This classification which follows, in the main, Ward, Dowden and Furnivall, can lay no claim to infallibility in the matter of dates, but it may be presumed to be at least approximately accurate, which is all that is needful for a systematic study of Shakspere's life work. The facts known to a certainty with regard to Shakspere's life are scanty enough. He was baptized on the 26th April, 1564, according to the Stratford Parish Register, and was therefore probably born on the 22nd or 23rd of that month. He was the son of John Shakspere and Mary Arden, who had been married seven years previously and had already had two daughters, both of whom died in infancy. He attended the grammar school at Stratford, and at eighteen years of age married Ann Hathaway, eight years older than himself. In 1585 he probably left Stratford to go up to London, in order to support his family and to escape from a calling which he must have felt was not his own. His trip was in all probability made on foot by way of Oxford and High Wycombe. At London he secured recognition only by slow and difficult stages, there being a tradition for a time that he held horses for visitors outside the doors of the theatre. While in London he lived near the theatres in Southwark. evidence to prove that he was ever outside of England. His works were practically all produced within a compass of twenty years, beginning about 1590. From poverty he rose to comparative affluence, and finally retired from the stage about 1610 to enjoy in a quiet home life at Stratford the fruits of his well earned fame. He died 23rd April, 1616, and was buried at Stratford. There is no conclusive Sidney Lee's "Life of Shakspere" is, on the whole, the best biography. An excellent compend of it is found in his article on Shakspere in the " Dictionary of National Biography." GENERAL SUGGESTIONS. In making any study of a drama by Shakspere, three things are, at least, absolutely essential. First. A knowledge of the meaning of the text. NOTE. Mr. Meiklejohn in his plan for the "Perfect Possession" of Shakspere, published in the Chambers' edition of "King Lear," London and Edinburgh, 1877, enumerates the following desiderata : "I. The Plot and Story of the Play. (a) The general plot. (b) The special incidents. II. The Characters. Ability to give a connected account of all that is done and most of what is said by each character in the plot. III. The Influence and Interplay of the characters upon each other. (a) Relation of A to B and of B to A. (b) Relation of A to C and D. IV. Complete Possession of the Language. (a) Meanings of words. (b) Use of old words, or words in an old meaning. (c) Grammar. (d) Ability to quote lines to illustrate a dramatical point. V. Power to Reproduce or Quote. (a) What was said by A or B upon a particular occasion. What was said by A in reply to B. What argument was used by C at a particular juncture. (d) To quote a line in instance of an idiom or a peculiar meaning. VI. Power to locate. (a) To attribute a line or statement to a certain person on a certain occasion. (b) To cap a line. To fill in the right word or epithet." In addition to the prime essentials of Interpretation, Plot and Characterization, it is well to take into account (a) The sources or historical basis of the play. If a history, like Richard III, read up the historical facts upon which the drama is based. (b) The landscape or setting of the action. How does the dramatist create an "atmosphere" for his people to live in? (c) The special beauty of particular passages. Including a study of the form of the verse and the committing to memory of some of the finest gems of language. Miss Woodbridge's little book entitled "The Drama, its Law and its Technique" will be found very helpful in making a study of plot. Freytag's larger work should also be consulted. LECTURE I. THE STUDENT PERIOD. (a) UNDER THE Tutelage of Marlowe. KING RICHARD III. Study, by way of comparison, the probable influence of Marlowe in the Henry VI trilogy and the very obvious imitation of the latter's Edward II in Richard II. One of England's greatest statesmen said he learned his English history from Shakspere, and it is well to remember that by beginning with Richard II and reading on to Henry VIII, including Ford's "Perkin Warbeck," to fill up the gap in the life of Henry VII, we have practically a continuous history of what was perhaps the most important period in the story of the English nation. Compare also the other historical plays of the period, especially Shakspere's “King John," the apocryphal "Edward III," Marlowe's "Edward II," Peele's "Edward I," and Heywood's "If you Know Not me you Know Nobody," (for the history of Elizabeth). SUGGESTIVE QUESTIONS UPON KING RICHARD III. Interpretation and Setting. 1. Illustrate the use which the play makes of the element of dramatic irony. 2. What quotations from the Bible does the play contain? 3. What Marlowesque features does it contain? 4. What evidence of immaturity? 5. What use does the play make of the element of prophecy? 6. Interpret and give the setting to the following: (a) "Would they were basilisks to strike thee dead;" (b) "My dukedom to a beggarly denier;" (c). "That wrens may prey where eagles dare not perch;" (d) "That grim ferryman which poets write of;" (e) "You cannot reason almost with a man; (ƒ) "Thus like the formal Vice, Iniquity;" (g) "But the respects thereof are nice and trivial ;" (h) "The deep, revolving, witty, Buchingham,” "The petty rebel, dull-brained Buckingham." 7. Where was Hastings put to death? 8. Where are the two young princes now buried? 9. Illustrate the Shaksperian use of "shall" and "will" from the play. 10. Compare the two speeches of Richard and Richmond; which shows the greater command of logic? 11. What is Gloster's usual form of adjuration ? 12. Is the soliloquy of King Richard before Bosworth capable of rational interpretation? RICHARD III. Plot. 1. Locate exciting moment and climax. " from the play. |