry VI. 3 Henry VI. Richard II. Richard III. Henry VIII. INDEX TO CHARACTERS 335 Herbert, (her'bert) Sir Walter. Hermia, (her'mi-d) daughter to Egeus. Hermiene, (her-mi'o-ne) Queen to Leontes. Hero, (he'ro) daughter to Leonato. Hippolyta, (hi-pori-ta) Queen of the Ama- zons. Holofernes, (hol-o-fer'nez) a schoolmaster. Horatio, (ho-ra'shio) friend to Hamlet. Horner, (hor'ner) Thomas, an armourer. Hortensio, (hor-ten'shi-o) suitor to Bianca. Hortensius, (hor-ten'shi-us) servant to Ti- mon's creditors. Host of the Garter Inn. Hotspur, Henry Percy. Hubert de Burgh, (hti'bert de berj) cham- berlain to King. Hume, (hum) John, a priest. Humphrey, (hum'fri) Prince of Gloster. Duke of Gloster. Richard III. Midsummer-Night's Dream. Winter's Tale. Much Ado About Nothing. Midsummer-N ight 's Dream. Love's Labour's Lost. Hamlet . 2 Henry VI. Taming of the Shrew. Timon of Athens. Merry Wives of Windsor. 1 Henry IV. King John. 2 Henry VI 2 Henry IV. Henry V. 1, 2 Henry VI. lACHIMO, i-ak'i-mo) Italian, a villain; friend to Philario. lago, (i-a'go) Ancient (ensign) to Othello. Iden, (I'den) Alexander; slays Jack Cade. Imogen, (im'o-jen) daughtei- to Cymbeline. Iras, (I'ras) attendant on Cleopatra. Iris, (I'ris) a spirit. Isabel, Queen of France. Isabella, (iz-a-bel'a) sister to Claudio. Cymbeline. Othello. 2 Henry VI. Cymbeline. Antony and Cleopatra. The Tempest. Henry V. Measure for Measure. JAMY, officer in King's army. Jaquenetta, (jak-e-nct'//) a country wench. Jaques, (jaks or jaks) Lord, attendant on Duke. Henry V. Love's Labour's Lost. As You Like It. 336 STUDIES IN SHAKESPEAREAN DRAMA Jaques, son to'Sir Rowland de Bois. Jessica, (jes'i-ka) daughter to Shylock. Joan La'Pucelle, (jo-an' la pii-sel') or Joan of Arc. John, (jon) King of England. John of Gaunt, uncle to King. John of Lancaster, son to King Henry IV. John, follower of Jack Cade. Jourdain, (zhor-doh') Margaret, a witch. Julia, (jo'lya) a lady of Verona. Juhet, (jo-li-ef) daughter to Capulet. Juliet, beloved by Claudio. Juno, (30'no) a spirit. As You Like It. Merchant of Venice. 1 Henry VI. King John. Richard II. 1, 2 Henry IV. 2 Henry VI. 2 Henry VI. Two Gentlemen of Verona. Romeo and Juliet. Measure for Measure. The Tempest. KATHERINE or Katharina, (kath'e-rin) the shrew. Katherine, attendant on the^princess. Katherine, daughter to French King. Katherine, Queen, Kent, (kent) Earl of. Taming of the Shrew, Love's Labour's Lost. Henry V. Henry VIII. King Lear. LAERTES, (la-er'tez) son to Polonius, brother to Ophelia. Lafeu, (la-feO a sagacious old lord. Lartius, (lar'shi-us) (W) Titus, general against the Volscians. Launce, (lans) servant to Proteus. Lavinia, (la-vin'i-a) daughter to Titus. Lear, (ler) King of Britain. Le Beau, (le-bo) attendant on Frederick. Lena, Popil'ius, senator. Lenox, (len'oks) a nobleman of Scotland. Leonardo, (le^^-o-nar'do) (S) servant to Bassanio. Hamlet. All's Well That Ends Well. Coriolanus. Two Gentlemen of Verona. Titus Andronicus. King Lear. As You Like It. Julius Caesar. Macbeth. Merchant of Venice. INDEX TO CHAKACTERS 337 Leonato, (le-o-na'to) Governor to Mes- sina. Leonine, (le'o-nin) servant to Dionyza. Leontes, (le-on'tez) King of Sicily. Lepidus, (lep'i-dus) M. ^milius, triumvir ^ Lewis, (lu'is) the Dauphin of France. Lewis, Dauphin of France. Lewis XI, King of France. Ligarius, (h-ga'ri-us) a conspirator. Lincohi, Bishop of, Lodovico, (lo-do-ve'ko) kinsman to Bra- bant io. London, (hm'don) Mayor of, Longaville, (long'ga-vil) attendant on King of Navarre. Longsword, (long'sord) Wm., Earl of Salisbury. Lord, (lord) a. Lord Chamberlain, (cham'ber-lan). Lord Chancellor, (chan'sel-or). Lord Chief Justice of the King's Bench. Lorenzo, (lo-ren'zo) Jessica's lover. Lovel, (luv'el) Lord. Lovell, (luv'el) Sir Thomas. Luce, (los) servant to Luciana. Lucentio, (lo-sen'shio) son to Vincentio. Lucetta, (lo-set'ta) waiting-maid to Julia. Luciana, (lo-si-a'nd) sister to Adriana. Lucilius, (lu-sil'i-us) friend to Brutus and Cassius. Lucilius, servant to Timon. Lucio, (lu'shio) a fantastic and profligate. Lucius, (lu'shius) servant to Brutus. Lucius, Caius, general of Roman forces. Lucius, son to Titus Andronicus. Lucius, a boy, son to Lucius. Much Ado About Nothing. Pericles. Winter's Tale. Julius Caesar. Antony and Cleopatra. Henry V. King John. 3 Henry VI. Julius Caesar. Henry VIII. Othello. 1 Henry VI. Love's Labour's Lost. King John. Taming of the Shrew. Henry VIII. Henry VIII. 2 Henry IV. Merchant of Venice. Richard III. Henry VIII Comedy of Errors. Taming of the Shrew. Two Gentlemen of Verona Comedy of Errors. Julius Ca?sar. Timon of Athens. Measure for Measure. Julius Caesar. Cymbeline. Titus Andronicus. Titus Andronicus. 338 STUDIES IN SHAKESPEAREAN DRAMA lords, flatterers of Timon of Athens. Timon Lucius, servant to Timon 's creditors. Timon of Athens. Lucius, LucuUus, (lu-kul'us) Lucy, (lu'si) Sir Wm. 1 Henry VI. Lychorida, nurse to Marina. Pericles. Lysander, (li-san'der) in love with Hermia. Midsummer-Night's Dream. Lysimachus, (ll-sim'a-kus) governor o f Mitylene. Pericles. MACBETH, (mak-bethO general in King Duncan's army. Macbeth, Lady, wife of Macbeth. Macduff, (mak-duf) nobleman of Scotland. Macduff, Lady, wife of Macduff. Macmorris, officer in King's army. Malcolm, (mal kom' or ma'kom) son of Duncan. Malvolio, (mal-vo'lio) steward to Olivia. Mamilius, (ma-mil'i-us) son to Leontes. Marcellus, (mar-sel'us) officer. Marcius, (mar'shi-us) (W) son to Corio- lanus. Mardian, (mar'di-an) attendant on Cleo- patra. Mareshall, William, Earl of Pembroke. Margarelon, (mar-gar'e-lon) (W) bastard son of Priam. Margaret (mar'ga-ret) of Anjou, daughter of Reignier, afterward wife to Henry VI. Margaret, of Anjou, widow of Henry VI. Margaret, attendant on Hero. Maria, (ma-ri'a) attendant on Princess. Maria, Olivia's maid. Mariana, (ma-ri-a'na) betrothed to Angelo. Macbeth. Macbeth. Macbeth. Macbeth. Henry V. Macbeth. Twelfth Night. Winter's Tale. Hamlet. Coriolanus. Antony and Cleopatra. King John. Troilus and Cressida. 