Shakespeare Study Programs; The Comedies by Charlotte Porter and Helen A. Clarke
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Charlotte Porter and Helen A. Clarke >> Shakespeare Study Programs; The Comedies
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POINTS 1. 'The ancient privilege of Athens,' I. i. 49. What was the
position of the father toward the family in Attica? 2. 'On Dian's
altar to protest,' i. 98. Did the service of Diana offer women a
respite from masculine dictation? Compare the myth of Iphigenia's
salvation by Diana. 3. 'To that place the sharp Athenian law cannot
pursue,' i. 172. What Grecian states had laws more lenient to women?
4. What traces can be found in history or legend of the victory of
Theseus over the Amazons, and the rise of a new civic order on the
ruins of a matriarchate? 5. The story of Pyramus and Thisbe (see
Chaucer's 'Legend of Good Women' for an early English use of the
story). 6. Explanation of allusions to Phoebe, Cupid, Ercles, etc.
ACT I
QUERIES FOR DISCUSSION
Upon what does the interest centre in Act I? In the marriage of
Hippolyta and Theseus, or the love affairs of the four lovers?
Is Hermia, whose determination not to be forced to marry starts the
plot, the best-drawn character in the first Act?
ACT II
THE FAIRIES' QUARREL
Show how in this Act a new agency of a fairies' quarrel is devised and
set forth.
Point out how this is made to crystallize in Oberon's scheme for
revenge on Titania, and also how, in the course of disentangling their
own love-snarl, it is made to develop the conflict between the crossed
lovers. This, it may be emphasized, is the second step in the
movement, as Hermia's and Helena's love was the first, and these two
main factors of the action are taken up together in this act.
Are the other two groups which were introduced in the first act, the
Duke's party and Bottom's set, interwoven with the new fairy group in
any way in this Act? See if the new fairy element now shows any
disposition in the person of Oberon to smooth out the difficulties of
the mortals.
Oberon's intentions, however, were one thing, and his deeds another.
Through Puck as his instrument, his jealousy at once begins to make
matters worse instead of better for the lovers. Notice the delicate
appropriateness of Oberon's means of influence, namely Puck and the
two flowers, the first being 'Cupid's flower,'--Love in idleness--the
second 'Dian's bud,' introduced later to correct the influence of the
first. The first flower assists in the development of a plot which is
to enact the 'momentariness' of 'sympathy in choice.' The
cross-purpose, fostered by Puck's mistake, seems to provide the
comparatively grosser sort of merriment for this Act which Bottom and
his friends supplied for the first; and the dainty humor and sprightly
novelty attending the introduction of the fairies on the scene, the
description of their quarrel, and the foreshadowing of the influence
they are to have on the next stages of the story, may be shown to
occupy the chief place in the plot at this period, the crossed lovers,
who predominated in the first Act, now falling into a relatively
subordinate position.
POINTS 1. Robin Goodfellow and the traditions about him. 2. Fairies
and changelings. 3. The stories of Theseus's loves. 4. Explanation of
allusions to nine men's morris, old Hiems, etc. 5. Account of theories
as to meaning of references to _the imperiall votresse, a little
westerne flower, a mearemaide on a dolphins backe_, etc. Warburton
says the mermaid was meant for Mary Queen of Scots. N.H. Halpin thinks
that by Cynthia is meant Queen Elizabeth; by Tellus, Lady Douglas; by
the little 'western flower,' Lettice, wife of Walter, Earl of Essex,
while Cupid is Leicester. (See "First Folio Edition" for particulars).
6. Explain use of 'Lob,' II. i. 15; 'wodde,' 200. 7. 'The starres shot
madly from their Spheares,' i. 159. Look up Ptolemaic system of
astronomy for explanation of the idea. Compare "Merchant of Venice,"
V. i. 71-75, and notes on same in "First Folio Edition" of that play.
8. What is "Love in idleness"? (See Introduction to "First Folio
Edition" of "A Midsommer Nights Dreame" for references to this flower
in Chaucer's poem of "The Flower and the Leaf.") Compare "The Taming
of the Shrew," I. i. 156. 9. What are "Cankers" in the musk rosebuds?
