Is he to blame for what follows?

ACT II

PORTIA'S CASKETS

Why is Jessica's story intertwined with Portia's? What dramatic purposes does it serve? Are Jessica and Launce alike justified in leaving Shylock? Why? (See Introduction to the Play in First Folio Edition for suggestion). Is the Jew's lament for his daughter although piteous, inadequate.

Is the choice of the gold and the silver by the Moor and Spaniard significant of their natures?

What reason is there to find in the symbolism and the persuasion to choice each suitor employs that Portia's father has used the wisdom of a seer in prescribing the choice from the three caskets?

QUERIES FOR DISCUSSION

Do you like Jessica? Why? In what ways are Portia and Jessica alike in the generousness of love though opposite in circumstances?

Is Jessica's elopement to blame for her father's joy in the wreckage of Anthonio's ships and his final exaction of the bond? Was it introduced in the Plot for this purpose?

ACT III

BASSANIO'S LUCK AND ANTHONIO'S LOSS

Shakespeare's creed of love as engendered in the eyes may be illustrated by passages in many other plays as well as this. What is meant by it?

Is Bassanio's daring in venturing so much for his chance with Portia itself a sign of his fitness, or the reverse? How is his casket significant of this test-stone—i.e., adventurousness?

Is the match of Nerissa and Gratiano an irrelevance to Portia's and Bassanio's courtship or an enhancement of their happiness? Show how the two points of climax in event and feeling balance absolutely but do not sacrifice each other? Are Shakespeare's experiments in bold juxtaposition of extreme fortune and happiness and utterly irretrievable devastation anywhere so poignant as the arrival of Anthonio's letter at the betrothal of Bassanio and Portia?

QUERIES FOR DISCUSSION

Is the secret of Bassanio's adventurousness the supreme honor in which he holds love? Nothing else being of so much consequence, he yields everything to love. Does Jessica, also?

The "manners" of Portia, according to Gildon, "are not always agreeable or convenient to her Sex and Quality; particularly where she scarce preserves her modesty in the expression." What is to be thought of this?

Is Anthonio's letter characteristic of his nobleness as a friend, or is it too insistent upon bringing Bassanio to him, since to send such a letter was equivalent to fetching him?

Is it Portia's best warrant as a noble bride and wife that she appreciates Anthonio's message and friendship?

ACT IV

THE LUCK REDEEMS THE LOSS

By means of Bassanio's luck in winning Portia's love and hand Shylock is finally defeated of his malicious purpose. Portia considered as the embodiment of Bassanio's luck and the instrument bringing Shylock to confusion.

Does it matter whether the law-point is disputable or not since the traditional stories on which the Play is built up afford the opportunity for its use?

Does Shylock get Justice, since he had refused mercy?

Illustrate the legal knowledge and studies of Italian women of the Renaissance affording a parallel for Portia's sagacity and leadership. (For hints see pp. 256-260 in "First Folio Edition.")

QUERIES FOR DISCUSSION

Do you think Shylock is wronged?

Does Shylock so preponderate the Play as to destroy its balance, and outweighing all other characters make them insignificant?

Are Actors justified in acting the Play so as to dwarf the Love plot and cut out Act V as needless?

Is Portia the proper counterpart in consummate character creation to Shylock? To whom does, if properly played, the ultimate interest of the Play belong?

Why does this position belong to no other character's part?

ACT V

THE RINGS

What is the business of Act V?

How is it linked to the preceding Act? Since reunion and rejoicing are not alone the business of the plot; since recognition and declaration to the two husbands, and to Anthonio, especially, are needed, as well as to the others, of the part played by the wives in solving the difficulties of the plot, the Ring scenes constitute the due dramatic conclusion of the Play. Note that the threat of quarrel over the reluctant but requisite giving away of the rings in the preceding Act makes a deceptively serious difficulty. It is happily to be solved as a result of the wives' preceding action. This difficulty and this solution at this final stage of the plot constitute a little character play that is an epitome of the action. The whole is the more happily and amusingly solved that the Audience is wise and the characters still in the dark are really perplexed.

Point out the value of the exchange of Rings as made clear in these two ways, by bringing out the characters of Gratiano, Bassanio, and especially of Anthonio as peace-maker; and by bringing out to them the fact that to the wives' love and skill the victory over the difficulties they suffered is due.

Are the rings the sole test of this?

What other news adds to the general denouement of all difficulties?

Is the summing up of the Play a victory of love and intelligence over hate and narrow-mindedness?

Show how the rings symbolize this, and music and moonlight provide the proper atmosphere for its operation. The appropriateness of the moonlight for a calm out of strife, brought about by women, is matched by the fitness of music and the reference to the harmony of the spheres to suggest that earth-harmony to which Portia was presiding Angel.

QUERIES FOR DISCUSSION

Is any incident of Act V without relevance to the plot?

Is the Play the nobler or the weaker dramatically for the poetic and symbolic influence shed upon it by Act V?



THE MERRY WIVES OF WINDSOR

If this Comedy was written, as tradition reports at the bidding of Queen Elizabeth in order to show Falstaffe in love, it is interesting to see that Shakespeare confines his love-making to mercenary motives, and by causing him to make love to two at once renders him as a lover merely a cheat.

So keeping the word of promise to the ear, he obeys by breaking it to the sense. To show Falstaffe as a lover amounts to showing him as no lover at all.

In this sense, the Play might be called a courteous satire upon the Queen's request.

THE STORY OF ACT I

FALSTAFFE IS FORCED TO "CONICATCH"

How Falstaffe falls into trouble, turns away his followers and begins a new enterprise: How do his followers take revenge? What light upon this opening of the story do scenes i. and iii. show?

What is the underplot as shown in scenes ii. and iv and a part of scene i?

Do they appear to have anything to do with each other?

QUERIES FOR DISCUSSION

Which of her suitors does Anne prefer? Which is to be preferred?

Is the grievance of Shallow against Falstaffe a necessity of the plot to show the fat knight in love, or an episode introduced out of Shakespeare's grudge towards Sir Thomas Lucy? (See pp. 117-119, 138-141, etc., "First Folio Edition.")

THE STORY OF ACT II

THE MERRY WIVES AND FORD LAY PLOTS

In Act II a third under-intrigue that of Ford with Falstaffe is added to the two before introduced.

Show how the Merry Wives reveal their separate personalities in their reception of the duplicate letters, and their plot to dupe Falstaffe.

Contrast their two husbands as their natures and marital relations are shown by their different manner of taking the information given them by Nym and Pistol. Ford, considered as Shakespeare's first study of jealousy. How does he compare with Leontes?

How does Ford assist in the plot of the Play?

What pertinence to Ford's jealousy is there in the allusion to Queen Elizabeth's Sonnet? (II, ii, 199-200).

The Sources of the Merry Wives' intrigue and what Shakespeare has done with them. (See "Sources," First Folio Edition). How is the Duel scene related to the underplot?

What characters belong in common to plot and counterplot?

QUERIES FOR DISCUSSION

Does Falstaffe show any material differences in character as he appears in this Play, in comparison with the way he appears in "Henry IV?"

THE STORY OF ACT III

THE DOUBLE DUPERY

Contrast the feelings of Falstaffe before and after the Buckbasket episode?

In which scene is Ford the worst duped?

Give an account of Dame Quickly's relations to the intrigues, and show how her multitudinous offices as go-between interfere with each other so that she is "slacke" in one of her errands. What is the effect of her slackness on the contradictions in the time of the action. (See Duration of the Action, in "First Folio Edition"). Are they only seeming contradictions? The Sources of the Ford intrigue and what Shakespeare has done with them.

Anne and her father and mother as characterized in this act, with relation to the suitors.

QUERIES FOR DISCUSSION

Is Anne the only character one can thoroughly sympathize with?

Are the situations such as owe their fun largely to coincidence, like those in the "Comedie of Errors," or to a teeming variousness in the human naturalness of all the characters?

THE STORY OF ACT IV

FORD'S ENLIGHTENMENT

Why is the Old Woman of Brentford trick a climax upon that of the Buckbasket?