1, 2, 3 Henry VI. Richard III. Much Ado About Nothing. Love's Labour's Lost. Twelfth Night. Measure for Measure* INDEX TO CHARACTERS 339 Mariana, friend to the Widow. Marina, (ma-ri'na) daughter to Pericles and Thaisa. Martext, (mar'tekst) Sir OHver, a vicar. Marshal, Lord. Martins, (mar'shi-us) son to Titus Andro- nicus. MaruUus, (ma-rurus) (W) a tribune. Master-Gunner of Orleans and his son. Mecsenas, friend to Caesar. Melun, (me-lun') a French lord. Men as, (me'nas) (W) a friend to Pompey. Menecratus, (me-nek'ra-tus) (\V) friend to Pompey. Menelaus, (men-a-la'us) brother to Aga- memnon. Menenius, (me-ne'ni-us) Agrippa, friend to Coriolanus. Menteith, (men-teth') nobleman of Scot- land. Mercade, attendant on Princess of France. Mercutio, (mer-ku'shio) friend to Romeo. Messala, (me-sa'la) friend to Brutus and Cassius. Michael, (mi'kel or mi'ka-el) Sir. Michael, follower of Jack Cade. Mirando, (mi-ran'd«) daughter to Prospero. Montague, (mon'ta-gii) Lord. Montague, Lady. Montague, Marquis of, Montano, Othello's predecessor in Cypress. Montgomery, (mont-gum'e-ri) Sir John. Montjoy, a French Herald. Mopsa, (mop'sa) a shepherdess. Morocco, (mo-rok'o) Prince of, Mortimer, (mor'ti-mer) Edmund, Earl of / Maich. \ All's Well That Ends Well. Pericles. As You Like It. Richard II. Titus Andronicus. Julius Caesar. 1 Henry VI. Antony and Cleopatra. King John. Antony and Cleopatra. Antony and Cleopatra. Troilus and Cressida. Coriolanus. Macbeth. Love's Labour's Lost. Romeo and Juliet. Julius Ca?sar. 1 Henrv IV. 2 Henry VI. The Tempest . Romeo and Juliet. Romeo and Juhet. 3 Henry VI. Othello. 3 Heniy VI. Henry V. Winter's Tale. Merchant of Venice. 1 Henry IV. 1 Henry VI. 340 STUDIES IN SHAKESPEAREAN DRAMA Mortimer, Lady, wife to Mortimer. Mortimer, Sir John. Mortimer, Sir Hugh. Morton, John, Bishop of Ely. Morton, domestic. Moth, (moth) page to Armado. Moth, a fairy. Mouldy, (mol'di) a recruit. Mowbray, (mo'bra) lord, enemy to King. Mowbray, Thomas, Duke of Norfolk. Mustard-Seed, (mus't«rd-sed) fairy. Mutius, (mu'shi-us) (W) son to Titus. 1 Henry IV. 3 Henry VI. 3 Henry VI. Richard III. 2 Henry IV. Love's Labour's Lost. Midsummer-Night 's Dream. 2 Henry IV 2 Henry IV. Richard II. Midsummer-Night's Dream. Titus Andronicus. NATHANIEL, (na-than'yel) Sir, a curate. Nerissa, (ne-ris'sa) maid to Portia. Nestor, (nes'tor) Grecian commander. Norfolk, (nor'fok) Duke of, | Norfolk, Duke of, Northumberland, (nor-thum'ber-land) Earl of, Northumberland, Earl of, Northumberland, Earl of, enemy of King. Northumberland, Lady, Nym, (nim) Nymphs. follower of Falstaff. soldier in the army. Love's Labour's Lost, Merchant of Venice. Troilus and Cressida. 3 Henry VI. Richard III. Henry VIII. Richard II. 3 Henry VI. 2 Henry IV. 2 Henry IV. Merry Wives of Windsor. Henry V. The Tempest. OBERON, (o'be-ron) King of the fairies. Midsummer-Night's Dream. Octavia, (ok-ta'vi-a) sister to Csesar, wife Antony and to Antony. Cleopatra. Oliver, (ol'i-ver) son to Sir Rowland de Bois. As You Like It. INDEX TO CHARACTERS 341 Olivia, (6-liv'i-a) a rich countess. Ophelia, (o-fe'li//) daughter to Polonius. Orlando, (6r-lan'do) son to Sir Rowland de Bois. Orleans, (or-la-on') (Eng. 6r-le-anz) Duke of, Orleans, Bastard of, Orsino, (or-se'no) Duke of Illyria. Osric, (oz'rik) a courtier. Oswald, (oz'wald) steward to Goneril. Othello, (o-thero) a noble Moor. Overdun, (o'ver-dun) Mistress. Oxford, (oks'ford) Earl of, < Twelfth Night. Hamlet. As You Like It. Henry V. 1 Henry VI. Twelfth Night Hamlet. King Lear. Othello. Measure for Measure. 3 Henry VI . Richard III. PAGE, (paj) Mr. George. "1 Page, Mrs., wife to George. I Page, William, their son. [ Page, Anne, their daughter. J Pandarus, (pan'da-rus) uncle to Cressida. Pandulph, (pan'dulf) Cardinal. Panthino, servant to Antonio. Paris, (par'is) son to Priam. Paris, kinsman to Escalus. ParoUes, (pa-rol'es) follower of Bertram. Patience, (pa'shens) woman to Queen Katherine. Patroclus, (pa-tro'klus) Grecian comman- der. Paulina, (pa-li'na) (W) wife to Antigo- nous. Pease-Blossom, (pez'blos"om) fairy. Pedant, personates Vincentio. Pembroke, (pem'briik) Earl of, Percy, (per'si) Henry, son to Northumber- land. (Hotspur). Percy, Thomas, Earl of Worcester. Merry Wives of Windsor. Troilus and Cressida. King John. Two Gentlemen of Verona. Troilus and Cressida. Romeo and Juliet. All's Well That Ends Well. Henry VIII. Troilus and Cressida. Winter's Tale. Midsummer-Night's Dream. Taming of the Shrew. 