The American Society : 
 
 for the 
 
 Extension of University Teaching 
 
 Syllabi of Courses 
 
 English Literature 
 
 Richard G. Moulton, A. M. 
 
 of Cambridge Uiiiv«rsity, England 
 
(fimmll 
 
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CorneJI University Library 
 PR 87.M92 
 
 Syllabi of courses on English literature 
 
 3 1924 013 356 948 
 
Cornell University 
 Library 
 
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UNIVERSITY EXTENSION LECTURES 
 
 UNDER THE AUSPICES OF 
 
 THE AMERICAN SOCIETY 
 
 FOR THE 
 
 EXTENSION OF UNIVERSITY TEACHING 
 
 FOUR 
 STUDIES IN SHAKESPEARE 
 
 BY 
 
 Richard G. Moulton, A. M. 
 
 of Cambridge University, England 
 
 1 ' Macbeth ' — Does Shakespeare believe in Ghosts ? 
 
 2 The Character of Lady Macbeth 
 
 3 Macbeth as a Study of Degeneracy 
 
 4 Henry V as a Study of Development 
 
 No. 12 
 
A 
 
 BOOKS 
 
 Any edition of Shakespeare will serve if it has numbered 
 lines. [The references in this Syllabus are to the numbering of 
 the Globe Edition: Macmillan, $1.25.] 
 
 EXERCISES 
 
 Exercises on each lecture will be found below (page 12). Any 
 person attending the lectures is invited to send written answers 
 [to not more than two questions each week] : they should be 
 addressed to Mr. Moulton at the Colonnade Hotel, Phila- 
 delphia, and should arrive a clear forty-eight hours before the 
 following lecture. Some signature, together with the name of the 
 lecture-centre at which the exercise is to be returned, should be 
 given at the top of the first page. They will be returned, with 
 marginal comments, at the ' Class,' at which further explanations 
 will be given on the general subject. All persons attending the 
 lectures are invited to this Class, whether they have sent in exer- 
 cises to the lecturer or not. 
 
 Copyright i8gr by 
 The American Society for the Extension of University Teaching 
 
THE SUPERNATURAL ELEMENT IN MACBETH 
 
 Shakespeare introduces into his dramas supernatural agents and 
 phenomena of a kind not usually recognized at the present day : such 
 as Ghosts and Witchcraft, &c. 
 
 The cliief plays are Macbeth, Hamlet, Richard III, Julius Ceesar. — The two 
 plays, The Tempest and Midsummer Night's Dream, stand in a different class, as 
 they are wholly divorced from reality. 
 
 The question arises. How is this supernatural element to be regarded 
 by the student of Shakespeare, in accordance with sound principles of 
 analysis ? 
 
 1. Beware of the temptation to explain away the supernatural char- 
 acter of such portions of Shakespeare's plays out of zeal for the poet's 
 ' rationality ' — there may be scenes in which an apparition may be 
 resolved into an hallucination (e.g. Macbeth 3.4, where no one sees 
 the ghost except Macbeth) — but there are cases in which the appari- 
 tions are unquestionably objective and supernatural (e.g. Witches in 
 Macbeth, Ghost in first act oi Hamlet') — and a single example is suffi- 
 cient to establish the assumption by Shakespeare of such supernatural 
 phenomena for his dramatic world. 
 
 2. Shakespeare seems to assume for any story he presents whatever 
 was believed in by the age to which the story belongs — but the poet 
 is himself responsible for the interpretation underlying the story, in 
 this case for the use made of the supernatural agency — thus the true 
 ' rationalisation ' enquires how the operation of the supernatural 
 element in a play harmonises with reason and morals. 
 
 (i) The Beings of Evil have no power over man except by his own 
 consent. ' Compare instruments of darkness ' (1.3.124). 
 
 Macbeth has long harboured treacherous designs on the crown [1.7.47-59 : this 
 must refer to a date anterior to the opening of the play] — connect with this his 
 start and Banquo's surprise (1.3.51). 
 
 In the second interposition of the Witches he forces them to speak [3.4.132-6; 
 4.1.50-61, 103-5]. 
 
 This is further brought out by placing alongside of Macbeth the uncorrupted 
 Banquo, subjected to the same temptation. [Compare 1.3 ; 2.1. 1-30; 3.1.1-72], 
 
4 
 
 (z) Similarly, what the Witches reveal as Destiny confirms or assists, 
 not alters, the natural working of events. 
 
 E.g. Macbeth's succession to the crown depends upon a train of natural 
 events, of which the most important is the flight of Duncan's sons (2.4.21-32). 
 Macduff is the natural leader of an insurrection against Macbeth [compare 
 2.3.56 &c. ; 3.4.128; 4.1.74] — and as the most deeply wronged is bound to 
 be the slayer of the tyrant [5.7.15 : and compare 4.3.111-4 with 4.3.201-40]. 
 Banquo was a natural rival of Macbeth (3.1.50-7). 
 
 3. The main function of the supernatural element in a play is to 
 add dramatic force to the working of events. By the interposition of 
 the Witches the ' working of events ' takes the form of a ' destiny ' 
 which appears 
 
 (i) irresistible : 
 
 Throughout, obstacles thrown in the way of the ' destiny ' become the 
 means by which it is worked out. E.g. proclamation of Malcolm as heir 
 apparent [1.4.38-42 : compare 1.4.48-53 with 1.3. 143-7] — flight of Duncan's 
 sons [compare 2.3. 141 with 2.4.24-32] — oracle about Dunsinane castle leads 
 Macbeth to shut himself in that castle, without which 5.4 would not have 
 taken place. 
 
 (2) dark and unintelligible, till explained by fulfilment : 
 
 Of the two oracles pronounced by the Witches in 1.3, one is clear, the 
 other mysterious — ^mystery drags on Macbeth (3.1.57-72) to a deed which 
 at once explains and fulfils it. [Compare 3.1. 134; 3.4.20-31 ; 4.1.100-124.] 
 
 (3) flavoured with personal mockery. 
 
 The supernatural aids up to a certain point and then deserts : seeking 
 unholy support finds a nemesis in losing it where most wanted. Effect of the 
 Witches vanishing [1.3.78, and compeu-e 4.1.133]. 
 
 The " honest trifles " principle (l. 3.122) : prying into forbidden knowledge 
 finds a fitting nemesis in obtaining only half truths. 
 
 The gods punish men by gi-anting their prayers. [Macbeth's Vision of 
 King's in 4. 1 . ; especially note 103. — Compare in 3.4 apparition of Banquo in 
 response to invitations.] 
 
 To sum up : Macbeth was the actor in the scene of his destiny : did 
 the Witches do more than turn the (coloured) footlights on it ? 
 
CHARACTERS OF MACBETH AND LADY 
 MACBETH 
 
 Traditional view : that Lady Macbeth is a virago, of a coarse nature 
 that is the ruin of her nobler husband. — View here put, the reverse: 
 that Macbeth's is the low nature, and that he seals the ruin of both, 
 his wife only hindering him from adding weakness to crime. She 
 exceeds her husband in guilt only in the sense that the higher nature 
 falls with the greater fall. 
 
 How is it possible for such opposite impressions to be left by the 
 same poem ? The difference is made by catching a certain point of 
 view, from which the play may be so regarded that all the details are 
 focussed into harmony. 
 
 Antithesis of the Practical and Inner Life 
 
 For the play of Macbeth the point of view is the Antithesis of the 
 Practical and Inner Life. [Compare Proverbs 16.32, the oracular 
 response Nosce Teipsum, the Stoic use of ' King,' &c.] 
 
 1. Each of us has two lives : the outer one of action and intercourse with our fel- 
 lowmen ('Doing') — the inner life in which oiu: reflection and energies are 
 turned inwards upon our own self (' Being '). 
 
 2. This must not be confused with other antitheses : (a) ' worldly and religious ' 
 [the inner life is the sphere of religion, but may be dominated by its opposite] — 
 (i) ' practical and intellectual ' [all powers and faculties apply to both outer and 
 inner life, though different in the two : e.g. discipline, experience, knowledge, 
 especially (active and passive) courage]. 
 
 3. It is clear that a man's relation to these two lives will be a fundamental element 
 in his ' character.' 
 
 In a simple age, like that of the play, the natural tendency would be 
 for genius in men to find scope in the Outer and Practical world, 
 genius in women would be restricted to the Inner Life. [The same 
 antithesis is a point of view for plays reflecting more complex ages : 
 Julius Ccesat* and Hamlet.'] 
 
 The Antithesis applied to Macbeth 
 
 Thus Macbeth is essentially the Practical Man, the Man of Action — 
 of the highest experience, power and energy in military and political 
 command — accustomed to the closest connection between willing and 
 doing. 
 
 *The apolication ' of the antithesis to /alius Casar and Macbeth is worked out in my Shakes- 
 peare as a Dramatic Artist. 
 
On the other hand he has given little thought to things transcen- 
 dental — undisciplined and common-place in mental and moral reflec- 
 tion — a mental crisis or moral problem afflicts him with the shock of 
 an unfamiliar situation. 
 
 1. The lofty sentiments he expresses mean no more than a virtuous education — 
 emphasised because he has no disposition to examine them : the practical man's 
 distrust of wandering from the beaten track— no signs in him of real love of 
 goodness founded on a deep affection or inteUigent choice. [Especially note : 
 his wife's analysis of him (1.5. i6) confirmed by his own confession (1.4.51) — 
 notice eminently practical nature of his soliloquy (1.7) — and see what changes 
 his attitude in the subsequent dialogue (1.7 from 61).] 
 
 2. His spirits seem to rise with evil deeds [dagger soliloquy 2.1.33 — ^° 3'2.4o] — 
 but in mental conflicts he shows an almost childish simplicity [2.2.29 ^°<i 44] '• 
 compare terror at facing the corpse. 
 
 3. He has the tendency to superstition characteristic of an unthinking man [in 
 a. superstitious age : the reverse in a sceptical age] — compare 5.5.10 : 3.4.75,122 
 — ^he never doubts for an instant the reality of the supernatural interference [con- 
 trast his wife and Banquo]. 
 
 All this affects the completeness of Macbeth as a type of the 
 Practical Man in one important point : total absence of self-control in 
 presence of suspense [1.3. 137 and 3.2.16; compare as examples 1.3. 
 118; 1.4.48 ; 2.1.22]. 
 
 The Antithesis applied to Lady Macbeth 
 
 Viewed in the light of the antithesis Lady Macbeth may be seen to 
 have had the feminine lot of being shut out from active life — her 
 genius and energy have been turned inwards — her soul is not hardened 
 fit for the working-day world, but quick, delicate, sensitive — especially : 
 
 (a) She is accustomed to mental struggles and moral loneliness, and 
 has solved some of these problems [2.2.53 — compare absence of 
 impression made by the supernatural on her in 1.5] ; 
 
 (b) Her will is unquestioned king in her inner life, not only over 
 passions, but even over her feminine instincts, which she sacrifices for 
 the sake of the man she loves. 
 
 The essence of the popular misconception of Lady Macbeth is that it mistakes 
 a struggle against softer instincts of woman for a total absence of them. 
 
 Commencement of Lady Macbeth' s tragedy. 
 
 I. A single passage (1.7.47-59) gi^^s us a glimpse of the two prior to the com- 
 mencement of the play, from which we see tiiat Macbeth committed the two 
 to the treason, with an overpowering passion of resolve that seems to his vrife 
 stronger than even a mother's love. 
 
2. There is no ti-ace of self-seeking in Lady Macbeth ; she has no sphere but her 
 husband's caieer — all other passions gone [note loss of her children] — her 
 energy in a life that gives no scope for it has become condensed in the form of a 
 ' high-spiritedness ' waiting an opportunity for concentration. 
 
 Tragedy of Lady Macbeth in the play. 
 
 1. Theshockof opportunity comes in 1.5.32 — terrible struggle of will andfeminine 
 instinct in the moment of concentration. 
 
 2. Feminine instinct triumphing over will : she had meant to do the deed her- 
 self [compare 1.5.41, 68, 74 ; 1.7.69 ; 2.2.13], ^^ Duncan's resemblance to her 
 father breaks her down [2.2.13]. — Compare her physical weakness at 2.2.1, 33 
 — ^perhaps at 2.3.124. 
 
 3. Will triumphs over feminine instinct at the crisis caused by her husband's break- 
 down (end of 2.2). 
 
 4. Strain of keeping up appearances through her husband's perpetual failures of 
 self-control : 1.5 and 7 ; 2.3 from 112 ; 3.2.38 ; 3.4. 
 
 End of Lady Macbeth's tragedy. 
 
 The civil war in Lady Macbeth between will and feminine instinct can end only 
 in Madness. — Even in delirium she is divided between feminine horror of blood 
 and tender anxiety for her husband's safety (5.1). 
 
 CHARACTER OF MACBETH IN DEVELOPMENT 
 
 In the analysis of Macbeth's character given above, three points 
 have been prominent : his practical nature, his impatience of sus- 
 pense, and his tendency to superstition. These give three threads by 
 which to trace the development of his character through the movement 
 of the story.- 
 
 (i) We may see his practical nature passing through every stage of 
 moral degeneracy. 
 
 (2) We may watch the flaw in his powers, impatience of suspense, 
 growing from a mere weakness into the dominant force in his nature. 
 
 (3) We shall see how, as the rest of his nature hardens, his suscepti- 
 bility to superstition becomes more and more irresistible, and is the 
 channel by which outraged nature asserts itself. 
 
 I. An accidental glimpse of Macbeth prior to the commencement 
 
 of the play. [1.7- 47-59-] 
 
 Even in these few words we see the prominence of practical considerations [time 
 and place] — and a toaqji of impatience. 
 
2 Macbeth under temptation. [1.3 and 4.] 
 
 Note how the temptation which has been long present with him [see last section] 
 becomes active when it comes through the channel of the supernatural [contrast 
 Lady Macbeth in 1.5] — his imagination awakes [at 1.3.134] but is at present a 
 restraining force — and he is at present strong enough to endure suspense [l. 3.143 
 and 146] — ^when the temptation appeals to his practical nature [1.4.48-53] he at 
 once yields, yet the words show that his imagination is strong enough to make 
 crime a difficulty to him. 
 
 3. Macbeth facing the deed. [1.5 to 2.2.] 
 
 As long as suspense lasts his mind is completely unhinged [especially 1.563 and 
 1.7] — ^his supposed moral shrinking is shown by the soliloquy to be really hesi- 
 tation itora practical considerations — as soon as the practical instinct is satisfied [l. 
 7.72] his mind springs to the height of exultation- [continued in 2.1.33] — which 
 lasts through the murder itself up to a point where accident brings a moment's 
 suspense [2.2.24 '■ " I siood and heard them "] — then he wholly breaks down under 
 superstitious terrors. 
 
 4. Macbeth facing discovery: the first shock of discovery [2.3] — 
 the long strain of concealment [illustrated by the eve of the council 
 at which all is likely to come out : 3.1, 2]. 
 
 In the earlier scene, where all is bustle and activity, the practical man is seen 
 at his best — ^yet even here a single moment's suspense ruins him. [2.3.106-111 
 shows how perfectly Lady Macbeth's plan would have acted if he had not departed 
 from it by stabbing the grooms.] 
 
 In the after period impatience of suspense has become a settled disease [3.2.8- 
 39: compare 3.1.49-72] — and has undermined his judgement [contrast with his 
 wife 3.2.38-46]. — So crime has increased its hold on his practical nature : where 
 his first murder was in frenzy of excitement, and his second a sudden impulse, the 
 murder of Banquo is a thing of deliberate contrivance [3. 1. 73-142] — and 3.2.46 
 suggests enjoyment of it. 
 
 Note that absolute trust in the supernatural has much to do with his fatal blun- 
 der of murdering Banquo [compare 3.1.49-72]. 
 
 5. Macbeth facing Nemesis : the first shock of Nemesis is the 
 appearance of Banquo's ghost — from which a long strain of hopeless 
 resistance is maintained to the end. 
 
 Suspense passes now beyond a settled disease and becomes a panic [especially 
 3.4.140, compare whole passs^e 131-143]. — ^The practical powers of Macbeth now 
 show their greatness in the eunount of slaughter [compare 4.3.4-8] — which becomes 
 an end in itself, and at last a mania [5.2.13]. 
 
 His whole receptive nature is now swallowed up in the supernatural — while 
 the rest of him hardens [compare 5.5.H-17] this gains more and more on him — 
 in the Ghost Scene the supernatural is more real to him than the real life about him 
 — as with a drunkard and his drink, the supernatural becomes a necessity to him 
 [3.4.132] — he puts blind trust in it [5.7.I2;5.8.I2] and e^erly forces it to torture 
 hun [4.1.]. 
 
HENRY V 
 
 As a study of Character-Development 
 
 The study of the two plays Henry V and Macbeth side by side illus- 
 trates character-development as a dramatic process in two different 
 senses : (i) in Macbeth there is real growth and development (down- 
 wards) in the character itself, brought about by the succession of the 
 incidents ; (2) in Henry the character is in itself complete through- 
 out [this is the point of 1. 1.24-67], but development is observable in 
 its delineation, and in the successive stages through which we attain to 
 a full view of it. 
 
 Henry Fappears to be Shakespeare's Ideal Hero King — or rather, 
 the poem has the English Nation for its hero, appearing partly in 
 itself, but more especially summed up and concentrated in its typical 
 hero. 
 
 In connection with literary art the poem has a peculiar interest, as 
 exhibiting a struggle between Epic and Dramatic ; a desire to convey 
 in its highest and most artistic form a grand action for which the 
 ordinary machinery of the Drama was inadequate. This impression is 
 left by the work as a whole — and in particular the obsolete Chorus is 
 in this play revivified to a Quasi-Epic function : the succession of 
 these choruses at intervals admirably paints the ' march of events. ' 
 
 But if Epic, it is an Epic of character, not of action— ^not a glor- 
 ious warrior at his work, but a perfect type of man, in circumstances 
 sufficiently searching to test his character to its depths — a Wellington, 
 as distinguished from a Napoleon — its climax is a crowning display of 
 sustained tone of mind in the midst of greatest reverses. 
 
 I. Council of War. — We see the process of formation of purpose 
 exhibited in its ideal form. 
 
 (i) After (l. l) a Prelude [which appropriately celebrates the King's great 
 awakening from moral dissipation — suggestive that his has been the wildness 
 which is often the first outcome of a luxuriant character — contrast the shallower 
 correctness of the Dauphin.2.4.15] we see the subject of the French War calmly 
 and elaborately debated (1.2 to 220) — the King urging the main objections to it 
 — ^the whole discussion based on high considerations of State Policy. 
 
 (2) Calm Deliberation is rightly succeeded by decisive Resolution : we feel the 
 war as good as begun (221-233). 
 
 (3) Now is the appropriate time for introducing the Dauphin's insult : Resolution 
 is converted into Passion — gathering force of the rebuke in which the jest is 
 made to recoil in grim earnest on the jester — superb exhibition of concentrated 
 purpose so unhesitating in its confidence as to have no thought but for the sad 
 consequences to its victims. [This continued in message of English Ambas- 
 sador 2.4.75.] 
 
lO 
 
 The Treason scene [2. 2] : the Perfect Man and National Hero in 
 contact with the supreme sin against Individual Friendship and 
 against the Nation — no weakness, not even the noble weakness 
 of mercy. 
 
 The Siege of Harfleur [3.1, 3] : Concentrated character in the 
 moment of action — especially the charge in 3.1 : catches the exact 
 spirit of all ranks of the nation, and braces each to its highest 
 tone. 
 
 Here we must notice the Relief Scenes and Underplots. The 
 customs of the English Drama obliged Shakespeare to unite the 
 comic and the farcical with the serious — moreover this play is 
 part of a group, and the Falstaff company have to be wound up 
 — this underworking falls into three minor actions, all having 
 more or less relation to the general national colouring of the 
 whole drama: 
 
 (1) London Braggadocchio, as represented in the Falstaff set, brought into con- 
 tact with the healthy discipline of camp life. 
 
 (2) Military Pedantry in three national dresses : Welsh, Scotch, Irish [The Flue- 
 len, Jamy, Macmorris Scenes.] 
 
 (3) Love-making in broken French and English. 
 
 These are skillfully worked into the larger action — especially notice in the Crisis 
 scene how the King is in contact with almost all. 
 
 The Shadow of Reverses : without this the deepest test of character 
 is incomplete. 
 
 (1) All through this section of the drama there is maintained a background of 
 
 French scorn [esp. 3. 5. 15] — all of which of course acts as a foil to the 
 eventual triumph. 
 
 (2) The beginning of this climax of character-testing is marked by the first hint 
 of sickness in 3. 5. 56 — in the next scene we see the true character coming 
 out under this discipline : supreme calmness of mind neither rising to defiance 
 nor sinking to hesitation [esp. 3. 6. 149]. 
 
 (3) Then the Crisis scene: the Eve of the Battle [4. i]. The King is the 
 mainspring of the whole action, keeping up the tone of all classes of mind 
 by personal contact — compare with Bedford (3J, Erpingham (13), even Pistol 
 adores him (35), with military pedantry (64) — ^but especially with the com- 
 mon soldiers (87). 
 
 His mental strength appears perfect : even to humour, and acute 
 perception of character-oddities (affair of leek) — at the same time he has the 
 keenest suceptibility to the responsibilities of the situation — these sharply 
 brought home to him in the dialogue with the common soldiers, where of 
 course he is arguing with his own thoughts as well as with them : his appeals 
 (under disguise) for sympathy are bluntly rejected — ^he is nettled yet main- 
 tains his humour (affair of glove) — ^the fall feeling of responsibility appears 
 in the soliloquy, where the inner man is separated from the outer guise of 
 king — then in a pang of self-examination (309) the Crisis reaches its height 
 and passes into action. 
 
u 
 
 6. The Supreme Moment of Action. We have still the contrast of the 
 
 Courage of Scorn [4. 2. 39] with Courage in Reverses — then the 
 true spirit of battle in the Westmoreland incident — once more the 
 majesty of invincible purpose in the final reply to the herald [4. 3. 
 90]. 
 
 7. The Triumph occupies little space : an event so well led up to tells 
 
 itself — the calmness of the triumph is noticeable [4. 8. in]. 
 
 8. Here the peculiarity of Shakespearean dramatic action comes in : 
 
 instead of terminating in a great climax it is slowly elaborated 
 after the climax to a regular historical conclusion — this in the 
 present case 
 
 (1) gives full play to the feeling of reaction from so intense a strain [The King 
 and Fluelen 4. 7. 95 — the affair of the glove 4. 7. 123 &c.] ; 
 
 (2) gives full scope to the Underplots [scene of eating the leek 5. I — the love- 
 making in broken languages 5- 2] ; 
 
 the whole culminating (5.2) in a Council of Peace [the Royal 
 Marriage] balancing the Council of War at the commencement. 
 
12 
 
 EXERCISES 
 I 
 
 Read Macbeth, and Syllabus pages 3, 4. 
 
 1. Compare Macbeth and Banquo, especially with reference to the 
 effect of temptation upon the two. 
 
 2.f Analyse the following scenes: Act 3 scene 4 — Act i scene 3 
 (before the entrance of Ross and Angus). 
 
 3.*Discuss the Witches and Apparitions in Macbeth : (i) were they 
 real (2) did their interposition make any difference to men or events? 
 
 II 
 
 Read Macbeth, and Syllabus pages 3-7. 
 
 i.*Sketch the character of Lady Macbeth, especially noting (a) her 
 tact (b) whether she ever loses her feminine nature. 
 
 2. Analysef the following scenes: Act i scene 7 — Act 5 scene i. 
 
 3. Examine the description of Macbeth as the practical man by 
 comparing him as seen in periods of action and under circumstances 
 in which action is impracticable. 
 
 Ill 
 
 Read Macbeth, and Syllabus pages 7, 8. 
 
 i.*Illustrate the meaning of the term ' Character-Development ' by 
 reference (a) to Macbeth, (b) to some novel you have read. 
 
 2. Analysef the following scenes : Act 2 scene 2 — Act i scene 3 
 (from the entrance of Ross and Angus). 
 
 3. Note points you would consider crises in the story of Macbeth. 
 
 IV 
 
 Read Henry Kand Syllabus pages 9-II, 
 
 i.*How far does Shakespeare's Henry come iip to your own idea of 
 a hero ? 
 
 ^Suitable also for Discussion Meetings. 
 
 t In • analysing ' a scene such a description should be given as will make clear the purpose of 
 each speech, or its bearing on the general drift, any changes of thought or movement on the part of 
 the actors, the scenery and general surroundings being nol forgotten. 
 
13 
 
 2. Note (a) faults you see in Henry, (b) how his character is 
 brought out by contrast with others in the play, (c) how he influences 
 various personages with whom he is brought into contact. 
 
 3. Analyse one or more of the comic scenes. Have these comic 
 scenes any bearing on the play as a whole ? 
 
 Subject for Essay 
 
 Did Shakespeare believe in Ghosts? A general discussion of his 
 attitude to supernatural phenomena. 
 
 Suggestions for Further Study 
 
 Students who have followed out the matter of this Syllablis will have 
 had suggested to them in the course of it various lines of study, some 
 of which they may care to work out for themselves. 
 
 1. Character-Development is an obvious interest that may be traced through a 
 large number of works of drama or fiction. 
 
 2. The Antithesis of the Practical and Inner Life may be worked out in many 
 characteis and stories : it is specially applicable to Shakespeare's plays of Hamlet 
 axii. Julius CcEsar. 
 
 3. The treatment of supernatural beings and phenomena in plays and novels. A 
 list of Shakespeare's plays that deal with these is given on page 3. 
 
