Part 1

Transcriber's Note:

Underscores "_" before and after a word or phrase indicate _italics_ in the original text. Equal signs "=" before and after a word or phrase indicate =bold= in the original text. Small capitals have been converted to ALL CAPITALS. Illustrations have been moved so they do not break up paragraphs. Both "Thisby" and "Thisbe" appear in the original publication and have been preserved in this ebook. Old or antiquated spellings have been preserved.

The Shakespeare Story-Book

THE SHAKESPEARE STORY-BOOK

By MARY MACLEOD

WITH INTRODUCTION BY SIDNEY LEE

ILLUSTRATIONS BY GORDON BROWNE

A. S. BARNES & CO., NEW YORK.

Literary critics have many times during the past two thousand years waged battle with one another over the question whether drama owes its excellence chiefly to plot or chiefly to character. Is it the business of the dramatist, critics ask successively through the ages, to inspire the playgoer with a deeper interest in the external circumstances which mould the fortunes of his heroes and heroines than in their individual temperaments and the inner workings of their minds and hearts? But critics commonly “count it a bondage to fix a belief,” and after clothing their question in the complexity of disquisition, they rarely “stay” for a clear and decisive answer. The glimmering light of dialectics usually involves in shadow one or other commanding phase of the problem. To the plain observer it would seem that both plot and character are essential constituents of perfect drama; that the strength of the one depends on the strength of the other; and that, except to the questioning critic, it is a matter of small practical consequence to which the greater importance be attached by the refinements of theory. In the best plays of Shakespeare the interest evoked respectively by plot and character is so evenly balanced that he must be exceptionally short-sighted who would set the value of the one above the value of the other. The external circumstances that mould the fortunes of Hamlet, Macbeth, Lear, Othello, rivet the playgoer’s and the reader’s attention in no less a degree than the individual temperaments of these great dramatic personages or the inner workings of their minds and hearts. It is the perfectly harmonious co-operation of plot and character that is responsible for Shakespeare’s noblest triumphs.

Close and constant study of the great plays of Shakespeare must ultimately rouse in the student a more absorbing interest in their characters than in their plots. That is the final effect of supreme dramatic genius. But the full appreciation of Shakespeare’s sure and illimitable insight into character can never be reached until we have made ourselves thoroughly familiar with the plot in which the character has its substantive being. It follows, therefore, that if one would realise completely in due time the whole eminence of Shakespeare’s dramatic achievement, one should be encouraged at the outset to study closely the stories of the plays rather than the characters apart from their settings. When the youthful mind has grasped the manner and matter of the plots, it will in adult age be in a far better position than it could be otherwise to comprehend all the excellences, all the subtleties of the characters. Only when plot and character have received equally full attention will Shakespeare stand revealed to the mature student in his manifold glory.

It was this point of view that led Charles Lamb and his sister Mary to prepare their “Tales from Shakespeare, designed for the use of young persons.” Their volume was first published in 1807. The two writers narrated, in simple language for the most part, the plots of twenty of Shakespeare’s plays, fourteen comedies and six tragedies. None of the historical dramas, whether English or Roman, were included, nor was a place found for the comedies of _Love’s Labour’s Lost_, and the _Merry Wives of Windsor_, nor for the tragedies of _Troilus and Cressida_, and _Titus Andronicus_. The greater part of the volume was the work of Mary Lamb. Although Charles Lamb’s name alone appeared upon the title-page, he was responsible for no more than six of the tales--those of the six tragedies.

Mary Lamb had little of her brother’s literary power. She was in sympathy with his literary tastes, she had something of his shrewdness of judgment, but she had none of his wealth of fancy, his pliancy of style, his humorous insight, or his learning. Although Mary Lamb’s renderings of the plots of the comedies have the charm of matter-of-fact simplicity, they cannot be held on a close scrutiny to satisfy all the needs of the situation. They often trace the course of the stories too faintly and imperfectly to recall Shakespeare’s own image. Frequently in Mary Lamb’s work pertinent intricacies of plot are blurred by a silent omission of details, knowledge of which is essential to a complete understanding of the Shakespearean theme. For example, the story of the caskets is excluded altogether from Mary Lamb’s version of the plot of _The Merchant of Venice_. Of Bottom and his allies in _Midsummer Night’s Dream_ she has nothing to tell; Titania falls in love with a nameless sleeping “clown who had lost his way in the wood.” And when (in Mary Lamb’s version) the ass’s head which Puck sets on the clown’s neck is removed, he is “left to finish his nap with his own fool’s head upon his shoulders.” Nothing more is vouchsafed about the “rude mechanicals” of Theseus’s Athens. Mary Lamb’s rendering of _As You Like It_ admits no mention of the melancholy Jaques, of the shrewdly witty Touchstone, or of the rustic Audrey. The ludicrously self-centred Malvolio and his comically tragic self-deception disappear from her version of _Twelfth Night_. Elsewhere in the comedies, and even in Charles Lamb’s own work on the tragedies, Shakespeare’s text is at times misinterpreted. Consequently, however fascinating in themselves the narratives of the Lambs may prove to young readers, Lamb’s Tales offer them a very fragmentary knowledge of the scope of Shakespeare’s plots. An endeavour to supply young readers with a fuller and more accurate account of them is therefore well justified, and this endeavour is made in the present volume.

