(with Synopses of his Plays and Poems)
The settling of the chronological order ofShakespeare's plays has enabled scholars to dis-cern a proccss of development in his work.Shakespeare’s career as a dramatist may be di-vided into four major phases which represent re-spectively his early, mature, flourishing, andlate periods.The First Period (1590～1594)
The first period of Shakespeare’s dramaticcomposition is the period of his apprenticeshipin play-writing, during which he, as a newcom-er to London, made experiments in a number ofdramatic forms, including history plays (“HenryⅥ”， Parts 1, 2 and 3, “Richard III”), varietiesof comedy (“The Comedy of Errors”， “TheTaming of the Shrew”，“The Two Gentlemen ofVerona”， “Love’s Labour’s Lost”), a revengetragedy (“Titus Andronicus”), and a romantictragedy (“Romeo and Juliet”). In these years healso wrote two narrative poems, “Venus and A-donis” and “The Rape of Lucrece”. All this laidthe foundation for his dramatic career and literary fame.
When Shakespeare wrote these early plays, hewas a young man from 26 to 30. His work in thisperiod bears the mark of youth, but of youthwith astonishing versatility and wonderful tal-ent. The comedies are chiefly concerned withthe affairs of youth and full of romantic senti-ment. They enter into the cares and love-af-fairs, the recreations and the studies of the
young people, and the plots often end in everyJack having his fore-appointed Jill. Even thetragedy of “Romeo and Juliet” is lyrical and op-timistic in spirit, lit up by the spring and sun-shine of South Europe. In his early historyplays, the young dramatist tried to handle politi-cal themes and give historical lessons. Henry VIis a weak but virtuous king without resource,whose ineptitude brought disaster on England.Richard III is a strong.resourceful king without virtue, who brought oncalamity through his lust for power and oppres-sion. This suggests that Shakespeare took a greatinterest in the political questions of his time.This period also shows Shakespeare to have beena man of wide reading. He had read Plautus'comedy, Plutarch's “Lives”， Ovid's “Metamor-phoses”. Florio's Montaigne. Berner's Frois-sart, Holinshed's “Chronicles', Chaucer, Sid-
ney, Marlowe, and the Bible. All of these au-thors and books he used in the composition ofhis plays. So far as language is concerned, hisearly plays show an extraordinary facility in ex-pression and a felicity in the choice of phrasesand epithets, which distinguished his work fromthat of any of his contemporaries.
At first, his drama relies not so much on char-
acter as on fine or witty speech and situation.Different types of characters are distinguishedby their different bearing and language, but va-rious characters of the same type are very littledifferentiated by the possession of different in-tellectual endowments or psychological attrib-utes. The device of mistaken identity is em-ployed once and again as the best source of fun(“The Comedy of Errors”， “The Two Gentle-men of Verona”， “Love's Labour's Lost”), In
the history plays, historical accuracy is not sostrictly regarded. Still. there is an undoubtedlift. The principle of causing the action to re-volve around one or two central figures and ofmaking character and not incident the source ofaction, is gradually followed. If the charactersin his earliest plays lack individualization,Shakespeare showed an increasing insight intocharacter and mind. and finally gained a goodcommand of characterization in “Romeo and Ju-liet” and “Richard III”.
Shakespeare's plays are poetical dramas. Agreat number of important dialogues and solilo-quies in his plays assume the form of poetry. Butthe form of poetry used in his earliest plays wasnot a happy vehicle for expression. It consisted,usually, of five rigid iambic feet, and the cus-tom of rhyming made the verse even more me-chanical and unfit for dramatic expression. Thedramatist was bound by the rigidity of line dueto the regularity of rhyme and metre. The pro-duction of Marlowe's “ Tamburlaine ” in 1587revealed the tremendous possibilities of blankverse, i. e. poetry in unrimed iambic pentame-ter. And, with the influence of Marlowe,Shakespeare began to use blank verse as the pri-mary form of poetry in his play-writing. TheFirst Period shows a general tendency of thegradual diminishing and disappearance of rhymeas the principal impediment in Shakespeare’sdramatic composition. Once rhyme was droppedin the line. the poet was more at liberty to ex-press his own conception of the subject and, un-der his hands, blank verse developed into a hap-py vehicle to express all kinds of thought and e-motion freely. So a study of the changes in pro-portion of rimed lines to blank verse may serveas a test to show the gradual development ofShakespeare’s dramatic art in different periods.HENRY VI, PARTS I, II AND III
In 1594 ～ 1595, appeared in print Shakes -peare’s two-part historical play, “The WholeContention between the two Famous Houses,Lancaster and York” (probably written between1589 and 1592), which depicts the civil Wars ofthe Roses (1455～1485) during the reign of KingHenry VI (1422～1461), who belonged to theHouse of Lancaster. Another part about the ear-ly years of Henry VI was published in the 1623Folio edition of Shakespeare’s plays as the firstpart of “King Henry VI”， and “The Conten-tion” appeared in that collection as the secondand third parts. The three parts of “Henry VI”deal with the successive internal conflicts be-tween the two noble families, York and Lancas-ter, for the English throne, giving a dramaticversion of English history from the death of
Henry V (1422) to the accession of Edward IV(1461).
Part I shows the defeat of England by
France in the Hundred Years’ War (1338 ～
1453), the relief of Orleans by the French andthe gradual expulsion of the English from a largepart of France. The French are guided and in-spired by their heroine Joan of Arc, who, in ac-cordance with the English bias of the time, is re-presented as a “minister of hell” and a wanton.On the English side, the commander Talbotthrows other leaders into the shade. At home,
the play shows the beginning and developmentof the enmity between York and Lancaster.Part II continues the story of the internalstrife of York and Lancaster. The vigorous Mar-garet of France arrives in England and is mar-ried to Henry VI, while the intrigues of theYorkist faction develop until the Duke of Yorkclaims the crown. A caricature of the rising ofJack Cade against the misrule of Henry VI isgiven in the play. Meanwhile begins the Wars of
the Roses.
In Part III the Duke of York is seated in thethrone, and Henry weakly agrees that Yorkshould succeed him, thus disinheriting his son.Queen Margaret, enraged, attacks the Yorkists,captures York and killed him. But Richard thehunchback, Duke of Gloucester, and Edward,
Earl of March, both sons of York, turns what isalmost a loss into a victory. Henry, after sometwists and turns, is thrown into the London
Tower and murdered by Richard. Edward iscrowned as Edward IV, the first Yorkist king ofEngland. In the play Shakespeare already showshimself a master of tragic poetry, notably in thespeech of the captured York (wounded, mockedby a paper crown on his head, and awaitingdeath under the cruel taunts of Queen Margaret)and in the meditation of the King on the miser-ies of civil war.
RICHARD III
This historical play, acted probably in 1594and printed in 1597, continues the story of“Henry VI”， Part III, and shows how Richardwon and lost the crown. It opens in the reign ofEdward IV, Richard’s brother. Edward IV at-
tempts to induce his nobles to be reconciled. ButRichard, a hunchback and having a witheredarm, is filled with ambition and cold-bloodedcruelty. He diabolically clears all opponents inhis way and seizes the crown amid the curses andtears of the wives and mothers of those he has
murdered. He has murdered Henry VI, but hewooes and wins his son’s widow. When EdwardIV dies, Richard has his two little sons mur-dered in the Tower. Meanwhile the English no-bles are deserting him, and Henry, Earl ofRichmond, of the House of Tudor, is coming toEngland with his forces. The two armies met atBosworth. Richard, on the night before the bat-tle, is tormented by the ghosts of those he hasmurdered. The forces of Henry Tudor (after-wards Henry VII) win the day, and Richard iskilled. The play is dominated from beginning toend by the figure of Richard himself, who,though totally evil, is drawn as a character withmagnetic personality, energy and wit. And“Richard III” is the first successful historical
play by Shakespeare.
“Henry VI”， Parts I, II, and III, and “Rich-ard III” form Shakespeare’s first historical tet-ralogy, which represents recent history of Eng-land for Shakespeare’s audience—events justbeyond living memory but of great moment inthe lives of present generation. Queen ElizabethI was the granddaughter of Henry VII, and thestory of York and Lancaster was of great inter-est to Shakespeare’s contemporaries.THE COMEDY OF ERRORS
One of the earliest plays of Shakespeare,acted in 1594 and printed in 1623. The plot istaken from a play by the ancient Roman comicdramatist Plautus, a comedy of confusions be-tween twin brothers living in the same town, un-known to each other. But Shakespeare has add-ed twin servants to twin master-brothers, fillingthe play with quadruple misunderstandings. Thetwo cities, Syracuse and Ephesus, are at enmity.If any one of either place came to the other, heshould be killed unless he paid a thousandmarks. Aegeon, an old Syracusan merchant, isarrested in Ephesus. He explains how he camethere. His wife Aemilia and a poor woman hadboth given birth to twins at the same time. Hepurchased the poor twins as servants to his ownboys. In a shipwreck, he, with his younger sonand servant, has been separated from his wife,with his elder son and servant. Then the youn-ger son, Antipholus of Syracuse, and the youn-ger servant, Dromio of Syracuse, left home insearch of their brothers. And Aegeon has beentrying to find them for five years. In reality, hiselder son, Antipholus of Ephesus, and the elderservant, Dromio of Ephesus, have all alongbeen in Ephesus, after being rescued fromshipwreck. And Aemilia, unknown to them, isthere too. Meantime, Antipholus and Dromio of
Syracuse also come to Ephesus. A pair of An-tipholuses and a pair of Dromios happen to livein the same place on the same day. A series of a-musing misunderstandings occurs. In the endmistakes are explained and all ends happily.Though an apprentice work, the play revealsShakespeare’s mastery of construction.