Other Syllabi by Prof. Moulton may be had from the 
 General Secretary, 1602 Chestnut Street, according to the follow- 
 ing list: 
 
 A. Four Studies in Shakespeare. 
 
 B. Shakespea,re's Tempest, with Companion Studies. 
 
 C. The Story of Faust. 
 
 D. Stories as a Mode of Thinking. 
 
 E. Studies in Milton's Paradise Lost. 
 
 F. Euripides for English Audiences. 
 
 Price — 10 cents each. The six bound in cloth, 90 cents. 
 
UNIVERSITY EXTENSION LECTURES 
 
 UNDER THE AUSPICES OF 
 
 THE AMERICAN SOCIETY 
 
 FOR THE 
 
 EXTENSION OF UNIVERSITY TEACHING 
 
 SHAKESPEARE'S TEMPEST 
 
 WITH COMPANION STUDIES 
 
 BY 
 
 Richard G. Moulton, A. M. 
 
 of Cambridge University, England 
 
 1 Shakespeare's Tempest, as a Study of Enchantment 
 
 2 Scott's Monastery, as a Companion Study to Ariel 
 
 3 Browning's Caliban, as a Companion Study to Caliban 
 
 4 Dumas's Monte Cristo, as a Companion Study to Prospero 
 
 5 Shakespeare's Tempest, as a Study of Providence 
 
 6 Conclusion : The Use of Magic in Literature 
 
 No. 7 
 
BOOKS 
 
 The Syllabus is made full to serve as a text-book. Any 
 editions of the works treated will serve (as to references, see 
 heading to each section). 
 
 Some of these works (e. g. The Monastery, Monte Cristo) 
 being lengthy, should be begun before the weeks in which they 
 are the lecture subjects. The treatment in the Syllabus is 
 intended to help reading after the course is completed ; in the 
 weeks of the course itself students should be content with some 
 one section of the Syllabus taken in connection with the work 
 reviewed. 
 
 EXERCISES 
 
 for each week will be found at the end of the Syllabus. Any 
 persons attending the lectures are invited to send written answers 
 (to not more than two questions each week) : these should be 
 addressed to Mr. Moultqn at the Colonnade Hotel, Phila- 
 delphia, and should arrive a clear forty-eight hours before the 
 following lecture. Some signature, together with the name of the 
 lecture-centre at which the exercise is to be returned, should be given 
 at the top of the first page. They will be returned (with marginal 
 comments) at the ' Class,' at which further explanations will be 
 made on the general subject. All are invited to this ' Class,' 
 whether they have sent exercises to the lecturer or not. 
 
 Copyright, i8gi, by 
 The American Society for the Extension of University Teaching 
 
SHAKESPEARE'S TEMPEST 
 
 The References are to the Globe Edition of Shakespeare (Macmillan) : 
 other editions will serve ;/ they have numbered lines, [e. g. W. J. Rolfe's 
 Tempest with notes.] 
 
 THE TEMPEST AS A STUDY OF 
 
 ENCHANTMENT 
 
 Shakespeare's Tempest \% a Story of Enchantment. The question 
 will suggest itself. How is a poet to give creative reality to this and 
 other forms of the Supernatural ? He may do three things : 
 
 (i) He may deraiionalize, or remove as far as possible from 
 commonplace experience, the general surroundings amidst which 
 the Supernatural is to appear. 
 
 (2) He may rationalize the Supernatural'element itself, that is, 
 give it as many points of contact as possible with thought and 
 experience. 
 
 (3) He may give further support to the Supernatural element by 
 uniting with it as much as possible of what is nearest akin to it in 
 the world of reality. 
 
 These three modes of treatment are combined in Shakespeare's dra- 
 matic handling of Enchantment in the present play.* 
 
 Preparation of a Background for the 
 Enchantment 
 
 I . In Scenery : A Desert Island — saturation of the play with details 
 of nature-beauty. 
 
 (a) Sense of desolation (3.3.80) — ^inacessible (2.1.37) — the secret of sailors 
 (1.2.270) and hidden currents (1.2.159, '7^) — guarded by storms (l.l) and for- 
 bidding cliffs (2. 1. 120, 1.2.227). 
 
 (b) Yet of wondrous charm when the boundary is passed (2.I.4I, 52 ; &c). 
 
 (c) All the elements of life natural: dwellings (5.1. 10) and even prisons 
 (1.2.278, 294,343) — spectators (1.2.287, &c.) — labour (1.2.312, &c., 2.2. end) — 
 food and luxuries (1.2.334, 462)— treasures (1.2.337 ; 2.2.i64,i;7i ; &c.)— on the 
 other hand artificial wealth treated as trumpery (4.1.186) — education (1.2.335) 
 — note even the terms of abuse (i. 2.314, 316, 340; 2.2.1.; &c.) 
 
 *MacMh may be taken as a companion study in Shakespeare's use of the Supernatural. In that 
 play the mode of treatment is chiefly No. (z). [Shakespeare as a Dramatic Artist : page 259, and 
 Chapter VI.] 
 
(d) The drawbacks to the landscape are those that proceed from tropical luxu- 
 riance (2.2.1, l8; 4.1. r8o; 3.3.3). 
 
 (e) The whole scene made to appear a natural background for a Golden Age 
 (2.1. from 143) — for fairy life (1.2.376, &c.) — and especially for the Masque 
 (4.1.60), which is a prodigal accumulation of nature-wealth: waving fields 
 (Ceres), rainbow colours (Iris), the sky in its softer mood (Juno), water as an 
 element of landscape (Naiads) — these in personification mingle with the joys of 
 harvest — the whole loaded with pastoral details in sleepy verse. 
 
 In Character : Miranda as Ideal Maidenhood and a Child of Nature 
 — the aspect of character furthest removed from the common- 
 place. 
 
 (a) Her ideal beauty (1.2.421) — 3.1.42 is almost a definition o'f ideal; ' created 
 of every creature's best.' 
 
 (b) Her peculiar position : the highest intellectual education (1.2.172) — ^yet 
 no contact with the world — has seen ncme of her own sex (3.1.48) — formed by 
 affection : taking a wife's place to her father (1.2. 305 ; 4.1.9, &c.) 
 
 (c) Prevailing feature : Simplicity — often childlike (e. g. 1. 2.1, 46, 410, 417; 
 5. 1. 181) — simulating its opposite in 3.1. (e.g. 53, where modesty is equivalent 
 to maidenliness) — -it is the high function of acting to mark such distinctions. 
 
 (d) Yet plenty of womanly strength — vivid appreciation of nature (1.2.3, '4> 
 &c.)— quick instinct of compassion (1.2.5, 8, IS, 27, esp. from 466) — through- 
 out her father's story her play of feeling reflects her father's emotions more 
 quickly than her own (e.g. 63, 116, 132, 151, 168, 175) — yet her attention is not 
 slavish (117) but on the contrary intelligent (138, 175). 
 
 (e) Her creed is a simple faith in beauty (1.2.6, 457, 467 ; compare 309). 
 
 The Enchantment Itself 
 
 Enchantment presents itself as arbitrary suspension of the link 
 between cause and effect. 
 
 We have effectless causes (i. 2.217, 4^6 [stage-direction], 486, &c.) — cause- 
 less effects : this the main characteristic of the punitive pains (1.2.325, &c.) — 
 effects reversed (i. 2.219; 2.1.58, &c.; 5.1.222). 
 
 We see the casual becoming permeated by design. 
 
 Ariel at the bottom of what presents itself as accidental (1.2.220 ; 2.1.203, 
 306; 3.2.83, &c.) — esp. 1. 2. 144: where a contrived accumulation of chances 
 eventuates in design— of a similar suggestion is the extreme reversal of fortune 
 (1.2.178). 
 
 Magic as the shadow cast by science upon the primitive imagination. 
 
 Books and staff (3.2.99; 5.1.54) suggest scientific investigation and apparatus — 
 the charmed circle (5.1.57 : stage-direction) a vague perception of the exact limita- 
 tion implied in scientific law — compare Astrology ( 1.2.1 80) and common nature 
 specialized into virtues by particulars of time and place (1.2.228) — ^knowledge of 
 nature wielding nature-forces (1.2. 1, 292, 294, &c.). 
 
s 
 
 The barrier between mind and matter begins to break down. 
 
 Thoughts are answered from the outside (1.2.396: compare 404; 3.2.134) — 
 Rrospero appears almost to move the external world by acts of will (4.1 : stage- 
 direction at close of Masque; compare 164). 
 
 I Sleep and Music are gates to Enchantment. 
 
 The drowsy quality of the climate (2.1.200; compare Miranda throughout 1.2) 
 — dream-scenery (3.2.148) — ^music is regularly Ariel's instrument of enchantment 
 (1.2.376,387,407; 3.2.144-9, &c.) — sounds of nature gathered into a symphony 
 (Ariel's Songs, 1.2, from 376) — soothing and drowsy force of music (l. 2.391 ; 
 2. 1. 188) — natural at first, then transcendmg nature (1.2. compare 387 and 405). 
 
 Agents from the Spirit World lend assistance. 
 
 Invisible Spirits of Nature are Pi-ospero's punitive agents (1.2.373 ; 2.2.3, &c.) — 
 thus distance no protection (2.2, esp. 83) — 2. 2. 9- 14 suggests maUce in the instru- 
 ments of punishment, which thus annoy body and mind at once — the hunting in 
 4.1.256 suggests lengthening of torture by giving chance of flight — climax of tor- 
 ture held in reserve : transformation (4.1.249). 
 
 The Spirits can assume shapes (3.3, and the Masque), thus bringing home 
 enchantment to the most realistic of the senses — ^monstrous sliapes (e.g. surpassing 
 travellers' tales, 3.3.21, 44-9, &c.) — with inexplicable uncertainty of behaviour 
 (stage-directions in 3.3 compared with 3.3.32). 
 
 By such Spirits the Enchanter is able to play with the vastest forces of Nature : 
 ' rough magic ' (5 . 1 .40, 50) . 
 
 Thus the basis of man's reason — confidence in the uniformity of 
 nature — is shaken. 
 
 This is put forward as one of the ' subtilties of the isle ' (S . 1 . 1 24) — ^we get at last 
 helplessness suggestive of disordered mental machinery (5.1.60, 79). 
 
 Witchcraft appears in Sycorax as a dark counterpart to Enchant- 
 ment. 
 
 A good deal in common between the two — Witchcraft uses as instruments malig- 
 nant elements of nature (1.2.321 ; 2.2.1) — and light-hating creatures (1.2.340). 
 
 Ugliness of Sycorax (r.2.258, 263), being the deformity both of body and mind 
 — yet note the Wa^-^/iJc^ (1.2.269) : the worst ugliness is corrupted beauty — sug- 
 gestions of animal nature (1.2.282) — especially her relations with Ariel (1.2.271- 
 80). 
 
 Dark suggestions of unnatmal intercourse with the world of demons (1.2.269, 
 319; 5.1.272) — ^perhaps this explains 1.2.266. 
 
 Elemental Beings as the Agents of the 
 
 Enchantment 
 
 The ' four elements ' are readily humanized by the Imagination — 
 like man they have tempers, caprices, sympathies, with an occasional 
 appearance of will — especially : their division into upward-tending 
 and downward-tending [compare Henry V 3.7.22] is in harmony with 
 the struggle between man's higher and lower nature. 
 
Ariel an Elemental Being of the higher order, analogous to Air and 
 Fire. [Compare throughout Scott's ' White Lady of Avenel.'] 
 
 He is directly connected with Air (5.1.21) and Fire (1.2. 212, and whole pas- 
 sage 195-215) — thus naturally assumes a shape at will [compare clouds, lightning, 
 St. Elmo fire] — his occupation is to travel in the elements (l. 2.190, 252-6) — his 
 qualities in general are those of air and fire : the least material and most akin to 
 those of thought — e.g. motion (5. 1. 102, 4.1.165)— his highest ideal is liberty and 
 omnipresence (1.2.2.245, 499! 5-I-88) — his natural speech is music, i. e. waves of 
 air (2.1.300 &c.). 
 
 His moral side reflects the elements of nature : caprice substituted for motive 
 and passion — especially ' moody ' (1.2.244) — the point of 1.2.248 depends on the 
 absence of moral responsibility — ^he is a spectator of human passion without sym- 
 pathy (5. 1. 17-24). . Note: touches of amusement at his own feats (so Puck in 
 Midsummer Night's Bream) : e.g. 1.2.213, 222, 224 — caprice being congenial to 
 him he works upon the sense of wonder for its own sake (5.1. 221-41). 
 
 Relations between Ariel and Prospero: 4.1.48, 165, and perpetual teims of 
 endearment 1. 2.215, &c. Especially the Quarrel 1.2.242-299^— absence of moral 
 seriousness : Prospero governs by strength of will and by out-capricing Ariel — 
 queer irony all through : under guise of invective Prospero brings out Ariel's brave 
 endurance and delicate refinement (269-290) — terrible threats (294) as a prelude 
 to giving more than was asked (299)— the fondness underlying Prospero's anger a 
 thing for acting to bring out. 
 
 The sufferings of Ariel (1.2.250-296) suggestive: mutual repulsion between the 
 powers of nature — nature-forces (277) serve impartially both sides in the struggle 
 between Good and Evil — servants of light oppressed by darkness (275) till a more 
 powerful deliverer comes. 
 
 Caliban a lower Elemental Being, analogous to Earth and Water. 
 
 Directly connected with Earth (l. 2.314) — ^he is to the flesh what Ariel is to the 
 spirit — ^he embodies the lower or animal side of humanity : compare his pai-entage 
 (l. 2.319, 5.1.272). His hideous appearance (1.2.283,309; 2.2.115; S-i-291; 
 note especially the term^jA, 2.2; 5.1.266) — gross passions and gloating over them 
 1.2.349) — especially: incapable of rising (1.2.345, 352, 358) : landness has failed 
 1.2.345, 363) and we see that suffering hardens him (2.2. 1-4). 
 The introduction of CaUban gives us an embodiment of the relations between 
 savage races and civilization : compare his name (esp. 1.2.321-374). The Wrongs 
 of Savages: dispossession by the White Man (331) — early relations: the Whites 
 humour the Savage like an animal (332) — education on one side (332-5) rever- 
 ence and gifts of natural riches on the other side (336) — but the moral divergence 
 too wide for equal intercom-se (344) — forced domination on the part of the Whites 
 (342, &c) — the imported civilization turning to a curse (363). — A later scene (2.2) 
 adds another point in the analogy : the great gift of civilization to the Savage : 
 Drink! 
 
 Special effect : The dregs of purely natural life are brought into contact with the 
 dregs of civilization (Caliban with Trinculo and Stephano: 2.2; 3.2; 4.1.165) — 
 the former appears morally the nobler, for it has not exhausted the faculty of rever- 
 ence. 
 
 We get passing glimpses into the world of Fairy Life — a region of 
 pure fancy, where passion and responsibility are not. 
 
 E.g. Ariel's Songs in 1.2 : nature beauty — a life of sport with nature as spectator 
 (1.2.379) or joining in (1.2.382)— Fairy Life filled in to inanimate nature (5.1.33- 
 50) — or as a personal cause to explain nature-mysteries (5.1.36). 
 
Elements of Real Life akin to Enchantment 
 
 Round the central interest gather elements of common experience 
 which have a touch of enchantment in them. 
 
 Such is ' Love at first sight,' transforming the lovers (to one another's eyes) as 
 if by miracle — a study of such Love in Ferdinand and Miranda. Preparation for 
 the meeting : of Miranda by the charmed sleep (1.2.408) and of Ferdinand by the 
 invisible music (421) — the mutual shock (440, 450); compare 409 and 3.1.63) — 
 accidents favour betrayal of their feelings (436, 447) — trouble foUovi'S to bind them 
 closer together (450, and 3.1) — through latter part of 1.2 (from 444) and 3.1 the 
 process of leaving the father and cleaving to the husband is advancing — 4.1 and 
 5. 1. 172 : the cloud rolled away, glimpses of a lovers' paradise. 
 
 Another kind of wonder suggested in passing : transformations by the processes 
 of nature-change (1.2.396). 
 
 A Comic Counterpart to Enchantment : Intoxication. 
 
 2.2. Stephano transformed into a god and Caliban into a devout worshipper — 
 Caliban on the threshold of Freedom (2.2. end) — theFreedom (4.1. 171) — Stephano 
 coming into his kingdom (4.1.171 to end). 
 
 Music and the Arts : especially the enchanted world of the Drama : 
 
 In the Masque (see above), a form of Drama which has been described as the 
 meeting-ground of all the fine arts : 
 
 leading to a Climax : Life itself and the whole Universe suggested 
 as a Vision of Enchantment (4.1. 148-58). 
 
 ENCHANTMENT AS AN ENGINE OF POETIC 
 JUSTICE 
 
 Moral elevation is given to this Story of Enchantment by presenting 
 the Supernatural as an engine of Poetic Justice : artistic handling 
 exercised on the moral government of the world. 
 
 1. Prospero obtains from his Enchantment the Glory of playing 
 Providence. [Compare all through the elaborate study of a similar 
 situation in Dumas' s Count of Monte Crtsto.'\ 
 
 In Prospero's Story (i. 2.22-184) ^^ see the price that has been paid for this 
 power : life-study (74, &c.) — surrender of the world (89, 109) — tragic suffering 
 (121, ISS)— twelve years in the desert (53) with toil (3.2.100, 5.1.33-50) and per- 
 petual risk (3.2.100, 4.1.139) — with all this strange accidents must concur: pre- 
 servation of the rotten boat (159, 171) — ^finally, the waiting of a whole lifetime for 
 a single moment of opportunity (171-184). 
 
 2. The wielder of Providence finds brought home to his human sym- 
 pathy the suffering generated by the very machinery of moral govern- 
 ment : Prospero has to console the tender-hearted Miranda amid the 
 storm. [In some sort a ' Dramatic Foreshadowing ' of the Climax.] 
 
3- There has been a rehearsal for the final scene of human judgment 
 in Prospero's kingdom over the Spirit-World : mercy and judgment 
 exercised on Ariel and Caliban — Ariel delivered (1.2.270 — 293) — 
 goodness failing with Caliban and changed to terror (1.2.332 — 365) — 
 thus dividing line begins to appear : Ariel won to love, Caliban 
 hardened to further evil. 
 
 4. The sphere of Poetic Justice extends much beyond ' Justice ' — 
 e.g. working out the welfare of the attractive* : Ferdinand united to 
 Miranda — Yet with responsibility : use of trial to prune the happiness 
 of the loved (1.2 from 450 ; 3.1; compare 4.1. i). — A hint at another 
 function of Poetic Justice : universal restoration (finale, especially the 
 Ship: 5.1.215). 
 
 5. View of the more terrible operations of Poetic Justice in the case 
 of the hardened : vengeance by encouraging to fresh crime [here espe- 
 cially compare the Count of Monte Cristo\ — this is seen in the Epi- 
 sode of Antonio and Sebastian's Conspiracy (2.1 from 185) — circum- 
 stances moulded so as to invite treason (199 — 204) and suddenly turn- 
 ing (306) at the critical moment. 
 
 A parallel to this in the Comic Side of the Play : sufficient Nemesis 
 is secured by just giving a fresh touch of impluse to the evil passions — 
 Ariel sows discord amongst the quarrelsome (3.2 from 48) — leads on 
 drunken valour to involve itself in mischief (4.1 from 165) — brings 
 food to cupidity (4.1 from 193). 
 
 The whole suggests a sense of economy in the judicial government of 
 the world : the ends of ' justice ' secured with the least expenditure of 
 preternatural force, a few touches serving to carry forward the good 
 and the bad in their several directions. 
 
 6. Climax to which all has led up : The Moment of Nemesis arrived 
 
 (3-3)- 
 
 (a) Immediate preparation of the victims for the great shock : the supernatural 
 banquet (1-52), shaking their confidence in natural law — the 'gentle actions of 
 salutation ' give a personal reference which serves to assist what follows. 
 
 (b) Sudden Reversal : the whole Nemesis sprung upon them (from 53) — clear 
 denunciation (53) with full picture of past and future (68-82) — mysterious helpless- 
 ntes to resist (60-68) — just a hint of repentance (81). 
 
 (c) The dividing line appears again : compare Alonzo carried forwarr" in the 
 direction of repentance in which he has been moving (95-102) — Antonio and 
 Sebastian carried forward in blind resistance (102-4). 
 
 (d) General result : 'ecstasy' (108; compare 5.1. 17-19, 58). 
 
 A yet higher Climax : Judgment resolves into the Christian Nemesis 
 of Mercy. 
 
 (a) Prospero rises to the higher conception of Poetic Justice (5.I.I-32) — final 
 use of supernatural power to work universal restoration (5.1 Srom 63). 
 
 ^Shakespeare as a Dramatic Artist : page 257 ; compare 255-9. 
 
(b) Still the dividing line appears : Alonzo won back to goodness (114, 197, 
 &c.) — no sign of softening in Antonio and Sebastian (lines 263-6 suggest the 
 reverse) — so the lower class of personages appear callous (from 256) — suggestion 
 of awakening in the deluded nature-iiillain (294). 
 
 (c) Thus Evil (as well as Suffering) has proved the husk of higher Good 
 (5-1 -205). 
 
 In harmony with this : Renunciation as the highest act of Power 
 (4.1.264; 5.1. I, 33-51 ; and Epilogue). 
 
 The play ends with a note of human passion: Parting — Ariel (5.I-9S; ^'^•) — 
 Miranda (4.1.3) — Prospero himself (5.1.311 and Epilogue). 
 
10 
 
 SIR WALTER SCOTT'S MONASTERY 
 
 As A Companion Study to the Tempest 
 
 On account of the diversity of paging in different editions, the 
 References below are to the chapters, and paragraphs in a chapter. 
 A new paragraph is counted wherever (in prose) there is an indented 
 line. Quotations of verse are considered part of the prose paragraphs 
 to which they belong. 
 
 Sir Walter Scott's Monastery is a Story of the Reformation, located 
 in the Halidome of a Scotch Monastery : as a result, we get a group 
 of contrasts maintained or developed throughout the action, directly 
 or indirectly springing out of the main conception. 
 
 Directly ; 
 
 :{ 
 
 party, originally college friends : \ Protestant : Henry Warden. 
 
 2. Protestants secretly developed by f Of the old generation : Lady Avenel. 
 the silent agency of the Bible : \ Of the new generation : Mary Avenel. 
 
 / Catholic Prelate of the old (easy-going) type : The Abbott. 
 •'' \ Catholic Prelate of the new (polemical) type : The Sub-Prior. 
 
 f Church Domains and settled life : St. Mary's Halidome. 
 ^' \ Lay Barons and wild life : Avenel Castle. 
 
 Indirectly : 
 
 f Statesmen of the Scotch Regency : Murray and his party. 
 ^' \ Statesmen of the Enghsh Queen : Sir John Foster. 
 
 g r Dependents of a noble house : Tib and Martin. 
 
 \ Middle-class household : Dame Elspeth Glendinning. 
 
 f High-born beautiful maiden ; Mary Avenel. 
 ' ■ \ Low-bom beautiful maiden : Mysie of the Mill. 
 
 Above all, forming the main psychological interest 
 8.- 
 
 Out of the same family " 
 and by the same in- 
 fluence (love of the 
 heroine) are developed 
 the 
 
 Elder Brother, a Protestant Warrior : Halbert. 
 Younger Brother, a Catholic Priest : Edward. 
 
 But over and above the main conception, two very special and pecu- 
 liar elements are woven into the action : a supernatural being of the 
 Fairy order, and a courtier of the age of Euphuism. 
 
II 
 
 The White Lady of Avenel 
 
 As a principle of criticism : imagination is an end in itself, and 
 the intrinsic interest of the White Lady as a piece of art-creation must 
 come before all others — at the same time it is a part of the functions of 
 criticism to analyse the ideas and interests that underlie and are 
 embodied in such a portraiture. [For the whole subject, compare the 
 Introduction to the Edition of 1830, especially paragraphs 15-20.] 
 
 Ideas and Interests crystallised into the conception 
 
 The central interest is creative curiosity : imagination as a mode 
 of speculation, abstract fancies conveyed in plastic form. 
 
 1. Man's origin described as being from the dust of the earth animated by the Divine 
 
 Spirit — suggests : other beings formed from earth or the other elements without 
 any such Divine admixture — so the Elemental Spirits: Earth and Gnomes, 
 Water and Naiads, Air and Sylphs, Fire and Salamanders : vv'ith attributes,^ in 
 accordance — ^the idea of such unsubstantial beings a foundation for such creations 
 as the White Lady, who seems to partake the attributes of several elements 
 [compare her words in ix. 54, xii. 3 ; and the Grotto Scene, xi. 31-xii]. 
 
 2. Man's relation to the rest of the animal creation. 
 
 (a) They surpass him infinitely in single physical qualities — suppose : this 
 extended to the intellectual sphere, and the result is an order of beings with 
 physical and mental powers as unlimited as the instincts of animals — super- 
 natural knowledge (of past, present, and future), strength, perception of the 
 invisible, motion, &c. [Compare Davies's idea of man as the horizon 
 between brutes, or mindless bodies, and angels, or bodiless minds.] 
 
 {J}) Yet with all his limitations man becomes lord over the brute creation — 
 suggests : so man may by courage mysteriously tame the supernatural spirits, 
 and make them do his will. 
 
 (f) This conquest of the lower creation is achieved by man's power to find out 
 the laws of each order — suggests : these spiritual beings have their secret 
 laws, through the knowledge of which they can be ruled : the whole Rosi- 
 crucian philosophy was an attempt to discover such secrets — ^with this 
 connect the idea of a spell : an utterance mystically connected with the 
 (unknown) laws of some order of spirits. [Compare: xi. 33-36; xvii. 
 29.] 
 