In studying the stories on which Shakespeare based his plays, it is always worth bearing in mind that he cannot be credited with the whole invention of any of them, except in the case of one play--the comedy of _Love’s Labour’s Lost_. In accordance with the custom of all dramatists of the day, it was his practice to seek the main lines of his plots in prose-fictions, or in historical chronicles by other hands.

Romantic fiction was born for modern Europe on Italian soil. Boccaccio of fourteenth-century Florence and Boccaccio’s long line of disciples--Bandello of Milan, Giraldi Cinthio of Ferrara, and many writers of less familiar name of the sixteenth century--had for generations before Shakespeare’s epoch furnished not only Italy, but all the Western countries of Europe with their chief recreative literature in prose. The Italian novels were through the second half of the sixteenth century constantly translated into English and French, and it was to those English or French translations of the Italian romances that Shakespeare owed the main suggestion for all the plots of his comedies (save _Love’s Labour’s Lost_) and for many of those of his tragedies. Belleforest’s “Histoires Tragiques,” a collection of French versions of the Italian stories of Bandello, was very often in his hands. Novels by Bandello are the ultimate sources of the stories of _Romeo and Juliet_, of _Much Ado about Nothing_, and of _Twelfth Night_. _All’s Well that Ends Well_ and _Cymbeline_ largely rest on foundations laid by Boccaccio. The tales of _Othello_ and _Measure for Measure_ are traceable to Giraldi Cinthio.

But although Shakespeare’s borrowings from the frank and vivacious fiction of sunny Italy were large and open-handed, his debt was greater in appearance than it was in reality. He freely altered and adapted the borrowed stories in accordance with his sense of dramatic and artistic fitness, so that the finished plays present them in shapes which bear little relation to their original forms. At times he intertwined one borrowed story with a second, and his marvellous ingenuity completely changed the aspect of both; each assumed new and unexpected point and consistency. With such effect did he combine in _The Merchant of Venice_ the story of the caskets with the story of Shylock’s bond with Antonio. His capacity of assimilating all that he read was as omnipotent as his power of assimilating all that passed in life within range of his eye or ear. The stories that he drew from books on which to found his plays can only be likened to base ore, which the magic of his genius had the faculty of transmuting into gold.

But for young readers, who approach Shakespeare’s work for the first time through the present narration of the stories of his plays, it is not necessary to learn whence Shakespeare derived their bare lineaments, or how he breathed into them the glowing spirit of life. It is essential that young readers should find delight and recreation in the tales as he finally presented them in his plays. Such delight and recreation I believe the contents of this volume is fitted to afford them.

It only remains to express the wish that the knowledge here conveyed to young readers of Shakespeare’s plots may lead them to become in future years loving students of the text of his plays. The words employed by Charles Lamb in a like connection when he first sent into the world his and his sister’s “Tales from Shakespeare” may fitly be echoed here. Young men and women cannot learn too early, in life how the study of Shakespeare’s work may, in a far higher degree than the study of other literature, enrich their fancy, strengthen them in virtue, withdraw them from selfish and mercenary thoughts. Life will bring them no better instructor in the doing of sweet and honourable action, no better teacher of courtesy, benignity, generosity, humanity; for of both stories and characters proffering the counsel to seek what is good and true and to shun what is bad and false Shakespeare’s pages are full.

SIDNEY LEE.

