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THE POPULAR EDUCATOR. 



have spoken from others of Shakespeare's plays. To this class 

 belong " Love's Labour's Lost," " All's Well that Ends Well," 

 "Two Gentlemen of Verona," "The Comedy of Errors," all 

 written certainly before 1598 ; " Much Ado about Nothing," 

 published in 1600; " Twelfth Night," acted not more than two 

 years later ; and the " Taming of the Shrew," probably a very 

 early play, though its actual date cannot be established. 



Higher in their aim are those comedies in which the interest of 

 the play centres not more upon the story embodied in it, or the 

 poetical or humorous incidents to which it gives rise, than upon 

 the study either of characters conspicuous and strongly marked 

 in themselves, or of characters ordinary in themselves, but de- 

 veloped by the force of circumstances into something of excep- 

 tional interest. To this class may most properly be referred 

 the " Merchant of Venice," an early play, certainly in existence 

 before 1598 ; " As You Like It," written not later than 1600 ; 

 and " Measure for Measure," a play probably of somewhat later 

 date. 



The "Midsummer Night's Dream" stands alone in some 

 respects, not only among the plays of Shakespeare, but among 

 all plays. Plot it has almost none. Of human interest it is 

 wholly destitute. Yet perhaps no play ever written gives more 

 pleasure to every reader. The wonderful contrast between the 

 airy delicacy of the fairy world and the coarseness of that 

 human world with which it is brought into contact ; the fanciful 

 incidents, such as the misplaced affection of the Fairy Queen, 

 which in a mortal would have been repulsive, but in tho pygmy 

 queen has all the charm of grotesqueness and incongruity ; tho 

 free play which tho poet has given to a teeming imagination 

 and a graceful fancy, and the unequalled beauty and music 

 of its language, combine to give to this play a charm quite 

 peculiar. It was an early play, being known certainly before 

 1598. 



Not wholly dissimilar in its spiritual actors, though very un- 

 like in its general character, is tho "Tempest." Tho magic, 

 the supernatural powers and agencies in tho play are scarcely 

 ]ess fantastic or less . original in conception than those of the 

 " Midsummer Night's Dream," but they are under human 

 control, and their workings are subordinated to tho human 

 interests of the play. The " Tempest," so far as can be traced, 

 must be accepted as one of Shakespeare's later plays. 



Two more comedies remain to be noticed. The " Merry Wives 

 of Windsor " is not only one of the most humorous perhaps 

 the most so of all Shakespeare's comedies but it is also the 

 only one essentially English in character, and which may pro- 

 bably be accepted as substantially a picture of English life and 

 manners in the poet's own day. This play was printed in 

 1602. 



The " Winter's Tale " is one of those plays which one hesitates 

 whether to class under the head either of tragedy or comedy, 

 though for want of a better title it must be called by the latter 

 name. It is one of the most serious as well as one of tho most 

 beautiful of Shakespeare's comedies. As far as can be ascer- 

 tained, it appears to be among the latest of his works. 



HISTORICAL PLATS. 



The historical plays are ten in number. They are founded on 

 the most striking portions of English history, and the most 

 suitable for dramatic treatment, during a period commencing 

 with the reign of . King John and ending with that of Henry 

 VIII. ; but the special historical story with which the greater 

 number of them deal is that which includes the various phases 

 of the contest between the rival houses of York and Lancaster. 

 These historical plays might, many of them, be properly classed 

 under the head of tragedies. Some of them, especially the 

 wonderful play of Henry V. 5 it might be difficult to class either 

 as a tragedy or a comedy. But they are properly treated as 

 a class apart from either, because the interest they excite and 

 the emotions to which they are addressed are in many respects 

 peculiar. Shakespeare, no doubt, was too great an artist not to 

 .elect those precise scenes from history which enabled him to 

 present the most perfect drama upon the stage, and he unques- 

 tionably did not hesitate to sacrifice historical accuracy to 

 dramatic effect, and bring events close together which, in fact, 

 i hough connected as cause and effect, were separated by long 

 intervals of time. But, after making all possible allowance for 

 this, and for the marvellous skill with which Shakespeare has 

 handled his materials, it nevertheless remains true that the 



historical plays interest us, not merely as plays, nor merely 

 as similar plays founded upon like scenes in the history of some 

 foreign nation could do : they attract us as scenes from tho 

 youth of our own nation ; they appeal to the spirit of nationality, 

 the emotion of patriotism. And this must have boon so to a, 

 far greater extent in Shakespeare's own day, when books 

 were scarce, when the scenes presented upon the stage were 

 less remote from men's own experience, and when the habit of 

 learning, and especially of learning historical and religious 

 truth through tho medium of dramatic representations, had not 

 yet died out. 



