English Literature
first or experimental stage of Shakespeare's work. It is as if the author
were trying his power, or more likely trying the temper of his audience.
For it must be remembered that to please his audience was probably the
ruling motive of Shakespeare, as of the other early dramatists, during the
most vigorous and prolific period of his career.
Shakespeare's poems, rather than his dramatic work, mark the beginning of
his success. "Venus and Adonis" became immensely popular in London, and its
dedication to the Earl of Southampton brought, according to tradition, a
substantial money gift, which may have laid the foundation for
Shakespeare's business success. He appears to have shrewdly invested his
money, and soon became part owner of the Globe and Blackfriars theaters, in
which his plays were presented by his own companies. His success and
popularity grew amazingly. Within a decade of his unnoticed arrival in
London he was one of the most famous actors and literary men in England.
Following his experimental work there came a succession of wonderful
plays,--_Merchant of Venice, As You Like It, Twelfth Night, Julius Cæsar,
Hamlet, Macbeth, Othello, King Lear, Antony and Cleopatra_. The great
tragedies of this period are associated with a period of gloom and sorrow
in the poet's life; but of its cause we have no knowledge. It may have been
this unknown sorrow which turned his thoughts back to Stratford and caused,
apparently, a dissatisfaction with his work and profession; but the latter
is generally attributed to other causes. Actors and playwrights were in his
day generally looked upon with suspicion or contempt; and Shakespeare, even
in the midst of success, seems to have looked forward to the time when he
could retire to Stratford to live the life of a farmer and country
gentleman. His own and his father's families were first released from debt;
then, in 1597, he bought New Place, the finest house in Stratford, and soon
added a tract of farming land to complete his estate. His profession may
have prevented his acquiring the title of "gentleman," or he may have only
followed a custom of the time[152] when he applied for and obtained a coat
of arms for his father, and so indirectly secured the title by inheritance.
His home visits grew more and more frequent till, about the year 1611, he
left London and retired permanently to Stratford.
Though still in the prime of life, Shakespeare soon abandoned his dramatic
work for the comfortable life of a country gentleman. Of his later plays,
_Coriolanus, Cymbeline, Winter's Tale_, and _Pericles_ show a decided
falling off from his previous work, and indicate another period of
experimentation; this time not to test his own powers but to catch the
fickle humor of the public. As is usually the case with a theater-going
people, they soon turned from serious drama to sentimental or more
questionable spectacles; and with Fletcher, who worked with Shakespeare and
succeeded him as the first playwright of London, the decline of the drama
had already begun. In 1609, however, occurred an event which gave
Shakespeare his chance for a farewell to the public. An English ship
disappeared, and all on board were given up for lost. A year later the
sailors returned home, and their arrival created intense excitement. They
had been wrecked on the unknown Bermudas, and had lived there for ten
months, terrified by mysterious noises which they thought came from spirits
and devils. Five different accounts of this fascinating shipwreck were
published, and the Bermudas became known as the "Ile of Divels."
Shakespeare took this story--which caused as much popular interest as that
later shipwreck which gave us _Robinson Crusoe_--and wove it into _The
Tempest_. In the same year (1611) he probably sold his interest in the
Globe and Blackfriars theaters, and his dramatic work was ended. A few
plays were probably left unfinished[153] and were turned over to Fletcher
and other dramatists.
That Shakespeare thought little of his success and had no idea that his
dramas were the greatest that the world ever produced seems evident from
the fact that he made no attempt to collect or publish his works, or even
to save his manuscripts, which were carelessly left to stage managers of
the theaters, and so found their way ultimately to the ragman. After a few
years of quiet life, of which we have less record than of hundreds of
simple country gentlemen of the time, Shakespeare died on the probable
anniversary of his birth, April 23, 1616. He was given a tomb in the
chancel of the parish church, not because of his preëminence in literature,
but because of his interest in the affairs of a country village. And in the
sad irony of fate, the broad stone that covered his tomb--now an object of
veneration to the thousands that yearly visit the little church--was
inscribed as follows:
Good friend, for Jesus' sake forbeare
To dig the dust enclosed heare;
Bleste be the man that spares these stones,
And curst be he that moves my bones.
This wretched doggerel, over the world's greatest poet, was intended, no
doubt, as a warning to some stupid sexton, lest he should empty the grave
and give the honored place to some amiable gentleman who had given more
tithes to the parish.
WORKS OF SHAKESPEARE. At the time of Shakespeare's death twenty-one plays
existed in manuscripts in the various theaters. A few others had already
been printed in quarto form, and the latter are the only publications that
could possibly have met with the poet's own approval. More probably they
were taken down in shorthand by some listener at the play and then
"pirated" by some publisher for his own profit. The first printed
collection of his plays, now called the First Folio (1623), was made by two
actors, Heming and Condell, who asserted that they had access to the papers
of the poet and had made a perfect edition, "in order to keep the memory of
so worthy a friend and fellow alive." This contains thirty-six of the
thirty-seven plays generally attributed to Shakespeare, _Pericles_ being
omitted. This celebrated First Folio was printed from playhouse manuscripts
and from printed quartos containing many notes and changes by individual
actors and stage managers. Moreover, it was full of typographical errors,
though the editors alleged great care and accuracy; and so, though it is
the only authoritative edition we have, it is of little value in
determining the dates, or the classification of the plays as they existed
in Shakespeare's mind.