3 Henry VI. Richard II. 1 Henry IV. 342 STUDIES IN SHAKESPEAREAN DRAMA Percy, Henry, Earl of Northumberland. Percy, Henry, (Hotspur) his son. Percy, Lady, wife to Hotspur. Perdita, (per'di-ta) daughter to Leontes. Pericles, (per'i-klez) Prince of Tyre. Peter, (pe'ter)^of Pomfret, a prophet. Peter, an officer. Peter, a servant. Peter, a friar. Peto, (pe'to) attendant on Prince Henry. Petruchio, (pe-tro'chi-o or ki-6) suitor to Katharina. Phebe, (fe'be) a shepherdess. Philario, (fi-la'ri-o) friend to Posthumas. Philemon, (fi-le'mon) servant tp Cerimon. Philip, (firip) King of France. Philip, the bastard. Philo, (fl'lo) Friend to Antony. Philostrate, (fH'os-trat) master of revels. Philotus, (fi-lo'tus) (W) servant to Ti- mon's creditors. Phrynia, mistress to Alcibiades. Pierce, (pers or pers) Sir, of Exton. Pinch, (pinch) a schoolmaster. Pindarus, (pin'da-rus) (W) servant to Cassius. Pisanio, (pe-sa'ne-o) servant to Posthu- mus. Pistol, (pis'tol) follower of Falstaff. Plantagenet, (plan-taj'e-net) Richard, Duke of York. Plantagenet, Richard, son of Duke of York. Poins, (poinz) attendant on Prince Henry. Polixenes, (po-liks'e-nez) King of Bohemia. 1 Henry IV. 1 Henry IV. 1, 2 Henry IV. Winter's Tale. Pericles. King John. Romeo and Juliet. 2 Henry VI. Measure for Measure. 1, 2 Henry IV. Taming of the Shrew. As You Like It. Cymbeline. Pericles. King John King John. Antony and Cleopatra. Midsummer-Night's Dream. Timon of Athens. Timon of Athens. Richard II. Comedy of Errors. Julius Caesar. Cymbeline. 2 Henry IV. Henry V. Merry Wives of Windsor. 1, 2, 3 Henry VI. 2 Henry VI. 1, 2 Henry IV. Winter's Tale. INDEX TO CHARACTI-.KS .S4' Polonius, (po-l6'ni-us) Lord Chamberlain. Pompeius, (pom-pe'yus) Sextus. Porter. Portia, (por'shio) wife to Brutus. Portia, a rich heiress, marries Bassanio. Posthumus, (pos'tii-mus) Leonatus. Priam, (pri'am) King of Troy. Proculeius, (proc^^u-le'yus) (W) friend to Caesar. Prospero, (pros'pe-ro) rightful Duke of Milan. Proteus, (pro'tus or pro'te-us). Provost, (pro-vo') (W) the. Publius, (pub'li-us) a senator. Publius, son to Marcus the tribune. Puck, (puk) a playful fairy. Hamlet. Antony and Cleopatra. Macbeth. Julius Caesar. Merchant of Venice. Cymbeline. Troilus and Cressida. Antony and Cleopatra. TheTempest. Two Gentlemen of Verona. Measure for Measure. Julius Caesar. Titus Andronicus. Midsummer-Night 's Dream. QUEEN, to King Richard II. Queen, wife to Cymbeline. Quickly, (kwikTi) Mistress, inn-keeper in East-cheap. hostess, Pistol's wife. servant to Dr. Caius. Quince, (kwins) the carpenter. Quintus, (kwin'tus) son to Titus Androni- cus. Richard II. Cymbeline. 1,2 Henry IV. Henry V. Merry Wives of Windsor. Midsummer-Night's Dream, Titus Andronicus. RAMBURES, a French lord. Ratcliffe, Sir Richard. Reapers. Regan, (re'gan) daughter to Lear. Reignier, (ran'ye-a) (W) Duke of Anjou. Henry V. Richard III. TheTempest. King Lear. 1 Henry VI. 344 STUDIES IN SHAKESPEAREAN DRAMA Reynaldo, (ra-naFdo) servant to Polonius. Richard, (rich'ard) Duke of York. Richard II, King of England. Richard, son to Richard Plantagenet. Duke of Gloster (Richard III). Richmond, (rich'mond) Henry, Earl of, Rivers, Lord, brother to Lady Grey. Robin, (rob'in) page to Falstaff. Roderigo, (rod-e-re'go) Venetian gentle- man. Rogero, (ro-je'ro) Sicilian gentleman. Romeo, (ro'me-o) son to Montague. Rosalind, (roz'a-lind) daughter to banished Duke. Rosaline, (roz'a-lin) attendant. Rosencrantz, (ro'zen-krantz) (W) courtier. Rosse, (ros) nobleman of Scotland. Ross, Lord. Rotherham, (roth'er-om) Thomas, Arch- bishop of York. Rousillon, (ro-se-yon^) countess of, mother to Bertram. Rugby, (rug'bi) servant to Dr. Caius. Hamlet. Richard III. Richard II. 2, 3 Henry IV. Richard III. 3 Henry VI. 3 Henry VI. Richard III. Merry Wives of Windsor. Othello. Winter's Tale. Romeo and Juliet. As You Like It. Love's Labour's Lost. Hamlet. Macbeth. Richard II. Richard III. All's AVell That Ends Well. Merry Wives of Windsor. SALANIO, (sa-la'ni-6) friend to Antonio and Bassanio. Salarino, (sa-la-re'no) friend to Antonio and Bassanio. Salerio, (sa-le'ri-6) messenger from Venice. Salisbury, (salz'bu-ri) Earl of, Salisbury, Earl of, Sampson, (samp'son) servant to Capulet. Sands, (sandz) (S) Lord. Merchant of Venice. Merchant of Venice. Merchant of Venice. Richard II. Henry V. 1, 2 Henry VI. Romeo and Juliet. Henry VIII. INDEX TO CHARACTERS 345 Saturninus, (sat'^ur-ni'nvis) (W) son to Emperor of Rome. Titus Andronicus. Say, (sa) Lord. 2 Henry VI. Scales, Lord, Governor of Tower. 2 Henry VI. Scarus, friend to Antony. Antony and Cleopatra. Scroop, (skrop) Richard, Archbishop of York. 1, 2 Henry IV. Scroop, Sir Steven. Richard II. Scroop, Lord. Henry V. Sebastian, (se-bas'tian) brother to Viola. Twelfth Night. Sebastian, brother to King of Naples. The Tempest. Secretaries to Wolsey. Henry VIII. Selecus, (se-lu'kus) attendant on Cleopa- Antony and tra. Cleopatra. Semproniiis, (sem-pro'ni-us) Lord, flatterer of Timon. Timon of Athens. Servilius, (ser-viri-us) (W) servant to Timon. Timon of Athens. Seyton, officer attending Macbeth. Macbeth. Shadow, (shad'o) (W) a recruit. 2 Henry IV. / 2 Henry IV. Shallow, (shal'o) Robert, country justice. \ ^erry Wives of Windsor. Shepherd, (shep'erd) (W^) reputed father to Perdita. Winter's Tale. Shepherd, father to Joan La Pucelle. 1 Henry VI. Shylock, (shi'lok) a Jew. Merchant of Venice. Silence, (si'lens) a country justice. 2 Henry IV. Silius, (sil'i-us) (W) officer in Ventidius' Antony and army. Cleopatra. Silvia, (sil'vi-o) Duke's daughter. Two Gentlemen of Verona. SilVius, (silVi-us) a shepherd. As You Like It. Simonides, (si-mon'i-dez) King of Pentap- olis. Pericles. Simpcox, (sim'koks) an imposter. 2 Henry VI. Simple, (sim'pl) Peter, servant to Slender. Merry Wives of Windsor. 