 3. Moral curiosity, as well as intellectual. 
 
 (a) Human passions, a perpetual interest in art, appear in man always in 
 conflict with law — suggests : beings reflecting human passions apart from 
 law and moral responsibility — ^mischief and caprice a leading characteristic of 
 elemental spirits, and ministers to the art interest of fancy. [Compare xii. 3 
 (last eight lines), xvii. 39 ; and especially, the connection of the White 
 Lady with the Duel incidents.] 
 
 (^) Curiosity plays around even the topic of man's fall and redemption — 
 suppose: beings near enough for sympathy yet never fallen and never 
 redeemed; no struggle, but no future — observe they are usually presented 
 as superior in faculties yet lower in fate and moral dignity. [Compare xii. 
 3 (last six lines), xii. 23, xvii. 30 (verse), xxx. 5. The Peri in Moore's 
 Lalla Rookh'-& another example.] 
 
12 
 
 [c) There is Biblical authority for the idea of spirits interested in man, as 
 involved in the grand contest between good and evil : spirits ministering 
 and tempting — ^this falls in with the impression of unseen agency in human 
 experience, where natural causes seem insufficient — imagination fills in the 
 details to such conception, especially note : 
 
 (oa) Interposition of evil Spirits invited by man, and looseness of life a 
 mode of inviting [adventui-e of Father Philip] — on the other hand 
 they are powerless before firmness of will (xvii. 33) — further, their 
 gifts turn to evil or good according as they are used (xvii. 47). 
 
 (W) The idea of tempting to good is suggested (heading to chapter xxx). 
 
 4. Even abstruse metaphysical speculation may sometimes take a plastic form — thus : 
 
 investigation of boundaries and dividing lines suggests a region of middle points 
 and negatives as a speculative location for the supernatural, or a mode of shalding 
 off its natui'e and attributes to the proper degree of indefiniteness. [Compare ix. 
 52, xii. 3.] 
 
 5. From speculation it is a short step to aspiration. 
 
 (a) Intellectual aspiration : rebellion against human limitations — e g. motion 
 [compare: ix. 54, xii. 2], insight into the future — the 'uniformity of 
 nature ' creates by repulsion an interest in phenomena divorced from causes 
 [compare: xxxvii. 120 (sixth Une of vei-se)]. — Perhaps with this is partly 
 connected a sense of sin as attaching to commerce with the super- 
 natural. 
 
 (3) Moral aspiration : we feel our lower nature as a weight — ^imagination 
 catches the feeling in the form of beings free from the gi'osser influences of 
 earth. [Compare xvii. 33 (last foiu: lines), heading to chapter xii.] 
 
 The central interest of speculation is supported by others. 
 
 1. Mystery is a primary human interest — ^with which ignorance does not interfere, but 
 
 assists it, serving as a sort of dark back-ground. 
 
 (a) Natural scenery often favours the mysterious : mists and fantastic resem- 
 blances (iii. 32) — ^ravines, groves, sense of loneliness : distance from the real 
 becomes nearness to hidden possibilities (chapter ii, particularly paragraph 
 8) — thus the general idea of haunting : every such idea a centre of imagin- 
 ative activity. [Compai-e xx. 47.] 
 
 (V) Dream experience — phenomena connected with delirium and opiates — 
 optical delusions — apparitions and unceasing interest in the relations 
 between the worlds of matter and spirit — and generally : the residuxun of 
 imexplained phenomena in the wake of scientific discovery [which properly 
 makes ' superstition ' ]. 
 
 (c) Science itself is the greatest of all wonder-workers. [Compare the Intro- 
 duction : Answer to Clutterbuck, paragraph 2.] 
 
 2. Tradition assists. 
 
 (a) Popular and universal : folk-lore — ^part awe, part gossip, and part trickery— 
 the Nameless Dean, the Good Neighbour, All-Hallow E'en (iv. 11 to end) 
 — spells and charms (viii. 25). — ^The humorous presentation of the lower 
 supernatiu-al assists the conception of the higher. 
 
 (b') Mythological : the deities of defunct religions become literary property as 
 imaginative creations — especially : Pantheism (in the sense of deification of 
 every conceivable individuahty) assists the notion of ' middle spirits ' 
 (neither angels nor tempters) such as the White Lady. 
 
13 
 
 (c) Literaiy : successful creations such as Puck, Ariel, Oberon, give a basis of 
 quasi-reality to others. 
 
 3. Personification, or the humanisation of inanimate nature as a device of poetic style 
 
 — especially applied to the four elements (e.g. the 'sighing' of the wind, 
 'earthly,' as meaning sensual, the 'rage' of fire, the 'cruel' sea): it is only a 
 step irom this to Elementary Spirits, [ix. 54 illustrates the connection.] 
 
 4. We get allegory in occasional flashes as a subsidiary effect. E.g. the Grotto scene 
 
 and the burning of mortal vi'orkmanship where truth alone is unconsumed (xii. 
 16-19). 
 
 These ideas and interests enter into supernatural creations in 
 general : there are two special to the present example. 
 
 1 . There is a special connection between the White Lady and the family of Avenel : 
 
 several mediaeval ideas support such a conception. 
 
 [a) In heathen theogonies gods appeared as patrons of individual races and 
 families — so mediaeval saints connected with particular races or families, as 
 well as particular churches. [Compare iv. 57 to end.] 
 
 [i) Astrology (the longest lived of delusions) instituted distinct connections 
 between heavenly influence and individuals in accordance with the moment 
 of their bu-th : so All-Hallow E'en the link between Mary Avenel and the 
 White Lady (iv. SS-S7)- 
 
 (c) Heraldry regularly connected some natural object with the continuity of a 
 family history. [Compare xxiv. 21.] 
 
 [d) Popular traditions of spirits connected with families for purposes of warning 
 (Irish Banshees) — or even familiar intercourse (Highland tradition : Intro- 
 duction 17). 
 
 2. But this novel is essentially a Protestant story : the difficulty arises, how to get a 
 
 Protestant Fairy! The link is found in the conception of the Bible as a 
 book : it is perfectly consistent with mediseval imagination to invest a book with 
 mystic attractions and powers [compare Runic letters and their mystic powers — 
 charms attaching to exact sets of words or to written symbols — ^magic books and 
 the awe they excite : all these the product of an age in which reading was a 
 professional mystery]. The White Lady throughout is associated with the Bible 
 that has found its way into the Hahdome : with the fortunes of the book itself 
 and of those who use it. [Especially: the Grotto scene, chapter xii.] 
 
 The White Lady as an element in the story 
 
 When familiar with the general course of the story, the Student will 
 do well to follow the White Lady as a separate interest. 
 
 1. First glimpse on All-Hallow E'en (iii. 30-35). 
 
 2. Father Philip's Adventure (v firom 40). 
 
 3. The Sub-Prior's Adventure (ix. 42-59) : compare beginnings of Chapters viii and 
 
 X. 
 
 4. Grand Appearance to the hero, and Grotto Scene (xi. 31 to end of xii). 
 
 5. The Friday Appearance (xvii from 28). 
 
 6. The Nocturnal Appearance (xx. 30 to end). 
 
 7. The Mysteries of the Duel Incidents (xxi. 33 to end of xxii, xxvi. 28-xxvii. 18). 
 
 8. Appearance to the heroine (xxx. 1-6). 
 
 g. Appearance to Edward (xxxii. 55 to end). 
 10. Last vision of the White Lady (xxxviii. 120). 
 
14 
 
 BROWNING'S CALIBAN UPON SETEBOS 
 
 As A Companion Study to the Tempest 
 
 His art is of such power, 
 It would control my dam's god, Setebos, 
 And make a vassal of him. 
 
 Tempest, 1.2.372. 
 
 1. Browning's poem is founded on this quotation. Given Caliban 
 and his island, the poem seeks to arrive at a conception of deity- 
 such as he would fit on to the traditional belief in which he had been 
 educated. 
 
 2. It is a study in 'Natural Theology,' that is, examination of 
 nature itself (apart from revelation) for light on the Creator of that 
 nature. — It must be remembered that ' nature ' includes Caliban 
 himself. Hence the motto of the poem. 
 
 3. In all Natural Theology argument from analogy is usually 
 prominent. Compare the ' So He ' which recurs as a sort of burden 
 to the poem. 
 
 4. Browning has invented a grammar for Caliban : he regularly 
 speaks in the third person, instead of the first, and without a pro- 
 nominal subject : — the usage is suggestive of a being low in the scale 
 of personal consciousness. [Examples: 25, 26, 31, &c.] 
 
 The exceptions are significant. 
 
 (1) He rises to ' I ' and the first person when his argument places him in the posi- 
 tion of a deity : as creator of a bird (68-97) — as deity to the crabs (100-8) — ^to 
 the presumptuous pipe (126) — to the squirrel and mxhin (227-32) — similarly 
 where (160) he imagines himself an enchanter — compare 135-6. 
 
 (2) Or where he comes into any direct relation with his deity : the sacrificial song 
 
 (276-8) — ^when caught by his god (269-75) — his deity having a personal spite 
 gainst him (202-12) — his creator might have made him different (175-6). In 
 his final cry for mercy (292-5) he falls back into the third person to express 
 grovelling. 
 
 (3) This introduces some confusion into the use of. pronouns : the text uses a capital 
 letter where the pronoun refers to Setebos [especially note 179-180, 216-8] — 
 except occasionally in a subordinate sentence, where there is no chance of 
 mistake (59, 144). 
 
 5. Similarly Browning finds a prosody suited to Caliban : short 
 doggerel rhymes (276): — in accordance with the songs he favours in 
 the Tempest (3.2.130, 2.2.184). 
 
 What I hate, 
 Be consecrate 
 To celebrate 
 Thee and Thy state, 
 
 No mate 
 
 For Thee ; 
 
 What see 
 For envy in poor me ? 
 
IS 
 
 Incidental light thrown on Caliban himself 
 
 1. As a Being of the Elements Caliban in the world he discusses 
 gives prominence to those parts of nature that have connection with 
 elemental action (24—30) — note supremacy of the moon (194: compare 
 Tempest 2.2.1^1) — the sun mentioned only as reflected in the water 
 (12, 40) and as a thing of fear (267: compare Tempest 2.2.1) — so the 
 stars and ' quiet ' outside elemental disturbance treated as a separate 
 world (27, 138). 
 
 2. In reference to his suggested connection with the elements of earth 
 and water note 2, 4, his sympathy with creeping things (5, &c.) and 
 his attraction to the idea of a serpent (30, 46, 158, 209-10) — through- 
 out the living things mentioned are chiefly insects and creatures con- 
 nected with the sea — whereas a bird is suggested as something of a 
 higher order (74), or an object of fear (286). — As in the Tempest (1.2. 
 282-3) terms of animal and even vegetable life are used in describing 
 him (11, 72, 23). 
 
 3. On the other hand he manifests perceptive powers of the highest 
 acuteness [compare the senses of animals] and minute observation of 
 nature (37, 47-55, 7^» 207, &c.). — He is full of imagery taken from 
 external nature. 
 
 4. There is plenty of evidence for his low moral position : tyranny 
 over weaker things his main characteristic — especially note the cruelty 
 that is suggested incidentally (105, 118, 158) — his identification of love 
 with interest (180) — his pleasures physical or cruel or childish. — 
 Intoxication is the condition under which he aspires (68-74), as in the 
 Tempest it led him to worship. 
 
 The Main Ideas of the Poem 
 
 1. Caliban speculates downward, not upward [compare his suggested 
 connection with the downward-tending elements] — placing his deity 
 at the lowest, not the highest, point of his consciousness. — Of course 
 power is necessarily assumed in a Creator. 
 
 Thus (25) locates deity in the cold of the moon, not the heat of the sun — 
 makes him 'ill at ease' (31) — the lowest motives suggested for creating — 
 deity ' rougher than his handiwork ' (m ) — note that Caliban has ideas of 
 right and wrong (98) but does not apply them to deity. 
 
 2. The whole conception of Setebos rests upon the antithesis of 
 Being and Doing — the combination of almost unlimited external power 
 (both of perception and action) with inability to change his own 
 nature. [Especially, analogy of the pipe : 117-26.] 
 
 (a) Setebos can perceive what is above him (144)— and even 
 create what is higher than himself (11 1-4, and especially 62-7). 
 
i6 
 
 (b) But he cannot himself rise higher (32, and analogy oi the river- 
 fish : so 62, 66, 113, 144). 
 
 (c) Similarly Caliban in the Tempest has mental capacities (1.2. 
 
 359) and makes progress in education (1.2.354) — but morally 
 cannot develop upwards (352, 360), but only in the direction 
 of evil (353). 
 
 (d) Accordingly the salient feature of Setebos is arbitrary power 
 (85-97, 99-108, 142-3, 224) as distinguished on the one side 
 from malevolent (109) and on the other from rational (239) — 
 strength made the only basis of morality (99) — goodness identi- 
 fied with ' placability' (no), i.e. relaxation of power. — Note 
 the idea of ' sport,' or the hunter's joy in killing as a vent for 
 conscious power, underlying the whole poem. 
 
 The Meditation 
 
 1. The poem opens with Dramatic Background: the surroundings 
 of Caliban as he meditates (1-23). 
 
 2. Question of the location of the Creator, and the sphere of his 
 creation (24-30). The connection of this with elemental activity has 
 been noted above, and also the assurhption of another world of ' quiet. ' 
 
 3. Question of the Creator's motive for making the world. — Dis- 
 content and powerlessness to change (31-43, with the analogy of the 
 river-fish). Spite, envy, listlessness, sport (44-97, with the analogy of 
 the bird of clay). — Later on (146) another motive is added : make- 
 believe as a vent for consciousness of inferiority. 
 
 In connection with the analogy of the bird of clay note a feature of the 
 poet's style : the expansion, with a view to vivid effect, of subordinate mem- 
 bers of a train of argument, the argument being obscured while the picto- 
 rial effect is increased. In the present passage (68-98) the illustration con- 
 nects itself with the argument only at line 85, where the creature begins to 
 suffer: the preceding 16 lines being taking up with quasi-digressions — (l) 
 the steps of the creation of the bird are detailed (77-84), and (2) even 
 before this the poet suggests the circumstances under which Caliban might 
 be struck with the unlikely notion of creating (68-76). 
 
 4. Question of the attributes of deity. 
 
 {a) Is he a moral being ? — Strength is independent of morality (98- 
 108, with analogy of the crabs). 
 
 {b) Has he goodness ? — Goodness in the case of a Strength-God 
 would become ' placability ' — it may exist in him — but he is less 
 good [' rougher '] than his creatures — he has power as a set-off 
 to conscious inferiority (99-r26, with analogy of the pipe). 
 
17 
 
 5. Digression (^i2'j-i6g). — Is there any power beyond Setebos? 
 [Remember the ancient conception of ' fate ' as a force beyond deity.] 
 
 (a) Such a power suggested as a possibility, to explain the existence 
 
 of Setebos (128-131). 
 
 (b) Such a power must be omnipotent (137) — and therefore pas- 
 sionless (132-6) — hence the name for it, ' Quiet ' — it would be 
 outside this elemental world (138) — inhabiting a ' real world ' 
 (147) of which this is a feeble imitation (148 : compare Plato's 
 ' ideals') — there is however always the possibility of its interfer- 
 ence (140). 
 
 (c) In its nature of an infinitely higher order than Caliban (142) — 
 the relations between the two are vague (130, 141, 246, 281). 
 
 (d) This gives another motive for creation of the world : make- 
 believe, as a vent for consciousness of inferiority (149-69). 
 
 6. Second Digression . on the Origin of Evil (i^o-S). — Caliban had 
 been trained in a system of dualism : Quiet the Creator, Setebos the 
 Devil or originator of evil. — But weakness inherent in created things 
 suggests to him a creator whose object was the exercise of power. 
 
 7. Question of the Creators' s attributes resumed. Has he love for 
 his creatures ? — Caliban (a) rejects, because love is based upon self- 
 interest and therefore implies weakness (179-84, with analogy of the 
 blinded beast) — (b) distinguishes between love of the creature and love 
 for the act of creating (185-99). 
 
 8. Question of Setebos as Providence. — The idea of power is 
 supreme (200-1) — arbitrary power easily passes into malevolence and 
 partiality (200-15, ^^^'^ examples of the wave, the thunderbolt, the 
 newt). 
 
 9. This raises the question of propitiation. — That is the secret of 
 Setebos and his favorites — in any case the method of propitiating can 
 never be reduced to a law (216-40, with analogies of the squirrel and 
 hedgehog). 
 
 10. Third Digression on Eschatoiogy (241-55). — (a) As to an end 
 for the present dispensation, only uncertain possibilities: decay of 
 Setebos (243), attention directed to another world (244), his attain- 
 ment to or conquest by Quiet (246, compare 281) — in the present no 
 mediating power (249). (b) As to a world beyond death for 
 the creature : Caliban rejects the old tradition, nature suggesting no 
 reason against this life being the worst Setebos can inflict (250-5.) 
 
i8 
 
 11. Thesubject of propitiation resumed (256). — [While no means is 
 apparent of propitiating, yet on the othor hand] happiness is an irritant 
 to a miserable god. Hence the practical duty of the creature is to 
 deceive the deity by concealment of happiness and pretence of 
 misery (256-69). — If caught appease by Sacrifice (269) — includes (a) 
 presentation of suffering (271) as an acceptable offering, (b) destruc- 
 tion of precious things (272-4), with due rites (275) — care being taken 
 even in this act of worship to keep up the deception ; note : ' hate ' 
 (276) in the sacrificial song. [Compare the Greek conception of 
 Nemesis and Fhthonos.'] 
 
 12. The Meditation broken off by a sudden thunderstorm (compare 
 Tempest 2.2, &c.) ; dramatic background thus resumed — Caliban 
 recants and cries for mercy, putting in practice his conception of sacri- 
 fice (284-95) — but too agitated to sing. 
 
19 
 
 DUMAS'S THE COUNT OF MONTE CRISTO 
 As A Companion Study to the Tempest 
 
 Two English editions are published by Messrs. Routledge : 
 one in cloth and the other in paper covers. The refer- 
 ences below are to the chapters of the larger edition, which 
 are numbered from I to Il8: those using the cheap edition 
 (where there is a division into two volumes bound together) 
 must subtract 52 from all higher figures, and so obtain the num- 
 ber of the chapter in Vol. II. 
 
 Young students may content themselves with the first 30 
 chapters, which make a complete tale in themselves. 
 
 Novels constitute the most important branch of modern literature 
 (so far as it is possible to make comparisons of importance) — alike in 
 English, French, and Russian literature, this medium of expression 
 seems to have the chief attraction for the thought and art -work of this 
 century. Novel-reading will be a very good or a bad thing in propor- 
 tion as taste in fiction has received training : (i) by familiarity with 
 masterpieces, (2) by analysis, (3) by comparison of kindred works, 
 
 TVie Count of Monte Crista is a masterpiece of the French School 
 specially suitable for study of fiction from its many-sidedness. Those 
 who read only for amusement will find it amongst the most ' sensa- 
 tional ' stories ever written ; its romantic parts appeal to children ; it 
 is a terrible tragedy, an elaborate study of human nature and society ; 
 and, in particular, it is a consummate piece of literary workmanship 
 from beginning to end. 
 
 Here we are concerned with the work in only one of its many aspects. 
 It is brought forward as a companion study to Shakespeare's Tempest, 
 in order to introduce Providence as a Motive in Drama and 
 Fiction. 
 
 The conception of an individual or individuals elevated into the position 
 of an Earthly Providence for a limited time, or over some particular section of 
 humanity, is a favourite motive in French fiction. (l) Perhaps the most 
 direct treatment of it is in Eugene Sue's Mysteries of Paris. [A cheap 
 English edition by Messrs. Routledge : but students are warned that this 
 book, though itself of the highest tone, is too true to its title to be recom- 
 mended for indiscriminate reading.] Here we have a hero actuated, not by 
 sense of wrong, as in Monte Crista, but by pure benevolence, to raise him- 
 self into a providential director of circumstances ; and he incites others to 
 do the same. (2) Another interesting variation of the same theme 
 is the Wandering Jew oi the same writer [cheap English edition by 
 Routledge, in paper covers and in cloth]. In this work a family, dis- 
 tinguished by a vast inheritance that is to descend to the surviving members 
 after generations of accumulation, are displayed as placed between two 
 opposing Earthly Providences : the Jesuits (who, as a society, never die) 
 form a malignant Providence, seeking through a series of criminal intrigues 
 
20 
 
 to secure the treasure for themselves ; while the ' Wandering Jew ' and his 
 sister (cursed, according to the legend, with immortality on earth, but 
 repentant) counteract these machinations. 
 
 A few passages are directly suggestive of the Tempest : e. g. " You 
 who, like Ariel, touch on the Angelic, are but an inert mass, which, like 
 Caliban, touches on the brutal." [Chapter 48-]—" My poor child " [to 
 Hayd^e], " that is only because your father and myself are the only men 
 with whom you have conversed," — and, a few lines further, " the simple 
 child of nature hastily withdrew it." [Chapter 49.] — "All has been guided 
 by a hand invisible but powerful as that of an enchanter." [Chapter 50.] 
 
 Movement of the Story 
 
 1. The hero brought into the position of an Earthly Providence. 
 [Chapters 1-27.J 
 
 (a) The original crime : two betrothal feasts. — Marseilles : the return 
 
 of Napoleon and the Hundred Days. [Chapters 1-13.] 
 
 (b) Fourteen years of dungeon life — Abbe Faria and two sources of 
 power: mental training and wealth. — Chateau d'lf: 1815-29. 
 [Chapters 14-19.] 
 
 (c) The escape and the securing of the treasure. — The sea and the 
 island of Monte Cristo. [Chapters 20-25.] 
 
 (d) Enqiriry into the history of the fourteen years outside the 
 prison : Episode of Caderousse and the diamond. — Auberge of 
 Pont du Card : 1829. [Chapters 26, 27.] 
 
 2. First instalment of providential action in romantic rescue of the 
 suffering righteous. Episode of the Pharaon. — Marseilles: 1829. 
 [Chapters 28-30.] 
 
 3. An interval of ten years (1829-38) : preparation ior the full role 
 of an Earthly Providence. 
 
 (a) The occupation of this interval has for the most part to be 
 
 inferred from the rest of the book. 
 
 (b) At the end of this interval two glimpses are caught of the 
 hero in his period of transition. — Monte Cristo and the Palace 
 of the Arabian Nights (chapters 31, 32) — Rome in Carnival 
 week and the first Adventure of the Catacombs — concluding 
 the transition section by fixing the rendezvous at Paris. [Chap- 
 ters 33-38.] 
 
 4. Monte Cristo in his full role as an Earthly Providence — Paris 
 and Vengeance. — Four main threads of retributive intrigue inter- 
 weaving through the rest of the book. 
 
(a) Retribution upon Villefort. — He is struck at 
 
 (aa) Through his household : the murderous instincts of his 
 wife discovered [note that (Chapter 5 2) she had first ' con- 
 sulted the count about the health of Mademoiselle de 
 "Villefort '] and fed with encouragement till she becomes 
 an exterminating demon for the whole family. [Chapters 
 47 (latter part), 52, 57-9, 72-74, 78 (init.), 79-80, 93, 
 94. 100-3, 105. 108, III.] 
 
 Note : In all this part of the action Noirtier seems to hold 
 the position of a counteracting Providence. [Compare begin- 
 ning of Chapter 60.] 
 
 (bb) Through Benedetto : revelation of the long-forgotten 
 guilty intrigue of Villefort [the house at Auteuil] — with a 
 climax of irony in his unconsciously solacing his troubles 
 with efforts for the destruction of his own son. [Chapters 
 42-S. 48, 55-6, 60 (middle), 62-4, 67, 81-3, 107, 109-11.] 
 
 Note : In this part of the action there appears a sort of 
 co-operating Providence in the 'Vendetta,' which is linked to 
 the main story through Bertuccio, and connects together Bene- 
 detto, Villefort, Madame Danglars, and Caderousse. [Chap- 
 ters 42-5.] 
 
 (b) Retribution upon Danglars. — He is struck at 
 
 (aa) Through his household : Madame Danglars and the old 
 Villefort intrigue — Debray and the separate purse — his 
 daughter and the Benedetto marriage. 
 
 (bb) Directly, through his speculations — manipulation of the 
 telegraphs — finally, second Adventure of the Catacombs. 
 
 [The two (aa) and (bb) are mingled together : chapters 46, 47 
 (init), 54, 60-3, 65-7, 76, 95-8, 104, 106, 115-7.] 
 
 (c) Retribution upon Fernand [Morcerf]. 
 
 (aa) Direct: preservation of Haydee and revelation of the 
 secret treason. 
 
 (bb) In this case Monte Cristo seeks to limit, so far as possible, 
 the inclusion of his enemy's family in the vengeance — but 
 in spite of him they are involved in the general ruin. 
 
 [Chapters 39-41,49, 53, 68, 70-1, 77-8, 84-92, 106, 113.] 
 
 (d) Retribution upon Caderousse. — His part in the original crime 
 ambiguous, in conformity with his character as a hesitator 
 between good and evil — hence at first he is treated with pros- 
 
22 
 
 perity [above: i (d)] — the higher fortune seems to determine 
 him to evil — career and tragic end. [Chapters 26, 27 j 44- 
 5, 64, 81-3]. 
 
 5. The hero descending from his position as an Earthly Providence. 
 
 (a) He has miscalculated : good and evil are too closely inter- 
 mingled in the world to admit of a Providence of Vengeance. 
 [Compare close of chapter 30 with emotion at seeing Morrel in 
 chapter 40.] 
 
 (aa) Thus the objects of his love and of his hate have become 
 bound up with one another: Love of Maximilian and 
 Valentine de Villefort. [Chapters 50, 51, 57-9, 73-Sj 79> 
 93-4, 100-5, 112, 118.] 
 
 (bb) The old love for Mercedes is found never to have been 
 lost — rises to overthrow the hero in his full tide of ven- 
 geance — yet saves him, and only restrains the ruin from 
 comprehending Fernand's son. [Chapters 89, 106, 113.] 
 