THE TWO GENTLEMEN OF VERONA
An early comedy by Shakespeare, probablywritten about 1594 and first printed in 1623.The plot is a double love affair with complica-tions. The “two gentlemen ” are the youngfriends Valentine, simple and frank, and Pro-teus, fickle and scheming. Proteus is in love, atfirst, with Julia. Valentine leaves Verona forMilan, and there falls in love with Silvia, the
duke of Milan’s daughter. She loves him in re-turn. But the duke’s choice for her is an older
suitor Thurio, and Valentine plans to elope withSilvia. Meanwhile, Proteus is also sent to Mi-lan. As soon as he sees Silvia, he is captivatedby her and, betraying both his friend and hisformer love, reveals to the duke the intention ofValentine to carry off Silvia. Valentine is ban-ished and becomes a chief of outlaws. Silvia es-
capes from Milan to follow Valentine. Proteusfinds her in a wood and presses his suit on her,but is stopped by Valentine. Now, Julia has alsofollowed Proteus, disguised as a page. OnProteus’ repentance, and his acceptance of Jul-ia, Valentine generously forgives him, and allends happily. Launce, the clownish servant ofProteus and his dog Crab, enliven the scenes ofthe play and make it more delightful.
LOVE’S LABOUR’S LOST
A comedy by Shakespeare and one of his earli-est works, acted about 1595 and printed in 1598.Once regarded as obsolete, this play has come tolife in the theatre during the past 50 years, andscholars discovered that it is full of humanity.The king of Navarre takes it into his head toturn his court into an academy, where he andthree of his lords, Biron, Dumain and Longavil-le, swear to study for three years, to see nowoman, to fast one day a week, and have onlyone meal a day on the other days. The arrival ofthe princess of France on an embassy, withthree of her attendant ladies, the dark Rosaline,Maria and Katharine, makes them disregardtheir vows. The king at once falls in love withthe princess, Biron with Rosaline, Longavillewith Maria, and Dumain with Katharine. Thefour men find that love in a lady’s eyes is worthall the books. Their courting proceeds amidstsighes, sonneteerings, disguises and merriments.Suddenly comes news that the French princess’sfather is dead, and she must go home at once.The king of Navarre and his lords ask for love-pledges. These are refused by the princess andher ladies, who impose an ordeal on their suit-ors:the king is to live in hermitage, Biron is towork in a hospital, and Dumain and Longavilleare to wait, all for a year. The women haveshown the men that they can’t do without them,and that they must do good work to win theirlove. An underplot concerns a group of ludi-crous characters—Armado, a Spaniard of fan-tastical words, Holofernes, a pedantic school-master, Sir Nathaniel, a country clergyman,Costard, a clownish rustic, and Jaquenetta, apretty country girl.
“The Comedy of Errors”， “The Two Gentle-men of Verona”and “Love’s Labour’s Lost” are
works of Shakespeare’s early apprenticeship,which serve as a preliminary exercise in prepara-tion for his more mature comedies.THE TAMING OF THE SHREW
An early comedy by Shakespeare, probablywritten 1593～1594 and first published in 1623.The main plot concerns the successful attemptsof a gentleman to tame into obedience and lovea wilful and shrewish young lady. The scene islaid in Italy. Baptista, a rich gentleman of Pad-ua, has two daughters: Bianca is gentle, andKatharina is fiery in temper. Three suitors wantto marry Bianca, but nobody dares to wed Ka-tharina, the so-called “Kate the Shrew”. Baptis-ta won’t let Bianca marry until Katharina iscleared off. Petruchio, a gentleman in Verona,determines to marry Katharina by taming herstep by step. He carries his courtship with a highhand in spite of her rude rebuffs, affecting tofind her courteous and gentle. He keeps herwaiting in the church at wedding, knocks downthe priest, and carries her off, sword in hand.He puts her on a wretched horse, which tumblesher in the mud and falls on her. When they getto the house, he throws away her food and hernew dress, saying they are not good enough forher. He makes her say that the sun is the moon,and an old man is a young maiden, just as hetells her. And when she is regularly tamed, hetakes her back to her father's house. Meantime,
Bianca has been won by young Lucentio, whohas made love to her, masquerading as a school-master. Hortensio, the disappointed suitor ofBianca, has married a widow. At the marriage-feast, Petruchio proves that he has the most af-fectionate and docile wife of the three bride-
grooms. Though this play is sometimes acted asa farce, it is a comedy of characters with signifi-cations beyond the story of the wooing, wed-ding, and taming of a "shrew" by a gentleman.TITUS ANDRONICUS
A revenge tragedy attributed to Shakespeare,acted and printed in 1594. The story is a seriesof atrocities and horrors. Titus, a Roman gener-al, returning from the Gothic wars with prison-ers, finds Bassianus and Saturninus, two broth-
ers, in conflict for the throne. With the help ofTitus, Saturninus is made emperor, and wouldwed Lavinia, Titus's daughter, but Bassianuscarries her off, and weds her. The prisoners,including Tamora, queen of the Goths, Aaron,her paramour, and her two sons, are given toSaturninus, who weds Tamora. Titus has gran-ted one of Tamora's three sons as a sacrifice for
his dead sons, and Tamora seeks revenge. Hertwo remaining sons find Bassianus and Laviniain a wood: the former they kill; Lavinia theyrape and mutilate. But Titus's two sons are ac-cused of the crime and condemned to death. Ti-
tus is deceived that he may save them by cuttingoff his hand; Aaron performs this office; butthe sons are killed. Titus's son Lucius goes tojoin the Goths and takes revenge on Rome.Tamora and her sons go disguised to induce Titusto recall Lucius. Titus feigns not to recognizethem, and persuades Tamora to go and leave hersons with him. Having discovered their crime,he kills them. Then he recalls Lucius and invites
Tamora and Saturninus to a feast, where heserves up a pie made of the flesh and blood ofTamora’s sons. General carnage follows. Titus
kills Tamora; Saturninus kills Titus; Lucius kill
Saturninus. At the end, Lucius is proclaimedemperor. Much doubt has been expressed byscholars as to whether the play is entirely byShakespeare, by Shakespeare in collaboration,or not by Shakespeare at all.
ROMEO AND JULIET
One of Shakespeare’s early masterpieces andhis first romantic tragedy, probably written in1594. A very bad text of the play appeared in1597, but a better version of it was published in1599. In Verona, the Capulets and the Monta-gues are two families at bitter enmity. When oldCapulet gives a feast, Romeo, son of old Mon-tague, goes to it with his friends. There he seesJuliet, daughter of old Capulet, and falls in lovewith her. Leaping at night over Capulet’s or-chard wall, Romeo overhears Juliet’s confession
of her love for him, and the young lovers agreeon a secret marriage. With the help of FriarLaurence, they are wedded. But the next day,Romeo kills Tybalt, a Capulet, in a street quar-rel, and is sentenced to banishment. So he must
leave Verona for Mantua. Old Capulet, in igno-rance of his daughter’s secret marriage, proposesto marry Juliet off to a young nobleman, Paris.To enable her to escape from this marriage,Laurence gives her a sleeping potion. Taking it,she falls into a profound sleep. Her parents con-sider her dead and place her in the family burialvault. Laurence sends off a messenger to tellRomeo to come and steal Juliet away. However,by an accident the message is not sent, and Ro-meo hears only of her death. He buys poisonand returns to Verona. After a last kiss on
Juliet’s lips, he drinks the poison and dies. ThenJuliet awakes. Finding her lover dead by herside, she stabs herself with Romeo’s dagger.Though a tragedy, there is no tinge of pessimismin the play. It is a song of youth and true love,full of poetry and romance. It made a strong im-pression on Elizabethan audiences and wasShakespeare’s earliest great success in tragedy.The balcony scene (2. 2) and the parting scene(3.5) are two great love scenes in the world’s
literature.
VENUS AND ADONIS
“Venus and Adonis” is a narrative poem insix-lined stanzas, printed in 1593. It wasShakespeare’s first published work. The story istaken from Ovid’s “ Metamorphoses”. Venus(Aphrodite), the goddess of beauty and love, isin love with the beautiful youth Adonis. She de-tains him from the chase through woods andmakes efforts to win his love. She begs him tomeet her on the morrow, but he is then to hunt
the boar and flees from her. When the morningcomes, she hears his hounds at bay and, goingto look for him, finds him killed by the boar.Venus, stricken with grief, changes his bloodinto the anemone, or wind-flower. The poem isfull of vivid images of the countryside, and aph-orisms on life, which contrast with sensuous love
scenes. It is a young man’s work, showing thepoet’s love and knowledge of nature, commandof words, and fine sense of their music. It was
the most popular of Shakespeare’s writings withthe reading public of his time and impressedthem with his poetic genius. Seven editions of“Venus and Adonis” had appeared by 1612, andsixteen by 1640.
THE RAPE OF LUCRECE
“The Rape of Lucrece”， another narrativepoem by Shakespeare, was published in 1594. Itis a “graver labour” and the subject tragic, con-cerned with the ravishing of Lucrece by Sextus.Lucrece, a Roman lady of outstanding virtueand beauty, was the wife of Collatine. But Sex-tus, the son of Targuin, King of Rome, tried toseduce her, and when she resisted, committedrape upon her. She told her father and husbandof the outrage, and exacted an oath of venge-ance from them, after which she killed herself.
