points are our minds prepared for historical situations and events which were subsequent to the close of the play? 11. What scene in the play could best be omitted? Why? 12. What incident, not forming a complete scene? Why? 13. By "dramatic blindness I mean the blindness of a character to the true state of affairs. Point out several cases in this play. 14.* By "dramatic irony” I mean cases in which the words spoken are true in some farther sense which either the speaker or the hearer does not dream of, or which is hidden from them both. Point out one case in this play. 15.* Why are dramatic blindness and dramatic irony very effective devices in a drama? 16. Point out all the instances of the supernatural in the play, whether this is distinct or only suggested. 17. Does a modern reader feel that this element is too prominent? 18.* Point out the cases in which incidents, occurrences, are narrated by the characters, and not presented by dialogue and acting as taking place before our eyes. 19.* Try to see in each case why the incident was narrated and not presented. E. THE RELATION OF THE PLAY TO PLUTARCH With a very few exceptions this topic has been kept out of the Notes and out of the previous questions. A general statement concerning this subject has been given under Section VIII of this Introduction, and all the passages from Plutarch that are concerned are given in the Appendix. How far the pupil shall go in comparing the play with the source, the teacher may determine. A few topics are here mentioned in connection with which a comparison between the drama and Plutarch will be found of especial interest. 1. II, i. The incident of Brutus and Ligarius. 2. II, iv. The conduct of Portia. 3. III, i. Is there any warrant in Plutarch for the offensive language of Cæsar just before his death? 4. III, ii. What suggestions are in Plutarch for the two speeches? 5. Is there any suggestion for the style of Brutus's speech? 6. When does Octavius come to Rome? 7. IV, i. The meeting-place of the triumvirs. 8. IV, iii. The incident of Lucius Pella. 9. IV, iii. The ghost of Cæsar. 10. V, i. The "three and thirty wounds" of Cæsar. 11. The attitude of Brutus toward suicide. 12. V, iii. The two battles of Philippi. General topics: 13. In how many places does Plutarch tell of Cæsar's comment upon the leanness of Cassius? 14. Can you find in Plutarch that contempt for the populace which appears in the play? 15. Is the close friendship of Brutus and Cassius in Plutarch? 16.* Point out some things on which Plutarch puts little stress and Shakespeare much, or vice versa. F. STYLE 1. Point out the most marked characteristics of the style of this play. Illustrate. 2. Select two metaphors which seem to you especially effective. Tell why you like each one. 3. Select two similes in the same way. 4. Are the sentences of this play predominantly long or short? 5. Simple or involved? 6.* Select some phrase, line, or short passage in which the sounds employed seem to you, by their natural expressiveness, to enforce the meaning. 7.* Can you point out some favorite words and expressions in the play? 8.* Point out in some short passage a number of words and expressions which have similar associations and suggestions, so that they all help to bring out and intensify the same emotion. Are any words present which thwart or oppose the emotional unity of the passage? 9. What characters in the play talk in verse? 10. In prose? 11. What characters talk in both verse and prose? Trace each character who does this through the play, and try to see what principle seems to govern the variation between the two forms. 12.* What subject-matter is put into verse? 13.* What into prose? 14.* What general statements can you make concerning the variation between verse and prose in this play? XIII. BOOKS OF REFERENCE Books especially useful to younger students are marked with an asterisk. The other references may be of service to teachers. The Text The Works of Shakespeare (Globe edition), Clark and Wright (Macmillan). Reprint of the First Folio, Lionel Booth, London. The Language and Grammar Shakespeare-Lexicon, Alexander Schmidt (Berlin and London). Concordance to Shakespeare, John Bartlett (Macmillan). Glossary of Words, Phrases, etc., by R. Nares, the edition of Halliwell and Wright (London). A New English Dictionary, edited by J. A. H. Murray (Clarendon Press). Vol. V, going through the letter K, is nearly completed. This work is the great authority on the history of the meanings and forms of English words. A Shakespearian Grammar, E. A. Abbott (Macmillan) The Diary of Master William Silence (a study of Shakespeare and of Elizabethan sport), D. H. Madden (Longmans).. The Source *Shakespeare's Plutarch, W. W. Skeat (Macmillan). 