II. ii. 4.
QUERIES FOR DISCUSSION
Is it probable that the various passages in this act said to allude to
current incidents were so intended? In that case what effect do they
have upon the beauty of a Play set in Athens?
Is the interest of this Act a divided one?
ACT III
CROSS-EFFECTS OF OBERON'S SPELL
Analyze the scenes constituting this Act. Observe that scene i. takes
up Bottom and his fellows, the group not as yet brought into relation
with the fairy group, and initiates them in the magic of fairy land by
means of the new but appropriate head Puck bestows upon Bottom. Why is
Bottom picked out for this favor? The 'ass-head' as a symbolic piece
of stage furniture. Show how this transformation makes the mismating
of Titania with Bottom more gross and obvious to the audience; also
how this is the next direct effect of Oberon's revenge.
Notice that scene ii. takes up the cross-effect already worked upon
Lysander by Puck's mistake, instead of on Demetrius, as Oberon
intended, and sets forth its further effects upon Helena and Hermia.
The dialogues between the two pairs of lovers now overheard by Oberon
makes the error clear, and so enables him to take the first step in
clearing up the tangle. Meantime, the poet and his audience agree with
Puck that they are so far 'glad it so did sort, As this their
jangling' is esteemed 'a sport.'
POINTS 1. Explain 'It shall be written in eight and sixe,' III. i.
23-4. 2. The custom in Shakespeare's day as to the women's parts.
Would it have been as amusing to the audience then as it would be to
us when Quince says 'Robin Starveling, you play Thisbies mother'? 3.
Pyramus and Thisbe. This may have been derived from Ovid, or from
Chaucer's "Legend of Good Women," or C. Robinson's "Handful of
Pleasant Delights." (1504.) 4. Explain 'Two of the first like coats in
heraldry,' III. ii. 220. 5. Describe the personal appearance of the
heroines from the references made.
QUERIES FOR DISCUSSION
Is Puck or Bottom the presiding genius of this act?
Does the jangling between the two women belittle them as heroines, and
is it, therefore, a blot upon the beauty of the play?
ACT IV
HARMONIZING EFFECTS OF OBERON'S SPELL
Trace throughout this act the smoothing-out process.
Why does Oberon himself release Titania while Puck is made to minister
to the other victims of the charm? Is Oberon's explanation of the
Fairy Queen's sudden change of heart about the changeling quite
satisfactory, or does it simply appear so by a sort of artistic
sleight-of-hand characteristic of Shakespeare in small touches at the
close of a plot?
Show how poetically suitable as a stage effect the entry of Theseus
and his huntsmen is,--shedding the first rays of morning on the
night-enchanted lovers.
Why is Bottom made to waken last? Perhaps because he helps to denote
the prose of broad daylight. Show what relation scene ii. has to the
completion of the smoothing-out process.
POINTS. 1. 'I was with Hercules and Cadmus once,' IV. i. 126. What
relation had Hippolyta to these Greek heroes? 2. Account of May-day
rites. 3. Traditions of St. Valentine. 4. Rites of Midsummer Eve.
QUERIES FOR DISCUSSION
Why is the choice of Hermia's father for her no longer supported by
the Duke? Does this imply a criticism on the inconsistency of allowing
men their choice, and their brides none, with which Shakespeare was in
sympathy, or is this only apparent to some modern minds?
ACT V
THE THREEFOLD MASK
If the central action of the play be considered as virtually concluded
with the fourth Act, what office is performed by the fifth Act?
Notice that in it the three groups of characters constituting the
play--the court group with the lovers; the 'rude mechanicals' and
their 'tedious brief scene,' and the fairy train--are in this Act all
brought upon the stage, the whole spectacle being set in the palace at
Athens, in celebration of the wedding festivities of the ducal pair,
which, as before noticed, is used as a sort of decorative frame for
the play as a whole.