 (cc) From among the personages he uses as his instruments of 
 vengeance, love lays hold of himself. — Hayd6e. [Chapters 
 49; 77. 9°» 118.] 
 
 (b) 'At the very climax of his success he encounters the shock of 
 
 Doubt — he yields to a Providence beyond himself, and gives 
 up Vengeance for Love. [Chapter 118J. 
 
25 
 
 THE USE OF MAGIC IN LITERARY ART 
 
 I. Various sources of Magic as an element in. Imagination. 
 Scientific. 
 
 a. To a large extent Magic was a shadow cast on the Imagination by Medieval 
 
 Natural Science. Connect Magic ' signs ' and 'symbols ' with the first dim con- 
 ception of scientific laws; a whole body of phenomena comprehended in a sim- 
 ple formula — a mathematician's figiu-e as representing a whole process of reason- 
 ing illustrates the notion. — So the idea of ' spells,' and the use of magic signs may 
 be a shadow of the grand scientific principle of governing Nature by the dis- 
 covery of its laws : e.g. Solomon's ' key ' [here the notion of military passwords 
 and countersigns has probably lent its assistance]. — The connection of Alchemy 
 with Chemistry and witches' potions with Medicine (and especially Herbology) 
 is obvious — also connect utensils of Magic with scientific apparatus. 
 
 b. As Mediaeval thought covers the period of transition between a Philosophy of 
 
 universal divine agency and a Science taking the form of a network of causes. 
 Mediaeval M^c not unnaturally believes in a network of agencies : spiritual 
 beings forming a hierarchy whose orders correspond to the great divisions in 
 natural phenomena — especially the Elemental Spirits corresponding to the 
 ' four elements ' of Nature. [Faust: 130.9 and 137.7 — 138.15.] 
 
 Religious. 
 
 a. To popular ignorance the victory of Christianity over Paganism was only partial : 
 
 the Pagan Deities were conquered but not annihilated — henceforward diey were 
 turned into Demons — Whence a. connection possible between magic phenomena 
 and demoniac agency — hence the power of the Cross and similar symbols over 
 magic Spirits, their use of Hell-fire, &c. 
 
 b. To this source is traceable a special phase of Magic : Witchcraft, the acquirement 
 
 of supernatiural power by direct traffic with the Evil one. 
 
 c. Again : many Inagical notions seem to be a shadow of theological mysteries [the 
 
 Witch's incantation in Faust is suggestive : 203.3, compare 203.23-204.9. — 
 Similarly religious ritual suggests magic rites [the charmed circle in the same 
 scene, &c.]^possibly the idea of the Incarnation is a foundation for the idea of 
 magic Spirits taking bodily shape at will. 
 
 Art Sources. 
 
 a. The fascination of Mystery a constant Art interest. 
 
 b. Magic aflfords scope for uiu-estricted Imagination : ' castles in the air,' sense grati- 
 
 fications [Fatist : the Auerbach Scene] beyond the limits of natural possibilities. 
 
 t. Personification of the inanimate, as a permanent poetic interest, carried by Magic 
 on into reality. [Especially: Faust: the Walpurgis-Night Scene.] 
 
 Sources in ordinary Experience. 
 
 a. The phenomena of dreams, delirium, madness. 
 
 b. Optical delusions — especially such as the Spectre of the Brocken. 
 
 c. Supernatural Apparitions — The ' brain-wave ' phenomena — and especially : Clair- 
 
 voyance (i) of the distant, (2) of the future. [Note : it is not necessary to assume 
 the reality of these phenomena : the existence of stories of the kind is sufficient.] 
 
24 
 
 * 
 
 Besides these distinct sources of Magic as a mode of imagination there 
 are two other supports : 
 
 a. Literary tradition. Whole Mythologies and Folk-lores may be naturalized in the 
 
 literature of other peoples — old Religions, passing out of the regiqn of belief, 
 are retained in Art. 
 
 b. There are continually appearing points of attachment between details of Magic 
 
 and rational ideas [e.g. Faust's mantle and the tradition of ballooning: 177.3, 6] 
 ■ moral laws [the pentagram and ' first choice binding ' : Faust 143.8-144.5]. 
 
 2. Special utilization of Magic in Faust. 
 
 a. As a form in which to clothe demoniac agency on earth. 
 
 b. As a means of harmonizing Faust's temptation with the original temptation of 
 
 mankind : the grasping at knowledge by unholy means. 
 
 c. As a means of exercising illusion and bewilderment upon Faust — and so shaking 
 
 the foundations of his reason and knowledge, described by Mephistopheles as 
 man's best powers (165.7). 
 
25 
 
 EXERCISES 
 
 Read the Tempest in connection with the first section of the Syllabus. 
 
 1. Show how the scenery and general surroundings of the story 
 make an appropriate background to its leading ideas. 
 
 2. What is the connection of the Comic scenes with the idea of 
 Enchantment ? 
 
 3. Describe Ariel and Caliban as Elemental Beings. 
 
 4. What is the significance (a) of Ariel's Songs (1.2.376, 396) — (b) 
 of Miranda's drowsiness in 1.2 — and (c) the transitions between prose 
 and blank verse in various parts of the play ? 
 
 II 
 
 Scott's Monastery should, if possible, have been read before the commencment of the 
 Course. This week go through it in light of the Syllabus. 
 
 1. Bring out (especially by quotations from her speeches) some of 
 the more striking ideas embodied in the conception of the ' White 
 Lady.' 
 
 2. Illustrate the love of mischief and caprice displayed by the White 
 Lady, and show that these are consistent with the general notion of 
 Elemental Spirits.' 
 
 3. Note the details of appearing and disappearing in the manifesta- 
 tions of Scott's Fairy, as illustrations of the art with which he suggests 
 its unsubstantial nature. 
 
 4. Give an account of the Grotto Scene, pointing out (i) its art 
 beauty — (2) its general suggestiveness. 
 
 Ill 
 
 Read Caliban upon Setebos with the Syllabus. 
 
 1. Put in your own words Caliban's general notion of the temper 
 and disposition of Setebos, and of the proper behaviour of his creatures 
 to him. 
 
 2. How would you deal with the objection that Browning has 
 endowed Caliban with more mental power than has Shakespeare ? 
 
26 
 
 3- Explain and illustrate the conception of a god that can create 
 what is higher than he himself can ever be. 
 
 4. (a) Paraphrase the paragraph 127-169 so as to make the mean- 
 ing of each sentence clear. — Comment upon the following: 
 
 (b) 'Thinketh, He dwelleth i' the cold o' the moon. 
 
 (c) Lines 192-9. 
 
 (d) Please Him and hinder this? — What Prosper does? 
 Aha, if he would tell me how ! Not He ! 
 
 There is the sport : discover how or die ! 
 
 (e) What I hate be consecrate. 
 
 IV 
 
 Not more than two answers to be sent in to the lecturer : the rest of the questions 
 are intended to guide the siudenfs reading at some future time. 
 
 Dumas's Novel is of course too long to be mastered within the week : it should, if 
 possible, have been read beforehand, and the student should now follow some section or 
 sections of it by aid of the references in the Syllabus. 
 
 1. Tell in the form of complete stories (i) the escape from the 
 Chateau d' If — (2) the episode of the Pharaon — (3) the way in which 
 a Count managed to rid a gardener of the dormice that ate his 
 peaches. 
 
 2. Describe the following personages considered as race-types : Fer- 
 •nand, Danglars, Mercedes, Haydee, Caderousse, Bertuccio, Faria, 
 Vampa. 
 
 3. Show (a) how the different personages are affected by the ' hun- 
 dred days' — (b) how the interval often years (1829-38) is employed 
 by the hero. 
 
 4. How are (a) Noirtier (b) Caderousse connected with the general 
 theme of the book ? 
 
 5. Note some of the details by means of which Dumas builds up a 
 sense of mysterious and irresistible power as attaching to his hero.f 
 
 6. Trace in complete outline one of the main schemes of retribution 
 in the story. 
 
 fCompare Shakespeare's Richard III. [Shakespeare as a Dramatic Artist^ chapter 4]. 
 
27 
 
 7- Comment upon the following passages : 
 
 (a) "Listen, friend" said Monte Cristo [to the telegraph- 
 
 keeper], " I do not wish to cause you any remorse." 
 (Chapter 6i.) 
 
 (b) '•■ In less than one week from this time I will ascertain who 
 this M. de Monte Cristo is." [Show how this was 'ascer- 
 tained.'] 
 
 (c) "What a singular being you are ! You will not interfere in 
 anything." — " You are right — that is the principle on which 
 I wish to act." (Chapter 78.) 
 
 (d) "To spare thee at this moment is still serving Him." 
 (Chapter 82.) 
 
 (e) "It will be a splendid session." (Chapter 99.) 
 
 8. Show how Monte Cristo's sense of his mission as an Earthly 
 Providence begins to give way. 
 
 V 
 Read the Tempest again in the light of Syllabus, second section. 
 
 1. Show how Prospero in the Tempest occupies the position of a 
 ' Personal Providence ;' noticing particularly (i) how he comes to 
 take up this position, (2) how he lays it down. 
 
 2. Connect with the story, considered as a study of Providence, 
 Caliban, Antonio, Ferdinand, Gonzalo. 
 
 3. Comment upon the speech of Ariel (3.3. S3-82), examining how 
 it is fitted to be a climax of nemesis. 
 
 4. Note the points in which Shakespeare's conception of an Earthly 
 Providence appears to you to differ from that of Dumas. 
 
Other Syllabi by Prof. Moulton may be had from the 
 General Secretary, 1602 Chestnut Street, according to the follow- 
 ing list: 
 
 A. Four Studies in Shakespeare. 
 
 B. Shakespeare's Tempest, with Companion Studies. 
 
 C. The Story of Faust. 
 
 D. Stories as a Mocle of Thinking. 
 
 E. Studies in Milton's Paradise Lost. 
 
 F. Euj-ipides for English Audiences. 
 
 Price — 10 cents each. The six bound in cloth, 90 cents. 
 
UNIVERSITY EXTENSION LECTURES 
 
 UNDER THE AUSPICES OF 
 
 THE AMERICAN SOCIETY 
 
 FOR THE 
 
 EXTENSION OF UNIVERSITY TEACHING 
 
 THE STORY OF FAUST 
 
 BY 
 
 Richard G. Moulton, A. M. 
 
 of Cambridg^e University, England 
 
 1 The Old Version by Marlowe 
 2-5 The New Version by Goethe 
 
 2 Faust on Easter Eve; or, the Temptation Internal 
 
 3 Faust and Mephistopheles; or, the Tempter and Tempted Face to 
 Face 
 
 ' 4 Faust and Margaret; or, the Temptation Assisted by Miracle 
 5 The Difficulties of the Story 
 6 The Use of Magic in Literary Art 
 
 No. 6 
 
BOOKS 
 
 The lectures will not refer to the original German, but will 
 treat as an English poem the Faust of Anster (published in one 
 volume with Marlowe's, by Routledge, price 40 cents), which is 
 not so much a translation as an ' interpretation.' That is, the 
 sense is determined by the relation of details to the whole, and 
 not by the mere transcription of details from one language to 
 another. Of course to a large extent other versions (like the 
 famous one of Bayard Taylor in the original metres) can be used 
 in following the lectures. 
 
 EXERCISES 
 
 Exercises on each week's lecture will be found below. 
 Answers in writing [to not more than two questions each week] 
 are invited from all persons attending the'lectures. They should 
 be addressed to Mr. Moulton, Colonnade Hotel, Philadel- 
 phia, and should arrive a clear forty-eight hours before the 
 following lecture. Some signature, together with the name of the 
 lecture-centre at which the exercise is to be returned, should be 
 given at the top of the first page. The exercises will be returned, 
 with marginal comments, at the Class, at which further explana- 
 tion of the general subject will be given. All persons attending 
 the lectures are invited to this Class, whether they have sent in 
 exercises to the lecturer or not. 
 
 Copyright 1891 by 
 The American Society for the Extension of University Teaching 
 
THE STORY OF FAUST 
 
 OR 
 
 Buying the World at the Price of the Soul 
 
 The story of Faust is an Acted Sermon on the text, " What shall 
 it profit a man if he gain the whole world and lose his own soul." The 
 natural heads for such a sermon are two : 
 
 1. What is it to gain the whole world ? 
 
 2. What is it to lose the soul ? 
 
 But to act the answers to these questions is very different from 
 putting them from a pulpit in words. There are two famous versions 
 of this story : 
 
 The Old Version : by Marlowe (before 1597), at the com- 
 mencement of the Romantic Drama. 
 
 The New Version : by Goethe (1806), at the culmination of 
 the Romantic epoch. [Unquestionably prompted by close study of 
 Marlowe's version, which it adapts at every turn to the new intel- 
 lectual conditions of Goethe's age.] 
 
 1. As to the first head both versions agree. Gaining the whole 
 world is dramatized under the form of Magic, that is, the suspension 
 of second causes allowing unlimited realization of Will. 
 
 2. The answers to the second head are as widely apart as the 
 sixeenth and nineteenth centuries. 
 
 Marlowe's Version 
 
 In dramatic form, the Romantic Drama is seen in the process of settUng down — 
 traces of Greek Chorus, Old English Masque and Miracle, Extempore relief scenes. 
 
 The play treated as a story falls naturally into three divisions : 
 
 A. The formation of a compact with an Emissary from Hell: 
 twenty-four years of " the World " in exchange for the soul. [Avoid 
 confusion between Mephistop^?7/j and Mephistop^^/«.] 
 
B. The twenty-four years of " the World." Mediaeval concep- 
 tion of magic : unlimited pleasure, unlimited knowledge, magic tricks 
 as relief scenes. 
 
 C. The price of the Soul paid at the conclusion of the term of 
 years ; last hour on earth of a doomed soul. A masterpiece of drama- 
 tic realisation ; especially note the device of "dramatic back-ground" 
 (borrowed from Jbi xxxvi-xxxviii) ; gradual rise through the final 
 hour of the tempest which is to break at the moment of doom. 
 
 Marlowe's answer to the second head is to show a Soul in the 
 process of being lost in this world (to say nothing of the next) by the 
 paralysis of will produced by repeated acts of self-surrender. Espe- 
 cially notice ; apparent external restraints on Faust at the end are in 
 reality no more than natural consequences of self-inflicted emotional 
 shocks — thus Marlowe with great skill has reconciled demoniac agency 
 with free will. 
 
 GOETHE'S VERSION 
 
 In form; the Romantic Drama is represented at its culmination. Romantic tendencies 
 are in literai-y art the counterpart of liberty in political life : toleration of all innovations 
 that can justify their existence. Goethe a great champion of the romantic : his theory 
 dramatized in the ' Prologue for the Theatre.' 
 
 Goethe's play falls into four natural divisions. (What is known 
 as the " Second Patrt " of Faust is an entirely separate poem ; and the 
 Student's Scene and Walpurgis Night's Dream are here omitted as 
 digressions.) 
 
 Prologue in Heaven 
 
 This lays down the conditions of the whole story in the form of 
 an encounter between God and Mephistopheles, ending in a " wager." 
 The conception of such a scene, at first sight shocking, becomes much 
 more tolerable when it is seen to be closely modeled \y^<ynJob (chapters i, 
 ii), with the addition of the flippany which distinguishes a great deal 
 of modern unbelief from the unbelief of Job's age. 
 
 Scene — The "Sons of God" presenting themselves at the gate of 
 Heaven (their hymn is inspired hy Job i. 5 and xxxviii. 7). Mephis- 
 topheles appears as the official who inspects earthly saints ; doubt (an 
 essential for an inspector) has with him crystallized into the spirit of 
 unlimited depreciation. He presses his doubts of mankind in general, 
 until Faust is taken as a test case, and Mephistopheles declares that if 
 he had the tempting of him he would soon bring Faust to " eat dust 
 with a relish." Mephistopheles is bidden to undertake the office, 
 God declaring that Faust will never be satisfied with sin. 
 
s 
 
 Faust on Easter Eve ; or, the Temptation Internal 
 
 In this section, Mephistopheles nowhere appears ; the whole scene 
 resolves itself into a conflict between Circumstances (manipulated into 
 temptations by the secret agency of Mephistopheles) and the healing 
 effect of Nature and the play of ordinary life. 
 
 At the opening : Faust is seen at the summit of human excellence 
 apart from faith. 
 
 Under Faust, Goethe presents Scepticism [that is, weariness of the receptive 
 energies] at its highest — universal culture — ^human sympathies — amoral greatness and 
 goodness to his fellowmen — even to Revelation he has no hostile attitude — ^i:>assionate 
 devotion to Nature ; a Pantheist with theistic instincts implanted by early training. On 
 the other hand, the character assumed by Mephistopheles is scepticism in its lowest 
 form ; the hardened worldling's cynical depreciation of everything, the spirit just cal- 
 culated to chill Faust's aspirations. 
 
 Faust (in his richly furnished Study at midnight) led to medi- 
 tate with dissatisfaction upon the vanity of all things. 
 
 A ray of moonlight through the stained window turns his 
 thoughts to the pure enjoyments of nature. 
 
 Mephistopheles sways Faust's thoughts back to the contrast 
 between such out-door Nature and Faust's weary student life — a 
 sudden sight of a magic book suggests a (forbidden) path to knowl- 
 edge without the tedium of study — ^he opens the book. [First 
 yielding.) 
 
 Bnt it is at the " Sign of Macrocosm," and Faust's contem- 
 plation rises to pure science. 
 
 Mephistopheles suggests the drawback to all science, that it 
 stops short at second causes. Faust impatiently turns to the " Sign 
 of Microcosm." [Second yielding.) The Spirit rises at the invoca- 
 tion. 
 
 But the accidents of conversation draw from the Spirit (as it 
 disappears) a cry that Faust is above him. Faust is on the verge of 
 the truth that he is a mate only for the Divine, when — 
 
 Mephistopheles contrives a diversion, the entrance of W^ner. 
 The irritation of Faust at the interruption takes the form of Mephisto- 
 phelean depreciation of all things. When alone, Faust passes to 
 despair. A m^c flash shows a poison flask and new temptation. 
 
 But here the first glimpse of dawn interposes delay. Faust 
 will wait to see the sun once more. 
 
 All preparations made for enthusiastic suicide [which is equiva- 
 lent to eating dust with a relish : compare medieval idea of suicide 
 as the lowest of sins] at sunrise. 
 
 But the same sunrise is the signal for the Minster Choir to 
 strike up the Easter Hymn. Faust carried back to his 'boyish days 
 of faith. 
 
 Thus, at the end the temptation is wholly foiled. 
 
6 
 
 Faust Versus Mephistopheles ; or, the Tempter and Tempted Face 
 
 to Face 
 
 It is now necessary for the Tempter to become incarnate if he is 
 to secure his victim. Two (relief) scenes are devoted to the process — 
 the walk with Wagner, and Mephistopheles revealed as a dog (com- 
 panionship) — Faust's study, the dog turned by magic spells into 
 human shape (intercourse). 
 
 Note. — In assuming his role of visible " Devil," Mephistopheles cynically adapts 
 himself to the law supposed to regulate demonaic apparitions. 
 
 The first introduction of the combatants to one another gives oppor- 
 tunity for the discussion of the personality of Mephistopheles. Note 
 how his words play upon his double personality : (i) That which he is 
 
 fthe Spirit of Denial] ; (2) The role he has assumed in Faust's case 
 that of " Devil," or actual tempter to evil]. 
 
 There are four theories of the personality of Mephistopheles, all partially true, but 
 insufficient to explain all the details of the play : I . That he claims to be , the devil. 
 [But this is part of his role.] 2. That he is an emissary of the Devil. [This is from 
 confusion with Marlowe's version.] 3. That he is the Devil modernized. [But he 
 dissociates himself from all " devil's " work — calls Satan " cousin." A different 
 "fiend" is used to whisper Margaret.] 4. That he is only a "personification" of 
 tendencies to evil. [But in the prologue he is made as real as God. In the action of 
 the play he works a miracle.] The solution is the double personality, as stated above. 
 
 Mephistopheles' plan of temptation double : (i) To secure by 
 compact constant companionship with Faust ; (2) By such companion- 
 ship to debase him from reason to sensuality. 
 
 The actual contest begins with Mephistopheles' proposal to with- 
 draw. The incident of the Pentagram deftly utilized by the tempter 
 to evade one of his greatest difficulties by making the first mention of 
 the compact come from Faust himself. {First stepJ) Magic vision 
 by attendant spirits introduces sense pleasures in a glorified form. 
 Faust's confidence in reason shaken by the magic. {Second step!) 
 
 Mephistopheles changes from scholar to gay man of fashion, and 
 tempts Faust to come and see life. Discussion of life's "illusions." 
 Song by Attendant Spirits suggests in a glorified form a new life of 
 selfishness. Faust is so far moved {third step) as to inquire the price 
 of Mephistopheles' assistance. Mephistopheles' compact not accepted. 
 Faust proposes another, which is accepted. {Fourth step.) In dis- 
 cussing the signature to the compact, Faust announces his surrender 
 of Reason for Passion. {Fifth step.) But Passion is found to mean, 
 with Faust, universal sympathy. Fresh attack of cynical depreciation 
 to debase Faust further. At last he so far yields as to challenge the 
 Tempter to do his worst in tempting. Thus {final step) Journey ot 
 Faust and Mephistopheles over the " the whole world." Especially 
 
scene in Auerbach's cellar. The Gospel of Enjoyment in its simplest 
 form. Faust being unmoved, the Tempter catches the idea that he has 
 lost all traces of youth. This suggests the final stage of the action. 
 
 Faust and Margaret ; or, the Temptation assisted by Miracle 
 
 The Scene of the WitcK s Kitchen. — Mephistopheles v/orking the 
 miracle of restoring Faust's youth. [Utilized as a relief scene. Note 
 witchcraft as a caricature of religious ritual.] 
 
 New Plan of Temptation. — Faust has now become a youth 
 without ceasing to be an old man. Thus, all the temptations special 
 to youth and age concentrated on a single individual. To his youth- 
 ful side, Margaret is made the temptation ; to his other side, the 
 heightened communion with nature summed up in the Wilderness 
 Episode. The Tempter relies on distracting Faust between the two 
 natures, such distraction favoring sudden acts of yielding from which 
 there is no retreat. [See soliloquy preceding student's scene.] 
 
 Margaret Scenes. — First Set. — The Cathedral. Encounter and 
 repulse. Magic vision of Margaret's home, and unexpected reaction 
 to home feelings. Margaret herself set thinking by the encounter. 
 Direct bait of the casket. Mixed feelings of the dual Mephisto- 
 pheles at his Devil's casket getting into the coffers of the church. New 
 casket, and scene with Neighbor Martha. Faust forced into his first 
 lie. Crisis scene : Margaret's garden (mixture of tones), with Faust's 
 critical "pause." 
 
 The Wilderness Episode. — Faust's communion with nature higher 
 than ever. With the return of Mephistopheles the "distraction" 
 recommences, and Faust suddenly surrenders. 
 
 Margaret Scenes. — Second Set. — Margaret forsaken. Reunion 
 and solemn appeal. The sleeping potion and Mephistopheles' 
 "amusements." Margaret before the shrine of the Mater Dolorosa 
 under horror of unintentional matricide. The duel, and fresh load of 
 of unintended murder. The cathedral changed to a place of fiendish 
 torture. 
 
 Climax of the Whole Poem in Walpurgis Night. — Ascent of the 
 mountain : one after another the various forms of magic awake. Riot 
 of magic at midnight. Among other forms of the supernatural, clair- 
 voyance has power on this night : Faust sees a vision of Margaret in 
 her last trouble. 
 
 Scene Changes to the Finale. — Wild ride over the plain. The 
 "Devil " forced by his own compact to bear a part in a work of saving. 
 
8 
 
 Prison Scene : The body of Margaret present, but her mind gone. 
 The sight of Mephistopheles (come to hurry Faust away before the 
 jailor finds him) brings back, by its shock, the sanity of Margaret. 
 She appeals to Heaven, and is answered by Death. 
 
 Conclusion. — The original problem grandly evaded : the Story is 
 unfinished, but the last we see of Faust is that he forgets all about 
 saving himself in his wild effort to save Margaret. 
 
 THE USE OF MAGIC IN LITERARY ART 
 I. Various sources of Magic as an element in, Imagination. 
 
 Scientific. 
 
 a. To a large extent Magic was a shadow cast on the Imagination by MediEEval 
 
 Natviral Science. Connect Magic ' signs ' and 'symbols ' with the first dim con- 
 cepdon of scientific laws ; a whole body of phenomena comprehended in a sim- 
 ple formula — a mathematician's figme as representing a whole process of reason- 
 ing illustrates the notion. — So the idea of ' spells,' and the use of magic signs may 
 be a shadow of the grand scientific principle of governing Nature by the dis- 
 covery of its laws : e.g. Solomon's ' key ' [here the notion of military passwords 
 and countersigns has probably lent its assistance]. — The connection of Alchemy 
 with Chemistiy and witches' potions with Medicine (and especially Herbology) 
 is obvious — also connect utensils of Magic with scientific apparatus. 
 
 b. As Mediaeval thought covers the period of transition between a Philosophy of 
 
 universal divine agency and a Science taking the form of a network of caitses, 
 Mediaeval Magic not unnaturally believes in a network of agencies : spiritual 
 beings forming a hierarchy whose orders correspond to the great divisions in 
 natural phenomena — especially the Elemental Spirits corresponding to the 
 ' four elements ' of Nature. [^Fazist : 130.9 and l37.7-;-l38.I5.] 
 
