7. Present before the class passages from any of the following:
| Dickens | A Christmas Carol |
| A Tale of Two Cities | |
| David Copperfield | |
| George Eliot | Silas Marner |
| The Mill on the Floss | |
| Scott | Ivanhoe |
| Kenilworth | |
| The Lady of the Lake | |
| Mark Twain | Huckleberry Finn |
| The Prince and the Pauper | |
| O. Henry | Short Stories |
| Thackeray | Vanity Fair |
| Henry Esmond | |
| Pendennis | |
| Kipling | Captains Courageous |
| Stalkey and Co. | |
| Hugo | Les Misérables |
| Tennyson | Idylls of the King |
| The Princess | |
| Arnold | Sohrab and Rustum |
| Stevenson | Treasure Island |
| Gaskell | Cranford |
| Carroll | Alice in Wonderland |
| Kingsley | Westward Ho! |
| Barrie | Sentimental Tommy |
Characters in Plays. In acting regular plays you may find it necessary to follow either of the preceding methods of characterization. The conception of a character may have to be supplied almost entirely by some one outside the play. Or the dramatist may be very careful to set down clearly and accurately the traits, disposition, actions of the people in his plays. In this second case the performer must try to carry out every direction, every hint of the dramatist. In the first case, he must search the lines of the play to glean every slightest suggestion which will help him to carry out the dramatist's intention. Famous actors of characters in Shakespeare's plays can give a reason for everything they show—at least, they should be able to do so—and this foundation should be a compilation of all the details supplied by the play itself, and stage tradition of its productions.
In early plays there are practically no descriptions of the characters. Questions about certain Shakespeare characters will never be solved to the satisfaction of all performers. For instance, how old is Hamlet in the tragedy? How close to madness did the dramatist expect actors to portray his actions? During Hamlet's fencing match with Laertes in the last scene the Queen says, "He's fat, and scant of breath." Was she describing his size, or meaning that he was out of fencing trim?
Shakespeare puts into the mouth of Julius Caesar a detailed description of the appearance and manner of acting of one of the chief characters of the tragedy.
Let me have men about me that are fat;
Sleek-headed men and such as sleep o' nights:
Yond Cassius has a lean and hungry look;
He thinks too much: such men are dangerous.
Would he were fatter! But I fear him not:
Yet if my name were liable to fear,
I do not know the man I should avoid
So soon as that spare Cassius. He reads much;
He is a great observer, and he looks
Quite through the deeds of men; he loves no plays,
As thou dost, Antony; he hears no music;
Seldom he smiles, and smiles in such a sort
As if he mock'd himself and scorn'd his spirit
That could be mov'd to smile at any thing.
In As You Like It when the two girls are planning to flee to the forest of Arden, Rosalind tells how she will disguise herself and act as a man. This indicates to the actress both costume and behavior for the remainder of the comedy.
Were it not better,
Because that I am more than common tall,
That I did suit me all points like a man?
A gallant curtle-axe upon my thigh,
A boar-spear in my hand; and—in my heart
Lie there what hidden woman's fear there will—
We'll have a swashing and a martial outside,
As many other mannish cowards have
That do outface it with their semblances.