346 STUDIES IN SHAKESPEAREAN DRAMA Siward, (seVdrd) Earl of Northumberland. Si ward, his son. Slender, (slen'der) cousin to Shallow. Sly, (sll) Christopher, a drunker tinker. Smith, (smith) the weaver, follower of Jack Cade. Snare, (snar) sheriff's officer. Snout, (snout) the tinker. Snug, (snug) the joiner. Solinus, (s6-ll'nus) Duke of Ephesus. Somerset, (sum'er-set) Duke of, of King's party. Somerville, (summer- vil) Sir John. Southwell, (south'wel) John, priest. Speed, (sped) servant. Stafford, (staf'ord) Sir Humphrey. Stafford, William, his brother. Stafford, Lord, of Duke of York's army. Stanley, (stan'li) Sir William. Stanley, Sir John. Stanley, Lord. Starveling, (starveling) the tailor. Stephano, (stef'a-no) servant to Portia. Stephano, a drunker butler. Strato, (stra'to) servant to Brutus. Suffolk, (suf'ok) Earl of Suffold, Duke of, Surrey, (sur'i) Earl of, Surrey, Duke of, Surrey, Earl of, son of Duke of Norfolk. Surveyor, (sur-va'or) to Duke of Bucking- ham. Macbeth. Macbeth. Merry Wives of Windsor. Taming of the Shrew. 2 Henry VL 2 Henry IV. Midsummer Night's Dream. Midsummer-Night 's Dream. Comedy of Errors. ~ 2, 3 Henry VL 3 Henry VI. 2 Henry VL Two Gentlemen of Verona. 2 Henry VI. 2 Henry VI. 3 Henry VL 3 Henry VI. 2 Henry VI. Richard III. Midsummer-Night's Dream. Merchant of Venice. The Tempest. Julius Csesar. 1, 2 Henry VL Henry VIII. Henry VIIL Richard 11. Richard III. Henry VIIL INDEX TO CHARACTERS 347 TALBOT, (tal'bot) Lord. Talbot, John, his son. Tamora, (tam'6-ra) (W) Queen of Goths. Taurus, (ta'rus) lieutenant - general to Ca?sar. Tearsheet, (tar'shet) Doll. Thaisa, (tha'is-sa) daughter to Simonides. Thaliard, a lord of Antioch. Thersites, (ther-sl'tez) a scurrilous Grecian. Theseus, (the'sus or the'se-us) Duke of Athens. Thomas, (tom'as) a friar. Thomas, Duke of Clarence. Thurio,(thu'ri-o) (W) rival to Valentine. Thyreus, friend to Caesar. Timandra, (ti-man'dra) (W) mistress to Alcibiades. Timon, (ti'mon) a noble Athenian. Titania, (ti-ta'ni-o) Queen of the fairies. Titinius, (ti-tin'i-us) (W) friend to Bru- tus and Cassius. Titus, (tl'tus) servant to Timon's credi- tors. Touchstone, (tuch'ston) a clown. Tranio, (tra'ni-o) servant to Lucentio. Travers, (tra'vers) domestic. Trebonius, (tre-bo'ni-us) (AV) a conspira- tor. Tressel, attendant of Lady Anne. Trinculo, (trin'ku-lo) a jester. Troilus, (tro'i-lus) son to Priam. Tubal, (tu'bfll) a Jew, friend to Shylock. Tybalt, (tib'alt) nephew to Lady Capulct. Tyrrel, (tir'el) (S) Sir James. 1 Henry VI. 1 Henry VI. Titus Andronicus. Antony and Cleopatra. 2 Henry IV. Pericles. Pericles. Troilus and Cressida. Midsummer-Night 's Dream. Measure for Measure. 2 Henry IV. Two Gentlemen of Verona. Antony and Cleapatra. Timon of Athens. Timon of Athens. Midsummer-Night's Dream. Julius Cipsar. Timon of Athens. As You Like It. Taming of the Shrew. 2 Henry IV. Julius Cspsar. Richard III. The Tempest. Troilus and Cressida. Merchant of Venice. Ivonieo and Juliet. Richard III. 348 STUDIES IN SHAKESPEAREAN DRAMA ULYSSES, (u-lis'ez) Grecian commander. Ursula, (er'su-la) attendant on Hero. Urswick, Christopher a priest. Troilus and Cressida. Much Ado About Nothing. Richard III. VALENTINE, (val'en-tin) attendant to the Duke. Valentine, a gentleman of Verona. Valeria, (va-le'ri-a) friend to Virgilia. Varrius, (var'i-us) (S) friend to Pompey. Varrius, servant to Duke. Varro, (var'o) servant to Brutus. Vaughn, (van or va'an) Sir Thomas. Vaux, (vaks). Vaux, Sir Nicholas. Velutus, Sicinius, tribune of people. Ventidius, (ven-tid'i-us) (W) friend to Antony. Ventidius, false friend to Timon. Verges, (ver'ges) a foolish officer. Vernon, (ver'non) Sir Richard. Vernon, White Rose, York faction. Vincentio, (vin-sen'shio) old gentleman of Pisa. Vincentio, Duke of Vienna. Viola, (vl^o-la) in love with the Duke. Violenta, friend to the Widow. VirgiHa, (ver-jiri-a) wife to Coriolanus. Voltimand, (vol'ti-mand) (W) courtier, ambassador to Norway. Volumnia, (v6-lum'ni-a) mother to Corio- lanus. Volumnius, (vo-lum'ni-us) (W) friend to Brutus and Cassius. Twelfth Night. Two Gentlemen of Verona. Coriolanus. Antony and Cleopatra. Measure for Measure. Julius Caesar. Richard III. 2 Henry VI. Henry VIII. Coriolanus. Antony and Cleopatra. Timon of Athens. Much Ado About Nothing'. 1 Henry IV. 1 Henry VI. Taming of the Shrew Measure for Measure. Twelfth Night. All's Well That Ends Well. Coriolanus. Hamlet. Coriolanus. Julius Caesar. INDEX TO CHARACTERS 349 WART, a recruit. Warwick, (wor'ik) Earl of, Westminster, (west'min-ster) Abbot of, Westmorland, (west'mor-land) Earl of, Westmorland, Earl of, Westmorland, Earl of, ^\'hitmore, (hwit'mor) (W) Walter. Widow, (wid'o) (W). ^^ idow of Florence. AVilliam. (wil'yam) a country fellow. Williams, a soldier in the King's army. WilloughbyJ (wil'o-bi) Lord. Witches or Weird Sisters. Wolsey, (wul'zi) Cardinal. Woodville, (wiid'vil) lieutenant of Tower. 2 Henry IV. 2 Henry IV. Heniy V. 1,2,3 Henry VI. Richard II. 1,2 Henry IV. Henry V. 3 Henry VI. 2 Henry VI. Taming of the Shrew. All's Well That Ends Well. As You Like It. Henry V. Richard II. Macbeth. Henry VIII. 1 Henry VI. YORK, (york) Duke of, cousin to King. Henry V. York, Duchess of, Richard II. York, Duchess of, mother of Edward IV. Richard III. GENERAL INDEX ACTION, basis of Hamlet's, 264; of King's, 265. Actors at Stratford, 54. Acts of the Drama, 122. Adam, 61. Alleyn, 62. All's Well That End's Well, 95- Andersen, Hans Christian, 249. Angels, 80, 211, 212. Animal life, 100. Antonio, 147, 149, 154, 155, 156. Antony curses Cleopatra and himself, 89. Antony and Cleopatra, 188. Arden, Mary, 52. Arden. Forest of, 77, 80. Aristides, 30. Armado, 75. Arragon. Prince of, 155. Arraignment of Paris, 44. Arthur's bosom, 76. As Von Like It, 84, 85. 