 Religious. 
 
 a. To popular ignorance the victory of Christianity over Paganism was only partial : 
 
 the Pagan Deities were conquered but not annihilated — henceforwai-d they were 
 turned into Demons — hence a connection possible between magic phenomena 
 and demoniac agency — Whence the power of the Cross and simileu" symbols over 
 m^ic Spirits, their use of Hell-fire, &c. 
 
 b. To this source is traceable a special phase of Magic : Witchcraft, the acquirement 
 
 of supernatural power by direct traffic with the Evil one. 
 
 c. Again : many magical notions seem to be a shadow of theological mysteries [the 
 
 Witch's incantation in Faiist is suggestive : 203.3, compare 203.23-204.9. — 
 Similarly religious ritual suggests magic rites [the charmed circle in the same 
 scene, &c.] — possibly the idea of the Incarnation is a foundation for the idea of 
 magic Spirits taking bodily shape at will. 
 
 Art Sources. 
 
 a. The fascination of Mystery a constant Art interest. 
 
 b. Magic affords scope for unrestricted Im^nation : ' castles in the air,' sense grati- 
 
 fications \_Fatist : the Auerbach Scene] beyond the limits of natural possibilities. 
 
C. Personification of the inanimate, as a permanent poetic interest, carried by Magic 
 on into reality. [Especially: Faust: the Walpurgis-Night Scene.] 
 
 Sources in ordinary Experience. 
 
 a. The phenomena of dreams, delirimn, madness. 
 
 b. Optical delusions — especially such as the Spectre of the Brocken. 
 
 c. Supernatmal Apparitions — ^The ' brain-wave ' phenomena — and especially : Clair- 
 
 voyance (l) of the distant, (2) of the future. [Note : it is not necessary to assume 
 the reality of these phenomena : the existence of stories of the kind is sufficient.] 
 
 Besides these distinct sources of Magic as a mode of imagination 
 there are two other supports : 
 
 a. Literary tradition. Whole Mythologies and Folk-lores may be naturalized in the 
 
 literature of other peoples — old Religions, passing out of the region of belief, 
 are retained in Art. 
 
 b. There are continually appearing points of attachment between details of Magic 
 
 and rational ideas [e.g. Faust's mantle and the tradition of ballooning : 177.3, ^] 
 : moral laws [the pentagram and ' first choice binding ' : Fattst 143.8-144.5]. 
 
 . Special utilization of Magic in Faust. 
 
 a. As a form in which to clothe demoniac agency on earth. 
 
 b. As a means of harmonizing Faust's temptation with the original temptation of 
 
 mankind : the grasping at knowle<^e by unholy means. 
 
 c. As a means of exercising illusion and bewilderment upon Faust — and so shaking 
 
 the foundations of his reason and knowledge, described by Mephistopheles as 
 man's best powers (165.7). 
 
 EXERCISES 
 I 
 
 1. Describe the character of Mephistophilis as conceived by Marlowe. 
 
 2. Bring out the leading points in the final scene oi Faustus. 
 
 3. Would you say that Faustus's will does or does not cease to be free 
 
 after he has signed the compact with the tempter ? 
 
 II 
 
 1. Show how the "Prologue in Heaven" is founded on the Book 
 
 of Job. 
 
 2. Do you consider Goethe's Faust an Atheist ? Compare him with 
 
 Wagner, and with Marlowe's Faustus. 
 
 3. What are the influences for Good or for Evil on Faust through- 
 
 out the Easter Eve scene ? 
 
lO 
 
 III 
 
 1. Is Mephistopheles the Devil? If not, show what he is, supporting 
 
 your view with quotations from the poem. 
 
 2. Point out passages in which Mephistopheles appears to find fun in 
 
 the work he is undertaking. 
 
 3. Trace the plan of Mephistopheles' temptation up to the commence- 
 
 ment of the Journey. How far do you consider he succeeds ? 
 
 IV 
 
 1. How do you like the ending of the play? How stands the wager 
 
 made in the prologue ? 
 
 2. Sketch an original " Epilogue in Heaven," to bring out your view 
 
 of the working out of the story. 
 
 3. Give some account of the following scenes : The first Garden 
 
 Scene — Faust in the Wilderness. 
 
 V 
 
 1. Comment on the following passages : 
 
 (a) Of the Spirits of Denial, etc. (page 87.) 
 
 (b) But ye pure Sons of God (page 88 : eight lines). 
 
 (c) Man, thou art as the Spirit which thou conceived (page 98). 
 
 (d) Page 141-2 : Mephistopheles on himself. 
 
 (e) Page 168, line 25, to page 169, line 20 : Mephistopheles on Logic. 
 
 2. Describe the magic used in one or more scenes of the Story. 
 
Other Syllabi by Prof. Moulton may be had from the 
 General Secretary, 1602 Chestnut .Street, according to the follow- 
 ing list: 
 
 A. Four Studies in Shakespeare. 
 
 B. Shakespeare's Tempest, with Companion Studies. 
 
 C. The Story of Faust. 
 
 D. Stories as a Mode of Thinking. 
 
 E. Studies in Milton's Paradise Lost. 
 
 F. Euripides for English Audiences. 
 
 Price — 10 cents each. The six bound in cloth, 90 cents. 
 
UNIVERSITY EXTENSION LECTURES 
 
 UNDER THE AUSPICES OF 
 
 THE AMERICAN SOCIETY 
 
 FOR THE 
 
 EXTENSION OF UNIVERSITY TEACHING 
 
 STORIES 
 
 AS 
 
 A MODE OF THINKING 
 
 Richard G. Moulton, A. M. 
 
 of Cambridge University, England 
 
 1 Marlowe's Faustus: Thinking about the loss of the soul 
 
 2 Shakespeare's Macbeth : Thinking on Witchcraft 
 
 3 Southey'sKehama: Thinking on Destiny 
 
 4 Scott's Monastery : Speculation upon Supernatural Beings 
 
 5 Spenser's Legend of Guyon : Thinking upon Temperance 
 
 6 Spenser's Cave of Mammon : Thinking upon Worldliness 
 
 No. 9 
 
BOOKS 
 
 For Marlowe's Faustus : Vol. 3 of Morley's Universal 
 Library (Routledge : 40 cents). 
 
 For Macbeth : any edition e. g. Globe edition of Shakespeare 
 (Macmillan I1.25). 
 
 For Southey's Kehama : any edition of Southey containing 
 the poem. [A cheap edition of Kehama by Cassell : price, 15 
 cents cloth, or 10 cents paper covers]. 
 
 For Scott's Monastery : any edition. 
 
 For Spenser : with correct old spelling, Globe edition (Mac- 
 millan, $1.25) — cheap editions with modern spelling to be had. 
 
 EXERCISES 
 
 Exercises on each week's lecture will be found below. 
 Answers in writing [to not more than two questions each week] 
 are invited from all persons attending the lectures. They should 
 be addressed to Mr. Moulton, Colonnade Hotel, Philadel- 
 phia, and should arrive a clear forty-eight hours before the 
 following lecture. Some signature, together with the najne of the 
 lecture-centre at which the exercise is to be returned, should be 
 given at the top of the first page. The exercises will be returned, 
 with marginal comments, at the Class, at which further explana- 
 tion of the general subject will be given. All persons attending 
 the lectures are invited to this Class, whether they have sent in 
 exercises to the lecturer or not. 
 
 Copyright i8gi by 
 The American Society for the Extension of University Teaching 
 
STORIES AS A MODE OF THINKING 
 
 Story has been in all ages an important department, in some ages 
 (primitive, mediaeval, our own) the' leading department, of literature. 
 It has the further importance of being common to two of the great 
 divisions of poetry. Epic and Drama. 
 
 Upon analysis the interest of Story divides into two. 
 
 1. Story as an art in itself: especially Plot, the application of artistic handling to the 
 
 sequence of events. 
 
 2. Story as a mode of thinking : the personages and action may be found to be 
 
 concrete embodiments of ideas and speculations. 
 
 The present course brings forward six studies of famous Stories. 
 In each case hints will be given to Students for the general treatment 
 of the work in his private study ; but the work of lecture and class 
 will be mainly occupied with illustrating the second kind of interest — 
 the way the story seems to embody thought on important topics. 
 
THE STORY OF FAUST 
 
 OR 
 
 Buying the World at the Price of the Soul 
 
 The story of Faust is an Acted Sermon on the text, " What shall 
 it profit a man if he gain the whole world and lose his own soul." The 
 natural heads for such a sermon are two : 
 
 1. What is it to gain the whole world ? 
 
 2. What is it to lose the soul ? 
 
 But to act the answers to these questions is very different from 
 putting them from a pulpit in words. There are two famous versions 
 of this story : 
 
 The Old Version: by Marlowe (before 1597), at the com- 
 mencement of the Romantic Drama. 
 
 The New Version : by Goethe (1806), at the culmination of 
 the Romantic epoch. [Unquestionably prompted by close study of 
 Marlowe's version, which it adapts at every turn to the new intel- 
 lectual conditions of Goethe's age.] 
 
 1. As to the first head both versions agree. Gaining the whole 
 world is dramatized under the form of Magic, that is, the suspension 
 of second causes allowing unlimited realization of Will. 
 
 2. The answers to the second head are as widely apart as the 
 sixeenth and nineteenth centuries. 
 
 Marlowe's Version 
 
 In dramatic form, the Romantic Drama is seen in the process of settling down — 
 traces of Greek Chorus, Old English Masque and Miracle, Extempore relief scenes. 
 
 The play treated as a story falls naturally into three divisions : 
 
 A. The formation of a compact with an Emissary from Hell : 
 twenty-four years of " the World " in exchange for the soul. [Avoid 
 confusion between Mephistop;^//^ and Mephistop^(?/M.] 
 
B. Tlie twenty-four years of " the World." Mediaeval concep- 
 tion of magic : unlimited pleasure, unlimited knowledge, magic tricks 
 as relief scenes. 
 
 C. The price of the Soul paid at the conclusion of the term of 
 years ; last hour on earth of a doomed soul. A masterpiece of drama- 
 tic realisation ; especially note the device of "dramatic back-ground" 
 (borrowed from Jbd xxxvi-xxxviii) ; gradual rise through the final 
 hour of the tempest which is to break at the moment of doom. 
 
 Marlowe's answer to the second head is to show a Soul in the 
 process of being lost in this world (to say nothing of the next) by the 
 paralysis of will produced by repeated acts of self-surrender. Espe- 
 cially notice ; apparent external restraints on Faust at the end are in 
 reality no more than natural consequences of self-inflicted emotional 
 shocks — thus Marlowe with great skill has reconciled demoniac agency 
 with free will. 
 
 Note such passages as page 34, line 21 ; pj^e 37,* line 3 ; page 63, line 13 ; 
 page 66, lines 21-4; page 68, lines 13, l6, 17. Here Faustus supposes himself 
 to be physically attacked by invisible demons. But it is more in accordance 
 with the general drift of the play to understand these as hysterical convulsions, 
 the natural result of oft-repeated emotional transition from the height of hope to 
 the depth of despair. 
 
 [Goethe's Version 
 
 is not included in the present course, but will be a good companion 
 study. Briefly its thinking on the second head may be summed up 
 thus : The issue is changed at the last moment by a bold evasion of 
 the poet, Faust's acts suggesting, not being saved, but saving others.] 
 
 * The top line of page 37 is in other texts given to the Good Angel, not to Fauitus : and this 
 makes the better reading. 
 
II 
 
 To some it might appear that Witchcraft was not a subject worth 
 thinking about seriously. But the Witchcraft itself is the temporary- 
 form given by certain ages to what is a permanent interest — the con- 
 ception of a Supernatural World [other than the Supreme Being] cap- 
 able of affecting (i) the conduct of those who believe in it, (2) or 
 perhaps the actual course of events. It will be interesting to see how 
 such a topic is embodied in a dramatic story of Shakespeare. 
 
 THE SUPERNATURAL ELEMENT IN MACBETH. 
 
 Shakespeare introduces into his dramas supernatural agents and 
 phenomena of a kind not usually recognized at the present day : such 
 as Ghosts and Witchcraft, &c. 
 
 The chief plays are Macbeth, Hamlet, Richard III, Julius Casar. — The two 
 plays, The Tempest and Midsummer Night's Dream, stand in a different class, 
 as they are wholly divorced from reality. 
 
 The question arises, How is this supernatural element to be regarded 
 by the student of Shakespeare, in accordance with sound principles of 
 
 analysis ? 
 
 1. Beware of the temptation to explain away the supernatural char- 
 acter of such portions of Shakespeare's plays out of zeal for the poet's 
 ' rationality ' — there may be scenes in which an apparition may be 
 resolved into an hallucination (e.g. Macbeth 3.4, where no one sees 
 the ghost except Macbeth) — but there are cases in which the appari- 
 tions are unquestionably objective and supernatural (e.g. Witches in 
 Macbeth, Ghost in first act of Hamlet') — and a single example is suffi- 
 cient to establish the assumption by Shakespeare of such supernatural 
 phenomena for his dramatic world. 
 
 2. Shakespeare seems to assume for any story he presents whatever 
 was believed in by the age to which the story belongs — but the poet 
 is himself responsible for the interpretation underlying the story, in 
 this case for the use made of the supernatural agency — thus the true 
 ' rationalisation ' enquires how the operation of the supernatural 
 element in a play harmonises with reason and morals. 
 
 (i) The Beings of Evil have no power over man except by his own 
 consent. ' Compare instruments of darkness ' (1.3. 124). 
 
 Macbeth has long harboured treacherous designs on the crown [1.7.47-59 : 
 this must refer to a date anterior to the opening of the play] — connect with this 
 his start and Banquo's surprise (1.3.5 1). 
 
In the second interposition of the Witches he forces them to speak [3.4.132-6; 
 4.1.50-61, 103-S]. 
 
 This is further brought out by placing alongside of Macbeth the uncorrupted 
 Banquo, subjected to the same temptation. [Compare 1.3; 2.1.1-30; 3.1.1-72]. 
 
 (2) Similarly, what the Witches reveal as Destiny confirms or assists, 
 not alters, the natural working of events. 
 
 E.g. Macbeth's succession to the crown depends upon a train of liatural 
 events of which the most important is the flight qf Duncan's sons (2.4.21-32). 
 Macduff is the natural leader of an insurrection against Macbeth [compare 
 2.3.56 &c. ; 3.4.128; 4.1.74] — and as the most deeply wronged is bound to 
 be the slayer of the tyrant [5. 7. 15: and compare 4. 3. 111-4 with 4. 3. 
 201-40]. Banquo was a natural rival of Macbeth (3.1. 50-7). 
 
 3. The main fimction of the supernatural element in a play is to 
 add dramatic force to the working of events. By the interposition of 
 the Witches the 'working of events' takes the form of a ' destiny ' 
 which appears 
 
 (i) irresistible : 
 
 Throughout, obstacles thrown in the way of the ' destiny ' become the 
 means by which it is worked out. E.g. proclamation of Malcolm as heir 
 apparent [i. 4. 38-42 : compare I. 4. 48-53 with £. 3. 143-7] — ^flight of 
 Duncan's sons [compare 2. 3. 141 with 2. 4. 24-32] — oracle about Dunsin- 
 ane castle leads Macbeth to shut himself in that castle, without which 5. 4 
 would not have taken place. 
 
 (2) dark and unintelligible, till explained by fulfilment : 
 
 Of the two oracles pronounced by the Witches in i. 3. one is clear, the 
 other mysterious — mystery drags on Macbeth (3. I. 57-72) to a deed which 
 at once explains and fulfils it. [Compare 3. I. 134; 3. 4. 20-31; 4. I. 
 100-124.] 
 
 (3) flavoured with personal mockery. 
 
 The supernatural aids up to a certain point and then deserts : seeking 
 unholy support finds a nemesis in losing it where most wanted. Effect of the 
 Witches vanishing [l. 3. 78, and compare 4. 1. 133]- 
 
 The " honest trifles " principle (l. 3. 122): prying into forbidden knowl- 
 edge finds a fitting nemesis in obtaining only half truths. 
 
 The gods punish men by granting their prayers. [Macbeth's Vision of 
 King's in 4. i. ; especially note 103. — Compare in 3. 4 apparition of Banquo 
 in response to invitations.] 
 
 To sum up : Macbeth was the actor in the scene of his destiny : did 
 the Witches do more than turn the (coloured) footlights on it ? 
 
Suggestions for Further Study, 
 
 Students who have followed out the matter of this Syllabus will have 
 had suggested to them in the course of it various lines of study, some 
 of which they may care to work out for themselves. 
 
 1. Character-Development is an obvious interest that maybe traced through a 
 large number of works of drama or fiction. 
 
 2. The Antithesis of the Practical and Inner Life may be worked out in many 
 characters and stories : it is specially apphcable to Shakespeare's plays of Hamlet 
 SS1& Julius Caesar. 
 
 3. The treatment of supernatural beings and phenomena in plays and novels. A 
 list of Shakespeare's plays that deal with these is given above. 
 
 4. Subject for Essay. Did Shakespeare believe in Ghosts ? 
 
9 
 
 III 
 
 Thinking on the subject of Witchcraft leads readily to thinking 
 on the wider subject of Destiny, which Witches are supposed to reveal. 
 In Shakespeare's play this has been treated with a mixture of Western 
 and Greek ideas. But Destiny is even more prominent in the think- 
 ing of Oriental peoples ; and Southey has worked up ideas of Hindoo 
 religion into a brilliant picture. 
 
 SOUTHEY'S CURSE OF KEHAMA 
 
 Southey's Kehama is an Epic poem cast in the medium of Hindoo 
 mythology, just as the Iliad is an Epic of Greek mythology, or the 
 Paradise Lost an Epic of Scripture Story. — Many different kinds of 
 literary interest unite in it. 
 
 1. Southey is remarkable for "poetic" power in the strictest 
 sense of the term, that is, power of " creating," or maintaining 
 realisability in the region of pure imagination. In this respect Milton 
 and Southey form a class by themselves. 
 
 As illustradoiis take the conception of Mount Calasay [xix) — or the Palace of 
 the Elements (vii. lo). 
 
 With this associate the more general " pictorial power." 
 
 Examples of word-painting are the Funeral (i) — the Glendoveer (vii. 3-8) — 
 the Home Retreat (xiii) — the Festival of Jaga-Naut (xiv) — the Submerged City 
 (xv. lo-xvi. 11) — ^The Regions beyond this World (xx-xxiii). 
 
 2. The Human Interest of the poem is the mutual devotion of 
 Father and Daughter, becoming involved in a World-Struggle of Good 
 and Evil, in which the intervention of Omnipotence is delayed to the 
 last possible moment. 
 
 3. In Plot, Kehama is a master-piece (of the simpler species, of 
 plot) : its form consists in the gradual drawing together of all the trains 
 of interest to a single issue, the movement reversing with a surprise 
 close to the end. 
 
 4. In the department of Metrical form, Southey belongs to a 
 group of poets (Scott, Shelley, Byron) who apply Lyric rhythm to 
 Narrative — Southey is distinguished by the elasticity and free play of 
 his rhythm. 
 
 Among his feats of rhythm note the Curse (ii. 14) — Moonlight (v. 13) — 
 Sapphic metre (x. i) — especially, Fount of the Ganges (x. 3-4). 
 
 5. But the most distinctive characteristic of the poem is one 
 which is more strictly " mythological," viz., that the personages and 
 
10 
 
 action are concrete embodiments of metaphysical ideas. [All 
 mythology includes this; but in Greek myths interests of art (story and 
 plastic) predominate, in Hindoo myths thought is supreme.] 
 
 This may be seen in individual conceptions : 
 
 Kehama : Prayer and Sacrifice as spiritaal/orces (compare Matthew xi. 12) — 
 but in Hindoo thought independent of the worshipper's motive: 'drafts on 
 Heaven ' to be honoured at sight. 
 
 The Amreeta-Cup (xviii and xxiv, especially xxiv. 17-21) — compare 
 Genesis iii. 22. 
 
 Witchcraft as Anti-Nature : Lorrinite (xi). 
 
 Casyapa (vi) : Wisdom divorced from Power. 
 
 Yamen (especially xxiii. 13) : compare Conscience. 
 
 The Curse (ii. 14) a speculation on the limitations of humanity. 
 
 but more particularly, the action of the poem is continually found to 
 embody meditations on 
 
 Destiny 
 Distinguish : 
 
 Destiny proper : the stream of events apprehended as mere Force. 
 
 Providence : the stream of events apprehended as complete Design. 
 
 Intermediate between these : a Destiny which is Force variegated 
 with flashes of Design. 
 The last is the picturesque conception of Destiny most suitable for 
 Epic poetry. 
 
 To note some of the thought-flashes on Destiny embodied in the action of 
 the poem — ^mostly of the nature of Nemesis (the rebound of events) or Irony 
 (mockery as a measure of irresistibility). — Such is the motto of the poem: 
 " Cm-ses are like young chickens, they always come home to roost." [Rescue 
 of Kailyal from the river (iii) — Sacrifice of the Horse (viii) — Rescue in the 
 Shrine of Jaga-Naut (xiv. 8-15) — Contest (xvi) with the Monster of the Deep.] 
 
 Forcing the secrets of Fate secures only Half-Truths : compare Macbeth 
 I. 3. 122. [The main crisis : xxiv.] 
 
 The Sinner winning his way only to find it destruction. [Incident of 
 Mariataly's Image : ii. 9-10.] 
 
 The Sinner punished in that wherein he offends. [Arvalan's body in the 
 flames: xiv. 12-14.] 
 
 Destiny assisting up to the point of guilt, stopping short of the prize. 
 [Lorrinite and Arvalan ; xi. 14.] 
 
 The single grain of Good in the mass of Evil availing to avert Destruction. 
 Compare Genesis xviii. 23—33. [Baly : xv. 4-6.] 
 
 Footnote. — The References are to the cantos and stanzas in each 
 canto. The latter are not numbered in all editions, but the cantos are 
 so short that no great difficulty will be found in referring. 
 
1 1 
 
 IV 
 
 Previous Studies have abundantly illustrated how thoughts and 
 speculations can be embodied in concrete personages and stories. 
 Western Romance and Hindoo Mythology have been drawn upon. 
 Quite a different region of speculation (chiefly of Arabic origin, but 
 naturalized in Europe during the age of Romance) is embodied in 
 Elemental Beings, of which a very original and suggestive presentation 
 has been made in one of the Waverley Novels. 
 
 SIR WALTER SCOTT'S MONASTERY 
 
 On account of the diversity of paging in different editions, the 
 References below are to the chapters, and paragraphs in a chapter. 
 A new paragraph is counted wherever (in prose), there is an indented 
 line. Quotations of verse are considered part of the prose paragraphs 
 to which they belong. 
 
 Sir Walter Scott's Monastery is a Story of the Reformation, located 
 in the Halidome of a Scotch Monastery : as a result, we get a group 
 of contrasts maintained or developed throughout the action, directly 
 or indirectly springing out of the main conception. 
 
 Directly : 
 
 1. Finished controversialists of either / Catholic : Father Eustace. 
 
 party, originally college friends : \ Protestant : Henry Warden. 
 
 2. Protestants secretly developed by / Of the old generation : Lady Avenel. 
 
 the silent agency of the Bible : \ Of the new generation : Mary Avenel. 
 
 f Catholic Prelate of the old (easy-going) type : The Abbott. 
 ^' \ Catholic Prelate of the new (polemical) type : The Sub- Prior. 
 
 f Church Domains and settled Ufe : St. Mary's Halidome. 
 "'' \ 'ij&y Barons and wild life : Avenel Castle. 
 
 Indirectly : 
 
 f Statesmen of the Scotch Regency : Murray and his party. 
 5' \ Statesmen of the English Queen : Sir John Foster. 
 f' ( Dependents of a noble house : Tib and Martin. 
 
 1 Middle-class household : Dame Elspeth Glendinning. 
 
 f High-born beautiful maiden : Mary Avenel. 
 ^' \ Low-bom beautiful maiden : Mysie of the Mill. 
 
 Above all, forming the main psychological interest : 
 
 C Out of the same family 
 I and by the same in- 
 8. ■{ flnence (love of the 
 I heroine) are developed 
 [_ the 
 
 But over and above the main conception, two very special and pecu- 
 liar elements are woven into the action : a supernatural being of the 
 Fairy order, and a courtier of the age of Euphuism. 
 
 Elder Brother, a Protestant Warrior : Halbert. 
 Younger Brother, a Catholic Priest : Edward. 
 
12 
 
 The White Lady of Avenel. 
 
 As a principle of criticism : imagination is an end in itself, and 
 the intrinsic interest of the White Lady as a piece of art-creation must 
 come before all others — at the same time it is a part of the functions of 
 criticism to analyse the ideas and interests that underlie and are 
 embodied in such a portraiture. [For the whole subject, compare the 
 Introduction to the Edition of 1830, especially paragraphs 15-20.] 
 
 Ideas and Interests crystallised into the conception 
 
 The central interest is creative curiosity : imagination as a mode 
 of speculation, abstract fancies conveyed in plastic form. 
 
 1. Man's origin described as being from the dust of the earth animated by the Divine 
 
 Spirit — suggests : other beings formed from earth or the other elements without 
 any such Divine admixture — so the Elemental Spirits : Eai-th and Gnomes, 
 Water and Naiads, Air and Sylphs, Fire and Salamanders : with attributes in 
 accordance — ^the idea of such unsubstantial beings a foundation for such creations 
 as the White Lady, who seems to partake the attributes of several elements 
 [compare her words in ix. 54, xii. 3 ; and the Grotto Scene, xi. 31-xii]. 
 
 2. Man's relation to the rest of the animal creation. 
 
 (a) They surpass him in6nitely in single physical qualities — suppose: this 
 extended to the intellectual sphere, and the result is an order of beings with 
 physical and mental powers as unlimited as the instincts of animals — super- 
 natural knowledge (of past, present, and future), strength, perception of the 
 invisible, motion, &c. [Compare Davies's idea of man as the horizon 
 between brutes, or mindless bodies, and angels, or bodiless minds.] 
 
