Shakespeare
I—SHAKESPEARE'S LIFE STORY
1. Parentage, childhood, youth, and education. Description of Stratford (with photographs).
2. Shakespeare as an actor, manager, and playwright. His friends; his theater; his company.
3. His marriage.
4. His later years. Evidence from legal documents, etc.
5. Appreciation of Shakespeare by his contemporaries and successors.
Discuss Browning's House as an estimate of Shakespeare's relation to his own plays.
Books to Consult—William Winter: Shakespeare's England. Hamilton Mabie: Shakespeare. Sidney Lee: Life of Shakespeare.
Read of the school at Stratford which Shakespeare attended, and show a photograph. Have a selection from Irving's Sketch Book from Stratford on Avon. Tell of Shakespeare's marriage, and have for a reading or recitation, Anne Hathaway. Show pictures of the town, the museum, the Shakespeare Theater, etc.
II—THE ENGLISH HISTORICAL PLAYS
1. Richard II. and King John—Analysis of plots, leading characters and their traits. Readings from Richard II.: Act v., Scene 1. King John: Act iv., Scene 1 (beginning with Hubert's speech, "Heat me these irons hot").
2. Henry IV., Henry V., and Richard III.—Analysis of plots, characters, and traits, as above. Readings from Henry IV.: Part II., Act. iv., Scene 5 (in part). Henry V.: Act v., Scene 2 (dialogue between Henry and Katharine). Richard III.: first speech of Gloucester.
3. Henry VI., and Henry VIII.—Analysis of plots, characters and traits, as above. Readings from Henry VI.: Part I., Act iii., Scene 2 (conversation of Joan of Arc); also, Part III., Act ii., Scene 2. Henry VIII.: Act iii., Scene 2 (last part, Cromwell and Wolsey); also, Act v., Scene 5.
4. How Shakespeare Made His Historical Plays—Describe the use he made of Holinshed and older writers; the changes in plot and character due to Shakespeare; the imaginary persons he introduced. Readings from Holinshed.
Books to Consult—Hamilton Mabie: William Shakespeare, Poet, Dramatist, and Man. W. Aldis Wright: The Cambridge Shakespeare (introductions and notes). Gollancz: The Temple Shakespeare (introductions and notes).
It will be interesting to take up the question how far these plays are historically true; also their value to the common people as a means of teaching them in a vivid way the history of their own country. How far were they calculated to stimulate patriotism by the glorification of England? Describe modern productions of these plays by Booth, Irving, Mansfield, Sothern, etc. Tell the story of the first production of Henry VIII., which caused the burning of the Globe Theater. (See Mabie's Shakespeare, page 383.)
III—TYPICAL TRAGEDIES
1. Hamlet—The tragedy of the unbalanced mind. Source: Saxo-Grammaticus. Synopsis of the plot and analysis of the chief characters. Discussion of Hamlet's madness. Read Act i., Scenes 4 and 5; Act iii., Scene 1, in part; Act v., Scene 2, latter part.
2. King Lear—The tragedy of filial ingratitude. Source: Holinshed. Synopsis of the plot and analysis of the chief characters. The three daughters as types. Read Act ii., Scene 4, enter Cornwall, Regan, Gloster, etc.; Act iii., first four scenes; Act iv., Scene 7.
3. Macbeth—The tragedy of guilt. Source: Holinshed's Chronicles of Scotland. Synopsis of the plot and analysis of the chief characters. Reading of the story of Macbeth from Holinshed. Shakespeare's use of the weird, illustrated by the witches. Feminine strength and masculine weakness shown in Lady Macbeth and her husband. Read Act i., Scene 3; Act v., Scene 1.
4. Othello—The tragedy of jealousy. Source: Cinthio's Hecatomithi. Synopsis of the plot and analysis of the chief characters. Shakespeare and Italy; local color. Novelty of the Moor as hero. Read Act iii., Scene 3, in part; Act v., Scene 2.
5. Julius Cæsar—The tragedy of ambition. Source: North's Translation of Plutarch. Reading from this. Synopsis of the plot and analysis of the chief characters. Admiration of Shakespeare for Cæsar, and frequent reference to him. Read whole of Act iii., also Act iv., Scene 1.