The earliest in the order of history of Shakespeare's plays of 

 this class is " King John." The story of this reign, and espe- 

 cially the contest between England and the Papacy, affording 

 as they did so much to stimulate the national spirit, and so 

 much that bore upon the religious controversies of the Eliza- 

 bethan age, had more than once been chosen by dramatic 

 writers. Thus we have already seen that Bishop Bale wrote upon 

 this story soon after the commencement of Elizabeth's reign. 

 And Shakespeare himself was unquestionably much indebted in 

 this play to an earlier drama upon the same subject which is 

 still extant. But though this is so, there is hardly any of the 

 historical plays which more distinctly bears evidence throughout 

 of the genius of Shakespeare. The management of the plot, the 

 drawing of the characters, the intensely pathetic interest of 

 the story of Prince Arthur, and the beauty of the language, 

 all are essentially Shakespeare's, and continue to place " King 

 John " in the first rank among the historical plays. It is 

 among tho earlier of Shakespeare's plays, as we know from its 

 being mentioned by Meres in 1598. 



"Bichard II." takes the second place in Shakespeare's histo- 

 rical gallery. It is founded upon the story of the latter part 

 of the reign of the unfortunate king whoso name it bears his 

 decline and fall. That story was in itself so essentially dramatic 

 in its character, tho sequence of events, the chain of cause and 

 effect vice and folly and arrogance working out their own 

 punishment were so clear, that Shakespeare, though he has not 

 scrupled to alter the details of history when his art required it, 

 has done so in this play far less than in most. This, too, stands 

 among the very first in merit of the historical plays. Tho con- 

 duct of the story is supremely skilful, and the character of 

 Eichard II. weak, passionate, insolent in prosperity, despon- 

 dent in adversity, yet with fitful flashes of kingly dignity, show- 

 ing us tho higher nature which had once suppressed by leading 

 the rising of the commons, and making a character which 

 would otherwise have been contemptible an object always of 

 respectful pity is one of the most perfect portraits that even. 

 Shakespeare ever painted. The exact date of this play cannot 

 be determined, but it is certainly an early one. 



The story of the great historic drama of the contests between. 

 York and Lancaster is resumed in the two plays upon the reign 

 of Henry IV. The main story of the first part of " Henry IV. " 

 is that of the rebellion of the Percys and the battle of Shrews- 

 bury; that of the second part treats of the close of the king's 

 reign. And so much of the play as deals with such events 

 the lives and deeds of kings and nobles, especially tho picture 

 of the cares and burdens of royalty in the person of the king 

 is masterly. But the peculiar charm of these plays lies in 

 the contrast perpetually occurring between the life of the court 

 and the business of state on the one hand, and the wild Bohe- 

 mian life of Prince Hal and his dissolute companions on the 

 other. The inimitable character of Falstaff would by itself be 

 enough to immortalise these plays. The first part of " Henry 

 IV." was printed in 1598, the second not till 1600. But there 

 are strong reasons for believing that the latter was in existence 

 some considerable time before it was printed. 



" Henry V." takes up the thread of tho story of the houses 

 of York and Lancaster at the period, of the great glory of the 

 Eed Eose, as well as of the English nation. The subject is the 

 reign of Henry V., the battle of Agincourt, and the conquest of 

 France. The plot of the play has little of dramatic complete- 

 ness about it : it is almost more a series of scenes of national 

 triumph than a connected narrative. And, probably with a clear 

 consciousness of this fact, Shakespeare has here alone introduced 

 between the acts a chorus, or short spoksn narrative, connecting 

 what has gone before with what is to follow. But what above 

 all supplies the place of unity of action in this most remarkable 

 play is the unity of sentiment -which pervades it the almost 