Examine the working-out of this unified presentation of all the
personages. How are we to account for the silence of the women who
were made to do so much towards the institution of the action? Show
the poetic reasons for the entrance of Puck and the fairies last of
all, and when the stage is empty.
POINTS. 1. Explanation of all mythical allusions. 2. Account of
theories as to meaning of 'The thrice three muses,' etc., V. i. 59. 3.
What is a 'Bergomask dance'? 4. The date and occasion of the play:
This play appears in Meres's list of 1598 and in the Quartos of 1600.
Titania's description of the unseasonable weather (II. i. 92, foll.)
may refer to the year 1594. Note that Chaucer in the 'Knight's Tale'
speaks of the tempest at Hippolyta's home-coming. Many critics have
believed that the play was written on the occasion of some marriage in
high life, but they do not agree as to whose it was.
QUERIES FOR DISCUSSION
Upon what does the interest of the last Act centre? How does the
ending suit the various threads of the Play?
Is Theseus or Hippolyta the wiser critic of 'the story of the night';
and which of them is the wiser critic of the play of Pyramus and
Thisbe?
SOURCES OF THE PLAY
1. WHERE SHAKESPEARE FOUND SUGGESTIONS FOR HIS MORTALS
In Plutarch's 'Life of Theseus' will be found passages which furnished
Shakespeare with some points for his drama. Chaucer's 'Knight's Tale'
is also said to have given him material. The editor of the "First
Folio Edition" suggests in the introduction that a reading by
Shakespeare of a poem in his day supposed to be Chaucer's, 'The Flower
and the Leaf,' gave him an important hint for his plot. Examine for
yourself, and state what indebtedness you find in any of these
sources. In I. i. 20, Theseus says to Hippolyta, 'I woo'd thee with my
sword.' Compare this with the account given in Chaucer. According to
another version of the story Hercules gave Hippolyta to his kinsman
Theseus in marriage. Compare 'The Two Noble Kinsmen' and the 'Knight's
Tale' with Shakespeare's 'Dreame.'
2. WHERE SHAKESPEARE FOUND SUGGESTIONS FOR HIS FAIRIES
The models in literature from which Shakespeare drew may have been
'Huon of Bordeaux,' where he got little, however, but the name Oberon.
The name Titania may have been derived from Ovid's 'Metamorphoses.'
The Fairy Queen in Shakespeare's day usually went by the name of Queen
Mab. Puck's characteristics seem to have been derived from the little
tract of 'Robin Goodfellow, His Mad Pranks and Merry Jests.' Rolfe, in
the notes to his edition of the play, says that White argues that this
was probably written after "A Midsommer Nights Dreame." Ward thinks
that the entire machinery of Oberon and his court may have been
derived from Greene's 'Scottish History of James IV,' and that Titania
may have been suggested by Chaucer's 'Wife of Bath's Tale.' He
probably owed his fairies in great measure to tradition or folk-lore.
The folk-lore of England was originally made up of Teutonic elements,
which have been modified by Danish and Norman invasions, by remnants
of old Keltic belief, and by the introduction of Christianity, which
last degraded the good fairies into mischievous elves. (See Hazlitt,
'Fairy Mythology of Shakespeare,' Halliwell's 'Illustrations of the
Fairy Mythology of Midsummer Night's Dream,' also _Poet-Lore_, April,
1891, 'Fairy-lore in Midsummer Night's Dream.')
3. SOLAR ORIGIN OF THE FAIRIES
According to some authorities the Teutonic mythology was of cosmic
origin. In the fairies may be seen many reflections of cosmic
characteristics. Oberon and Titania are fairies of the night, and the
old battle between light and darkness shows itself in the mad pranks
which they play on unsuspecting mortals. But as the daylight comes
they are obliged to flee. Puck reflects the characteristics of a wind
god. (See Cox, 'Myths of the Aryan Nations;' also Korner, 'Solar Myths
in Midsummer Night's Dream,' _Poet-Lore_, Jan., 1891). Compare his
character with that of Hermes in the Homeric Hymn to Hermes (Shelley's
Translation).