Books to Consult—Wood: Hamlet from a Psychological Point of View. Brereton: Some Famous Hamlets. Hall Caine: Richard III. and Macbeth. W. W. Skeat: Shakespeare's Plutarch.
Although every great tragedian has attempted the famous parts in Shakespeare's tragedies, some have stood out conspicuously for their interpretations. Study Kemble, Kean, Macready, Booth, Barrett, Irving, and Mansfield; also, Mrs. Siddons, Helen Faucit, Charlotte Cushman and Ellen Terry. Illustrate, if possible, with portraits in character, such as Booth as Hamlet, Mansfield as Cæsar, and Terry as Ophelia.
IV—TYPICAL COMEDIES
1. The Taming of the Shrew—An Italian play. Source in an older English play. Synopsis of the plot and analysis of the chief characters. Contrast between Katharine and Bianca. Read Act ii., Scene 1 (the dialogue between Katharine and Petruchio) and Act v., Scene 2.
2. Twelfth Night—Source: Bandello. Synopsis of the plot and analysis of the chief characters. Imaginative setting of the play in Illyria. Shakespeare's sense of fun. Rude humor of the time. Read Act ii., Scene 3, latter part.
3. The Merry Wives of Windsor—No definite source. Materials in Stratford life. Synopsis of the plot and analysis of the chief characters. A purely English play. The Falstaff of history compared with Shakespeare's representation of him. Falstaff here and elsewhere in Shakespeare. Note the possibility of the origin of this play in a request of Queen Elizabeth. Read Act iii., Scene 3.
4. The Comedy of Errors—Source: the Menæchmi of Plautus. Synopsis of the plot and analysis of the chief characters. Read Act v., Scene 1 (from "enter a servant" on).
Books to Consult—Hudson: The Harvard Shakespeare (introductions and notes). Lang: Shakespeare's Comedy of Errors. List of Songs by Shakespeare set to Music: the New Shakespeare Society.
V—PLAYS OF SENTIMENT
1. Romeo and Juliet—Source: William Painter's Palace of Pleasure. Synopsis of the plot and analysis of the chief characters. Essentially lyrical quality of this play. Compare Ophelia and Juliet. Read Act ii., Scene 2. Reading from A Study of Romeo in J. J. Chapman's Emerson and Other Essays.
2. As You Like It—Source: Lodge's Rosalynde. Synopsis of the plot and analysis of the chief characters. Note the part of Adam, which Shakespeare played himself. Compare Juliet and Rosalind. Read Act ii., Scene 4, and Act iii., Scene 2. Readings from Hamilton Mabie's In the Forest of Arden and William Winter's Old Shrines and Ivy.
3. The Merchant of Venice—Source: the Italian Tale, Il Pecorone. Synopsis of the plot and analysis of the chief characters. Discuss the question, Who is the hero of the drama? Read from Act iii., Scene 2, and Act iv., Scene 1 (Portia's plea). Reading from Philipson's The Jew in English Fiction.
Books to Consult—Hiram Corson: Introduction to Shakespeare. Fleming: How to Study Shakespeare. Dowden: Transcripts and Studies (for Romeo and Juliet). Stopford Brooke: On Ten Plays of Shakespeare (for As You Like It). Introductions to the several plays by Brandes, R. G. White and Rolfe (popular).
The heroines of these plays are among the loveliest in Shakespeare. A special paper might be prepared on them, illustrating it with their famous speeches.
VI—PLAYS OF FANCY
1. Midsummer Night's Dream—Source: old tales (Petrarch, Ovid, Chaucer, etc.). Synopsis of the plot and analysis of the chief characters. An early play, full of sprightly gaiety. Splendid metrical command. Influence on later literature and music (Faust, Oberon). Read Act iii., Scene 1. Also the Pyramus and Thisbe part.
2. Cymbeline—Source: Boccaccio and Holinshed. Synopsis of the plot and analysis of the chief characters. Serene temper with tragic element. Fanciful geography. Read Act iv., Scene 2, through the song Fear No More.