Notwithstanding this uncertainty, a careful reading of the plays and poems
leaves us with an impression of four different periods of work, probably
corresponding with the growth and experience of the poet's life. These are:
(1) a period of early experimentation. It is marked by youthfulness and
exuberance of imagination, by extravagance of language, and by the frequent
use of rimed couplets with his blank verse. The period dates from his
arrival in London to 1595. Typical works of this first period are his early
poems, _Love's Labour's Lost, Two Gentlemen of Verona_, and _Richard III_.
(2) A period of rapid growth and development, from 1595 to 1600. Such plays
as _The Merchant of Venice, Midsummer Night's Dream, As You Like It_, and
_Henry IV_, all written in this period, show more careful and artistic
work, better plots, and a marked increase in knowledge of human nature. (3)
A period of gloom and depression, from 1600 to 1607, which marks the full
maturity of his powers. What caused this evident sadness is unknown; but it
is generally attributed to some personal experience, coupled with the
political misfortunes of his friends, Essex and Southampton. The _Sonnets_
with their note of personal disappointment, _Twelfth Night_, which is
Shakespeare's "farewell to mirth," and his great tragedies, _Hamlet, Lear,
Macbeth, Othello_, and _Julius Cæsar_, belong to this period. (4) A period
of restored serenity, of calm after storm, which marked the last years of
the poet's literary work. _The Winter's Tale_ and _The Tempest_ are the
best of his later plays; but they all show a falling off from his previous
work, and indicate a second period of experimentation with the taste of a
fickle public.
To read in succession four plays, taking a typical work from each of the
above periods, is one of the very best ways of getting quickly at the real
life and mind of Shakespeare. Following is a complete list with the
approximate dates of his works, classified according to the above four
periods.
First Period, Early Experiment. _Venus and Adonis, Rape of Lucrece_, 1594;
_Titus Andronicus, Henry VI_ (three parts), 1590-1591; _Love's Labour's
Lost_, 1590; _Comedy of Errors, Two Gentlemen of Verona_, 1591-1592;
_Richard-III_, 1593; _Richard II, King John_, 1594-1595.
Second Period, Development. _Romeo and Juliet, Midsummer Night's Dream_,
1595; _Merchant of Venice, Henry IV_ (first part), 1596; _Henry IV_ (second
part), _Merry Wives of Windsor_, 1597; _Much Ado About Nothing_, 1598; _As
You Like It, Henry V_, 1599.
Third Period, Maturity and Gloom. _Sonnets_ (1600-?), _Twelfth Night_,
1600; _Taming of the Shrew, Julius Cæsar, Hamlet, Troilus and Cressida_,
1601-1602; _All's Well That Ends Well, Measure for Measure_, 1603;
_Othello_, 1604; _King Lear_, 1605; _Macbeth_, 1606; _Antony and Cleopatra,
Timon of Athens_, 1607.
Fourth Period, Late Experiment. _Coriolanus, Pericles_, 1608; _Cymbeline_,
1609; _Winter's Tale_, 1610-1611; _The Tempest_, 1611; _Henry VIII_
(unfinished).
CLASSIFICATION ACCORDING TO SOURCE. In history, legend, and story,
Shakespeare found the material for nearly all his dramas; and so they are
often divided into three classes, called historical plays, like _Richard
III_ and _Henry V;_ legendary or partly historical plays, like _Macbeth,
King Lear_, and _Julius Cæsar;_ and fictional plays, like _Romeo and
Juliet_ and _The Merchant of Venice_. Shakespeare invented few, if any, of
the plots or stories upon which his dramas are founded, but borrowed them
freely, after the custom of his age, wherever he found them. For his
legendary and historical material he depended, largely on _Holinshed's
Chronicles of England, Scotland, and Ireland_, and on North's translation
of Plutarch's famous _Lives_.
A full half of his plays are fictional, and in these he used the most
popular romances of the day, seeming to depend most on the Italian
story-tellers. Only two or three of his plots, as in _Love's Labour's Lost_
and _Merry Wives of Windsor_, are said to be original, and even these are
doubtful. Occasionally Shakespeare made over an older play, as in _Henry
VI, Comedy of Errors_, and _Hamlet;_ and in one instance at least he seized
upon an incident of shipwreck in which London was greatly interested, and
made out of it the original and fascinating play of _The Tempest_, in much
the same spirit which leads our modern playwrights when they dramatize a
popular novel or a war story to catch the public fancy.
CLASSIFICATION ACCORDING TO DRAMATIC TYPE. Shakespeare's dramas are usually
divided into three classes, called tragedies, comedies, and historical
plays. Strictly speaking the drama has but two divisions, tragedy and
comedy, in which are included the many subordinate forms of tragi-comedy,
melodrama, lyric drama (opera), farce, etc. A tragedy is a drama in which
the principal characters are involved in desperate circumstances or led by
overwhelming passions. It is invariably serious and dignified. The movement
is always stately, but grows more and more rapid as it approaches the
climax; and the end is always calamitous, resulting in death or dire
misfortune to the principals. As Chaucer's monk says, before he begins to
"biwayle in maner of tragedie":
Tragedie is to seyn a certeyn storie