In consequence, a relative of her husband led arebellion against the Tarquin monarchy and ex-pelled them from the city. Lucrece was thus tra-ditionally the occasion for the foundation ofthe ancient Roman Republic. The poem, in sev-en-lined stanzas, is more rhetorical and elabo-
rate than “Venus and Adonis” and, togetherwith the latter, shows Shakespeare’s virtuosityas a poet. It was popular, too, with the readersof the time and went through eight editions by1640. Its disquisitions upon night, time, oppor-tunity, and lust antici-pate brilliant speeches ongeneral themes in Shakespeare’s plays—onmercy in “The Merchant of Venice”， suicide in“Hamlet”， and “degree” in “Troilus and Cressida”.The Second Period (1595～1600)
The second period of Shakespeare’s work ishis mature period, mainly a period of “greatcomedies” and mature historical plays. It in-cludes 6 comedies (“A Midsummer Night’sDream”， “The Merchant of Venice”， “The
Merry Wives of Windsor”， “Much Ado aboutNothing”， “As You Like It”， “TwelfthNight”), 5 historical plays (“Richard II”，“Henry IV”， Parts 1 and 2, “Henry V”， “KingJohn”), and a Roman tragedy (“Julius Cae-sar”). His “Sonnets” are also thought to be writ-ten in this period.
The dramatist made an advance in every wayon the basis of the achievements of the first pe-riod, in knowledge, in wisdom, in political in-sight, in dramatic skill, in creative power, incharacterization, and in versification. The com-
edies of this period are redolent of the purebreath of the green fields and of flowers, and litby a warm sunshine of gladness, ringing with achorus of youthful laughter. The general spirit isoptimism. Meantime, the reverse creeps in forcontrast: clouds come over the sun; there is sor-row, there is pathos, and there is sin; the inno-cent may suffer, the guilty may go unpunishedfor a time, and even find good fortune; but vir-tue, nevertheless, shall have its reward and tri-
umph in the end, and the wrong shall disappearbefore the forces of good. In the historical playsof this period, different phases of English lifeare shown before us: kings and princes, states-men and courtiers, the rich citizen life and the
life of the tavern, and the adventures of roguesand cheats. As a whole, this period isShakespeare’s sweet and joyful time, in whichhe succeeds in portraying a magnificent panora-ma of the manifold pursuits of people in reallife.
There is a great lift in characterization, whichdistinguishes this second period from the first.Most notable is a gallery of heroines of the com-edies, who are depicted with ungrudging and un-reserved affection and warmth. Shakespeareshows, with deep respect, their dignity, hones-ty, wit, courage, determination, and resource-fulness in emergency. Though there are mo-ments of weariness and frailty, their couragenever fails them in time of danger. And with ev-ery pang of affection and anxiety they only growstronger and more capable of coping with thesituation. The heroines of Shakespeare’s greatcomedies, Portia, Rosalynd, Viola, and Bea-trice, are the daughters of the Renaissance,whose images and stories will remain a legacy toreaders and audiences of all time. Naturally，“there are no heroes but heroines in Shakespeare’scomedies. ”
Many unforgettable characters also pass be-fore us in the historical plays. There is HenryIV, strong-willed and able, having a guilty con-science and failing in health, not a little dis-turbed about the past, but more fearful for thefuture; Prince Hal, later Henry V, a prodigalson and his father's daily sorrow in his youth,yet cold-headed and always keeping an eye oncurrent politics, and springing into a new life onduty's call; Hotspur, the young rebel leader,brave but rash, impetuous and undiplomatic,thus going to his doom; and Sir John Falstaff.knight, villain, soldier, robber, cheat and witall combined in one, thus forming one ofShakespeare's most brilliant creations. In writ-ing his early historical plays, Shakespeare learn-ed much from Marlowe and other playwrights ofhis time, but now he surpassed them all in ex-pressing the patriotic feelings of the Englishpeople and their demand for national unity withgreat force and vividness in his mature historicalplays.
The sources he employed in this period aremany and diversified. He read old plays andchronicles by Holinshed and Hall, and usedthem in his historical plays. He had also readSpenser’s “ Faerie Queene”， Lodge’s “ Rosa-lynde”，Ariosto’s “Orlando”， French and Italiannovels and romances, for his comedies.
The first period made Shakespeare famous,but it is in the second period that Shakespeare’sposition was secured as a mature and highly suc-cessful dramatist and poet, admired, praised andrevered by everyone.
A MIDSUMMER NIGHT’S DREAM
A comedy by Shakespeare, written about 1593and printed in 1600. The title shows the qualityof its contents, resembling a dream on midsum-mer night, when fantastic dreams were sup-posedto be commonly dreamt. The backgroundis the court of king Theseus of Athens, and theplot is a beautiful fairy-tale combined with thestory of the struggle for happiness of two pairsof lovers: Hermia and Lysander, Helena andDemetrius. Hermia, ordered by her father tomarry Demetrius, refuses, because she loves Ly-sander, while Demetrius has formerly professedlove for her friend Helena. Hermia and Lysand-er agree to leave Athens and meet in a wood.But Demetrius follows Hermia, and Helena
Demetrius, so that all four are that night in thewood. This wood is the haunt of fairies. Ober-
on, king of the fairies, overhearing the quarrelbetween Demetrius and Helena and desirous to
reconcile them, orders Puck, a mischievoussprite, to drop some love-juice into the eyes ofDemetrius, to make him love Helena again. ButPuck unluckily drops it into Lysander’s eyes,making him confess love to Helena. When Puckapplies the juice again, both Demetrius and Ly-sander make love to Helena. This leads to a
quarrel between the two girls and to an attemp-ted duel between their two lovers. At last, O-
beron sets the matter right, and they return totheir former loves. Subplots concern the quarrelbetween Oberon and his queen Titania over apage-boy and their final reconciliation and com-ic scenes of six English artisans: Bottom theweaver, Quince the carpenter, Snug the joiner,Flute the bellows-mender, Snout the tinker, and
Starveling the tailor. The play, full of delightfulfancy and fun, ends with happy nuptials. It isthe most lyrical of all Shakespeare’s plays, inwhich elements of Greek mythology are fanci-fully combined with those of British folk-lore.THE MERCHANT OF VENICE
A comedy by Shakespeare, probably writtenabout 1596 and printed in 1600. The story is I-talian in origin. A moneyless young Venetian,Bassanio, is making preparations to court Por-tia, a rich beauty of Belmonte. He needs moneyand appeals to his friend Antonio, a merchantof Venice, for help. But Antonio’s money is in-vested in ships at sea. To aid Bassanio in hiscourtship, he borrows money from Shylock theJewish usurer. Shylock, who has been insultedby Antonio and other Christians, agrees to lendthe money on the condition that, if the loan isnot paid in threemonths, he may cut a pound offlesh from Antonio’s body. With this money,Bassanio goes to Belmonte and is accepted byPortia in marriage. But news comes thatAntonio’s ship doesn’t return on time and hecannot pay the money. Shylock demands hispound of flesh. The case is brought before thecourt. Antonio is in danger. At the critical mo-ment, a young doctor of law arrives at thecourt. He appeals to the Jew for mercy in amoving speech, but in vain. Then the doctor ad-mits the validity of Shylock’s claim, but warnshim, under pain of death, that he must fulfil thevery letter of his bond, taking no more and noless than one pound of flesh, and spilling nodrop of blood. Seeing himself thus cornered, theJew has no choice but to obey the verdict of thecourt. The young doctor of law who saves thelife of Antonio is no other than Portia in dis-
guise! The play ends in a moonlight scene atBelmonte, in which Portia reveals her identity,to the pleasant surprise of her husband Bassanio.Portia is one of Shakespeare’s ideal womenbeautiful, cultured, courteous and capable ofrising to an emergency. Meanwhile, the imageof Shylock is also very powerful. Besides beingan avaricious money-lender, he is a Jew of prideand deep religious instincts. He has sufferedmuch in the hands of the Christians. His revolt-
ing bond is counterbalanced by Antonio’s arro-gant treatment of him. So his loud protest a-gainst racial discrimination cannot be altogetherignored by the audience. “ The Merchant ofVenice” is a “grave comedy”.THE MERRY W IVES OF WINDSOR
Tradition has it that Queen Elizabeth I was soamused by Sir John Falstaff in “Henry IV” thatshe ordered Shakespeare to write another playabout him, and so Shakespeare wrote “The MerryWives of Windsor”， a comedy probably written1600—1601 and first printed in 1602.
Falstaff, who is “out at heels”， pretends to bein love with the wives of two Windsor towns-
men, Mrs. Ford and Mrs. Page, because theyhave the rule of their husbands’ purses. Eachgets a love-letter from Falstaff, declaring thathe loves her only. When Mrs. Ford shows Mrs.Page her let-ter, the latter also shows hers, andthey find both to be the same. They resolve toplay him a trick. So Mrs. Ford invites Falstaffto her house the next morning. When Falstaff isin the house, Mrs. Page rushes in and declaresMr. Ford is coming; so they huddle Falstaff intoa clothes-basket, cover him up with dirtyclothes, and their men carry him to theThames, and throw him into the river. Then
Mrs. Ford gets him to visit her again. When herhusband is again coming, the wives dress the oldknight up as a fat woman, and Mr. Ford thra-shes him soundly with his stick. The wives ex-plain their fun to Mr. Ford; and then both hus-bands and wives play Falstaff a third trick: theyput a stag’s head on him in Windsor’s Park, andget children dressed as fairies to pinch him andburn him. At last Falstaff confesses that he hasbeen made an ass.
An amusing underplot turns on Page’s daugh-ter, sweet Anne, of seventeen, who has three
suitors, among whom she loves only the youngspendthrift Fenton. Taking advantage of theFairies scene in the park, Anne goes off withFenton and weds him, while the other two suit-ors carry off two boys in girls’ clothes instead ofAnne. The play is full of fun, and so is some-times called a farce.
MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING
A comedy acted in 1598 and printed in 1600.The scene is in Messina, Sicily. Duke Leonatohas a gentle daughter , Hero , and a brilliantniece, Beatrice. To them come two young of-ficers from the war, Claudio and Benedick, aswell as the Prince of Arragon and his brother,Don John, an evil-minded man. Claudio falls inlove with Hero, and their marriage is arranged.But Beatrice and Benedick keep up a wordy war-fare as soon as they meet. Then a plot is devisedto make them fall in love with each other, byletting each overhear a talk in which each is saidto be dying of love for the other. This succeeds.Meantime, Don John, to wreck Claudio’s mar-
riage, lets his man Borachio talk at midnightwith Hero’s maid, dressed as Hero, thus bring-ing Claudio to doubt of Hero’s honour. At thewedding, Claudio denounces Hero, who falls ina swoon. The marriage is stopped. Hero is de-clared dead. Beatrice asks Benedick to challengeClaudio for slandering her cousin. But Bora-chio, when drunk, reveals Don John’s treacheryand Hero’s innocence is made known. Claudio
repents and is forgiven. The play ends with the“resurrection” of Hero and the happy weddingsof the two pairs of lovers. The scenes of theplay are enlivened by the war of wits betweenBeatrice and Benedick with their brilliant dia-
logues which show the characteristics of a newgeneration in the Renaissance, who were free ofthe old, feudal fetters.
AS YOU LIKE IT
A comedy by Shakespeare, acted about 1599and first printed in 1623. The story, based onThomas Lodge’s prose romance “Rosalynd”， isromantic and pastoral. Frederick, a bad noble-man, has usurped the dukedom of his elderbrother. The old Duke has taken refuge with afew followers in the neighbouring Forest of Ar-den. But his daughter Rosalind stays at the courtwith the usurper’s daughter Celia, who is herdevoted friend. There is a wrestling in the cou-rt, to which young Orlando, an orphan, comes.Oliver, his wicked elder brother, has instigateda wrestler to kill him, but he kills the wrestler in
the match. Rosalind falls in love with him andhe with her. Frederick banishes Rosalind fr-om the court. She dresses herself as a boy andgo es to the forest with her good friend Cel-ia. Orlando follows them and joins the exiledDuke.When Rosalind in disguise meets Orlando, shetells him to play lover to her as though she werehis Rosalind. Oliver, coming to kill Orlando, issaved by him from a hungry lioness, so repentsand is accepted by Celia. At the nuptial of Celiaand Oliver in the presence of the old Duke, Ros-alind appears in her wedding frock, to the hap-py surprise of all. The usurper Frederick, con-verted by “an old religious man”， gives up thedukedom to Rosalind’s father. Other characters
include the genial jester Touchstone and Jac-ques, a melancholy courtier. “As You Like It” isone of the most charming comedies of Shake-speare.
TWELFTH NIGHT
A comedy by Shakespeare acted about 1600～1601 and first printed in 1623. The scene is laidin Illyria, on the coast of the Adriatic Sea. Se-bastian and Viola, twin brother and sister close-
ly re-sembling one another, are separated in ashipwreck off the coast of Illyria, Viola, goingon shore and dressing herself up as a boy, worksas the page Cesario for Orsino, the young Dukeof Illyria. Orsino, in love with the rich countessOlivia, sends Viola as a messenger to make loveto her for him. Viola, already falling in lovewith Orsino, expresses sentiments on love so el-oquently that Olivia becomes in love with thepage, not with the Duke. Now, Olivia has aconceited steward, Malvolio, a sharp-wittedwaiting-woman, Maria, and a noisy drunken un-cle, Sir Toby Belch, who plays on his friend SirAndrew Aguecheek to make love to Olivia. AsMalvolio reproves Sir Toby for his drinkingbouts, Maria and Sir Toby devise a plan formaking Malvolio believe Olivia is in love withhim. And when he acts on this belief, they de-clare he is mad and have him locked up. ThenSir Toby, thinking that Viola becomes Olivia’slover, persuades the cowardly Sir Andrew tosend her a challenge. At the duel, Viola is a-fraid of Sir Andrew, and he is afraid of her. But
it is interrupted by Antonio, the sea captain whohas rescued Sebastian and takes Viola for him.
Sebastian also arrives in Illyria and is mistakenfor Viola by Olivia. The play ends in a clearing-up of the confusions of identity and a suitablepairing off of the lovers . Among the secondarycharacters, Sir Toby is a merry knight, fond ofjoke and drinking and detesting hypocrisy andconventionalities, whose criticism of the hypo-
critical and vain Malvolio has become an apho-rism；“Dost thou think, because thou art virtu-ous, there shall be no more cake and ale?”
RICHARD II
This play, acted about 1595 and printed in1597, is the first of the second historical tetral-ogy by Shakespeare, the other three being“Henry IV”， Part I and Part II, and “HenryV”. Richard II, the last King of England of thedirect line in the House of Plantagenet (An-jou), is depicted as a king whose capriciousnessand incapacity to rule makes his reign a periodof disorder. The main plot is about his relation-ship with his cousin Henry Bolingbroke, son ofJohn of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster. Richard,
surrounded by flatterers and intriguers, isafraid of Henry’s power and courting of thepeople. He arbitrarily drives Henry into exileand, on the death of John of Gaunt, unlawfullyconfiscates Henry’s land. The king, possessedof money, leaves for an expedition to Ireland.Meantime, Henry gathers force abroad and re-turns to England to defend his right. Noblelords, disgusted with Richard, join him. Rich-ard, returning to England, only finds all thingsturned from him. Seeing that resistance is use-less, he resigns the crown. He is put in prison,and there he hammers out the meaning of hislife and comes to recognize his guilt and respon-sibility before he is killed at the new king’s in-stigation. The last scene shows Henry, nowHenry IV, sits in power, the first king of theHouse of Lancaster, among his silent nobles. Inthe play is preached the lesson that to rule wise-ly is to rule well. The dying Gaunt delivers toRichard a beautiful, wise and patriotic speech.The same national feeling echoes again inShakespeare’s later historical plays.
HENRY IV, PARTS I AND II
A historical play in two parts, acted about1597～1598 and printed, Part I in 1598, andPart II in 1600. Though the play bears hisname, Henry IV is often in the background.The stage is chiefly dominated by his son,
Prince Hal (later Henry V) and by Sir JohnFalstaff. The secondary characters are numer-ous, varying from prostitutes to country gentle-men and a Lord Chief Justice.
The subject of Part I is the rebellion of thePercy family and its defeat. The king is grievedfirst by the opposition of some nobles led by thePercys, notably Harry Hotspur, son of theDuke of Northumberland, and secondly by thedissolute conduct of his own son, Prince Hal,who leads a riotous life with the old ruffian Sir
John Falstaff and his fellow-rogues in the“Boar’s Head” tavern in London. One of their
adventures is the famous robbery at Gadshill.The prince contrives that Falstaff shall rob thetravellers at Gadshill and be robbed in his turn
by the prince himself. The story leads toFalstaff’s fabrication to explain the loss of thebooty, and his exposure. Meantime, the revolt-ed leaders meet to divide up England beforethey have won it. The king summons the princein this emergency, to remonstrate with himabout his ill conducts . Prince Hal promises betterthings, while getting Falstaff a charge of in-fantry. The king’s forces march against the reb-els. Prince Hal meets Hotspur and kills him atthe battle of Shrewsbury. Falstaff feigns deathwhen the enemy attacks him, and claims tohave killed Hotspur after Hal had left him fall-en. The king is attacked, but saved. The royalarmy is triumphant, and rebellion is quelled.The first part of “Henry IV” is a mixture of ric-hest Shakespearian comedy with the finestShakespearian history. It is full of splendid fig-ures, perfectly drawn, and the most unforgetta-ble personage is Falstaff, whose characteriza-tion is wholly original. The play gives us the fullblast of Shakespeare’s genius in his maturity.
The second part continues the story, but in itthe mood is grimmer than that of the first part,humour is less gay, and laughter dies. AfterShrewsbury, Prince Hal still sows his wild oatswith Falstaff, and the Lord Chief Justice has to
send the Prince himself to prison for riot.Meanwhile the rebels are still in league againstthe king, though Hotspur is dead. John of Lan-caster, another son of the king, has them allcaught and executed by some treacherous strat-agem, thus suppressing the rebellion. The kingis ill in London, worried over the fate of Eng-
land, shortly to be left to his dissolute Hal. Heawakes one day to find the crown stolen fromhis pillow. Hal has taken it. The dying king ad-monishes his repentent son in loving words, andgives him counsel for his future duties. Thennews comes to Falstaff that the king is dead and
Prince Hal is the new king. All things are his!He hurries to London. but is unexpectedly ban-ished by his old friend Hal, now King Henry V,and thrown into prison, crushed. Falstaff is oneof the most unforgettable characters created byShakespeare.
HENRY V
A historical play by Shakespeare, acted in1599 and printed in 1600. In “Henry V”， thenew king is shown in peace and war, mainlythrough his victory over the French at the battleof Agincourt. The patriotic feeling which wesaw in the earlier histories rises to its greatestpitch in this play. With his accession to thethrone, Henry becomes another man: “Thebreath no sooner left his father's body, / Butthat his wildness.../ Seem is die too.” On hisfather’s advice, Henry V makes war withFrance in order to prevent his nobles from mak-ing trouble. But before the war, he sees to itthat everything goes well at home. He crushes aconspiracy of some noble lords to assassinatehim and puts the traitors to death. On the bat-tlefield of Agincourt, Henry is depicted as a pa-triotic king and a brilliant commander. Hewalks disguised among his soldiers, then wearyand spent, and prays for victory. His speechesinspire his troops with courage and brother-hood. The battle ends with great victory forEngland. Before the conclusion, Henry woosthe French princess Katharine and wins her.The play ends with peace between England andFrance. But the chorus reminds the audience
that England is to be plunged into civil war dur-ing the reign of Henry V 's son, Henry VI.