Falstaffe's wish that all the world might be cheated is true to the method of the Play. Show in exemplification of this, how a fourth intrigue grows out of the third, and is introduced as late as this fourth Act. How is the joke of the Host against Dr. Caius and Sir Hugh Evans avenged? Is this reference to the "three Cozen Jermans" that are said to run away with the Host's horses, liklier to be an allusion seriously made to a real event or to make use of it as an entirely fictitious intrigue and practical joke in the Play? Is this mock happening such as could be clear by the method of enacting it and one entirely consonant with this Comedy as a farce-mosaic of laughable tricks? (See pp. 120-121, 179-180, also Note on IV. iii. 6). Discuss probabilities. The turn taken in the plot: Show how all combine against Falstaffe; also the place of this intrigue in making material for Act V.

QUERIES FOR DISCUSSION

Has the "Merry Wives" any serious or tragic moments such as belong usually to Shakespeare's Comedies?

Compare the jealousy of Ford with the jealousy of Adriana in the "Comedie of Errors." Which exemplifies the riper treatment and why?

THE STORY OF ACT V

THE DEFEAT OF MERCENARY LOVEMAKING

Make clear the ins and outs of the Fairy trap, first for its actors, then for the dupes? Can the apparent inconsistencies in the wearing of green or white and the mention of "Quickly" for "Queene" be accounted for on the supposition that everybody is deceived except Nan and Fenton? (See Notes on V. v. 421, 205-209).

The compliments to Queen Elizabeth in the Play: What are they and how is their appropriateness to the Plot made good?

Consider the "humors" of the Welsh and French speeches and episodes as exploitations and developments of the similar humors of Fluellen and the Frenchmen of "Henry V."

The fairy scenes and effects of this Play compared with those of the wedding night feast at the end of "A Midsommer Nights Dreame."

What indications are there in the Falstaffe of "Henry IV." that he is superficially affected by the Puritanism about him? Is he any more deeply affected by it in the present Play? What is the difference in his appearance in this Play with respect to Puritanic morals: Is he more affected by them, at the last, when he is so grossly their victim, or have they grown, and put him out of date in England except as an atavism?

Have Page and his Wife any loftier standpoint as to mercenary love than Falstaffe himself? Is Fenton's speech (V. v. 225-235) the moral of the last Act or is Ford's (237-238)?

QUERIES FOR DISCUSSION

Is the main design of the Play to "cure Ford of his unreasonable jealousy," as Rowe says, or to dupe and reform Falstaffe? Is the total aim sport to laugh over "by a Countrie fire?" Is it a Comedy of irony turned against all mercenary motives in love?



AS YOU LIKE IT

I

THE DRAMATIC CONDUCT OF THE PLAY: THE WRESTLING MATCH

How much of the situation existing in the play comes out in Act I. i.? And what action takes place?

The strained relation existing between the brothers Orlando and Oliver is revealed through Orlando's conversation with Adam and with his brother Oliver. The situation at court is also revealed through the conversation of Oliver with the wrestler Charles, and also the loving relation existing between Celia and Rosalind; thus we are at once put into the possession of three emotional or passional causes for action—Oliver's hatred of his younger brother, the younger Duke's hatred of his older brother, and the love of Celia for Rosalind. Of these causes for action only one bears any fruit in this scene, namely, Oliver arranges with the wrestler to kill Orlando. What are the connections existing between sc. ii. and sc. i.? First there is a picture of the loving relationship existing between Rosalind and Celia (already mentioned by Oliver in sc. i.) which reveals very subtly differences in their natures. The action set going by Oliver in sc. i. is consummated in the wrestling match, but with a result different from that hoped for by Oliver, thus leaving Oliver's hatred still present as a cause of action. Out of the wrestling match what further passional and emotional causes of action are set up? Duke Frederick's hatred for Orlando is aroused because he learns he is the son of a man he had considered his enemy, and action against him is the immediate result. Orlando is warned by Le Beau that he is not safe at the court. The Duke's hatred of his brother bears further fruit in its extension to Rosalind. The meeting of Rosalind and Orlando brought about by the wrestling match gives rise to a fresh emotional force in their budding love for each other. In Sc. iii., the state of Rosalind's heart as to Orlando, hinted at in sc. ii., is fully revealed; the Duke's hatred takes shape in his sentence of banishment or death, giving rise to a new direction for action, and the emotion of Celia's love for Rosalind bears fruit in her determination to go with Rosalind into banishment.

II

LIFE IN THE FOREST OF ARDEN

In Act II. how are the elements of action, character delineation and emotion intermingled?

Sc. i. gives us a picture of the banished Duke and his followers in the Forest of Arden, already prepared for in Act I., introduces us to the personality of the Duke, and in the conversation with the lords prepares us for coming delights in the personality of Jaques. It does not advance the action, at all. In sc. ii., the result of Celia's act in going with Rosalind is shown in the bad Duke's consternation, who determines that they shall be found, thus starting another thread of action to be developed later. Sc. iii. the passional cause of action in Oliver's hatred of Orlando reaches a crisis; Orlando is obliged to flee to save himself from death. Sc. iv. shows Celia and Rosalind arrived at their journey's end in the Forest of Arden, and making arrangements with a shepherd for a comfortable little house to rusticate in; thus is closed the thread of action started by the Duke in banishing Rosalind. In the conversation of their new companions, Corin and Silvius, we learn of the love of Silvius for the scornful Phebe, which is another emotional impulse to action, later blending itself with the plot. In sc. v. we meet Jaques, already mentioned, and get another glimpse of the pleasant company in the forest, but they are still quite detached from the active elements of the play. Sc. vi. shows us how far Orlando and Adam have gone in their flight, and sc. vii. presents again the good Duke's court, develops further the personality of Jaques, and prepares us, through his conversation about the fool whom he had met in the forest, for the contact of one of the threads of action with the element of inaction represented by this good Duke's forest court, while in the sudden breaking in upon them of Orlando it is brought into contact with another of the threads of action.

III

LOVE IN THE FOREST OF ARDEN

At the opening of Act III. what results have been brought about by the action so far? Everybody in the play except Oliver and the bad Duke has arrived in the Forest of Arden. In sc. i. of Act III. the hatred of the Duke is still active as a force, and Oliver through this means is also sent off to finally bring up in the Forest of Arden. The Duke's attitude as a motive force having worked itself out in its relation to Orlando and Rosalind, the emotional cause of action in the love of Rosalind and Orlando is free to develop, and the remainder of Act III. is devoted chiefly to the presentation of the situation between the lovers, which, owing to the disguise assumed by Rosalind, gives rise to the charming inconsistencies attending the wooing of a proxy Rosalind who is in reality Rosalind herself. Around these central lovers, whose characters Shakespeare unfolds, revolve other interesting personalities. Touchstone meets his fate in Audrey. Phebe still scorns Corin and perversely falls in love with Ganymede. The action is only advanced to the extent that Rosalind learns the state of Orlando's mind while he still remains in ignorance as to hers.

IV

HATRED BECOMES LOVE IN ARDEN

Are there any fresh elements or developments in Act IV.?

Sc. i. merely continues the love-making of Act III. Sc. ii. gives another glimpse of the good Duke's court; in sc. iii. the love of Phebe bears fruit in a letter to Ganymede, and Oliver finds his way to the forest. The bad Duke's intentions toward Orlando in sending Oliver after him are, however, frustrated by the sudden change of heart against a bad Duke is a good Duke. Contrast their actions throughout the play. Contrast also the two brothers, Orlando and Oliver. What are the resemblances between the characters of Oliver and Duke Frederick?—between Orlando and the banished Duke? Is Orlando's rebellion against his brother's injustice or the banished Duke's acceptance of his brother's injustice the more to be praised? Compare his attitude with that of Prospero under similar circumstances. Whose repentance is the more sincere, Oliver's or Duke Frederick's? Note that Oliver has lost all when he repents, while the Duke gives up everything just as he is about to realize his aim. Is the repentance of the usurping Duke merely a ruse of Shakespeare's to bring the play to a happy ending? In Lodge's story he does not repent, but is proceeded against by his brother. Contrast Jaques and Touchstone. Is Jaques's melancholy affected? What is the main difference between Rosalind and Celia? Which is the more the friend of the other? (For valuable suggestions on these points see 'Characters in "As You Like It,"' Poet-lore, Vol. IV. pp. 31 and 81, Jan. and Feb., 1892.)