 (i) Yet with all his limitations man becomes lord over the brute creation — 
 suggests : so man may by courage mysteriously tame the supernatural spirits, 
 and make them do his will. 
 
 (c) This conquest of the lower creation is achieved by man's power to find out 
 the laws of each order — suggests : these spiritual beings have their secret 
 laws, through the knowledge of which they can be ruled : the whole Rosi- 
 crucian philosophy was an attempt to discover such secrets — ^with this 
 connect the idea of a spell : • an utterance mystically connected with the 
 (unknown) laws of some order of spirits. [Compare: xi. 33-36; xvii. 
 29.] 
 
 3. Moral curiosity, as well as intellectual. 
 
 (a) Human passions, a. perpetual interest in art, appear in man always in 
 conflict with law — ^suggests : beings reflecting human passions apart from 
 law and moral responsibility — mischief and caprice a leading chai'acteristic of 
 elemental spirits, and ministers to the art interest of fancy. [Compare xii. 3 
 (last eight lines), xvii. 39; and especially, the connection of the White 
 Lady with the Duel incidents.] 
 
 (i) Curiosity plays around even the topic of man's fall and redemption — 
 suppose : beings near enough for sympathy yet never fallen and never 
 redeemed ; no struggle, but no future — observe they are usually presented 
 as superior in faculties yet lower in fate and moral dignity. [Compare xii. 
 3 (last six lines), xii. 23, xvii. 30 (verse), xxx. 5.' The Peri in Moore's 
 Lalla Rookh is another example.] 
 
13 
 
 [c) There is Biblical authority for the idea of spirits interested in man, as 
 involved in the grand contest between good and evil : spirits ministering 
 and tempting — this falls in with the impression of unseen agency in human 
 experience, where natural causes seem insufficient — imt^nation lills in the 
 details to such conception, especially note : 
 
 (aa) Interposition of evil Spirits invited by man, and looseness of life a 
 mode of inviting [adventure of Father Philip] — on the other hand 
 they are powerless before firmness of will (xvii. 33) — fmther, their 
 gifts turn to evil or good according as they are used (xvii. 47). 
 
 (id) The idea of tempting to good is suggested (heading to chapter xxx). 
 
 4. Even abstruse metaphysical speculation may sometimes take a plastic form — thus : 
 
 investigation of boundaries and dividing lines suggests a region of middle points 
 and negatives as a speculative location for the supernatural, or a mode of shading 
 off its nature and attributes to the proper degree of indefiniteness. [Compare ix. 
 52, xii. 3.] 
 
 5. From speculation it is a short step to aspiration. 
 
 (a) Intellectual aspiration : rebellion against human limitations — e g. motion 
 [compare: ix. 54, xii. 2], insight into the future — the 'unifoi-mity of 
 nature ' creates by repulsion an interest in phenomena divorced from causes 
 [compare : xxxvii. I20 (sixth line of veise)]. — Perhaps with tliis is partly 
 connected a sense of sin as attaching to commerce with the super- 
 natural. 
 
 (i5) Moral aspiration : we feel om" lower nature as a weight — imagination 
 catches the feeling in the form of beings free fi-om the grosser influences of 
 earth. [Compare xvii. 33 (last four lines), heading to chapter xii.] 
 
 The central interest of speculation is supported by others. 
 
 1. Mystery is a primary htmian interest — with which ignorance does not interfere, but 
 
 assists it, serving as a sort of dark back-ground. 
 
 (a) Natural scenery often favours the mysterious : mists and fantastic resem- 
 blances (iii. 32) — ravines, groves, sense of loneliness : distance from the real 
 becomes nearness to hidden possibilities (chapter ii, particularly paragraph 
 8) — ^thus the general idea of haunting : every such idea a centre of imagin- 
 ative activity. [Compare xx. 47.] 
 
 (V) Dream experience — phenomena connected with delirium and opiates — 
 optical delusions — apparitions and unceasing interest in the relations 
 between the worlds of matter and spirit — and generally ; the residuum of 
 unexplained phenomena in the wake of scientific discovery [which properly 
 makes 'superstition']. 
 
 (f) Science itself is the greatest of all wonder-workers. [Compare the Intro- 
 duction : Answer to Clutterbuck, paragraph 2.] 
 
 2. Tradition assists. 
 
 (a) Popular and universal : folk-lore — ^part awe, part gossip, and part trickery — 
 the Nameless Dean, the Good Neighbours, All-Hallow E'en (iv. II to end) 
 — spells and charms (viii. 25). — The humorous presentation of the lower 
 supernatiu-al assists the conception of the higher. 
 
 (I)) Mythological : the deities of defunct religions become hterary property as 
 imaginative creations — especially : Pantheism (in the sense of deification of 
 every conceivable individuality) assists the notion of ' middle spirits ' 
 (neither angels nor tempters) such as the White Lady. 
 
14 
 
 (<r) Literary : successful creations such as Puck, Ariel, Oberon, give a basis of 
 quasi-reality to others. 
 
 3. Personification, or the humanisation of inanimate nature as a device of poetic style 
 
 — especially applied to the four elements (e.g. the 'sighing' of the wind, 
 ' earthly,' as meaning sensual, the ' rage ' of fire, the ' cruel ' sea) : it is only a 
 step from this to Elementary Spirits, [ix. 54 illustrates the connection.] 
 
 4. We get allegory in occasional flashes as a subsidiary effect. E.g. the Grotto scene 
 
 and the burning of mortal workmanship where truth alone is unconsumed (xii. 
 i6-ig). 
 
 These ideas and interests enter into supernatural creations in 
 general : there are two special to the present example. 
 
 1 . There is a special connection between the White Lady and the family of Avenel : 
 
 several mediseval ideas support such a conception. 
 
 (a) In heathen theogonies gods appeared as patrons of individual races and 
 families — so mediaeval saints connected with particular races or families, as 
 well as particular churches. [Compare iv. 57 to end.] 
 
 [d) Astrology (the longest lived of delusions) instituted distinct connections 
 between heavenly influence and individuals in accordance with the moment 
 of their birth : so All-Hallow E'en the link between Mary Avenel and the 
 White Lady (iv. 55-57). 
 
 (c) Heraldry regularly connected some natural object with the continuity of a 
 family history. [Compare xxiv. 21.] 
 
 ((/) Popular traditions of spirits connected with families for pmposes of warning 
 (Irish Banshees)— -or even familiar intercourse (Highland tradition : Intro- 
 duction 17). 
 
 2. But this novel is essentially a Protestant story : the difficulty arises, how to get a 
 
 Protestant Fairy! The link is found in the conception of the Bible as a 
 hook : it is perfectly consistent with mediaeval imagination to invest a book with 
 mystic attractions and powers [compare Runic letters and their mystic powers — 
 charms attaching to exact sets of words or to written symbols — ^magic books and 
 . the awe they excite : all these the product of an age in which reading was a 
 professional mystery]. The White Lady throughout is associated with the Bible 
 that has found its way into the Halidome : with the fortunes of the book itself 
 and of those who use it. [Especially : the Grotto scene, chapter xii.] 
 
 TTie White Lady as an element in the story 
 
 When familiar with the general course of the story, the Student will 
 do well to follow the White Lady as a separate interest. 
 
 1. First glimpse on All-Hallow E'en (iii. 30-35). 
 
 2. Father Philip's Adventure (v from 40). 
 
 3. The Sub-Prior's Adventure (ix. 42-59) : compare beginnings of Chapters viii and 
 
 X. 
 
 4. Grand Appearance to the hero, and Grotto Scene (xi. 31 to end of xii). 
 
 5. The Friday Appearance (xvii from 28). 
 
 6. The Nocturnal Appearance (xx. 30 to end). 
 
 7. The Mysteries of the Duel Incidents (xxi. 33 to end of xxii, xxvi. 2S-xxvii. iS). 
 
 8. Appearance to the heroine (xxx. 1-6). 
 
 9. Appearance to Edward (xxxii. 55 to end). 
 10. Last vision of the White Lady (xxxviii. 120). 
 
15 
 
 V, VI 
 
 The application of Story to thinking is most familiar to us in the 
 form of Allegory. A colossal monument of this is seen in Spenser's 
 Faerie Queene, where a whole system (Aristotelian) of Ethics is embodied 
 in a narrative of Romantic Chivalry. But the appreciation of this 
 depends largely upon a clear grasp of Spenser's original treatment of 
 allegory — in itself a matter of the utmost literary importance' — 
 especially, the ever changing relation of the allegory to the other 
 interests of the poem. This will be here treated in application to the 
 second book, or Legend of Temperance. 
 
 SPENSER'S LEGEND OF TEMPERANCE 
 
 Spenserian Allegory 
 
 Spenser's works will be accessible to all Students : amongst other editions may be 
 mentioned the Globe (Macmillan, J1.25), the most correct. 
 
 For the present purpose it is essential that students should read the portion of 
 the poem touched upon (Book II of the Faerie Queene) with some amount of rapidity, 
 not allowing themselves to be stopped too long by difficulties of language, but seeking 
 to get a general impression of the book as a whole. If this is found impracticable the 
 book should be read a second time. 
 
 The point which it is sought to emphasize in the present treatment 
 of Spenser is the various sorts of interest that are woven together in 
 his poetry. — Besides beauties of a musical kind three main varieties of 
 interest may be noticed. 
 
 1. Interest of Incident. 
 
 (a) General interest of Incident : the picturesque, the pathetic, &c. 
 
 (b) Romantic Incident : (i) unflagging interest in Chivalry and its three ideals, 
 Prowess, Courtesy and Love — (2) Travel and Scenery — (3) Enchantment, 
 Monsters and Marvels. 
 
 (c) Classic interest of Incident : Familiarity as a literary beauty, or interest attach- 
 ing to details trom their association with the literature of the past. 
 
 2. Interest of Allegory. 
 
 Students must avoid the opposite errors (a) of supposing the Allegory of the 
 Faerie Queene to be something supei-fluous and outside poetic interest (b) on the 
 other hand of searching for it in every detail, as if the purpose of the poem were 
 simply to twist moral truth into the form of a puzzle-story. Observe : 
 
 (a) The Allegory is only one motive amongst many : pictorial effects, pure imagina- 
 tion. Romantic and Classic interest as above, &c. 
 
i6 
 
 (i) It is a peculiarity of Allegory as compared with other motives that it varies in 
 intensity : sometimes so clear that for every pictorial detail there is a moral 
 detail underlying it [this is ' Formal Allegory,' or it may be described as 
 Mediaeval, or ' Bunyanesque '] — sometimes producing its effect by a general 
 suggestiveness — sometimes difficult to trace at all without violence of interpre- 
 tation [though its reappearance a little later will suggest that it has been 
 present all the time]. 
 
 {c) These variations put together give a sense of movement to the Allegory as a 
 whole, a sort of rise and fall [compare effect of partial mist in landscape, the 
 moon ' wading ' amongst clouds] — and to fully appreciate it a sort of mental 
 touch must be cultivated. 
 
 {d) Remember : the Allegory of the Faerie Queene is (at least) double : Moral 
 and Political. 
 
 3. Interest of Movement. 
 
 (a) The Linking of each Scene or Incident to that which precedes and follows. 
 A subtle agency in idealizing is to avoid natural concatenation of incident — 
 e.g. scenes melt into one another as in dreams — or cross-linking [comp. game 
 of Cross-tig] . 
 
 [b) The Working together of the different Incidents to a common purpose. 
 
 B. 
 
 The Allegory Traced Through the Second Book 
 Incidents. Moral Allegory. Rise & Fall in Allegory. 
 
 Meeting of the Red Cross 
 Knight with Sir Guyon 
 [i-i— 34]- 
 
 Temperance in espousing 
 causes. 
 
 Also [by the Palmer I. 7] 
 Temperance connected 
 with Religious Experi- 
 
 Flashes out at the end 
 [i- 32]- 
 
 Incident of Mordaunt and 
 Amavia [i.34-61] — lead- 
 ing to 
 
 Marvel of the Bloody 
 Babe [ii.l.ll]. 
 
 Temperance doubly con- 
 trasted with unbridled 
 Pleasure and unbridled 
 Agony. 
 
 Intemperance and heredi- 
 tary stain. 
 
 Also [compare old Meta- 
 morphosis Stories] Pur- 
 ity as a Passion. 
 
 Lost in hvunan interest till 
 suddenly expounded [i. 
 57]. 
 
 Expounded [ii. 5] and by 
 implication extended to 
 the whole world of Meta- 
 morphosis. 
 
 §cene : the Castle of Me- 
 dina [ii. 1 1 -46] — with 
 the Hero's Story [ii.39- 
 46]. 
 
 Main point of the whole 
 Allegory : Temperance 
 as the Golden Mean. 
 
 Also : Temperance under 
 petty vexations [ii. 12]. 
 
 Rises to the pitch 
 Formal Allegory. 
 
 of 
 
17 
 
 Incident of Bra^;adocchio 
 and Belphoebe [iii]. 
 
 Temperance set off by the 
 falsely great and the 
 falsely Uttle. 
 
 Old-world ideal of Tem- 
 perance, the Maiden- 
 Hvmtress. 
 
 In subordination. 
 
 Allegory of Furor and 
 Occasion [iv.l] — ^includ- 
 ing 
 
 Episode of Phaon and 
 Qaribell [iv.16-36] 
 leading up to 
 
 Complex of Scenes 
 connected with the 
 First Encounter with 
 Pyrochles and Cymo- 
 chles (separately). 
 
 Combat of Guyon and 
 Pyrochles [iv.37-5.18] — 
 pyrochles and Furor 
 [v.18-24] — Cymochles 
 in the Bower of Bliss 
 [v.24-38] — the Idle 
 Lake and Encounter 
 with Cymochles [vi.i- 
 40] — Pyirochles and the 
 Idle Laie [vi.4i-5i]. 
 
 Intemperance on the side Rises to Formal Allegory 
 of Anger. 
 
 Intemperance on the side 
 of Love : Jealousy. 
 
 The names set off Tem- 
 perance by suggesting 
 the two irrepressible 
 forces of External Na- 
 ture — two types of Val- 
 our divorced from Tem- 
 perance : Pyrochles on 
 the side of Rage [com- 
 pare iv.43] , Cymochles on 
 the side of Self-indul- 
 gence. 
 
 Temperance as against 
 Idleness and the stupour 
 of Self-indulgence. 
 
 The Allegory is being per- 
 petually obscured and 
 recovered. 
 
 Temptation in the Cave of 
 Mammon [vii], — Pre- 
 lude 1-27 — Triple Temp- 
 tation [wealth in store 
 28-34 — wealth-making 
 35-39 — ^worldliuess 40- 
 50] — Final temptation 
 in the Garden : 51-66. 
 
 Wealth and Worldly Am- 
 bition as a fiirther region 
 for Temperance. 
 
 A steady undercmrent of^ 
 Allegory felt through the 
 predominating sensation 
 of wonder. 
 
 Second Encounter with 
 Pyrochles and Cymo- 
 chles (together) [viii] 
 — ^introducing the Ideal 
 Knight.PrinceArthur. 
 
 Temperance in combat 
 pitted against mere em- 
 bodiments of force. 
 
 In 
 
 subordination- 
 lost. 
 
 -almost 
 
 The Castle of Temperance 
 [ix] — ^including 
 
 Health as a phase of Tem- 
 perance. 
 
 Rises to Formal Allegory 
 [of Mediaeval type]. 
 
 Digression : Chronicle of 
 British Kings [x] and 
 preparing for 
 
 Only the faintest threadof 
 Allegory in the spiritof 
 the Chronicle. 
 
First Part of Double 
 Finale : Raising the 
 Siege of Temperance 
 Castle [xi]. Allotted 
 to Arthur the hero of (he 
 whole poem. 
 
 Second Part of Dou- 
 ble Finale : Journey 
 through Mystic pe- 
 rils to the Bower of 
 Acrasia and Capture 
 of the Enchantress 
 [xii]. Allotted to Guy- 
 on the hero of the sec- 
 ond Book, 
 
 The Enemies of Temper- 
 ance as identified with 
 Health. 
 
 Observe : Intemperance is 
 made to include Intellec- 
 tual as well as Moral 
 monstrosity. [11.8 — 14, 
 &c.] 
 
 Accumulation of most 
 varied types of In- 
 temperance and Mon- 
 strosity — especially 
 violations of the 
 order of Nature. 
 
 In subordination to interest 
 of combat. 
 
 The Outer Meaning 
 and the Allegorical 
 coalesce in a sort of 
 riot of the Imagina- 
 tion. 
 
19 
 
 EXERCISES 
 
 I 
 
 1. What thought on the subject of Demons is embodied in the 
 
 Mephistophilis of Marlowe ? 
 
 2. Bring out the leading points in the final scene of Faustus. 
 
 3. Show how Marlowe's Story exhibits a soul being 'lost' in this 
 
 world. Is any external force used on Faust before the end of the 
 play? 
 
 II 
 
 1. Discuss the Witches and Apparitions in Macbeth : (i) Were they 
 
 real ? (2) Did their interposition make any difference to men or 
 events ? 
 
 2. Compare Macbeth, Lady Macbeth and Banquo as types of person- 
 
 ages differently affected by the Supernatural. 
 
 3. "If they hear not Moses and the Prophets, neither will they be 
 
 converted though one rise from the dead." Comment upon this 
 saying in the light of this week's study. 
 
 Ill 
 
 1. " Curses are like young chickens, etc." Show how this proverb 
 
 and other maxims of Destiny are set forth in the action of 
 Southey's poem. 
 
 2. Show how the Amreeta Cup, the Curse (ii. 14), Yamen, Lor- 
 
 rinite, are concrete embodiments of metaphysical ideas. 
 
 3. Illustrate Southey as a word-painter. 
 
 4. Compare Greek conceptions of Hades, Tartarus, Cupid, with 
 their oriental counterparts in Southey's poem. 
 
 IV 
 
 1. Bring out (especially by quotations from her speeches) some of 
 the more striking ideas embodied in the conception of the ' White 
 Lady.' 
 
 2. Illustrate the love of mischief and caprice displayed by the White 
 Lady, and show that these are consistept with the general notion of 
 Elemental Spirits. 
 
20 
 
 3- Note the details of appearing and disappearing in the manifesta- 
 tions of Scott's Fairy, as illustrations of the art with which he suggests 
 its unsubstantial nature. 
 
 4. Give an account of the Grotto Scene, pointing out (i) its art 
 beauty — (2) its general suggestiveness. 
 
 1. Enumerate the principal personages who appear in the second 
 book of the Faerie Queene, showing how they cluster about the idea of 
 Temperance. 
 
 2. Point out the different conceptions of Temperance in Spenser 
 and in modern practical life. 
 
 3. Connect with the allegory of the book the Bloody Babe, the 
 Bower of Bliss, Ruddymane, Furor and Occasion. 
 
 4. Trace any resemblances between the temptations of Mammon and 
 the temptations of Christ. 
 
Other Syllabi by Prof. Moulton may be had from the 
 "General Secretary, 1602 Chestnut Street, according to the follow- 
 ing list: 
 
 A. Four Studies in Shakespeare. 
 
 B. Shakespeare's Tempest, with Companion Studies. 
 
 C. The Story of Faust. 
 
 D. Stories as a Mode of Thinking. 
 
 E. Studies in Milton's Paradise Lost. 
 
 F. Euripides for English Audiences. 
 
 Price — 10 cents each. The six bound in cloth, 90 cents. 
 
UNIVERSITY EXTENSION LECTURES 
 
 UNDER THE AUSPICES OF 
 
 THE AMERICAN SOCIETY 
 
 FOR THE 
 
 EXTENSION OF UNIVERSITY TEACHING. 
 
 Studies in 
 
 Milton's Poetic Art 
 
 BY 
 
 Richard G. Moulton, A.M., 
 
 of Cambridge University, England. 
 
 1. Milton's Picture of Hell. A Study in Poetic Analysis. 
 
 2. The Council of Fiends. A Study of the Classical Impulse. 
 
 3,4. Satan's Journey of Exploration. A Study in Poetic Cosmography. 
 
 5. The War in Heaven. A Study of, Narrative Power. 
 
 6. The Ninth Book of "Paradise Lost." A Study in Plot. 
 No. 4. 
 
Books. 
 Any edition of the Paradise Lost will serve, if it has num- 
 bered lines. The Globe edition (Macraillan, $\.2^~) contains aval- 
 uable introduction by Professor Masson. The old edition of 
 Bishop Newton remains the most valuable commentary on the 
 poem. 
 
 Exercises. 
 Exercises on each lecture will be found below (page 15). 
 Written answers (to not more than two questions each week) are 
 invited from any person attending the lectures. They should 
 be addressed to Mr. Moulton, Colonnade Hotel, Philadelphia, 
 and should arrive a clear forty-eight hours before the following 
 lecture. Some signature, together with the name of the lecture 
 center at which the exercise is to be returned, should be given at 
 the top of the first page. The exercises will be returned, with 
 marginal comments, at the class, at which further explanations 
 on the general subject will be given. All persons attending the 
 lectures are invited to attend this class, whether they have sent 
 an exercise to the lecturer or not. 
 
 For Similar Study. 
 I. Other Christian Epics, such as that mentioned on page 8. 
 2. English Epics embodying non-Christian religions, especially 
 Southey's Kehama (cheap edition by Cassell). 3. Dante's Di- 
 vine Comedy in Longfellow's or some other English edition. 
 The Book of Job (in Revised Version, or such a translation as 
 Dr. Cox's). 
 
 Copyrighted, iSgi, by The American Society for the Extension of University Teaching. 
 
MILTON'S PICTURE OF HELL. 
 
 A Study in Poetic Analysis. 
 
 Such technical terms as " conception," " creation," " poet," 
 " maker," all suggest a particular kind of mental act, the recog- 
 nition of which goes to the very heart of poetic criticism — the 
 mental process belongs to the reader as well as the author — it is 
 strengthened by analysis : the resolving of an imaginary picture 
 into the elements of which it is made up. 
 
 The Fallen Angels' first view of Hell; Bk. I generally, esp. 44-83, 180- 
 
 185, 221-238. 
 Occupations of the Spirits during Satan's Journey of Discovery: II 506- 
 
 628. 
 Satan's Journey from Pandemonium to the Gates of Hell: II 629-647. 
 
 There is no formal description of the infernal world — its 
 features are presented to us indirectly — and at the moment of 
 their most intense interest : when the fallen spirits behold them 
 for the first time, and when they journey to find a place of 
 rest. 
 
 The prevailing features are : 
 
 1. Remoteness. 
 
 (a) Utter (z'. e. outer) darkness. 
 
 (b) Esp. with words of depth : deep tract — pit — dark, unfathomed, infi- 
 nite abyss. , 
 
 if) Close shut in: immured ninefold — ^huge portcullis — intricate wards 
 — ^bolt and bar, etc. 
 
 i/i) Separated by infinite distance : I 73, II 432 — by a vast and bound- 
 less deep, I 176. 
 
 2. Not only remoteness in space, but remoteness from ordinary 
 
 experience : a mysterious vagueness about its terrors. 
 
 (a) Union of material and abstract ideas in the same descriptive term : 
 bottomless perdition — oblivious pool — utter (outer) woe — regions of 
 sorrow, etc. So the Rivers: Acheron of Sorrow, St3rx of deadly 
 Hate, Lethe of Oblivion. ' 
 
 (JS) Weirdnes^; phenomena without their natural accompaniments: 
 flames without light — or livid flames casting pale and dreadful light 
 (I 180) — storms, yet a horrid silence (I 83) — gates circled with fire, 
 yet unconsumed (II 647). 
 
 {c) Especially: clash of opposites: darkness visible (I 62)^air burning 
 frore (II 594) — grand climax in Universe of Death (II 622), 
 
3- Of course, the prevailing idea is fire, but always fire accom- 
 panied with darkness. 
 
 (a) Thus contrasts with " Empyrean " — esp. " strange fire " (II 69). 
 
 (i) The notions of fire and darkness perpetually reiterated and extended 
 to every detail : Hell one great furnace — ^land solid, lake liquid fire 
 — upper, nether, and surrounding fires. So: gloomy deep — dusky 
 air — palpable obscure. 
 
 (f) So niuch so that the features of ordinary nature appear in a. changed 
 element [metaphor lifted into reality] : fiery gulf, fiery deluge — floods 
 and whirlwinds of tempestuous fire — esp. I 171 and 222. Compare 
 II 621. 
 
 (d) The torture of this fiery darkness is measured by their longing for 
 light : II 396. 
 
 (e) Yet their only hope is to become conformed to their surroundings 
 (II 213). 
 
 All familiar ideas associated with infernal horrors are added. 
 
 (a) Rivers of Tartarus (II 577) — Lethe and forgetfulness (II 582). Cf. 
 Simile: I 230. 
 
 (^) Especially, the massing- oi Mythological ideas: II 596 Harpies, 
 Furies, Lethe, Fate, Medusa, Tantalus — II 628 Gorgons, Hydras, 
 Chimeras dire. 
 
 5. The notion of everlasting unrest is prominent throughout. 
 
 {a) The one object of the Evil Spirits is to find rest: I 185, II 521 — esp. 
 compare II 572 and 617. 
 
 (b) The very elements of their world are endowed with ceaseless activity : 
 these corrosive fires — convex of fire outrageous to devour — everburn- 
 ing sulphur unconsumed— perpetual storm of hail and whirlwind — 
 so II 88. 
 
 (c) So that locomotion is a pain : uneasy steps over burning marie — so 
 endures till on the beach — way through palpable obscure with inde- 
 fatigable wings (II 406). 
 
 (d) All the conditions of their world directly opposed to the heavenly 
 natures with which they are endowed: starve in ice their soft 
 ethereal warmth (II 600) — esp. the idea of conflicting gravities (I I 
 
 75). 
 