“Henry V” is the last play of Shakespeare’ssecond historical tetralogy. The two tetralogies,together with a much later play, “Henry VIII”，dramatize two centuries of English history fromRichard II (1377～1399) to Henry VIII (1509～1547). They show the horrors of civil war, thenecessity for national unity, the responsibilitiesof an efficient ruler, and the importance of le-gitimate succession to the throne. These ideaswere of vital interest to Shakespeare’s contem-poraries.
KING JOHN
A historical play by Shakespeare, adaptedfrom an earlier work, “The Troublesome Reignof King John”， and written before 1598, but notprinted until the Folio of 1623. The play dealswith various events in King John’s reign (1199～1216). John provides the central focus of theplay, but Shakespeare depicts him as a rulerwith an unsteady mind in a rapidly changingcourse of events. The unrest of John’s reign ari-ses from his having usurped the throne from hisnephew Prince Arthur, son of Richard I (1189～1199), whose cause is taken up by the king ofFrance, the English nobles and Church. Battlefollows between France and England, whichends with the triumph of England and the cap-ture of Arthur. John instigates Hubert, thegaoler, to kill Arthur, but Hubert spares hislife. Arthur later dies from a fall in an attemptto escape from the prison. The nobles join theFrench side in anger against the king’s treacher-y. But fortune is against France, and the Frencharmy withdraws while John, the coward, dies atSwinstead Abbey. The grief of Constance,Arthur’s mother, is forcibly depicted, and thewit and humour of Philip Faulconbridge enliventhe somewhat flat background of the rest of thecharacters. Shakespeare does not mention Mag-na Carta, i. e. the Great Charter, which the
English nobles and Church compelled John toaccept, because it became important only duringthe 17th-century quarrels between English kingsand parliaments. Since then, Magna Carta hasbeen regarded as the foundation of constitution-al liberties for English subjects.
JULIUS CAESAR
A Roman tragedy by Shakespeare, probablyacted in 1599 and printed in 1623. The plot istaken from Thomas North’s translation of Pluta-rch's “Lives of the Noble Grecians and Romans”(1579). The play opens with Caesar’s triumphafter a campaign in Spain in the year 44 B. C.People throng the street, rejoicing. But Caesar’sglory is not wholly welcome. The man is toopowerful, too ambitious. He is already endowedwith the dictatorship. After returning to Rome.he is thrice offered crown, which he secretlywants, and which he thrice refuses amid accla-mations. He acts before the people, swooningtheatrically. A conspiracy against him is brew-ing among Roman lovers of freedom, notablyCassius and Casca. They win over the noble Bru-tus, Caesar’s greatest friend, who reluctantlyjoins their cause from his disinterested love ofthe Roman republic. So Caesar is assassinated inthe senate-house. Cassius would slay Antony,too, who loves Caesar, but Brutus decides other-wise. And Antony makes a speech after Brutus.treacherously but most successfully inflames theRoman mob against Brutus and Cassius, anddrives them out of Rome. Then Octavius.Caesar’s nephew, arrives in Rome. Brutus andCassius pitch their camp near Sardis. Antonyand Octavius march against them. Caesar, evenafter death, still influences the play. His ghostoften appears to Brutus. During the battle. Cas-sius is killed. Brutus falls on his own sword. Oc-
tavius is triumphant. The finest character in theplay is Brutus, whose nobility wins all to him.The two speeches made after Caesar’s death,one by Brutus and the other by Antonio, are
specimens of great oration
THE SONNETS
The sonnet is a poem in 14 lines with one oranother rhyme scheme, a form much in vogue inRenaissance Europe, especially in Italy, Franceand England. In 1609 appeared “Shakespeare’sSonnets. Never before Imprinted，” with a mys-terious dedication by Thomas Thorpe, the pub-lisher, “To the only begetter of these ensuingsonnets Mr. W. H.” Much speculation centreson what is meant by “begetter” (i.e. getter orprocurer of the manuscript, or inspirer of thepoems), and who is meant by “W. H.” .Thoughprinted in a collection in 1609, these sonnets arecommonly thought to be written between 1593and 1599. There are 154 sonnets, which may beroughly divided into three groups. Numbers 1—17are variations on one theme. A handsome youngman is being persuaded to marry and beget off-spring who will preserve his beauty in a newgeneration, though he himself will lose it as hegrows old. Gradually this theme gives place tothe idea that the beloved youth will survivethrough the poet's verse. Numbers 18—126 areon a variety of themes associated with a hand-some young man (who is presumably, but not
necessarily, the youth of 1 to 17). The poet enjoys his friendship and is full of admiration
promising to bestow immortality on the youngman by the poems he writes in his honour. Butsometimes the young man seems cold. Some-times he provokes jealousy by his admiration ofanother poet. The climax of the series comeswhen the young man seduces the poet's mistress.But eventually the poet reconciles himself to thesituation and realizes that his love for his friend
is greater than his desire to keep the woman.Then begins a new series, principally about amarried woman with dark hair and complexion,the so-called “dark lady of the sonnets”， bywhom the poet is enthralled, though well awareof her faults. At one point, she is stolen fromhim by his best friend. This faithlessness of bothfriend and woman wounds the poet deeply. Henevertheless tries to rise above his disappoint-ment. Efforts have been made to ascertain the
identity of these characters, though no conclu-sion can be reached to clear up the mystery. Andthe “story” in the poems is merely an elusiveone: at times it can be sensed, but frequentlybreaks off, and then reverts to the beginning.For all that all critics unite in praising these son-nets for a variety of virtues. They express strongfeeling. They have a density of thought and im-agery that makes them seem the quintessence ofthe poetical experience. They delight by a felici-ty of phrase and verse movement. They also af-ford the readers hints of Shakespeare's personal-ity and personal life, which, though regrettablyscanty and elusive, are tantalizing.
“A Lover's Complaint”， a 329 - line poem,was printed at the end of the “Sonnets”， in1609. Shakespeare’s “The Phoenix and the Tur-tle”， a 67-line poem, appeared in 1601.The Third Period (1601～1607)
The third period of Shakespeare’s dramaticcareer is mainly the period of “great tragedies”and “dark comedies”. It includes 5 tragedies
(“Hamlet”， “Othello”， “King Lear”， “Mac-beth”， “Timon of Athens”), 3 comedies (“Troi-lus and Cressida”， “All's Well That Ends Well”，“Measure for Measure”), and 2 Roman trage-dies (“Antony and Cleopatra”， “Coriolanus”).In the plays of this period, the tragic note is ag-gravated. The sunshine and laughter of the sec-ond period has turned into clouds and storms.The cause of such a change should be soughtfrom Shakespeare’s change of moods as influ-enced by the social upheavals at the turn of thecentury. About 1600, England was ill at ease.The Crown tended to be absolutist. The House
of Commons protested against the Queen’s poli-cies and royal privileges. There were plots a-gainst Elizabeth. In 1602 the Earl of Essex, aformer favourite of Elizabeth, started a rising,which cost him his head. There rose the under-masters in London, who were being convertedinto wage-labourers. In 1604, the Earl of South-ampton, Shakespeare’s patron, was arrested byJames I, the new King, on charges of treason.It was amid this atmosphere of general unrestthat Shakespeare wrote his great tragedies and“dark comedies”， in which complicated socialcontradictions are mercilessly exposed.
What a mass of evil this third period repre-sents! There are scenes of murder, lust, treach-ery, ingratitude and crime. In “Hamlet” we seethe bright and happy life of the young princedarkened by the lust and ingratitude of hismother and by the revelation of his uncle’s foulmurder of his father, and, after long hesitationsand suspences, the Danish prince in his owndeath carries out the task of revenge, while thepure, weak Ophelia shares the same fate withhim. In “Othello”. we are allowed for a short
while to dwell on the sweet picture of the nobleMoor’s winning, wooing, and wedding hisbeautifulbride. But the treacherous, trusted friend, “honestIago”， the devil in man’s shape, is soon at work,and finally the innocent Desdemona lies stifled onher bridle bed by her husband. In “Macbeth”， thetraitor-couple murder their king and friend, drivenby ambition. But joy, calm, sleep, all leave them.“All the perfumes of Arabia will not sweetenthis little hand.” And judgement awaits them:death, under the pangs of conscience, for LadyMacbeth; and death, from Macduff's sword,for Macbeth himself. Then, in “King Lear”，the ingratitude of two daughters, Goneril andRegan, drive their father Lear to madness, todeath. By their side stand Edmund, a second la-go. Above them rises the radiant figure of Cord-elia. But she, the guiltless, lies dead among theguilty in the end, too.
The comedies written in this period are knownas “dark” because they give sombre pictures ofthe world. In “Troilus and Cressida”， the leg-endary Trojan war is stripped of all its romanceand shown in its vulgarest reality. Every one ismean, every one acts from low motives. Cressi-da, a beautiful girl in Chaucer's poem, is de-based into a mere wanton. In “All's Well That
Ends Well” we have Bertram, blood-proud andunfaithful, and the vicious Parolles, whose nau-
seating personality is felt throughout the play.while the noble-natured Helena has to win Ber-
tram in marriage by a trick. In “Measure forMeasure”， the moral is preached that in the wayyou have sinned, in the same shall you be pun-ished; atonement you shall make, not shirk.The themes of the two Roman tragedies.“Antony and Cleopatra” and “Coriolanus”， arethe falls and ruins of two heroes, one throughhis carnal lust, the other through his class-pride.Over all the crimes rise the three pure andsaintlike figures: Isabella (“Measure for Mea-sure”), Volumnia (“Coriolanus”) and Cordelia
(“King Lear”). But the world around them is afoul cauldron of vice.