PAGE INTRODUCTION vii

THE TEMPEST-- THE MAGICIAN’S ISLE 1 THE SHIPWRECKED WANDERERS 6 THE KING’S SON 10 MYSTERIOUS MUSIC 14 “THOUGH THE SEAS THREATEN, THEY ARE MERCIFUL” 19

TWO GENTLEMEN OF VERONA-- “NOW LET US TAKE OUR LEAVE” 27 “WHO IS SILVIA?” 34 FALSE TO HIS FRIEND 39 “ALAS POOR LADY, DESOLATE AND LEFT!” 41 WHAT BEFELL IN THE FOREST 45

MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING-- “DEAR LADY DISDAIN” 54 A PLAIN-DEALING VILLAIN 59 “CUPID’S CRAFTY ARROW” 61 THE NIGHT BEFORE THE WEDDING 68 “DONE TO DEATH BY SLANDEROUS TONGUES” 72

A MIDSUMMER-NIGHT’S DREAM-- HELENA AND HERMIA 82 PLAYING THE LION 86 THE MAGIC FLOWER 88 PUCK IN MISCHIEF 95

THE MERCHANT OF VENICE-- A MERRY BOND 104 THE THREE CASKETS 110 “REVENGE!” 115 A POUND OF FLESH 119 THE TWO RINGS 128

AS YOU LIKE IT-- OLIVER AND ORLANDO 133 ROSALIND AND CELIA 136 IN THE FOREST OF ARDEN 142 THE SHEPHERD YOUTH 148

THE TAMING OF THE SHREW-- A ROUGH COURTSHIP 158 THE MARRIAGE, AND AFTER 162

TWELFTH NIGHT-- ORSINO’S ENVOY 176 A DREAM OF GREATNESS 186 THE CHALLENGE 193 YELLOW STOCKINGS 203 SEBASTIAN AND VIOLA 206

ROMEO AND JULIET-- THE MASKED BALL 210 MERCUTIO 216 “BANISHED!” 225 COMFORT AND COUNSEL 230 THE PALACE OF DIM NIGHT 236

MACBETH-- THE WEIRD SISTERS 245 AT THE CASTLE OF MACBETH 252 THE GUEST AT THE BANQUET 260 THE WITCHES’ CAVERN 267 BIRNAM WOOD 274

HAMLET-- A VISION AT MIDNIGHT 283 OPHELIA 293 “SWEET BELLS JANGLED, OUT OF TUNE AND HARSH” 296 “THE MOUSE-TRAP” 305 “ROSEMARY FOR REMEMBRANCE” 321 THE KING’S WAGER 327

KING LEAR-- THE DOWERLESS DAUGHTER 335 GONERIL AND REGAN 341 NIGHT AND STORM 350

OTHELLO-- “HONEST IAGO” 360 WELL MET AT CYPRUS 367 THE HANDKERCHIEF 374 NO WAY BUT THIS 381

CYMBELINE-- A PRINCESS OF BRITAIN 391 HOW IACHIMO WON HIS WAGER 399 THE CAVE OF BELARIUS 403 FIDELE 411

THE WINTER’S TALE-- AT THE PALACE OF LEONTES 422 THE ORACLE SPEAKS 428 A QUEEN OF CURDS AND CREAM 432 THE ORACLE FULFILLED 437

THE COMEDY OF ERRORS-- A WALK THROUGH EPHESUS 445 CONFUSION WORSE CONFOUNDED 452

FRONTISPIECE--“Eyes, look your last! Arms, take your last embrace!”

TITLE-PAGE

PAGE Heading to Introduction vii “Some have greatness thrust upon them” xiv Heading to Contents xv ” Illustrations xix Ariel and Caliban 1 “What?... Put thy sword up, traitor!” 7 “I love and honour you beyond all limit” 12 “Now let us take our leave” 27 “Go, get you gone, and let the papers lie” 32 “Go, base intruder! Overweening slave!” 38 “Treacherous man! Thou hast beguiled my hopes!” 49 Cupid’s trap 54 “Yet tell her of it; hear what she will say” 66 “A thousand times good-night” 71 “There, Leonato, take her back again” 73 Puck in mischief 82 “What thou seest when thou dost wake” 93 “Lysander!... Alack, where are you?” 94 “O, how I love thee! How I doat on thee!” 97 “Methought I was--no man could tell what I was” 103 On the Rialto 104 “For these _courtesies_ I’ll lend you thus much money” 108 “Tarry a little: there is something else” 125 “And for your love I’ll take this ring from you” 129 In the Forest of Arden 133 “We’ll have a martial outside” 141 “It is ten o’clock” 145 “Hang there, my verse” 149 Audrey, the goatherd 150 “And your experience makes you sad?” 153 Katharine and Petruchio 158 “Fear not, they shall not touch thee, Kate” 165 “What’s this? A sleeve?” 169 “Come, Kate!... Good-night!” 175 The Duel 176 “Look you, sir. Is it not well done?” 181 “Farewell, dear heart, since I must needs be gone” 187 “I have no exquisite reason” 188 “I am no fighter” 199 In Friar Laurence’s cell 210 “Romeo, arise; thou wilt be taken!” 229 “O, I am slain!” 241 The Weird Sisters 245 “Infirm of purpose! Give _me_ the daggers!” 257 “What is this that rises like the issue of a king?” 271 “Lay on, Macduff!” 281 “The wood began to move” 282 She floated down the stream 283 “Sleeping within my orchard” 289 “How now! A rat? Dead, for a ducat, dead!” 315 “Do you not come your tardy son to chide?” 319 “Contending with the fretful elements” 335 “There she stands” 339 “You heavens, give me that patience” 347 “Blow, winds! Rage! Blow!” 351 She would come to listen to Othello 360 “Ay, smile upon her” 368 “An excellent song!” 370 “Villain, be sure you prove my love untrue!” 379 “Upon my knees, what doth your speech import?” 383 “I told him what I thought” 388 The lid was lifted, and a man stepped forth 391 “Best draw my sword” 406 “Good masters, harm me not!” 409 “Thou thy worldly task hast done” 414 “Good luck! What have we here?” 422 “She commends it to your blessing” 426 “O, thus she stood when first I wooed her!” 441 By law condemned to die 445 “How comes it that you are thus estranged?” 451 “I see my son Antipholus” 457 “I see by you I am a sweet-faced youth” 459