 (e) Unrest raised to a direct torture in the tantalization of the damned : 
 II 596-604. 
 
 (/)They have not even the repose of knowing the worst : their percep- 
 tion of degrees of torture suggests the possibility of unlimited aggra- 
 vations (II 167). 
 
 6. The poet's conception of life in Hell seems to rest merely on 
 
 concentration and exaggeration of ordinary life. (I 531, 
 etc., II 521, etc.) 
 
THE COUNCIL OF FIENDS. 
 
 A Study of the Classical Impulse. 
 
 " Milton is the hugest of plagiarists." " Milton's poetry is 
 the chief example of the Classical Impulse." These are two 
 ways of describing the same phenomenon. The first is an igno- 
 rant modern objection by those who do not see that Milton is, 
 on this ground, in the same category with Spenser, Tasso, 
 Dante, Virgil, Homer, etc., etc. Originality is a purely modem 
 idea. The great mass of " classical poetry " of all nations has 
 been composed before originality was invented ; on the contrary, 
 in classical poetry the highest element of literary beauty is 
 familiarity, or the use of borrowed materials, new compositions 
 recommending themselves by echoes from the poetry of the 
 past. The present study examines in detail this " Classical ' 
 Impulse " in application to Milton's Paradise Lost. 
 
 1. Throughout the whole poem we are' perpetually recognizing 
 
 the most minute resemblance to the poet's predecessors — 
 in thoughts, general poetic materials, poetic expressions and 
 ornaments, down to the very turn of his sentences. 
 
 2. This fondness for borrowed materials one of the great features 
 
 of both the ancient classical spirit and of its modern revival. 
 
 To trace it backward : . > 
 
 (a) Under the Renaissance or Classical Revival, the thought 
 of the time was supplied by Greek and Roman thought 
 — the highest object of writers, to reproduce and adapt 
 classical thought and even form (cf. Ciceronianism). 
 
 (^) Going back to Latin literature, we find that its most 
 famous period was a sort of Greek Renaissance — 'at the 
 moment the Roman people woke up to literary con- 
 sciousness their originality was swamped by the flood 
 of full grown Greek literature poured upon them by the 
 conquest of the East — hence the .chief aesthetic effect 
 of Roman poetry was the recognition of Greek materi- 
 als naturalized [cf. Conington's Introduction to Virgil's 
 Eclogues] — the mission of the .^neid seems to be to 
 adapt Homeric details to a Roman legend. 
 
(c) In Greek Literature itself : the Homeric poems had 
 grown up out of Ballad Literature, one of the great 
 features of which is the prominence it gives to the 
 beauty of familiarity — hence the repetitions, parallel- 
 isms of form (especially similes) which are so great a 
 characteristic of Homer. 
 
 3. Of course, in Milton's case we must add Hebrew Thought to 
 
 Classical. 
 
 4. As examples of this fondness for borrowed mateijals in the 
 
 Paradise Lost notice : 
 
 (a) The reconciliation of Biblical and Classical thought on 
 a foundation idea that all idolatry is a corruption of true 
 religion. 
 
 [Great principle that Thought which is dead as Re- 
 ligious Thought lives over again in Art : the Esthetic 
 thus becoming to us a bond with the whole past.] 
 
 Thus the Heathen Gods become the Devils of Milton's system — 
 so Tartarus, its rivers, its tortures and torturers become 
 features of Milton's Hell — for other supernatural beings of 
 classical mythology a place is found in the undefined regions 
 of the real universe [e.g., Chaos, Night; etc.] — the Legend of 
 Minerva is utilized for the Legend of Sin (II 746) — that of 
 Vulcan for the Architect of Pandemonium (I 732). 
 
 (J)) Of course, this is not peculiar to Milton : cf. passages 
 like I Corinthians x. 20, Psalm cvi. 37, Deuteronomy 
 xxxii. 17. By similar means a place is found for favorite 
 Thoughts of Ancient Literature. 
 
 Thus the old speculation as to graduated scales of Being, each 
 feeding on beings of the scale below, is introduced in connec- 
 tion with the idea of Angelic Food (V 404) [cf. Psalm Ixxviii, 
 25]. — The fatalism which was a characteristic of much of 
 ancient thought is attributed to the Lost Spirits (I I 809, etc.), 
 So "the Gods who live at ease" (II 868). 
 
 (c) So when we are following Milton's conceptions of the 
 World of Imagination we continually find him utilizing 
 the details of ancient poetry. 
 
 Earth bound to Heaven by a golden chain (II 1005 cf. Iliad VIII 
 19)— Flowers springing up for Adam and Eve (IV 700 cf. Iliad 
 
XIV 347) — the Gate of Heaven self-opening (V 254 cf. Iliad 
 V 749) — so description of Chaos (I I 890 and famous passage 
 in Ovid: Metamorphoses I 19) — again cf. the use of personifi- 
 cation in the description of the Court of Chaos (II 951) with 
 the similar personification in Virgil's first view of Tartarus 
 CiEneid VI 273). 
 
 (d) Still more frequently familiarity is given to imaginary 
 details by connection with Scripture. 
 
 Stairs of Heaven and Jacob's Vision (III 510) — cf. his account of 
 the passage from Heaven to Earth (III 529) — Morning Hymn 
 in Paradise modelled on the "Benedicite" — Satan drawing 
 third part of Heaven's Host (V 710 cf. Revelations xii. 4) — 
 esp. the chariot of God (VI 749). This extends even to ex- 
 pressions: cf. "laugh", applied to God V 737 and Psalm ii. ; 
 threat to "seal" Satan (IV 966 and Revelations xx. 3); 
 Mountain of Congregation (V 766 and Isaiah xiv. 13). 
 
 (/) This becomes specially interesting when the poet by 
 the turn of the language draws attention, indirectly but 
 powerfully, to the Biblical foundation of the idea : the 
 Biblical and Classical thought help one another. 
 
 For example, strange fire (II 69) — Adam sitting at his door (V 299 
 cf. Genesis xviii. i) — cry for mountains and hills to cover them 
 (VI 842) — esp. climax on the 6th book (801) cf. with Psalm 
 xlvi. lo and Exodus xiv. 13). 
 
 {/} Sometimes in these imaginary details the poet takes 
 pains to suggest both Classical and Biblical foundation 
 for his idea. 
 
 Examples : the scales in which Satan's cause is weighed : idea 
 borrowed from Astronomy, Iliad, ^neid — but cf . language of 1 
 IV 955-1015 with Job xxviii. 25, xxxvii. 16; Isaiah xl. 12; i; 
 Samuel ii. 3 ; Proverbs xvi. 2 ; Daniel v. 26. (These references . 
 are Newton's.) Again : the Devils mocked in the hour of ' 
 triumph (X 504-584). — Urania at opening of Book VII (cf. 
 Proverbs viii. 22 sqq.). 
 
 (^) This imitation of Classical Poetry extends to language. 
 {aa) Epithets and figurative expressions. 
 
 His descriptions of morning throughout — Epithets like " am- 
 brosial" (V 642) — and led the vine towed her, elm .(V' 
 216)— Earth all-bearing mother (V 338), etc. 
 
8 
 
 {bb) Turns of expression. 
 
 Now dreadful deeds might, etc. (II 722 cf. Iliad VII 273) — 
 High matter, etc. (V 563 and Virgil's Infandum, etc.) — 
 extends to the most minute : cf. I 19, 34, 73 ; HI 29i etc. 
 
 ^cc) Imitation in Similes extends to the whole form 
 of sentences, and would need a chapter on gram- 
 mar to make clear. 
 
 {dd') Indication by form of expression that he is speak- 
 ing to the learned \_phonanta sunetoisin\. 
 
 V 171 Sun both eye (0|Vid) and soul (Pliny) of the world — 
 Raphael the sociable spirit (V 220) — the Phoenix that sole 
 bird, etc. (V 271) — Maia's son (V 285) — Heayen's great 
 year (V 583). 
 
 5. Considering the aesthetic effect of this characteristic of our 
 
 poet, observe : 
 
 {a) The scene of the Paradise Lost is laid wholly in the 
 world of imagination — as to which the great difficulty 
 is realization — familiarity of detail one of the greatest 
 helps toward realizing. Remember the point is not 
 that Milton copies, but that he relies on the recognition 
 of his copying for great part of his effect. 
 
 {b) This strictness with which he confines himself to bor- 
 rowed materials a tribute to the sacredness of his sub- 
 ject — avoidance of novelty — all details to come to tlje 
 reader's mind endowed with the hallowing effect of 
 literary familiarity and associations. 
 
 6. At the. present time we are in a particularly favorable posi- 
 
 tion for appreciating the Classical Impulse from its revival 
 by a living poet, in direct reference to Milton's Paradise 
 Lost. Bishop Bickersteth's Yesterday, To-day and Forever 
 is a work by an author of wide scholarship and high poetic 
 power, prompted by theological differences from Milton, but 
 essaying substantially the same task of constructing into 
 an epic scripture materials bearing upon human salvation 
 and loss. The poem is permeated with the Classical Im- 
 pulse ; arid in this case Milton's poetry becomes part of the 
 old poetry which Bickersteth echoes. A very instructive 
 
exercise is to compare the Council of Fiends as treated by 
 Milton IJParadise Lost, I 376 — II 520) and Bickersteth (Book 
 VI 1-442). 
 
 It must be explained that Bishop Bickersteth's Lucifer is widely dif- 
 ferent from Milton's Satan. Upon two Biblical presentations of 
 ' ' Satan ' ' (in Job, where he is apparently an officer of heaven, charged 
 with the duty of inspecting human virtue, and elsewhere in Scripture, 
 where he appears as the Enemy of God) and other grounds, Bicker- 
 steth makes his Lucifer at first an angel, charged with the special 
 oversight of the newly-created man ; but Lucifer abuses his position, 
 tempts and then accuses Adam and Eve, and gradually falls him- 
 self, with his followers, into the position of antagonism to God. 
 Thus in the later poem the Fall of Angels comes later than the Fall 
 of Man ; and this Council of Fiends takes place not in Hell, but in 
 mid-air. (Compare Ephesians ii. 2 ; vi. 12.) 
 
 it will be easy to see how this section of Bickersteth's 
 poem, though putting an entirely different construction on the 
 story, nevertheless rests all through upon the reader's memory 
 of the Miltonic story from which it departs. Furthermore, at 
 the climax is added to the traditional incident a poetic surprise 
 (lines 387-427), which is itself an echo of other poetry {Psalm 
 ii. 1-5). 
 
 SATAN'S JOURNEY OF EXPLORATION. 
 
 A Study in Poetic Cosmography. 
 
 Satan's Journey from Hell Gate by Heaven Gate to the Sun: II 890- 
 1055, III 416-633. Compare also: First two days of Creation: 
 VII 210-275. Effects of the fall on the Universe : X 648-714. 
 [Masson's introduction in Globe edition gives great help.] 
 
 1. Chart of Milton's Universe : fundamental division into Chaos 
 
 and the Empyrean — Hell the first encroachment on Chaos 
 ■^"the World " the second — suspension of the World from 
 the Empyrean : thus open to the fimpyrean, but not to 
 Chaos. 
 
 2. Sight of Chaos from Hell Gate. (II 890-927.) 
 
 ifl) Skill in heaping together terms of negative vagueness : atoms — em 
 bryon — absence of determinants (892 and 913) — unsettledness — 
 alternations— but only law of alternation anarchy. 
 
 (^) Scale (919) — and noise (920). 
 
10 
 
 3- Locomotion in Chaos (927) brings to view another negative : 
 no definite consistence. 
 
 4. View of Court of Chaos (95 1-1009). 
 
 {a) Still further terms of vagueness : esp. " hollow dark," " whatever 
 
 might in that noise reside." 
 (3) Personification of vague negatives. 
 
 5. Chaos modified by influence of distant light (1034). 
 
 ,6. Satan walking on the outer convex of "the world " (III 418) 
 — we thus get the Universe from a new point of view. 
 [Milton's use of the term "world" and "earth" must be 
 carefully distinguished ; the latter is- the globe on which 
 we live ; the former includes all the heavenly bodies belong- 
 ing to our Solar System and thus making up the large 
 sphere of the Ptolemaic System bounded by the " Primum 
 Mobile"]. 
 
 Digression. Milton's Conception of the " Limbo of 
 Vanities " or " Paradise of Fools " (III 442-497). — Here we 
 have the root idea of Chaos (unsubstantial) raised into the 
 human sphere — force of vain and _ vanity in Milton's time 
 [esp. to Puritans : cf. Bacon's three " vanities " of Learn- 
 ing] — the poet's mental attitude : admiration of diligence 
 mixed with half scorn, half pity for those who have missed 
 the one thing needful and thereby vitiated all their aims — 
 greater vitality of the conception in ages of intolerance ; 
 cf. Dante's solution of the same problem. 
 
 Incidentally, gives us a view of the structure of our 
 World as conceived by the Ptolemaic [Alphonsine] system 
 (III 481-483). This had been superseded in Milton's time 
 by the Copernican ; on the other hand the old system had 
 become incorporated in the traditional poetic thought which 
 Milton works up into his conceptions ; he ingeniously 
 evades the difficulty by basing his actual Universe on the 
 old theories, but introducing the new theory into the con- 
 versation between Raphael and Adam as a suggestion of 
 angelic wisdom for a possible solution of Adam's difficulties 
 as to the Heavenly bodies (VIII 13-197). 
 
II 
 
 The Ptolemaic [called in its complete form " Alphonsine "] system was 
 an attempt to explain the motions of the heavenly bodies before the 
 idea had suggested itself of the Earth as itself a moving body. 
 Four kinds of motions have to be explained : (a) the Moon's revo- 
 lution in a lunar month, {d) the Sun through the signs of the Zodiac 
 in a solar year, {c) similar motions of the "planets'* as distinguished 
 from the "fixed " stars, {d) the revolution of all alike, including the 
 " fixed " stars, round the Earth from East to West in 24 hours. — To 
 explain these the Ptolemaic system assumed : 
 
 (1) The Earth an immovable globe in the centre. 
 
 (2) Round this Earth seven Enveloping globes or "Spheres" of. 
 
 Jether, one outside another, each containing a luminous heavenly 
 body, and revolving each in a different direction and with dif- 
 ferent velocity. These account for the motions of the seven 
 planets, including the Sun and Moon. 
 
 (3) An eighth envelope or Sphere was external to all these and con- 
 
 tained all the " fixed " stars : this revolved from East to West, 
 completing each revolution in 24 hours — and by some means 
 carried with it in its revolution all the inner envelopes. 
 
 (4) Thus much sufficient for ordinary observations : accurate obser- 
 vation, however, disclosed a slight Variation from these motions 
 [precession of equinox] to explain which a ninth envelope or 
 Sphere was assumed, having a motion so slight as to constitute 
 no more than " trepidation " (III 483). 
 
 (5) Thus all motions explained : an outermost or tenth sphere was 
 assumed to explain the source of Motion, called " Primum 
 Mobile," Milton's " First Moved " (III 483). 
 
 Satan at the point of junction of the world, the Empyrean 
 and Chaos (III 499-561). 
 {a) The Stairs of Heaven Gate (499-523). 
 (i) The Passage down to Paradise (526-539). 
 (c) View of the World (540-561). 
 
 Satan's Journey through the World to the Sun (561-575) — 
 Milton's Conception of the Sun (575-633). 
 
 THE WAR IN HEAVEN. 
 
 A Study of Narrative Power. 
 
 For Sustained Narration take the Episode of the War in Heaven (from 
 V 557 to end of Book VI). For Isolated Narrative add such as the 
 following: Days of Creation, Third (VII 276-338), Fifth (VII 387- 
 448\ Sixth (VII 449-498', Pictures on the Mount of Vision, Cain 
 and Abel (XI 429-454*, the Flood (XI 712-901). 
 
12 
 
 1. Graphic Power. 
 
 (a) Wealth of details. 
 
 War in Heaven : First Shock of Battle (VI 206-246)— Rejoicings 
 in Heaven (V 618-657). Fifth day of Creation. 
 (3) Enumeration of (even ordinary) details a special beauty 
 
 in Epic Poetry, and notably in Milton — ^the point lies 
 
 not so much in the things themselves as in the act of 
 
 enumerating them. 
 
 (^aa) Deeds of the Lesser Angels (VI 354-374)— Description of 
 Evening (IV 598-609)— The Nuptial Bower in Paradise (IV 
 689-711) — Eve's preparation for the feast (V 338-349)— Picture 
 of House of Death (XI 477-499)— and of War (II 638-659)— 
 tlie Creation generally. 
 
 (W) Even of Proper Names [cf. Lord Macaulay's Essay on Mil- 
 ton] : Description of Hill of Vision (XI 376-411) — Catalogue 
 of Lost Spirits (I 376-521), etc. 
 
 {c&) Pleasure in vyealth of detail — completeness — esp. gives reality 
 (sort of furniture) to Imaginary World : the mind more sus- 
 ceptible to details than general effects. 
 
 (if(/) Remember also the connection between Epic and Ballad 
 Poetry, in which enumeration had a special place. 
 
 (ee) Finally becomes an end in itself. 
 
 (c) Distinctness of Stages. 
 
 The Rebel Army coming in sight (VI 78-86) : order of description 
 exactly follows order of perception — Manufacture of Gun- 
 powder (VI 507-523) — Disorder of Heaven calmed by ap- 
 proach of the Messiah (VI 773-798) — Building Council Hall 
 in Hell (I 670-732) — Approach of Satan to Zenith of the 
 World (III 498-554). 
 
 [d") Graphic in a stricter sense : touches of description sug- 
 gesting an actual spectator. 
 
 Especially, the vivid touches of personal description in the grand 
 scene of the hurling of the mountain (VI 637-669). So change 
 of tenses (V 586 and 590) — The land rising out of the water 
 (VII 285-306). Again, presentation of scene distinctly from 
 one point of view; e.g., First Artillery (VI 569). 
 
 2. Artistic Distribution of Interest. In Intellectual as in 
 
 Physical beauty the wave line is more beautiful than the 
 straight — Interest must be not monotonous, but concen- 
 trated and relieved 
 
13 
 
 (a) Devices for securing due prominence of emphatic points: 
 
 various — especially : 
 
 (aa) Speeches : these in the midst of sustained narra- 
 tion must be regarded as a Conventionality — the 
 action is suspended in order to bring out the full 
 emotional effect of a situation [cf. Speeches in 
 History — relation of fiction to the Drama]. 
 
 [E. g., Michael to Satan atmoment of Duel (VI 262) — ScofSng 
 of the Evil Spirits (VI 558, etc)]. 
 {bb^ Enumeration of Details used for this purpose. 
 
 E.g., To bring out the climax of the War in Heaven : Details 
 of the Messiah's setting out (VI 746-772). 
 
 (Jj) Variety of treatment obviously of first importance. 
 
 E.g., Picture of Flood (II 7 12): simplicity at first; higher descriptive 
 power preserved till after " God made fast the door." 
 
 (c) Especially, working up to a climax — for which various 
 devices assist. 
 {ad) Preparation : that is, hints of a climax to come. 
 
 Esp. the interposition of God shadowed forth throughout the 
 War in Heaven. (V 711, VI 135, 227, 294, 320, 669, 834.) 
 
 (J)b') Crescepdo. 
 
 Esp. successive Stages of the Fighting in Heaven [(i) all 
 weapons of Ancient World, (2) Artillery, (3) Artillery 
 answered by Mountains, (4) Mountains on both sides, 
 (5) climax in the paralyzing thunderbolts of the Messiah, 
 and their effect heightened by two touches (853 and 862)]. 
 
 Note also in the Shadowy Night Scenes (IV 776 to end), how 
 the contest of Satan with the Guardian Spirits works up 
 to the very verge of dreadful deeds, and then breaks o£E 
 at a mysterious sign from heaven. 
 
 THE NINTH BOOK. 
 
 A Study in Plot. 
 
 The ninth book contains the crisis of the whole poem — the 
 actual eating of the Forbidden Fruit, to which all that precedes 
 and follows is introduction and sequel. It is a wonderful study 
 for Plot — that is, the artistic handling of story. 
 
14 
 
 The Temptation of Eve: IX 385-790 (for which Eve's Dream [V 1-135] 
 is preparation]. The Temptation of Adam : IX 816-1004 (to which 
 the Separation of Eve from Adam [IX 204-411] is preparation). 
 
 To fully appreciate Milton's skill read the narrative in Gen- 
 esis ii. 14, 17, and iii. 1-7. This gives the barest outline of 
 facts, without any attempt to account for what happens, and 
 presents, therefore, to any effort at imagining the scene five 
 acute difficulties : 
 
 1. The serpent's speaking. 
 
 2. The difficulty of gaining a hearing from Eve when she 
 
 has been just put upon her guard. 
 
 3. The impossibility of any train of argument persuading 
 
 in the case of so clear a prohibition from an unques- 
 tioned authority. 
 
 4. The mysterious association of "knowledge" with a fruit. 
 
 5. The absence of any semblance of temptation in the case 
 
 of Adam. 
 Milton skilfully utilizes No. 4 to explain Nos. i and 3, and 
 No. I to explain No. 2, while he erects his whole character of 
 Adam to explain No. 5. This treatment, however, assumes 
 part of Milton's philosophical system : his moral scale with its 
 three grades of Revelation, Reason, Impulse — a "fall" he un- 
 derstands as the invasion of a higher grade by a lower. Thus 
 with Eve Reason invades the field of Revelation, and soon Im- 
 pulse overpowers Reason ; with Adam Impulse invades the 
 field of Revelation, his Reason being untouched. 
 
IS 
 
 EXERCISES. 
 
 First Week. 
 
 1. Comment upon the following expressions, and show carefully 
 
 how they assist our author's general conception of Hell. 
 Give examples of similar expressions, (a) utter darkness 
 
 (b) bottomless perdition (c) livid flames (d) strange fire (e) 
 palpable obscure (f ) our torments may become our elements 
 (g) tossing of these fiery waves (h) corrosive fires (i) in our 
 proper motion we ascend (j) Satan explores his flight (k) 
 torture urges (1) gates of burning adamant (m) a Universe 
 of Death. 
 
 2. Explain the following : 
 
 (a) vast Typhcean rage. 
 
 (3) Alcides, from CEchalia crowned 
 
 With conquest felt th' envenomed robe, and tore 
 Through pain up by the roots Thessalian pines, 
 And Lichas from the top of QEta threw 
 Into the Euboic sea. 
 
 (c) Passion and apathy. 
 
 (d) Styx — Acheron — Cocytus — Phlegethon — Lethe. 
 
 (e) A gulf profound as that Serbonian bog. 
 (/) Gorgons and Hydras and Chimaeras dire. 
 (£■) Put to their mouths the sounding alchemy. 
 
 3. Examine the passages of the Paradise Lost which give us 
 
 Milton's conception of Heaven, for the purpose (a) of show- 
 ing the leading ideas of which it is made up (b) of contrast- 
 ing it with his conception of Hell. (The principal passages 
 are : III 60-64, 344-417. 499-537 ; V 250-256 ; VI 1-78, 472- 
 481, 639-646, 780-784; VII 197-209, 573-581. 594-600; XI 
 72-83.) 
 
 Second Week. 
 
 1. The Council in Hell. Either (a) write a general description 
 
 of this incident, or (b) compare it with the corresponding 
 incident in Bishop Bickersteth's poem. 
 
 2. Is Milton to be considered a plagiarist t If not, why not ? 
 
i6 
 
 3. Give a few examples of details in the Paradise Lost which 
 
 have both a Biblical and Classical foundation. 
 
 4. Comment upon the following : 
 
 (a) The introduction of heathen deities, and such ideas as 
 
 Tartarus, etc., into a Christian poem. 
 (Jb) Whatever was created needs to be sustained and fed 
 
 (V 414). 
 (^) Book IV, lines 996-1004. 
 {d) When to meet the noise 
 
 Of his Almighty engines he shall hear 
 Infernal thunder, and for lightning see 
 Black fire and horror . . . and the Throne itself 
 Mixed with Tartarean sulphur and strange fire (II 69). 
 (e) In such a day As Heav'n's great year brings forth 
 (V S82). 
 
 TpiRD Week. 
 
 1. Quote and explain expressions bringing out the idea of vague- 
 
 ness and indefiniteness which run throughout Milton's 
 conception of Chaos. 
 
 2. Describe Milton's Limbo of Vanities. 
 
 3. Distinguish between the "Earth," the "World," and the 
 
 " Universe," as the terms are used by Milton. Draw a rough 
 plan of his " Universe." 
 
 4. Explain passages III 418-29; III 445 ; II 1051 to end. 
 
 Fourth Week. 
 
 1. Sum up the chief points in Milton's description of Paradise. 
 
 2. Define Milton's usage of the words " Sphere," "Firmament," 
 
 "Heaven." 
 
 3. Explain III 481-3; III 518-9; III 563; III 600; VII 232- 
 
 244; VII 256-7; VII 265-71. Is there any contradiction 
 between VII 241 and VII 264.' 
 
 Fifth Week. 
 I. Sketch the Story of the Night in Paradise (Book IV), espe- 
 cially bringing out the dream-like nature of the incidents. 
 
UNIVERSITY EXTENSION LECTURES 
 
 DNDER THE AUSPICES OF 
 
 THE AMERICAN SOCIETY 
 
 FOR THE 
 
 EXTENSION OF UNIVERSITY TEACHING 
 
 EURIPIDES 
 
 FOR ENGLISH AUDIENCES 
 
 BY 
 
 Richard G. Moulton, A. M. 
 
 of Cambridge University, England 
 
 1 Shakespeare's Macbeth recast as an Illustration of Ancient Drama 
 
 2 ' Alcestis ' ; or Love versus Splendor 
 
 3, 4 The ' Electra' of Sophocles and of Euripides compared 
 
 5 The Story of Iphigenia 
 
 6 The ' Daughters of Troy ' ; or War from the Women's Side 
 
 No. 10 
 
BOOKS 
 
 The course will deal only with English versions of the plays. 
 The most convenient translation will be the volume of Euripides 
 (No. 54) in Morley's Universal Library, published by Routledge, 
 price 40 cents. It will be convenient also to have (No. 44) the 
 corresponding volume of Sophocles, for comparison in lecture 3. 
 
