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ALIFORNIA

SHAKSPEARE'S DRAMATIC ART.

BOOK V.

SHAKSPEARE'S COMEDIES.

INTRODUCTORY REMARKS.

SHAKSPEARE'S Comedies, as already said in our last volume, may be divided into two main groups or species, which, however, must not be regarded as altogether distinct from one another. Not any one of Shakspeare's comedies can be called purely a comedy of fancy, none purely a comedy of intrigue or of character. Both species, in fact, represent merely the two chief elements of the same idea of the comic; they are not two essentially different forms of art, but simply the two sides of the same artistic form. Both species rather represent the same play of manifold accidents which thwart the intentions, the plans and the actions of men, and lead to a happy result through discord and quarrels, perplexities and disappointments; the comedy of fancy under the form of what is unusual, strange and wonderful, the comedy of intrigue under the form of what is usual and ordinary in life. In the first case the designs and actions of men are apparently affected by higher powers directing, averting or perplexing, but in reality they but represent the unaccountable sway and the effectual power of accident; in the latter case, it is the caprices and the desires, the emotions and the passions, the aims and the

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resolves of men themselves, that come accidentally in collision, perplexing and paralysing one another, and finally ending in general satisfaction. All of Shakspeare's comedies, therefore, in reality represent the same view of life, the dependence of human life and destiny upon those external circumstances and relations into which men are thrown by accident, whim or caprice, intention or intrigue, and which are ravelled and unravelled by the same agents And the special character of the several comedies is detefmined merely by the fact that the poet sets the play of accident and intrigue into motion from different points, derives it from different motives, and causes it to be played out by characters of differently constituted minds. The general view of life is thereby variously modified and receives a formally different setting, but remains, in reality, essentially the same.

For this reason, I place at the head of my discussion, a comedy in which the two sides of the comic (as conceived by Shakspeare) are almost equally blended, and which may accordingly be regarded as the prototype of the Shakspearian conception of comedy. Î shall then proceed tc the series which is more fantastic in character, and afterwards examine the comedies of intrigue

TWELFTH NIGHT; or, What You WILL.

THE fantastic is expressed not only by giving the external form of life a wonderful shape contrary to common reality. but man himself can be fantastic, can think and act fantastically, by yielding completely to his whims, caprices and illusions, or by allowing himself to be led by the play of chance without having any plan or intention of his own. If we bear this in mind we shall readily discover the fantastic colouring in 'What You Will.' The external form of life here described is exactly such as is usually met with in common reality; there is nothing forced or un natural in the great likeness between the twins, Viola and Sebastian, although it may be a circumstance of rare occur rence. But almost all the dramatic characters are fantastic, and therefore the inner life, in its connection with the outer world, manifests the most wonderful phenomenastrange freaks and equally strange matters of chance, incidents and complications. The fantastic element reveals itself here, on the one hand, in Viola's whimsical freak to play the man, in the Duke's wilful, half capricious love for Olivia, in the latter's capricious and sudden liking for the disguised Viola, and in the final conversion of both, when the Duke marries Viola, and Olivia the latter's brother. It is no less revealed in the mad freak of Sir Andrew Ague-Cheek becoming a suitor to Olivia. On the other hand, we find it also in the complications occasioned by a number of strange accidents; in the accidental deliverance of Sebastian, in his accidental meeting with Viola in Illyria, in the accidental meetings of Olivia, Sir Andrew, Sir Toby, and the rest. The element of intrigue, however, receives its appointed place in the drama by the deliberateness with which Viola, in her disguise, woos Olivia, in order that the latter may be made to repent of her cruelty to the Duke,

and still more by the pranks played by Maria, Sir Toby and Fabian, upon the braggart Malvolio and the foolish Sir Andrew.

Accordingly, from the very fundamental plan of the play, it is evident that all the manifold motives and levers at the disposal of the comic poet, are here set in motion. Not only have we freaks and whims, mistakes, folly and perversity, quaint notions and resolves, but we see external accidents also, and well-considered intrigues encountering one another and forming a diversified whole. But the question now is, where is the centre of this whole, the point of unity in the composition, which connects the threads of the confused web of many figures and colours, and unites and arranges the manifold forms, actions and incidents into one harmonious whole? What is the reason that the drama, as such, in spite of the confused play of caprice and accident (which forms its substance) does nevertheless not bear within itself the impress of accident or of a conglomeration of caprices, but that, on the contrary, it makes the impression of an harmonious and well ordered whole? However difficult this question may be to answer in the case of Shakspeare's tragedies, and still more so in his comedies, yet it is nevertheless the main and fundamental question, the decision of which essentially determines the estimate we are to form of his dramas, as of every work of art.

At the first glance it might seem as if in 'What You Will,' the end in view was a comic exhibition of love, which of itself can as well form the substance of a comedy as the fundamental theme of a tragedy. However, we have here nothing to do with the real and, in this sense, the significant passion of love. Love here, appears rather as a mere freak of the imagination, a mere glittering kaleidoscope of sentiment, a gay dress in which the soul envelopes itself and which it changes with the various seasons, The Duke's passion for Olivia bursts out into flame as suddenly for Viola, as her heart is kindled with love for him; Olivia's fondness for Viola is quite satisfied with the substitution of the brother, who, on his part, makes no objection about being put in his sister's place, and Malvolio's, and Sir Andrew's affection for Olivia is

a mere bubble. Nay, Antonio's very friendship for Sebastian is also somewhat accidental and fantastic in character. Thus the playful capriciousness of love appears only to be the main spring to the merry game of life which is here unrolled before our eyes; it is only a prominent motive for the development of the action, not the nucleus and gravitating point of the whole.

The title of the piece, as I think, points to this even though but in indistinct and indefinite tones. By the choice of this curious title which stands apparently in no relation whatever to its substance, Shakspeare wishes to give us a hint as to his intention, a symbolical intimation as to the manner in which the whole is to be understood -Twelfth Night was the prelude to the merry season of Shrovetide, and was passed amid all kinds of convivial games and jokes. The 'bean king' who was elected by the lot of a bean which was baked in a cake (hence by pure chance) had then to select a 'queen, ,'* and established a burlesque kingdom; his commands had to be punctually obeyed and every one gave free reins to their fun and merriment in this airy kingdom. Games of hazard, also, were exceptionally permitted on this evening, and Tieck justly remarks, that even in the play itself, Sebastian, Viola and Maria (to whom we may also add the Duke and Olivia) win great and important prizes in the lottery of life, and that a blank is drawn by Malvolio alone, who fancies he has the richest prize safe in his own hands. The title also corresponds perfectly with the nature and character of the piece, which as is easily seen - exhibits life itself as a Twelfth Night, as a merry, fantastic bean-festival. The second title of 'What You Will,' is, in reality, even more significant. It indeed refers to the relation between the public and the play, but not (as has been supposed) in the quite inadmissible sense, that the piece was to give and to represent whatever the spectators wished. This is not the case; the play rather creates what it wishes, and the better it is the less can that which it gives be different from what it is. The title is rather intended to signify that that which men all like to see represented is ever the same; * Drake, Life and Times of Shakspeare, i. 127 £.