I. The Life of William Shakspere. LECTURE.—The authorities for the facts of Shakspere's life-Jonson, Fuller, Ward, Aubrey, Castle, Davies, Betterton; contemporary references; records of the court. Shakspere's ancestors: Richard Shakspere, of Snitterfield; John Shakspere, of Stratford-on-Avon; Mary Arden, of Wilmecote. Birth of Shakspere, April 22, 1564. State of Warwickshire and Stratford. Shakspere, the boy; his susceptible, tenacious nature. Country sights and sounds. Instruction at the Grammar School. Folklore. Plays at Coventry. Revels at Kenilworth. Fortunes of John Shakspere. Shakspere's choice of a trade. Shottery and Anne Hathaway. The Lucy deer-stealing case. Shakspere in London, 1585. The times and spirit of the Elizabethans. Literary influences. Shakspere the actor; the playwright; the theatre-owner. Private life; the sonnets and the theories of their meaning. Recent evidence adduced. Rough division of Shakspere's dramas. The question of their relation to Shakspere's private history. Return to Stratford. William Shakspere, gentleman and man of business. Death, April 27, 1616. Ultimate mystery of genius. Matthew Arnold's Sonnet on Shakspere. STUDENT WORK.-Reading of Dowden's Primer of Shakspere and Shakspere's Sonnets (use preferably Rolfe's annotated edition of the Sonnets). Themes for Essays, etc.-(1) The influence of country life on Shakspere. (2) "The spacious times of great Elizabeth." (3) Shakspere as an actor. (4) Present, as you find it, the story of Shakspere's life as disclosed by the Sonnets. (5) What are the chief sonnet sequences in English-especially in Elizabethan-literature? State their general import and their relation, where they have any, to the lives of their authors. THE ILLUSTRATIONS.-The illustrations of this lecture will represent scenes of Warwickshire and Stratford-on-Avon. II. The Shakspere Comedy: As You Like It. The rise of English comedy. Its types defined. Contrast of Comedy of Errors and Tempest. As You Like It, an idyllic comedy. The creation of this genre by John Lyly. Lyly was Shakspere's master in idyllic comedy. Relation of the two men. The source of the play is Lodge's Euphues' Golden Legacy. The love motive supreme in Shakspere's play; the types of character presented; the interest of Jaques; the method of entanglement and dénouement of plot. The charm of dialogue of As You Like It never surpassed in union of tenderness and wit. Reading and comment on characteristic scenes. STUDENT WORK.-Reading of Midsummer Night's Dream, As You Like It, The Tempest, with especial study of the second. Themes for Essays, etc.-(1) Sketch the character of Rosalind, comparing her with Celia and Miranda. (2) What is the origin of the Fool in Shakspere? (3) Indicate briefly the characteristics of Touchstone, and compare him with Launcelot Gobbo and the Fool in Lear. (4) Analyze the plot and sub-plots of As You Like It and show the means by which they are united into a compact, organic play. Point out generally the difference in tone and treatment of Midsummer Night's Dream, As You Like It, and The Tempest. THE ILLUSTRATIONS.-This lecture will be followed by illustrations of the London of Shakspere. III. The Shakspere Comedy: The Merchant of Venice. The general relation of The Merchant of Venice to Shakspere's work: it belongs, like As You Like It, to his second period. It is characterized by a strong tragic element due to the dramatic figure of Shylock. The rise of dramatic characterization in the English drama-illustration from Marlowe's Barabas. Shakspere's dramatic treatment of character: his characters are not fixed types but individuals; they grow before us under the influences portrayed in the play. Dramatic interest of The Merchant of Venice centres in Shylock and Portia. The attitude of Elizabethans towards the Jews; contemporary records, trials, and plays. The relation of Marlowe's Jew of Malta to The Merchant of Venice. The study of Shylock, with illustrative readings. The study of Portia, with illustrative readings. The play results in the most interesting of dramatic situations, the clash of great personalities-Shylock and the spirit of the Old Testament, Portia and the spirit of the New Testament. The problems of the Trial Scene. Our final judgment on Shylock. STUDENT WORK.-The Merchant of Venice and Twelfth Night. Themes for Essays, etc.-(1) Make a series of diagrams indicative of the various plots and sub-plots of The Merchant of Venice. Point out in detail the various means used to unite these into a completely organized drama. (2) A comparison of Marlowe's Barabas and Shakspere's Shylock. (3) Is The Merchant of Venice well-named? (4) A study of the character of Jessica with comparison with the other women of the play. (5) Compare Portia and Viola. (6) Write a plea for a new trial of Shylock, based on the bad law of the Trial Scene. (7) Is the Fifth Act of The Merchant of Venice a help to the play? THE ILLUSTRATIONS.