97, 131, 138. Aubrey, John, 46, 59, 60. Audiences for which Shake- speare wrote, 88. Augustus, reign of, 191. B BANQUO. 214, 219, 221, 222. Barnard, John, 59. Barnard. Lady. 59, 6^. Barnfield, Richard, 65. Barrett, Lawrence, 150. Basis of the Drama, of Action Macbeth, 220; Hamlet, 264 of Hamlet's action. 264 King's, 265. Bassanio. 147, 148, 149, 154, 156. Bear, Sackerson, 41, Bear garden. 41, 62. Beatrice and Benedick, 90. Beeston, William, 46. Betterton, 47. Bellario of Padua. 157. 158. Bible in Shakespeare's Titne. 92. 93, 94; in Merchant of Venice, 158. 159. Bibliography. 313. Blackfriar's theater, 41. Blades. English printer, 100. Blessed Sacrament, The Play of, 27. Brahe. Tycho. 249. Brandes, George. 144, 189. Brutus. 77, 87, and Cassius. 194. C C/ESAR. 77, T 13 ; Shake- speare's, 189; of History 194; in War, 194; Peace, 195; personal characteristics, 196. Caesar and Brutus, 190. Caliban, 78, 112. Cassius. 1 73. Cawdor. Tliane of. 222. Characters — Index to, 318. 351 352 GENERAL INDEX Character and Situation, Com- edy of, 129. Characters, dramatic purpose of, 76, 114, 115. Characters, Shakespeare's Women, 74. Characters and Plots, 74. Characteristics, National, in Hamlet, 252. Characterization, 73. Chettle, Henry, publisher, 60. Christ, redemption through, 104. Christianity, 146. Church, 22, 24. 28, 30, 34, III. Classification of plays. Chrono- logically, 68 ; Dramatic, 124, 132; Tabular, 134. Claudio and Hero, 90. Claudius, King, 75, 128, 255, 256, 257, 265, 266. 267, 272. Climax of Drama, 128. Climax, Third Act of Drama, 123. Close, Fifth Act of Drama, 123. Coat of arms, 63. Coleridge quoted, 59, 90. College of Heraldry, 63. Collins, Churton, English critic, 53, 54, 84. Comedy, first genuine, 36 ; har- mony restored, 103; its prin- ciple. 127; phases, 1:^8, 129, 130; classes of, 131. Comedy of Errors, 130. Comedy and Nemesis, 152. Comic Action or Situation, 129, 130. Comparative Study, Hamlet and Macbeth, 304. Condell, Henry, First Folio, 16, 2^, 67. Conflict, double in Tragedy and Comedy, 127. 128. Conflict, religious, Merchant of Venice, 153. Conflict in Hamlet, 267, 276. Consequences, Fourth Act of Drama, 122, 123. Contemporaries, Shakespeare's senior, 44 ; Testimony of, 65. Contents, 5. Cordelia, 105. Coriolanus, 188. Cornelius, 257. Corpus Christi festival, 27. Coventry Mystery, 26. Crown Prince, 222. Crown, King's claim to, in Denmark, 265. Crudity of the early drama, 38. Curtain, London theater, 40. D DATE of, Merchant of Venice, 144 ; Julius Ccesar, 188 ; Macbeth, 210; Hamlet, 149. Death, Shakespeare's, 63 ; Cause, 64 ; violent, not tragic, 104. Deer-stealing, 56. Deluge, The, 27. Denmark, 249, 252, 255, 256, 257, 258, 267. Devil in Mystery and Morality Plays, 26, 28, 29. Diggs, Leonard, 66. Distinct purposes in Shake- speare, 72. Distinguishing points in Shake- speare, 71. Dowden, Edward, quoted, 45, 57, 70, 80, 89, 91, 219; table of plays, 68, 69. Doyle, John T., on Spanish law, 157. Drama defined and discussed, 21 ; Phases in Hamlet, 253. Drama, English, development, forms, 25; crudity, 38; effect of Reformation. 39. Drama, Prose, 84. GENERAL INDEX 353 Dramatic Action, Macbeth, 210; Hamlet, 265. Dramatic Classification, 124; of plays, 134. Dramatic Collision, 106. Dramatic purpose of charac- ters, 76. Dramatic Structure, 117. Dramatist, Shakespeare as a, 70. Drayton, Michael, 64. Dryden, John, 66. Dumas, Pere, quoted, 70. Duncan, crown passes to son of, 90; Murder of, 214, 222. ELIZABETH, Queen, 41, 55, 92, 96, 213. Ethics defined, 22. Ethics of the Drama, 22; of the Shakespearean Drama, 103. Ethical Conflict, 22. Ethical Element, 34. Ethical Force, greater than State, no. Ethical Principles, 103, 254. Ethical Standpoint of Julius Caesar, 129. Ethical World, discussed and defined, 23 ; Shakespeare's, 106; plan of, 107; plan tab- ulated, 113. Ethical World, 220, 257, 272. ^ Euphumism in Shakespeare's prose, 85. Everyman, Synopsis of, 30. Exposition, First Act of Drama, 122. F FAIRIES in Shakespeare. 51. Falstaff, dramatic purpose of, 76; death, 74; principle, 89. Family, Shakespeare's, 51. Family Institution, 108, 259. Family and State, relations of, 108. Family in Hamlet, Royal, Po- lonius, 259. Ferrex and Porrex, early tragedy, 38. Fiends in Shakespeare, 80. Fife, Thane of, 230. First Folio, 67 (also note). Fleance, 222, 230. Fool in Shakespeare, 81, 82. Foreign element in Hamlet, 254- Forest of Arden, 77, 78. Fortinbras, 91, 254, 259, 272. Four P's, Synopsis of, 34. Furness, Variorum, 157. ^'GENTLE WILL," 82. Gerard Johnson Monument, 99. Gervinus, German critic, 90. Ghost, motive power, 79; Sub- jective and Objective, 80; in Hamlet, 212, 252, 264, 267. Globe theater, 40. Gobbo, Launcelot, 23; Old Gobbo, S3. God and Christ, names in Shakespeare, 96. Goethe, quoted, 45. Gorboduc. early tragedy. 38- Grammar School of Stratford, 53- Gratiano, 72, 150, I55, 156, 100. Gravcdigger's wit, 72. Greene, Robert, senior contem- porary of Shakespeare, 44. 60. Greyhound, catches its prey while running, 100. Groundlings, origin of term. 41. Growth, Second Act of Drama, 122. Guildenstern, 261, 263, 266. 