 The Syllabus is the only text-book required. For those desir- 
 ing further study the lecturer has himself written a text-book: 
 The Ancient Classical Drama, published by Macmillan, $2.25. 
 
 EXERCISES 
 
 will be found for each week at the end of the Syllabus. Any 
 persons attending the lectures are invited to send written answers 
 [to not more than two questions each week] : they should be 
 addressed to Mr. Moulton at the Colonnade Hotel, Phila- 
 delphia, and should arrive a clear forty-eight hours before the 
 following lecture. Some signature, together with the name of the 
 lecture-centre at which the exercise is to be returned, should be 
 placed at the top of the first page. They will be returned (with 
 marginal comments) at the ' Class,' at which further explanations 
 will be made on the general subject. All are invited to the Class 
 whether they have sent exercises to the lecturer or not. 
 
 FURTHER STUDY 
 
 A good line of comparative work is to compare with the 
 Alcestis of Euripides, (i) Browning's Balaustion, (2) William 
 Morris's Love of Alcestis (in his Earthly Paradise), and (3) Long- 
 fellow's Golden Legend which handles a similar problem amid 
 Christian surroundings. 
 
EURIPIDES 
 
 THE FORE-RUNNER OF THE MODERN DRAMA 
 
 A line of thought running through this course will be the pre- 
 sentation of Euripides as the anticipator of the Modern Drama, 
 both in form and spirit. But it will be equally the purpose of the 
 lectures to bring out the general interest of the plays treated. 
 
 ANCIENT CLASSICAL TRAGEDY 
 
 It is necessary first, to understand Ancient Tragedy as a species 
 of drama, m order to appreciate the changes brought about by 
 Euripides. As illustrations : Milton's Samsmt is an English Tragedy 
 in Ancient form. Shakespeare's Macbeth will be recast in lecture as 
 an Ancient Tragedy. 
 
 I. Ancient Tragedy is not pure drama, but a combination of lyric 
 and dramatic poetry — it consists of 
 
 Dramatic Scenes by Actors on the stage : alternating with 
 
 Lyric Odes by a Chorus in the Orchestra, performed as a combina- 
 tion of verse, musical accompaniment and expressive bodily 
 motion — each regular Ode made up of Strophes [movements 
 from Altar to end of Orchestra] and Antistrophes [movements 
 back to Altar], with occasional Epodes [movements round 
 Altar]. 
 
 The Chorus is the link between the dramatic and the Lyric parts, 
 as they take the role of Spectators in the story and take part in 
 the dialogue of the dramatic scenes [speaking then through 
 their foreman]. 
 
 Originally Tragedy was purely Lyric, the Chorus expressing in their 
 Dance the legend as a whole — then, by sub-division into semi-choruses 
 at emphatic points, dialogue came into tragedy — and this finally drew 
 to itself separate Actors, and tragedy became a compound art. 
 
 In arranging a Chorus for Macbeth there will be no need to add matter for the 
 lyric portion, but only to collect into regular odes the lyric matter scattered in 
 short fragments through the speeches of the play. 
 
2. From the connection with the Chorus Greek tragedy was subject 
 to those limitations of form which are expressed by the technical term, 
 ' the unities': 
 
 Unity of Place and Time : each play a continuous whole, without 
 divisions of scenes or intervals between scenes [because when 
 the scene stopped the Chorus carried on the action lyrically]. 
 
 Unity of Action : only one story and one interest in a play 
 [because everything was seen through the eyes of the Chorus, 
 who are at once audience and actors, and who are sympathiz- 
 ers with one person in the story] — in contradistinction to the 
 form of Shakespearean Drama, which loves ' Multiple Action,' 
 that is, to carry on several stories side by side. 
 
 Thus the Ancient Drama presented only a single story, and only 
 the crisis of this story was acted ; all the incidents which were distant 
 in time or place must be made known indirectly, e.g. by narration in 
 the choral odes. [This is known as the ' Crisis form,' of action to dis- 
 tinguish from the modern 'Story form,' which dramatizes the whole 
 story]. And generally : Ancient Drama is distinguished by extreme 
 simplicity. 
 
 To reduce Macbeth to the narrow dimensions required by these unities (l) 
 Banquo must be struck out — (2) Lady Macbeth must not be made a separate 
 interest — (3) we must see Macduff only from his opponent's standpoint, the 
 Chorus being clansmen of Macbeth. 
 
 3. In spirit Ancient Tragedy was religious — its matter being taken 
 from the sacred myths [and thus the audience knew the story in out- 
 line] — and the whole performance was part of National Religious festi- 
 vals. — This favored the ideal rather than real — in particular : the act- 
 ing and delivery were akin to statuary more than to painting. — Tragedy 
 and Comedy were absolutely distinct. 
 
 In recasting Macbeth it may help this effect to let Scripture stories mingle with 
 classic legends in the choral odes. 
 
 " Macbeth " as an Ancient Tragedy 
 
 Scene. Dunsinane Castle. — Time : roughly corresponds to Act V. 
 
 Prologue. Hecate's speech in Act III is very Euripidean. 
 
 Parade or Chorus- Entry : Chorus of Clansmen come to enquire after the health 
 of their Queen, as to which dark rumors are afloat — ^this leads up to an Ode 
 on mortals struck with frenzy firom heaven for crimes. [Cf. language of I 
 vi.i-io ; V i.79 ; III. ii.7-26, &c. — and add examples of Ajax, Hercules, Nebu- 
 chadnezzar.] 
 
5 
 
 Episode i : Physician and Lady Attendant (with Chorus) discuss the Queen's 
 condition as in V. I — enter Lady Macbeth walking in her sleep : such emo- 
 tion would be expressed by Stage Lyrics, in this case a Lyric Concerto 
 between Lady Macbeth and Chorus [compare (besides V. i) such passages 
 as IL iii. 71-8, 117-22, 135-8 ; III. vi]. 
 
 Strophe : Ravings about stain of blood — the Chorus recognize Dun- 
 can's murder. 
 
 Antistrophe : Ravings about Macbeth's weakness betraying him — ^the 
 Chorus recall suspicions of Macbeth. 
 
 Epode : Ravings as to the Thane of Fife — the Chorus wonder what 
 new crime this is. 
 
 Lady Macbeth retires ; the scene returns to blank verse, and Physician speaks 
 a Rhesis on Physical and Moral disease — [compare V. iii.40-56 ; IL 
 ■."■35-43]- 
 
 Ode : Elaborating the murder of Duncan [Cf. III. 11.40-53 ; II. i.4, 49-60 ; II. 
 iii..S9-68; I. v.51-55 ; II. iv.l-20; I. iii.146]. 
 
 Episode 2 : Macbeth returns from his visit to the Witches [i.e. in Act IV.] and 
 greetings pass between him and the Chorus [Cf. I. iii.SO, &c.]. As he tells 
 the oracles of the Witches an opportunity would occur for Parallel Verse. 
 [Compare for the whole Episode IV. i.] He narrates the expedition against 
 Macduff and exit to visit the Queen. 
 
 Ode : Clairvoyance suggested by the preceding — extends to idea of Witchcraft, 
 and so works in first meeting of Witches with Macbeth. [Cf. I. iii. ; II. i.33-49 ; 
 III. iv.50.106 ; IV. i.48-60.] 
 
 Episode J : News of Queen's Death and Monody fi-om Macbeth (V. v.8-28). — 
 Herald fi-om English Army bears a special challenge from Macduft : this leads 
 to 'iae. Forensic Contest [for which there is matter in IV. ii and iii]. 
 
 Ode : Sin avenged in this world [Cf. I. vii]. 
 
 Episode 4 : The moving of Binram Wood expinded as a Messenger's Speech. 
 Defiance of Macbeth in Accelerated Rhythm [matter firom all over Act. V]. 
 
 Ode : Oracles misleading as ever ; only safety is in righteousness. 
 
 Exodus : The secret of Macduffs birth brought out to the Chorus by an English 
 prisoner. Lyric Despair of Chorus, with climax by breaking into 
 
 Semichorus j : away and weep 
 
 Semichorus 2 ; rather revenge. 
 
 Body of Macbeth brought in amid lyric lamentation — Enter Macduff in 
 triumph and final spectacle : Chorus recognize the will of Heaven. 
 
EURIPIDES' ADVANCES TOWARDS MODERN DRAMA 
 
 Proposition i. — Euripides essays as an experiment the mixture of 
 tones {that is, tragic and comic). 
 
 The play Alcestis was a grand experiment. The practice was to 
 produce on a festival day three tragedies, and to end with a Burlesque 
 [Satyric Drama] as a relief. Euripides composed his Alcestis as a sub- 
 stitute for the fourth or Satyric Drama. The union of the opposite 
 tones is seen in 
 
 Hercules . equally familiar in tragedy (as the toiler for man- 
 kind) and in Satyric (the huge feeder) — Euripides harmon- 
 ises as the genial hero equally thorough in work and relaxa- 
 tion. 
 
 2. In the happy ending by the rescue of Alcestis. 
 
 The experiment was not acceptable to the Athenians ; but grad- 
 ually the lighter tone made its way in individual scenes (compare 
 Iphigenia among the Tauri) and happy endings (compare the ' Deus 
 ex machina'). 
 
 The Traditional Story of Alcestis was simply that Admetus from his glorious 
 upholding of the religion of hospitality was beloved of Apollo, who became a 
 .senrant in his household, atid to preserve him to mankind obtained from Fate 
 the right for him to die by substitute. But when the crisis came no substitute 
 was found but the young and beautiful queen Alcestis. 
 
 Euripides handles the story as a conflict, not between two characters, selfish 
 and self-sacrificing — ^but between two ideals, public splendour and domestic love 
 [compare below, proposition 2]. 
 
 Proposition 2. — Euripides approaches moderri drama by insinuating 
 toitches of realism into the midst of his ideal scenes. 
 
 Proposition 3. — Euripides approaches modem complexity by carry- 
 ing on different dramatic interests side by side in a play, instead of con- 
 centrating on a single interest. 
 
The second proposition may be illustrated generally from the 
 prominence which Euripides gives to the topics of poverty, domestic 
 life and therefore woman, and self-sacrifice. 
 
 For both propositions a good exercise is a detailed comparison of 
 the Electra of Sophocles and Euripides. 
 
 Traditional Story. — ^Agamemnon, delayed in the setting out of the expedition 
 to Troy, had been induced by the seers to otler in sacrifice his own daughter 
 Iphigenia to appease the offended deity Artemis. Her mother Clytemnestra, in 
 revenge, slew Agamemnon on his return ten years later, and then reigned in 
 triumph over Argos with Aegisthus, her paramour. Electra, her daughter, was 
 the only one who would never submit to the usurpers, but persistently mourned 
 in public for her murdered father. At last Orestes (son of Agamemnon and 
 Qytemnestra) who had been rescued as an infant when his father was slaugh- 
 tered, returned and slew his mother and Aegisthus. Though he undertook his 
 mission by command of the god Apollo, yet Orestes was given up to the 
 Furies and driven over the earth as a madman, until he was cleansed from the 
 crime at Athens. 
 
 The play called Electra only presents the middle part of the 
 story — for purposes of comparison it may be divided into four stages : 
 (i) The return of Orestes (with his friend Pylades) to Argos ; (2) the 
 elaboration of the sitution out of which Electra is to be delivered ; (3) 
 the gradual recognition of brother and sister ; (4) the conspiracy 
 against Aegisthus and Clytemnestra. 
 
 Sophocles' Version 
 
 Orestes and Pylades return: Orestes (\\ 
 lays offerings on his father's tomb; (2) 
 reports oracle that he must act by strata- 
 gem, not force. — Tutor, who originally res- 
 cued him, accompanies Iiim. 
 
 Euripides' Version 
 
 Euripides adds a new element to the 
 Story: a Peasant, nominal husband of 
 Electra. [The tyrants forced her into an 
 ignoble alliance, but in reaUty the Peasant 
 only pretended to be husband, in order to 
 shelter Electra in his cott^e until Orestes 
 should come.] This changes the whole 
 scene to one of rustic poverty, and the 
 Peasant is the centre of a thread of realism 
 running through the whole play. 
 
 Orestes and Pylades return : Orestes (i) 
 lays offerings on his father's tomb ; (2) re- 
 ports oracle that he must act without en- 
 tering the city. 
 
 Situation elaborated by Stage Lyrics : 
 Electra's Monody, and then Lyric Con- 
 certo with Chorus of Maidens. 
 
 Situation elaborated as in Sophocles' 
 version, but in hearing of Orestes con- 
 cealed — ^his sob disturbs and leads to fol- 
 lowing sections. 
 
8 
 
 Recognition of Orestes and Electra : Recognition delayed by two other inter- 
 artistically delayed by various scenes, all ests introduced : (i) interest of hospitable 
 playing upon the opposite passions of hope poverty ; (2) of faithful old age — ^until all 
 and fear relating to the return of Orestes — three unite in a common climax : old tutor, 
 until recognition actually made at moment coming on hospitable mission, brings about 
 of greatest despair. recognition that saves all. 
 
 Conspiracy against Aegisthus and Clyt- Two distinct intrigues : one to slay 
 emnestra : one intrigue secures admission Aegisthus at a sacrifice, the other to entice 
 to palace, and both are slain. Clytemnestra to the cottage by false news 
 
 of the birth of a child. 
 
 Proposition 4. — Euripides approaches modern Multiple Action by 
 (i) Agglutinated Plots ; (2) slight Underplots. 
 
 To have carried on double stories side by side would, to a Greek 
 mindj have involved double choruses [this actually occurs in Roman 
 Tragedy] — but Euripides evades the difficulty by having a second 
 plot attached to the same hero and chorus commencing where the first 
 ends : this may be called 'agglutination.' 
 
 Thus the Electra of Euripides is made up of two plots : the first is concerned 
 with the recognition, the second with the intrigue against the tyrants. Each is 
 complete as a plot, having the change of fortune which is the essence of plot. — 
 The same double form distinguishes Iphigenia among the Tauri. 
 
 An Underplot is made by developing interest in one of the per- 
 sonages other than the hero to such an extent that he becomes a dis- 
 tinct interest in himself, with plot interest attached. This dramatic 
 tendency is only beginning in Eripides. 
 
 The Peasant in Electra is just perceptible as an underplot [note, he is men- 
 tioned in the Divine Intervention as sharing the prosperity of the family]. Pylades 
 in Ipk. Taur. is much more developed, as centre to an underplot of friendship 
 that runs parallel with the main plot of family affection. 
 
 Proposition 5. Euripides takes a step towards modern ' story form,' 
 by withdrawing more and more of the plot from dramatisation to narra- 
 tive. 
 
 All Euripides' specialties of treatment tend in this direction. 
 
 He invented the ' Formal Prologue, ' which narrates the beginning 
 of the story. 
 
 He invented the ' Divine Intervention,' which describes the end- 
 ing of the story. 
 
He considerably extended the use of ' Messenger's Speeches,' which 
 withdraw portions of the middle of the story from plot, and 
 put them in narrative. 
 
 Though this reduced the proportion of the whole story brought 
 into the acting, yet it increased the amount brought into the perfor- 
 mance as a whole, and so prepared for modern drama, which acts the 
 story as a whole. 
 
 The Daughters of Troy is an extreme example of this treatment. A Formal 
 Prologue and a sort of Divine Intervention are put together at the beginning, 
 thus destroying interest of plot, and reducing the body of the play to the expan- 
 sion of a single situation : the captive Trojan women waiting to be borne away 
 to Greece — a picture of War as seen from the Woman's side. 
 
10 
 
 INDEX OF TECHNICAL TERMS 
 
 Accelerated Rhythm : See Metres. 
 
 Agglutination : see proposition 4. 
 
 Antislrophe : see Stropic. 
 
 Choms : see page 3. 
 
 Chorus-Entry : see Structure. 
 
 Commas or Lyric Concerto : see Stage Lyrics. 
 
 Crisis form of action : see page 4. 
 
 Deus ex machina or Divine Intervention : a device of Euripides to terminate a 
 play by other than dramatic solution. When the entanglement of the plot 
 was at its height a Divine Being appeared [swung in mid -air by the 'machina,' 
 for which see Theatre'\ and by miracle determined the issue of affairs. [Eg. in 
 in the Electra."] Hence a proverbial expression for some extraordinary inter- 
 vention in human perplexities. 
 
 Eccyckma or Roller-Stage : see Theatre. 
 
 Episode : see Structure. 
 
 Epode .• see Strophic. 
 
 Exodus or Finale : see Structure. 
 
 Forensic Contest : The Athenians were habitues of the law-courts, and had a strong 
 taste for forensic ways. In the dramas this is shown in a scene given up to 
 discussing the hero's and his opponent's cases in a form felt to be forensic rather 
 than dramatic. There is a Hhesis on both sides, and an exchange of Parallel 
 Verse, suggestive of cross-examination. The Chorus acts as moderators. \E. g. 
 Admetus and Pheres in the Alcestis.'\ 
 
 Z,yric : One of the three main divisions of poetry, differing from the others (Epic, 
 Dramatic) by the prominence of musical devices. It includes Odes, Psalms, 
 Hymns, Fugitive Pieces, &c. See also Stage Lyrics. 
 
 Machina : See Theatre. 
 
 Marching Rhythm : See Metres. 
 
 Mesode : See Strophic, 
 
 Messenger's Speech .' individual incidents, happening at a distance and therefore 
 barred by the unity of place firom being acted, are related by a Messenger : 
 and the treatment in such speeches is Epic, dramatic efifeet being for the time 
 suspended. [See page 5, and examples in the two Electras]. 
 
 Metres in Greek Tragedy axe : (l) Blank Veree, like English, with addition of one 
 iamb. This is the regular metre for the dramatic scenes — (2) Parallel Verse 
 (or Stichomuthic Verse, which is Blank Verse running in equal lengths, 
 (generally one line) of remark and answer. [Example on page 26 of 
 Alcestis.'\ — (3) Lyrics : lines of varying length, chiefly (4) Strophic Lyrics : 
 
II 
 
 divided into parallel stanzas. (See Strophic). These are the regular metres 
 in the Odes. — (4) Accelerated Rhythm, a long line of trochees, used for sud- 
 den outbursts in dramatic scenes. — (5) Marching Rhythm, anapaestic, chiefly 
 used for Chorus-Entries. 
 
 Monody : See Stage Lyrics. 
 
 Multiple Action : See page 4. 
 
 Parallel Verse : See Metres. 
 
 Parode or Chorus-Entry : see Structure. 
 
 Peri-acti or Turn-Scenes : see Theatre. 
 
 Prologue : see Structure. 
 
 Hhesis : a speech expanded beyond dramatic limits by the Athenian taste for 
 rhetoric. See also Forensic Contest. [Example, page 6l of Electra.'] 
 
 Holler- Stage or Eccyclema : see Theatre. 
 
 Satyric Drama : a Burlesque of Tragedy, used to conclude a day's tragic celebra- 
 tions. 
 
 Solo Lyric or Monody : see Stage Lyrics. 
 
 Stage Lyrics : From connection with the Chorus the Greek drama has the power 
 even in the dramatic scenes of breaking into lyric measures and devices, where 
 the emotion of the scene is suitable. Such ' Stage Lyrics ' consist of (i) the 
 Monody, a Lyric Solo by an Actor, (2) the Lyric Concerto or Com mos, a 
 lyric duett between Actor and Chorus. [Examples of both in Electra, pages 
 S3, 55-3 
 
 Story form of action : see page 4. 
 
 Strophic form. In the performance of an ode a Greek Chorus would start from 
 the altar in the centre, and their evolutions during the first stanza would take 
 them to one end of the orchestra : this was the strophe. Then they turned, 
 and in the antistrophe measured their way back with exactly the same rhythms 
 to the altar. An ode is made up of any number of these parallel stanzas : an 
 odd stanza would be performed round the altar, and called epode if at the end, 
 or mesode if in the middle of the ode. 
 
 Structute of Tragedy : as follows (compare Macbeth above) : (I.) The Pro- 
 logue includes everything (acted scene or explanatory speech) that precedes 
 the first appearance of the Chorus. — (2) Parode or Chorus- Entry, the 
 speech of a Chorus on entering before they take part in an Episode : it often 
 includes a Choral Ode. — (3) Episode is the technical term for a dramatic 
 scene upon the stage, the Chorus being present and taking part through their 
 Foreman. — (4) Choral Odes, or Interludes, are by the Chorus alone, with no 
 action taking place on the stage, and in strict strophic form. The bulk of a 
 drama consists in Episodes and Choral Odes, alternating to any number of 
 each. — (s) The .Sjcoi/aj or Finale includes all the action subsequent to the 
 last Choral Ode. [The words, Parode, Episode, Exode, have no etymological 
 connection with Ode.'\ 
 
 Theatre. Note of principal details of ancient performances. 
 
 I. The Theatre was open to the sky, and large enough to contain the whole popu- 
 lation of a city. The Stage and Scene were ultimately of stone, representing 
 
12 
 
 the facade of a palace, in which there was a Central and Inferior doors ; 
 the whole could, however, be concealed behind Moveable Scenery. The 
 Stage was a nan'ow platform running the whole length of the Scene : of the 
 two entrances at each end, the one on the spectators' left indicated an 
 entrance from a distance, the other an entrance from the immediate neigh- 
 bourhood. Lower than the St^e was the huge Orchestra, with the Altar of 
 Dionysus (Bacchus) in the centre. A flight of steps connected the Stage and 
 Orchestra, and was continued out of sight in the Steps of Charon, used for 
 apparitions from the under-world. 
 
 2. There was very little Machinery. Turn-scenes [Peri-acti] were prism-shaped 
 
 side-scenes fixed at both ends of the stage, and turning on a pivot to assist 
 the (rare) changes of scene. The Roller-Stas;e [Eccyclema"] was a contriv- 
 ance by which an interior could be rolled out from the Central Door to the 
 front of the stage. To these add the Machiua, a crane-like contrivance for 
 swinging out a deity, who would thus appear in mid-air. 
 
 3. The number of Actors was confined to three speaking personages [called Pro- 
 
 tagonist, Deuteragonist, Tritagonist'] : this merely means that there could 
 not be more than that number of speaking personages on the stage together. 
 Each of these Actors would take different parts in different scenes ; and the 
 number of mute personages on the stage was unlimited. 
 
 4. The Costume maintained a Bacchic brilliance and dignity of proportions, espe- 
 
 cially the Buskin \^Cothurnus'\, a thick shoe for increasing the height of the 
 actor, and which became a synonym for Tragedy. The costume included 
 Masks for actors and chorus : the latter, of course, never wore the buskin. 
 These Masks indicated types, such as a king, a priest, a slave, a young man, 
 an old woman, etc. ' 
 
 5. The Delivery was conventional, not realistic. Choral Odes and Stage Lyrics 
 
 were sung. Blank Verse was declaimed. 
 
 6. The mode of bringing oxit tragedies was this : The Choregi [or Chorus-pro- 
 
 viders] were wealthy citizens to whom the lot assigned the duty of providing 
 the magistrates with the expenses of so many Choruses. The magistrates 
 then assigned these to the poets who made application. With the Chorus 
 went the other expense of a dramatic exhibition. There was much competi- 
 tion in display between these Choregi. 
 
 Turn- Scene or Periacti : see Theatre. 
 Underplot : see proposition 4. 
 Unities : see page 4. 
 
13 
 
 EXERCISES 
 
 I 
 
 1. Read Milton's Samson, and give a brief outline of it on the 
 model of the outline of Macbeth given above.* 
 
 2. Explain briefly what is meant by ' the unities ' in Ancient Drama, 
 and illustrate your answer by contrasting Milton's Samson with a play 
 of Shakespeare. 
 
 3. Would you consider it a gain at the present day to have ' Acted 
 Sermons ' ? 
 
 II 
 
 1. Discuss the character of Admetus. 
 
 2. Explain the term ' mixture of tones,' and show what it has to do 
 with the AlcesHs of Euripides. 
 
 Ill 
 
 I. Show carefully how Sophocles leads up to the recognition of 
 Orestes and Electra. 
 
 2. Explain the technical terms Irony, Messenger' s Speech, Stage- 
 Lyrics : illustrating from Sophocles' Electra. 
 
 IV 
 
 1. Show carefully how Euripides' handling of the Recognition part 
 of the story differs from that of Sophocles. 
 
 2. Trace the effects in Euripides' Electra arising out of his addition 
 of the Peasant to the personages of the story. 
 
 3. Comment upon the verse : 
 
 Our Euripides the human : 
 
 With Ms droppings of warm tears, 
 And his touchings of things common 
 
 Till they rose to touch the spheres. 
 
 *See also * Structure ' in the index. 
 
14 
 V 
 
 1. Bring out the chief beauties in the story of Iphigena, as handled 
 by Euripides. 
 
 2. Explain the technical terms Agglutination, Prologue, Deus ex 
 machina. 
 
 3. Give examples of Underplots in Ancient and Modern Drama. 
 
Other Syllabi by Prof. Moulton may be had from the 
 General Secretary, 1602 Chestnut Street, according to the follow- 
 ing list: 
 
 A. Four Studies in Shakespeare. 
 
 B. Shakespeare's Tempest, with Companion Studies. 
 
 C. The Story of Faust. 
 
 D. Stories as a Mode of Thinking. 
 
 E. Studies in Milton's Paradise Lost. 
 
 F. Euripides for English Audiences. 
 
 Price — 10 cents each. The six bound in cloth, 90 cents.