QUERIES FOR DISCUSSION

Which is the better philosopher, Jaques or Touchstone, and which is more closely related to the philosophy of the play?

The characters of the two Dukes are not developed; they are merely walking gentlemen, whose office it is to keep the play in motion.

2. The Lovers of the Play.

The Different Kinds of Love in 'As You Like It.' Examples of love at first sight in Shakespeare. Note Orlando's surprise at the suddenness of Oliver's and Celia's love. Was his own less sudden? Consider Hymen's song and Jaques's remarks in the last scene as descriptive of the various couples. Does the comic element of the play, as represented by Touchstone, discredit sentiment in the play? Notice the madrigal in Lodge's novel (given in Poet-lore, Vol. III., in the article on Lodge, Dec, 1891), and consider whether Shakespeare has borrowed anything from it in characterizing Rosalind's wooing? Contrast Lodge's Montanus as a lover with Shakespeare's Silvius. Is Montanus too much of a "tame snake" to be natural? Or does this constancy in love make him a superior figure? Is it a sign of Silvius's inferiority that love has its own way with him? Can love be true that changes if it is unrequited?

Are those actors right, do you think, who play Oliver as guessing who Ganymede is when she swoons? Is Rosalind's conduct unwomanly? Is her disguise unlikely?

QUERIES FOR DISCUSSION

It is best for the man to love the most; and therefore has Silvius and Phebe's unequal love-match a better chance for happiness than Rosalind's and Orlando's?

VII

THE PASTORAL ELOPMENT

The Rise of Pastoral Poetry, and Shakespeare's Use of it in 'As You Like It.'

Compare Spenser's 'Shepherd's Calendar,' Fletcher's 'Faithful Shepherdess,' etc. Point out any differences you find between Shakespeare's and Spenser's pastoral poetry. Modern literary use of the pastoral element, Wordsworth's 'Michael.' Is the pastoral life of literature always artificial? Can a progress toward realism be shown? The humor of the play. Discuss in particular the humorous comments on contrasts between court and country life. Compare modern instances of the refinements and artifices of city life and the crudeness of work and pleasure in the country.

Special Points.—1. The Forest of Arden: Is it in England, France, or Shakespeare's imagination? 2. "Old Robin Hood of England." What are the legends concerning him? 3. The archaic words in the play. (See Prof. Sinclair Korner's 'Shakespeare's Inheritance from the Fourteenth Century,' in Poet-lore, Vol. II., p. 410, Aug., 1890.)

QUERY FOR DISCUSSION

Is the opposition shown in the play between life at court and in the country truly shown to be to the advantage of the country.

VIII

THE MORAL ELEMENT

The moral side of the Play consists, according to the Introduction in the First Folio Edition, in its persuasion toward an Arden of the disposition, or a spirit of happy good will toward all men. How far does this cover the lesson of the Play?

What is to be thought of the idea in the 'Ethics of "As You Like It"' (Poet-lore, Vol. III., p. 498, Oct., 1891), that Touchstone's opinion of a shepherd's life (III. ii.) is the key-note of the play? Are the references to fortune in the play significant? Dr. F.J. Furnivall says: "What we most prize is misfortune borne with cheery mind, the sun of man's spirit shining through and dispersing the clouds which try to shade it. This is the spirit of the play." Of this Dr. Ingleby says: "The moral of the play is much more concrete than this. It is not how to bear misfortune with a cheery mind, but how to read the lessons in the vicissitudes of physical nature." C.A. Wurtzburg says: "The deep truths that may be gathered from the play are the innate dignity of the human spirit, before which every conventionality of birth, rank, education, even of natural ties, must give way." Give arguments drawn from the play in favor of or against all of these suggestions. Is it an evidence of Shakespeare's intention to be a moral teacher that he altered the fate of Duke Frederick?

QUERY FOR DISCUSSION

Has the play any moral that is not gently satirized in it?

IX

THE SOURCE OF THE PLOT

Shakespeare's Variations from Lodge.

Compare Lodge's 'Rosalind' with 'As You Like It.'

(For this story, see "Shakespeare's Library" or Extracts in Notes and Comment in Sources in "First Folio Edition").

Is the story better without the parts Shakespeare leaves out (e. g., Adam's proposal to Rosader to cut his veins and suck the blood; his nose-bleed; the incident of the robbers accounting for Aliena's sudden love, etc.)? Why is the "Green and gilded snake" added? Isn't the "lioness" enough? Is Rosader or Orlando the finer character, and why? The new characters introduced—Audrey and William—considered as embodying real instead of ideal pastoral life. Do Shakespeare's changes affect the plot, the characters, or the moral of the story? (For an examination of the plot of the play, see 'An Inductive Study of "As You Like It,"' in Poet-lore, Vol. III., p. 341.)

A Sketch of Lodge's Life and Work. (See 'An Elizabethan Lyrist: Thomas Lodge,' in Poet-lore, Vol. III., p. 593, Dec, 1891.)

QUERY FOR DISCUSSION

Is Shakespeare's framing of the plot of 'As You Like It' not to be admired, because it is borrowed?

X

THE MUSIC OF THE PLAY

This may consist of a brief paper on the subject illustrated by a program of the songs with the old and more modern settings. (See New Shakespeare Society's Papers, on this subject; 'Shakespeare and Music,' by E.W. Naylor.)



TWELFE NIGHT

The winsomeness of this poetic comedy rightly makes the reader or the hearer hesitate to count its petals or scrutinize the stages of its growth, which are marked by its acts as symmetrically as leaf buds are ranged about a stalk. And yet, one may find that to take note of such beautiful orderliness in the delicate structure and sprightly blossoming of the poet's design enhances the appreciation of its artistic quality. Regarding it first as a whole, sum up the stages of the action, first; then the caprices its allusions denote; then the characters; and finally the poetic fancy and wit exhaled by the whole play like a fragrance.

I

THE STORY OF THE PLAY

Act I. scene i. puts us in possession of what facts concerning the Duke and Olivia? What do we learn from the conversation of Viola and the Captain in scene ii., and what course does Viola decide upon? What do we discover from scene iii. in regard to the state of things in Olivia's household? In scene iv., what relation has been established between the Duke and Viola? What three new characters are introduced in scene v., and what is the event of the scene? Act II. scene i.: What is learned of Sebastian and his intentions? In scene ii., what are shown to be the feelings of Olivia? In what previous scene was this prepared for? Does scene iii. advance the story at all? What is it taken up with? Does scene iv. advance the story? Of what scene is it almost a repetition? If it does not advance the action, what does it do? Of what previous scene is scene v. the result? What previous scene leads up to scene i. of Act III? and of what scene is it in purpose a repetition? What new turn is given to affairs in scene ii., and through whom is it brought about? Whose doings do we get a glimpse of in scene iii? Of whose plot do we see further developments in scene iv? What other issues in the progress of events come to a climax in this Act? Act IV. scene i.: Describe the complication of affairs which arises in this scene. What previous scenes do we see the result of in scene ii? and what happens that will bring about a change in the situation? What important event occurs in this scene iii? Act V. scene i.: Describe how in this scene all the complications are unravelled, and by what means all the characters are brought upon the stage. What do you think of the device to call Malvolio upon the stage? Does it not seem rather clumsy, or do you think it a further humorous touch that Viola should have to depend on Malvolio to find her 'woman's weeds again'?

What becomes evident after tracing the events of the play through in this way? That the interest of the play does not depend so much upon the story itself, as, first, upon the amusing situations resultant from the story, and, second, upon the scenes which introduce the characters in Olivia's household who are really not at all concerned in the development of the plot, but who are the occasion of many added amusing situations.

What constitutes the real interest of the two short scenes between Sebastian and Antonio? Their bearing, mainly, on scene iv. of Act III. By means of them we are shown that Antonio has an enemy in Orsino, and thus his arrest is prepared for, also how Antonio gives his purse to Sebastian, the real purpose of the arrest being to bring about a reason for Antonio's requiring his purse again from Cesario, whom he takes for Sebastian, and so to add complication to the situation arising from the resemblance between the brother and sister.