271. Guilds, 39- 354 GENERAL INDEX H HALL, Dr. John, 58. Hall, Susanna, 58, 63. Hall, Elizabeth, 59. Hamlet, his humor, 72 ; insan- ity, 76; prose speech, 83; re- ligious conscience, 92. Hamlet, Ghost, 77 ; influence of, 79; religious intensity, ■92; a study in insanity, 92; Scripture, 93, 94; ideal tragedy, 131 ; strong drama, 138. Hamlet and Macbeth, 222; Comparative Study, 304. Hamlet, A Study of, 249. SIDELIGHTS The Fame of Hamlet, liter- ature, 249; Evolution of the Play, 249; Shake- speare in the Play, 249; the Sphinx, 250; Our In- terest, 251, Points of Interest About the Play Length, 251 ; Source of Plot, 252; Ghost, 252; Play Acting, 253; Phases of the Drama, 253; Insanity, 253 ; Ethical Principles, 254. THE FOREIGN ELEMENT Norway, represented by For- tinbras, 254; Fortinbras in rebellion, 255 ; Mediated, 256; Fortinbras and the State, 257; the King, 257; Hamlet, 258. THE FAMILY INSTITUTION Royal family, Polonius' fam- ily? 259; the Contradictory Hamlet — Outward, Inner, 261 ; Effect of Action^ 263. THE PLAY Basis, 264; Hamlet's, 264; King's, 265; Necessity of Ghost, 264; the Crime, 265 ; the Revenge, 265 ; King's Claim to Crown, 265 ; Hamlet's position, 266; Justice of the de- mand, 266; Obstacles to overcome, 267; the Con- flict, Hamlet, 267; King, 269. Nemesis ' Polonius, 269; OpheHa, 270; Queen, 270; King, 270; Laertes, 270 ; Hamlet, 271 ; Rosencrantz and Guilden- stern, 271 ; office of Ho- ratio, 273; Three Ques- tions — Hamlet's insanity, 273 ; the Great Question, 274; the Real Tragedy, 275. Structure : Threads, 276 ; Subjective Conflicts, 276. CLASS STUDY Review, 277. The Play, 277. c h ar acteriz ation I The Ghost, 278. " II Horatio and the Ghost, 280. Hi Hamlet and the Ghost, 281. IV Hamlet and the King, 282. V Hamlet and His Mother, 284. VI Hamlet and Ophelia, 286. VII Hamlet and Polonius, 289. VIII Hamlet and Rosen- crantz and Guilden- stern, 291. GENERAL INDEX 355 IX Hamlet and Horatio, 293- X Hamlet's Character, 295. XI The King, 296. General Questions, 298. Scheme for Outline Book, 301. Comparative Study, Hamlet and Macbeth. I The Plays, 304. II The Men, 305. III The King and Mac- beth, 306. IV The Queen and Lady Macbeth, 307. Hamnet, Shakespeare's son, 58. Horatio, 271. Harmony restored in Den- mark, 272. Hathaway, Annie, 57. Hecate, queen of the witches, 215. Heminge, John, First Folio, 67. Henry IV , Epilogue, Purity of style, 84. Henry V, reflects Shakespeare, 74- Heywood, John, 34. Historical Drama, defined and discussed, 125. Historical Plays, order, classi- fication, 132. Holinshed, 115, 211. Holy Trinity Church, Strat- ford, 64. Horatio, 92, 128, 271. How to use the book in classes, 13.- Hudson, quoted, 24, 27, 59, yz^ 74, 9I-. Humor in Shakespeare, 80. I lAGO, 89. Ian Maclaren, quoted, 88. Ideal Realm, 80. Ideal and Real Plays, 130. Imogen, 78. Index to the characters in Index to Shakespeare's Plays, 319. Insanity in Plamlet, 253, 273. Institutions of Family and State, 90. Institutions of Shakespeare's Ethical World, 107, 108. Institutional persons, 190, 258. Interlude, origin and develop- ment, zz- JAMES, King, witchcraft, 213. Janus, Temple of, 191. Jessica, 150, 154, 155, 156. Jig, comic after play, 42. Jones, Inigo, 43. Jonson, Ben, 29, 45, 64, 65, 82. Judaism, 146. Julius Caesar, the Man and the Spirit, 126. Julius Ccosar, 138. Julius C-esar, A Study of the Play. sidelights Plot and Characters, 188. The Three Roman Plays, Theme, Date of Play, Source of Plot, 188. Shakespeare's Ciesar, iSt^; Caesar and Brutus, 190; Institutional Persons. 190; 'ITagedy and Comedy in the Play, 191 ; Ethical Standpoint of the Play, 192; World-Spirit, 192; the People in Julius Cccsar, 193- the ClilSAR OF HISTORY In War, 194; Works of Peace, 195 ; Personal Characteristics, 196. 356 GENERAL INDEX STRUCTURE Threads, 196 ; Movements, 197. Time Analysis, 197. CLASS STUDY Questions, General, 199; the Supernatural Element, 200 ; Cassius and the Conspira- cy, 200; Brutus, 201; An- tony, 203; the Word "Honor" in the Play, 204. Scheme for Outline Book, 204. Topics for Essays and Dis- cussions, 206. Justice to Characters, 75. Justice in Hamlet, 266. K KATHERINE, Queen, 74. Kempe, fellow actor of Shakespeare, 65. Kenilworth Castle, 54, 55. King (Claudius) conflict, 269, 272, 274, 27y. King John, Structure,/ 126. Knowledge, Universal, 98. LAERTES, 253, 259, 260, 270. Latin, letters in, 54. Launcelot, 83, 154. Law against deer-steahng, 56. Law of Conscience, iii. Law, Moral, 89. Law, Knowledge of, 98 ; gravi- tation, 99. Lear, colloquial prose, 85, 86; music, 97; disturbing ele- ment, 105 ; Nemesis, 106. Lee, Sidney, 48, 49 (note), 51, 56, 64. Legal aspects in Merchant of Venice, 156. Legendary plays, 124, 125; re- lation to Historical, 126; tabular classification, 132. Leicester, Earl of, 54. Lenox, 218, 229. Lincoln, 192. Literature, Shakespeare's, Classic, 24. London, Shakespeare in, 62. Lorenzo, 96, 150, 154,- IS5- Love, life-giving principle, 108. Love, Theme in Merchant of Venice, 146. Love's Labour's Lost, 61, y^, 81, 85, 138. Lucrece, 51. Lucy, Sir Thomas, 56. M MABIE, Hamilton Wright, 50. Macbeth, yj, 90, 222; Lady, 222. Macbeth Ideal Tragedy, 131. Macbeth^ A Study of. SIDELIGHTS Some Features of the Play. Date, 210; Dramatic Action, 210. Classification : Source of Plot, 211. Subjective and Objective, 211. Supernatural element, 212; Superstitions of the Times, 213. Weird Sisters, 213 ; Hecate, 215 ; The Porter, 218. Theme, 218; Basis of the Drama, 220; of action, 220, Nemesis, 220. STRUCTURE Movements : Threads, 221 ; Love Strand, 222. CLASS STUDY Review : The Play, 22^. GENERAL INDEX 357 SUPERNATURAL ELEMENTS (a) Weird Sisters, 224. (b) The Dagger, 224. (c) Ghost, 225. (d) Nature, omens, etc., 225 ; Retribution, 226. General Questions, 22"]. CHARACTERIZATION I. Macbeth, 227. II. Lady Macbeth, 233. III. Banquo, 236. General Questions, 238. Scheme for Outline Book, 238. Topics for essays and discus- sion, 240. Macduff, 217, 218, 230. Malcolm, 221. Malone, Edmund, 47. Malvalio, 75. Maria, 75. Marlowe, Christopher, 45, 107. Measure for Measure, 94, 95. Mediation, 127, 130, 155. Medical knowledge, Shake- peare's, 98. Merchant of Venice, 138, 139, 140. A Study of : SIDELIGHTS Date of Play and Source of Plot, 144; Theme, 146; Shylock's wealth, 146 ; Portia's wealth, 146; Re- ligious conflict, 146; Love theme, 146; Theme traced, 147. Structure: Threads, 150; Movements. 151 ; Comedy and Nemesis, 152; Analy- sis of Structure, 153; Re- ligious conflict, 153; Love thread, 154; Mediation. 155; Property thread, 156; Solution, 156; Some Legal Aspects, 156; Bible in The Merchant of Venice, 158. Development of the Play Questions for daily lessons, 162. General Questions, 176. Schemes for Outline Book, (A) 179, (B) 180. Topics for Essays and Dis- cussions, 181. Meres, Francis, 65. Merrygreek, Matthew, 2>^. Merry Wives, prose, 84. Midsummer Night's Dream, 55, 78, 99, 130. Moral, subjective, law of con- science, III. Moral System in Shakespeare, Hudson, 91. Morality Play, 28, 29, 30. Morocco, Prince of, 154. Moth, 75. Moulton quoted, 79. Movements in dramatic struc- ture, 120, 121, 122, 126, 129, 130, 131 ; Merchant of Venice, 151, 155. 156; Julius Ccesar, 197; Macbeth, 221; Hamlet, 276. Music, 96, 99. Mystery Play, 25, 26, 27. N NAME of Shakespeare, 51. Nash, Thomas, husband of Elizabeth Hall, 59. Nations, right to exist, etc., 109. Nature, influence of, 55 ; in comedy, 78. Negative phase of Ethical World, 112. Nemesis defined, 24; follows evil-doer, 104, 127, 130; Na- tions, 109. no; Macbeth, 90: Lear, 106; in Merchant of 358 GENERAL INDEX Venice, 152; Julius Ccssar, 194 ; Macbeth, 2ig, 220 ; Ham- let, 269. Nerissa, 150, 154, 155, 156. Newcastle, Duchess of, 65. New Place, Stratford, 62, 63, 144. Norway, 254, 255, 257, 258. OBSTACLES in Hamlet, 267. "Old Knowell," 65. Ophelia, 71, 99, 254, 260, 261, 270. Oracles, etc., 80. Osric (Hamlet), euphumism, 85. Othello, 89, 90. Outline Book, 143 ; Themes for, 1791, 180, 204, 238, 301. P's, The Four, 34. Palladis Tamia, 65. Parliament laws, 36, 39. Peace, Work of Caesar, 195. Peele, George, 44. People, the power of, 192 ; in Julius CcEsar, 193. Pericles, disputed, 133. Philippi, 194. Phillipps, J. q. Halliwell- 47- Plants, mentioned in Shake- speare, 99. Plaj^s, performance of, 42 ; re- cast, 61. Date of Shake- speare's, 67 ; table of, 68, 69 ; length of, 210. Play-acting in Hamlet, 253. Plot : Incidents of plot and of story, 113, 114; Sources of, 115, 117; Merchant of Venice, 144; Macbeth, 211; Julius Ccesar, 188; Hamlet, 252. Plot of Hamlet, graphic illus- tration, facing, 123. Polonius, 252, 261, 269 (Neme- sis), 273. Portent, 80. Porter in Macbeth, 218. Portia, Brutus', 52, 174; in Merchant of Venice, 147, 148, 149, 150. Potato, 99. Preface, 13. Principles and Structure of the Shakespearean Drama, 183. Principles, ethical, in the Shakespearean Drama, 183 ; in Julius Ccesar, 192 ; in Ham- let, 254. Property, ethical institution, 109. Property conflict in Merchant of Venice, 145. Prose, Shakespeare's, 82. Puritanism, 40, 46. Q QUEEN Katherine, 74. Queen in Hamlet ISIemesis, 270, 272. Question, The great, in Ham- let, 274. Questions on plays, 162, 199, 223, 277. Quickly-Pistol, Mistress, 76. Quiney, Thomas, 58. Quiney, Judith, 47. Quiney, Richard, letter in Latin, 54. Raleigh, Sir Walter, 99. Ralph, Roister Doister, first Comedy, 36. Real and Ideal in Tragedy and Comedy, 130. Records, Shakespearean, 45. Reformation, 30, 34, 39. Religion in Shakespeare, 91. Religious Conflict in Merchant of Venice, 146. GENERAL INDEX 359 Repentance, Horatio, King Claudius, 128. Retribution (Nemesis) follows Lear, etc., 106. Revenge, The, in Hamlet, 265. Reynaldo, 260. Richard III, spirits, ghosts, 78, 79- Richard II, Bible in, 94. Romeo and Juliet, 62, 130. Rosalind, 74. Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, 261, 263, 266, 271. Rowe, Nicholas, 47, 65. Sackerson, bear, 41. Sackville, Thomas, 38, 156. Sacrifice, the principle of, 104. Saintsbury, points and purposes of Shakespeare, 71, 72. Scenery, lack of, 43. Scenes in Acts, 123. Schemes for Outline Books, 179, 180, 204, 238, 301. Schlegel, 275. Science, gravitation, 99. Scotland, crown elective, 221. Senior contemporaries, Shake- speare's, 44. Sidelights in Merchant of Venice, 144; Julius Ccesar, 188; Macbeth, 210; Jiamlct, 249. Sidney, Sir Philip, quoted, 38. Shakespeare's senior contempo- raries, 44. Shakespeare, name, common, spelling, 51. Shakespeare, John, 52 ; Gilbert, Richard, Edmund, Joan, Anne, 53. Shakespeare, The Study of. Suggestions, 137. . Shakespeare in Hamlet, 249. Shakespeare and His Dra- mas: Taine, Dovwlen, Ben Jonson quoted, 45. Shakespeare, William, scarcity of records, 45 ; early biogra- phers unreliable, 46; authen- tic biographers, 46, 47 ; biog- raphers of our own time, 47; Facts gleaned from records, 48; Birthplace, 