In this period Shakespeare's reading is stillwide and varied. North's Plutarch, Chapman'sHomer, Chaucer's “Troylus and Cryseyde”，Sidney's “Arcadia” and Holinshed's “Chronicle”are some of the sources for his plays.HAMLET
A tragedy by Shakespeare, written about1601, published imperfectly in 1603, and fullyin 1604. The story comes from an ancient legendof North Europe, which had been made into aplay of revenge by some English writer. ButShakespeare's handling of the subject has turnedit into a great tragedy of a modern thinker. Theaction of the play is laid in Denmark, Gertrude,Queen of Denmark, widowed by the suddendeath of the King, within two months marriesthe late king's brother Claudius, who thus be-comes the new King, Prince Hamlet, son of thelate king, returns home from the University ofWittenberg. He suspects foul play on the part ofClaudius, his uncle. Then his father's ghost ap-
pears to him at the castle of Elsinor, and con-firms Hamlet's suspicion. He undertakes to
avenge the murder. To dull Claudius' vigilance.Hamlet pretends to go mad. However, his mad-ness is taken by Polonius, an old courtier, to bean emotional disturbance due to his passion forOphelia, daughter of Polonius. At this moment,a company of players visits the castle, and Ham-let has a play acted, which resembles the lateking's murder. The guilty Claudius starts up infear before the play ends, and goes out. Ger-trude sends Hamlet to her chamber, where hereveals Claudius' baseness and expresses his in-dignation at her hasty marriage, which rendersthe queen heart-broken. Then Hamlet becomesaware that he is being overheard in the conver-sation. Thinking it is Claudius that is in hiding.he runs his sword through the arras but finds theeavesdropper thus killed to be Polonius. Theking now determines to destroy Hamlet. Hesends Hamlet to England, intending to have himkilled there. But pirates capture Hamlet andsend him back to Denmark again. Heart-brokenat the death of her father, poor Ophelia goesmad and then is drowned in a stream. Hamlet
returns just at the time of her funeral. In thegrave-yard he has a quarrel with Laertes,Ophelia's brother. Laertes vows to avenge thedeath of his sister and father. With him Claudi-
us conspires to do away with Hamlet. The kingarranges that Laertes is to challenge Hamlet to afriendly duel and kill him with a poisoned rapi-er. In the duel, Laertes wounds Hamlet but is
himself struck with the same poisoned weapon.Before death, Laertes reveals the plot. Thequeen,at this moment, has drunk from a poi-soned cup intended for Hamlet. Hamlet, in apassion, stabs the King, and then dies throughhis poisoned wound, giving the election to thecrown to Fortinbras of Norway. “Hamlet” isgenerally regarded as the summit of Shakesp-eare's art and its hero has become one of themost famous literary images of the world.
OTHELLO
A tragedy by Shakespeare, acted in 1604 andprinted in 1622. In "Othello" we turn to Ven-ice, the city of canals, and to Cyprus in theMediterranean. Othello, a splendid Moorishgeneral in the service of Venice, has weddedDesdemona, the daughter of Senator Brabantio,she discerning the noble qualities beneath hisdark skin, and loving him for his manhood andthe dangers he has passed through, Iago,Othello's ensign and a cynical hater of otherpeople's happiness, tells Brabantio, in dirtywords, his daughter's flight. In the Senate,Brabantio accuses Othello of kidnapping hisdaughter with spells and witchcraft. Othello inplain, noble words tells the story of his love,and Desdemona tells how she fell in love with
the Moor. Brabantio professes resignation.Then Othello and his wife set off for Cyprus. I-ago goes too, with Roderigo, the foolish suitorof Desdemona, and Cassio the Moor's lieuten-
ant. Othello and Desdemona live happily to-gether. But lago, harbouring a secret resent-ment against Othello because he has promotedCassio over his head, weaves a devilish plot towreck the happiness of Othello. He instigates aquarrel between Cassio and Roderigo, resultingin the dismissal of Cassio by Othello. Then hearranges that Cassio shall meet Desdemona, en-treating her to plead for him, and brings Othelloby at the time, thus arousing Othello's suspi-cions. This is only the beginning of a series offoul lies which convince Othello that he is
wronged. Then Iago manages to get from hiswife Emilia, Desdemona's maid, a handkerchief
belonging to Desdemona, and swears to Othellothat she (Desdemona) has given it to Cassio.When Desdemona pleads for Cassio, Othello de-mands the handkerchief. It is missing. His sus-picion is confirmed. Then Iago makes Cassiochat about his mistress Bianca, and Othello
overhears their chatting, thinking that Cassio isspeaking of Desdemona. Othello is now assured.He strikes his fair wife in public, and then, inher bed-chamber, strangles her in spite of herpleading . Emilia . learning the crime . tells thetrue story of the handkerchief. Othello realizeshis monstrous mistake, runs at Iago, woundshim, and then kills himself. Iago is punished,and Cassio is made governor of Cyprus. The sto-
ry of “Othello” is taken from an Italian tale.Shakespeare's principal innovation consists inthe developing of the character of Iago the vil-lain. “Othello” is one of Shakespeare's great
tragedies.
KING LEAR
One of Shakespeare's great tragedies, acted in1606 and first printed in 1608. The main plot isbased on an old British legend. Lear, king ofBritain and a self-willed old man, intends to
give up government of state affairs, and divideshis realm among his three daughters: Goneril,Regan and Cordelia. He asks them which loveshim most. Goneril and Regan win his trust byfine words, and each receives one-third of the
kingdom. Cordelia, disgusted with their flatter-y, says she loves him according to her duty, notmore nor less. Her tactless honesty enrages herfather, who gives her nothing,dividing her por-tion between his other daughters. Lear,retai-ning only the title of King and a hundred knightsto serve him, begins to live with his two elderdaughters by turns. Soon he comes into contactwith the real nature of Goneril and Regan, whogrudge him the mantenance, deprive him of allhis men, insult him, threaten him, and finallyturn him out of doors in a storm. Old Lear be-comes mad. In all his miseries, he has been ac-companied only by the loyal earl of Kent in dis-guise and a court jester, who gives him lovingand bitter jests on his folly all along. His young-est daughter, Cordelia, who has been married tothe King of France, comes back with an army inaid of her father, but is defeated and taken pris-oner with Lear. The play ends with the tragicscene, in which the poor old king with his deadCordelia in his arms, heart-broken. Then hedies, too. “King Lear” has a subplot, the storyof the fortunes of Gloucester, another father
suffering from filial ingratitude and from hisfalse judgement of thecharacters of his children.The main plot and the subplot are interwovenwith each other in the play.MACBETH
One of Shakespeare's great tragedies, proba-bly written in 1606 and first printed in 1623.The story is based on Holinshed's "Chronicle ofScottish History". Macbeth is a powerful gener-al of Scotland, who has distinguished himself bycrushing internal and foreign enemies, and won"golden opinions from all sorts of people". Re-turning from a victorious campaign against reb-els, Macbeth and his associate Banquo encounterthree witches, who prophesy that Macbeth shallbe thane (lord) of Cawdor and king hereafter.Immediately afterwards comes the news thatDuncan, King of Scotland, has made Macbeththane of Cawdor. The first of the prophecies isfulfilled. Ambition stimulates him to aspire tohigher things. His wife, Lady Macbeth, also anambitious person, helps him to take the furthersteps. Duncan pays a visit to Macbeth and restswith him in his castle that night. Nerved by hiswife, Macbeth murders Duncan and becomes
himself King of Scotland. Banquo suspects him,and he has Banquo assassinated. To maintain hispower, Macbeth commits one atrocity after ano-ther. His reign is a chain of heinous crimes.And Macbeth himself is always in mental tor-ture. When he gives a feast, Banquo's ghost sitsin the king's chair, and the feast is broken up interror. Macbeth consults the witches, who tellhim to beware of Macduff, the lord of Fife;that none born of woman shall harm him, andthat he never will be conquered till BirnamWood shall move to Dunsinane. Learning thatMacduff has joined an opposing army in Englandled by Malcolm, son of Duncan, Macbeth causeshis wife and children to be murdered. Mean-
while, Lady Macbeth has lost her reason. She isafraid of darkness, walks by night, and evertries to wash from her hands the blood that her
eyes see on them. Then she dies. News comesthat Birnam Wood really moves towards Dunsi-nane, for the soldiers of the opposing armymarch on Dunsinane, carrying boughs abovetheir heads for screens. In the battle, Macduff,
who proves to have been prematurely born, killsMacbeth, thus fulfilling all the prophecies. Mal-colm is hailed king of Scotland. The play is atragedy of ambition, which drives a brave sol-dier and national hero to degenerate into abloody murderer and despot right to his doom.
TIMON OF ATHENS
A tragedy by Shakespeare, written about1607, probably an unrevised draft, and notprinted until 1623 in the First Folio. The playdeals with the story of Timon, a rich citizen of
ancient Greece, who turns from a generous phi-lanthropist into a misanthropist through disillu-sionment at men's ingratitude. Timon. a wealth-y nobleman of Athens, delights in the prodigalentertainment of guests, and lavishes his moneyon friends, flatterers and parasites. His land issold; his debt increases. In spite of his greatwealth, he soon finds himself in difficulties. He
appeals to his friends, but all refuse to helphim. He then invites them once more to a feast.The feast is served in covered dishes. When thecovers are removed, the dishes are full of hotwater, which Timon with imprecations throwsat his guests. Then he leaves the city, cursingmankind. He leads a solitary life in the wilder-ness. While digging for roots in the woods, hefinds a hoard of gold, which has now no valuefor him. There he is visited by Alcibiades, anexiled general, who is rebelling against the A-thenian government, by Apenmantus, a cynicalphilosopher, by a poet and painter, greedy forgold, and by Flavius, his faithful steward. Toall he gives gold, and to all, except Flavius, hecurses. This part of the play may be called a se-ries of interviews between Timon and his visi-
tors, seemingly arranged solely to bring themunder his curses. Eventually Timon rages him-self to death, leaving an epitaph on his tomb,which expresses his hatred of mankind. Thisplay is very probably a rough draft ofShakespeare's. In that case, it presents an op-portunity to look into Shakespeare's workingmethod of first going straight ahcad in draftingthe structure of a play, writing speeches quick-ly, and paying little attention to verse form andto the characterization of minor personagesall to be worked up later.