66 The Verse * A Primer of English Verse, H. Corson (Ginn). Editions of the Play Those of * Wright (Clarendon Press), *Odell (Longmans), *Rolfe (Am. Book Co.), *Craik (Ginn), and *Verity (Cambridge Univ. Press),* Hudson (Ginn), Hufford (Macmillan), Deighton (Macmillan), Beeching (Longmans), and Forsyth (Longmans). Questions on the Play How to Study Shakespeare, Series I, pp. 99-149, W. H. Fleming (Doubleday and McClure Co.). Study Programme on Julius Cæsar, in Poet-Lore, Vol. X, No. 4. Questions on Shakespeare's Julius Cæsar, John Lees (London, Allman and Son). These questions are mainly concerned with the language, grammar, and versification. Analytic Questions on Shakespeare's Julius Cæsar, L. A. Sherman (Paper, 15 cents, published by J. H. Miller, Lincoln, Nebraska). The present editor has received help from all the above-mentioned sets of questions. Dramatic Structure Shakespeare as a Dramatic Artist, Part II, R. G. Moulton (Macmillan). The papers upon *The Merchant of Venice in Part I of this book constitute a brief and most helpful text-book upon some of the main problems of dramatic construction. The Drama, its Law and its Technique, Elisabeth Woodbridge (Allyn and Bacon). The Art of Playwriting, Alfred Hennequin (Houghton). Die Technik des Dramas, Gustav Freytag (Hirzel, Leipzig). Freytag's Technique of the Drama, translated by E. J. MacEwan, 2d edition 1896 (Scott, Foresman and Co). This translation is very faulty, but has a full index. Shakespeare's Life *Shakespeare, in the Encyclopædia Britannica, T. S. Baynes. Reprinted in the author's “Shakespeare Studies” (Longmans). *Chapter II, “The Life of Shakspere," in Dowden's Primer, to be mentioned later. *How Shakspere's Senses Were Trained, Chapter X in "The Education of the Central Nervous System," R. P. Halleck (Macmillan). *Shakespeare's Life and Work, Sidney Lee (Macmillan). Briefer than Lee's "Life of William Shakespeare." * William Shakespeare, Poet, Dramatist, and Man,— H. W. Mabie (Macmillan). Illustrated. Outlines of the Life of Shakespeare, two vols., J. O. HalliwellPhillips (Longmans). All important documents are printed in this work. The Earlier and the Elizabethan Drama A History of English Dramatic Literature, three vols., A. W. Ward (Macmillan). A History of Elizabethan Literature, G. Saintsbury (Macmillan). Specimens of the Pre-Shaksperean Drama, two vols., J. M. Manly (Ginn). A third volume will contain a general introduction, notes, and a glossary. Shakespeare's Predecessors in the English Drama, J. A. Symonds (Scribners). History of English Dramatic Poetry, three vols., J. P. Collier (Bell). The Elizabethan Theatre. The Elizabethan Stage and Modern Adaptations *Introduction to edition of Shakspere's A Midsummer Night's Dream, G. P. Baker (Longmans). Early London Theatres, T. F. Ordish (Stock, London). In "The Camden Library." A Chronicle History of the London Stage, 1559-1642, F. G. Fleay (Reeves and Turner, London). Vol. III of Collier's History, mentioned above. Die Entwickelung des Scenischen Theaters, R. Genée (Cotta, Stuttgart). Die Shakespeare-Bühne im Jahre 1898, Alfred, Frhr. Mensi von Klarbach, Jahrbuch der deutschen Shakespeare-Gesellschaft, XXXV, pp. 362-375. This article and the preceding book treat of the "Shakespeare stage" at München. Welches System der Scenerie ist am besten geeignet für die Darstellung. der Shakespearischen Dramen? E. von Possart, Jahrbuch, XXXVII, pp. xviii-xxxvi. Concerning "the revolving stage" at München. General Commentaries *Shakspere, in Literature Primers, E. Dowden (Appleton). The best brief introduction to the study of the dramatist. *Shakespeare, his Life, Art, and Characters, in two vols., H. N. Hudson (Ginn). * Five Lectures on Shakspere, B. ten Brink, — translated by Julia Franklin (Holt). Shakspere, his Mind and Art, E. Dowden (Harpers). William Shakespeare, a Critical Study, George Brandes (Mao millan). The one-volume edition is satisfactory. William Shakspere, Barrett Wendell (Scribners). Shakspere and his Predecessors, F. S. Boas (Scribners). |