SYMPOSIUM OF OPINION ON THE CHARACTERS
1. THE LOVERS
QUERIES FOR DISCUSSION
1. Hermia and Helena are hardly worth considering, but if anything
Helena is to be preferred to Hermia because she is so humble, and
shows no sign of jealousy of Hermia. 2. If Hermia had been more
dignified when she found that both the lovers had turned their
attention to Helena, she would better have carried out the promise of
her character in the first Act when she declared she would rather die
than wed the man chosen by her father.
2. HIPPOLYTA AND THESEUS
QUERIES FOR DISCUSSION
1. The only indication we have of the character of Hippolyta is in the
last act, where she is so bored by the play of 'Pyramus and Thisbe.'
Does this show stupidity on her part or exceptional development? 2. Do
you agree with Dowden that there is no figure in the early drama of
Shakespeare so magnificent as Theseus? His insistence in Act I. that
Hermia should obey her father against her own inclinations is
certainly not very praiseworthy, but might be excused on the score of
the times in which he lived. 3. His complaisance toward Quince and his
companions has been considered an indication that he was a most
perfect gentleman; does he not rather conceitedly patronize them?
3. THE FAIRIES
QUERIES FOR DISCUSSION
1. Have the Fairies any idea of morality? 2. Oberon was perfectly
justified in wishing to get the changeling from his wife, and shows
himself worthy of becoming a mortal for insisting on his rights as a
husband. 3. Titania is the most developed woman character in the play,
because she insists on her individual right to the changeling. 4. Is
Puck a more developed fairy than Ariel in 'The Tempest'?
4. THE PLAYERS
QUERIES FOR DISCUSSION
1. Is Shakespeare making fun of the stupidity of Quince and his
companions, or is he gently satirizing the stage and the exaggerated
style of writing for the stage which prevailed at this time? 2. If the
last is true, is not Shakespeare in the last act making fun of the
audience, as well as of the players, who with a superior air pass
judgment upon the play and indulge in very lame wit, while the real
meaning of it quite escapes them.
SYMPOSIUM OF OPINION ON FAVORITE PASSAGES
Every member of the class or club should bring in a short paper giving
his favorite passage in the play and why he likes it, including his
criticism of the metre, of the metaphors and similes, and the thought
contained.
QUERIES FOR DISCUSSION
1. Which characters in the play are original with Shakespeare? 2. What
is to be thought of Shakespeare for bringing together in one play
Greek mythology, English folk-lore, and English workmen of his own
age? Does this commixture of elements make the Play seem unnatural or
incongruous? Has he skilfully harmonised these diverse elements by
giving the Play its dream-like character? 3. That this play is
charming cannot be disputed. Is its chief charm its humor, its fancy,
its dramatic construction, or subtle developments of character?
THE MERCHANT OF VENICE
Sufficiently indirect use of contemporary political events in a Play
was a cause of popularity without seeming dangerous to the State.
As "Love's Labour's Lost" is an early example of a plot woven out of
masked allusions to current topics, so even as definitely plotted a
comedy as "The Merchant of Venice" here and there worked in an
animating shred of contemporary reference.
After Dr. Roderigo Lopez, the Queen's physician, was accused by Don
Antonio of Portugal, and executed June 7, 1594, on the charge of being
bribed by the King of Spain to poison Queen Elizabeth, the story of a
Shylock's defeat and the rescue from his clutches of an Anthonio had
just enough relevance to be popular without definiteness enough to be
obtrusive.
ACT I
SHYLOCK'S "MERRIE BOND"
Why is Anthonio sad? Is it presentiment? Is it, despite his unselfish
willingness to furnish forth Bassanio to sue at Belmont for Portia,
some sense of loss in friendship through this love? Anthonio and
Bassanio may be considered as examples of that devoted friendship
illustrated by Valentine's feelings towards Protheus in "The Two
Gentlemen of Verona."