TROILUS AND CRESSIDA
A play by Shakespeare, written about 1601～1602 and printed in 1609. Its story is based onChaucer's narrative poem “Troylus and Crys-eyde" and Homer's epic "Iliad". Like "Measurefor Measure", it is a story of lust. Troilus, agood soldier of Troy, loves Cressida, a giddygirl, whose despicable uncle Pandarus goes be-tween them and inflames one for the other,
Cressida, after affecting disdain for Troilus,gives him her love. Meanwhile Cressida's fatherhas deserted Troy for the Greek camp. In an ex-change of prisoners, Cressida is handed over tothe Greeks. She and Troilus part, with manyoaths of fidelity, but she quickly becomes themistress of Diomed, a Greek soldier. During atruce, Troilus sees her in Diomed's arms, and so
is disillusioned, cursing Pandarus. The playpresents many characters of Homer's "Iliad" andfighting scenes of the Trojan War. But it is fullof satire on the legendary heroes of ancienttimes, while Cressida is depicted as a mere wan-ton, and Pandarus a clown.
ALL'S WELL THAT ENDS WELL
A comedy by Shakespeare, written probablyabout 1602～1603 and first printed in 1623. Theplay takes us to France and has, as its unpleas-ant subject, the wooing of an unworthy man ofnoble birth by a far higher-natured girl and thebetter being wedded to the worse. Helena, theorphan daughter of a learned physician, hasbeen long in the house of the Countess of Rousil-lon, and adores her son Bertram, with "hisarched brows, his hawking eye, his curls". He issummoned to the court, leaving his mother withHelena. The French king has a deadly disease.Helena goes to Paris and cures it by a prescrip-tion left by her father. The king promises togive her the hand of any noble of his courtwhom she may choose. She names Bertram,who at first refuses, but then accepts her, infear of the king's threats. Then he goes to thewar, writing to Helena that she is not to callhim husband till she can get his ring from hisfinger, "which never shall come off", and iswith child by him. She, following him to Flor-ence, finds that he tries to seduce Diana, the
daughter of her hostess there. Helena obtainspermission to take Diana's place in bed with himat midnight , and gives him the ring which theking had before given her, in exchange for hisring. Bertram returns to his mother's house, andthe king is already there. Helena explains whathas passed.The rings are identified. Bertram'sconditions have been fulfilled. At last, he ac-
cepts her as his wife and declares that he willlove her “dearly, ever, ever dearly”.“All'sWell That Ends Well” is sometimes called, with“Measure for Measure” and “Troilus and Cressi-da”， one of Shakespeare's “problem comedies”or “dark comedies”.
MEASURE FOR MEASURE
A comedy by Shakespeare, probably writtenin 1603～1604 and first printed in 1623. In thisplay we have again an unpleasant subject for acomedy. Vencentio, Duke of Vienna, is facedwith the difficulty of enforcing severe laws a-gainst unchastity after they have long fallen indisuse. He finds that the claims of justice andvirtue conflict with those of mercy and compas-sion. So he makes the experiment of pretendingto leave the country so as to give up his power,for a time, to Angelo, a severe man, and watchthe experiment himself, disguised as a friar.Claudio, a young man who has got his sweet-heart Juliet with child, is condemned to death byAngelo. His sister Isabella, a saintlike novice,goes to Angelo to plead for Claudio's life.Isabella's prayers fail to win her brother's life,but her beauty awakens Angelo's lust. At a sec-ond interview, he promises that he will save herbrother if she will give up her chastity to him.She refuses him indignantly and visits Claudio inprison, telling him of Angelo's offer. He fearsto die and pleads with her to let him live. Shescorns him for his meanness and bids him to per-ish. The Duke, learning the infamous conductof Angelo, comes in as a friar, and arrangesthat Isabella shall appear to consent to Angelo,and then he will let Mariana, Angelo's forsakensweetheart, lie in his bed. Angelo's hypocrisyand blackmail are thus exposed. The Dukespares his life on the appeals of lsabella and Ma-riana, but bids him marry Mariana,Claudio wedJuliet, while he himself claims lsabella as hisbride.ANTONY AND CLEOPATRA
A Roman tragedy by Shakespeare, probablywritten about 1606～1607 and first printed in1623. The plot closely follows North's transla-tion of Plutarch. This play shows Mark Antonythe great Roman soldier and one of the "trium-virate" (43～31 B. C. ) which rules the whole
empire, neglecting his political and military du-ties for his love of Cleopatra, the voluptuousqueen of Egypt. The death of his wife and polit-ical developments recall him to Rome. There hemeets Octavius Caesar, his political rival, a sortof friendship is restored between them, andAntony weds his sister Octavia. This marriageprovokes the intense jealousy of Cleopatra. Butthe reconciliation is short-lived. Hearing thatOctavius is warring again on Pompey, Antonygathers forces. Octavia goes to Rome to sue forpeace, and arrives there, merely learning thatAntony has fled to Cleopatra. War breaks outbetween Octavius and Antony. When advantageis with Antony, Cleopatra foolishly burns herships and flies. Antony retreats and is pursued toAlexandria by Octavius, who asks Cleopatra toyield him up. Antony prepares for battle, chal-lenging Octavius to single combat. Octaviuslaughs. After a momentary victory, Antony isfinally defeated in the battle. Now Octavius ismaster. Cleopatra leaves Antony in grief, goesto her "monument", i. e. a mausoleum, and
sends word she is dead. Antony falls on hissword and, being carried to Cleopatra, dies inher arms. Then Cleopatra makes a bid for sur-vival by pitting her wits against Octavius', butshe fails. He intends to exhibit her in Rome.
She is seized but takes her own life by applyingasps to her breast and arm. The play shows Ant-ony and Cleopatra as the victims of their owncharacter. The language is lyrical, colourful and
magnificent.
CORIOLANUS
A Roman tragedy by Shakespeare, probablywritten about 1608 and printed in 1623. The storyabout the legendary Roman hero Coriolanus istaken from North's translation of Plutarch. The
Volscians, a neighbouring people of Rome, areat war with the Romans. Coriolanus, a proudRoman general , performs wonders of valour inthe war against the Volscians. On his returnwith victory, it is proposed to elect him consul.For this office he has to beg votes of the com-mon people, and show his wounds. He does soand is elected. But the tribunes inflame the
crowd against him. His mother Volumnia pre-vails on him to bow his head and face his accuse-
rs. His arrogant temper cannot stand it. So thetribunes have no difficulty in banishing himfrom Rome. To take revenge on Rome, he joinsthe Volscians and leads them against Rome.When he reaches the walls of the city, his moth-er Volumnia, with his wife and son, comes andbeseeches him to spare Rome. He yields to theirprayers and retreats after making a treaty fa-vourable to the Volscians. Rome is saved. But
the Volscian general accuses him of betrayingtheir interests and has him assassinated as a trai-
tor. The play depicts Coriolanus from variousaspects: as a young nobleman in peacetime, as asoldier going to battle, as a blood-stained fighterand victor, as candidate for consul in the “na-
pless garment of humility”， as a banished rene-
gade, and then as a leader of the Volscians, en-emies of Rome. It is one of Shakespeare's finest
plays, telling the story of a tragic hero whosecharacter is wholly dominated by pride and sohas no chance of survival under complicated so-cial conditions.The Fourth Period (1608～1612)
The fourth period of Shakespeare's work isthe period of romantic drama. It mainly in-cludes 4 romances or “ reconciliation plays”(“Pericles ”， “ Cymbeline ”， “ The Winter'sTale”， “Tempest”). With this period we turnfrom the storm, the gloom, and the whirlwindof the third period to “a great peacefulness oflight”， and a harmony of earth and heaven.True, there is still treachery, ingratitude,breach of family-relations, misjudgment, andvice. In the beginning, storms may run wild,and husband loses his wife, father child; peo-ple, through their own mistakes, banish andwrong the pure and beautiful; and the forces ofevil may take the upper hand and establishthemselves in power. But Time,the Great Hea-ler, will intervene, by and by the wronged, pa-tient in adversity, shall be restored to theirrightful honour and position , and all shall bewell in the end. This takes place not by any ob-vious struggle, but by the final repentence of theformer tyrants and usurpers and the generousforgiveness shown by the wronged to their foes.So the gentle breezes have swept away the cloudsof dark night, and the sun rises, shining on theyounger generation just beginning a happy newlife of their own. The tone of calm and reconcil-
iation in the plays of the fourth period has beenassociated by scholars with the change of lifeand mood in the later years of Shakespeare, whohad then gradually abandoned the busy dramaticwork in London for the quiet life of a countrygentleman at Stratford. It might also have some-thing to do with the decline of the stage duringthe reign of James I. So the scenes of reunion ofhusband and wife, the love of fathers for their
daughters, and their watchful care over theirchildren's destiny may reflect his renewed lifewith his wife and his loving care of his owndaughters. Shakespeare placed his hopes and as-pirations with the future of mankind.
It is during this period that Shakespeare col-laborated with John Fletcher. a younger play-wright, in writing three dramas: “Henry VIII”，a historical play, "The Two Noble Kinsmen", aplay similar in sentiment to other romantic dra-mas, and "Cadenio" which is now missing.
With the performance of “Henry VIII” in1613. which caused the burning of the GlobeTheatre by the firing of the cannon at the end ofAct I, ended Shakespeare's dramatic career.