50; birth and baptism, 50, 51 ; Name, 51 ; Family, 52; Boyhood and education, Mr, Churton Col- lins c[uoted, 53, 54; Dramatic atmosphere of Stratford, 54; Influence of Nature, 55 ; na- ture and human nature his teachers, 55 ; The Poaching Legend, 55; Marriage, 57; Children, 58 ; Family extinct, 59. In London: Coleridge quoted, 59 ; Greene's jealousy, 60. As an Actor : Ghost, Adam, 60; recasting plays, 61 ; Play-writing, 61, 62 ; Re- turn to Stratford, bought New Place, 62 ; cause of financial success, 63 ; Will, death and burial, 63 ; New Place sold, 63 ; Statue placed in Westminster, 64 ; Cause of death, 64 ; Testimony of con- temporaries, 65; Gerard Johnson Monument, 66 ; Translations, 66; Shake- speareana, 66, 67. Disorder of his writings: First Folio, 67, Date of Plays, 67 : Dow- den's Classification, 68, 69. Shakespeare as a Dramatist, 70; Dowden, Dumas Pere, Snider quoted, 70; Fidelity to human nature, 71 ; Saints- bury quoted, 71, y2. Shakespeare universal, jt, : re- flects himself in Henry I', 74. Characterization, 73. Shakespeare's Women, 74; 360 GENERAL INDEX Character and Plots, 74; Jus- tice to characters, 75, 76; dramatic purpose of, 36; The Supernatural, 'JT, As a mo- tive power, 79; Moulton's three propositions, 79; Forms of, 80; Humor, 80; sympa- thy with the Fool, 81. Shakespeare's Prose, 83; Prose Drama, Shakespeare's cre- ation, 84; Five styles (Col- lins), 85. Shakespeare as a Teacher : Morals : Immoral characters, 88 ; Dowden, Gervinus, Coleridge quoted, 90. _ Institutions of Family and State, Shakespeare loyal to, Hudson quoted, 91. Religion, 91 ; The Bible in Shakespeare, 92; in Eng- land, 93 ; Shakespeare's knowledge of, 94. Music, Shakespeare's appre- ciation of, 96. Universal Knowledge : Law, 98; Medical, 98; Science, 99; Nature, 99; Animal life, 100; Topography, 100; Vocabulary, 100. Shakespeareana, 67. Shakesperiana for January, 1893, 157. . Shakespeare Library, a small, 313- Shottery, Anne Hathaway s home, 57. Shylock, the Jew, human, prose, 83. Snider, Denton J., quoted, 25, 30, 70- Snitterfield, 52. Sphinx, The, in Hamlet, 250. Sprites in Shakespeare, 80. Stage, Shakespeare's retirement from, 62. State and Family interdepend- ent, 108. Statue of Shakespeare, 64. Stratford-on-Avon, 50, 53, 54, 62, 63. Stories in plot of Merchant of Venice, 144. Structure, Dramatic, 117; Me- chanical, 122; of Historical dramas, 126; Comedy, 129. Structure, Merchant of Venice, 150; analysis of, 153; Julius Ccesar, 196; Macbeth, 221; Hamlet, 276. Study of an individual play, 139 ; of special plays, 142. Sturley, Abraham, letters in Latin, 54. Subjective and Objective, 211. Supernatural, The, beliefs in, yy; as a motive power, 79; Forms of, 80 ; in Hamlet and Macbeth, 212. TABULAR, dramatic classifi- cation of Shakespeare's plays, 134- Taine quoted, 45. Tatler III quoted, 96. Teacher, Shakespeare as a, 87. Tempest, The, 62 ; Supernat- ural world dramatized, 78. Theater in Shakespeare's Time, 39; Theaters built, 40. Theobald, edited Shakespeare, 1733, 60. Theme : Merchant of Venice, 145 ; traced, 147 ; Julius Ccesar, 188; Macbeth, 218. Thom, William Taylor, quoted, 138. Thorvaldsen, 249. Threads: Discussed, 117; traced, Hamlet, 118; Romeo GENERAL INDEX 361 and Juliet, ii8; Defined, 121 ; in Historical Drama, 126; ' Comedy, 129, 130. Threads in Merchant of Venice, 150; traced, 153; tabulated, 141; Julius Ccesar, ig6; Alac- betli, 221 ; Hamlet, 276. Time Analysis, Julius Ccesar, 197; table, 198. Titns Adronicus, classification, 132, 133- Topics for essays and discus- sion. Merchant of Venice, 181 ; Julius Ccesar, 206 ; Mac- beth, 240 ; Hamlet, 302. Tragedy, first Gorboduc, 38. Tragedy and Comedy, 127; Ideal and Real, 130; in Julius Ccesar, 191. Tragedy, The Real, in Hamlet, 275- Translations of Shakespeare, 66, no, Transubstantiation, 28. Treatment of immoral charac- ters, 88. Trinity Church, Stratford, S3- Troilus and Cressida, law of gravitation, 99. Twelfth Nig Jit, prose in, 84. Typography, Shakespeare's knowledge of, 100. U UDALL, Nicholas, first Com- edy, 36. Ulrici, quoted, 75. Universality of Shakespeare's plays, 73. Universal knowledge, 98. V VENUS and Adonis, 51. Vice in the Morality Play, 28. Vice, not condoned, 88. Vocabulary, Shakespeare's, 100. Versatility, Shakespeare's, 137. Variorum, Furness, 157. Voltimand and Cornelius, 157. W WAR of the Theaters, 65. Warwick in 2 Henry vi, iii ; 2 Humphrey's body, 98. Warwickshire, 50, 51. Wealth, Shylock's, Antonio's, 145 ; Portia's, 146. Weird Sisters, essential in Macbeth, yy ; influence, 79, 212, 213; mission, 220; home, 230. Wendell, Barrett, quoted, 251. Westminster Abbey, Poet's Corner, 64. Whitney, Eli, 211. Will, Shakespeare's, 64; Quo- tation from, 92. Wilmcote, home of Mary Arden, 52. Winter, William, 50, 64. JP'inter's Tale, euphuistic prose, 85 ; as Comedy, 130. Witchcraft, King James, 213. Witches in Shakespeare, 80; in Macbeth, 213. Women players, 42. Women, Shakespeare's, 74. World Spirit, 109; defined, no; triumph of the best, III. World Spirit and the People, 192. Writings of Shakespeare, First Folio, 67. % B »9i' Deacidified using the Bookkeeper process. Neutralizing agent: Magnesium Oxide Treatment Date: Feb. 2009 PreservationTechnologies A WORLD LEADER IN COLLECTIONS PRESERVATION 111 Thomson Park Drive Cranberry Township, PA 16066 ' % / %, ■ V "''1 •'V^ ^:'-'\^. * ""j^~^^^ ■y \--a^.v^' OOBBSBROS. LIBIIA"^ BINOINO ST. AUGUSTINE 2^ FLA.