What are the situations which the story gives Shakespeare a chance to develop? On the one hand, is the Duke pouring out his love for another woman to his supposed page, who is in love with him, and thus giving rise to the series of scenes between the Duke and Viola. On the other hand, is the supposed page pressing his master's suit to a woman who loves the supposed page, and thus giving rise to the series of scenes between Viola and Olivia. Out of this love of Olivia for Viola grows the absurd situation of Viola's being obliged to fight a duel, which is made still more ridiculous through the circumstance of her challenger being a fool. Out of Viola's resemblance to her brother and her disguise grows the absurd situation of Olivia's claiming her as a husband, and that of Sir Andrew taking for his unwilling duellist the all-too-willing Sebastian.

To these situations which naturally result from the story, Shakespeare has added in Olivia's household a set of characters whose personality is such that amusing situations are multiplied. Thus we may say that the play is one of situation rather than of action, since whatever of action there is in it leads to situation, and whatever of character there is in it leads also to situation.

QUERIES FOR DISCUSSION

1. If attention is constantly given to creating humorous situations, will character-development necessarily suffer? 2. Do you agree with the Shakespearian critic Verplanck that this play bears no indication either of an original groundwork of incident, afterwards enriched by the additions of a fuller mind, or of thoughts, situations, and characters accidentally suggested, or growing unexpectedly out of the story, as the author proceeded?

II

THE WHIMSICAL AND OTHER ALLUSIONS IN THE PLAY

Pick out and explain the curious allusions in the play, noticing that these may be classed as geographical, mythological, astrological, or referable to persons or customs of the time, or books of the day. For examples of the latter class, note Sir Toby's 'diluculo surgere' (II. iii.), for 'Saluberrimum est dilucolu surgere,' an adage from Lilly's Grammar, doubtless one of Shakespeare's text-books at the Edward VI. School in Stratford; and Viola's 'Some Mollification for your giant sweet lady' (I. v.),—an allusion to the innumerable romances whose fair ladies are guarded by giants; for Maria, being very small, Viola ironically calls her giant, and asks Olivia to pacify her because she has opposed her message. (For Shakespeare's education and school-books, see Bayne's remarks on this subject in Brit. Encyc. art. Shakespeare.) The whole incident of the 'possession' of Malvolio, and the visit of Sir Topas, probably alludes to a tract published in 1599 by Dr. Harsnett,—'A Discovery of the Fraudulent Practices of John Darrel,'—in which is narrated how the Starkeys' children were possessed by a demon, and how the Puritan minister, Mr. Darrel, was concerned in it. For examples of allusions to contemporary customs, see Sir Toby's mention of dances no longer known,—'Galliard,' 'Coranto,' etc. As an example of allusions to persons of that time, Sir Toby's reference to 'Mistress Mall's picture,'—Mary Frith, born in 1584, died in 1659, a notorious woman who used to go about in man's clothing and was the target for much abuse. Astrological allusions: 'Were we not born under Taurus?' 'That's sides and hearts,' which refers to the medical astrology still preserved in patent-medicine almanacs, where the figure of a man has his various parts named by the signs of the Zodiac. 'Diana's lip' (I. iv.), ('Arion on the Dolphin's back' I. ii.), are examples of mythological allusions. Of the geographical allusions there are two kinds, the real and the sportive,—Illyria, an example of the one, the 'Vapians' and the 'Equinoctial of Queubus,' of the other. Go on through the play classifying and commenting on the allusions. What was a 'catch'? Give an example.

QUERIES FOR DISCUSSION

Are the odd allusions in the play a result of the corrupt text, ignorance, ridicule of learning? Or are they introduced to give a lively and contemporaneous effect?

III

THE DUKE AND SEBASTIAN

How does the play set off these two lovers against each other? Which has the more constant nature? Note the evidences of the Duke's restlessness and changeableness; how soon he tires of the music he calls for, of the clown's song (II. iv.). Is his first speech to Viola, on woman's constancy before the song, consistent with his second, after it? Is his own report of himself true,—'Unstaid and skittish in all motions else Save in the constant image of the one beloved'? Is Olivia's unattainableness the main source of her desirableness for him? How is it with Sebastian? Does his loyalty in love seem to be of the sort that suffers impairment when he can win love easily? The Duke craves excess in music in order that his 'appetite may sicken and so die;' Sebastian wishes 'to steep his soul in Lethe.' Do you think Sebastian and Viola alike in more than appearance? Which is the quicker-witted? Is the Duke's amicable acceptance of the inevitable and transference of his love to Viola in keeping with his character? Do you think Viola shows promise of special facility for preventing the moody Duke from tiring of her? Note that he calls her his 'fancy's queen.'

QUERY FOR DISCUSSION

Is the Duke important chiefly as the inspirer of Viola's devoted love?

IV

VIOLA AND OLIVIA

In what respects are the situations of Viola and Olivia alike? When the play opens, both are mourning the loss of a brother, and while this is made to point out the individuality of Olivia, after the first few lines we hear little more of Viola's grief. Can you suggest any reason for this? Does Viola's love for the Duke absorb her any more than Olivia's love absorbs her when she comes to feel the same? Viola and Olivia are also alike in giving their love without solicitation; but Olivia woos directly, Viola, in disguise, implies her love, and though her innuendoes are all understood by the audience, they are unappreciated by the Duke. What justification can be made for the unblushing love-making of Olivia? It could be justified by her rank, which was so much higher than that of the supposed page that advances should come from her. What signs are there that Viola's love was superior to Olivia's? Olivia's seems to have been founded on external liking, else she would not have been as satisfied with Sebastian as with Cesario; while Viola's, though it may have had no deeper foundation, was signalized by unselfishness, for she used every eloquent art of which she was capable to urge her master's suit. Notice in the first scene between Viola and the Duke how she tries to get out of going to Olivia, doubting her own ability, etc. Do you think she really doubted it, or that it was difficult for her on account of her own love for the Duke? Notice in the scene with Olivia her woman's anxiety to see her rival's face. What do you think instigated her remark, 'Excellently done, if God did all.' Was it a sudden touch of jealousy? It was clearly not the proper thing for an ambassador pressing his master's suit to say. How is it with the rest of the interview? Is her sarcastic tone judicious? Does it pique the nonchalant Olivia? Does her eloquence later, when she is assured of Olivia's obstinacy, reflect her own feelings for the Duke? What effect does it have on Olivia? Is it well-calculated to arouse her interest? In Act II. scene iv., which do you think had the right conception of woman's love,—the Duke or Cesario? What do you think of Olivia's saying that 'Love sought is good, but given unsought is better'? Which of the two characters show the more humor? Notice Viola's readiness in parrying questions that trench upon her sex. Olivia, on the other hand, can hold her own in a bout of wit with the fool, but she is perhaps not so quick-witted as Viola. We can imagine Viola at once seeing through Malvolio's attempt at pleasing Olivia, instead of taking him for mad, as Olivia did.

QUERY FOR DISCUSSION

Which is the best lover, the Duke, Sebastian, Olivia, or Viola?



V

SIR TOBY AND MARIA, AND THEIR BUTTS OR DUPES

Show how the droll situations of the play are mainly contrived by some of the characters in order to make others their laughing-stocks. Who are Sir Toby's butts? Is Sir Toby attached to Sir Andrew, or does he only make use of him for profit as well as fun? (See Sir Toby's reply to Fabian (III. iii.)). Other instances to the same effect? Why does Maria join forces with Sir Toby? Is she in fact the leader of the scheme, or is Fabian's story of its origin true? What part does the fool play in the game, and why? Note his private grudge against Malvolio. Is it a dramatic mistake that even the heroine is made the butt of these merry-makers? Trace Fabian's part in the duelling plot against Sir Andrew and Viola. Do these plots recoil in any way against the plotters? Sir Toby and Sir Andrew both get some home-truths from Malvolio while they are eavesdropping, while for Fabian and Maria these thrusts of Malvolio's are just as good fun as that which the knights enjoy better. How does some of the later fun recoil against Toby and Sir Andrew? Are the Puritans made fun of in Malvolio's person?

QUERY FOR DISCUSSION

Are the characters least scathed by the fun for that reason superior to the others?