The group of young and gay courtiers circling about the two friends
bring them into brighter relief.
Unlike Protheus, though perhaps younger and less wrapped up in the
sense of friendship than Anthonio is, Bassanio is worthy of such
regard. Do the "faire speechless messages" he has received from
Portia's eyes and his praise of her as "nothing undervalued to
Brutus's Portia" tell the cause of his quest better than what is said
of her wealth? Notice that even what he says of that is as a mere
grace of her person: "her sunny locks Hang on her temples," etc. (I.
i. 177-181).
What reasons had Shylock for hating Anthonio?
Does Anthonio's demand that he lend the money to him as an enemy
justify the terms of the bond?
Is Bassanio right in distrusting, and wrong in accepting such a bond?
The long pedigree of Jewish and Christian antipathy and its
illustration in this bond by the characters that are its exemplars.
What is to be gathered of Portia in this Act before she meets again
with Bassanio?
QUERIES FOR DISCUSSION
Are Anthonio and Shylock more individual than typical?
Does the Act close with assurance of good luck or foreboding of bad?
Is Bassanio a fortune hunter?
Is he to blame for what follows?
ACT II
PORTIA'S CASKETS
Why is Jessica's story intertwined with Portia's? What dramatic
purposes does it serve? Are Jessica and Launce alike justified in
leaving Shylock? Why? (See Introduction to the Play in First Folio
Edition for suggestion). Is the Jew's lament for his daughter although
piteous, inadequate.
Is the choice of the gold and the silver by the Moor and Spaniard
significant of their natures?
What reason is there to find in the symbolism and the persuasion to
choice each suitor employs that Portia's father has used the wisdom of
a seer in prescribing the choice from the three caskets?
QUERIES FOR DISCUSSION
Do you like Jessica? Why? In what ways are Portia and Jessica alike in
the generousness of love though opposite in circumstances?
Is Jessica's elopement to blame for her father's joy in the wreckage
of Anthonio's ships and his final exaction of the bond? Was it
introduced in the Plot for this purpose?
ACT III
BASSANIO'S LUCK AND ANTHONIO'S LOSS
Shakespeare's creed of love as engendered in the eyes may be
illustrated by passages in many other plays as well as this. What is
meant by it?
Is Bassanio's daring in venturing so much for his chance with Portia
itself a sign of his fitness, or the reverse? How is his casket
significant of this test-stone--i.e., adventurousness?
Is the match of Nerissa and Gratiano an irrelevance to Portia's and
Bassanio's courtship or an enhancement of their happiness? Show how
the two points of climax in event and feeling balance absolutely but
do not sacrifice each other? Are Shakespeare's experiments in bold
juxtaposition of extreme fortune and happiness and utterly
irretrievable devastation anywhere so poignant as the arrival of
Anthonio's letter at the betrothal of Bassanio and Portia?
QUERIES FOR DISCUSSION
Is the secret of Bassanio's adventurousness the supreme honor in which
he holds love? Nothing else being of so much consequence, he yields
everything to love. Does Jessica, also?
The "manners" of Portia, according to Gildon, "are not always
agreeable or convenient to her Sex and Quality; particularly where she
scarce preserves her modesty in the expression." What is to be thought
of this?
Is Anthonio's letter characteristic of his nobleness as a friend, or
is it too insistent upon bringing Bassanio to him, since to send such
a letter was equivalent to fetching him?
Is it Portia's best warrant as a noble bride and wife that she
appreciates Anthonio's message and friendship?
ACT IV
THE LUCK REDEEMS THE LOSS
By means of Bassanio's luck in winning Portia's love and hand Shylock
is finally defeated of his malicious purpose. Portia considered as the
embodiment of Bassanio's luck and the instrument bringing Shylock to
confusion.
Does it matter whether the law-point is disputable or not since the
traditional stories on which the Play is built up afford the
opportunity for its use?
Does Shylock get Justice, since he had refused mercy?
Illustrate the legal knowledge and studies of Italian women of the
Renaissance affording a parallel for Portia's sagacity and leadership.
