Theatrical performances in Stratford-Nash-Spenser --Regularity and prudence of Shakspere's life—The two lives of men of genius - Turner—Rembrandt-Consistency of Shakspere's outer and inner life—Polonius and Laertes—Earls of Southampton, Pembroke, and Montgomery-Shakspere, according to Greene, “civil and honest” Recapitulation—Theatrical pageants-Mysteries-Miracle plays-Mo- ralities— Masques — Ancient tragedy - Marlowe, the Æschylus of English tragedy-The Blackfriars and other theatres—Legislative enactments—Royal license—“ First Part of Henry VI.”—Extreme protestantism—“The Taming of the Shrew"_“Second and Third Part of Henry VI.”—Duke of Gloster, afterwards Richard III.- " Richard II.”—Shakspere, as manager of a theatre, commanded assistance—“Richard III.” — Peculiarities of style— Throughout Fancy and Memory—“The Merchant of Venice"--The characters of The Kenilworth Festivities-Shakspere's early associations, and his first steps toward attaining a social position-The “Two Parts of Henry IV.”—Sir John Oldcastle—Sir John Falstaff, a special indi- viduality-Its idea—its basis classical, its final outcome romantic Shakspere's comic tendencies —"Much Ado about Nothing"—His comio creations—Beatrice and Benedick, improved on Biron and Rosa- lind-Hero-Shakspere's lighter pieces, to be properly appreciated, must be viewed from a high elevation—"As you like it"-Shak- spere's fools—“Merry Wives of Windsor”—“Twelfth Night” — Universal character-Shakspere's anticipation of philosophical dis- CHAPTER IL External corroborations-Shakspere's outer life from 1594 to 1601 — An independent man, and therefore a free artist—The Ideal in the Real seen by him-Refinement and elegance—The Inward Vision- The light of an Idea—Revelation-Taste, its outward action some- times injurious—Shakspere his own model–His liberty and men- tal quiet secured, an upward flight possible–Shakspere in 1598 an acknowledged poet-Data and proofs—"Sir John Oldcastle," by Munday, Drayton, Wilson, and Hathaway, attributed to him- Robert Chester's “Love's Martyr”—The death of John Shakspere (1601)—The relation of morals and manners in Shaksperian co- medy, and the predominance of the Ideal-Genius and nature Intuition and experience P. 253 PART IV. EPIC AND IMAGINATIVE PERIOD-1601-1613. CHAPTER I. Simple construction --General recapitulation-"Othello" eminently a love-tragedy—“Measure for Measure"—its mythological mean- ing-Poetic insight • P. 263 CHAPTER II. Complex Structure. (a) Conventional-Shakspere's choice of epio subjects, such as "Lear," and his introduction of episodes into the ground-plan—" Troilus and Cressida"-— These dramas not written for the sake of popularity, but for his own satisfaction as an artist — They are transcendental in their character; but they are also conservative as against the reactionists of his age, and intended to reëstablish conventions, disturbed by revolution, but designed to be better secured by the Reformation—The reconstruction of order and authority henceforth his aim-Differences between Shakspere and Homer- Analogies between him and Bacon—"Cymbeline"This play also in favour of marital conventions— Treats of a period more civilised than the two former plays — Mulmutius Dunwallo, the legendary founder of our laws-Shakespere's knowledge and art—Dr. Johnson's incompetency as a dramatic critic-Shakspere's testimony in favour of woman and of marriage—“A Winter's Tale” -Ballad literature—Second marriages. () Universal—Ideal and purely Poetic–Imagination—"Macbeth”— -Superstition Pertains to the age as well as to the hero — The weird-sisters used as exponents of his mental state-Correction of some mistakes usually made as to the relative positions of Macbeth and his wife—The symbolic nature of this tragedy, and its treatment- The English equally superstitious with the Scotch at the period of the action - The relative nexus of religion and superstition--Political motives, with the superstitious, dominate rightLady Macduff—The cluster of Roman plays — “Coriolanus”. “Julius Cæsar”—“Antony and Cleopatra." (c) Abstract and Intellectual — The purely imaginative and ideal play of “The Tempest” — Shakspere's two last, and somewhat incomplete, dramas of “Timon of Athens” and “Henry VIII.” — The Globe Theatre burned down CONCLUSION P. 293 P. 421 APPENDIX. . P. 485 A. REPRINT OF THE ARTICLE ON SHAKSPERE'S SONNETS from Temple Bar, April 1862 . 503 C. A PAPER ON MACBETH, reprinted from People's and Howitt's Jour . P. 505 |
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