VI

MINOR CHARACTERS

The fun of the play is capped by the presence of a particularly clever fool whose function of making every one the butt of his wit makes one of the least important of the characters represent the special drollery of the whole play. The only grudge he bears is against the man who does not appreciate fun—who calls him a 'barren rascal.' Describe the passages in which he particularly shines. Of the minor characters the fool is minor only through his station and unimportance in the plot; he really occupies much space in the play and in fact pervades it. How is Antonio connected with the plot? What traits of his does the play bring out? Is his fondness for Sebastian unnatural? How is he concerned in the foolery of the play? Is he necessary to the plot? As the fool represents the merry-making spirit of the play, so Malvolio stands for the dupes of it. Does any one sympathize with him? Who shows the clearest understanding of his faults? (I. v.). What signs are there in the play of Malvolio's being a Puritan? Is there any evidence against it? Is Maria right, for example, when she says, 'The Devil a Puritan he is or anything constantly but a time-server,' etc.? That the character of Malvolio was generally taken on the stage as a portrait of the Puritan, and that Shakespeare must have known it would borrow some of its popularity from being so considered, seems not to be denied; on the other hand, it may hardly seem to be proven that Shakespeare thought he was drawing a genuine Puritan. Show Malvolio's character, his connection with the other characters and with the plot and the foolery of the play, and state the argument for and against Shakespeare's meaning to make fun of him as a Puritan.

QUERIES FOR DISCUSSION

Is it a defect in the play that the fool, who has less to do with the plot, is more important than Antonio, who has somewhat more to do with it? Does it show that the main interest of the play is in comic situation rather than in character or dramatic motive?

VII

THE POETIC FIGURES IN THE PLAY

Observe the various figures used throughout the play, as to whether they are drawn from nature or from other sources; for example, the first speech of the Duke bristles with metaphor. Note that he speaks of music as the food of love, and bids the musicians play on that the appetite may have a surfeit, images drawn from physical nature; then that the music came o'er his ear like the sweet sound that breathes upon a bank of violets, stealing and giving odor. We should expect here some continuation in the language of sound; but the Duke continues as if he had said wind instead of sound, and then wind is personified, for it breathes instead of blows on the bank of violets, and it steals their odor and gives it to him,—the music is so sweet that it seems as if its sounds came laden with the scent of violets to his ear. Here sound is personified at first as merely breathing, then it takes on moral attributes and steals and gives. Pick out and explain other figures in the same way. Which of the characters use the most beautiful imagery? Are there any who use none at all?

QUERIES FOR DISCUSSION

Is there any special fitness in the imagery used to the character using it? Does the imagery used help you to form an opinion of the characters?

VIII

THE WIT OF THE PLAY

What are the main causes of amusement in the play? The audience, notice, is not kept in the dark one instant about any of the characters. Thus one of the sources of amusement lies in the fact that while the audience occupies somewhat the attitude of omnipotence, it has the pleasure of observing the characters of the play living their lives in the purblind way usual to mortals. Lessing said that a comedy should make us laugh at vices, but the vices must be those of characters who have good qualities also. Does 'Twelfe Night' answer to this description? Analyze the causes why the fun of the play is funny.

QUERIES FOR DISCUSSION

Which of the characters cause amusement as the result of circumstances over which they have no control? How do each of these cause amusement unconsciously? Which of the characters cause amusement through a conscious intention of making fun?



THE TEMPEST

Until a few years ago no one had succeeded in finding the Play or Novel on which the European part of the plot of "The Tempest" was founded.

An early German Play, "The Fair Sidea" had been brought forward on account of some resemblances to "The Tempest." Yet it is obviously not its source but rather an imitation or variant indirectly drawn from a similar foundation story.

Edmund Dorer, a special student of Spanish Literature first called attention (Jan. 31, 1885,) to the story more closely resembling "The Tempest" than any other, as it occurs in a collection of tales by Antonio de Eslava, called Las Noches de Invierno, or "Winter Nights," published in Madrid in 1609.

Like other such collections of stories, such as the Italian collection of Bandello, and the French of Belleforest, used by Shakespeare, Eslava's collection was translated, and, in default of the original from one of the later editions, as translated into German in 1683 (Noches de Invierno Winternachte aus dem Spanischen in die Deutsche sprach versetzet) a summary of this story was given in English for the first time as a satisfactory source of "The Tempest" in the "First Folio Edition" of the Play (see pp. 85-93 and Introduction; also for an extract and summary of "The Fair Sidea," pp. 94-95).

What may be called the American half of the plot evidently owes suggestions to pamphlet accounts of the storm and wreck and other experiences met with by Sir Thomas Gates, Sir George Sommers and others during their voyage of discovery to the Bermudas in 1610 (see pp. 92, 99, and Notes pp. 114, 125-127, etc., for extracts.)

Gonzalo's speech, too, follows pretty closely a passage in Florio's Montaigue. (For this passage see Note on II. i. 153-160).

ACT I

THE SCHEMES OF PROSPERO.

The first scene shows the storm in progress. Is there any clew given to the reader that it is a magic tempest? What is Prospero's main object in having the ship's crew and passengers cast upon his island? Is it to wreak vengeance on his enemies, to work the charm of love between Ferdinand and Miranda, or by means of that to reinstate himself? In what way would this love work to his advantage? Notice the natural way in which the reader is put in possession of the necessary information about the past of Prospero and Miranda. Warburton says of this that it is the finest example he knows of retrospective narration for the sake of informing the audience of the plot. How much of the plot is permitted to come out in this act? Why does Prospero so repeatedly urge Miranda's attention? Is she abstracted, is he, or is she already beginning to be drowsy? Why was Ferdinand the first to quit the ship? Since Prospero already knows, why does he ask Ariel what time it is?

POINTS. 1. Explain the nautical terms. 'Master's whistle.' In Shakespeare's time naval commanders wore great whistles of gold. A modern boatswain's badge is a silver whistle suspended to the neck by a lanyard. Holt extols the excellence of Shakespeare's sea-terms, but makes an exception of Gonzalo's 'cable,' which he says is of no use unless the ship is at anchor, and here it is plainly sailing; to which Furness replies, Shakespeare anchors Gonzalo's hopes on the boatswain's 'gallows complexion,' and the cable of that anchor was the hangman's rope. 2. 'Washing of ten tides.' An allusion to the custom of hanging pirates at low-water mark. (See Notes I. i. 67 First Folio Edition). 3. Compare this storm with that in 'Pericles,'—'Do not assist the storm,' etc., with 'Per.' III. i. 51-60. 4. Explain 'To trash for over-topping,' I. ii. 98, which is a blending of two metaphors. Trash refers to the habit of hanging a weight round the neck of the fleetest of a pack of hounds, to keep him from getting ahead of the rest; and 'overtopping' to trees shooting up above the others in a grove, which have to be lopped to keep them even. 5. What does Prospero mean by saying, 'Now I arise'? Simply, now I get up, and now my fortunes change? 6. 'Still vex'd Bermoothes.' Bermudas, spelled in several ways in Shakespeare's time, and called 'still vex'd,' from accounts of tempests prevailing there. 7. 'Argier.' The name of Algiers till after the Restoration. 8. 'One thing she did.' What? Are we anywhere told what?

QUERIES FOR DISCUSSION

Does the long monologue of Prospero in this act detract from its dramatic force? Did the arrangement of Shakespeare's stage make this convenient. (See description of the threefold stage of the Globe Theatre in "Anthonie and Cleopatra," pp. 172-173). Is the monologue rightly disused in modern plays? Why? Compare Ibsen's plays in this respect.

ACT II

THE COUNTERPLOT

Tell the story of Act II, showing how its main event is the conspiracy of Antonio and Sebastian against Alonzo and Gonzalo. Is the issue left undecided long, so that it threatens the result? How and why does Ariel prevent the success of it? Might it not have been to Prospero's advantage to have the King killed, since Ferdinand would then succeed to the throne of Naples? Did Ariel's intervention kill the plot? What light is thrown on the characters by scene i. of this act? Do you think it is intended to be shown that Gonzalo is prosy and tiresome, although good, or only that the lower and more frivolous characters find him so? Which is the likelier, that Shakespeare intended the dialogue about Gonzalo's ideal commonwealth to be a satire upon it, or favorable to Utopian schemes? Which comes out the better at last in the wit-combat,—the quick Antonio and Sebastian, or the thoughtful Gonzalo? Is Sebastian's solicitude about Claribel a sign of a kindlier nature than Antonio's? Are there any indications that Antonio's mind is more alert than Sebastian's? What purposes of the action or plot are served by the introduction of Claribel? Is the King's grief as great for the daughter as for the son? How does his paternal affection compare with Prospero's? Compare Antonio's speech, suggesting the murder to Sebastian, with similar speeches in Shakespeare (Macbeth's, King John's, Oliver's in 'As You Like It,' Claudius' in 'Hamlet'). In the second scene of this act, how far is a second counter-plot foreshadowed?