Initials, tailpieces, etc., etc.

The Tempest

The Magician’s Isle

There was once a lonely island far away in the midst of a wide sea. Only four beings lived on this island: an elderly man called Prospero, noble, grave and learned; his daughter Miranda; and two attendants. One of these attendants was a beautiful and dainty spirit called Ariel, the other a sullen monster called Caliban. For Prospero had more than worldly learning; he knew the art of magic, and by his mighty spells he could control not only the spirits of light and darkness, but also the forces of Nature.

No travellers ever came to the island, and since the day when Miranda had been brought thither, a little baby girl, she had never seen the face of any man except her father. Peacefully the years slipped by, and Miranda had grown into a beautiful young maiden, when one day a terrible storm of thunder and lightning burst over the island. In the midst of the tempest a noble vessel seemed to be sinking, and Miranda ran to entreat her father that, if by his magic arts he had put the waves into such an uproar, he would now allay them.

“Be comforted, dear child; there is no harm done,” said her father. “What I have done is only in care for you, and I have so safely ordered this wreck that not a hair of anyone on board shall suffer hurt. Until now we have lived peacefully in this little spot, and you know nothing of what you are, nor that I am anything more than Prospero, the master of a poor enough cell, and your father.”

“It never entered into my thoughts to inquire further,” said Miranda.

“The time has come when you must know everything,” said Prospero; and laying aside his magic mantle, he bade his daughter sit down beside him, and then he told her the story of their life.

“Can you remember a time before we came to this island?” he began. “I do not think you can, for you were then only a few years old.”

“Certainly I can,” replied Miranda. “It is far off, and more like a dream than a remembrance. Had I not four or five women once that waited on me?”

“You had, Miranda, and more. Twelve years ago your father was the Duke of Milan, and a Prince of power.”

“Oh, heaven! what foul play had we that we came from thence? Or was it a blessing that we did?”

“Both, both, my girl. By foul play, as you say, were we driven from Milan, but blessedly helped thither. In those days Milan was the first State in Italy, and everywhere renowned for its splendour. I had so great a love for art and learning that I devoted much of my time to study, and left the government of the State to my brother Antonio, whom I loved best in the world and trusted beyond measure. But he was false to the confidence reposed in him, and soon began to think that he was Duke in reality. He therefore entered into a plot with an inveterate enemy of mine, Alonso, King of Naples, and by promise of a large bribe obtained his assistance. A treacherous army was levied, and one midnight Antonio opened the gates of Milan to the King of Naples. In the dead of darkness you and I were seized and hurried away. So great was the love borne me by my people that the traitors dared not kill us, but we were cast adrift in a rotten boat, without sail, mast, or tackle. By the kindness of a noble Neapolitan, Gonzalo, rich stuffs, foods, and necessaries, had been placed in the boat, together with many valuable books from my library, which I prize more than my dukedom. The waves bore us to this island, and here we have lived ever since, and I have given such care to your teaching that you know more than many other Princesses with more leisure time and less careful tutors.”

“Heaven thank you for it, dear father!” said Miranda. “And now, I pray you, tell me your reason for raising this storm.”

By his magic art, Prospero replied, he knew that by chance his enemies had come near the island, and unless he seized this happy moment his fortunes would droop, never to recover.

“But ask no more questions, Miranda,” he ended. “You are weary; rest here and sleep a little.”