PERICLES
A romance play by Shakespeare, acted proba-bly in 1608, first printed in 1609, and then inthe third folio of 1664. The play tells an oldGreek story of suffering, forgiveness, and reun-ion after long parting. Pericles, prince of Tyre,has guessed the secret infamy of Antiochus, em-peror of Greece. His life being threatened, heflees his country, sailing to sea. His ship iswrecked, and he is cast up at Pentapolis, wherethe fishers he meets drag up his armour in theirnets. The next day he wins the hand of fairThaisa, daughter of King Simonides, by defea-ting other suitors in contests, Shortly after, An-tiochus is dead. Pericles and Thaisa set off for
Tyre. At sea a daughter, Marina, is born to himduring a storm, but Thaisa, in a swoon, seem-ingly dies. The sailors insist she shall be castoverboard , and she is committed to the waves in achest. Pericles carries his daughter Marina toTarsus, where he entrusts her to Cleon, the gov-ernor, and his wife, Dionyza. Thaisa is cast upat Ephesus, where a good physician saves herlife. Thinking her husband drowned, she be-comes a priestess in the temple of Diana. Marinagrows up in beauty and accomplishments atCleon's house. Dionyza, jealous of her great su-periority in every way, designs to kill her; butMarina is carried off by pirates and sold in Mity-lene into a brothel, where her beauty and puritywin the admiration of Lysimachus, the gover-nor, and secure her release. Cleon and Dionyzaput up a mock tomb and give out she is dead.Pericles, going for his daughter, is overcomewith grief on hearing of her death. He puts tosea, and is driven to Mitylene, where he meetsand recognizes his daughter, to his intense joy.Diana appears to Pericles in a vision, and directshim to go to Ephesus, where he finds his wifeThaisa. So, after many toils, storms, and sor-rows, come peace, reunion and love. Accordingto critics, Acts I & II of the play are mainly orentirely written by another hand, while the sec-ond half from Act III is splendidly written, inShakespeare's mature style.
CYMBELINE
A late romance play or tragi-comedy byShakespeare, acted in 1610～1611 and first prin-ted in 1623. The plot combines a fragment ofBritish history from Holinshed's “Chronicles”and a story from Boccaccio's “Decameron”.Cymbeline, king of Britain, has two sons and adaughter, Imogen. His sons, when very young,have been stolen from him, and brought up inWales, by Bellarius, one of his nobles whom hehas treated unjustly. His daughter Imogen is leftat his court and educated with her playfellowPosthumus, the orphan son of a knight. Theylove each other and are secretly married. Thequeen, Imogen's stepmother, reveals this secretmarriage to the king, who banishes Posthumus.Posthumus goes to Rome, after giving his wife abracelet while she gives him a diamond ring. AtRome , Posthumus boasts of the virtue of Imo-gen, and enters into a wager on it with Iachimo,an Italian nobleman. Iachimo comes to Britain,
and tries in vain to tempt Imogen. So he getstaken into her bed-chamber in a trunk and,
while she is asleep, notes all the hangings of theroom and a mark on her body, and unclasps herbracelet. He brings back all these as evidence toPosthumus and con-vinces him of his wife’s infi-
delity. Posthumus gives him the diamond ring,and, mad with anger, writes to his servant Pisa-nio, in Britain, to take Imogen to Wales and killher. Pisanio, taking pity on Imogen, sparesher, provides her with a man’s clothes and leav-es her in a forest. There she finds a cave where
her two lost brothers and Bellarius dwell. Theywelcome her and treat her well. Meantime, aRoman army invades Britain. Imogen falls intothe hands of a Roman general and becomes hispage. The battle is won by the Britons, and thegeneral, Imogen and Iachimo are all taken pris-oners, mainly by the valour of Bellarius, ofCymbeline’s two sons, and Posthumus, whojoins Cymbeline’s troops. The king grants Imo-gen a boon. At her instance Iachimo confesseshis lying treachery to Imogen and Posthumus.
Cymbeline, having his sons and daughter re-stored to him, forgives everybody, and all ends
in a general reconciliation. “Pericles”， “Cymbe-line”， “The Winter’s Tale”， and “The Tempest”are sometimes called “reconciliation plays”，whose tragi-comical plot and conciliatory toneseem to give Shakespeare’s farewell message tohis audience that the good elements in life areenduring and constructive, while the evil mustby their own nature reform themselves or per-ish.
THE WINTER’S TALE
A romance play by Shakespeare, dated 1610～1611 and not printed until the folio of 1623.Thistragi-comedy takes us to Sicily and Bohemia.Leontes, king of Sicily, bids his wife Hermione,a pure and noble woman, to entertainPolixenes, king of Bohemia and the intimatefriend of his childhood. But then he is seized
with an insane jealousy, accuses Hermione ofadultery with Polixenes, and suspects the childwith which Hermione is pregnant to be fatheredby Polixenes . He orders a courtier to poisonPolixenes, but they flee to Bohemia together.He imprisons Hermione, who in prison givesbirth to a daughter, Perdita. Then he orders an-other courtier to leave the baby girl in a desertplace on the Bohemian coast. The child is foundand brought up by a shepherd. Soon Leonteslearns that his wife has died, and that his little
son has also died of grief. Now he is filled withremorse. Sixteen years has passed. Perdita be-comes a lovely shepherd girl in Bohemia. YoungFlorizel, son of Polixenes, courts her in disguiseat a sheep-shearing feast. But Polixenes, findinghis son there, utters terrible things against Flori-zel and Perdita. The young lovers have to flee toSicily. Polixenes follows them. At Leontes'court, the identity of Perdita is revealed, to thegreat joy of her father. Then a statue of Hermi-one is shown to Leontes. When the king's grieffor his wife's death is intensified by the sight ofthis, the statue comes to life-it's Hermione
herself. A good woman has falsely reported herdeath and kept her in hiding for many years.Hermione forgives her husband and embracesPerdita. So the play ends in reconciliation andhappiness.
THE TEMPEST
A romance play by Shakespeare, probablywritten in 1611 and not printed till the folio of1623. The play takes us to an enchanted islandin a stormy sea. Prospero, the learned duke ofMilan, is ousted by his wicked brother Antonio,and finds refuge with his little daughter Mirandaon an isolated island in the remote ocean. Mi-
randa has been brought up without ever seeingany man except her father. Prospero, skilled inmagic, can rule the wind, the waves, and all na-ture. He has made Ariel. a tiny fairy, to be hisservant, and subdued Caliban, a native of the is-land described as half beast and half man, to dohard jobs. After many years, a ship carrying theusurper Antonio, his confederate, the King ofNaples, and the king's son Ferdinand is wreckedon the island-by the art of Prospero. They areall saved, but Ferdinand is thought by the rest tobe drowned, and Ferdinand thinks the rest aredrowned. As soon as Ferdinand, a handsomeyoung man , meets Miranda , now a beautifulyoung woman, he falls in love with her. ButProspero puts him to a brief trial by setting himto hew logs, and then let the young lovers maketheir own choice. Ariel, by Prospero’s order,subjects Antonio and the king of Naples to vari-ous terrors. Antonio is intimidated, the king re-pents his wrong-doing, and Prospero forgivesthem. Prospero gives up his magic powers, willsail to Naples to see his daughter wedded, andthen return to Milan, the dukedom of which is
restored to him by Antonio. The play is themost symbolic of Shakespeare’s dramas. Thereare glimpses of the New World—a world offar-off lands and people newly discovered byShakespeare’s time. And the relationship be-tween Prospero and Caliban bears some resem-blance to the colonial explorations and conquests
of the early 17th century.
HENRY VIII
A historical play by Shakespeare in collabora-tion with John Fletcher, probably written in1612 and acted in 1613. The play is more episod-ic—more of a series of loosely connected epi-sodes—than a skillfully plotted drama. We seefirst the rivalry between the duke of Bucking-ham and Cardinal Wolsey, two magnates atHenry’s court. Buckingham is condemned todeath on a fabricated charge of treason. Mean-time, Henry has met and fallen in love withAnne Bullen, pretending that his conscience istroubled because he married Queen Katharinewho was before betrothed to his dead brother.
The royal divorce is arranged. Queen Katharineis tried, and the dignity and resignation of theQueen at the trial is vividly depicted. The divor-ce is granted, but Wolsey opposes Henry’s mar-riage with Anne Bullen, and Henry deprivesWolsey of his offices and possessions. Henrythen weds Anne Bullen, who is crowned queenwith great state and bears him a daughter, Prin-cess Elizabeth, the future queen. Cranmer,Archbishop of Canterbury, who has promotedAnne’s marriage and succeeds Wolsey in Henry’sfavour, makes a speech about the glories of thefuture reign of Queen Elizabeth I.
THE TWO NOBLE KINSMEN
This play is another joint work of Shakespeareand Fletcher. It is a tragi-comedy written in1613 and printed in 1634. The main plot wastaken from Chaucer's “The Kinght's Tale” in“The Canterbury Tales”. It tells the story ofPalamon and Arcite who are taken prisoners inwar by Theseus, King of Athens. but they bothfall in love with the latter's daughter Emilia.Though their rivalry for love of Emilia is in con-flict with their mutual friendship, yet they showa nobility amid twists and turns of their destiny.Theseus decrees that the cousins shall duel forEmilia's hand. The winner will marry her, andthe loser will be put to death. Palamon is defea-ted in duel, but Arcite, at the moment of tri-
umph, is crushed by a running horse and dies.Palamon is then pardoned by Theseus and mar-ries Emilia after mourning for Arcite. There is asub-plot of the release of Palamon from prisonby the jailer's daughter and her going mad for
love of him. Modern scholars believe that
Shakespeare planned the whole work and wroteAct One and Act Five, leaving Fletcher to writethe other three acts, whereas most of the goodpoetry in the play was written by Shakespeare. |