POINTS. 1. The jokes of Act II: their explanation (i.e., 'dollar' and 'dolour,' the 'eye of green,' etc.). 2. When were watches first used in Europe? 3. Tell the story of AEneas and Dido. 4. What myth is alluded to in 'his word is more than the miraculous harp'? 5. Gonzalo's Commonwealth—its origin from Montaigne. It is commonly supposed that Shakespeare must have borrowed this reference from the translation. He may have taken it directly from the French. 6. Show the bearing of Sebastian's phrase, 'I am standing water,' with its context. (That is, at the turn of the tide between ebb and full.) 7. 'The man i' the moon,' and the folk-lore about it. 8. Natural history on the island. (Poet-Lore, April, 1894. Notes and News).

QUERY FOR DISCUSSION

Is it a defect in the action of the play that the danger arising from the most important counter-plot is allayed so soon?

ACT III

NEW PLOTS AGAINST PROSPERO

What new turns are given events in Act III? Scene i continues Ferdinand's love-making, and shows no hinddrances there to Prospero's plans; but scene ii develops Caliban's plot, and scene iii shows Sebastian and Antonio making ready to carry out the purpose which had at first been defeated. Give an account of the scene in Act II which leads up to this plot in connection with its sequel in this act. Ariel is baffled in his attempts to breed contention between the conspirators by Trinculo's good nature, but finally he leads them off with his music. Scene iii represents Alonzo and his courtiers bewildered and tired by their fruitless tramps through the island, and in just the temper to be confused by the dumb-show and the harpies. Note the dependence placed, throughout 'The Tempest,' on the effect of 'solemn and strange music.' Antonio's plot, being resumed, is blocked by Ariel's magic show and his accusation. Note how the supernatural quality of the scene makes his speech affect their consciences as if they were themselves accusing themselves, and how it drives them into mental disorder. Dr. Bucknill, a specialist in brain disease, who has commented on Shakespeare's knowledge of such maladies, explains that Alonzo's frenzy leads him by an imaginative melancholy to the idea of suicide, while the madness of Antonio and Sebastian expresses itself in the idea of desperate fight.

POINTS. 1. What is a 'catch,' a 'tabor'? Give an account of the music in the play, and show the fitness of its different effects on the different characters. 2. Explain the allusions, 'unicorns,' 'one tree, the Phoenix throne,' 'mountaineers,' with 'wallets of flesh,' etc. 3. What is a harpy? Give an account of the mention of harpies in Virgil (AEneid, Book III), and 'Paradise Regained' (Book II). What appropriateness to the purpose in this 'quaint device'?

QUERY FOR DISCUSSION

Do the counter-plots introduced in this act mainly affect events or character?

ACT IV

THE CONFUSION OF THE PLOTTERS

Show how the story of Act IV consists in the smoothing down of all that disturbs Prospero's designs, and foreshadows the complete reconciliation of the last act. The lovers, whose readiness to fall in with Prospero's plan has made his task light so far as they are concerned, could only imperil his and their future by a premature union; and Ferdinand, having stood the test of hard work, is now induced, by an awed and holy mood, produced by art, to keep his good resolutions. Describe the mask, and show its meaning and fitness for Prospero's purposes. Why is Prospero so disturbed at the reminder of so paltry a plot as that of Caliban and his associates? Is it likely that these drunken fellows could frame any plot that would be but as gossamer before his art? Is it natural that so low a creature as Caliban should show more intelligence than Stephano and Trinculo in disregarding Ariel's 'stale' set to catch them? How do you explain his superior caution? Describe the device employed by Prospero and Ariel to rout these plotters. Would it be effective on an English stage?

POINTS. 1. Explanation of classical allusions. 'Hymen's lamps,' 'Phoebus' steeds,' Ceres, Iris, Juno, etc.; 'dusky Dis,' 'Paphos,' etc. 2. The botany of Act IV. What is 'stover,' 'furze,' gorse? 3. Was Prospero's 'line' a lime-tree or a clothes-line? 4. Explanation of the jokes of the act. 5. Natural history on the island again: the 'blind mole,' 'barnacles,' 'apes,' 'pard,' etc.

QUERY FOR DISCUSSION

Why is the punishment devised for the lesser plotters corporal and for the greater ones psychical?

ACT V

PROSPERO'S TRIUMPH

Sum up the results consummated by Prospero's magic. Note Gonzalo's account of the play, and show the ethical results, and Ariel's part in Prospero's course of reconciliation. Explain how, if Prospero had regained his dukedom, and yet, if 'all of us,' as Gonzalo says, had not found ourselves, the triumph would have been material, not ethical. Show how this effect is enhanced by the plan to awaken dismay and remorse in the minds of the evil-doers and how the climax in Prospero's triumph is reached by the victory wrought in his own mind when he determines to take part with his 'nobler reason 'gainst his fury' in order to restore his enemies to themselves. What indications are there in the play that Prospero was high-strung and spirited,—a revenge-loving Italian? Trace the effects of remorse on each of the ill-doers. Is there any reason to suppose that Antonio, Stephano, or Trinculo are repentant? Is it out of character for Caliban to be?

POINTS. 1. The 'Faerie' of the play. Compare with that of 'Midsummer Night's Dream.' (See 'Fairy-lore of Midsummer Night's Dream,' Poet Lore, Vol. III, p. 177, April, 1891.) Victor Hugo notes the contrast as follows: '"Midsummer Night's Dream" depicts the action of the invisible world on man; "The Tempest" symbolizes the action of man on the invisible world.' (See also the 'Supernatural in Shakespeare's "Midsummer Night's Dream."' in Poet Lore, Vol. V, p. 490, October, 1893; in Shakespeare's 'Tempest,' p. 557, November, 1893.)

2. The duration of the play. Explain how it follows the 'unities'; and in this connection show the probable equality of 'three glasses' to three hours, and Shakespeare's mistake. (Shakespeare's use of nautical terms, approved by all seamen, seems to be here at fault in supposing a 'glass' equal to one, instead of to a half, hour.)

3. The game of chess and its pertinence here: Because so wise a father would have taught his daughter so intellectual a game; because Queen Elizabeth was fond of it, and it was par excellence a 'royal game'; or because Naples was the source and center of the chess furore at just this time?

4. Where is the scene of the 'Tempest' laid? Is the island real or unreal? (The main conjectures for a known place are Hunter's that it was Lampedusa, and Elze's that it was Pantelaria. Both argue that each island was so situated in the Mediterranean, between Milan or its port and Algiers, whence the sailors landed Sycorax, as to suit the requirements. Elze further urges the name of a town on the opposite African coast, Calibia, as suggesting Caliban's name. For an argument that the island is vaguely placed in the Mediterranean to suit the Old World plot and yet by many details made suggestive of the New World, see Introduction to 'The Tempest' in First Folio Edition.)

5. The influence of the New World on the writing of 'The Tempest,' and all allusions traceable to it. (See Notes of same edition for extracts from pamphlets on America, etc.)

QUERIES FOR DISCUSSION

What constitutes the interest in 'The Tempest,'—character, dramatic situations, movements, plot, poetry, or moral purpose?

VI

CHARACTER STUDIES

I. PROSPERO AND HIS SERVANTS

With the first word Shakespeare introduces Prospero as one who can raise and calm such a tempest as scene i describes, and the magician admits the power Miranda ascribes to him. Show from the story what his plans and motives were likely to prove. Would a sense of his own former neglect of duty be likely to embitter him against his brother or make him excuse him? Does he show signs of either? Prospero's magic, his garment, books, staff. How far is his magic in accord with the popular notions of such art? (See 'Prospero and Magic,' Poet Lore, Vol. III, p. 144, March, 1891.)