3. Winter's Tale—Source: Greene's Pandosto and the Decameron of Boccaccio. Analysis of the plot and description of the chief characters. List of Warwickshire flowers mentioned (Act iv., Scene 3). Discuss the reason for the popularity of this play in Shakespeare's time and its neglect now. Read Act iv., Scene 3, in part.
4. The Tempest—Source: almost entirely Shakespeare's own; very slight dependence on materials. Analysis of the plot and description of the chief characters. Probably Shakespeare's last play. Wreck of the Sea-Venture and description of Bermuda (see Mabie's Shakespeare). Note Shakespeare's desertion of reality for fancy at the close of his career. Read Act v., Scene 1.
Books to Consult—Hudson: The Life, Art, and Character of Shakespeare. Dowden: Shakespeare, His Mind and Art. The Arden Shakespeare: introductions by Chambers, Wyatt, Boas, etc. Editions of the plays by Rolfe, Brandes, and Hudson. Winter: Old Shrines and Ivy. Sherman: What is Shakespeare? (chapters on Cymbeline and Winter's Tale). W. B. Carpenter: Religious Spirit in the Poets (chapter on the Tempest).
As this is the last program in which Shakespeare's plays are taken up in detail, the important subject might be discussed of the relation of the plays to the author's own life and mental development. (See Dowden's book.) Special study should be made of the exquisite songs in which the last three plays are particularly rich. Hark, Hark, the Lark! and Fear No More, from Cymbeline, Jog On and When Daffodils Begin, from Winter's Tale, and Where the Bee Sucks, from the Tempest, should be sung or read.
VII—SONNETS AND OTHER POEMS
1. Venus and Adonis—Early experiment in narrative verse. The story founded on Ovid, with medieval alterations of the legend. Character of the theme acceptable to the Renaissance spirit, but impossible to-day. Correctness of the text.
2. The Rape of Lucrece—Story of Lucius Tarquinius Superbus. Legend unaltered by the poet. Lucrece, the model of conjugal fidelity in the Middle Ages. Who was the Earl of Southampton, to whom the poem was dedicated? What did the other poets of Shakespeare's time think of these early poems?
3. Shorter Poems—A Lover's Complaint, The Passionate Pilgrim, and The Phœnix and the Turtle. Shakespeare's part in the second and his indignation at the use of his name for the whole. The "unsolved enigma" of the last.
4. The Sonnets—The origin of the sonnet form in Italy. The plan of the series. Comparison of the collection with Wordsworth's sonnet sequences, Mrs. Browning's Sonnets, and Tennyson's In Memoriam. The problem of W. H. Read the Sonnets, 18, 22, 33, 116.
Books to Consult—W. J. Rolfe: Venus and Adonis, and Other Poems. Sidney Lee: introductions to the several poems. Israel Gollanez: Shakespeare's Sonnets. Edward Dowden: Shakespeare's Sonnets. Parke Godwin: New Study of the Sonnets of Shakespeare.
The most interesting problem about the sonnets is whether or not they are a revelation of Shakespeare's own experience and views of life, or are wholly imaginative. On this point read from Wordsworth, Scorn Not the Sonnet, and Browning's House, in which the two poets take opposite views. For a full and most interesting discussion see Dowden's essay.
VIII—THE WOMEN OF SHAKESPEARE
1. Introductory—Variety of characters and pronounced individuality. Different types represented. Not peculiar to his age, but timeless.
2. The Women of Intellect—Portia: the woman of wisdom and learning. Is she Shakespeare's highest female type? Beatrice: the fine lady, of wit and high spirits. Readings—Portia: the casket scene and the court scene from the Merchant of Venice. Beatrice: first and last scenes from Much Ado.
3. The Women of Sentiment—Juliet: woman of the South; romantic and intense. Desdemona; woman of the North; modest, tender, self-restrained. Readings—Juliet: Act iii., Scenes 2 and 5, of Romeo and Juliet. Desdemona: Act iv., Scene 2, of Othello.
4. The Women of Imagination—Perdita: simplicity, dignity, and sweetness. Miranda: ethereal, unsophisticated, and ideal. Readings—Perdita: Act iv., Scene 4 (the shepherd's cottage), of the Winter's Tale. Miranda: Act i., Scene 2 (the island), of the Tempest.