-This lecture will be followed by portraits of the contemporaries and friends of Shakspere, facsimiles of contemporary letters, etc. IV. The Shakspere History: Henry IV (Parts I and II). Brief outline of the relation of the dramatist and the historian. The extant material for dramatic composition among the Elizabethans— national annals, chronicles of Stowe and Holinshed. The use made of this material in the rise of the drama-the early History, Bale's King John, Sackville and Norton's Gorboduc (1562), Marlowe's Edward II (159–). Shakspere's relation to Marlowe in Henry VI and especially in Shakspere's first historical drama Richard III (1593) and in King John. The field covered by Shakspere in the tetralogy of plays, Richard II, Henry IV (two plays on a continuous theme) and Henry V. Shakspere's relationship to Holinshed: he is faithful but he selects his material, moulds and develops it, adding large comic elements, which do not, however, distort the historical perspective. Leading characteristics: the insistence on men of action, not sentimentalists in affairs; the theme England not men or monarchy; the assertion of the supremacy of moral law in statesmanship as in individual life. The role of the comic in Shakspere's histories-Falstaff the prince of humorists, the greatest comic creation of all time; interpretation of the character; its dramatic value in Henry IV. Reading of illustrative scenes. STUDENTS' WORK.-Reading of Richard III, Henry IV (both parts), and Henry V, giving especial care to the two parts of Henry IV. The Themes for Essays.-(1) What elements of continuity are there in the V. The Shakspere Tragedy: Macbeth. The general characteristics of the great tragic group-Macbeth, Lear, Othello. The relation of Macbeth to Holinshed-the union of the stories of King Duncan and King Duffe and of the rebellion of Macdonald and invasion of Sueno. Significance of this Celtic material, especially in the conception of the character of Macbeth. Statement of the dramatic motive of Macbeth-the Nemesis following power gained through crime. The construction of Macbeth analyzed-its unified plot, simple intensity, and rapidity of action. The fall of Macbeth involves threefold action -the influence of the powers of evil, retribution for evil done (Nemesis), tragedy from inherent weakness of character. The dramatic interest is heightened by the nature of the actors and the wealth of feeling and poetry scattered through the play. Interpretation of the character of Macbeth, of Lady Macbeth. The third great personal element present throughout the play-the Powers of Evil. Tragic climax. Shakspere's final note of hope in his tragedies. STUDENTS' WORK.-The careful reading of Macbeth; the general reading of Romeo and Juliet and Lear. Moulton's treatment of Macbeth in Shakespeare as a Dramatic Artist should be carefully studied. Themes for Essays, etc.-(1) State briefly the tragic motive in Macbeth. Compare it with that of Lear. (2) Show in what aspects of construction Macbeth differs from Lear. (3) Examine into the imaginative, poetic cast of mind of Macbeth, and show the harmony of this character with the incidents of his life. (4) Were Macbeth's evil ambition and fall due to the influence of Lady Macbeth? (5) Point out how far the actions of Macbeth won and lost him the throne. (6) Was the Nemesis that attended Lady Macbeth due to remorse? (7) Discuss the use of the Porter Scene. (8) To what times and places do the so-called historic parts of Macbeth belong? Is Shakspere's picture of these times and places accurate and faithful? (9) Had Middleton anything to do with the composition of Macbeth? ILLUSTRATIONS.-The illustrations will represent special scenes in this play and characteristic engravings of scenes from other plays. VI. The Shakspere Tragedy: Hamlet. The mystery of Shakspere's life recalled from the sonnets; the bearing of the problem on Hamlet. The source of Hamlet in Historia Danica of Saxo Grammaticus (c. 1200). Evidences of the personality of Shakspere and the aspects of his own times in Hamlet. The interest of a problemplay-fascination of Hamlet's character. General statement of theories held. Statement of the dramatic motive of Hamlet-a tragedy of inaction of a noble but thought-sick nature cast upon times that are out of joint. An attempt to interpret Hamlet's character in its dramatic setting. STUDENTS' WORK.-The study of Hamlet. Themes for Essays, etc.—(1) Outline the play of Hamlet so as to show the groups of persons and their dramatic relations. (2) Outline the plot and sub-plots of Hamlet and show their connection. (3) Discuss the dramatic use of the play within the play. Point out other instances of the device in Shakspere. (4) Discuss the character of Ophelia, estimating the extent to which the tragedy of Hamlet's life is due indirectly to her. (5) Discuss the statement that Hamlet's fall has its origin in his own breast. (6) Summarize Goethe's critique on Hamlet in Wilhelm Meister (Lehrjahre, iv. ch. 13). (7) What is the dramatic value of the part of Fortinbras in the play? (8) Point out traces of the type of mind of Hamlet in other characters of Shakspere. ILLUSTRATIONS.-The illustrations will deal with the memorials of Shakspere in Stratford, his portraits and statues, signatures and seal, etc. |