Part 4 (1/2)
This gentle, bewildered soul makes the only human remarks in the play.
In Shakespeare's vision it is from such souls, planted, to their own misery, among spikes and thorns, that the flower of human goodness blossoms.
_King Henry VI, Part III._
_Written._ (?)
_Published_, in the crude original form, 1595. When first published, the play was called ”The True Tragedie of Richard Duke of Yorke, and the Death of good King Henrie the Sixt, with the whole contention betweene the two Houses of Lancaster and Yorke.”
This version seems to have been by Greene, Peele, Marlowe, or by some combination among the three. There are some marks of Shakespeare's hand upon it; but not many. Afterwards the piece was revised and enlarged to its present form by some unknown hand.
Shakespeare added a few touches to this revision. It was printed in the first folio as his original work.
_Source of the Plot._ Edward Hall's _Chronicle_. Raphael Holinshed's _Chronicle_.
_The Fable._ The play describes the rise to power of Edward, Duke of York, afterwards Edward IV. It carries on the story of the reign of Henry VI from the time of his deposition by Richard, Duke of York, to the time of his murder by Richard, Duke of Gloucester.
Various other tragedies are developed by the plot. Richard, Duke of York, is defeated and put to death. The Earl of Warwick rises to power, makes Edward, Duke of York, King, revolts from him, restores Henry VI, is attacked, defeated, and killed in battle. Richard, Duke of Gloucester, begins to cherish ambition, and sets bloodily to work to gratify it. Edward, Duke of York, after one deposition, due to his own treachery, obtains the supreme power, and rules as King.
Shakespeare had little hand in this ruthless chronicle. The idea of the piece seems to be this, that--
”It is war's prize to take all vantages,”
that mercy has no place in war, that an act of mercy in war is more fatal than defeat, and that the parfit gentle knight, if he wish to prosper, must greet his father after battle with some such remark as--
”I cleft his beaver with a downright blow; That this is true, father, behold his blood.”
There are three scenes that rouse human emotion: that in Act I, sc. iv, where Margaret of Anjou taunts the captured York before putting him to death; that in Act II, sc. v, where King Henry wishes himself either dead, or called to some gentler trade than kings.h.i.+p; and that at the end, after the battle of Tewkesbury, where the Prince of Wales is murdered in his mother's presence. The second of these, the lamentation of King Henry, is an enlargement, done in leisure, from a suggestion in the early version. It is a very beautiful example of the quiet, limpid running rhetoric that marks Shakespeare's best moments in the days before he attained to power.
”So minutes, hours, days, moneths and years, Pa.s.s'd over to the end they were created, Would bring white hairs unto a quiet grave.
Ah, what a life were this. How sweet. How lovely.
Gives not the hawthorn-bush a sweeter shade To shepherds looking on their silly sheep, Than doth a rich-embroidered canopy To kings that fear their subjects' treachery.”
_A Midsummer Night's Dream._
_Written._ 1595 (?)
_Published._ 1600.
_Source of the Plot._ The fantasy is of Shakespeare's making. Some of it was perhaps current in popular belief. Names and lesser incidents were suggested by various books. He took little bits from various sources, added them to the vision, and turned upon the whole the light of his mind. If any author laid under contribution were to recognise his bantling, he could only cry to it, ”Bless thee, Bottom, thou art translated.” Shakespeare did never this particular kind of wrong but with just cause.
_The Fable._ Theseus, Duke of Athens, is about to marry Hippolyta.
Bottom, the weaver, and his friends, plan to play the tragedy of Pyramus and Thisbe before the Duke after the wedding.
Hermia and Lysander, two lovers, whose match is opposed, plan to escape from Athens to a state where they can marry.
Demetrius, in love with Hermia, is loved by Helena.
Oberon, King of the fairies, planning to punish his Queen t.i.tania, orders Puck to procure a juice that will make her dote upon the next thing seen by her.
Helena pursues Demetrius into the wood of the fairies. t.i.tania, anointed with the juice, falls in love with Bottom. Lysander, anointed with the juice, falls in love with Helena. The confusion caused by these enchantments (accidentally) makes the main action of the play. When the purpose of Oberon is satisfied, the enchantments are removed. The cross purposes of the lovers cease.