Show Ariel's qualities. What caused his first impatience? Is Prospero unnecessarily harsh and imperious with him? Aside from the popular supposition that spirits or familiars obeying magicians were always reluctant to serve longer than one hour (and, therefore, says Scot's 'Discovery of Witchcraft,' 'the magician must be careful to dismiss him'), how can you explain this quarrel,—as a dramatic expedient giving occasion for telling Ariel's story, or revealing the characters of both Prospero and Ariel? Note, also, its further use in introducing Prospero's second servant, Caliban, and his story. How do you explain Ariel's irrelevant rejoinder: 'Yes, Caliban, her son'; and Prospero's angry, 'Dull thing, I say so,' etc.? Do you think Moulton right in supposing that Prospero governs 'this incarnation of caprice by outcapricing him'; Rolfe, in supposing that Prospero is irritable because under the strain and suspense of conducting affairs within three hours perfectly, and upon which accuracy hangs his future and the happiness of his daughter? This was also his only chance of retrieving his own past error.

Contrast Ariel with Caliban. Show the skill of Caliban's first appearance as some slow-moving thing, half of water, half of earth, in contrast with Ariel's second appearance as a nymph. What may be learned of Caliban's traits from Miranda's speech (as in the Folio, but by various editors given to Prospero): 'Abhorred slave,' etc.? Do you think this speech should be given to Prospero? What signs are there of Caliban's having a good mind? Do you think Prospero's tyranny over Caliban altogether justified? Is Caliban's penitence consistent with his nature? How far does Ariel proceed independently of Prospero? Is he really fond of him?

QUERIES FOR DISCUSSION

Is there any bond of love between Prospero and his servants? Do the relations between them illustrate the impossibility of gratitude?

2. THE LOVERS

Is the love of Ferdinand and Miranda an enchantment caused by Prospero, or an emotion he can help, but not cause? If not caused by him, does Shakespeare depart from magic to the detriment of the play? Would it be better, for example, if a love philter was introduced for consistency's sake? (For literary use of the love philter, see Tennyson's 'Lucretius.') Does it reflect against Ferdinand's courage that he was first to quit the ship? Are Miranda's speeches about her grandmother (I, ii, 140) and to Caliban inconsistent with the maidenly innocence assumed to be characteristic of her? Do you consider her talk with Ferdinand (III, i) in character? Is she undutiful to her father? Unmaidenly in her speedy declaration of love (III, i, 67, 89, 94-106, 110)? Should she be represented as ignorant or innocent of the world, or as in love? Describe the characters and relations to each other of the lovers from all that is given about them. Compare with Florizel and Perdita in 'The Winter's Tale.'

QUERIES FOR DISCUSSION

Are Miranda and Ferdinand undeveloped characters whose relation to each other is more important to the play than they themselves are?

3. THE MINOR CHARACTERS

Which is the most important of the lesser characters and why? Is Gonzalo blamable at all under the circumstances for following the command to turn Prospero and Miranda adrift? Why is Gonzalo of better cheer than his companions? What do you think of his philosophy in itself and as an index to his character? Is his knowledge superior to that of his companions? Does he suspect the evil intent of Antonio and Sebastian? Show how his frankness and loyalty came out in Act III, and how his uprightness is rewarded in Act V. Do you think it significant that he closes the play? Francisco considered as the least important personage in the play: should his speech describing Ferdinand's swimming be given to Gonzalo? The sailors considered as examples of Shakespeare's skill in outline portraits. Are Stephano and Trinculo more highly developed types than Caliban? Would the play be better if they were left out?

QUERIES FOR DISCUSSION

Is Gonzalo more like Polonius in 'Hamlet' or Rent in 'Lear'?

VII

A STUDY OF ARTISTIC DESIGN

THE SYMBOLISM OF 'THE TEMPEST'

Did Shakespeare typify himself as Prospero? Prospero (says Montegut) alludes to his own age, and intimates that the time has come for retirement to private life. What indications can you find that Prospero images Shakespeare? If he is so interpreted, what parts may Ariel and Caliban be supposed to play? Is the history of the Enchanted Island and the transformation wrought a parallel with the history of the Stage and the transformation Shakespeare wrought? According to Montegut, Caliban stands for Marlowe, Ariel for the English Genius which Shakespeare frees from its barbaric prison. Dowden ('Mind and Art of Shakespeare') fancies Prospero as the great artist lacking at first in practical faculty, cast out therefore from practical worldly success; but bearing with him Art in her infancy, the child Miranda, finds at last an enchanted country where his arts can work their magic, subduing the grosser appetites and passions (Caliban), and commanding the offices of the imaginative genius of poetry (Ariel). He supposes Ferdinand to be Shakespeare's heir as a playwright (Fletcher). Lowell ('Among my Books') considers that the characters do not illustrate a class of persons, but belong to universal nature,—Imagination embodied in Prospero; Fancy in Ariel; brute understanding in Caliban, who, with his wits liquor-warmed, plots against his natural lord, the higher reason; Miranda, abstract Womanhood; Ferdinand, Youth, compelled to drudge till sacrifice of will and self win him the ideal in Miranda. Browning makes an incidentally interesting contribution to this subject by symbolizing in Caliban rudimentary theologizing man, in his poem 'Caliban.' (See Poet Lore, Vol. V, p. 562, November, 1893.)

QUERIES FOR DISCUSSION

Is 'The Tempest' an allegory? Is it in any sense an autobiographical play? Does its symbolism have much in common with that of modern symbolistic plays, such as Maeterlinck's 'Joyzelle,' for example? In what respects may it be said, do you think, as Maeterlinck himself has informed us, that 'Joyzelle' grew from 'The Tempest?'



THE WINTER'S TALE

CONSIDERED IN CONNECTION WITH GREENE'S 'PANDOSTO' AND THE 'ALKESTIS' OF EURIPIDES

I

SHAKESPEARE'S INDEBTEDNESS TO GREENE

The story of 'Pandosto' falls into two distinct divisions; first, the story of Pandosto and Bellaria; second, the story of Dorastus and Fawnia. Compare each of these two stories with the two stories interwoven in the play, noting all the analogous passages and the use Shakespeare has made of them. (For Greene's 'Pandosto' or 'History of Dorastus and Fawnia' see 'Shakespeare's Library,' or pp. 118-125 and Notes in First Folio Edition.)

QUERIES FOR DISCUSSION

Do Shakespeare's borrowed and additional archaisms and his confusion of names and places show carelessness? Is his continuation of the story merely a playwright's device to join the two parts of the plot and make a good stage piece end happily? (As to Coast of Bohemia see Poet Lore, April, 1894), also in "First Folio Edition," pp. 176-177.

II

THE RESEMBLANCES TO THE 'ALKESTIS' OF EURIPIDES

In Greene and in Shakespeare the King wishes the Queen's death because he is uncomfortable so long as she lives, and he prefers his comfort to aught else, taking it as his conjugal right and royal prerogative. (See ii. 3, 1 and 204.) The Queen, understanding this, says, "My life stands in the level of your dreams, which I'll lay down." To her she says, "can life be no commodity" when love, "the crown and comfort of her life," is gone. So Alkestis (see any translation of Euripides, in Bohn edition, literal prose translation, vol. i. p. 223) says she "was not willing to live bereft" of Admetos, therefore she did not spare herself to die for him, "though possessing the gifts of bloomy youth wherein" she "delighted." This point of correspondence may have occurred to Shakespeare and suggested his continuation of Greene's novel. Admetos' image of his wife, that he would have made by the cunning hands of artists, is possibly a prototype of the statue of the Queen in 'The Winter's Tale,' the piece "newly performed by that rare Italian master, Julio Romano." Compare also, Herakles' trial of Admetos with Paulina's trial of Leontes (v. i); and Herakles' restoration of the unknown Alkestis to her husband with Paulina's bringing the statue of the Queen to life.

QUERIES FOR DISCUSSION

Is Shakespeare's use of a striking incident from the 'Alkestis' too close not to have been suggested by it? Does it show his intention to portray in Hermione a new Alkestis?