5. The Women of History—Lady Macbeth: power of intellect, determination, devotion to her husband's career. Princess Katharine: charming and coquettish. Readings—Lady Macbeth: Act i., Scene 8, from Macbeth. Katharine: Act v., Scene 2 (beginning "Fair Katharine"), from Henry V.
6. Women of Various Types—Illustrative readings from As You Like It (Rosalind), Hamlet (Ophelia), King Lear (Cordelia), Taming of the Shrew (Katharine).
Books to Consult—E. Dowden: Transcripts and Studies. L. Lewes: Women of Shakespeare. Mrs. A. B. Jameson: Characteristics of Women. Wingate: Shakespeare's Heroines on the Stage.
The club members could add interest to this meeting by recalling the famous actresses they may have seen, and comparing their presentations of Shakespeare's women. For example, Mary Anderson as Juliet, Ada Rehan as Katharine, Ellen Terry as Portia, Modjeska as Rosalind, and Julia Marlowe as Ophelia.
IX—SHAKESPEREAN PROBLEMS
1. His Personality—How much education had Shakespeare? Did he reveal himself in his plays? What were his personal characteristics?
2. Characteristics of His Work—Did he plagiarize? If so, was he justified? Was his meaning always clear to himself? See Richard Grant White on this point. Is his broad humor defensible? Discuss Taine's criticism on this point.
3. Estimate of Shakespeare in His Own and Later Times—What did his contemporaries think of him? Why was he ignored in the later seventeenth century? Quote from great writers on Shakespeare: Coleridge, Goethe, Swinburne, etc.
4. The Bacon-Shakespeare Controversy—Origin: story of Delia Bacon's life. Is there a cipher in Shakespeare? Quotation of learned opinion on both sides.
Books to Consult—Emerson: Essays. E. Dowden: Essays, Modern and Elizabethan. Arthur Gilman: Shakespeare's Morals. Ignatius Donnelly: The Great Cryptogram. Charlotte Carmichael Stopes: Bacon-Shakespeare Question Answered.
Have a talk on Shakespeare the historian. Is he trustworthy? Does he give an accurate account of events or only reproduce general color? Have a discussion on the character of Hamlet. Was he really mad? Did Shakespeare intend so to represent him, or to leave the matter in doubt? For those interested in such things, the subject of the early editions of Shakespeare, and their relation to one another, is one of great fascination. A description of the immensely costly collection recently presented to the Elizabethan Club at Yale might be given.
X—FAMOUS PRESENTATIONS OF SHAKESPEARE'S PLAYS
1. English—Garrick, Charles Kean, Siddons, Charles Kemble, Lady Faucit, Irving, Terry, Tree, Benson. Descriptions and anecdotes from Boswell's Johnson, Charles Lamb's Essays, Fanny Burney's Diary, and Ellen Terry's life.
2. American—Forrest, the elder and younger Booth, Barrett, Ada Rehan, Mansfield, Sothern, and Marlowe.
3. The Theater at Stratford-on-Avon—Description of it with views. Story of some of the famous presentations given there. Differences between these and those of Shakespeare's own time.
4. Discussion of the Question of Stage Settings—Was that of Shakespeare's time better, with no scenery, and all the effect lying in the meaning of the lines; or is the method of to-day preferable with its elaborate, costly, and spectacular scenery and stage effects? Describe the change in stage ideas due to the invention of the electric light.
5. Description of Plays Seen—Brief statements by the club members of the Shakespearean representations they have witnessed, with an analysis of their impressions of plays and of actors.
Books to Consult—Sidney Lee: Shakespeare and the Modern Stage. Percy Fitzgerald: Shakespearean Representation: Its Laws and Limits. Percy Fitzgerald: Romance of the English Stage. C. E. L. Wingate: Shakespeare's Heroes on the Stage. Also, Heroines.
Prepare in advance of this meeting a screen with old play-bills and photographs of famous actors, Forrest, Kean, Booth and others. Read from newspaper files the dramatic criticisms of the plays presented. Describe some of the famous theaters of America in past and present times. Close with a discussion of the personal attitude of the club members toward Shakespeare's plays as compared with those written to-day. Is there a Shakespearean affectation?