(For hints see pp. 256-260 in "First Folio Edition.")
QUERIES FOR DISCUSSION
Do you think Shylock is wronged?
Does Shylock so preponderate the Play as to destroy its balance, and
outweighing all other characters make them insignificant?
Are Actors justified in acting the Play so as to dwarf the Love plot
and cut out Act V as needless?
Is Portia the proper counterpart in consummate character creation to
Shylock? To whom does, if properly played, the ultimate interest of
the Play belong?
Why does this position belong to no other character's part?
ACT V
THE RINGS
What is the business of Act V?
How is it linked to the preceding Act? Since reunion and rejoicing are
not alone the business of the plot; since recognition and declaration
to the two husbands, and to Anthonio, especially, are needed, as well
as to the others, of the part played by the wives in solving the
difficulties of the plot, the Ring scenes constitute the due dramatic
conclusion of the Play. Note that the threat of quarrel over the
reluctant but requisite giving away of the rings in the preceding Act
makes a deceptively serious difficulty. It is happily to be solved as
a result of the wives' preceding action. This difficulty and this
solution at this final stage of the plot constitute a little character
play that is an epitome of the action. The whole is the more happily
and amusingly solved that the Audience is wise and the characters
still in the dark are really perplexed.
Point out the value of the exchange of Rings as made clear in these
two ways, by bringing out the characters of Gratiano, Bassanio, and
especially of Anthonio as peace-maker; and by bringing out to them the
fact that to the wives' love and skill the victory over the
difficulties they suffered is due.
Are the rings the sole test of this?
What other news adds to the general denouement of all difficulties?
Is the summing up of the Play a victory of love and intelligence over
hate and narrow-mindedness?
Show how the rings symbolize this, and music and moonlight provide the
proper atmosphere for its operation. The appropriateness of the
moonlight for a calm out of strife, brought about by women, is matched
by the fitness of music and the reference to the harmony of the
spheres to suggest that earth-harmony to which Portia was presiding
Angel.
QUERIES FOR DISCUSSION
Is any incident of Act V without relevance to the plot?
Is the Play the nobler or the weaker dramatically for the poetic and
symbolic influence shed upon it by Act V?
THE MERRY WIVES OF WINDSOR
If this Comedy was written, as tradition reports at the bidding of
Queen Elizabeth in order to show Falstaffe in love, it is interesting
to see that Shakespeare confines his love-making to mercenary motives,
and by causing him to make love to two at once renders him as a lover
merely a cheat.
So keeping the word of promise to the ear, he obeys by breaking it to
the sense. To show Falstaffe as a lover amounts to showing him as no
lover at all.
In this sense, the Play might be called a courteous satire upon the
Queen's request.
THE STORY OF ACT I
FALSTAFFE IS FORCED TO "CONICATCH"
How Falstaffe falls into trouble, turns away his followers and begins
a new enterprise: How do his followers take revenge? What light upon
this opening of the story do scenes i. and iii. show?
What is the underplot as shown in scenes ii. and iv and a part of
scene i?
Do they appear to have anything to do with each other?
QUERIES FOR DISCUSSION
Which of her suitors does Anne prefer? Which is to be preferred?
Is the grievance of Shallow against Falstaffe a necessity of the plot
to show the fat knight in love, or an episode introduced out of
Shakespeare's grudge towards Sir Thomas Lucy? (See pp. 117-119,
138-141, etc., "First Folio Edition.")
THE STORY OF ACT II
THE MERRY WIVES AND FORD LAY PLOTS
In Act II a third under-intrigue that of Ford with Falstaffe is added
to the two before introduced.
Show how the Merry Wives reveal their separate personalities in their
reception of the duplicate letters, and their plot to dupe Falstaffe.
Contrast their two husbands as their natures and marital relations are
shown by their different manner of taking the information given them
by Nym and Pistol. Ford, considered as Shakespeare's first study of
jealousy. How does he compare with Leontes?
How does Ford assist in the plot of the Play?
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