III

SHAKESPEARE'S ORIGINALITY IN WORKING OVER HIS MATERIAL

Note Shakespeare's departures from Greene and their significance. Do they serve two ends,—make the play more effective for stage representation, make the characters stronger? Does he make Leontes more attractive than Greene does in the first part of the play? Does he make him worse or better than Pandosto in the second part? What is the sole trace left in Shakespeare of the father's guilty passion for his daughter? Garinter, in Greene, dies without any cause. See Shakespeare's explanation of this, also his use of the news of Mamillius' death to strike shame to the king's heart. Greene makes the king relent as soon as he hears the oracle. Contrast Shakespeare's conduct of the scene at this point.

Notice the difference in his treatment of the character of the cup-bearer. Does he make it his chief care to enhance the character of the Queen? Note the new characters introduced,—Paulina, Antigonus, Autolycus, the clown (in place of the wife in Greene). Conjecture any reason for his different names. The introduction of Autolycus makes the play more amusing on the stage, but is his part as well planned as Capnio's for leading up to the denouement? Greene lets his mariners off alive after they set Fawnia afloat. Shakespeare wrecks his, and makes a bear eat Antigonus, to what end? What does Shakespeare gain by prolonging the life of Hermione?

QUERY FOR DISCUSSION

Does Shakespeare's remodelling of Greene's story show chiefly a higher ideal than Greene's of womanhood and of love?

IV

THE ALKESTIS STORIES IN LITERATURE

The sacrifice of the Queen to ease her husband, and the final restoration, being the two main points of contact with Euripides' version of the story, compare with these the stories of Alkestis told by William Morris in 'The Earthly Paradise,'—'June'; 'The Love of Alcestis,' by Emma Lazarus, in 'Admetos,'—'Poems,' vol. i.; by Robert Browning in 'Balustion's Adventure;' by Longfellow in 'The Golden Legend.' See also articles in Poet-lore,—'The Alkestis of Euripides and of Browning,' July, 1890; 'Old and New Ideals of Womanhood'; 'The Iphigenia' and 'Alkestis Stories,' May, 1891; 'Longfellow's Golden Legend and its Analogues,' February, 1892. In comparing, note first general resemblances, then slighter points of resemblance and of difference.

QUERIES FOR DISCUSSION

Is development in literature of the ideal of womanhood away from self-sacrifice and toward self-development?

Is woman's task for the future a reconciliation of them?



V

THE OUTCAST CHILD IN CULTURE-LORE AND FOLK-LORE

A few of the outcast children in culture-lore are Krishna, Zeus, Paris, Oedipus, King Arthur, Claribel's child in the 'Faerie Queene' (canto xii.), etc. For the stories in folk-lore, see the English Folk-lore Journal. For the solar theory of the origin of this story, see Cox, 'Mythology of the Aryan Nations.'

QUERIES FOR DISCUSSION

Collier says that Shakespeare changed Greene's pretty description of turning Fawnia adrift in a boat because he had used much the same incident in "The Tempest." Does Shakespeare's new treatment of Greene's "pretty incident" add dramatic force and moral purpose to the play?

VI

CHARACTER STUDIES

1. PAULINA; LEONTES; HERMIONE

Note Paulina's likeness to Emilia in "Othello." Jealousy in Shakespeare: Resemblances in Leontes to Posthumus ("Cymbeline") and to Othello. "The jealousy of Leontes," says Dowden, "is not a detailed dramatic study like the love and jealousy of Othello. It is a gross madness, which mounts to the brain and turns his whole nature into unreasoning passion." Is Hermione more highly developed than others of Shakespeare's suspected wives,—Desdemona, Imogen? Likeness or superiority to Alkestis, Compare with Queen Katharine in 'Henry VIII.' Is she hard, having made her husband do penance for sixteen years? "Deep and even quick feeling never renders Hermione incapable of an admirable justice," writes Dowden, "nor deprives her of a true sense of pity for him who so gravely wrongs both her and himself."

2. THE YOUNG LOVERS

Notice the high and pure character of their love as shown in the facts that Florizel did not find it fitting to buy pedler's "knacks" for Perdita,—a trait not in Greene. Her independent and uncringing nature as shown in another little touch of Shakespeare (see IV. iv. 492-497). Compare these two lovers with Ferdinand and Miranda in "The Tempest."

3. THE ORIGINALITY OF SHAKESPEARE'S AUTOLYCUS

For suggestions see Poet-lore, April, 1891. ('Notes and News.') Compare the Hermes of the Homeric Hymn with the Autolycus and Sisyphos of mythology, also the folk-lore tales of the master-thief (Cox). To discuss the probable originality with Shakespeare of a conception which is one of the universal inheritances of the Aryan race is futile; the type existed, and Shakespeare's part was to make an individual of the type.

QUERIES FOR DISCUSSION

Is Leontes' jealousy too gross and unfounded to be likely?

Is Hermione, not hard, but slow to be satisfied, because her love is noble?

Is Mamillus not too precocious to be natural?

VII

A STUDY OF THE CONSTRUCTION OF THE PLOT

Has Shakespeare welded the two parts of the story together in such a way as to unify the plot? Does Autolycus contribute anything to the development of the plot? How does it compare with "Julius Caesar" or "Macbeth," for example, in the construction of the plot? Is the movement more rapid in the last half of the play or in the first? Note the expedient introduced by Shakespeare to bridge over the lapse of time between the first part and the last part; compare with other examples of the same sort in Shakespeare.

QUERY FOR DISCUSSION

Does the dramatic interest of 'The Winter's Tale' suffer because the plot is of less importance than the incidents and characters.

VIII

SHAKESPEARE'S WORKMANSHIP IN "THE WINTER'S TALE"

The versification is that of Shakespeare's latest group of plays. Dowden says, "No five-measure lines are rhymed and run on lines, and double endings are numerous." Give examples of the construction of the lines from "Love's Labour's Lost" as an earlier play, "Merchant of Venice" as a riper play. It has been said that the difficulties of style in the play are accounted for by the endeavor of the author to reflect the changing moods of Leontes. Compare with Prospero's diction and construction in "The Tempest." Give examples of these.

QUERIES FOR DISCUSSION

Does the lawlessness of poetic workmanship in "The Winter's Tale," together with the looseness of the dramatic construction, show a deterioration from the ripe power of Shakespeare's middle period, or that practised artistic mastery which is free from art by means of perfect art?

IX

PERDITA'S GARDEN

The flower-imagery of "The Winter's Tale" compared with other flower-scenes in Shakespeare,—in "A Midsommer Nights Dreame" and "Hamlet." The classic and folk-lore allusions. The pastoral element in "As you Like It" and "Winter's Tale."

QUERIES FOR DISCUSSION

The rustic scenes have little bearing on the play; are they necessary to Shakespeare's art in order to throw a clear light on the character of his protagonists?

X

THE ETHICS OF "THE WINTER'S TALE"

"The Winter's Tale" gives examples of meritorious actions losing their virtue with the progress of ideas; for example, the civic virtue, allegiance to the king, is what Leontes depends upon in his talk with Camillo, with Antigonus, and the other lords. Note Camillo's reason for not poisoning Polixenes to order,—that it is risky to kill a king even at command of a king. That such a reason would be considered small moral support to-day appears, for example, in the indignation or amusement expressed in the newspapers on the German Emperor's address to his army on the soldier's duty of obedience. In Shakespeare's day a king had taken matters in his own hands in the trial of his wife, much as Leontes did (see "Henry VIII".). The moral significance of Hermione's patience under accusation appears in the long reparation she requires. Paulina is made to speak for her during her seclusion.

What are the "secret purposes" which Shakespeare makes her subserve? Observe that, if the fulfilment of the oracle and the restoration of the child were all Paulina anticipates, there would be no use in her remonstrances against a second marriage and in her goading the king to remorse.

QUERIES FOR DISCUSSION

Does Shakespeare's ideal of love and constancy, as revealed in 'The Winter's Tale,' imply that second marriages are offences against the first. Has the objection Paulina makes to his re-marriage such a cause or is it a necessity of the plot?

Does the way of telling "The Winter's Tale" indicate the passing away of aristocratic and the formation of democratic ideals, and the dawning change in the status both of woman and the commoner?

THE END