Shakespeare Study Programs; The Comedies by Charlotte Porter and Helen A. Clarke

C >> Charlotte Porter and Helen A. Clarke >> Shakespeare Study Programs; The Comedies

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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.'

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